of your moste Christyan gouernment: a certayne craftye and hairebraine sect of false Christians, in the same your kingdom, to grow and increase: which call themselues the poore men of the treasury of Christ and his disciples, and whom the common people by a more sounder name call Lollardes (as a man would saye withered darnell) according as their sins require: and perceyue, that they waxe strong, & as it were preuayle agaynst the diocesās of some places, and other gouernors as they meete together not courageously addressing themselues agaynst them as they ought to do (whereof chiefly and not vndeseruedly I geue them admonition) for that they take thereby the more bolder presumption and stomacke among the vnlearned people. And for as muche as those whom we cannot call men, but the damnable shadowes or ghosts of men, do rise vp against the sound fayth, & holy vnyuersall church of Rome:MarginaliaAs though no learninge were but in the church of Rome. and that very many of them beinge indifferently learned, which (to the confusion & eternall damnation of some of them) they got sitting vppon their mothers lap the sayde Church of Rome, doe rise vp or inueye agaynst the determination of the holy fathers, with too much presumptuous boldnes, to the subuersion of the whole ecclesiasticall order and estate: Haue not bene afrayd, nor are not yet afrayd, publikely to preach, very many erroneous detestable, and hereticall articles, for that they are not put to silence, reproued, driuen out, rooted out or otherwise punished, by any that hath authoritie and the feare and loue of God.MarginaliaThe dragō here spouteth out his floudes of water to drowne the Christians. And also they are not afrayd, openlye to write the same articles, and so being written to deliuer thē to your kinglye parliament, and obstinately to affirme the same. The venemous and disdainfull recitall of which articles, vpon good aduisement at this present we passe ouer: least the sufferaunce of such sensualitie, might fortune to renue the woūd that reason may heale. Yet notwithstanding, least so great and contagious an euil should escape vnpunished, and that without deserued vexation, and also that it might not get more hart and waxe stronger: we therefore (according to that our office and duetie is, where such neglygence and sluggishnes of our prelates being present, where this thing is) do commit and geue in commaundemēt to our reuerend brethren, Canterbury, and Yorke, Archbishops by other oure letters:MarginaliaBehold the spirit of the popes meke holynes. that they stand vp in the power of God agaynst this pestilent and cōtagious sect, and that they liuely persecute the same in forme of lawe: roote out and destroy those, that aduisedly and obstinately refuse to withdraw their foote frō the same stumbling block, any restraint to the contrary notwithstanding. But because the assistance, counsaile, fauour, and ayde of your kingly estate & highnes are requisite to the execution of the premisses: we require, exhort, and beseech the same your princely highnes,MarginaliaThe bowels of Iesus Christ be full of mercy: the bowels of the pope full of tyanny. by the bowels of the mercy of Iesus Christ, by his holy fayth, by your owne saluation, by the benefit that to all men is common, and by the prosperitie assured to euery man and woman, that not onelye your kingly seueritie may readily shewe and cause to bee shewed vnto our Archbishops and their Commissaries (in this behalfe requyring the foresayd due execution) conuenient ayd and fauour, as otherwise also to cause them to be assisted: But that also you wil enioyne your Magistrates and Iustices of assise, and peace more straightly, that of their owne good wils, they execute the authoritie committed vnto thē, with al seueritie against such damned men, according as they are boūd by the office which they are put in trust with: Against those I mene, which haue determyned obstinatly to defile thēselues in their malice and sinnes, those to expell, banish, and imprison, and there so long to keepe them, til cōdigne sentence shall pronounce them worthye to suffer punyshment. For your kingly wisedome seeth, that such as they be, do not only deceiue poore simple souls (or at the least do what they can to deceiue thē) but also bring their bodies to destructiō, and further prepare confusion and ruinous fall vnto their temporall Lordes. MarginaliaHelpe the pope at a pinche: or els he is like to take a fall.Go to therefore my sweete sonne, and indeuour your self to worke so in this matter, as vndoubtedly we trust you will: that as this firebrand (burning and flaming ouer sore) beganne vnder your president or gouernment: so vnder your seuere iudgement and vertuous diligence, might, fauour, and ayde: not one sparke remaine hid vnder the ashes, but that it be vtterlye extinguyshed and spedely put out.

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¶ Geuen at our palace of S. Peter at Rome, the xv. Calendes of October, in the sixt yere of our pontificalitie.  

RIchard by the grace of God, kyng of Englande, & of Fraunce, and Lorde of Irelande. To all those vnto whom these present letters shaall come,  

greeting. Know ye, that where as lately at the instance of the reuerend father, William Archbishop of Caunterbury, Metropolitane of all England, and Legate of the Apostolycal seate: we for the redresse and amendement of all those whych would obstinately preach or maintaine, publiquely, or priuely, any conclusions of the holy scripture, repugnant to the determynatiō of our holy mother the church, & notoriously redoundingto the subuersion of the Catholique faith, or cōtaining any heresie or errour, within the prouince or bishopricke of Cāterburie: Haue by our special letters patents, in the zeale of the fayth, geuē authoritie and licence vnto the foresayd Archbishop & to all and singular his suffraganes, to arest all and euerye of them that will preach or maintaine any such cōclusions wheresoeuer they may be found, and to cōmit them either to their owne prisons or any others at their owne pleasure: and to kepe thē in the same, vntill they repēt them of the errours & prauities of those heresies: or til that, of such maner of arests, by vs or by our counsayle it shoulde be otherwise determined, that is to say, to euery one of them and their ministers throughout their cities and dioces.MarginaliaThe hoat cōplayning charitie of the B. of Herford. And nowe the reuerēd father in god Iohn B. of Herford, hath for a certaintie informed vs: MarginaliaW. Swinderby and Steuen Bel complayned of to the king.that although the same B. hath accordinge to iustyce cōuinced a certain felow named W. Swinderby, pretending himself to be a chaplaine, & one Stephē Bell a learned man, and hath pronounced thē heretikes and excōmunicate, & false informers among the cōmon people, and hath declared the same by the definitiue sentence of the aforesaid bishop for that they haue presumed to affirme and preach openly in diuers places within the dioces of Herford, many conclusions or naughty opinions notoriously redounding to the subuersion of the Catholike sound faith, and tranquilitie of our kingdome. The same Bishop notwithstandinge, neyther by the ecclesiasticall censures, neyther yet by the force and strength of our cōmission was able to reuoke the foresaid William and Stephen, nor yet to bridle the malice and indurate contumacie of them: For that they, after they were vpon such heretical prauitie conuict by the same bishop (to the intent they might delude his iudgement and iustice) conueyed thēselues by and by, vnto the borders of Wales, with suche as were their factours and accomplices, in keping themselues close, vnto whō the force of our said letters doth in no wise extende Whereupon, the sayde Bishop hath made supplycation vnto vs, that wee will vouchsafe to prouide a sufficient remedye in that behalfe. Wee therfore which alwayes (by the helpe of almightie God) are defēdours of the fayth, willing to withstand suche presumptuous and peruerse enterprises by the most safest way and meanes we maye geue and cōmit full power and authoritie to the foresayd bishop and to his ministers,MarginaliaFurioso ne cōmittas gladium. by the tenour of these presents, to arrest or take, or cause to be arrested or taken, the foresayde William and Sthephen, in any place within the citie & dioces of Hereford and our dominiō of Wales, with al the speede that may be, and to cōmit thē either to our prison or els to the prison of the same bishop or any other prison at their pleasure, if suche neede bee, and there to keepe thē safe. And afterwards, vnles they will obey the commaundements of the Church, with dilygence to bring them before vs and our coūsel, or els cause them to be brought. That we may determine for their further punishment, as we shall thinke it requisite conuenient to be done by the aduise of our coūsell, for the defence and preseruation of the Catholike faith.MarginaliaPseude catholica fides. And that the foresayde William and Stephen, being succoured by the aide of their factours or fauourers, should not bee able to flye or escape to their accustomed starting holes: and that the sharpnes of their paines so aggrauated may geue them sufficient cause to returne to the lap againe of their holy mother the church: we strayghtlye charge and commaunde all and singular our Shrifes, Bailifes, Barones, and al other our officers, in the Citie and Dioces of Hereford, & in any other place being within our dominion of wales, by the tenour of these presentes: that from time to time (where they thinke it most meete) they cause it openly to be proclaimed in our name, that none, of what state, degree, preeminence, kind, or other cōdition he shalbe of, do cherish opēly or secretlye, the foresayd William and Steuen, vntil the time that they repent thē of their heresies and errours, and shalbe recōciled vnto the holy Church of God: Neither that any person or persons: be beleuers, fauorers, or receiuers, defendours, or in any case wittinglye instructours, of the said William or Stephen, or any other of the residue of the heretikes that are to be cōuinced: vpon the forfaiture of all that euer they haue. And that also they geuing their attendance, be obedient & aunswerable to the foresayd bishop and his deputies in this behalfe, for the execution of the premisses: and that they certify vs and our counsel distinctly, and plainly, from time to time, of the names of all and singular persons, which shall fortune to be found culpable in this behalfe, vnder their seales. In witnes whereof, we haue caused these out letters patentes to be made. Witnesse our selfe at Westminster the ix. day of Marche, in the xv. yeare of our reigne.  

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Farington

MarginaliaAn other letter of K. Richard against W. Brute.RIchard by the grace of God kyng of England and of Fraunce and Lorde of Irelande:  

To hys beloued and faythfull Iohn Chaūdos knight, Iohn Eynfore knight, Renold de la Bere knight Walter Deueros knight, Thomas de la Bare knight, William Lucie knight, Leonard Hakelute knight, and to the Maior of the

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