BRADWARDYN. Thomas de Bradwardine or de Braderwardina (1290?-1349), the name in public documents, was educated at Merton College, Oxford. He gained the highest reputation as a mathematician, astronomer, moral philosopher, and theologian. His famous treatise, De causa Dei contra Pelagiani et de virtue causarem ad suos Mertonenses libri tres (Three Books Concerning the Cause of God Against the Pelagians and the Cause of Virtue Among the Mertonians), considers God's foreknowledge and man's free will and earned him the name Doctor Profundus. Bradwardine was elected Archbishop of Canterbury in July 1349 but died of the plague the same year.

The Nun's Priest links Bradwardine's name with Boethius, acknowledging his great reputation as a writer on God's foreknowledge, NPT 3242. [Augustin: Boece]

The form, a contraction with a short vowel in the final syllable, appears in final rhyming position.