The Earthquake Synod was an English
synod
A synod () is a council of a Christian denomination, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. The word ''wikt:synod, synod'' comes from the meaning "assembly" or "meeting" and is analogous with the Latin ...
that took place on 21 May 1382 in the
Blackfriars Blackfriars, derived from Black Friars, a common name for the Dominican Order of friars, may refer to:
England
* Blackfriars, Bristol, a former priory in Bristol
* Blackfriars, Canterbury, a former monastery in Kent
* Blackfriars, Gloucester, a f ...
area of London, England.
William Courtenay
William Courtenay ( 134231 July 1396) was Archbishop of Canterbury (1381–1396), having previously been Bishop of Hereford and Bishop of London.
Early life and education
Courtenay was a younger son of Hugh de Courtenay, 10th Earl of Devon ( ...
, the
Archbishop of Canterbury
The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...
, convened the synod to address the emerging
Lollard
Lollardy, also known as Lollardism or the Lollard movement, was a proto-Protestant Christian religious movement that existed from the mid-14th century until the 16th-century English Reformation. It was initially led by John Wycliffe, a Catho ...
thinkers challenging the church. In particular, the synod condemned
John Wycliffe
John Wycliffe (; also spelled Wyclif, Wickliffe, and other variants; 1328 – 31 December 1384) was an English scholastic philosopher, theologian, biblical translator, reformer, Catholic priest, and a seminary professor at the University of ...
's twenty-four theses, although many had already been condemned as
heresy
Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, in particular the accepted beliefs of a church or religious organization. The term is usually used in reference to violations of important religi ...
by a synod at
St. Paul's Cathedral in February 1377. The synod also issued teachings on the doctrine of
transubstantiation
Transubstantiation (Latin: ''transubstantiatio''; Greek: μετουσίωσις ''metousiosis'') is, according to the teaching of the Catholic Church, "the change of the whole substance of bread into the substance of the Body of Christ and of th ...
and
friar
A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders founded in the twelfth or thirteenth century; the term distinguishes the mendicants' itinerant apostolic character, exercised broadly under the jurisdiction of a superior general, from the ol ...
s. The synod got its name from the fact that the
1382 Dover Straits earthquake shook the city of London during its meetings.
[*"Earthquake Synod." In Cross, F. L. and E. A. Livingstone, eds. ''The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church.'' London: Oxford UP, 1974. p. 437.]
References
{{Reflist
Further reading
*Cole, A. (2008). The Blackfriars Council, London, 1382. In Literature and Heresy in the Age of Chaucer (Cambridge Studies in Medieval Literature, pp. 3–22). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511481420.002
Anglicanism
1382 in England
History of the City of London
Religion in the City of London
Catholic Church councils held in England
14th-century Catholic Church councils
14th century in London
Christianity in London