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 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY tude/'^ and one report says that the people were ready to cast him into the fire ; ^^' but another concludes : ' Yet many were infected with his pestilent doctrine, and continued in their error.'"' In 1467 an Essex heretic was burnt on Tower Hill, scandalizing the chronicler by his rudeness to the rector of St. Peter's Cornhill, who tried to convert him.^^" The same year many churches in the City were robbed of ' boxes with the sacrament.' It was thought to have been done by ' some fellowship of heretics,' but it was afterwards discovered that the thieves robbed ' of very need,' thinking that the boxes, which were only copper, were silver-gilt. One of them boasted that he had eaten ' nine gods. . . that were in the boxes. And that shamed some of them,' among them the smith who made their instruments to open locks. This man found himself repeatedly unable to see the Host when he went to mass, notwithstanding the help of good ale. Shortly afterwards he and three others were hanged, but before his death the smith made his confession, after which he was able to ' see that blessed sacrament well enow.' ' Lo, ye obstinate heretics,' concludes the London chronicler, ' that holdeth against confession, here is an example great enow to convert you.' '" It is evident from this and other occasional references that the existence of Lollards in considerable numbers was taken for granted at the time.^^^ An obscure dispute among the cordwainers at this period seems to have been of a semi-religious character. In 1464 it was forbidden to make shoes with peaks more than 2 in. long, and to make or sell shoes on Sunday or on Christmas Day, Ascension Day, or Corpus Christi.*"' This was further enforced by a papal bull. ' And some men said they would wear long peaks whether the Pope will or nill, for they said the Pope's curse would not kill a fly.' Shortly after some of the cordwainers got licences to make long peaks, and caused those men of their craft who had appealed to the pope to be troubled and in great danger.^^* In 1484 it was enacted by the Common Council that there should be no eating or drinking in alehouses on Sunday till High Mass was over at the parish church.^^^ The citizens were deeply interested in the foreign policy of Henry VII, and St. Paul's was the scene of several great functions, such as that of 6 April 1492, when the taking of Granada by the King of Spain was celebrated by a solemn procession and a 'noble sermon,' ^^"^ while in 1496 the mayor and aldermen assisted at the reception of the sword and cap of maintenance sent to Henry by the pope.*"" Among those involved in Sir William Stanley's conspiracy were the Dean of St. Paul's and the rector of St. Stephen's Walbrook, who were both condemned to death, but were pardoned. ^'^ A political appointment which cannot have been for the welfare of the ■" Gascoigne, op. cit. 214-17 ; Three l^iA-Cenl. Chron. (Camd. Soc), 71, 167-8 ; Jn Engl. Chron. (Camd. Soc), 75-7, &c. '" Gascoigne, op. cit. 216. "' Three l^th-Cent. Chron. (Camd. Soc), 168. "» Hist. Coll. of a Land. Citizen (Camd. Soc), 233. "' Ibid. 234-5. "^ For other cases of heresy between 1473 and 1479 see Chron. of Land. (ed. Kingsford), 186, 188 ; Chron. of Lond. (ed. Nicolas), 145 ; Fabyan, Chron. (ed. Ellis), 663 ; Hale, A Series of Precedents, 15. »-' Pari. R. (Rec. Com.), v, 5 66^5. '" Hist. Coll. of a Lond. Citizen (Camd. Soc), 238. '" Rec Corp. Letter Bk. L, 202^. "« Chron. of Lond. (ed. Kingsford), 197. ^" Ibid. 211. For other examples see 197, 259 ; and Arnold, Customs of Lond. (ed. Douce), p. xlii. "' Chron. of Lond. (ed. Kingsford), 203 ; Letters, l^c, Ric. Ill and Hen. Vll (Rolls Ser.), ii, 375 ; Hennessy, 'Novum Repert. 386. I 233 30