178 



his ordinances and continued to teach and to preach with impunity. He next 

 appealed to the Archhishop of Canterbury, to the King, and to the Pope himself. 



The King forthwith issued a commission against the Lollards in general, 

 and in particular against " a certain fellow named William Swynderby pretend- 

 ing himself to be a chaplain, and one Stephen Bell, a learned man," who though 

 condemned and excommunicated by the Bishop of Hereford had conveyed them- 

 selyes by and by unto the borders of Wales, with such as were their factors and 

 accomplices, keeping themselves close." The commission authorises the bishop 

 and his ministers, the sheriffs, bailiffs, and other officers, &c., to arrest the 

 aforesaid William and Stephen, and to commit them " either to our prison, 

 or else to the prison of the same bishop " and there to keep them safe, &c. 

 The commission was dated from Westminster, Miirch 9th, 1392, and signed 

 " Farrington. " (Reg. Trefnant, transl.) 



The following year the King sends another letter, dated Sept. 22nd, 1393, 

 against Walter Brut and others, which is more interesting for its more special 

 address, which is as follows : — 



"Kichard, by the grace of God, King of England and of France, and Lord 

 of Ireland, to his beloved and faithful John Chaundos, knight ; John Eynefford, 

 knight ; Kynard de la Bere, knight ; Walter Deveros, knight ; Thomas de la 

 Barre, knight ; AVilliam Lucy, knight ; Leonard Haklut, knight ; and to the 

 Mayor of the city of Hereford, to Thomas Oldcastell, Richard Nassh, Roger 

 Wyggemore, Thomas Wallewayn, John Skydemore, John Up-Harry, Henry 

 Morton, and the Sheriff of Hereford, sendeth salutations : 



" Forasmuch as it is advertised us that one Walter Brut and other such 

 children of iniquity, have damnably holden, affirmed, and preached certain 

 articles and conclusions, being notoriously repugnant against the Holy Scrip- 

 tures," &c., &c., it calls upon them to make proclamations everywhere to forbid 

 their assembling together in conventicles, and to arrest, imprison, and punish all 

 who do so. (Reg. Trefnant, transl. ) 



Two years later the Bishop of Hereford appeals to the Pope Boniface IX. 

 for assistance, and receives from him a Bull, inclosing one he had sent to King 

 Kichard, against the Lollards, with a scolding to the bishop himself for not 

 having writ'en more boldly to the king about them. 



The bull to King Richard states how much the Pope is grieved "at certain 



heresies which have sprung up and do range without proper restraint at 



their own liberty, to the seducing of the faithful people," and further on it 



proceeds to specify that "under the regal presidence of yoiir most Christian 



government, a certain crafty and hair-brained sect of false Christians are allowed 



to go on and increase, who call themselves ' The poor men of the treasury of 



Christ and his disciples,' and whom the common people by a more sound name 



call ' Lollards '* (as a man would siy ' withered darnel,') according as their sins 



* Note on the Okigin of the tbum "Lollard." — Wycliffe and his 

 followers had no sooner attracted the at ention of the dominant i>arty in the 

 church than the name of " Lollards" was gicen to them. It was a party name 

 of contempt and derision, and was at once g«^nenilly adoi>ted. Its origin has 

 been much questioned, but it was certainly in use before Wycliffe's days as a 



