Scotland, under the settlement of the late queen of Scotland, sister to Henry III. During the king's absence abroad Nicholas also carried on and concluded a negotiation with Scotland regarding the marriage of the king's eldest son, subsequently Alexander III, with the Princess Margaret, daughter of Henry III.
During Nicholas's episcopate Durham Cathedral was restored. In 1247 a discussion arose between him and the abbot of St. Albans regarding the church of Tynemouth, which, being a cell of the abbey of St. Albans, claimed exemption from all taxes and contributions levied within the kingdom, similar to a privilege possessed by the parent abbey of being only under the direct jurisdiction of the holy see. Notwithstanding the remonstrances of the abbot, the bishop insisted that Tynemouth should contribute to the rebuilding of Durham Cathedral. The king at length wrote to the bishop (1248) in defence of the privilege of Tynemouth (Matt. Paris, Rolls Ser. v. 12). The following year the bishop resigned his see with the consent of the pope. A certain portion of the revenue, amounting to about a thousand marks yearly, was reserved for him during his life. It was proposed subsequently to deprive him of this, in the interest of his successor, but the attempt was defeated by the pope. In the ‘Chronicle of Lanercost’ it is stated that before his resignation he had been accused of having a wife, whom on his consecration he had openly repudiated. Harpsfield says that, being worn out by sickness and the infirmities of old age, he voluntarily resigned his see. He thereupon removed to Stockton-on-Tees, where he passed the remainder of his life engaged in study and in acts of piety. He died there in 1257 and was buried in Durham Cathedral.
Of his writings Pits mentions two treatises, ‘Practica Medicinæ’ and ‘De Viribus Herbarum,’ which have not been traced. Regret has often been expressed that his other works have been lost; yet the search for them does not seem to have been quite thorough. In the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris there is a folio volume of medical treatises in manuscript, anonymous for the most part, without any index or table of contents (indicated in the general Catalogue as ‘Fonds Latin,’ No. 7015). This volume contains three treatises by a Nicholas de Anglia. The writing is of the thirteenth century, in double columns, with numerous marginal notes. There can be little doubt that Nicholas de Anglia is Nicholas de Farnham. The treatises are entitled: (1) ‘Commentarius in librum Galeni de elementis secundum Hippocratem;’ (2) ‘Commentarius in libros Galeni de Crisibus;’ (3) ‘Commentarius in tres libros Galeni de facultatibus naturalibus.’
[Matthew Paris, Chronica Majora, passim; Pits, De Illustribus Angliæ Scriptoribus; Leland's Commentarii and Itinerary; Wharton's Anglia Sacra, i. 763; Godwin, De Præsulibus Angliæ, ed. Richardson, p. 741; Wood's Hist. and Antiq. Oxon. i. 81; Harpsfield's Hist. Angl. Eccles. pp. 474–86; Tiraboschi's Storia della Letteratura Italiana, vol. iv.; De Boulay's Hist. de l'Université de Paris, iii. 682; Schenck's Bib. Iatrica sive Bibl. Medica, Frankfort, 1589; Gæsner's Bibl. Universalis, Zürich, 1545; Pascal Gallus's Bibl. Medica, Basle, 1590; Patin's Paranymphus Medicus habitus in scholis Medic. die 28 Jan. 1648; Bernier's Hist. Chron. de la Med., Paris, 1695; Chomet's Essai sur la Med. en France, Paris, 1762; Eloy's Dict. Hist. de la Med., Mons, 1788; Nouv. Biog. Gén. xvii. 476.]
NICHOLAS of Ely (d. 1280), keeper of the great seal. [See Ely.]
NICHOLAS le Blund (d. 1304), bishop of Down, apparently of Norman birth, was, at the death of his predecessor, Thomas Lidell, treasurer of Ulster and prior of St. Patrick's, Down (Sweetman, Cal. Doc. 1252–1284, Nos. 1187, 1327, 1335). The king's license to elect a bishop was granted to the chapter of Down by Edward I on 20 Feb. 1276–1277, and the writ investing Nicholas with the temporalities of the see was issued 29 March 1277. In spite of his Norman birth, he administered his diocese in accordance with Irish customs, and in disregard of English interests. In 1284 he was excommunicated by the Archbishop of Armagh, amerced one hundred marks, and his temporalities were taken into the king's hands (ib. passim). In March 1288–9 he had a suit against the abbot of St. Mary of York concerning some land. In 1297 he was tried on a ‘quo warranto’ for the following offences. It was alleged that he had entered into a combination with Nicholas MacMelissa (d. 10 May 1303), archbishop of Armagh, and agreed on certain constitutions which excluded clergy born in England from the monasteries in their dioceses. This he denied. He was further charged with assuming the administration of justice on his church lands, and following Irish law, by taking ‘eiric,’ a ransom-fine, in commutation of the felony of killing an Englishman. He pleaded that such administration had from time immemorial been the privilege of his predecessors in the see, but the plea was disallowed. In the same year, 1297, the place of abbot of St. John's, Downpatrick, was voided by the cession of William Rede. The prior and con-
