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Bruges [Burges; Burburgh]

Belgium

Seat of the counts of Flanders; cathedral city

Coordinates: 51° 13' 0" N, 3° 14' 0" E

 
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Calais

[Calyce; Calice; Calis; Callis]

Pas-de-Calais, France

Coordinates: 50° 56' 53" N, 1° 51' 23" E

 
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Canterbury
Cant., Canterb., Canterbury, Caunterbury, Caunterburye,
NGR: TR 150 580

An ancient city and county of itself, having separate jurisdiction. Locally in the hundred of Bridge and Petham, lathe of St. Augustine, eastern division of the county of Kent. 26 miles south-east by east from Rochester. The city comprises the parishes of All Saints, St. Alphege, St. Andrew, St. George, The Holy Cross, St. Margaret, St. Martin, St. Mary Bredman, St. Mary Bredin, St. Mary Magdalene, St. Mary Northgate, St. Mildred, St. Peter and St. Paul, all in the Diocese of Canterbury, and with the exception of St. Alphege and St. Martin within the Archdeaconry of Canterbury. The living of All Saints is a rectory with St. Mary in the Castle and St. Mildred attached; St. Alphege is a rectory exempt, united with the vicarage of St. Mary Northgate; St. Andrew is a rectory with St. Mary Bredman annexed; St. George is a rectory with St. Mary Magdalene annexed; St. Martin's is a rectory exempt with St. Paul's annexed; St. Peter's is a rectory with Holy Cross annexed; St. Mary Bredin is a vicarage; and St. Margaret's is a donative in the patronage of the Archdeacon

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English information from Samuel Lewis, A Topographical Dictionary of England (S. Lewis & Co: London, 1831)

Scottish information from Samuel Lewis, A Topographical Dictionary of Scotland (S. Lewis & Co: London, 1846)

Welsh information taken from Samuel Lewis, A Topographical Dictionary of Wales(Lewis & Co: London, 1840)

The reason for the use of these works of reference is that they present the jurisdictional and ecclesiastical position as it was before the major Victorian changes. The descriptions therefore approximate to those applying in the sixteenth century, after the major changes of 1535-42. Except for the physical locations, which have not changed, the reader should not therefore take these references as being accurate in the twenty-first century.

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Croisy-sur-Eure

France

Coordinates: 49° 2' 0" N, 1° 21' 0" E

 
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Dunkerque (Dunkirk)

[Dunkyrke]

Nord-Pas de Calais, France

Coordinates: 51° 2' 18" N, 2° 22' 39" E

 
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Gravelines (Grevelingen: Dutch)

[Grauenidge; Graueling]

Nord, France

Coordinates: 50° 59' 14" N, 2° 7' 42" E

 
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Ypres

Flanders, Belgium

Coordinates: 50° 51' 0" N, 2° 53' 0" E

470 [446]

K. Richard. 2. The priuiledges of the popes bull. The B. of Norwich the popes warriour.

time, to Croisy  

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I.e., to enlist on a crusade.

whosoeuer would go wt him into Fraūce, to destroy the Antipope which named himselfe Clemēt, & to make warre agaynst all those that took his part. Which Bulles, for that they gaue vnto him such great authority, he caused to be published in the Parliamēt house, & caused the copyes of the same to be sent all about, & to be set vp & fastened vpon all the church dores & monastery gates that al men might read thē. In the which Buls these priuiledges were graunted, the copy whereof here folowet  
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This a papal bull granting Henry Despenser extraordinary powers to further his 'crusade'. It is taken from College of Arms MS Arundel 7 (see Thomas Walsingham, Historia Anglicana, ed. H. T. Riley, Rolls Series 28, 2 vols. [London, 1863-4], vol. II, pp. 76-8).

h.

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MarginaliaThe very fruites of Antichrist. 1. In primis, that the sayd Bishop of Norwich may vse his sword against the Antipope, & all his adherents, fauorers, and coūsellers, and with violence put them to death.

2. Item, that he hath full power to inquire of all & singular such schismatikes, and to put them in prison: & to confiscate all their goodes moueable and immoueable.

3. Item, that he hath power and authority to depriue all lay men that are such schismatikes of all maner secular offices whatsoeuer, and to geue theyr offices to other fit and conuenient persons.

4. Item, that he may depriue all such clerks, and declare them to be schismatickes, and in this behalf to geue & bestow their benefices either with cure or without cure, their dignities personages or offices, to other persōs more meet for the same.

5. Item, he hath power and authority ouer lay persōs that are exempt, and Clerkes both secular and regular, yea although they be friers mendicantes, or maisters & professors of other houses or hospitals of S. Johns of Ierusalem, or S, Mary of Flaunders, or professours of what orders soeuer els.

6. Item, that he hath power to dispense with what secular Clerkes soeuer, being beneficed either with cure or without cure, and also with such as haue dignities, personages or offices, being regulars either exēpt or not exempt, that euery one of them may be absent with him from their dignities & benefices &c. vnder the stāderd of the crosse, without licence of any other of thier Prelats required, and yet to receiue and take the intire cōmodities of their benefices, as though they had bene personally resident vpon the same.

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7. Itē, there is graunted to all that passe the seas in this quarel, either at their own expenses or at the expēses of any other, full remission of their sins: & as large priuileges are graūted to all those that go ouer the sea with him, as to any that pay their mony, or go to fight for the holy land.

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8. Also, all such as with their proper goods & substaunce shall geue sufficient stipend to able souldiors, at the discretiō of the foresayd Lord Bishop mustered, or by any other his deputy, although he himselfe be not personally at this busines aforesaid: yet shall he haue like remission, & indulgēce, as they which haue bene personally with him in this expedition.

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9. Itē, all they are pertakers of this remissiō, which shal geue any part of theyr goods to the sayd Bishop to fight agaynst the sayd schismatikes.

10. Item, if any shall chaūce to dye in the iourny, that are souldiors vnder the sayd standard of þe crosse, or els before the quarell by some meanes be finished: shall fully & wholy receiue the sayd grace, and shalbe partakers of the foresayd remission and indulgence.

11. Item, he hath power to excommunicate, suspend, and interdict what persons soeuer be rebellious or disturbers of him in þe execution of his power & authority committed vnto him: of what dignity, state, degree, preheminēce, order, place, or cōditiō soeuer they shalbe: whether they shall be either of regal, queenly, or imperial dignity, or of what dignity els soeuer either ecclesiasticall or mundane.

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12. Item, he hath power and authority to compell and inforce what religious persons soeuer, to appoynt them and send them ouer Sea, if it seeme good to him: yea although they be professors of the Friers mendicants, for the execution of the premisses.

¶ The Popes absolution by the Bishop  
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This is a copy of a plenary indulgence granted by Urban II to those who took part in Despenser's 'crusade'. Foxe is copying this from College of Arms MS Arundel 7 (see Historia Anglicana, ed. H. T. Riley, Rolls Series 28, 2 vols. [London, 1863-4], II, pp. 79-80).

pronounced.

BY the authority Apostolicall to me in this behalfe committed, we absolue the A.B. from all thy sinnes confessed with my mouth, and being contrite with thy hart, and wherof thou wouldst be cōfessed if they came vnto the memory: & we graunt vnto thee, plenary remission of all maner of sinnes, and we promise vnto thee thy part of the reward of all iust men, and of euerlasting saluation. MarginaliaChristes passion hath here no place.And as many priuileges as are graunted to them that go to fight for the holy land, we graunt vnto thee: & of all the prayers & benefites of the church the vniuersall Synode, as also of the holy Catholicke Church, we make thee partaker of.

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This couragious  

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This account of Despenser's crusade is taken from College of Arms MS Arundel 7 (see Historia Anglicana, ed. H. T. Riley, Rolls Series 28, 2 vols [London, 1863-4], II pp. 88-93. Foxe's concern throughout is to emphasize prelatical cruelty, not to supply a lucid narrative of military events. In a nutshell, in May 1383 Despenser won a victory over a French force near Dunkirk and he captured a number of towns in the area. During the summer he unsuccessfully besieged Ypres, losing a large number of his men. In August he rashly invaded Picardy but the arrival of a much larger French army under Charles VI forced him to surrender at Gravelines in mid September.

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or rather outragious bishop armedthus with the Popes authority, and prompt with his priuilegies, in the yeare aforesayd. 1283. about the time of lēt, came to the Parliament, where great consultation & contention, & almost no lesse schisme was about the voiage of this Popish Bishop in the Parliament, thē was betwene the Popes themselues. In the which Parliament many there were, which thought it not safe to commit the kings people & subiectes, vnto a rude and vnskilfull Priest. So great was the diuersity of iudgements in that behalfe, that the voiage of the sayd Bishop was protracted vnto the saterday afore Passion Sonday. In the which Sonday was song the solemne Antheme Ecce crucem Domini, fugite partes aduersæ. That is, Beholde the crosse of the Lord: Flye away all you aduersaries. After which Sonday, the partyes so agreed amongest themselues by common decree, that the Bishop should set forward in his voiage, hauing to him geuen the fiften which was graunted to the king in the Parliament before. Which thinges thus concluded in the Parliament, this warlike Bishop preparing before all thinges in a readinesse set forwarde in his Pope holye iourney. Who about the moneth of May, being come to Canterbury, and there tarying for the winde, in the Monastery of S. Augustin, receiued a writ from the king that he should returne to the king, and to know further of hys pleasure  
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John of Gaunt, the most powerful figure at court, opposed Despenser's expedition, preferring a campaign, to be led by himself, against French allies in Spain. Despenser was concerned that the king, under Gaunt's influence, was summoning him back to court to cancel his expedition.

. The Bishop fearing that if he turned agayne to the king, his iourny should be stayd,.and so all his labor & preparance lost with great derision and shame vnto him: thought better to commit himselfe to fortune with that litle army he had, then by tarying to be made a ridicle to his aduersaryes. Wherfore, he sent word backe agayne, to the king, that he was now ready prepared, well forward on his iourny. And that it was not expedient now to protract the time for any kind of talke which peraduenture should be to no maner of purpose: and that it was more conuenient for him to hasten in his iournay to Gods glory, & also to the honor of the king. And thus he calling his men vnto him, entred forthwith the seas, & went to Calis: where he wayting a few dayes for the rest of his army, after the receipt of them, tooke his iourny first to the towne of Grauenidge which he besieged, so desparatly without any preparaunce of engines of warre or counsell, or of politicke men skilfull in such affayres: that he seemed rather to flye vpon them, then to inuade them. At lenth through the superstition of our omen, trusting vpon the Popes absolution, he so harishly approched the walles and inuaded the enemies, that a great number of them were pitiously slayn with shot & wild fire: till at the end (the inhabiters being oppressed and vanquished) our men entred the town with their Bishop, where they at his commaundement destroiyng both man, woman and childe, left not one aliue of all them, which remayned in the whole town.MarginaliaO bloudines of Antichrist.Sicq; crucis beneficio factum, vt crucis hostes ita delerentur, quòd vnus ex eis non remansit: That is. And so it came to passe by the vertue of the crosse, that our men croysed so preuayled against the enemies of the crosse, that not one of them remained aliue. Ex Chron. Mon. D. Albani.MarginaliaEx Chron. Mon. D. Albani in vita Rich. 2.

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From Grauenidg this warlike Bishop set forward to Dunkyrke, where not long after the Frenchmen meeting with him, ioyned with them in battell: in which battell (if the story be true) 12. thousand of the Frenchmen were slain in the chase, and of our men but seuen onely missing. It would require a long tractatiō here to discourse all thing done in these popish warres. Also it would be no lesse ridiculous to view & behold the glorious temerity of this new vpstart captain. But certes, lamētable it is to see the pitifull slaughter & murther of Christs people, by þe meanes of these pitilesse Popes, during these warres in Fraūce: As when the Bishop comming frō Dunkirke to the siege of Ypres a great number of Englishmen there were lost, and much mony consumed, and yet nothing done effect, to the great shame and ignominy of the Bishop. Agayne, after, the siege of Ypres (thus with shame broke vp) the sayd bishop proceeding with a small power, to fight with þe frēch kinges campe, contrary to the counsell of his captaynes, which counted him rash & vnskilfull in his attempt, was fayne to breake company with them, whereby part of the army wēt vnto Burburgh, & the bishop with his part returned to Grauenidg, which both townes shortly after were besieged by the french army, to the great losse both of the English and French men. In fine, the sayd Bishop with his croysies, crossing the seas, came home agayne as wise as he wēt, & thus making an end of this Pontificall war, we will returne agayne from whence we digressed, to the story and matter of Iohn Wickliffe.

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Which Iohn Wickliffe returning againe  

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In the Commentarii (fo. 32r-v) and the Rerum (p. 15) Foxe wrote that Wiclif had probably been exiled, that he returned home and died in Lutterworth in 1387. Foxe repeated this in the 1563 edition (p. 98). Foxe was basing this on Bale - although significantly, Foxe was more tentative about the exile than Bale had been (See Bale, Summarium, fos. 155r and 157v). In fact, Wiclif had not been exiled and Foxe replaced this with an even more tentative passage in the 1570 edition. In the second edition, Foxe also corrected the date of Wiclif's death to 1384.

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within short space, either frō his banishment, or from some other place

where