Bishop Gilbert Burnet: "History of the Reformation of the Church of Engl...
Ecclesiastical immunities from civil
courts becomes a conflicted and contested issue. This is debated in Convocation
and Parliament. Hunne, an alleged Wycliffite owning a Wycliffe Bible, hanged in
prison, occasions the debate. It was alleged as a suicide, but an inquest showed
a homicide. He had been in the Lollards’ Prison at St. Paul’s under ecclesiastical
arrest. Who should be held accountable and where? Those of the Bishop’s household?
A Royal court or an ecclesiastical court? Londoners were unhappy about the burning
of Hunnes’ body at Smithfield and the coverup for the Bishop’s boys (41ff.). The
King is conscious of this tug-of-war between the temporals and spirituals.
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