Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 29.djvu/454

John is apparently the more correct. In English he is spoken of as John of St. Giles, John Giles, or John of St. Albans. He has also been called Joannes de St. Quintino; but this and the statement that he was dean of St. Quintin appear to be due to a confusion with Jean de Barastre (, Hist. de la Philosophie Scolastique, ii. 184).

 JOHN (d. 1203?), called, bishop of Poitiers. [See Belmeis, John (DNB00)]

JOHN (d. 1252), called or, archdeacon of Leicester. [See Basing, John (DNB00)]

JOHN (d. 1257), called, counsellor of Henry III, was one of King John's chaplains, was constantly employed by Henry III as an ambassador to foreign courts and in difficult matters, and was one of his intimate advisers. He was an Augustinian canon, and seems to have generally been called John the Canon. In January 1352 he was prior of the Augustinian house at Newburgh in Yorkshire, and the following year was sent from Gascony by the king to raise supplies for the army from the Londoners. When in Flanders, whither he was sent on an embassy in 1254, he wrote an account of the war then going on there, which was seen and used by Matthew Paris. In the autumn the king tried to persuade the canons of Carlisle to elect him as their bishop, but they would not do so. He died in 1257.

 JOHN (fl. 1267), called, mathematician, born about 1246, was a poor boy of fifteen when he attracted the notice of Roger Bacon [q. v.], who caused him to be instructed in languages, mathematics, and optics. Bacon speaks of him as one of the only two perfect mathematicians of his time (Opus Tertium, c. xi.); and when in 1267 he sent John to Rome to present his 'Opus Majus,' 'Opus Minus,'and 'Opus Tertium' to Pope Clement IV, to explain difficulties, and exhibit certain experiments, there was no (Bacon wrote) whom he could employ with so much satisfaction (ib. c. xix.) Bacon is said to have received him into the order of St. Francis. Some have supposed that he is identical with John Peckham [q. v.], the archbishop of Canterbury. Tanner ascribes to him two treatises,(l)'De Trigonio Circinoque Analogico,' (2) 'De Speculis Comburentibus,' both of which ore preserved in Cott. MS. Vit C. vii. It is possible that some of the works which pass under the name of Bacon are by John of London, In Vatican MS. 3202 there is a treatise styled 'Joannes de Ponderibus,' along with a number of Bacon's minor works.

 JOHN (d. 1268), called, and also , bishop of Winchester, was a native of Exeter, and presumably son of a man called Gervase. He appears as chancellor of York in 1254 and oorain in 1258, and in the latter year also held the prebend of Fenton in the same church (, Fasti, iii. 163, 183). When after the death of Bishop Aymer there was a disputed election to the see of Winchester, the two rivals being Andrew of London, prior of Winchester, and William of Taunton, abbot of Middelton, the pope quashed both elections and collated John to the vacant see. One authority states that, although it was commonly believed that John owed his elevation to his great learning, he in truth obtained it by bribing the pontifical vice-chancellor with six thousand marks, on hearing of which the pope exacted a like sum for himself (Cont., ii. 218, and Chron. Dover in MS. Cott. Julius D. v.) John was consecrated by the pope at Rome on 10 Sept. 1262, and at once set out for England; on the way he had an interview with Henry III, whom he advised to return to England and depend on his own resources—a possible proof that John was already a supporter of the popular cause. He arrived in England early in October, made his profession of obedience to Archbishop Boniface, and had the temporalities restored on 18 Oct. On 13 Oct. he had said mass at Westminster at the king's request (, iv. 132),

John's first act after his enthronement on 25 Dec. was to imprison Prior Andrew at Hyde Abbey; the prior afterwards escaped, and continued to trouble the bishops of Winchester for some years (Ann. Mon. iv. 465).