Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 40.djvu/426

 both regarded it as spurious; Lechler, while accepting it as a genuine document, considers that it belongs to a later date—perhaps it may be Hereford's recantation at Paul's Cross, but it is also possible that Knighton may have copied a genuine confession made by one of the lollards in 1382 and accidentally inserted Hereford's name. Hereford's most important literary work, and the only such work of importance which has survived, was his share in the translation of the Bible. Wiclif would appear to have entrusted the translation of the Old Testament to Hereford. The original manuscript of this translation is preserved in Bodleian MS. 959 (No. 3093 in Bernard's ‘Catalogus MSS. Angliæ’). Both in this manuscript and in the copy contained in Douce MS. 369 in the Bodleian Library, the translation stops short in the book of Baruch at ch. iii. verse 20, and in the latter manuscript, in a hand of slightly later date, are added the words, ‘explicit translacion Nicholay Herford.’ It would, therefore, seem to be extremely probable that Hereford, previously to June 1382, had proceeded thus far with the work of translation, which subsequent events prevented him from completing. That portion of the work thus ascribed to Hereford is excessively literal, which ‘makes the version very often stiff and awkward, forced and obscure.’ In the later revision of the translation, which was commenced by Wiclif, and completed by John Purvey in 1388, Hereford may have possibly taken part, though his long absence from England makes it improbable that his share was a very extensive one. The part of the original version ascribed to Hereford was first completely printed in Forshall and Madden's ‘Wycliffite Versions of the Bible’ in 1850; the ‘Song of Songs’ was edited by Adam Clarke [q. v.] in his ‘Commentary on the Bible’ ( and, vol. i. pp. xvii–xviii, xxviii, l; , i. 342–5).

Besides the ‘Responsiones’ and confession of 1382, Bale ascribes to Hereford the following works, none of which seem to have survived: 1. ‘Determinationes Scholasticæ.’ 2. ‘Wiclevianæ Doctrinæ Censura.’ 3. ‘De Apostasia fratrum a Christo.’ 4. ‘Adversum Petrum Stokes.’ 5. ‘Sermones quadragesimales.’ (The two latter would appear to be Hereford's determinations and sermons in the spring of 1382.) 6. ‘Conciones per Annum.’ It is noticeable that Stokes, writing in 1382, makes it a ground of complaint against Hereford that, ‘ut miser fugiens, nunquam voluit librum vel quaternum communicare alteri doctori’ (Fasciculi Zizaniorum, p. 296). From this it may perhaps be assumed that up to that date Hereford had not actually published anything; this circumstance, and the strict search that was made after his writings, especially in 1388, would explain sufficiently the disappearance of Hereford's minor works.

[Fasciculi Zizaniorum, in Rolls Ser.; Knighton's Chronicle, ap. Twysden's Scriptores Decem; Bale's Centuriæ, vi. 92; Tanner's Bibl. Brit.-Hib. p. 546; Le Neve's Fasti Eccl. Angl. ed. Hardy; Foxe's Acts and Monuments, iii. 24–47, 187–9, 279–85, 809, ed. 1855; Wood's Hist. and Antiq. Oxford, i. 475, 492–3, 502, 504, 510; Wilkins's Conc. Mag. Brit. iii. 157–68, 201, 204; Forshall and Madden's Wycliffite Versions of the Holy Bible, vol. i. Pref. pp. xvii–xviii, xxviii; Lewis's Life of Wyclif, pp. 256–62; Lechler's John Wiclif and his English Precursors, i. 341–8, ii. 246–65, transl. Lorimer; other authorities quoted. The writer has also to thank Mr. R. L. Poole for some notes.]  NICHOLAS (fl. 1400), Franciscan, may have been a native of Fakenham, Norfolk, or one of a family of that name; several Fakenhams were employed in the service of Richard II (e.g. Pat. Roll, 19 Ric. II. pt. i. m. 25). Nicholas enjoyed the favour and patronage of the king. In 1395 he was D.D. of Oxford, and provincial minister of his order. On 5 Nov. of that year he ‘determined’ at Oxford, probably at his inception, on the papal schism, by the king's command. In this lecture he advocated the punishment of the schismatical cardinals as the first measure in restoring unity. He was absolved from the provincialate about 1402, probably at the general chapter at Assisi. In 1405 he was appointed commissioner by the protector of the order, Cardinal-bishop of Sabina, to examine into the charges against John Zouch, then provincial minister, whose arbitrary conduct had produced ‘a great and scandalous schism’ among the English Minorites. The commissioners deposed Zouch, called a chapter at Oxford (3 May 1405), and elected a successor. Zouch was reappointed by the general chapter, at the instance of the protector, and confirmed by the pope; but the commissioners refused to obey him, and seem to have been generally supported by the friars. Bale, referring to ‘a register of the Minorites,’ says that Nicholas died in 1407. He was buried at Colchester.

His ‘Determinatio’ in 1395, with other pieces on the schism by the same writer, are preserved in Harl. MS. 3768.

[Eulogium Historiarum, vol. iii.; Monumenta Franciscana, vol. i.; Wadding's Annales Minorum, vol. ix.; Bodl. MS. Seld. supra, p. 64; The Grey Friars in Oxford (Oxf. Hist. Soc.).] 