LOLLARDS OF COVENTRY 1486–1522

The Lollard community of the Midlands city of Coventry, active betweenat least the 1480s and the early 1520s, is among the most well-documented ofEnglish heretical communities of the late Middle Ages. This is especially owingto the survival of the Lichfield Court Book, a detailed record of the examinations,depositions, abjurations, and sentences in a series of proceedings against thecity's heretical community in 1511–1512. The present volume offers both theLatin original and an English translation of this fascinating document, together withall other known evidence for heretical activities in Coventry in the late fifteenthand early sixteenth centuries. These documents (including the Lichfield Court Book itself)derive mostly from the administrative records of the bishops of the diocese ofCoventry and Lichfield, but we have also included accounts of heresy prosecutions fromthe Protestant martyrologist, John Foxe, and from Coventry's civic annals. Thelargest part of this material has hitherto been available only in manuscript and, inthe case of the Lichfield Court Book, a manuscript difficult to read. Easy access tothe original Latin texts, along with an English translation, will help bring theseintriguing materials to a wider audience of scholars and students.

1486–1503

Thursday, 9 March 1486

John Blumston, Richard Hegham, John Smyth, Robert ­Crowther, Thomas Butler, Richard Gilmyn, John Falks, and Roger Brown

The Coventry Lollards in John Foxe'sRerum in ecclesia gestarum

[John Foxe, Rerum in ecclesia gestarum (Basel, 1559), pp. 116–117.]

Suspects named in the Coventry heresy prosecutions, 1486–1522

This table includes all who were prosecuted for heresy in Coventry between 1486 and 1522 and all who were named as suspect or possibly suspect of heresy, according to the records of prosecution presented in this volume. Individuals who were mentioned in passing, with no reference to heresy (such as the name of a person to whom a man had been apprenticed in his youth), are not recorded here. Although in some cases the editors suspect that a given person may have been known by two different names, unless it is fairly clear both names are included in the list, with a note.

Books named in records of Coventry heresy prosecutions, 1486–1512

Note that many books were simply referred to as ‘books containing heresy’ – whether this is how the deponents designated them or whether the clerk translated whatever the deponents said to ‘libros continentes heresim’ is impossible to discern at this remove. Page references are to the Latin text.

Clerics and others present at Coventry heresy prosecutions, 1486–1522

B.Cn.L. = Bachelor of Canon Law

INDEX

Bold numbers indicate appearance or examination of that person before the bishops or their commissaries.

References to explanatory notes are given in brackets.