cessor, and now Bishop of S. Asse, hath bene testified, and also hath bene many & diuers times cited to answere vnto articles by him agaynst the Catholicke faythe auouched, & openly and publiquely taught: But he in this matter of hereticall cursednes (so greeuously and shamefully spoken of) hath neuer regarded to purge his innocency, but lurkingly and running into corners, hath many and sundrye yeres labored to aduance things erroneous, schismaticall, aud also heresyes, & to emprint them in the harts of faythfull people.

Marginalia2. Article. Item, the foresayd Walter Brute hath opēly, publickly, and notoriously auouched, and commōly sayd & taught and stubbernly affirmed: that euery Christen man (yea & woman) being without sinne may make the body of christ so well as the priest.

Marginalia3. Article. Item, the same Walter hath notoriously, opēly & publickely auouched and taught, that in the Sacrament of the alter there is not the very body, but a signe and a memoriall onely.

Marginalia4. Article. Item, the foresayd Walter hath sayd commonly and auouched, and also hath labored to informe mē and companyes, that no man is bound to geue tithes, nor oblations: and if any man will needes geue, he may geue his tithes, and oblations to whom he wil, excluding therby theyr curates.

Marginalia5. Article. Itē, that such as do preach and prefer croised matters, and pardons (graunted by the high bishop to them þ^t helpe the purpose of the reuerēd father Lord Henry by the grace of God Bishop of Norwich, when as he tooke his iourny vpō him to fight for the holy father the Pope) are schismatickes and heretickes, and that the pope cannont graunt such maner of pardons.

Marginalia6. Article. Item, the sayd Walter hath oftentimes sayd, and commonly aduouched, that the Pope is Antichrist, and a seducer of the people, and vtterly agaynst the lawe and life of Christ.

Marginalia7. Article. Item, wheras of later your reuerence did (at the instāce of faithfull christen people) proceed in forme of law against William Swinderby, and that the sayd Williā Swinderby had vnto the said articles obiected against him, geuē vp his answeres in writing, cōteining in thē errors, schismes & heresies, enen as you with the mature counsel of maisters & doctors in diuinity, & other faculties haue determined & geuen sentence, and haue pronounced the same William Swinderby to be an heretick, & a schismatick, and an erroneous teacher of þ^e people: Neuertheles þ^e forenamed Walter hath openly, publickly, & notoriously said, aduouched, & stubbernly affirmed, that the sayd Williams aunsweres (whereof notice hath bene geuen before) are good, righteous, and not able to be conuinced, in that they conteyne none error, and that your sentence beforesayd, geuen agaynst the same William, is euill, false & vniust: And that your assistants haue wickedly, naughtely, peruersly, & vniustly condemned the answeres aforesayd.

Now therupon immediately, MarginaliaOtherwise bloudie promoters. those same faythful christian people haue instantly required that we would vouch safe that other articles geuen by þ^e same faythfull christiās against the sayd William Swinderby, MarginaliaThese conclusions and articles of W. Swinderby here repeated, & obiected to Walt Brute are to be founde before, pag. 466. and 467.together w^t the writings and answeres of the same William therunto: should be admitted agaynst Walter Brute, mentioned of in this matter of cursed heresy: of which Articles and aunswers, the tenors do folow in these wordes.  

Commentary     Close

This is confusing. What these are articles the Lollard Wlliam Swinderby had previously abjured before Trefnant. The reason they are coming up in Brut's trial is that he was charged with having defended these heretical articles. Foxe is cross-referencing the reader to his previous account of Swinderby, where these same articles are given.

[Back to Top]

In primis, that one William Swinderby pretending himself priest, was of certayne articles and cōclusions erroneous, false, schismaticall & heretical, by him preached, at diuers places & times, before a great multitude of faithful Christians, iudicially cōuinced: and the same articles and conclusiōs did he (inforced by necessity of law) reuoke and abiure, some as hereticall, and other as erroneous & false: and for such did he aduouch thē euer afterward promising so to take and beleue them & that frō thenceforth he would opēly or priuily preach, teach, or affirme none of them: nor that he should make sermon or preach within your dioces without licence demaunded and obteined. And in case he should to the cōtrary presume, by preaching or auouching that then he should be subiect to the seueritye of the Canōs euen as he iudicially sware accordingly as the law inforced. Also the conclusions abiured by the sayd William doe folow and are such.

Marginalia1. Conclusion. 1. In primis, that men by the rule of charity, may demaund debts, but by no meanes imprison any man for debts: and that the party so imprisoning a body, is excommunicated, before. pag. 466.

2. Item, that if the parishioners shall knowe theyr Curate to be incontinent and naughty: they ought to with-draw from him theyr tythes. &c. pag. 467.

3. Item, that tithes are mere almosies, and in case that the Curates shal be ill, that they may be lawfully bestowed vpon others by the temporall owners. &c. pag. 467.

4, Item, that an euill Curate to excommunicate any vnder his iurisdiction for withholding of tithes, is nought els. &c. pag. 467.

5. Item, that no mā may excōmunicate any body, except that first he know him excōmunicate of God: Neither doe those that communicate with such a one, incur the sentence of excommunication by any maner of meanes. ibid.

6. Item, that euery Priest may absolue euery sinner being contrite, and is bound to preach the Gospell vnto the people, notwithstanding the prohibition of the Bishops, pag. 467.

7. Item, that a priest receiuing by bargaine anything of yearely annuity, is in so doing a schismaticke, and excommunicate. pag. 467.

8. Item, he doth assuredly beleeue (as he auoucheth) that euery priest being in deadly sinne, if he dispose himselfe to make the body of Christ, doth rather commit idolatry thē make Christes body. pag. 467.

9. Item, that no priest doth enter into any house, but to handle ill the wife, the daughter, or the mayd, and therfore &c. pag. 467.

10. Item, that the child is not rightly baptised, if the priest &c. ibid.

11. Item that no maner of person if he liue agaynst Gods law, &c. ibid.

12. Item, the same William agaynst the thinges premised, and his reuocation and abiuration (not to his hart cōuerting, but from euill to worse peruerting) did turne aside into our dioces: where running to and fro in diuers places, hath of his owne rash head presumed to preach or rather to peruert. &c. 467.

13. Item, after that we had heard diuers rumors, & slaunders of very many, we directed diuers monitions and cōmaundementes comminatorye, to be sent abroade by our Commissaries to sundry places of our dioces: that no person of what estate, degree or condition so euer he were of, should presume to preach or to teach the sacred scripture to the people in places holy or prophane, within our dioces. &c. page. 466.

14. Item, that the same sort of monitions, inhibitions and precepts confirmed by our seale, came to the true & vndouted knowledge of the sayd William.

MarginaliaInfandum facimus scilicet. 15. Item, the same William vnmindefull of his owne saluation hath sithens & agaynst those monitions, inhibitiōs and preceptes, and (that which is more abhominable to be spoken) in contempt of the high Bishops dignity, & to the slaūder & offence of many people, presumed in diuers places of our sayd dioces, to preach or rather to peruert & to teach the forementioned, & other heretical, erroneous and schismaticall deuises.

16, Item, the same William in preaching to the people: on monday, to wit, the first of August, in the yere of our Lord 1390. in the Church of Whitney in our dioces, held and affirmed: that no Prelate of the world, of what state, preheminēce or degree soeuer he were of, hauing cure of soule & being in deadly sinne. &c. pag. 466.

MarginaliaA perilous doore to open. 17. Item, the same William in many places sayd & affirmed in the presence of many faythfull thristian people, after the sacramentall words vttered by the priest, hauing þ^e intent to consecrate, there is not made the very bodye of Christ in the sacrament of the Eucharist. pag. 466.

18. Item, that accidences cannot be in the sacramēt of the aulter without theyr subiect: & that there remayneth materiall bread Concomitanter with the body of Christ in the sacrament. Vide supra pag. 466.

19. Item, that a priest being in deadly sinne cannot by the power of the sacramētall words, make the body of Christ, &c. pag. 466.

20. Item, that all priests are of like power in all poynts, notwithstanding that some of them are in the worlde of higher dignity, degree, or preheminence. pag. 466.

21. Item, that contrition onely putteth away sinne, if a man shall be duely contrite: and that all vocall confession and exercise, is superfluous, and not requisite of necessitye to saluation. Ibidem.

22. Item, that inferior Curates haue not theyr power of binding and loosing mediatly from the pope or bishop, but immediately of Christ. &c. pag. 466.

23. Item, tht the pope cannot graunt such kind of annuall pardons, because there shall not be so many yeares to the day of iudgement as is conteyned in the popes buls or pardons. Whereby it followeth, that pardons are not so much worth as they are noysed and praysed to be. Ibid.