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565 [565]

K. Richard. 2. John Wickliffe. Ph. Repington. I. Asheton. N Herford Actes and Mon. of the church.

MarginaliaA parliament summoned.the archbishop, for collecting of a subsidie, & to haue a conuocation of the clergy summoned, agaynst the next parlament, whiche should begyn the. xviij. day of Nouember.  

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Foxe is drawing on Archbishop Courtenay's register for his account of what transpired in the Convocation of 1382; see Lambeth Palace Library, Courtenay Register, fos. 33r-34r.

MarginaliaThe xv. day of Octob. 1382.The Archbishop likewise on the xv. day of October, directed his letters monitorie (as the maner is) to Robert Braybroke Bishop of London, to geaue the same admonitiō to all his suffraganes and other of the clergy within his prouince for the assemblyng of the conuocation aforesayd. MarginaliaThe conuocation of S. Frideswed in Oxford.
The 18. day of Nouemb.
All whiche done and executed, the parlament begon beyng holden at Oxford the xviij. day of Nouember, where the conuocation was kept in the monastery of Frisdeswide in Oxford. In the whiche conuocation, the Archbishop with the other Bishops their sittyng in their Pontificalibus, declared ij. causes of that their present assēbly wherby (saith he) to represse heresies, whiche began newly in the realme to spring, and for correctyng other excesses in þe churche. The other cause sayd he, was to ayde and supporte the kyng with some necessarie subsidie of money to be gathered, whiche thus declared the conuocation was continued til the day folowing, which was the xix. of Nouember.

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MarginaliaThe 19. day of Nouemb. an. 1382.At the sayd day & place, the Archbishop with the other prelates assemblyng them selues as before: The Archbishop after the vsed solemnitie, willed the procuratours of the clergy appointed for euery dioces, to consult with in them selues, in some conuenient seuerall place, what they thought for their partes touching redres of things, to bee notified and declared to hym and to his brethren. &c. Furthermore for somuch, sayth he, as it so noysed through all the realme, that there were certaine in the vniuersitie of Oxford, whiche did holde and maintayne conclusions (as he called them) hereticall and erroneous condemned by him, & by other lawyers & Doctours of Diuinitie: He therfore assigned, þe bishops, Sarū, Herford, & Rochester, MarginaliaRob. Rygge displaced frō Vice chancellorship.with William Rugge then vicechaūcelour of the vniuersitie of Oxford (for belike Robert Rigge was then displased) also with William Berton, and Ihon Midleton doctors: MarginaliaInquisition made at Oxford.geuing thē his full autoritie with cursing and bannyng, to compel them to searche and to inquire with all diligence and wayes possible, ouer all and singular what soeuer, either doctours, bachelers, or scholers of the said vniuersitie, whiche did hold, teach, mainteine and defende, in scholes or out of scholes, the sayd cōclusions hereticall (as he called them) or erroneous, and afterward to geue certificat truly and playnly touching the premisses. And thus for that day the assemble brake vp to the next. & so to the next, MarginaliaThe 24 day of Nouemb. an. 1382.and to the third day being monday, the 24. of Nouemb. Ex Regist. VV. Courtney.

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On the which day, in the presence of the prelates and þe clergy in the chapter house of S. Frideswide, came in Philip Repyngton (otherwise called of þe brethren afterward, Rampington) who their abiured the conclusions & assertiōs aforesaid, in this forme of wordes as foloweth.

MarginaliaThe abiuration of Phillip Repington.In Dei Nomine Amen.  

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Philip Repingdon's abjuration is copied from Lambeth Palace Library, Courtenay Register, fo. 34v.

I Philip Repyngton chanon of the house of Leicester, acknowledging one catholique and apostolique fayth do curse and also abiure all heresie, namely these heresies and errours vnder written, condemned and reproued by the decrees canonicall, & by you moste reuerend father, touching which hetherto I haue been diffamed: condemning moreouer & reprouing both thē and the authors of them, and do confesse the same to be catholically condemned: And sweare also, by these holy Euaungelies, which here I holde in my hand, and do promise, neuer by any persuasions of men, nor by any way hereafter, to defend or hold as true, any of the sayd conclusions vnder written: but doe and will stand and adhere in all things, to the determination of þe holy catholike church, and to yours, in thys behalfe. Ouer and besides, all suche as stand contrary to thys fayth, I do pronounce thē with theyr doctrine and folowers worthy of euerlasting curse. And if I myselfe shall presume at any tyme to holde or preach any thyng contrary to the premisses, I shall be content to abide the seueritie of the canons. Subscribed with myne owne hand, and with myne own accorde, Phil. Repington. MarginaliaPhillip Repington after his abiuratiō became a terrible persecutor.And thus the said Rampington was discharged, who afterward was made byshop of Lincolne, and became at length the most bytter and extreme persecutor of thys side, of all the other byshops within the realme, as in proces hereafter may appeare.

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After the abiuration of this Repington, immediatly was brought in Iohn Ayshton, student of Diuinitie  

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Foxe is drawing his account of John Aston's refusal to plead or abjure from Lambeth Palace Library, Courtenay Register, fo. 32v.

: who being examined of those conclusions, and willed tosay hys minde, answered: that he was to simple and ignorant, and therfore would not, and could not answere any thing clerely or distinctly to those cōclusions. Wherupon, the Archbishop assigned to hym Doct. W. Rugge  
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This is Robert Rygge, it is just that he is misidentified in Courtenay's register.

the Vicechauncelor, and other diuines such as he required hymself, to be instructed in the mystery of those conclusions, agaynst the after noone: MarginaliaA short tyme my Lord, for a man in one fore noone to learne a fayth against his conscience.who then appearing agayne after dinner before the Archb. and the prelates, MarginaliaThe abiuration of Iohn Asheton.dyd in lyke sort and forme of wordes abiure as did Repington before. MarginaliaEx Chron. Monast. D. Albani
Iohn Asheton.
Of thys Iohn Ayshton we read, that afterward by Tho. Arundell Archbishop of Canterb. he was cited and condemned  
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This expression of uncertainty about John Aston's fate comes from a British Library, Harley MS 3634, a version of Thomas Walsingham's Chronica majora which Foxe obtained from Matthew Parker. This manuscript is printed as Chronicon Angliae, ed. E. M. Thompson, Rolls Series 64 (London, 1874); this material is on p. 350. This replaces Foxe's earlier account of Aston (on 1563, p. 102), which based largely on Bale's notes in the Fasciculi Zizaniorum (Bodley Library MS Musaeo e 86, fos. 80v-81r). For the record, Aston abjured in November 1382, but soon withdrew his recantation and resumed a career as a Lollard preacher. He died by 1407..

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: but whether he dyed in pryson, or was burned, we haue yet no certeintie to shewe. Thys is certayn by the playne wordes of the Chronicle of S. Albans, that when the Archb. with hys doctours and fryers sat in examination vpō this said Iohn Ayshton, in London: MarginaliaThe Londiners opened the dore where the Archbishop sate against I. Asheton.the Londiners brake open the dore of the conclaue, Ipsumq̀; Archiepiscopum in ciuitate sedentem impediunt, cum processum fecisset contra Ioannem Ayshton, &c. That is, and dyd let the Archbishop hymselfe sitting in the citie of London, when he would haue made processe against Iohn Ayshton. an. 1382. And thus much of Iohn Ayshton.

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MarginaliaNic Herford would not appeareAs touching Nicholas Herford, during the tyme of thys conuocation, he dyd not appeare  

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Actually Nicholas Hereford appealed his case to Rome, and, evading arrest, journeyed there in person. Urban VI had him imprisoned, but Hereford escaped in 1385. He returned to England and was imprisoned in January 1387, but he was free by the summer. He remained an important disseminator of Lollard ideas, but he made his peace with the authorities. He held various offices in the Church, including a stint as chancellor of St. Paul's cathedral and as chancellor of the diocese of Hereford.

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: and therfore had the sentence of excommunication. MarginaliaNic. Herford appealed frō the Archb.Against which, he put hys appeale from the Archbishop, to the kyng and hys counsail: The Archb. would not admitte it, but findyng stayes and stoppes, MarginaliaNic. Herford cast in prison.caused hym to be apprehended & enclosed in pryson. MarginaliaHerford escapeth out of prison.Notwithstanding, through the will of God, and good meanes, he escaped out of the prison, returning agayne to hys former exercise, & preaching as he dyd before, albeit in as couert and secret maner as he could. Wherupon the Archb. thundring out hys boltes of excōmunication agaynst hym, sendeth to all pastors and ministers: willing them in all churches and all festiual dayes, to diuulge the sayd hys excommunication against him, to all men. Writeth moreouer and sendeth speciall charge to all and singulare of the laitie, to beware that their simplicitie be not deceaued by his doctrine, but that they lyke catholique childrē will auoyde hym, and cause hym of all other to be auoyded.

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Furthermore not contented with this, addresseth also his letters vnto the kyng, requiryng the ayde of hys temporall sword to chop of hys necke, whom he had already cast downe. See and note, reader, the seraphicall charitie of these priestly prelates, towardes the poore redemed flocke of Christ. And yet these be they, which washing their handes with Pilate, say and pretende: Nobis nō licet interficere quenquā: i. It is not our parties to kil any mā. The copy of his letter writtē to þe kyng is this.

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¶ The letter of the Archbishop to the king.

The cruell letter of the Archb. against M. Herford to the king.  

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This letter is copied from Lambeth Palace Library, Courtenay Register, fol. 69r.

TO the most excellent prince in Christ, &c. William. &c. greatyng in hym by whom kynges do reigne, & princes beare rule. Vnto your kyngly celsitude by the tenour of these presētes we intimate, that one maister Nicholas Herford doctour of diuinitie, for his manifest cōtumacie & offence in not appearing before vs being called at the day and place assigned, therefore is inwrapped in the sentence of the greater curse, publiquely by our ordinary autoritie. And in the same sentence hath continued now xl. dayes, and yet still continueth with indurate harte, wickedly contemnyng the keyes of þe church, to the great perill both of hys soule, and to the pernitious example of other. Forsomuch therfore, as the holy mother the church hath not to doe or to procede any farther in this matter: MarginaliaThis is not to seeke againe that which is lost by the rule of Ezechiel. ca.we humbly desire your kyngly maiesty, to directe out your letters for the apprehendyng of the sayd excommunicate accordyng to the custome of this realme of England, holsombly obserued and kept hetherto: to thentēt, that such whō the feare of God doth not restrayne from euill, the discipline of the seculare arme may bridle and plucke backe from offendyng. Your princely celsitude the Lorde longe continue. From Lambeth the xv. of Ianuary.

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To