36 
“Vision of Piers Ploughman : ”— 
Behold upon Walter Brut 
Whom bisiliche thei pursurden, 
For he said him the sothe (p. 489). 
Two very curious anonymous letters appear in the Hereford Episcopal Regis- 
ter, which show great candour and liberality on the part of the Notary; one pur- 
ports to be from “‘a Lollard,” and the other from ‘‘ Lucifer, Prince of Darkness, 
and the persecuting Prelates of the Popish clergy ”*—both are severely satirical on 
the Pope and the Romish Church. The real authors are unknown, but amongst 
others they have been attributed to Swynderby and Brut—a copy of the ‘“‘ Luci- 
fer” letter exists at Paris, with the earlier date of 1385, but without any indica- 
tion of its author. The Bishop of Hereford, though he thus condemned and 
excommunicated the Lollards in Deerfold felt himself powerless against them. 
In the wilds of the forest they were secure, set at naught his ordinances, and 
continued to teach and to preach with impunity. He therefore appealed to the 
Archbishop of Canterbury, to the king, and to the Pope himself. The king forth- 
with issued a commission against the Lollards in general, and in particular against 
‘¢ certain fellow named William Swynderby, pretending himself to be a chaplain, 
‘and one Stephen Bell, a learned man, who though condemned and excommuni- 
“cated by the Bishop of Hereford, have conveyed themselves by and by into the 
“borders of Wales, with such as even their factors and accomplices, keeping them- 
“selves close,” &c., &c., ordering the aforesaid William and Stephen to be ar- 
rested and committed either ‘‘ to our prison or to the prison of the same Bishop,” 
and then ‘“‘to keep them safe,” &c., &c., dated from Westminster, March 9th, 
1392-3, and signed ‘‘ Farrington,” (Reg. Trefnant, trans.), and the king sends a 
second letter, dated September 22nd, 1393, against ‘“‘ Walter Brut, and other 
“such children of iniquity ; ordering them to be arrested, imprisoned and pun- 
ished.” 
Two years later the Bishop of Hereford appeals to Pope Boniface XIX. for 
assistance, and receives from him a Bull, enclosing a copy of one he had sent to 
King Richard against the Lollards, with a scolding to the Bishop himself for not 
having written more strongly to the king about them—copies appear in the Episco- 
pal Register, and they show that the Pope spared no energy in language to put 
an end to the schism. 
Nothing further appears in the register with reference either to Swynderby, 
Walter Brut, Stephen Bell, or the others. Swynderby is known to have escaped 
harmless during the reign of Richard II. Fox thinks he was one of the earliest 
martyrs, and that he was burnt in Smithfield in 1401 in the presence of a great 
multitude of people; others think that ‘‘he in prison died ;” or others again 
“that he went abroad.” This last solution seems the most probable, for he was 
far too well known and sought after to be burnt or imprisoned as it were anony- 
mously ; and the great foresight and caution which stand so prominently forward 
in the study of his character, create the belief that he would not fail to find some 
means of escaping from his enemies. 
The extreme seclusion of the Forest of Deerfold certainly afforded a safe 
