English Minorite, b. at Norwich, year unknown; d. at Bruisyard, Suffolk, 1369. Having joined the Greyfriars at Norwich he distinguished himself for learning and piety and was made a doctor of theology. He filled several important ecclesiastical charges, being at different times warden of the Franciscan convent at Norwich, regent master of the Minorities at Oxford (1351), and twenty-ninth provincial superior of his order in England (1360). He wrote a commentary on the "Meteora" of Aristotle, improved the "Albeon" of Richard of Wallingford; and is the reputed author of another work, the "Quatuor Principalia Musicae", a clear, practical, and very valuable medieval treatise on music. Davey gives a thorough discussion of the authorship of this work, which has been ascribed by different writers on the history of music to Tunsted, to John Hanboys, and to Thomas of Tewkesbury; but the arguments brought forward by Davey show that it is certainly not the work of either Hanboys or Thomas of Tewkesbury, whilst his conclusion with regard to the first-named writer is that "the grounds for ascribing it to Tunsted are admittedly insufficient; and internal evidence point to the author being a foreigner either by birth or education".
DAVEY in Dict. Nat. Biog., s.v.; IDEM, Hist. of English Music.
APA citation. (1912). Simon Tunsted. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15092b.htm
MLA citation. "Simon Tunsted." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 15. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15092b.htm>.
Transcription. This article was transcribed for New Advent by Thomas M. Barrett. Dedicated to the Poor Souls in Purgatory.
Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil Obstat. October 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.
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