Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Senatus
SENATUS, called Bravonius (d. 1207), prior of Worcester, rose to that dignity after filling the offices of precentor and librarian. He taught in the monastery and did much to develop the school. As librarian he made a concordance of the gospels, addressed to Master Alured, by whose order it was written. He quotes many authorities, and refers to the copy of Offa's Bible sent from Rome, and then preserved at Worcester. The dedicatory letter has been printed from a manuscript at Conches addressed to Master S. (Martene and Durand, Thes. Anecd. i. 484). In the Corpus MS. (Cambridge) No. 48 the whole work is extant in Senatus's autograph. He also wrote a life of St. Oswald [q. v.], bishop of Worcester, and afterwards archbishop of York, which has been printed by Raine (Church Historians of York, ii. 60). It is extant in the Durham MS. B. iv. 39, where it is followed by the manuscript life of St. Wulstan [q. v.], bishop of Worcester, which is probably also by Senatus. It may be a Latin translation of the English life by Colman, monk of Worcester (Hardy, Descr. Cat. ii. 72). Another Latin translation of this biography in Cott. Claud. A. v. is by William of Malmesbury (Wharton, vol. ii. p. xv).
In the Bodleian MS. N.E. B. 2. 1. are six letters written by Senatus as prior: to Roger, bishop of Worcester; to Master Alured (as above); to John Comyn, archbishop of Dublin, ‘de horis canonicis’ (two copies); to Clement, prior of Osney, praising the schools of Oxford; to Master Alured, ‘de officio et orationibus missæ;’ and to William de Tunbridge, ‘de attributis divinis.’ In the Lambeth MS. 238, fo. 207, is his ‘expositio in canonem missæ,’ dedicated to Master Alured (Wharton, i. 548). Leland saw a collection of his letters at Worcester (Coll. iii. 160). Senatus resigned the priorate on 20 Nov. 1196, and died in 1207.
[Wharton's Anglia Sacra; Ann. Wigorn. and Tewkesb. (Rolls Ser.); Bernard's Catalogue of Manuscripts; Dugdale's Monasticon Anglicanum; Tanner's Bibliotheca.]