Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 44.djvu/129

 tives of the English king at Nuremberg. Henry VI thanked Burian for his courtesy, and wrote to Eugenius IV proposing that, on account of the dangers of the road, Payne should be sent instead to the council at Florence (Correspondence of T. Bekynton, i. 187–9, Rolls Ser.). This was on 18 May 1440; but before the matter was arranged the Taborites procured Payne's liberty by paying a ransom of two hundred schock (twelve thousand) of groschen (, ix. 48). Payne returned to Saaz (ib.), but no more is heard of him for three years. When the Taborites met the party of Rokycana in conference at Kuttenberg on 6 July 1443, Payne was one of the two presidents and directors of the assembly. During the subsequent debates the Taborites complained that Pribram had persistently attacked Payne in Bohemian, which language the latter did not well understand. Eventually the discussion was adjourned to the Landtag at Prague in January 1444, where Payne appears to have been again present (ib. ix. 97–9; Geschichtsschreiber der Hussitischen, ii. 749, 752). This conference proved the death-blow to the Taborite party, though the town of Tabor held out till 1452. In that year George Podiebrad, who was now king, with the support of Rokycana and his party, marched against Tabor, which surrendered to him on 1 Sept. Certain questions of conscience were submitted to a committee of six doctors, of whom Payne was one. The decision of the majority was to be binding; but the Taborite leaders, Niklas Biskupec and Wenzel Koranda, held out, and died in captivity. Payne possibly submitted, though Gascoigne seems to suggest that he died in prison (cf., Hist. and Antiq. i. 586; , Life of Wiclif, p. 229). His death took place at Prague in 1455.

Payne was a learned and ardent controversialist. Peter of Saaz notes the delight with which he obtained access to the ‘Doctrinale Fidei Ecclesiæ’ of Thomas Netter at Basle (Mon. Conc. Gen. i. 307). His incisive eloquence made him invaluable in debate, though he appears but little when there was need for action. His acute logic perhaps carried him to extremes of opinion, and his stubborn temper was an obstacle to conciliation. But, on the other hand, he possessed a fund of humour which enlivened the proceedings at Basle with constant sallies of wit (, passim). He was somewhat of an intellectual adventurer, though he deserves credit for his strict adherence to Wiclif's principles, and he never completely joined any of the Hussite sects (, ix. 454). He passed under a variety of names: Clerk in England as an Oxford master; Payne or English in Bohemia; and also as Freyng from his father's nationality, and Hogh or Hough from his own birthplace (, Loci e Libro Veritatum, p. 187; Correspondence of T. Bekynton i. 187). Bale wrongly distinguishes Payne and Clerk.

Payne had apparently published some writings before he left England, for in 1428 Ralph Mungyn was charged with having possessed and distributed them (, Concilia, iii. 498). They, however, seem to have perished. Bale ascribes to him: 1. ‘De temporali dominio clericorum;’ inc. ‘Haec sunt verba quæ hesterna.’ 2. ‘De predestinatione et arbitrio.’ 3. ‘Contra ceremoniarum abusiones.’ 4. ‘Pro utraque sacramenti specie.’ 5. ‘Concilium esse supra papam.’ 6. ‘Ad Antichristi synagogam.’ 7. ‘Contra mendicantes fraterculos.’ Tanner adds: ‘Contra plenam pontificis potestatem.’ The following seem to be extant: 1. ‘Defensio articulorum Wiclevi contra Johannem Pribram;’ inc. ‘Quia nuperin regno Bohemiæ.’ There are two manuscripts at Vienna, and one at Prague (, Cat. Cod. Bibl. Palatinæ Vindobonensis, ii. 1521, 2193;, ix. 454 n.). 2. ‘Contra scriptum cujusdam juramentum tanquam licitum approbantis;’ inc. ‘In principio tractatus scribitur.’ Manuscript at Vienna (, ii. 1752). 3. A tract inc. ‘Omnipotentis Dei magnificentia,’ MS. Vienna, 3935 ff. 309–40. 4. A tract inc. ‘Quia ut concipio omnes propositiones,’ MS. Budissin Gersdorf, No. 7, 8vo. 5. ‘Provocatio Nic. Sloyczin ad disputandum’ (, Appendix A to Report on Fœdera, p. 228). He has been wrongly credited with the ‘Speculum Aureum’ of Paul Anglicus [q. v.] (ib. p. 231). Palacky also gives the first words of two tracts against Pribram that seem to have perished. Some of the substance of his speeches at Basle may be found in the writers in the first volume of the ‘Monumenta Conciliorum Generalium Sæculi XV.’ All Payne's extant writings are concerned with the exposition of Wiclifite doctrine (cf., p. 231). John de Torrequemada wrote a treatise, ‘De efficacia aquæ benedictæ contra Petrum Anglicum hereticorum in Bohemia defensorem’ (, p. 11).

[Our knowledge of Payne's English career is chiefly due to Gascoigne's Theological Dictionary, extracts from which were published by J. T. Rogers as Loci e Libro Veritatum; later English writers for the most part simply reproduce Gascoigne. For his Bohemian career