The saint, vested as a bishop, holds a pastoral staff in his left hand and raises his right in benediction. An inscription running behind him reads ‘S(A)N(C)T(US) [R]OBERT in Lombardic letters. The identity of the saint in question has been contested, but this is probably Robert Grosseteste, philosopher, theologian and scientist, and bishop of Lincoln 1235 -1253. At his death he was widely revered in England as a saint, and Archbishop John le Romeyn of York, a former precentor of Lincoln, was one of those who petitioned Rome for his canonisation on several occasions between 1261 and 1307, albeit without success. An image in stained glass is especially appropriate for a saintly scholar who wrote treatises on the qualities of light and rainbows.
