PERSECUTIONS IN ENGLAND
During King Edward III’s reign (1327-1377), the Church of England was corrupted with errors and superstition. The light of the true Gospel of Christ had been virtually extinguished by the darkness of man’s doctrines, burdensome ceremonies, and gross idolatry. At the same time, Wycliffe’s followers, reformers called Lollards, had become so many that the clergy was annoyed, and though the clergy molested them in underhanded ways, they had no authority to put them to death. After the usurpation of the English throne by Henry IV in 1399, the Lollards were subject to increasing persecution. Soon after, the papist clergy prevailed upon the king to introduce a bill into parliament to condemn the Lollards who remained obstinate in their reform beliefs, and turn them over to the secular authorities for burning as heretics. Despite strong Lollard resistance in the House of Commons, the statute De haeretico comburendo (On the Burning of the Heretic) was passed by Parliament in 1401, and was immediately put into effect. It was the first time in Britain that a law was passed to burn people for their religious beliefs. The first martyr to die under the new law was a priest named William Santree [or Santee]—he was burned in *Smithfield. Soon after, the archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Arundel, and his bishops began to move against Sir John Oldcastle (Lord Cobham), a popular Wycliffe follower and personal friend of Henry IV, whom they accused of commissioning others to preach who were not licensed by the bishops, and of encouraging false teachings against the sacraments of the church, images, pilgrimages, and the pope. Before they could charge him, however, they knew they had to enlist the aid of the king. The king listened to them politely, and then told them to deal with Sir John with respect, and restore him to the church through gentleness. He also offered to reason with Sir John on their behalf. Soon after, he sent for Sir John and admonished him to return to his mother the Holy Church, and, like an obedient child, acknowledge that he deserved punishment because he had been wrong. Sir John replied: Most worthy king, you know I am always prompt and willing to obey, because I know that you are a Christian king and the appointed minister of God, and that you bear the sword with which to punish the evildoers and protect the virtuous. Next to my eternal God, I owe you my obedience, and I am ready, as I have always been, to submit all that I have of money or properties to fulfill whatever you command me in the Lord. But, concerning the pope and his clergy, I owe them neither attendance nor service, since I know by the Scriptures that he is the antichrist, the son of perdition, the open adversary of God, and the abomination of Daniel standing in the holy place. When the king heard this, he made no answer and left the room. The archbishop again approached the king about Sir John, and was given authority to charge him, examine him, and punish him in accordance with their devilish decrees: The Laws of Holy Church. But when Sir John did not appear before them as he was told to, the archbishop condemned him for contemptuous resistance to authority. Then when he was told that Sir John mocked him; disdained everything he did; maintained his same opinions; viewed with contempt the church’s powers, a bishop’s dignity, and the order of the priesthood; he raged openly and excommunicated him. In response, Sir John Oldcastle wrote out his personal confession of faith and took it to his friend, Henry IV, whom he expected would gladly receive it. Instead, the king refused it and commanded it to be delivered to the archbishop and his council of bishops who would judge him. When Sir John appeared before the council, and in the king’s presence, he asked that a hundred knights be assembled to hear his case and judge him, for he knew they would clear him of all heresies. To clear himself, he even offered to the fight to the death any man who disagreed with his faith, according to the Law of Arms. Finally, he gently stated that he would not refuse any manner of correction that was according to the Word of God, but would obey it meekly. When he finished, the king took him into his private chambers, where Sir John first told him that he had appealed to the pope, and then showed him what he had written. At this, the king angrily told him to wait for the decision of the pope, and if it was that he should submit to the archbishop, then Sir John should do it, and he should not appeal again. All of this Sir John refused, and the king commanded him to be arrested and imprisoned in the Tower of London. Because of Sir John Oldcastle’s great popularity and esteem, the archbishop proceeded slowly with his trial over a period of several weeks from September until December, but the judgment had already been predetermined, and Sir John’s condemnation for heresy and sentence of death by hanging and burning surprised no one. In his defense, Sir John had written this: As for images, I understand that they are not a matter of faith, but were intended, since faith in Christ was tolerated by the Church, to represent and bring to mind the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ and the martyrdom and good living of other saints. But whoever gives to dead images the worship that belongs to God, or puts hope and trust in getting help from them as he should to God alone, or has greater affection toward them than toward God, he is committing the great sin of idol worship. Also, I know this fully, that every person in this earth is a pilgrim toward bliss or toward pain, and he who does not know the holy commandments of God and keep them in his life here, even though he may go on pilgrimages to all the world and die doing so, he shall be damned; but he who knows the holy commandments of God and keeps them, he shall be saved, even though he never in his life went on a pilgrimage, as people do now, to Canterbury, or to Rome, or to any other place. On the day appointed for his execution, Sir John Oldcastle was brought out of the Tower of London with his hands tied behind him. He smiled cheerfully at those around him. Then he was laid upon a frame as if he were a heinous traitor to the crown, and dragged to St. Gile’s field. When they reached his place of execution and he was taken off the frame, Sir John knelt down and asked God to forgive his enemies. Then he stood up and exhorted the people who had come there to follow the laws of God written in the Scriptures, and to beware of teachers whose conversation and living are contrary to Christ. Then chains were tied around his stomach, and he was lifted into the air, and a fire was started under him. As the fire consumed him, he praised God until he could praise Him no more. Throughout the crowd who watched him there was great weeping and grief, for a godly and good man had died. The year was 1417.