men, to whom that thyng is not speciallye (as is aforesayd) cōmitted, shall attempt to instruct or in thys your lyfe to direct you into the catholique fayth: do ye denie to geue thē audience, & refuse you to be present at theyr assembles, & shun ye their teachings, because they be wicked & peruerse? And as for vs, we will not omitte to procede accordingly to the sacred Canons, and precepts of the holy fathers, agaynst such as doe the contrary. Dated at London in the house of our habitation vnder our seale, the last day saue one of December, in þ^e yere of our Lord. 1389. and of our consecratiō the first.

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Marginalia5¶ Itē, the same William in his preachyng to the people, on monday beyng the first of August, in the yeare of our Lord a thousand three hundreth and ninety in the parish of Whitney of your dioces, did hold & affirm: That no prelate of the world, of what estate, preheminence or degree soeuer he were of, hauyng cure & charge of soule, he beyng in deadly sinne, & hearyng the cōfession of any vnder his hand in geuing him absolucion, doth nothyng: As who neither doth loose hym from his sinne, nor in correcting or excōmunicatyng him for his demerites, MarginaliaThis is one of Wicklifs blemishes.doth bynde him by his sentence, excepte the prelate shall bee free himself from deadly sinne, as S. Peter was, to whō our Lord gaue power to bynde and to loose.

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Marginalia6Item, the same William in many places sayd and affirmed in the presence of many faithfull christian people, that after the sacramentall woordes vttered by the priest hauing þ^e purpose to consecrate: there is not made the very body of Christ in the sacrament of the aulter.

Marginalia7Item, that accidencies cannot bee in the sacrament of the altar without a subiect: and that there remaineth materiall bread MarginaliaBread he meaneth in substaunce.there to suche as be pertakers cōmunicant wyth the body of Christ in the same sacrament.

Marginalia8Item that a priest beyng in deadly sinne cānot be hable by the strength of the Sacramentall words, to make the body of Christ, or bryng to perfection any other Sacrament of the churche, neither yet to minister it to the members of the churche.

Marginalia9Item, that all priestes are of like power in all things, notwithstandyng that some of them, in this worlde are of higher, and greater honour, degree, or preheminence.

Marginalia10Item, that onely contricion putteth away sinne, if so be that a man shalbe duely contrite: and that, all auricular and outward confessiō is superfluous, and not requisite of necessitie to saluation.

Marginalia11Item, inferiour Curates haue not their power of bynding & loosing mediatly from the pope or the bishop, but immediatly frō Christ. And therfore, neither cā the pope nor byshop, reuoke to them selues such kynd of power, when they see tyme and place at their lust and pleasure.

Marginalia12Item, that the pope cannot graunt such kinde of annuall and yearely pardons, because there shall not be so many yeares to the day of iudgemēt, as are in the popes Bulles or pardons conteyned. Wherby it foloweth, that the pardons are not of such value as they speake of, and praysed to be.

Marginalia13Item, it is not in the popes power to graunt vnto any person penitent, forgeuenes of the punishment or of the faulte.

Marginalia14Itē, that person that geueth his almes to any, which in hys iudgement is not in necessitie, dothe sinne in so geuyng it.

Marginalia15Item, that it standes not in the power of any prelate of what religion soeuer he be of, priuatly to geue letters for þ^e benefite of his order, neither doth such benefite graūted, profite them to the saluation of theyr soule, to whom they be graunted.

Marginalia16Itē, that the same William vnmyndefull of his own saluation, hath many and oftētimes come into a certein desert wood, called Derualdwoode of your diocesse, and there in a certeyne chappell not hallowed, or rather in a prophane cotage: hath in contēpt of þ^e keyes, presumed of his own rashnes to celebrate, nay rather to prophanate.

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Marginalia17Itē, the same William hath also presumed to do such things in a certaine prophane chappell beyng situate in the parke of Newton nighe to the towne of Leyntwar-din of the same your dioces.

¶ Vpon Friday, beyng the last of the moneth of Iune, in the yeare aboue sayd, about vi. of the clocke, in the sayd parish church of Bodenhon, hath the sayd Williā Swinderby, personally appeared before vs. And he willyng to satisfie the terme to hym assigned as is before specified, hath read out, word by word, before all the multitude of faithfull christian people, many aunswers made and placed by the same William (in a certaine paper booke of the sheete folded into foure partes) to the sayd articles, and the same aunsweres for sufficient hathe he reallye to vs exhibited: aduouchyng them to be agreable to the law of Christ. Whiche thyng beyng done, the same Williā (without any mo with him) did depart frō our presēce, because that we, at the instance of certeine noble personages, had promised to the same William free accesse, that is to wit, on that day for the exhibityng of those aūswers, and also free departyng without prefixing of anye terme, or without citation, or els any other offence or harme in body or in goodes.

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¶ As for the tenour of the same answeres, exhibited vnto them by the same William, as is before specified: we haue here vnder annexed worde by worde, and in his the same olde language, vsed at that tyme, when it was exhibited. And foloweth in these wordes.

MarginaliaThe protestation of W. Swinderby with hys aunswere.IN the name of God Amen  

. I William Swinderby prieste vnworthye, couenting and purposing wholye with all my hart to be a true Christian man, with open confession knowledging myne open defaultes and vnwise deedes: making openlye this protestation, clepyng God to record here before our worshipful bishop Iohn, through the sufferance of God, bishop of Hereford, with witnes of all this people: that it is not mine entent anye thing to say or affirme, to maintaine or to defende, that is contrarye to holye wryt, against the beliefe of holye church, or that should offend the holy determination of christs church, or the true sentences of holy doctors. And if I haue here before through mine vncunning, ben vnordred, or by euil coūsel ben deceiued, or any thing sayd, preached, holdē, maintayned or taught, cōtrary to þ^e law of God: wholy and fully for that time for now and euer with full will I reuoke it and withdraw it, as eueriche Christen man shoulde: Praying and beseching ech christen man, to whom this writing shall come to, that gif I ought erre (as God forbid that I doo) or euer erred in any point, contrary to holy wryt, that it be had and holden of them, as for thing nought sayde. And all the trothes that I haue sayd according with the lawe of God, that they maintaine them, and stande by them for lyfe or death to Gods worship, as true christen men should, submitting me mekely to the correction of our Byshop that here is, or of anye other Christen man, after Christes lawes and holy wryt: In wyll euer redy to be amended, and with this protestatiō I say and answer to these conclusions and articles that here folleowen after, the which bene put to me to answer to.

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Marginalia1. Obiection.The first is this: that I William of Swynderby pretending (he sayth) my selfe a priest, was iudicially conuēted of certain articles, and conclusions of errour, false, schismatick, and heresy, by me in diuers places & times preached (he sayth) before multitudes of the true Christē men: and the same articles and conclusions by neede of law reuoked and forsworne, some as heresies, and some as errours and false: and suche I affirmed and beleued them to be. And that none of them from that tyme forth I should preach, teach or affirme, openly or priuelye, ne that I should make no sermon to the people, ne preache but by lawfull leaue asked & gotten. And if I would presume in doing or affirming þ^e cōtrary thē to þ^e seuerity of þ^e law, I shuld be buxom  

, as by nede of the law I swore.

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To this I say, witnessing God that is in heauen, to