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 A HISTORY OF LONDON In June 1413 Convocation condemned a number of tracts, which were burnt at Paul's Cross, the archbishop explaining to the people why they were destroyed. Some of them had been found in the possession of an illuminator of Paternoster Row, who declared that they belonged to Sir John Oldcastle, Lord Cobham, then ' chief lord and maintainer of all the Lollards in this realm.' Oldcastle's story belongs to the general history of England, but some points at which it touches that of London may be briefly noticed."" London was one of the dioceses into which he had sent preachers, threatening with violence those who contradicted them, and it was reported that bills had been set up on church doors in London stating that 100,000 men were ready to fight in support of the Lollard doctrines. He escaped from the Tower by the help of a citizen, in whose house he found refuge for more than two months. Others of his ' sect and covine ' who remained prisoners were visited by a citizen's wife, who regarded Oldcastle as a strong knight of God, falsely condemned by the ministers of Antichrist."^ On Sunday 10 December the archbishop cursed Oldcastle and all his maintainers at Paul's Cross. Lon- doners were expected to take part in the rising in January 1414 ; it was reported that Oldcastle had many followers in the City, mostlv serving-men and apprentices ; and some citizens were executed or pardoned for their share in the conspiracy. On 15 January the king was present at a solemn proces- sion in London, and similar processions were ordered to be made there three times a week, with special prayers for delivery from the snares of the heretics, forty days' indulgence being granted to those who took part in them."' As long as Oldcastle lived there were fears of a Lollard rising, and prob- ably also of anti-Lollard riots in London. The king had to forbid the un- lawful seizure of the property of those accused of heresy,"' and in February 141 5 the mayor appealed to the preacher appointed for Easter Monday to use temperate language in his sermon."* After the king's departure for France the Lollards boldly affixed writings on the church doors, encouraging each other to avenge their wrongs in the absence of the ' prince of priests.' "° The mayor and aldermen at once began to use the powers lately conferred on them by Parliament,"* by arresting and handing over to the bishop's officers some of those whom they described as 'enemies of God and the king, desiring to lessen public worship and destroy the realm.' Two citizens, a skinner and a baker, were arrested, condemned by the archbishop, and burnt. The former, John Claydon, ' archparent of this heretical depravity,' had twice abjured since his imprisonment twenty years before. He possessed books which were ' the worst and most perverse ' the mayor had ever seen, some opinions stated in one of them resembling those of the later Puritans."' The political aspect of LoUardry in London at this period is illustrated "° For authorities see the two articles on Oldcastle in the Engl. Hist. Rev. xx ; to those there given should be added Chron. ofLtnd. (ed. Kingjford), 69, 268, and the two to which reference is made below. '" Select Cases in Chancery (Selden Soc), log. "' D. & C. St. Paul's, A, box 77, no.' 2027. '" On 1 1 January 1 + 14 ; Sharpe, Cal. Letter Bk. I, 121. "* Ibid. 132. '" Walsingham, Hist. Angl. (Rolls Ser.), ii, 306 ; Capgrave, Chron. (Rolls Ser.), 309. '" Stubbs, Const. Hist. (ed. 3), iii, 374. '" Riley, Mem. 617, 630; Sharpe, Cal. Letter Bk. I, 139 ; Wilkins, Cone, iii, 371 et seq. (Foxe, op. cit. iii, 531-4, translates most of this) ; Chron. of Lond. (ed. Kingsford), 69, 297 ; Chron. of Lond. (ed. Nicolas), 99; Hist. Coll. of a Lond. Citizen (Camden Soc), 108 ; Three l$fh-Century Chron. (Camden Soc.), 55 ; '.Valsingham, Hist. Jngl. (Rolls Ser.), ii, 307 ; Monum. Franc. (Rolls Ser.), ii, 165. 220