John Wyclif and Ecclesia Anglicana

Edith C. Tatnall

doi:10.1017/S0022046900049824

John Wyclif and Ecclesia Anglicana

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 March 2011

Edith C. Tatnall

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Edith C. Tatnall: Affiliation:
Metropolitan State College, Denver, Colorado

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Lord Acton believed that there was a dichotomy in English history between the life expressed in the Church and the principle of nationality. It is evident from a study of the writings of John Wyclif (c. 1320–84) that at least one medieval English theologian asserted that a principle of English nationality was fused into the life of the English Church. Regardless of how the next fifty years of scholarship may judge the connexion in medieval Christianity between national traditions and the universal Church, the English aspect of it is important at present. Wyclif provided the original impetus to the Lollard movement. Increasing scholarly attention has been given to Lollardy and its possible influence on the English Reformation. It now seems important to survey systematically the texts of Wyclif's treatises themselves for what light they may shed on the relationship between ecclesiastical and temporal history in the English tradition.

Type: Articles
Information: The Journal of Ecclesiastical History , Volume 20 , Issue 1 , April 1969 , pp. 19 - 43

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022046900049824 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1969

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References

^{page 19 note 1} Acton, Lord, Essays on Church and State, ed. Woodruff, Douglas, London 1952, 145Google Scholar.

^{page 19 note 2} This fusion may be shown also in certain fourteenth-century English ecclesiastical vestments to be found in the Victoria and Albert Museum collection: numbers T40, T40A, and the Syon Cope, no. 83, on which the arms of English noble families are embroidered. Wyclif's nationalism has been noted by Stacey, John, Wyclif and Reform, London 1964, 57 f.Google Scholar

^{page 19 note 3} Dickens, A. G., Lollards and Protestants in the Diocese of York 1509–1558, London 1959Google Scholar; The English Reformation, London 1964, 22 f.Google Scholar; ‘Heresy and the Origins of English Protestantism’, Britain and the Netherlands, ed. Bromley, J. S. and Kossmann, E. H., ii, Groningen, 47–66Google Scholar; Aston, Margaret, ‘Lollardy and the Reformation: Survival or Revival?’, History, xlix (1964), 149–70CrossRef Google Scholar; Thomson, John A. F., The Later Lollards 1414–1520, London 1965Google Scholar.

^{page 19 note 4} Cf., e.g., McShane, Eduardo D., A Critical Appraisal of the Antimendicantism of John Wyclif, Rome 1950.Google Scholar

^{page 20 note 1} Wycliffe, Johannis, Tractatus De Civili Dominio, Liber Primus, ed. Poole, Reginald Lane, London 1885, 381Google Scholar.

^{page 21 note 1} ‘Romanus pontifex sit caput particularis ecclesie, cui obediendum est in terris pre ceteris, de quanto in ipso Christus loquitur legem suam’: De Civili Dominio, 1. 382.

^{page 21 note 2} ‘Congregacione omnium predestinatorum’: Wyclf, Johannis, Tractatus De Ecclesia, ed. Loserth, Johann, London 1886, 2Google Scholar. Cf. ‘una universitas fidelium predestinatorum’: ibid., 37.

^{page 21 note 3} ‘Quia nonnulli, eciam illi qui videntur esse aliquid discordant in materia de quiditate ecclesie, et fides est ecclesia que deberet in christianis omnibus esse una’: De Ecclesia, 1.

^{page 21 note 4} The pope's original condemnation was in a letter addressed to the archbishop of Canterbury and the bishop of London, dated 11 June 1377. The text of the letter, including the condemned theses, is given in Mansi, , Sacrorum Conciliorum Nova et Amplissima Collectio, xxvi, Graz 1960Google Scholar (reprint of 1902 ed.), col. 565 f. Cf. Fasciculi Zizaniorum Magistri Johannis Wyclif cum Tritico, ed. Shirley, W. W., R.S., London 1858, 245 f.Google Scholar

^{page 21 note 5} Walsingham, Thomas, Hisloria Anglicana, ed. Riley, Henry Thomas, R.S. London 1863, i. 345 f.Google Scholar

^{page 21 note 6} Wyclif, Johannis, Tractatus De Civili Dominio, ii, iii, and iv, ed. Loserth, Johannis, London 1900–4.Google Scholar

^{page 21 note 7} De Civili Dominio, iv, Introduction, xi.

^{page 22 note 1} De Ecclesia, 37 f.

^{page 22 note 2} Ibid., 142 f.

^{page 22 note 3} The best account of this incident is given by Perroy, Eduard, ‘Gras Profits et Rancons Pdndant la Guerre de Cent Ans: l'Affaire de Compte de Denia’, Mélanges d'hisloire du moyen-âge dédiés à la mémoire de Louis Halphen, Paris 1951, 573–80.Google Scholar

^{page 22 note 4} Vero accipitur ecclesia propriissime pro universitate predestinatorum: De Civili Dominio, 1. 288. See also De Ecclesia, 37 (lines 11 f.).

^{page 23 note 1} See Ullmann, Walter, The Origins of the Great Schism: a Study in Fourteenth Century Ecclesiastical History, London 1948, 55.Google Scholar

^{page 23 note 2} De Ecclesia, 352.

^{page 23 note 3} Wyclif, Johannis, Dialogus sive Speculum Ecclesie Militantis, ed. Pollard, A. W., London 1886.Google Scholar

^{page 23 note 4} Wyclif, Johannis, Tractatus De Officio Regis, ed. Pollard, A. W. and Sayle, C., London 1887.Google Scholar

^{page 23 note 5} Wyclif, Johannis, Tratatus De Potestate Pape, ed. Loserth, Johann, London 1907, i.Google Scholar

^{page 23 note 6} Dialogus, xvi f.; De Officio Regis, xxvii f.; De Potestate Pape, lii.

^{page 23 note 7} De Potestate Pape, li f.

^{page 23 note 8} Wyclif, Johannis, Tractatus De Dominio Divino, Libri Tres, ed. Poole, Reginald Lane, London 1890Google Scholar.

^{page 23 note 9} Wyclif, Johannis, De Veritate Sacrae Scripturae, ed. Buddensieg, Rudolf, London 1905–1907Google Scholar.

^{page 23 note 10} Maitland, F. W., ‘Wyclif on English and Roman Law’, in Collected Papers, ed. Fisher, H. A. L., Cambridge 1911, iii. 50–3Google Scholar. This was originally published in Law Quarterly Review (January 1896).

^{page 23 note 11} Higden, Ranulphi, Polychronicon Ranulphi Higden, Monachi Cestrensis, ed. Lumby, Joseph Rawson, R.S., London 1882.Google Scholar

^{page 23 note 12} De Civili Dominio, ii. 52.

^{page 24 note 1} ‘Unde in lege Anglicana ordinatum est in pluribus quod hereditas sit persone et suis heredibus pro titulo peregrinacionis tempore talliata; et illud plus conformatur legi nature quam ius Quirinum’: De Civili Dominio, i. 254 f.

^{page 24 note 2} Noted by Poole in his introduction, De Civili Domino, 1, xxvi f., p. xxvii n., and 251 f. nn.

^{page 24 note 3} ‘Omnia ergo signa et ordinaciones humane de tan to sunt valida, de quanto sunt volicioni Dei conformia’: De Civili Dominio, 1. 256.

^{page 24 note 4} ‘Unde illi qui inficiunt leges Anglicanas de aufferendo bona ab ecclesiastico delinquente, quod non possunt esse sine mortali execute, nimis presumunt; cum non repugnat sed consonat Scripture sacre nullum clericum civiliter dominari’: De Civili Dominio, 1. 351. See also De Civili Dominio, ii. 39–42.

^{page 24 note 5} Cf. Rotuli Parliamentorum ut et Petitiones et Placita in Parliamento, ii, 337, No. 94, (1376). This figure also appears in Rotuli Parliamentorum in 1380. Rot. Pad., iii. 89–90, as in Select Documents of English Constitutional History 1307–1485, ed. Chrimes, S. B. and Brown, A. L., London 1961, 124Google Scholar.

^{page 25 note 1} ‘Ergo per idem temporales in regno Anglie non debent in aliquo casu de sacerdotibus possessionatis quicquam exigere, licet appropriarunt plus quam terciam partem regni, quantumcunque adversati fuerint legi Christi et quantumcunque magna necessitas immineat hostibus resistendi’: De Civili Dominio, ii. 6.

^{page 25 note 2} Mansi, xxvi, col. 566. Cf. De Civili Dominio, 1. 267, line 12 f.; 345, line 18 f.

^{page 25 note 3} De Civili Dominio, ii. 7. As Loserth notes, cf. Walsingham, Hist. AngL, i, 314 and Shirley, Fasciculi Zizaniorum, xx f.

^{page 25 note 4} Rot. Pad., ii. 304, No. 11.

^{page 25 note 5} Parliament xlvi, Edward III, Westminster, 1372: Rot. Parl., ii. 312, No. 27. Cf. Shirley, Fasciculi Zizaniorum, xxi, n. 2

^{page 26 note 1} Rot. Part., ii. 313, No. 36.

^{page 26 note 2} Rot. Parl., ii. 313–14, Nos. 41, 42.

^{page 26 note 3} De Civili Dominio, 1. 265 f.

^{page 26 note 4} Cross, Rupert, Precedent in English Law, Oxford 1961, 18–23Google Scholar.

^{page 26 note 5} ‘si episcopus non admiserit clericum ad mandatum domini regis’: Bracton, , De Legibus et Consuetudinibus Angliae, ed. Woodbine, George E., New Haven 1915–40, iii. 240Google Scholar.

^{page 26 note 6} ‘si clericus ab eo praesentatus qui amisit implacitaverit clericum eius qui per iudicum recuperavit, fiat talis prohibitio’: Bracton, iii. 240.

^{page 26 note 7} Cum quis per assisam recuperavit et postea cum fuerit implacitatus per breve de recto incipiat ecclesia vacare’: Bracton, iii. 241 f.

^{page 26 note 8} ‘Breve de summonendo episcopum quare non admisit clericum’: Bracton, iii. 242.

^{page 26 note 9} ‘Cum episcopus comparuerit’: Bracton, iii. 243 f.

^{page 27 note 1} Haskins, George L., ‘The University of Oxford and the “Ius ubique docendi”’, English Historical Review, lvi (1941), 281–92.CrossRef Google Scholar

^{page 27 note 2} See above, 20–1.

^{page 27 note 3} ‘8. Scimus quod non est possibile, quod vicarius Christi pure ex bullis suis, vel ex illis cum voluntate & consensu suo, & sui collegii, quemquam habilitet vel inhabilitet’: Mansi, xxvi, col. 566. Cf. De Civili Dominio, 1. 255, line 24 f.

^{page 27 note 4} ‘14. Non est possibile de potentia Dei absolute, quod si papa vel alius praetendatse quovis modo solvere vel ligare, eo ipso solvit vel ligat. 15. Credere debemus quod solum tune solvit vel ligat, quando se conformet legi Christi’: Mansi, ibid. Cf. De Civili Dominio, 1. 283, lines 2 f.; 284, lines 19 f.

^{page 27 note 5} ‘Nos inquit, attendentes quod ad regem pertinet, non ad ecclesiasm, de talibus possessionibus iudicare ne videamur iuri illustris regis Anglorum detrahere, quia ipsorum iudicium ad se asserit pertinere.… Non, inquit, intendimus iudicare de feodo cuius ad ipsum spectat iudicium nisi’ etc.: Decret. Greg, ix, lib. iv, tit. xvii, cap. vii; lib. iv, tit. i, cap. xiii, as noted by Loserth, De Civili Dominio, iv. 391. Wyclif's many references to canon law deserve study.

^{page 27 note 8} E.g., De Civili Dominio, iv. 454.

^{page 28 note 1} De Civili Dominio, iv. 435.

^{page 28 note 2} De Ecclesia, 142.

^{page 28 note 3} Ibid., 146.

^{page 28 note 4} ‘Rex non foret rex nisi propter preeminenciam et officium legis sue’: De Ecclesia, 5 ‘In legem Dei, ecclesie et in legem regni’: De Ecclesia, 149.

^{page 28 note 6} ‘Regnum nostrum non sit imperio sic subiugatum. Ex quibus sequitur quod non pertinet ad papam propter obligacionem regis et regni antiquis temporibus pensionem vel elemosinam annualem ab istis requirere, nam in lege Christi talis perpetuus redditus non habetur nee ex lege imperiali post dotacionem factam a cesare.… Requireretur ergo ut papa in hoc humilis elemosinarius regis petat ratificacionem talis elemosine, cum omnia qui habet in Anglia tenet de rege, turn quia dominium regni nostri non est subiectum imperio, et per consequens non parti imperii decise ad Romanum pontificem’: De Ecclesia, 281 f.

^{page 28 note 7} De Officio Regis, 69.

^{page 28 note 8} ‘stat enim aliquid esse in regno et non de illo, sed quomodo contingeret hoc planius quam quod omnia temporalia cleri Anglie non forent sub regis regimine sed pape, cum enim dicunt quod papa dominatur civiliter.… Nam persona vel populus existens in regno et non subiecta legibus regis et regni, non dicitur esse de illo regno’: De Ecclesia, 338 f.

^{page 28 note 9} ‘Romanus pontifex non habet illam iurisdiccionem in Anglia, nisi vel ex lege Christi’: De Ecclesia, 352. See the whole argument, 350–2. Among Wyclif's complaints were that the papal curia was in league with England's enemies and that the papacy was too far away for efficient contact. On this cf. Rot. Pad., ii. 320, No. 30 (1373); 333, No. 66 (1376); 336, No. 90 (1376); 337, No. 94–340, No. 115 (1376). See also De Ecclesia, 386.

^{page 29 note 1} De Ecclesia, 354–5.

^{page 29 note 2} ‘Et ista subieccio est eo specialius a rege Anglie cum suis militibus observanda, quo ipse copiosius sine subieccione Cesarea dotavit gratancius suam ecclesiam. Et hinc nimirum clerus Anglie est regi suo singulariter in multis subieccior’: De Officio Reeis 37

^{page 29 note 3} Cf. De Officio Regis, 249 f.

^{page 29 note 4} ‘Et patet quod regnum Anglie specialiter non tenetur parere pape nisi secundum obedienciam elicibilem ex scriptura. Sed non est elicibile ex scriptura quod ipse dominetur seculariter super temporalibus regni nostri’: ibid., 146.

^{page 29 note 5} ‘Et hinc leges regni Anglie excellunt leges imperiales’: ibid., 56.

^{page 29 note 6} ‘Unde minus dissonum foret in Anglia quod sacerdotes nostri, eciam episcopi, intenderent irui civili regni nostri, quod magis pertinet eos cognoscere quam quod intenderent civilitati Cesaris’: ibid., 193.

^{page 29 note 7} ‘Non credo quod plus viget in Romana civilitate subtilitas racionis sive iusticia quam in civilitate anglicana’: ibid.

^{page 30 note 1} Cf. De Ecclesia, 352. Cf. Baedae, Venerabilis, Historiam Ecclesiasticam Gentis Anglorum, Opera Historica, ed. Hummer, Carolus, Oxford 1896Google Scholar, Lib. ii, Cap. xviii, i. 121.

^{page 30 note 2} ‘Cum igitur papa et vicarius eius in hac parte defuerit, et proper longitudinem itineris et viarum et discrimina non assit efficacia querulandi, ad regem pertinent spoliare et in casu proscribere tales hereticos’: De Officio Regis, 229. See also, ibid., 250 f., 261.

^{page 30 note 3} De Potestate Pape, 226–31.

^{page 30 note 4} Wyclif's text: ‘Nulla ecclesiastica persona amercietur secundum quantitatem beneficii ecclesiastici sui sed secundum laycum tenementum suum’: De Civili Dominio, ii. 39. Cf. ‘Nullus clericus amercietur de laico tenemento suo, nisi secundum modum aliorum predictorum, et non secundum quantitatem beneficii sui ecclesiastici’, and discussion in McKechnie, William Sharp, Magna Carta: a Commentary on the Great Charter of King John with an Historical Introduction, 2nd ed.Glasgow 1914, 298 f.Google Scholar

^{page 30 note 5} As Loserth notes, Wyclif's actual quotation at this point is not from cap. xli, as stated in the text, but from cap. xlii: De Civili Dominio, ii. 39. Cf. The Statutes of the Realm, ed. 1810, i. 92 (13 Edw. I).

^{page 30 note 6} De Civili Dominio, ii. 39 f.

^{page 30 note 7} Ibid., 40 f.; Statutes of the Realm, i. 91.

^{page 30 note 8} De Civili Dominio, ii. 41; Stat. of Gloucester, 6 Edw. I, cap. iv (as Loserth notes and not iii, as in the Wyclif text); Statutes of the Realm, i. 48.

^{page 31 note 1} De Civil Dominio, ii. 41. Wyclif gives some help in translation here. The editor of the Statutes of the Realm translates ‘Lescrit del les’ as ‘the Writing or Lease’; Wyclif has 'scriptis inter eos confectis’.

^{page 31 note 2} De Civili Dominio, ii. 41. See argument for secular legal action in clerical cases, ibid., 133–6

^{page 31 note 3} Ibid., 42.

^{page 31 note 4} Ibid., 75.

^{page 31 note 5} Ibid., 76

^{page 31 note 6} Select English Works of John Wyclif, ed. Arnold, Thomas, iii, Oxford 1871, 507Google Scholar.

^{page 31 note 7} Arnold, op. cit. iii. 515.

^{page 32 note 1} De Civili Dominio, ii. 45. Cf. Magna Carta text: cap. i, ‘Anglicana ecclesia libera sit, et habeat jura sua integra, et libertates suas illesas’ (McKechnie, 190).

^{page 32 note 2} ‘Cum ergo ius et profectus regni precipuo stat in virtutum observancia quoad clerum, videtur quod ius debet esse precipue executum. Et ex parte libertatis ecclesie patet idem. Nam.… libertas et profectus ecclesie non stat in accumulacione bonorum fortune sed in viciorum destruccione et virtutum ministracione. Sed reges et domini temporales iurant ad observandum et non ad destruendum libertates ecclesie, ergo tenentur de huiusmodi prepositis providere; et sic videtur quod procurando ineptos presbiteros contraveniunt multipliciter iuramento quod periculosissime corrumpunt ecclesiasticas libertates’: De Civili Dominio, ii. 45. Cf. Dialogus, 90.

^{page 32 note 3} ‘Et sepe alibi est Anglia nedum a prelatis sed in defectu istorum sub pena peccati mortalis a dominis temporalibus observanda’: De Civili Dominio, ii. 44.

^{page 32 note 4} ‘Item, non est possibile nisi fuerit pace triplici confirmatum scilicet regnicole ad dominum, ad proximum et ad se ipsum; sed domini temporales tenentur pro perfecta pace regni disponere.… Et patet quod regis est facere sacramenta ministrare, legem evangelicam predicare, et sic de aliis operibus pietatis’: De Civili Dominio, ii. 46. Wyclif did not use the example of just such a churchman king to be found in king Alfred as portrayed by Higden, Polychronkon, vi. 360.

^{page 32 note 5} De Civili Dominio, ii. 47 f. Cf. Wyclif's source, Higden, Polychronkon, vii. 256, 286–98.

^{page 32 note 6} De Ecclesia, 278.

^{page 33 note 1} De Ecclesia, 277 f.

^{page 33 note 2} De Civili Dominio, iii. 168–9.

^{page 33 note 3} Walsingham, Hist. Angl., i. 262. Cf. Loserth, De Ecclesia, 332 nn.

^{page 33 note 4} Cf. Walsingham, i. 309, and Rot. Part., ii. 245, No. 66.

^{page 33 note 5} Cf. Walsingham, i. 285.

^{page 33 note 6} De Ecclesia, 332. That Wyclif was expressing a general feeling of the time may be seen in Rot. Part., iii. 22, No. 91. He also approved the acts of Richard's regime in the Haule-Shakel case: De Ecclesia, 142 f.

^{page 33 note 7} De Civili Dominio, ii. 51 f. Cf. Higden, Polychronicon, vi. 464; Higden, lib. vii, cap. xxxvi, ed. Lumby, viii. 244.

^{page 33 note 8} De Potestate Pape, 223–5. Wyclif's source, Flores Historianm, ed. H. R. Luard, ii. 184.

^{page 33 note 9} De Civili Dominio, ii. 48 f.

^{page 33 note 10} De Civili Dominio, ii. 49. Either Wyclif or a scribe evidently erred here, as the Wyclif text refers to Willelmo conquestore, while the corresponding text in Higden refers to William Rufus, and one's impression from the passage as a whole is that indeed the king was tyrannical. Cf. Polychronicon, vii. 334. A reference by Wyclif to Lanfranc (op. cit 48, line 21 f.) shows us that Wyclif's MS. of the Polychronicon corresponded with MSS. G and D as used by Lumby. Cf. Lumby, op. cit. vii. 330 n. 5. Cf. also Poole, De Civili Dominio, 1. 308 n. 30.

^{page 34 note 1} De Civili Dominio, ii. 49. Cf. Polychronicon, vii. 334.

^{page 34 note 2} Cf. De Civili Dominio, ii. 127–36; iii. 235; iv. 454; De Ecclesia, 218, 228, 331–9.

^{page 34 note 3} ‘Quis dubitat quin facilius foret regem et regnum ponere clerum nostrum in statu primevo qui foret isto statu perfeccior servando undique caritatem et evacuando pompam, rancorem ac avariciam quam exercitum Anglie invadendo Franciam’: De Ecclesia, 427. Cf. Dialogus, 90. Cf. Loserth, De Civili Dominio, rv. viii f.

^{page 34 note 4} De Civili Dominio, ii. 13. Cf. Bede, Hist. Eccl, 1. xxv, i. (44 f.).

^{page 35 note 1} De Civili Dominio, ii. 52 f. This follows immediately upon the reference to the res gestae of William I, Simon de Montfort, and Henry III.

^{page 35 note 2} Bede, Hist. Eccl., in. xxvi. i. (ed. cit., 191).

^{page 35 note 3} ‘Nos—nitimur ut animas negligentes cumulemus lapides”: De Civili Dominio, ii. 53. Wyclif's reference, as Loserth notes, is incorrect. See, Polychronicon, vii. (ed. cit., 374).

^{page 35 note 4} ‘Nos—nitimur vt curam animarum negligentes cumulemus lapides’: Nova Legenda Anglie, as collected by John, of Tynemouth, , etc., ed. Horstman, Carl, Oxford 1901, ii. 527Google Scholar.

^{page 35 note 5} De Officio Regis, 159 f.; Polychronicon, v. 420; Bede, Hist. Eccl., ii. ii (ed. cit., 84).

^{page 35 note 6} Bede, Hist. Eccl., iv. iv (ed. cit., 213 f.).

^{page 35 note 7} De Officio Regis, 42.

^{page 35 note 8} Bede, Hist. Eccl., in. xxviii (ed. cit., 194 f.).

^{page 36 note 1} Opera Historica, ed. Plummer, C., Oxford 1896, i. 405 f.Google Scholar Passages quoted by Wyclif, 413 f. De Officio Regis, 161 f.

^{page 36 note 2} Wyclif, De Civili Dominio, rv. 485. Bede, Epistola ad Ecgbertum, i. 414 f. Cf. also Bede's cryptic comment at the end of the Historia Ecclesiastica, where he notes how many men were taking the tonsure, rather than studying the arts of war, the results of which only the future would show: Hist. Eccl., i. 351.

^{page 36 note 3} Wyclif, op. cit., 503. Bede, Epistola ad Ecgbertum, i. 413 f. The reference to the devil seems to be Wyclif's addition.

^{page 36 note 4} Wyclif, De Eccleisa, 336 f. Cf. Bede, op. cit., 416 f.

^{page 36 note 5} De Ecclesia, 336–40. Cf. Bede, op. cit., 412 f.

^{page 36 note 6} ‘Coeperunt apostolicam primitiuae ecclesiae vitam imitari’: Bede, Hist. Eccl., i. xxvi. 1, 46 f.

^{page 37 note 1} Higden, Polychronicon, v. 400. De Civili Dominio, ii. 52.

^{page 37 note 2} ‘Non enim pro locis res, sed pro bonis rebus loca amanda sunt’. Bede, Hist. Eccl., i. xxvii. i, 49. Cf. Higden, Polychronicon, v. 402.

^{page 37 note 3} I am indebted to Dr. Bertram Colgrave for this observation.

^{page 37 note 4} See Plummer, Opera Historica, ii. 378 n.

^{page 37 note 5} De Civili Dominio, iv. 519.

^{page 37 note 6} See Thomson, S. H., ‘The Philosophical Basis of Wyclif's Theology’, The Journal of Religion, xi (1931), 105 f.Google Scholar, The Writings of Robert Grosseteste Bishop of Lincoln 1235–1253, Cambridge 1940Google Scholar; Robson, J. A., Wyclif & the Oxford Schools, Cambridge 1961.Google Scholar

^{page 36 note 7} Books i–iv are printed by Reginald Lane Poole with his edition of Wyclif's De Dominio Divino. See Robson, op. cit., on the influence on Wyclif of both Bradwardine and Fitzralph.

^{page 38 note 1} De Civili Dominio, i. 289 f.

^{page 38 note 2} Ibid. Cf. also op. cit., 248, where Wyclif mentions Becket's having died over Article XVI of what Poole identified as the Constitutions of Clarendon, a document Wyclif surely could have used to his purpose otherwise, and op. cit., 274.

^{page 38 note 3} Op. cit., 291. Cf. De Civili Dominio, ii. 12. Cf. De Ecclesia, 199, 310.

^{page 38 note 4} ‘Officium autem evangelice dominantis est temporalium civilem custodiam abdicare, totam solicitidinem in Deum proicere, et contemplative coversando de alimentis et tegumentis ad vitam necessariis contentari’: De Civili Dominio, i. 132 f. ‘.… et hinc tarn crebo dicunt doctores quod omnia bona ecclesie sunt bona pauperum’: ibid., 320.

^{page 38 note 5} ‘Res ecclesie non sunt res mundi sed Dei, quia Domino consecrate; … sed pro tanto dicuntur res Dei, quia servorum suorum, non malorum hominum vel mundanorum, usibus habent ministrare’: Wyclif, op. cit., 321. Wyclif's reference is to Pecham's De Perfections Evangelica. However, see Poole's note 5, ibid

^{page 38 note 6} Dom David Knowles has given a description of Pecham's archiepiscopal administration which shows him indeed to have been a bishop whom Wyclif would have admired. See his ‘some Aspects of the Career of Archbishop Pecham’, English Historical Review, lvii (1942), 178–201.CrossRef Google Scholar

^{page 39 note 1} De Potestate Pape, 290.

^{page 39 note 2} ‘Et istam conclusionem tenet Lincolniensis et sancti doctores concorditer’: De Civili Dominio, i. 397.

^{page 39 note 3} ‘Heresis est dogma falsum scripture sacre contrarium, pertinaciter defensatum’: De Civili Dominio, ii. 58. Cf. De Civili Dominio, i. 393 and Poole op. cit., 392 n. Grosseteste's epistle cxxviii, extensively used by Wyclif, Grosseteste, Roberti, Epistolae, ed. Luard, Henry Richards, R.S., London 1861, 437 n. 7.Google Scholar

^{page 39 note 4} De Civili Dominio, ii. 59.

^{page 39 note 5} See Article VI, ‘Of the Sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures for Salvation’, in the ‘Articles of Religion’ printed at the end of The Book of Common Prayer. The sense of this Article is that in which Wyclif meant ‘scriptura sola’. He said: ‘ola autem Scriptura sacra est illius auctoritatis et reverencie quod si quidquam asserit, debet credi’: De Civili Dominio, 1. 409.

^{page 40 note 1} De Civili Dominio, iii. 120.

^{page 40 note 2} Note the parallel with St. Augustine of Canterbury on first coming to Kent.

^{page 40 note 3} De Civili Dominio, iii. 120–3.

^{page 40 note 4} Grosseteste, Epistolae, viii., ed. cit., 43 f., written in 1232 before he became bishop of Lincoln.

^{page 40 note 5} De Officio Regis, 85–6, 132.

^{page 40 note 6} De Civili Dominio, i. 83–6.

^{page 40 note 7} Ibid., 40. See Poole, note 8.

^{page 40 note 8} Ibid., 102. See Poole, note 18.

^{page 41 note 1} De Civili Dominio, i. 110 (end of chap. xv).

^{page 41 note 2} Ibid., ii. 138. Grosseteste, Epistolae, lxxi., ed. cit., 200.

^{page 41 note 3} Wyclif, De Potestate Pape, 152. Grosseteste, Epistolae, xxv., ed. cit., 97 f. Wyclif's quotation, 99.

^{page 41 note 4} De Civili Dominio, ii. 150, following argument beginning 148.

^{page 41 note 5} Ibid., iii. 119.

^{page 41 note 6} Grosseteste, Epistolae, ed. cit., 235 f. (Ep. lxxiii) to which Wyclif refers.

^{page 41 note 7} Grosseteste, Epistolae; Marsh, Adam, Epistolae, Monumenta Franciscana, ed. Brewer, J. S., R.S., London 1858, i. 77–489Google Scholar; Annales Monastki, ed. Luard, Henry Richards, R.S. London 1864–6, iGoogle Scholar. Annales Monasterii Burtonensis, iii. Annales Prioratus de Dunstaplia; Paris, Matthew, Chronica Majora, ed. Luard, H. R., R.S., London 1876–80, iii–vGoogle Scholar. See Tierney, Brian, ‘Grosseteste and the Theory of Papal Sovereignty’, in this Journal, vi (1955), 1–17Google Scholar; Morgan, Marjorie M., ‘The Excommunication of Grosseteste in 1243’, English Historical Review, lvii (1942), 244–50CrossRef Google Scholar; W. A. Pantin, ‘Grosseteste's Relations with the Papacy and Crown’, and Srawley, J. H., ‘Grosseteste's Administration of the Diocese of Lincoln’, in Robert Grosseteste: Scholar and Bishop, ed. Callus, D. A., Oxford 1955Google Scholar.

^{page 42 note 1} Art. cit, i f.

^{page 42 note 2} Pantin, art. cit., 179.

^{page 42 note 3} E.g., Grosseteste, Epistolae, xix., ed. cit., 68 f.; lii, 151 f.; cxxiv, 348 f.

^{page 42 note 4} Grosseteste, Epistolae, ed. cit., 50 f.; Wyclif, De Civili Dominio, ii. 112.

^{page 42 note 5} Grosseteste, Epistolae, ed. cit., 54.

^{page 42 note 6} Wyclif, De Civili Dominio, ii. 112.

^{page 42 note 7} De Civili Dominio, ii. 124: ‘Ex tali bus multis signis concludit Lincolniensis quod omnes laici in defectu aliorum debent se pro lege Christi exponere ad destruendum talem heresim si surrepat’.

^{page 42 note 8} ‘Debet enim rex omnis, quantum sufficit, semovere a regno suo hereticos, quod non faceret prudenter nisi secundum doctrinam et iudicium theologorum qui sciunt quod solum illi sunt heretici qui sunt scripture sacre, que est lex dei, contrarii’: De Officio Regis, 72.

^{page 42 note 9} Grosseteste, Epistolae, ed. cit., 432 f.

^{page 43 note 1} De Civili Dominio, I. 384–93, not yet referring to England specifically, but cf. later references to Grosseteste's controversies with the papacy: De Civili Dominio, 1. 290, 308 f. (Higden, viii. 240 f.), 374; ii. 17; iii. 45; iv. 395; De Officio Regis, 82; De Potestate Pape, 190, 331. Cf. also, De Potestate Pape, 256 f., and Grosseteste, Epistolae, xxxvi., ed. cit., 125 f.

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John Wyclif and Ecclesia Anglicana

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