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Wenzel, Siegfried
2005.
Latin Sermon Collections from Later Medieval England.
Article contents
Robert Lychlade's Oxford Sermon of 1395
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 July 2016
Extract
In the mid-1390s, a group of Oxford scholars caused the authorities some concern because of their Lollard sympathies, and for propagating heretical teachings at the university. Among them was Robert Lychlade, singled out by name in the following royal directive to the chancellor of Oxford dated 18 July 1395:
We have learned reliably that some sons of iniquity, without heed of their salvation, living and studying at this university, and above all Robert Lychlade, who is allowed to speak there contemptuously (prophane), have been publishing, communicating, and teaching for some time, in that university as well as other secret places, impious opinions and conclusions as well as detestable allegations that are in many ways contrary to the Catholic faith. They are said to have been sowing them like tares among the people, and they still intend to publish, communicate, and teach them in a way that is wrongful and worthy of condemnation, in order to hurt the Catholic faith and openly subvert the aforesaid university, unless they are held in check by the arm of our royal majesty…. We command you firmly to remove and expel all Lollards and others who live in the university and are openly suspected of heretical depravity, and especially the aforementioned Robert, if he, through examination or any other lawful means, should be found before you to be such as should be feared to taint the university, just as an ailing sheep taints the flock.
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References
1 “De lollardis et aliis heresim predicantibus extra vniuersitatem Oxon’ ammouendis [marginal]. R. Cancellario vniuersitatis sue Oxon’ salutem. Cum prout ex certa relacione sane didicimus quidam iniquitatis filii sue salutis immemores in vniuersitate predicta commorantes et scolarizantes et presertim Robertus Lychlade qui prophane conuersari permittitur in eadem opiniones nepharias ac conclusiones et allegaciones detestabiles fidei catholice multipliciter repugnantes in vniuersitate illa ac aliis locis clandestinis a diu est publicauerint communicauerint et docuerint et tanquam zizannia in populo seminauerint et adhuc publicare communicare et docere intendunt dampnabiliter et inique in fidei catholice lesionem et vniuersitatis predicte subuersionem euidentem nisi brachio regie magestatis cicius resistatur Nos ne populus regni nostri cuius regimen nobis ab alto comittitur per huiusmodi opiniones nepharias ac conclusiones et allegaciones detestabiles latentis inimici nequicia indies inualescente quomodolibet inficiatur desiderantes vniuersitatem illam que rore et deliciis sciencie literalis et virtutis hactenus potissime reflorebat ab huiusmodi erroribus quatenus poterimus expurgari vobis precipimus firmiter iniungentes quod omnes et singulas lollardos et alios prauitate heretica notorie suspectos in vniuersitate predicta commorantes et presertim prefatum Robertum si per inquisicionem vel alio modo legitimo ipsum talem coram vobis reperiri contigerit qui eandem vniuersitatem tanquam ouis morbida gregem inficere formidatur ab eadem vniuersitate ammoueri et expelli ac rebelles quos in hac parte inueneritis coram nobis et consilio nostro de tempore in tempus duci fac’ vt tunc pro eorum punicione ordinare valeamus prout de auisamento dicti consilii nostri fore viderimus salubrius faciendum T[este] R. apud Ledes. xviii die Julii [blank] per ipsum Regem et consilium”: PRO, Chancery, Close Rolls, C54/237, m. 24. British Crown copyright material in the Public Record Office, reproduced with the permission of the Controller of Her Britannic Majesty's Stationery Office. I am grateful to Maureen Jurkowski for her help.Google Scholar
2 See Catto, J. I., “Wyclif and Wycliffism at Oxford 1356–1430,” in Catto, J. I. and Evans, Ralph, eds., The History of the University of Oxford, vol. 2: Late Medieval Oxford (Oxford, 1992), 175–261, esp. at 226.Google Scholar
3 “Absque causa racionabili bannitus fuisset sicut dicit”: PRO, Chancery, Patent Rolls, C66/356, m. 38.Google Scholar
4 Friend, Albert C., “The Dangerous Theme of the Pardoner,” Modern Language Quarterly 18 (1957): 305–8, at 305.Google Scholar
5 The same quotation occurs again as a simple authority in a later sermon (Z–24), fol. 74va. For the use of 1 Tim. 6:10 as a genuine sermon thema, see Gillmeister, Heiner, “Chaucer's Pardoner's Tale as a Poetic Sermon,” Poetica [Tokyo] 29–30 (1989): 58–79.Google Scholar
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Robert Lychlade's Oxford Sermon Google Scholar
7 I am grateful to the librarian of the Bibliothèque Municipale, Arras, for giving me access to the manuscript and providing a microfilm, and for permission to reproduce the text.Google Scholar
8 cruciendos MS.Google Scholar
9 contempnandus MS.Google Scholar
10 predicaciones … impediens] MS. Perhaps read: predicatores … impedientes.Google Scholar
11 primo MS.Google Scholar
12 teptat MS.Google Scholar
13 vel laudis written twice MS.Google Scholar
14 numerus MS.Google Scholar
15 om. MS.Google Scholar
102 John 17:3.Google Scholar
103 1 Pet. 5:8.Google Scholar
104 Cf. 1 Pet. 5:9.Google Scholar
105 Jer. 23:32.Google Scholar
106 1 Tim. 6:10.Google Scholar
107 Gregory Hom. in Ev. 1.17.7 (PL 76.1142).Google Scholar
16 pccis MS.Google Scholar
17 non fingunt MS.Google Scholar
18 per MS.Google Scholar
19 reprobus MS.Google Scholar
20 inheat MS.Google Scholar
21 pro MS.Google Scholar
108 Acts 23:7 and John 7:43, 10:19.Google Scholar
109 Matt. 21:10.Google Scholar
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111 1 Tim. 5:6.Google Scholar
112 Rev. 3:1.Google Scholar
113 Phil. 3:19.Google Scholar
114 Eph. 5:18.Google Scholar
22 feminarum MS.Google Scholar
23 vidit MS.Google Scholar
24 Text illegible MS. For the text referred to, see below, n. 118.Google Scholar
25 in … Mattheum] m'i super MS.Google Scholar
26 vi cũ MS. Pseudo-Chrysostom reads: “conditionem eorum.” Google Scholar
27 clici MS.Google Scholar
28 seculi MS.Google Scholar
115 Jerome Comm. ad Titum (PL 26.601).Google Scholar
116 Jerome Ep. 54.10 (CSEL 54.477).Google Scholar
117 Ezek. 16:49.Google Scholar
118 Ps. 61:10.Google Scholar
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120 Office for the Dead.Google Scholar
121 Rom. 1:22.Google Scholar
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29 matrem MS.Google Scholar
30 horis MS.Google Scholar
31 obstreccionem MS.Google Scholar
32 pellancia MS.Google Scholar
33 ostendat MS.Google Scholar
34 obstenutatem MS.Google Scholar
35 excrentur MS.Google Scholar
36 feiarum MS.Google Scholar
37 unius matrimonii] vnio matrimoniali MS.Google Scholar
38 opera MS.Google Scholar
39 qodam modo MS.Google Scholar
40 om. MS; cf 1 Kgs. 19:10. Google Scholar
41 raro MS.Google Scholar
42 occ't MS.Google Scholar
43 tollentem MS.Google Scholar
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124 Acts 20:28–30.Google Scholar
125 1 Kgs. 19:10.Google Scholar
44 sequatur … percutiat] om. MS.Google Scholar
45 interrogatis MS.Google Scholar
46 The bifolium consisting of fols. 35/42 was misplaced before the medieval foliation and rubrication were entered. Signe de renvoi on fol. 34v.Google Scholar
47 planetarum MS.Google Scholar
48 11] written 1°1° MS.Google Scholar
49 apparently corrected from tantus or cautus? MS.Google Scholar
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129 Decretum D. 23, c. 2 (Friedberg 1:293); from Gregory, Regula pastoralis 1.2 (PL 77.16).Google Scholar
50 source: crinitorum.Google Scholar
51 mencionem MS.Google Scholar
52 om. MS.Google Scholar
53 prēs MS.Google Scholar
54 cum MS.Google Scholar
55 denique or demet MS.Google Scholar
56 suffracinate MS.Google Scholar
57 om. MS.Google Scholar
58 vitam MS.Google Scholar
59 et mandata written twice MS.Google Scholar
60 sic MS.Google Scholar
61 aduocandi MS.Google Scholar
62 om. MS.Google Scholar
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131 1 John 2:4.Google Scholar
132 John 12:50.Google Scholar
133 Ps. 127:2.Google Scholar
134 2 Thess. 3:10.Google Scholar
63 tempore MS.Google Scholar
64 om. MS.Google Scholar
65 alias MS.Google Scholar
66 source: nonne illic inveniunt.Google Scholar
67 operare MS.Google Scholar
68 nesse MS.Google Scholar
69 quod legit om. MS.Google Scholar
70 cond. MS.Google Scholar
71 Antequam MS.Google Scholar
72 nequaquam MS.Google Scholar
73 cui MS.Google Scholar
74 source: successura.Google Scholar
75 passum MS.Google Scholar
76 passum MS.Google Scholar
77 de qua] a'o MS.Google Scholar
78 tamen MS.Google Scholar
79 ypocrite MS.Google Scholar
135 Augustine, , De opere monachorum 17.20 (CSEL 41.564).Google Scholar
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138 Gal. 6:14.Google Scholar
139 Wisd. 7:24.Google Scholar
140 Matt. 6:2.Google Scholar
80 pe MS.Google Scholar
81 eternorum MS.Google Scholar
82 istam cognicionem marked for transposition MS.Google Scholar
83 ipso MS. This sentence, with some emendation, allows various readings. My suggestion is based on its putative parallelism with the following two sentences. Google Scholar
84 om. MS.Google Scholar
85 fi'ci MS.Google Scholar
86 huc MS.Google Scholar
87 c'atum MS.Google Scholar
88 coscit MS.Google Scholar
141 Ps. 40:2.Google Scholar
142 Sir. 12:1.Google Scholar
143 Decretals 1.1.2 (Friedberg 2:7). 144 Rom. 1:20.Google Scholar
145 1 Cor. 13:12.Google Scholar
146 1 Cor. 13:12.Google Scholar
89 m'i MS.Google Scholar
90 non aliter] qualite (?) MS.Google Scholar
91 om. MS.Google Scholar
92 excludunt MS.Google Scholar
93 oms MS.Google Scholar
94 om. MS.Google Scholar
95 distortes MS.Google Scholar
96 possibly canceled, MS.Google Scholar
97 i'i MS.Google Scholar
98 solitus MS.Google Scholar
99 quia [canceled ?] quod MS.Google Scholar
147 Ps. 118:130.Google Scholar
148 Cf. John 17:3.Google Scholar
149 Phil. 2:8.Google Scholar
150 Ps. 136:9.Google Scholar
151 1 Cor. 3:11.Google Scholar
100 amicus MS.Google Scholar
101 〈omnium〉 MS.Google Scholar
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153 See Statuta antiqua Universitatis Oxoniensis, ed. Gibson, Strickland (Oxford, 1931), 52 (before a.d. 1350); my translation. According to later statutes (1431), the preaching calendar was carefully planned and announced, and copies of these university sermons were to be deposited with the university; ibid. 236–38.Google Scholar
154 On this work, see Boyle, Leonard E., “The Oculus sacerdotis and Some Other Works of William of Pagula,” Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, 5th series, 5 (1955): 81–110; reprinted as item IV in Boyle, , Pastoral Care, Clerical Education and Canon Law, 1200–1400 (London, 1981).Google Scholar
155 According to Latham, R. E. and Howlett, D. R., Dictionary of Medieval Latin From British Sources (Oxford, 1975–), under “dominus” 8.e, from the late twelfth century on, the word could designate any priest (besides, of course, referring to many other kinds of social superiors).Google Scholar
156 What is known about Robert Lychland has been gathered in Emden, A. B., A Biographical Register of the University of Oxford to a.d. 1500, 3 vols. (Oxford, 1957–59), 2:1184. The Robert Lychlade (or Lecchelad) here discussed may be the same as Robert Lemanesworthe de Lechlade, priest and fellow of Winchester College from 1394 to 1397. See Friend, , “Dangerous,” 307–8 and n. 11; Emden's date of admission seems incorrect. For Lychlade's later connection with Kemerton, see Hudson, Anne, “The Debate on Bible Translation, Oxford 1401,” English Historical Review 90 (1975): 1–18, at 12.Google Scholar
157 At an earlier date, 1376, Oxford monks had been used as informers on Wyclif's lectures; see Catto, , “Wyclif,” 204.Google Scholar
158 Owst, G. R., Literature and Pulpit in Medieval England: A Neglected Chapter in the History of English Letters and of the English People (Cambridge, 1933; repr. Oxford, 1961), 242–84.Google Scholar
159 Ibid., 262–64.Google Scholar
160 Ibid., 352–61.Google Scholar
161 For example, the contemporary Thomas Brunton, monk and bishop of Rochester, in Sermon 68, says that if one preaches about sins in general, the audience will take it with equanimity; but “if one preaches to the clergy specifically about false preachers who seek tithes rather than souls; or about flattering priests of Satan who always sing ‘Placebo’ and never ‘Dirige’; or if one preaches to lay people about how dangerous it is to use false measures, weights, and scales, or else false usury that is forbidden by every law,” they will smoke like green wood in the fire and slander and rail against the preacher: The Sermons of Thomas Brinton, Bishop of Rochester (1373–1389), ed. Devlin, Mary Aquinas, 2 vols. (London, 1954), 2, 311. Lychlade's quotation against failings of priests, taken from a very popular pastoral handbook (Oculus sacerdotis), was a commonplace in contemporary sermon literature; see Owst, , Literature, 278 and n. 1. For criticism of monastic failings, even in monastic sermons, see Wenzel, Siegfried, Monastic Preaching in the Age of Chaucer, The Morton W. Bloomfield Lectures on Medieval English Literature, 3 (Kalamazoo, Mich., 1993), 12–14.Google Scholar
162 For the Oculus sacerdotis, see above, n. 154. To such “orthodox” quotations one may add Grosseteste, even if the latter was a favorite authority for Wyclif and his followers; see Southern, R. W., Robert Grosseteste: The Growth of an English Mind in Medieval Europe, 2d ed. (Oxford, 1992), 298–309. But the two Grosseteste quotations used by Lychlade do not come from the bishop's famous speech before the curia of 1250 (of which a copy appears elsewhere in the Arras manuscript).Google Scholar
163 The closest echo of a Wycliffite tone may be Lychlade's remark that the devil's preachers are wont to “fidem sacre scripture … discruciare” (par. 2). An orthodox preacher would have been more likely to speak of undermining faith in the Church. But I make this distinction with a good deal of hesitation.Google Scholar
164 A good heretical text for comparison is the Twelve Conclusions affixed to the doors of Westminster Hall during the parliament of January-Februrary 1395; see Selections from English Wycliffite Writings, ed. Hudson, Anne (Cambridge, 1978), item 3.Google Scholar
165 There is a parallel to this notion in the English Wycliffe Sermons, vol. 1, ed. Hudson, Anne (Oxford, 1983), 641, lines 56–58. Thomas Wimbledon, in his sermon on “Redde rationem villicationis tue,” preached ca. 1387, declares that the Antichrist will come in the year 1400; see Wimbledon's Sermon “Redde rationem villicationis tue”: A Middle English Sermon of the Fourteenth Century , ed. Knight, lone Kemp (Pittsburgh, 1967), 116, lines 895–98.Google Scholar
166 See the quotation from Brunton, above, n. 161. Already Grosseteste declared that “ipsi pastores … personam Christi induti, non annunciantes, etsi non superadderent malitias alias, sunt Antichristi et satanas transfiguratus in angelum lucis”; Sermo 14 (preached before pope and cardinals in 1250), Fasciculus rerum expetendarum et fugiendarum, ed. Brown, Edward (London, 1690), 2:251.Google Scholar
167 The Lollard Twelve Conclusions were posted in February 1395 in Westminster and London; and on the same day as the royal order to examine and expel Lychlade was issued, a commission to examine Wyclif's Trialogus was established; see Hudson, Anne, The Premature Reformation: Wycliffite Texts and Lollard History (Oxford, 1988), 92; and Catto, , “Wyclif,” 226.Google Scholar
168 See Wenzel, , Macaronic Sermons, 48; borrowings from Fasciculus morum are in fact more extensive than was noted there. I plan to conduct a more detailed analysis of the Arras manuscript separately.Google Scholar
169 See, for instance, Hudson, , Premature, 421–30.Google Scholar
170 The language of the respective document is of some importance here. Late medieval preachers were advised that moral criticism of the clergy should be spoken in Latin; see Wenzel, , Macaronic Sermons, 121. It is not clear in what language Lychlade gave this sermon; if it was a university sermon, it could have been preached in Latin.Google Scholar
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