''De heretico comburendo'' (2 Hen.4 c.15) was a law passed by Parliament under King

Henry IV of England Henry IV ( April 1367 – 20 March 1413), also known as Henry Bolingbroke, was King of England from 1399 to 1413. He asserted the claim of his grandfather King Edward III, a maternal grandson of Philip IV of France, to the Kingdom of F ...

in 1401, punishing

heretic 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 relig ...

s with

burning at the stake Death by burning (also known as immolation) is an execution and murder method involving combustion or exposure to extreme heat. It has a long history as a form of public capital punishment, and many societies have employed it as a punishment f ...

. This law was one of the strictest religious

censorship Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governments ...

statutes ever enacted in England. In March 1401

William Sawtrey William Sawtrey, also known as William Salter (died March 1401) was an English Roman Catholic priest and Lollard martyr. He was executed for heresy. Sawtrey was born in Norfolk, England. He was a follower of John Wycliffe, the leader of an ea ...

became the first

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 ...

to be burned. The statute declared there were "divers false and perverse people of a certain new sect ... they make and write books, they do wickedly instruct and inform people ... and commit subversion of the said catholic faith".Text of the ''Statutes of the Realm, 2:12S-28: 2 Henry IV''
/ref> The sect alluded to is the Lollards, followers of

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 ...

. ''De heretico comburendo'' urged "that this wicked sect, preachings, doctrines, and opinions, should from henceforth cease and be utterly destroyed", and declared "that all and singular having such books or any writings of such wicked doctrine and opinions, shall really with effect deliver or cause to be delivered all such books and writings to the diocesan of the same place within forty days from the time of the proclamation of this ordinance and statute". "And if any person ... such books in the form aforesaid do not deliver, then the diocesan of the same place in his diocese such person or persons in this behalf defamed or evidently suspected and every of them may by the authority of the said ordinance and statute cause to be arrested". If they failed to abjure their heretical beliefs, or relapsed after an initial abjuration, they would "be burnt, that such punishment may strike fear into the minds of others". Section 6 of the

Act of Supremacy 1558 The Act of Supremacy 1558 (1 Eliz 1 c 1), sometimes referred to as the Act of Supremacy 1559, is an Act of the Parliament of England, which replaced the original Act of Supremacy 1534, and passed under the auspices of Elizabeth I. The 1534 Ac ...

(1 Eliz.1 c.1) (1559) repealed the statutes but it was not until March 1677 that a bill to take away the Crown's right to the writ was introduced in the House of Commons. It passed in that session.

Meaning and linguistics

''De heretico comburendo'' is a

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

phrase meaning "Regarding the burning of heretics". An alternate spelling is ''De haeretico comburendo'', reflecting the proper ancient and

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

spelling (by the second century the diphthong ''ae'' had been changed in pronunciation from to ; most texts today use the spelling without the letter ''a''). See

Latin spelling and pronunciation Latin phonology continually evolved over the centuries, making it difficult for speakers in one era to know how Latin was spoken before then. A given phoneme may be represented by different letters in different periods. This article deals primar ...

for more information.

History

Although partial English translations of the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus ...

had existed for hundreds of years, the

Middle English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old Englis ...

translation published under the direction of

in the 1380s, known as

Wycliffe's Bible Wycliffe's Bible is the name now given to a group of Bible translations into Middle English that were made under the direction of English theologian John Wycliffe. They appeared over a period from approximately 1382 to 1395. These Bible translat ...

, was the first complete translation and the first to gain widespread acceptance and use. The Church authorities condemned Wycliffe's translation because they deemed the commentary included with the work to be heretical, and because they feared a vernacular translation of the Bible from the Latin

Vulgate The Vulgate (; also called (Bible in common tongue), ) is a late-4th-century Latin translation of the Bible. The Vulgate is largely the work of Jerome who, in 382, had been commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Gospels u ...

, absent appropriate

catechesis Catechesis (; from Greek: , "instruction by word of mouth", generally "instruction") is basic Christian religious education of children and adults, often from a catechism book. It started as education of converts to Christianity, but as the ...

, would lead the ignorant laity to reject Church authority and fall into heresy. Wycliffe was the inspiration for what would become the

movement, which was considered heretical by the Church. The

Oxford Constitutions Wycliffe's Bible is the name now given to a group of Bible translations into Middle English that were made under the direction of English theologian John Wycliffe. They appeared over a period from approximately 1382 to 1395. These Bible transla ...

, established in 1409 by Archbishop

Thomas Arundel Thomas Arundel (1353 – 19 February 1414) 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 op ...

, were further punitive measures intended to punish heresy in England that grew in large part out of the ''De heretico comburendo''. In Hil. 9 Jac. I. Hilary Term in the ninth year of

James I James I may refer to: People *James I of Aragon (1208–1276) *James I of Sicily or James II of Aragon (1267–1327) *James I, Count of La Marche (1319–1362), Count of Ponthieu *James I, Count of Urgell (1321–1347) *James I of Cyprus (1334–13 ...

's reign - that is, 1612 the court magistrate considers an inquiry from an attorney and solicitor about whether the writ of ''De heretico comburendo'' was sustained upon conviction of heresy before the Ordinary, saying it was not for reasons based on certain authorities, though upon further consultations other magistrates disagree based on Elizabethan era precedents and say that enforcement of the statute ''De heretico comburendo'' is not dependent on the aforementioned cited authorities, and the writ is sustained, but suggest that conviction before the High Commissioners was the "most convenient and sure way" to convict a heretic.''The Reports of Sir Edward Coke, Knt. 572–1617 In English, in Thirteen Parts Complete; with References to All the Ancient and Modern Books of the Law, Volume 7'' The writ was abolished by the

Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Act 1677 The Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Act 1677 (29 Car 2 c 9) was an act of the Parliament of England. It abolished the death penalty for heresy, blasphemy, atheism, schism, and such crimes. The whole act was repealed by section 87 of, and schedule 5 ...

in England, and in 1695 in Ireland.

Notes

References

External links

Extracts of the ''De heretico comburendo''
, see (B) on the page
Full text transcribed
from Danby Pickering's Statutes at Large. {{UK legislation English laws 1400s in law 1400s in England Christianity in medieval England Censorship in Christianity Acts of the Parliament of England concerning religion Henry IV of England 1401 in Europe Christianity and law in the 15th century

Meaning and linguistics

History

See also

Notes

References

External links