Bishop Buckingham and the lollards of Lincoln diocese

A. K. McHardy

doi:10.1017/S0424208400005775

Bishop Buckingham and the lollards of Lincoln diocese

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 March 2016

A. K. McHardy

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A. K. McHardy*: Affiliation:
Somerville College, Oxford

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The first case of lollardy in which Buckingham is known to have acted concerned William Swinderby, the hermit of Leicester. Swinderby’s story is well known, and needs no retelling here. What should be noted as important for our purpose is the timing of his prosecution: the first inhibitions and citations against him were dated 5 March 1382. Thus Buckingham took action before additional powers were obtained from the lay arm and before the Blackfriars council itself met, though it may be conjectured that when he acted he had the forthcoming meeting of the council in view. Buckingham issued the commission to Swinderby’s two judges on 12 May 1382 when he was in London for the council, and published the sentence against him on 11 July. On the following day he passed on to his archdeacons the council’s condemnation of Wycliffite opinions, though the decrees had already been published in the diocese, at Oxford, on 15 June 1382.

Type: Research Article
Information: Studies in Church History , Volume 9: Schism, Heresy and Religious Protest , 1972 , pp. 131 - 145

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0424208400005775 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © Ecclesiastical History Society 1972

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^{page no 131 note 1} His trial in Lincoln diocese, drawn largely from Buckingham’s Memoranda Register, is described in McFarlane, [K. B.], [John] Wycliffe [and the Beginnings of English Non-conformity] (London 1952) pp 121-5Google Scholar.

^{page no 131 note 2} [Lincolnshire Archives Office,] Reg[ister] 12 [Register of John Buckingham (Memoranda)], fols 236V, 242.

^{page no 131 note 3} Reg 12 fol 243V; [Chronicon Henrici] Knighton [Monachi Leycestrensis], ed Lumby, J. R., RS 92, 11 (1895) p 197 Google Scholar.

^{page no 131 note 4} Reg 12 fols 239V-240V; printed, Knighton 11, pp 167-70.

^{page no 131 note 5} McFarlane, Wycliffe pp 109-10.

^{page no 131 note 6} For discussion see Richardson, [H. G.], [‘Heresy and the Lay Power under Richard II’] EHR, LI (1936) pp 7–8 CrossRef Google Scholar.

^{page no 131 note 7} C[alendar of]P[atent] R[olls], Richard, II, 1381-5, 6 vols (London 1895-1909) 11, p 150 Google Scholar.

^{page no 132 note 1} The Early Rolls of Merton College, ed Highfield, J. R. L., OHS, new series, XVIII (1964) p 45 Google Scholar.

^{page no 132 note 2} Emden, [A.B.], [A Biographical Register of the University of] Oxford (Oxford 1957-9) 1, pp 494, 67Google Scholar.

^{page no 132 note 3} Ibid 1, pp 494-5; McFarlane, Wycliffe p 19.

^{page no 132 note 4} Reg 12 fols 271V-272.

^{page no 132 note 5} See Reg 12 fol 243V; printed in Fasc[iculi] Ziz[amorum], ed Shirley, W. W., RS 5 (1859) p 337 Google Scholar.

^{page no 132 note 6} Reg 12 fol 272; for text see appendix.

^{page no 132 note 7} Reg 12 fol 240; printed in Fasc Ziz pp 278, 280.

^{page no 133 note 1} Ibid pp 278, 279.

^{page no 133 note 2} Knighton 11, p 178.

^{page no 133 note 3} CPR, Richard, II, 1385-9, 6 vols (London 1895-1909) 111, p 398 Google Scholar.

^{page no 133 note 4} Emden, Oxford 1, p 494.

^{page no 133 note 5} The proceedings against Compworth are described at length in Historia [Vitae et Regni] Ricardi II [Angliae Regis a Monacho quodam de Evesham consigliata], ed Hearne, T. (Oxford 1729) pp 67-9Google Scholar.

^{page no 133 note 6} Reg 12 fol 310.

^{page no 134 note 1} Emden, Oxford 111, pp 1861.

^{page no 134 note 2} CPR 1381-5, P 150.

^{page no 134 note 3} Reg 12 fols 311r-311v.

^{page no 134 note 4} Ibid fols 310V-311.

^{page no 134 note 5} PRO MS C85/108/13.

^{page no 134 note 6} Historia Ricardi II p 69.

^{page no 134 note 7} PRO MS C 85/108/14.

^{page no 134 note 8} Reg 12 fol 315V.

^{page no 134 note 9} PRO MS C85/108/17.

^{page no 135 note 1} Individual letters patent granting the right to imprison heretics were sent to seven bishops of the southern province, the first being issued to the bishop of Coventry and Lichfield on 21 May 1386. Richardson, p 9.

^{page no 135 note 2} Knighton 11, p 260.

^{page no 135 note 3} Probably 25 March and 10 May. Reg 12 fols 349V, 350.

^{page no 135 note 4} Richardson, pp 10-12.

^{page no 135 note 5} Emden, Oxford 1, pp 266-7; the other members of the commission were William Chisulden a prebendary of Newark College, Richard Barewe knight, and Robert Langham. CPR 1385-9, p 468.

^{page no 135 note 6} Ibid p 550.

^{page no 135 note 7} On 23 May 1388 commissions similar to that issued to Brightwell and his colleagues were addressed to groups headed by the chancellor of Salisbury cathedral and the prior of Thurgaton (Notts). CPR 1383-9, p 468.

^{page no 136 note 1} This episode is largely drawn from the typescript of K. B. McFarlane’s lectures on the lollard knights.

^{page no 136 note 2} Reg 12 fol 357.

^{page no 136 note 3} CCR, Richard, II, 1385-9, 6 vols (London 1914-27) 111, pp 667-8Google Scholar.

^{page no 136 note 4} Reg 12 fol 357V.

^{page no 136 note 5} [The] Metropolitan Visitations [of William Courtenay Archbishop of Canterbury 1381-1396], ed Dahmus, J. H. (Illinois 1950) pp 164-7Google Scholar.

^{page no 136 note 6} Probably issued on or about 12 January 1392. Reg 12 fol 388.

^{page no 137 note 1} Metropolitan Visitations p 169.

^{page no 137 note 2} McFarlane, Wycliffe pp 141-2.

^{page no 137 note 3} Reg 12 fol 398.

^{page no 137 note 4} McFarlane, Wycliffe p 142.

^{page no 137 note 5} Ibid p 144.

^{page no 138 note 1} Reg 12 fol 406. Buckingham also addressed a letter in similar terms under his privy seal to one of the commissaries, almost certainly his suffragan, on 8 August 1393, ibid fol 406.

^{page no 138 note 2} [Lincolnshire Archives Office], Reg[ister] 12B, [Register of John Buckingham (Royal Writs)] fol 64.

^{page no 138 note 3} On 9 March 1393, The Peasants’ Rising and the Lollards, ed Powell, E. and Trevelyan, G. M. (London 1899) p 50 Google Scholar.

^{page no 139 note 1} Reg 12B fol 64.

^{page no 139 note 2} Reg 12 fol 406V.

^{page no 139 note 3} CCR 1392-6 p 260.

^{page no 139 note 4} PRO MS C85/109/38.

^{page no 139 note 5} Signified as an apostate friar by the prior of the carmelite convent, Northampton. No date. PRO MS C81/1793/29.

^{page no 139 note 6} McFarlane, Wycliffe p 141.

^{page no 139 note 7} Reg 12B fols 64-64V. For the text see appendix.

^{page no 139 note 8} Fasc Ziz p 278.

^{page no 140 note 1} For discussion and references see Russell-Smith, J. M., ‘Walter Hilton and a Tract in Defence of the Veneration of Images’, Dominican Studies, VII (London 1954) pp 180–214 Google Scholar.

^{page no 140 note 2} Knighton 11, pp 182-3. Metropolitan Visitations p 164.

^{page no 140 note 3} Workman, H.B., John Wyclif (Oxford 1926) 11, p 18 Google Scholar; Fasc Ziz pp 364 (1395), 409-10 (1399).

^{page no 140 note 4} Compare Swinderby, 1382, Fasc Ziz p 339; Knighton 11, pp 174, 262; Metropolitan Visitations p 164.

^{page no 140 note 5} The Leicester lollards, 1382. Knighton 11, p 175.

^{page no 141 note 1} For scepticism about the value of indulgences see Metropolitan Visitations, p 164; Wycliffe’s views on the papacy are described in Workman, H. B., John Wyclif 11, pp 73–82 Google Scholar.

^{page no 141 note 2} For references see Gordon, Leff, Heresy in the Later Middle Ages (Manchester 1967) 11 p 528 Google Scholar; Compare Knighton 11, p 260.

^{page no 141 note 3} For explanation see p 143 n 3 below.

^{page no 141 note 4} ‘Non potius orandum est in ecclesia quam alibi.’ Knighton 11, p 262.

^{page no 141 note 5} Metropolitan Visitations p 164.

^{page no 142 note 1} For example, in 1420 William Taylor said that the prayers of priests were of no greater value than the lowing of oxen or the grunting of pigs. Thomson, J.A.F., The Later Lollards (Oxford 1965) p 25 Google Scholar. See also McFarlane, Wycliffe pp 184-5.

^{page no 142 note 2} Wood-Legh, K. L., Perpetual Chantries in Britain (Cambridge 1965)Google Scholar especially chapter X.

^{page no 143 note 1} Correctly ‘volens’.

^{page no 143 note 2} Correctly ‘interrici’.

^{page no 143 note 3} Property held by the friars. The word ‘caym’ was formed from the initial letters of the Carmelites, Augustinians, the Jacobites (Dominicans) and the Minorites. Select English Works of John Wyclif, ed Arnold, T. (Oxford 1871) 11, p 348nGoogle Scholar.

^{page no 144 note 1} Correctly ‘prelatorum’.

^{page no 144 note 2} Correctly ‘proficisci’.

^{page no 144 note 3} Correctly ‘osculare’.

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