§ 43. THE LOLLARDS. 351
Spenser, joined heartily in the repressive crusade, swearing to put to death by the flames or by decapitation any of the dissenters who might presume to preach in his diocese. The reason for the general recantations of the first generation of Wyclif's followers has been found in the novelty of heresy trials in England and the appalling effect upon the accused, when for the first time they felt themselves confronted with the whole power of the hierarchy. ^
In 1394, they were strong enough to present a petitiojn in fuU^rfiament, con^aIhmgl:welve Conclusions.^ These propositions called the Roman Church the stepmother of the Church in England, declared that many who had priestly ordination were not ordained of God, took up the evils growing out of enforced celibacy, denied Christ's material presence in the eucharist, condemned pilgrimages and image-worship, and pronounced priestly confession and indulgences measures invented for the profit of the clergy. The use of mitres, crosses, oil and incense was condemned and also war, on the ground that warriors, after the first blood is let, lose all charity, and so " go straight to hell." In addition to the Bible, the document quotes Wyclif's Trialogus by name.
From about 1390 to 1425, we hear of theXtollard&in alL^ij:. rections^so that the contemporary chronicler was able to say that of every two men found on the roads, one was sure to be a Lollard.^ With the accession of Henry IV. of Lancaster (1399-1413), a severe policy was adopted. The culminating^ point of legislation was reached in 1401, when parliament passed the act for the burning of heretics, the first act of tl:!£, kind in England.* The statute referred to the Lollards as a new sect, damnably thinking of the faith of the Church in respect to the sacraments and, against the law of God and the Church, usurping the office of preaching. It forbade this people to preach, hold schools and conventicles and issue books. The violators were to be tried in the diocesan courts and, if
1 Cheyney, p. 436 sqq.
2 Gee and Hardy, pp. 126-132. Fasc, pp. 360-369. See Gairdner, I. 44-46.
3 Knighton, II. 191.
* De comburenclo hoeretico, Gee and Hardy, pp. 133-137.
352 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
found guilty and refusing to abjure, were to be turned over to the civil officer and burnt. The burning, so it was stipulated, was to be on a high place where the punishment might be witnessed and the onlookers be struck with fear.
The most prominent personages connected with, the earliest period of Wycliffism, Philip Repyngdon, John Ashton, Nicolas Hereford and John Purvey, all recanted. The last three and Wyclif are associated by Knighton as the four arch-heretics.
^epyngdoii, who had boldly declared himself at Oxford for Wyclif and his view of the sacrament, made a full recantation, 1382. ^Subsequently he was in high favor, became chancellor _ of Oxford, bishop of Lincoln and a cardinal, 1408. He showed tlie ardor of his zeal by treating with severity the sect whose views he had once espoused.
John Ashton had been one of the most active of Wyclif's preachers. In setting forth his heretical zeal, Knighton describes him as "leaping up from his bed and, like a dog, ready to bark at the slightest sound." He finally submitted in Courtenay's court, professing that he " believed as our modur, holy kirke, believes," and that in the sacrament the priest has in his hand Christ's very body. He was restored to his privileges as lecturer in Oxford, but afterwards fell again into heretical company. 1
Hereford, Wyclif's faUow- translator, appealed toRome^ was condemned there and cast into prison. After two years of confinement, he escaped to England and, after being again imprisoned, made his peace with the Church and died a Carthusian.
In 1389, nine I^ollards recanted before Courtenay, at Leicester. The popular preacher, William Swynderby, to whose sermons in Leicester the people flocked from every quarter, made an abject recantation, but later returned to his old ways,
^ Knighton, 11. 171 .sqq., j,avo.s the recantation in English, the Fuse, p. 329, in Latin. John Foxe's accounts of the Lollard martyrs are always quaintly related. Gairdner is the fullest and best of the recent treatments. For his judgment of Foxe, see L 150, 336 sqq. lie ascribes to him accuracy in transcribing documents. The articles in the Diet, of Xatl. Biog. are always to be consulted.