80 



A HISTORY OF HERTFORDSHIRE 



subject for sarcasm. Oldcastle had friends in the place, and rumour went 

 that the Lollards designed to destroy this abbey with that of Westminster, 

 the canons of St. Paul's and all the friars of London." In confirmation of 

 this it was reported in 141 4 that among the belongings of William Murlee, 

 of Dunstable, who was burnt in that year, was found a list of the names of 

 all the monks of St. Albans," obtained with a view to wiping them out. 

 Stories and suspicions such as these were bound to strengthen the public 

 uneasiness, which was increased rather than lessened by the action of the 

 Church. Archbishop Arundel issued a mandate for the making of pro- 

 cessions and litanies on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays for the suppression 

 of heresy, and this was promulgated by the Bishop of London at Much 

 Hadham in January 141 3—14." Those in the diocese of Lincoln were 

 admonished soon afterwards to abstain from being present at preaching at 

 unaccustomed places and times.'' With such advertisement it was not 

 surprising to find a widespread curiosity as to the tenets of the Lollards, and 

 this, more than actual acceptance of their views, may account for the 

 distribution of their tracts ' in every large house or inn ' of St. Albans, 

 Northampton and Reading." At St. Albans, Oldcastle certainly had definite 

 adherents, for he hid in the house of a countryman and tenant of the abbey. 

 News of his presence leaked out, and the abbot's household made an attempt 

 to arrest him, but merely succeeded in capturing his companion. At the 

 house they found various books, in some of which the illuminated figures of 

 the saints had been defaced.'* There were, moreover, English books among 

 them such as those found at a later date among the belongings of John 

 Galewey, of the exempt jurisdiction of St. Albans." Galewey was a parch- 

 ment maker, a trade which seems to have numbered many Lollards among 

 its members '° ; he was cited before the spiritual court and excommunicated ; 

 possibly he abjured, for no further record of the case has been found." In 

 the beginning of 1426—7 rumour was busy with the names of various 

 persons dwelling within the abbot's jurisdiction and said to be enemies of 

 the faith. A synod was accordingly held in the church of St. Peter at 

 St. Albans.'' Ordinances were issued against false preachers, and incum- 

 bents were warned against permitting any to preach unless licensed or 

 expressly sent for the purpose." A further ordinance was directed against 

 the reading or possession of suspicious books in the vulgar tongue.*" The 

 three suspected persons were then examined. Two sought purgation ; the 

 third, William Redhed, ' malt man ' of Barnet, had owned the books and 

 made public abjuration.*^ 



How solemn a thing abjuration was made can be gathered from that of 

 Thomas HuUe of Hertford. There in the church of All Saints one day in 

 June 1457 ^^ appeared before the bishop himself and confessed that he had 



^ Walsingham, Hist. Jngl. (Rolls Ser.), ii, 298. '» Ibid. 299. 



"^ ' Quos ut fertur eliminasse proposuerat.' 'i Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. ix, App. 5 7. 



'- Line. Epis. Reg. Repingdon, Memo. fol. 158. 



^^ Walsingham, op. cit. ii, 317. ^ Ibid. 326. 



^° Willi of the Archdeaconry of St. Albans, Stoneham, fol. 73 d. The document is not dated, but is 

 found with others of 1428-30. 



2* cf. Gairdner, Lollards and the Reformation in Engl, i, 93 and n. ; Devon, Issues of the Exch. i, 330—2. 



'^ His name does not occur among the Chancery Significations of Excommunication within the abbot's 

 jurisdiction. " Amundesham, Jnnales Mon. S. Jliani (Rolls Ser.), i, 222. '' Ibid. 224. 



*" Ibid. 224-5. " Ibid. 227. 



308 



