ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 



that it is best to reproduce it in full from a seventeenth-century transcript 

 now in the Bodleian Library M — 



Anno 1 6 Ric. II. A complaint to y King and Council, against John Fox, Maior 

 of North' etc., exhibited in French by Rich'' Stormesworth, Woolman; complaining 

 yf ye s'' Maior hath presumed by Colour of his office, to use Royal power and auctority of 

 Holy Kirke in y s'i Town authorising y' Lollards to preach, maugre y Bishop of Lincoln 

 and his Curates, notwithstanding their Inhibicons.'' That y s"* Mai^ is a Lollard, keeping 

 in his house one Richard Bullock chaplain, who hath been convicted of many Errors and 

 Heresys at North' before Thos. Botteler, Archdeacon of Northt) and likewise one James 

 CoUyn, sometime a Prentice of y^ Trade of Mercery in London : refusing his Arte to 

 become a Lollard : w<^h James Collyn was y= first maintainer of LoUardy in North' and 

 ye s'l Maif hath drawn to him one Tho. Compworthe of y' county of Oxford, who hath been 

 convict before y' chancelU and University there of many Err'' and Heresys. And one 

 Nicolas Weston, a ffryer Carmelite apostate and Lollard without ye licence of his Order, 

 and made him Parish Chaplain of St. Gregory's at North'- Andy' ye s'' Mai' hath drawn unto 

 him one Mr. Wm. North wold, an instructor of ye Lollards of ye Town, without ye licence 

 of ye s"* Bp etc. ; ye w'^ Mr. Wm. did wrongfully occupy ye Archdeaconry of Sudbury 

 about seven years, and after Symoniacally took away a great sum of Money, on w'^'' he 

 liveth at this day deliciously in ye House of St. Andrew at North' : where he hath caused 

 such debate between ye Prior and Menkes y' ye house is well nigh undone. Mr. Wm. 

 caused ye like troubles at Melkesworth and Oseney and St. John's at Bedford, etc. 



That ye s"* Mai'' hath made ye whole Town of North' in a manner to become Lollards, 

 being vexatious to such as are not. That he brought in one Robert Braibrok, a chaplain, 

 an Herretick, to preach in All S" Church at North' maugre ye Bp etc. and one 

 Parson of Wynkpole, a Lollard, to preach there, who assended ye Pulpit w" ye Viccar of 

 ye Church, after the offertory, went to ye Altar to sing his Mass ; whom ye s<i Mai'' followed 

 and took by ye back of his vestment, to cause him to cease, till ye s'^ Preacher had preached, 

 and ye Vicar answer'd non possum. The s") Parson preached there his Lollardy in ye after- 

 noon too, to whom the s^ Rich'' Stormesworth cryed, 71m autem, Tu autem, to cause him to 

 hold his peace : comanding him to come down, upon w'^^' an uproar ensued, and 

 y' ye s^ Rich"* was in danger of his life. That afterwards ye i.^ Mai' fearing that he might 

 be blamed for w' he had done in maintenance of ye sA Preacher, got unto him 8 or 9 of 

 ye 24 chief men to assist him for ye inditeing of ye s^ Rich'' for ye s'^ ffray, [and] summoned 

 ye Dosouns to appear at his court. That Laurence Barber, one of ye Dosouns, was 

 imprisoned by ye rest for not agreeing with their p'sentment. That ye Mai'' got a Jury of 

 Lollards who, together with Wm. Pisford, an enemy of ye s^ Rich'' gave their Verdite 

 yt ye sd Rich'' was principal in ye Affray, ye %i Rich"' being absent when this Verdite was 

 given. That no action is there maintainable by ye Inhabitants against ye Lollards during 

 this man's maioralty. That ye Maior etc. sent to Oxford to hire Preachers to preach during 

 ye time of Lent, at ye Cross in ye Church Yard in ye Market-place of North'- That 

 ye Commissaries of ye Bp of Lincoln dare not sit upon Lollardy in North' for fear of 

 ye Maior. That he with other Lollards brought ye afores"* Mr. Wm. Northwold from 

 ye Monastery of S' Andrew's, arrayed en une cloke, une Tabard, et une chapon furres de 

 pcllure and w'h a Cap on, as if he had been a Docf or Master of Divinity, to preach. 



It has not been found possible to trace the issue of this complaint, but 

 at all events John Fox' must have been a man of some considerable substance 

 in the town, and could not have undergone any serious punishment ; for 

 subsequently he was again mayor in two successive years, 1399 and 1400. 



The Lollards came to be regarded in the time of Henry IV as a positive 

 danger to the state on account of their social tenets, and rigorous measures 



' This is undoubtedly a condensed rendering of the French of Anct. Petition 7,099 (P.R.O.). A fuller 

 English transcript will be found Cott. MS. Cleopatra II, 201. 



' In 1392 Bishop Buckingham issued a letter to the clergy of his diocese with respect to the wolf that 

 was preying on the flock, particularly in the town of Northampton, where unlicensed preachers were 

 expounding after the manner of the Lollards. The bishop inhibited all such preachers, and ordered that his 

 proclamation should be published in all the churches of Northampton. In the following year the bishop 

 commissioned the abbot of St. James's, Northampton, and others to inquire and report as to the names of 

 Lollards, as a number of wandering priests and others were leading the flock astray, especially in Northampton 

 (Line. Epis. Reg. Buckingham, fols. 393, 401). 



' He had been appointed a local commissioner by the crown in 1387. Cal. Pat. 1 1 Ric. II, pt.i, ra. 21 J. 



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