25 September 1413 A.D. John Oldcastle, a Wycliffian, Arrested and Arraigned before the Archbishop of Canterbury and his Bishops
25 September 1413 A.D. John Oldcastle, a Wycliffian, Arrested and
Arraigned before the Archbishop of Canterbury and his Bishops.
Dr. Rusten tells the story.
Rusten, E. Michael and Rusten,
Sharon. The One Year Christian History.
Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2003. Available at: http://www.amazon.com/The-Year-Christian-History-Books/dp/0842355073/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1393302630&sr=8-1&keywords=rusten+church+history
Backstory.
Before the Reformation, John
Wycliffe was born in 1329. He received his doctorate from Oxford. He was a
lecturer and Rector. He taught sola scriptura.
He opposed the indulgence and penance system including the treasury of
the saints and accumulated merits. He opposed Papal supremacy and
infallibility. He tried to abolish
religious orders. Wycliffe died in 1384.
Wycliffe was influential and had
followers. And, he had enemies amongst
reprobates and advocates of the false gospel.
They came to be known as Lollards or “mumblers,” a term adopted by the
enemies. Something of an organization
had developed with spokesmen including sympathizers in Parliament.
The De heretico comburendo (2 Hen.4 c.15) was a
law passed by Parliament under King Henry IV of England in 1401, punishing
heretics with burning. A Provincial Council of Oxford, 1407, and Canterburian
Canons, 1409, were passed advancing the Comburdendo ruling and identifying Wycliff
and followers as heretics…aiming at their extirpation.
John Oldcastle was a follower of Wycliffe. He had been a
solider. He fought in the Welsh Wars. Be
became a friend of Henry IV’s son, Henry, Prince of Wales. (Shakespeare’s Falstaff in Henrvy IV was modelled after
Oldcastle.) He married into nobility and
in 1409 was made a baron and a member of the House of Lords.
His old friend acceded to the throne as Henry V. Canterbury and his bishops went to Henry V to
plead against Oldcastle. Henry V turned
on his old friend in support of Canterbury and the bishops. Henry V gave the ecclesiastics authorization
to prefer charges on Oldcastle.
On 25 September
1413 A.D. Oldcastle was arrested and brought to trial before Canterbury and
his bishops.
Canterbury said to Oldcastle:
“Lord Cobham, we once again require you to have none
other opinion than the universal belief of the Holy Church of Rome.”
Oldcastle
responded:
“I will none otherwise believe in these pint than I
told you afore. Do with me what you will…though
ye judge my body…yet am I certain that ye can do no harm to my soul. He that created that will of his infinite
mercy save it; I have therein no manner of doubt. Concerning these articles, I will stand to
the very death by the grace of God.”
Oldcastle was sentenced to death and imprisoned in
the Tower of London, but he escaped. The
Archbishop of Canterbury died. Four
years later, Oldcastle was rearrested a second time.
He was hanged.
Questions:
1.
While
the question may appear odd, it is not. Given that God is atemporal, above time,
transcendent to time and eternal wherein—as it were—several hundred years are
but a yesterday and the Second Coming is but a tomorrow, how will Henry V be
adjudged? Oldcastle? Canterbury?
2.
What
is the current value of telling this story?
For the Church?
3.
Did
Oldcastle feel betrayed by Henry V?
Would he or might he have experienced a sense of betrayal and
abandonment? A sense of revenge towards
Henry V?
4.
What
was the content of the earlier inquiries with Oldcastle by Canterbury and his
bishops?
5.
Did
Shakespeare fairly represent Oldcastle in his character Falstaff?
Sources:
Clouse, Robert G. “Lollards.” NIDCC. 601-2.
------. “Wycliffe, John (c. 1329-1384).” NIDCC. 1064-65.
Douglas, J.D. “Oldcastle, Sir John (Lord Cobham)
(c.1378-1417).” NIDCC. 724.
Schaff, Philip. History
of the Christian Church. 6: 354.
Williamson. Foxe’s
Book of Martyrs. 1-44.
Comments
Post a Comment