French ecclesiastic and Roman Catholic Cardinal, poet, and mathematician
Guillaume de Bray (born at Bray in the Ile-de-France, date unknown; died in Orvieto, 29 April 1282) was a French ecclesiastic and Roman Catholic Cardinal, poet, and mathematician.[1]
It is claimed Guillaume was Master of Theology,[2] but the Cardinal's tombstone indicates that he was learned in Canon and Civil Law.[3] There is no reference to him ever having been a Papal Legate, a Nuncio, or a provincial Rector (governor).[citation needed] So far as it is known, his career as a cardinal was entirely inside the Roman Curia.[citation needed]
His earliest known office was that of Archdeacon of the Church of Reims. He was already Archdeacon when he appears as Dean of the Cathedral of Laon (ca. 1250-1262).[4]
^Salvador Miranda, notice of Guillaume de Bray. retrieved 02/06/2016. The claim comes from Alfonso Chacon (Ciaconius), Vitae et res gestae Pontificum Romanorum et S.R.E. Cardinalium (ed. A. Olduin) II (Rome 1677), p. 160, where it is attributed to Petrus Frizonius, Gallia Purpurata (Paris 1638), p. 236.
^"Lex et decreta" might indicate that he was Doctor in utroque iure.
^H. Fisquet, La France pontificale: La metropole de Reims: Reims (Paris: Etienne Repos, 1864), p. 314.