Editing William Grocyn (section)

==Life==

Grocyn was born at [[Colerne]], Wiltshire. Intended by his parents for the church, he was sent to [[Winchester College]], and in 1465 was elected to a scholarship at [[New College, Oxford]]. In 1467 he became a fellow, and among his pupils was [[William Warham]], afterwards [[Archbishop of Canterbury]]. In 1479, Grocyn accepted the rectory of [[Newton Longville]], in Buckinghamshire, but continued to live at Oxford. As reader in divinity at [[Magdalen College, Oxford|Magdalen College]] in 1481, he held a disputation with [[John Taylor (1400s)|John Taylor]], professor of divinity, in the presence of [[Richard III of England|King Richard III]]; the king acknowledged his skill as a debater by the present of a deer and five marks. In 1485, Grocyn became prebendary of [[Lincoln Cathedral]]. In about 1488, he left England for Italy, and before his return in 1491 he had visited [[Florence]], [[Rome]] and [[Padua]], and studied [[Greek language|Greek]] and [[Latin]] under [[Demetrius Chalcondyles]] and [[Poliziano]]. As lecturer at [[Exeter College, Oxford]] he helped indoctrinate his countrymen in the new Greek learning.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=610}}

[[Erasmus]] says in one of his letters that Grocyn taught Greek at Oxford before his visit to Italy. The Warden of New College, [[Thomas Chaundler]], invited [[Cornelius Vitelli]], then on a visit to Oxford, to act as ''praelector''. This was about 1475, and as Vitelli was certainly familiar with Greek literature, Grocyn may have learned Greek from him. He seems to have lived in Oxford until 1499, but by the time his friend [[John Colet]] became dean of [[St Paul's Cathedral|St Paul's]] in 1504 he was living in London. Grocyn was chosen by Colet to deliver lectures in St Paul's. Having at first denounced those who impugned the authenticity of the ''Hierarchia ecclesiastica'' ascribed to [[Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite|Dionysius the Areopagite]], he was led to modify his views by further investigation, and openly declared that he had been mistaken. He also counted [[Thomas Linacre]], [[William Lilye]], [[William Latimer (clergyman)|William Latimer]] and [[Thomas More]] among his friends, and Erasmus – writing in 1514 – says that he was supported by Grocyn in London, and calls him "the friend and preceptor of us all".{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=610}}

Grocyn held several preferments, but his generosity to his friends involved him in continual difficulties, and though in 1506 he was appointed on Archbishop Warham's recommendation master or warden of the [[College of All Saints, Maidstone]] in Kent, he was still obliged to borrow from his friends, and even to pledge his plate as a security.

He died in 1519, and was buried in his [[All Saints Church, Maidstone|collegiate church]] at Maidstone.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|pp=610–611}} Linacre acted as Grocyn's executor, and spent the money he received on alms for the poor and the purchase of books for poor scholars.