Background
He was born about 1200 in the diocese of Bath, and educated at Oxford (Greyfriars) under the famous Grosseteste.
He was born about 1200 in the diocese of Bath, and educated at Oxford (Greyfriars) under the famous Grosseteste.
About 1238 he became the lecturer of the Franciscan house at Oxford, and within a few years was regarded by the English province of that order as an intellectual and spiritual leader. His fame, however, rests upon the influence which he exercised over the statesmen of his day. He shrank from office, and never became provincial minister of the English Franciscans, though constantly charged with responsible commissions.
Henry III and Archbishop Boniface unsuccessfully endeavoured to secure for him the see of Ely in 1256.
In 1257 Marsh"s health was failing, and he appears to have died two years later. He sympathized with Montfort as with a friend of the Church and an unjustly treated manitoba
But on the eve of the baronial revolution he was on friendly terms with the king. Faithful to the traditions of his order, he made it his ambition to be a mediator.
To judge from his correspondence he took no interest in secular politics. He rebuked both parties in the state for their shortcomings, but he did not break with either.