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Dorchester
 
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Dorchester

OS grid ref: SY 685 905

County town of Dorset

530 [506]

K. Ric. 2. Abiurations of good men of Leicester. Penaunce inioyned them. Peter Pateshull.

faith, in these wordes folowing. Richarde by the grace of God, king of England and of Fraunce, &c. Wee on the behalfe of our holy mother the Church, by the kings authoritie aforesaid, do require you: that you cause the same Richard, William, Roger, and the rest, to be arested, and sent vnto vs, that they wyth their pernicious doctrine doe not infect the people of God. &c. Geuen vnder our seale. &c.

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MarginaliaMargaret Caily a Nun constrained agayust her will to take againe her habite. By an other instrument also in the same Register, is mention made of one Margaret Caily Nonne, whych forsaking her order, was by the sayde Archb. constrayned against her wil, againe to enter the same, as by thys instrument here vnder insuing may appeare.  

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The letter is LPL, Courtenay Register, fo. 141v.

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¶ William by the grace of God. &c. To our reuerend brother in God, Iohn by the grace of God, Byshop of Ely greting. &c. In the visitation of our dioces of Lincolne according to our office, amōgst other enormities worthy reformation, we found, one shepe out of our fold strayed and amongest the briers tangled, to witte, Margarete Caily, Nunne professed, of the monasterie of S. Radegonde wtin your Diocesse: Who casting the habite of her Relygion, was founde in secular attire, many yeares being an Apostata, & leading a dissolute life. And least her bloud shoulde be required at our hands, we haue caused her to be taken, and brought vnto you being her pastor: and straitly inioyning you by these presents do commaund, that you admit the same Margarete againe into her foresayd Monasterie (although returned against her wil) or els into some other place, where for her soules health you shall thincke moste conuenient: and that from henceforth she be safely kept, as in the straight examination of the same you wil yeld an accompt. Geuen vnder our seale. &c.

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MarginaliaMatild recāteth.By sundry other instrumentes also in the same register recorded I finde, that the foresaid Matilde the anchoresse, vpon the straight examination and handeling of the foresaid Archbishop, before whome peremptorily she was enioyned to appeare, and till that day of apparance taken out of the recluse and committed to safe custodie as you heard: retracted and recanted her foresayd articles and opinions. For the which she being enioyned 40. dayes penance, was againe admitted  

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Matilda was ordered to do penance and then sealed back in her chamber.

into her foresaid recluse in Leycester. The Byshops letter to the Magistrates of the towne thus beginneth. Willielmus permissione diuina. &c. dilectis filijs. &c.

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MarginaliaWilliam Smith Roger Dexter, & Alice his wife abiure.Also, by an other letter of the foresayde Archbish. to the Deane of the Cathedrall church  

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St. Mary Newarks, Leicester, was not a cathedral church; it was a collegiate foundation.

of our Ladye of Leycester being registred, I finde: that of the number of those 8. persons before recited, whom the Archbishop himselfe at high Masse, did in hys Pontificalibus so solemnely curse wyth booke, bell, and candle: After certeine proces being sent out against them, or els in the meane time being apprehended & taken: two of them recanted their opinions, to wit, William Smith, and Roger Dexter. But in the meane tyme Alyce the wife of the sayde Roger Dexter, takyng holde of the foresaid articles with her husband also, together wyth the said William Smith, abiured the same. For these be the wordes of the instrument.  
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This letter is LPL, Courtenay Register, fos. 144r-145r.

Subsequenter verò, præfait Wilielmus, Rogerus, & Alicia reatus suos respicientes, se nostro conspectui præsentarunt. &c. Notwythstanding, whether they presented thēselues willingly, or els were brought against their wils (as most like it was) hard penance was enioyned them before they were absolued. These be the wordes of the instrument.

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Sancta mater ecclesia. &c. i. Seeing our holy mother the church, denieth not her lap to any penitēt childe returning to the vnitie of her, but rather profereth to them the same: We therefore do receiue againe the sayd William, Roger, & Alice to grace. And further haue caused them to abiure all and singular the aforesaide articles & opinions before they receiued of us the benefit of absolution, & were loosed from the sentence of excōmunication wherin they were snarled: inioyning vnto them penance, according to the quantitie of the crime, in forme as foloweth, that is to say. MarginaliaThe maner of their penance inioyned.That euery one of them þe sonday next after their returning to theyr proper goodes: they the sayd William, Roger, & Alice, holding euery one an image of þe crucifix in their right hands, and in their left handes euery one of them a taper of waxe, waying half a pound waight, in their shirts (hauing none other apparel vppon them) doe goe before the Crosse three times, during the procession of the Cathedrall Churche of our Lady of Lecester: that is to say, in the beginning of the procession, in the middle of the procession, and in the latter end of the procession: to the honor of hym that was crucified in the memoriall of his passion, and to the honor of the virgin his mother: who also deuoutly bowing their kneesand kneeling, shall kisse the same crucifixe so helde in theyr handes. And so with the same procession, they entring againe into the church: shall stand during all the time of the holy Masse, before the image of the Crosse with their Tapers and crosses in their handes. And when the Masse is ended, the sayde William, Roger, & Alice, shall offer to him that celebrated that day the Masse. MarginaliaAnn. 1389.Then vpon the Saterday next insuing: the sayd William, Roger, and Alice, shal in the full and publique market, within the towne of Leicester, stande in like manner in their shirtes, without any more clothes vpon their bodies, holding the foresayd crosses in their right hāds, which crosses, Marginalia3. kisses of the crosse.three times they shal (during the market) deuoutly kisse reuerently kneelyng vppon their knees: that is, in the beginning of the market, in the middle of the market, and in the ende of the market. And the sayde William (for that hee somewhat vnderstandeth the Latine tounge) shall say this Antheame wyth the collect Sancta Katharina: MarginaliaThe collect of Katherin.and the forsayde Roger and Alice, being vnlearned, MarginaliaThe Pater noster, & Aue Maria.shall say deuoutly a Pater noster, and an Aue Maria. And thirdly, the Sonday next immediatly after the same, the sayde William, Roger and Alice, in theyr parish Church of the sayd towne of Leicester, shall stand and do as vppon the Sonday before, they stoode and dyd in the cathedrall Church of our Ladie aforesayde, in all thynges. Which done, the foresayd William, Roger, and Alice, after Masse, shall offer to the Priest or chaplaine that celebrated the same, with all humiliti and reuerence the waxe tapers, which they shall carie in their handes. And because of the colde weather þt now is, least the foresaid penitents myght peraduenture take some bodely hurt standing so long naked (being mindful to moderate partly the sayd our rigor) we geue leaue: That after their entrance into the churches aboue sayde, whilest they shall be in hearing the foresayde masses: MarginaliaCold weather graciously considered.that they may put on necessary garments to keepe them from cold, so that their heads and feete notwithstanding, be bare and vncouered. Wee therefore will and commaund you together and a part, that you denounce the said William, Roger, and Alice, to be absolued and restored againe to the vnitie of our holy mother the church, and that you call them forth to do their penance in maner and forme aforesayde. Giuen at Dorchester, the 17. day of Nouember in the yeare of our Lorde God 1389. and the 9. yeare of our translation.

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MarginaliaPeter Pateshul against the friers.Vnto the narration of these aboue sayd, we wil adioyne the story of one Peter Pateshul an Austen Frier  

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Foxe's account of Peter Pateshull's attack on the friars is taken from College of Arms MS Arundel 7; see Historia Anglicana, ed. H. T. Riley, Rolls Series 28 (London, 1863-4), II, pp. 157-9.

, who obtaining by the Popes priuiledge (though the meanes of Walter Dis, confessour to the Duke of Lancaster) libertie to chaunge his coat and religion  
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Pateshull had been an Augustinian friar; he purchased an appointment as papal chaplain from Disse; this post released Pateshull from his order.

, and hearing the doctrine of Iohn Wicklesse & other of the same sort: began at length to preach opēly and to detect the vices of his order, in such sorte as all men wondered to heare the horrible recyting thereof. This being brought to the eares of hys order, they to the number of 12. (cōming out of their house to the place where he was preaching) thought to haue withstode hym perforce. Among whome one especially for the zeale of hys religion, stoode vp openly in his preaching, and contraried þt which he said, who then was preaching in the Church of S. Christopher in London. MarginaliaLondiners against the friersThis when the faithfull Londoners  
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Walsingham identified the rioters as Lollards; Foxe identifies them as Londoners. The former is implying that Pateshull's supporters were heretics, the latter that they were an outraged citizenry.

did see, taking griefe hereat, we mooued wt great ire against the saide Frier, thrusting him with hys other brethren out of the church, whome they not onely had beaten and sore woūded, but also followed them home to their house, mineding to haue destroied their mansion wt fire also, and so would haue done, had not one of the sheriffes of London, wyth two of the Friers of the sayde house well knowen & reported amongst the Londiners, wyth gentle wordes mitigated their rage and violence. MarginaliaPeter Pateshull.After thys, Peter Pateshull thus disturbed as is aforesayd, was desired by the Londiners (for so much as he could not well preach amongest them) to put in writing that, which he had sayde before, and other things more that he knew by the Friers: who then at their request wryting the same, accused the friers of murther, cōmitted against diuers of their brethren. And to make the matter more apparant & credible, he declared the names of them that were murthered, wyth the names also of their tormentours. And named moreouer, time and place where and when they were murthered, and where they were buryed.MarginaliaThe Fryers accused with horrible crimes, Hee affirmed further, that they were Sodomites and traitours both to the kyng and the realme with many other crimes, which mine authour for tediousnes, leaueth of to recite. And for the more confutation of the said friers, the Londiners caused the sayd Bill, to be openly set vp at S. Paules Churche doore in London, which was there red and copied out of very many. Thys was done in the yeare of our Lord 1387.MarginaliaAnno 1387 and in the 10. yere of King Richarde seconde.MarginaliaEx Chron. D. Albani. Ex Chron. Monachi Albanensis.

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Cuius