The Works of John Knox Volume I Part 28

_Soverane Lord_ deceased without heirs of her _persone_.--24. _our_ whole _c.u.n.tree_.--_causes_--caused ... to coine lead-_money_.

445, l. 28. _And attour, her Grace places_--Again, she so placeth.

446, l. 5. _be his_--by this.--11. _remissionis_, conform _to the practise_.

448, l. 2. _fearing_ lest _the_.

449, l. 9. _Pleise your Grace_--Madame.

450, l. 2. _Lord and_ Lady their _true_.--7. _for_ worthy _reasons_.--16. _sute_--follow.--17, 18. _maid_ oft before. Again we desire you _cause_.

451, l. 1. _xxiii of October_--24 of October.--10. _that thei_, (_omitted_.)--18. _sa lang as_ they use us as friends, and not strive _to make_.

453, l. 2. _name_, requiring thame.--15. _The unG.o.dlie soldiouris_, in hatred of goodnesse and good men, continuing in their disorder, mocke _the Laird_.--22. _shall_ make them know me.

458, l. 9. _without_ delay.

459, l. 6. The Captain of _the Castle_.--27. _desyred_, (_omitted_.)--21. _back, the_ carriage of money _was dejected_.

460, l. 21. _betimes_ in the morning for keeping.

461, l. 24, 462, l. 1. _so that in no wise we could charge thame_, (_omitted_.)

463, l. 7. _after_ our departure.

464, l. 28. _before lurked_--there lurked.

465, l. 9. _Alas if I might see_ another defie given: _Give advertis.e.m.e.nt_.

466, l. 22. _continewalie_, (_omitted_.)

468, l. 18. _altogitther_, (_omitted_.)

469, l. 23. _I_ speak _more generallie then_ the present _necessity_ requireth: _for_.

470, l. 25. _thair_ own _formar offences_.

471, l. 9. _himself_, I _speik_.

472, l. 10 and 12. _uncertane_--certaine.--19. _when_ their blinde fury _pursued us_.--l. 16. (_In the margin_,) Let the House of Hamilton remember this.

473, l. 20. _thair_ home and _quiet_.--23. With this we end _the Second Book of the History_, &c.

THE END OF THE SECOND BOOK.

No. II.

THE LOLLARDS IN SCOTLAND DURING THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY.

In tracing the History of the Reformation, we must always revert to a much earlier period than that of Luther. The chief witnesses against the corrupt ceremonies and discipline of the Church of Rome belonged to two distinct sects, but entertaining nearly the same sentiments--the Albigenses, who were chiefly settled about Toulouse and Albigeois, in Languedoc; and the Valdenses, who inhabited the mountainous tract of country, (known as the Cottian Alps,) in the provinces of Dauphine and Provence, in the south of France, and in Piedmont, in the north of Italy. Both sects may be considered as descendants of the primitive Christians, and the long series of persecutions which they endured, may have conduced to spread their opinions in other lands, and to keep alive a spirit of religious inquiry and freedom.

The great English Reformer John Wykliffe, died in the year 1380. The persecutions which arose after his death, drove many of his adherents into exile, and brought some of them to the western parts of Scotland, who, having settled in Ayrshire, obtained the name of the Lollards of Kyle. Any notices respecting them that have been preserved are unfortunately very scanty, but should not be overlooked in a work like the present.

Andrew of Wyntoun, Prior of Lochlevin, the author of a Metrical Chronicle, written about the year 1420, when recording the appointment of Robert Duke of Albany as Governor of Scotland, in the year 1405, commends him for his opposition to Lollards and Heretics:--

"He was a constant Catholike, All Lollard he hatyt, and Hereticke."--(vol. ii. p. 419.)

It was during his administration, that the first Martyr of the Reformed religion was committed to the flames at Perth, for alleged heresy, in the year 1406 or 1407. This was eight or nine years previously to the death of John Huss, that "generous and intrepid Martyr and confessor of Christ," as Luther justly calls him.

Walter Bower, the continuator of Fordun, is probably the only original historian who has preserved an account of Resby, of which the following is an extract:--

"LIB. XV. CAP. XX. DE COMBUSTIONE JACOBI RESBY HaeRETICI APUD PERTH.

"Eodem anno [MCCCCVI] die combustus est JACOBUS RESBY, Presbyter Anglicus de schola Johannis Wykliff, haereticus condemnatus in concilio cleri sub magistro Laurentio de Lundoris, inquisitore haereticae pravitatis, solidissimo clerico et famoso theologo, vitae sanct.i.tate quamplurimum collaudato. Qui quidem Jacobus, quamvis interdum celeberrimus reputabatur simplicibus praedicatione, periculosissimas tamen conclusiones intersperserat in sua dogmatizatione. Quarum prima fuit, quod Papa de facto non est Christi vicarius. Secunda, Nullus est Papa, nec Christi vicarius, nisi sit sanctus. De consimilibus, vel pejoribus, tenuit quadraginta conclusiones. Cujus tam Scripta quam auctorem Inquisitor confutavit, et ad ignem applicavit et incineravit.

Hujusmodi errores excerpti sunt de haeresibus dicti Johannis Wykliff haeresiarchae, d.a.m.nati Londoniis in Anglia, anno Domini MCCCLx.x.x, per primatem Angliae, et tredecim episcopos, ae magistros in sacra theologia triginta, ex dialogo, trialogo, et aliis suis libris. Conclusiones et libelli istius haeretici adhuc a nonnullis Lolardis habentur in Scotia, et curiose servantur, ex instinctu Diaboli, per tales quibus aquae furtivae dulciores sunt, et panis absconditus suavior."--(Vol. i. p.

441.)

The several abbreviates of the Scotichronicon notice Resby's fate. Law's MS. places it in 1406; but the larger "Extracta ex Cronicis Scocie,"

gives the year 1407, nor omits the circ.u.mstance "De talibus et pejoribus xl. Conclusiuncs; _cujus liber adhuc restant curiose servantur per Lolardos in Scocie_." Among later writers who mention Resby, Spotiswood says, "John Wickliffe in England, John Hus and Jerome of Prague in Bohemia, did openly preach against the tyranny of the Pope, and the abuses introduced in the Church; and in this countrey, one called Joannes [James] Resby an Englishman, and _de schola_ Wickliffi, as the story speaketh, was brought in question for some points of doctrine which he taught, and condemned to the fire. He was charged by Master Laurence Lendores with 40 heretical opinions; whereof we have two only mentioned; one, That the Pope was not Christ's Vicar; the other, That he was not to be esteemed Pope, if he was a man of wicked life. For maintaining these two points, he suffered in the year 1407."--(History of the Church, p. 56.) This date is also given in the Breve Cronicon, (apud Registrum Glasguense, p. 316.) "Combustio Jacobi Henrici [Resby]

apud Perth, A.D. 1407."

The prevalence of such opinions is still more evident from the oath which Masters of Arts were required to take, in the newly founded University of St. Andrews; it being enacted at a Congregation, held on the 10th of June 1416, that all who commenced Masters of Arts should swear, among other things, that they would resist all adherents of the sect of LOLLARDS. "Item, Jurabitis quod ecclesiam defendetis contra insultum Lollardorum, et quibuscunque eorum secte adherentibus pro posse vestro resistetis."--(MS. Records of the University, quoted by Dr.

M'Crie, Life of Melville, vol. i. p. 419.)

Knox commences his History with referring to some person whose name did not appear in the Scrollis or Registers of Glasgow, who suffered in that city in the year 1422. David Buchanan and Petrie have rather hastily concluded that Resby was the person referred to, overlooking both the difference of time and the place of his execution.

Another proof of the increase of the Lollards in Scotland, is furnished by an Act in the Parliament of King James the First, held at Perth, on the 12th March 1424-5, soon after his return from his long captivity in England:--

"OF HERETICKIS AND LOLLARDIS.

"Item, Anentis Heretikis and Lollardis, that ilk Bischop sall ger inquyr be the Inquisicione of Heresy, quhar ony sik beis fundyne, ande at thai be punyst as Lawe of Haly Kirk requiris: Ande, gif it misteris, that Secular power be callyt tharto in suppowale and helping of Haly Kirk."--(Acta Parl. Scotiae, vol. ii. p. 7.)

The prevalence of reformed opinions is also clear from the appointment of a dignified Churchman as Heretical Inquisitor. Such an office would obviously never have been contemplated, unless for the wide spread of what was deemed to be heresy. Laurence of Lindores, Abbot of Scone, in 1411, was the first Professor of Law in the newly erected University of St. Andrews, and he is described as "solidissimus clericus et famosus theologus, vitae sanct.i.tate quamplurimum collaudatus." But the t.i.tle of HAERETICae PRAVITATIS INQUISITOR, formed his highest distinction; and he is said to have given no peace or rest to heretics or Lollards. Whether Laurence of Lindores resigned his situation as Abbot on obtaining other preferment, is uncertain. In July 1432, when elected Dean of the Faculty of Arts, at St. Andrews, he is styled Rector of Creich, Master of Arts, Licentiate in Theology, Inquisitor for the Kingdom of Scotland, &c. This office of Dean he held till his death, when (post mortem felicis memoriae Magistri Laurencii de Lundoris,) Mr. George Newton, Provost of the Collegiate Church of Bothwell, was elected his successor, 16th September 1437.--(Registers of the University.) Lindores is said to have written "Examen Haereticorum Lolardorum, quos toto regno exegit."

The next Martyr was Paul Craw or Crawar, a native of Bohemia, by old Scotish writers called Beum. As Knox seems to have had before him the brief notice contained in the first edition of Foxe's "Actes and Monuments," the pa.s.sage from that edition may here be quoted:--

"-- PAULE CRAWS A BOHEMIAN.

"The same yere [1431] also was Paul Craws a Bohemian taken at s. Andrews by the Bishop Henry, and delivered over to the seculer power to be burnt, for holdyng contrary opinions vnto the church of Rome, touching the sacrament of the Lords supper, the worshipping of sainctes, auriculer confessyon, with other of Wycleffes opinions."--(Foxe, p. 360, first edit., 1564, folio.)

The earlier notices given of this Martyr by Bower the Continuator of Fordun, and Hector Boece, may also be quoted, the latter in the words of his translator John b.e.l.l.e.n.den, Archdean of Murray, in the reign of James the Fifth. It will be observed that Bower mentions Laurence of Lindores as Inquisitor, whereas Boece says it was John Fogo, his successor in that office, who acted on this occasion, which some authorities place in 1431, others in 1432, or in the following year.

"DE COMBUSTIONE PAULI CRAWAR ARCH-HaeRETICI, ET DE LOLARDIS.