BRADWARDIN, THOMAS, archbishop of Canterbury,
surnamed the Profound Doctor, was born at Hartfield in
Sussex towards the close of the 13th century. He was
educated at Merton College, Oxford, where he took the
degree of doctor of divinity, and acquired the reputation of a
profound scholar, a skilful mathematician, and an able
divine. He was afterwards raised to the high offices of
chancellor of the university and professor of divinity. From
being chancellor of the diocese of London, he became chap-
lain and confessor to Edward III., whom he attended during
his wars in France, assisting that victorious prince with his
advice, animating the troops, and aiding them with his
prayers. After his return from the war he was made pre-
bendary of Lincoln, and subsequently archbishop of Can-
terbury. He died of the plague, at Lambeth, in the year
1349, forty days after his consecration. Chaucer, in his
Nun's Priest's Tale, ranks Bradwardin with St Augustine.
His great work is a treatise against the Pelagians, entitled
De causa Dei, printed at London, 1618, folio, by Sir Henry
Savile. He wrote also De Geometria speculativa, Paris,
1495, 1512, 1530; De Arithmetica practica, Paris, 1502,
1512; De Proportionibus, Paris, 1495, Venice, 1503, folio;
De Quadratura Circuli, Paris, 1495, folio.