John Resby

Last updated

John Resby was an English priest and supporter of John Wycliffe. He was executed by burning for heresy in Perth, Scotland, in 1407 or 1408, during the time when Henry Wardlaw was Bishop of St. Andrews. He is regarded as the first Protestant martyr in Scotland. [1]

Arrest and execution

In 1407 Resby was arrested in Perth for teaching Lollard heresies. The regent of Scotland, Robert Stewart, Duke of Albany, opposed Lollardy because of its communistic views, so he allowed the papal inquisitor Laurence of Lindores to deal with Resby as he wished. During his trial, Resby was accused of believing forty different heretical doctrines, including that the pope was not the vicar of Christ. After refuting Resby's opinions, Laurence turned him over to the secular authorities to be burned. Some of Resby's writings were secretly preserved by his followers and read down to the time of the Reformation. [2] [3]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Inquisition</span> System of tribunals enforcing Catholic orthodoxy

The Inquisition was a judicial procedure and a group of institutions within the Catholic Church whose aim was to combat heresy, apostasy, blasphemy, witchcraft, and customs considered deviant. Violence, torture, or the simple threat of its application, were used by the Inquisition to extract confessions and denunciations from heretics. Studies of the records have found that the overwhelming majority of sentences consisted of penances, but convictions of unrepentant heresy were handed over to the secular courts, which generally resulted in execution or life imprisonment. The Inquisition had its start in the 12th-century Kingdom of France, with the aim of combating religious deviation, particularly among the Cathars and the Waldensians. The inquisitorial courts from this time until the mid-15th century are together known as the Medieval Inquisition. Other groups investigated during the Medieval Inquisition, which primarily took place in France and Italy, include the Spiritual Franciscans, the Hussites, and the Beguines. Beginning in the 1250s, inquisitors were generally chosen from members of the Dominican Order, replacing the earlier practice of using local clergy as judges.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Wycliffe</span> English theologian (c. 1331 – 1384)

John Wycliffe was an English scholastic philosopher, theologian, purported biblical translator, reformer, Catholic priest, and a seminary professor at the University of Oxford. He became an influential dissident within the Catholic priesthood during the 14th century and is considered an important predecessor to Protestantism. Wycliffe questioned the privileged status of the clergy, who had bolstered their powerful role in England, and advocated radical poverty of the clergy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lollardy</span> Radical Christian reform movement

Lollardy, also known as Lollardism or the Lollard movement, was a proto-Protestant Christian religious movement that was active in England from the mid-14th century until the 16th-century English Reformation. It was initially led by John Wycliffe, a Catholic theologian who was dismissed from the University of Oxford in 1381 for heresy. The Lollards' demands were primarily for reform of Western Christianity. They formulated their beliefs in the Twelve Conclusions of the Lollards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Tyndale</span> English biblical scholar, translator, and reformer (1494–1536)

William Tyndale was an English biblical scholar and linguist who became a leading figure in the Protestant Reformation in the years leading up to his execution. He is well known as a translator of most of the Bible into English, and was influenced by the works of prominent Protestant Reformers such as Martin Luther.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Arundel</span> English politician and Archbishop of Canterbury (1353–1414)

Thomas Arundel was an English clergyman who served as Lord Chancellor and Archbishop of York during the reign of Richard II, as well as Archbishop of Canterbury in 1397 and from 1399 until his death, an outspoken opponent of the Lollards. He was instrumental in the usurpation of Richard by his cousin Henry Bolingbroke, who became Henry IV.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Oldcastle</span> English Lollard leader

Sir John Oldcastle was an English Lollard leader. From 1409 to 1413, he was summoned to parliament as Baron Cobham, in the right of his wife.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Wardlaw</span> Bishop of Saint Andrews from 1404 to 1440

Henry Wardlaw was a Scottish church leader, Bishop of St Andrews and founder of the University of St Andrews.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Chichele</span> 15th-century Archbishop of Canterbury

Henry Chichele was Archbishop of Canterbury (1414–1443) and founded All Souls College, Oxford.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wycliffe's Bible</span> Middle English translations of the Bible

Wycliffe's Bible or Wycliffite Bibles or Wycliffian Bibles (WYC) are names given for a sequence of Middle English Bible translations believed to have been made under the direction or instigation of English theologian John Wycliffe of the University of Oxford. They are the earliest known literal translations of the entire Bible into English. They appeared over a period from approximately 1382 to 1395.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Sawtrey</span>

William Sawtrey, also known as William Salter was an English Roman Catholic priest and Lollard martyr. He was executed for heresy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anne Askew</span> English Protestant martyr (1521–1546)

Anne Askew, married name Anne Kyme, was an English writer, poet, and Protestant preacher who was condemned as a heretic during the reign of Henry VIII of England. She and Margaret Cheyne are the only women on record known to have been both tortured in the Tower of London and burnt at the stake.

William Alnwick was an English Catholic clergyman. He was Bishop of Norwich (1426–1436) and Bishop of Lincoln (1436–1449).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pavel Kravař</span>

Pavel Kravař, or Paul Crawar, Paul Craw, was a Hussite emissary from Bohemia who was burned at the stake for heresy at St Andrews in Scotland on 23 July 1433. He was the first of a succession of religious reformers who were martyred in the town during the course of the subsequent Protestant Reformation..

Events from the 1400s in England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">English Reformation</span> 16th-century separation of the Church of England from the Catholic Church

The English Reformation took place in 16th-century England when the Church of England was forced by its monarchs and elites to break away from the authority of the pope and the Catholic Church. These events were part of the wider European Reformation, a religious and political movement that affected the practice of Christianity in Western and Central Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coventry Martyrs</span> Executed 16th-century English religious protesters

The Coventry Martyrs were a disparate group of Lollard Christians executed for their beliefs in Coventry between 1512 and 1522 and in 1555. Eleven of them are commemorated by a six-metre-high (20 ft) monument, erected in 1910 in a public garden in the city, between Little Park Street and Mile Lane; and by a mosaic constructed in 1953 inside the entrance to Broadgate House in the city centre. Some of the streets in the city's Cheylesmore suburb are named after them.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Haldenston</span>

James Haldenston or James Haldenstoun was an Augustinian churchman from 15th-century Scotland. Probably from somewhere in eastern Fife, Haldenston became an Augustinian at St Andrews, earned several degrees on the continent, and became prior of May before becoming prior of St Andrews, head of the wealthiest and most important religious house in Scotland.

Walter Forrester, bishop of Brechin, was an administrator and prelate in later medieval Scotland. Originating in Angus, he came from a family of English origin who by the end of the 14th century had become well established in Scottish society. A student of the University of Paris and University of Orleans, he began his career at home by the later 1370s.

Benedict Nichols, also spelt Nicholls, was a priest and bishop of the Roman Catholic Church, successively a parish priest in England, a canon of Salisbury Cathedral, and Bishop of Bangor and Bishop of St David's in Wales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oldcastle Revolt</span> 15th century proto-protestant uprising

The Oldcastle Revolt was a Lollard uprising directed against the Catholic Church and the English king, Henry V. The revolt was led by John Oldcastle, taking place on the night of 9/10 January 1414. The rebellion was crushed following a decisive battle on St. Giles's Fields.

References

  1. Sprott, George Washington (1899). "Wardlaw, Henry"  . Dictionary of National Biography . Vol. 59. pp. 352–353.
  2. Reid, W. Stanford (December 1942). "The Lollards in Pre-Reformation Scotland". Church History. 11 (4): 269–283. doi:10.2307/3160372. JSTOR   3160372. S2CID   162049104 . Retrieved 18 March 2021.
  3. Moonan, Lawrence (December 1996). "The Inquisitor's arguments against Resby, in 1408". The Innes Review. 47 (2): 127–135. doi:10.3366/inr.1996.47.2.127 . Retrieved 17 March 2021.