somuch as Antichrist commeth not before the distruction of the Empire, therfore such as go about to haue the empire extinct, are forerūners and messēgers in so doing of Antichrist. MarginaliaAn admonishion to the Romanes.Therfore let the Romains (saith he) & theire Bishops beware, leste their sinnes and wickednes so deseruing by the iust iudgement of God, the pristehode be taken from them. Furthermore, let also the Prelats & princes of Germany take hede. &c.

MarginaliaTaulerus of Germany a preacher against the popes procedings.And because oure aduersaries which obiect to vs the newenes of our doctrine, shall see the course and fourme of this religion nowe receaued, not to haue bene, eyther such a new thyng now, or a thyng so straunge in tymes past: I will adde to these aboue recited, maister Taulerus a preacher of Argētine in Germanie. an. 1350. Who contrary to the popes procedings, taught openly against all mens merits & against inuocation of saintes, and preached sincerely of our free iustificatiō by grace referring all mans trust onely to the mercy of God, & was an enemie to all superstition.MarginaliaFranciscus petracha.

With whom also may be adioyned Franciscus Petrarcha, a writer of the same age, who in his workes and his Italian meter speaking of Rome: MarginaliaVide. 20. epistolam Francisci petrarchæ
Rome the mother and schole of errour.calleth it the whore of Babilon, the schole and mother of errour, the temple of heresie, the neste of traychery growyng and increasing by the oppressyng of others: and sayth farther that she, (meanyng to the popes court) extolleth her selfe agaynst her founders þ^t is, the Emperours, who first set her vp & did so enriche her: And semeth playnly to affirme that the pope was Antichrist, declaryng þ^t no greater euill could happen to any man then to be made pope. This Franciscus was about the yeare of our Lord. 1350.

MarginaliaIoannes de rupe scissa.And if tyme would serue vs to seke out old historyes, we should finde plenty of faythful witnesses of olde and auncient time, to geue witnesse with vs agaynst the pope beside the other aboue rehearsed: as Ioānes de Rupe scissa an. 1340. MarginaliaIohn cast into prison.

Who for rebukyng the spiritualtie for theyr great enormities, and neglectyng their office and duety, was cast in prison.MarginaliaChurch of Rome, the whore of Babilon.Iiliricus a writer in our dayes testifieth, that he found and red in an old pamphlet, that the sayd Ioannes should call þ^e church of Rome, þ^e whore of Babilon: & the pope to be the minister of Antichrist, & the Cardinals to be þ^e fals prophets. Being in prison he wrote a boke of prophesies, bearing þ^e title: Vade mecū in tribulationē: in which boke (which also I haue sene) he prophesied & admonished affliction & tribulation to hang ouer the spiritualtie. MarginaliaThe reformation of the church before prophesied.And pronounceth plainly that God wil purge his clergy, and wil haue priestes that shalbe poore, godly, and that shal faithfully feede the Lordes flock: moreouer, that the goods of the churche shall returne agayne to the lay men. He prophesied also the same time, þ^t the Frēch kyng & his army should haue an ouerthrow. Whiche came lykewise to passe during the time of his emprisonment. Of this Ioannes de rupe, writeth Froysard in hys tyme, and also Wickliffe, of whose prophecies, more maye be sayde at more leasure (Christ willing) hereafter.

MarginaliaConradus Hager.About the same yeare of our Lord. 1340. in the citie Herbipoli, was one named maister Conradus Hager. MarginaliaThe Masse to be no sacrifice.Who (as appeareth by the old bulles & registers of Otho byshop of the sayd citie) is there recorded, to haue mainteined and taught the space of xxiiii. yeares together, the Masse to be no maner of sacrifice: neither that it profiteth any man other quicke or dede, and that the money geuen of the dead for Masses, be very roberies and sacrilege of priestes, whiche they wickedly do intercepte and take away from the poore. And sayd moreouer, that if he had a stooue full of gold & siluer, he would not geue one farthyng for any Masse. MarginaliaConradus cast in prison.For the same his doctrine, thys good preacher was condemned and inclosed in prison: What afterward became vpon him, we do not finde.

MarginaliaEx bullis quibusdam Otthonis Epis. Herbipoli.There is among other old and auncient recordes of antiquitie belongyng to this present time, a certein mo-MarginaliaPænitentiarius Asininument in verses Poetically compiled, but not without a certain morall, intituled, Pænitentiarius Asini, the asses confessor: bearing the date and yeare of our Lord in this number, Completus anno Domini. 1343. In this treatise be brought forth the wolfe, the foxe, and the asse cōming to shrifte and doyng penaunce. First the wolfe cōfesseth him to the foxe who easely doth absolue him frō all hys faultes, and also excuseth him in þ^e same. In lyke maner the wolfe hearyng the foxes shrifte, sheweth to him þ^e like fauour agayne. After this commeth the asse to cōfession, whose faulte was thys: that he beyng hungerie, tooke a straw out from the sheafe of one that went in peregrination vnto Rome. The asse although repenting of his fact, yet because he thought it not so heynous as the faultes of þ^e other, the more he hoped for his absolutiō. But what folowed? After the sely asse had vttered his crime in auricular confession, immediatly the discipline of þ^e law was executed vpon him with all seueritie: neither was he iudged worthy of any absolution, but was apprehended vppon the same, slaine and deuoured. MarginaliaThe pope and his spiritualtie cōfederate agaynst the laitie.Who soeuer was the author of this fabulous tale, had a misticall vnderstandyng in the same, for by the wolfe no doubt was ment þ^e þ^e pope. But the foxe was resembled to the prelates, curtisans, priestes, and reste of the spiritualtie. Of the spiritualtie, the Lord pope is soone absoyled, as contrary, the pope soone doth absoyle them in like maner. MarginaliaThe pope maketh the Emperour and lay mē asses.By the asse is ment the poore laitie, vpon whose backe the straite cēsure of the law is sharpely executed: especially when the Germane Emperours come vnder the popes inquisitiō, to be examined by his discipline, there is no absolution nor pardon to be found, but in all hast he must be deposed, as in these storyes may partly appeare before. And though the matter be not þ^e weight of a straw, yet what sayth the holy father the wolfe, if it please hym to make any matter of it.

Immensum scelus est, iniuria quam peregrino
Feci.ti, stramen subripiendo sibi.
Non aduertisti quod plura pericula passus,
plurima passurus, quod peregrinus erat.
Non aduertisti, quod ei per maxima terræ
Et pelagi spacia, sit peragranda via.
Non aduertisti, sanctos, nec limina sancta,
Sanctorum sanctam sed nec Hierusalem.
Ille retransiuit eadem loca, tam violentum
Ex inopinato sensit adesse malum,
De papa taceo, cuius protectio talem
Conduxit, cuius tu vilipendis opem.
Totius ecclesiæ fuerit quam nuncius iste,
Pertulit abstracto gramine damna viæ. &c.  

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Anti-papal poem in which the pope makes the emperor and laymen asses

Foxe text Latin

Immensum scelus est ... gramine damna viæ. &c.

Translation

J. Barrie Hall

The injury which you have done to the pilgrim by taking away his straw is a great crime. You did not heed the fact that he had endured many dangers, was destined to endure very many more, and that he was a pilgrim. You did not heed the fact that the journey he had to travel was over very great expanse of land and sea. You took no heed of holy men or of holy temples, nor even of holy Jerusalem which belongs to holy men. In doing this to an unknown pilgrim you are a thief, and you well know in what honour a thief ought to die. You may have confessed, you may have been convicted, but do you have the means to cloak such injuries? He came back through the same places, and realised that so violent an evil was unexpectedly at hand. I say nothing of the pope whose protection hired such an one and whose help you disparage. Though he were the messenger of the whole church, he suffered loss on the road through the taking away of his grass.

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And thus they aggerating and exaggerating the fault to the vttermost, flye vpon the poore Asse and deuoure hym. By the which Apologie, the tirannicall and fraudulent practises of these spirituall Romanistes are lyuelye described.

MarginaliaGerhardus. Ridder, a writer agaynst monks and friers.Not long after these aboue rehearsed, about the yere of our lord. 1350. Gerhardus Ridder, wrote also against the monkes and Friars a booke intituled, Lachrima ecclesiæ: wherein he disputeth against the foresayde religious orders, namely against the begging friers: prouing that kinde of life to be farre from Christian perfection, for that it is againste charitie to lyue vpon other, when a man may liue by his own labours. And affirmeth thē to be hipocrites, filthy lyuers, and suche as for mans fauour, and for lucre sake, do mixt with true diuinity: fables, Apochryphas, and dreames of vanitie. Also, that they vnder pretence of long prayer, deuour widdowes houses: and with their confessions, sermons, and burials doo trouble the churche of Christ manifolde wayes. And therefore perswaded the prelats to bridle and keepe short the inordinate lisence and abuses of these monasticall persons. &c.