Actes and Monuments

by John Foxe

Persecution of the Lollards; William Sautre: First English Martyr Burned, Martyrdom of Thomas Badly, Sir John Oldcastle

In the council of the Lateran, a decree was made with regard to heretics, which required all magistrates to extirpate them upon pain of forfeiture and deposition. The canons of this council being received in England, the prosecution of heretics became a part of the common law; and a writ, styled de heretico comburendo, was issued under king Henry IV. for burning them upon their conviction; after which special statutes were made, which commenced under Richard II., about the year 1390.

The first made was assented to only by the lords; but the king sanctioned it without the concurrence of the commons. Yet the utmost extent of the severity in this was, that writs should be issued to the laws of the church. It appears that those heretics were, at this time, very numerous, that they wore a peculiar habit, preached in churches and many other places against the existing faith, and refused to pay obedience to ecclesiastical censures.

On the accession of Henry IV. to the crown in 1399, as he owed it in a great measure to the clergy, he passed an act against all who should presume to preach without the bishop's licence, or against the established church. It was enacted that all transgressors of this kind should be imprisoned, and be brought to trial within three months. If upon conviction they offered to abjure, and were not relapsed, they were to be imprisoned and fined at pleasure; but if they refused to abjure, or were relapsed, they were to be delivered over to the secular arm; and the magistrates were to burn them in some public place. About this time William Sautre, parish priest of St. Osith in London, being condemned as a relapse, and degraded by Arundel, archbishop of Canterbury, a writ was issued, wherein burning is called the common punishment, and referred to the customs of other nations. This was the first example of that cruel punishment in this kingdom.

The clergy, alarmed lest the doctrines of Wickliffe should ultimately become established, used every exertion in their power to check them. In the reign of Richard II. the bishops obtained a general licence to imprison heretics without being obliged to procure a special order from court, which however the house of commons caused to be revoked. But as the fear of imprisonment could not check the evil dreaded by the bishops, Henry IV., whose particular object was to win the affection of the clergy, earnestly recommended to parliament the concerns of the church. How reluctant soever the house of commons might be to prosecute the Lollards, the credit of the court, and the cabals of the clergy, at last obtained a most detestable act, for burning obstinate heretics. It was immediately after the passing of this statute that the ecclesiastical court condemned William Sautre to the flames.

Notwithstanding the opposition of the popish clergy, Wickliffe's doctrine continued to spread in Henry the IVth's reign, even to such a degree, that the majority of the house of commons were inclined to it; whence they presented two petitions to the king, one against the clergy, the other in favour of the Lollards. The first set forth, that the clergy made ill use of their wealth, and consumed their income in a manner quite different from the intent of the donors; that their revenues were excessive, and consequently it would be necessary to lessen them that so many estates might easily be seized as would provide for one hundred and fifty earls at the rate of three thousand marks a year each, one thousand five hundred barons at one hundred marks each, six thousand two hundred knights at forty marks, and one hundred hospitals; that by this means the safety of the kingdom might be better provided for, the poor better maintained, and the clergy more devoted to their duty. In the second petition the commons prayed, that the statute passed against the Lollards in the second year of this reign might be repealed, or qualified with some restrictions. As it was the king's interest to please the clergy, he answered the commons very sharply, that he neither could nor would consent to their petitions. And with regard to the Lollards, he declared that he wished the heretics were extirpated out of the land. To prove the truth of this, he signed a warrant for burning a man in humble life, but of strong mind and sound piety, named Thomas Badly.

This individual was a layman, and by trade a tailor. He was arraigned in the year 1409 before the bishop of Worchester, and convicted of heresy. On his examination he said, that it was impossible any priest could make the body of Christ sacramentally, nor would he believe it unless he saw manifestly the corporeal body of the Lord to be handled by the priest at the altar; that it was ridiculous to imagine that at the supper, Christ held in his own hand his own body and divided it among his disciples, and yet remaining whole. "I believe," said he, "the Omnipotent God in trinity; but if every consecrated host at the altar be Christ's body, there must then be in England no less than 20,000 gods." After this he was brought before the archbishop of Canterbury at St. Paul's church, and again examined in presence of a great number of bishops, the duke of York, and several of the first nobility. Great pains were used to make him recant; but he courageously answered that he would still abide by his former opinions, which no power should force him to forego. On this the archbishop of Canterbury ratified the sentence given by the bishop of Worcester. When the king had signed the warrant for his death, he was brought to Smithfield, and there being put into an empty tub, was bound with iron chains fastened to a stake, and had dry wood piled around him. As he was thus standing before the wood was lighted, it happened that the prince, the king's eldest son, came near the spot; who acting the part of the good Samaritan, began to endeavour to save the life of him whom the hypocritical Levites and Pharisees sought to put to death. He admonished and counselled him, that having respect to himself he should speedily withdraw out of these dangerous labyrinths of opinions, adding oftentimes threatenings, the which might have daunted any man. Also Courtenay, at that time chancellor of Oxford, preached unto him, and urged upon him the faith of the holy church.

In the mean time the prior of St. Bartholomew's in Smithfield, brought with all the solemnity the sacrament of Christ's body, with twelve torches borne before, and shewed the host to the poor man at the stake. He then demanded of him how he believed in it; he answered, that he knew well it was hallowed bread, but not God's body. Then was the tun put over him, and fire applied to it. On feeling the fire, he cried, "Mercy!"; calling likewise upon the Lord; when the prince immediately commanded to take away the tun, and quench the fire. He then asked him if he would forsake heresy, and take the faith of holy church, which, if he would do, he should have goods enough, promising him also a yearly pension out of the king's treasury. But this valiant champion of Christ, neglecting the prince's fair words, as also contemning all men's devices, refused the offer of worldly promises, being more inflamed with the spirit of God, than with any earthly desire. Wherefore, as he continued immoveable in his former mind, the prince commanded him to be put again into the tun, and that he should not afterward look for any grace or favour. As he could be allured by no reward, so he was nothing at all abashed at their torments, but, as a valiant soldier of Christ, he persevered invincibly till his body was reduced to ashes, and his soul rose triumphant unto God who gave it.

At the commencement of the reign of Henry V. about 1413, a pretended conspiracy, evidently of priestly contrivance, was said to be discovered of Sir John Oldcastle, and some others of the followers of Wickliffe. Many of these were condemned, both for high treason and heresy; they were first hanged, and afterwards burnt. A law followed, enacting that all Lollards should forfeit their whole possessions in fee simple, with their goods and chattels; and all sheriffs and magistrates, from the lord chancellor to the meanest officer, were required to take an oath to destroy them and their heresies, and to assist the ordinaries in the suppression of them. The clergy made an ill use of this law, and vexed every one who any ways offended them, with imprisonment; upon which the judges interposing, they examined the grounds of such commitments, and, as they saw cause, either bailed or discharged the prisoners; and took upon them to declare what opinions were heresies by law, and what were not. Thus the people flew for protection to the judges, and found more mercy from the common lawyers, than from those who ought to have been the pastors of their souls.

The persecutions of the Lollards in the reign of Henry V. were owing to the cruel instigations of the clergy, as that monarch was naturally averse to cruelty. It is supposed, that the chief cause of the violent hatred which the clergy bore to the Lollards, was, that they had endeavoured to strip them of part of their revenues. However this might be, they thought that the most effectual way to check the progress of Wickliffe's doctrine, would be to attack the then chief protector of it, Sir John Oldcastle, baron of Cobham; and to persuade the king that the Lollards were engaged in conspiracies to overturn the throne and state. It was even reported that they intended to murder the king, together with the princes his brothers, with most of the lords spiritual and temporal, in hopes that the confusion which must necessarily arise in the kingdom, after such a massacre, would prove favourable to their religion. Upon this a false rumour was spread, that Sir John Oldcastle had got together 20,000 men in St. Gile's in the Fields, a place then overgrown with bushes. The king himself went thither at midnight, and finding no more than fourscore or a hundred persons, who were privately met upon a religious account, he fell upon them and killed many, it is supposed before he knew of the purpose of their meeting. Some of them being afterwards examined, were prevailed upon merely by promises or threats, to confess whatever their enemies desired; and these accused Sir John Oldcastle.

The king hereupon thought him guilty; and in that belief set a thousand marks upon his head, with a promise of perpetual exemption from taxes to any town which should secure him. Sir John was apprehended and imprisoned in the Tower; but escaping from thence he fled into Wales, where he long concealed himself. But being afterwards seized in Powisland, in North Wales, by John Grey, Lord Powis, he was brought to London, to the great joy of the clergy, who were highly incensed against him, and resolved to sacrifice him to strike a terror into the rest of the Lollards. Sir John was of a very good family, had been sheriff of Hethfordshire under Henry IV. and summoned to parliament among the barons of the realm in that reign. He had been sent beyond sea with the earl of Arundel, to assist the duke of Burgundy against the French. In a word, he was a man of extraordinary merit, notwithstanding which he was condemned to be hanged up by the waist with a chain, and burnt alive. This most barbarous sentence was executed amidst the curses and imprecations of the priests and monks, who used their utmost endeavours to prevent the people from praying for him. Such was the tragical end of Sir John Oldcastle, baron of Cobham, who left the world with a resolution and constancy, which answered perfectly to the brave spirit he had ever maintained in the cause of truth and of his God. This was the first noble blood shed by popish cruelty in England.

Not satisfied with his single death, the clergy got the parliament to make fresh statutes against the Lollards: they never ceasing, with amazing eagerness, to require their blood. It was enacted, among other things, that whoever read the scriptures in English, should forfeit land, chattels, goods, and life, and be condemned as heretics to God, enemies to the crown, and traitors to the kingdom; that they should not have the benefit of any sanctuary; and that, if they continued obstinate, or relapsed after being pardoned, they should first be hanged for treason against the king, and then burned for heresy against God. The act was no sooner passed, than a violent persecution was raised against the Lollards: several of them were burnt alive, some fled the kingdom, and others abjured their religion, to escape the torments prepared for them. From this picture of the horrid barbarities exercised in those times, we may justly bless those we live in, when nothing of that sort is practised, but when all are permitted to obey the dictates of their own conscience, and openly profess their respective religion, provided they do not disturb the tranquillity of the kingdom. The most likely means of preserving the nation in this security is for every cruel statute to be expunged, and for the power and virtue of Christian truth to be trusted with the sole defence of our orthodoxy and our lives.

The following is the confession of the virtuous and Christian martyr whose death we have just described; which, from its clearness and simplicity, is well worthy of remembrance. He commences with the apostle's creed.

"I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth: and in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried, went down to hell, the third day arose again from death, ascended up to Heaven, sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; and from thence shall come again to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost, the universal holy church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the uprising of the flesh, and everlasting life. Amen.

"For a more large declaration of this my faith in the catholic church, I stedfastly believe, that there is but one God Almighty, in and of whose godhead are these three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, and that those three persons are the self-same God Almighty. I believe also, that the second person in this most blessed trinity, in most convenient time appointed thereunto before, took flesh and blood of the most blessed virgin Mary, for the safeguard and redemption of the universal kind of man, which was before lost in Adam's offence. Moreover, I believe, that the same Jesus Christ our Lord, thus being both God and man, is the only head of the whole christian church, and that all those that have been or shall be saved, be members of this most holy church. Whereof the first sort be now in Heaven, and they are the saints from hence departed. These, as they were here conversant, conformed always their lives to the most holy laws and pure examples of Christ, renouncing Satan, the world, and the flesh, with all their concupiscence and evils. The other sort are here upon earth, and called the church militant. For day and night they contend against crafty assaults of the devil, the flattering prosperities of the world, and the rebellious filthiness of the flesh."

As touching the power and authority of the keys, the archbishops, bishops, and other prelates, he said, that the pope is very antichrist, that is, the head; that the archbishops, bishops, and other prelates, be his members, and that the friars be his tail. The which pope, archbishops, and bishops, a man ought not to obey, but so far forth as they were followers of Christ and of Peter, in their life, manners, and conversation, and that he is the successor of Peter which is best and purest in life and manners. "These men," said he, on his examination, to the people who stood about him, "which judge and would condemn me, will seduce you all and themselves, and will lead you unto hell; therefore take heed of them."

Historical Account of the Progress of the Reformation in the Reign of King Henry VIII