On 26 February 1401 William Sawtrey was condemned to death by being burnt at the stake. William Sawtrey was a Lollard, an adherent of the views of John Wycliff. These views had been condemned by the Pope and in the years following the Peasants Revolt, viewed as being a risk to the established social order in England. Sawtrey’s execution was carried out on 2 March 1401.
Lollards
Sawtrey’s views saw him being accused of being a Lollard. Lollards had political views that had parallels with the theological argument of Wycliff. The view was dangerous as it called for a radical restructuring of society.
Wycliff’s teachings
Wycliff had noted things such as Pope’s only being able to justly state that somebody was a heretic if they had been told this by God himself. That the church’s wealth was a sin. And that the social order of having men in elevated positions was, largely, unjust. The combination of religious and social theories of ‘justice’ was radical, and dangerous now it had been taken from the theoretical, academic, or theological platforms first used by Wycliff and others, into wider society.
Teachings that ‘all men should be free’ of serfdom or villeinage and that ‘the clergy… should have sufficient sustenance… and the rest of the goods should be divided among the people…’ were causes of the revolt of 1381.
Lollards in positions of influence
Though the Archbishop of Canterbury had acted in England, and the Pope issued Bulls on the matter, Lollardy had grown. In 1395 Parliament was informally petitioned with a copy of the Twelve Conclusions of the Lollards being pinned to the door of Westminster Hall. Some Knights of the Royal Household and Members of Parliament are known to have been Lollards.
De heretico comburendo – Anti Lollard Legislation
It was something that Henry IV would not tolerate. He set about introducing legislation against the Lollards.
1401 saw the introduction of De heretico comburendo. An Act of Parliament that outlawed Lollardy as an act of heresy. The prescribed punishment for those found guilty of the crime was to be burned to death at the stake. The law fell under the jurisdiction of ecclesiastical courts, rather than civil ones.
On 23 February, the Archbishop of Canterbury accused William Sawtrey of heresy. He was found guilty of heresy on 26 February ‘by the King and Council in Parliament’. The sentence was then carried out on 2 March.
William Sawtrey was the first person in England to be burned to death at the stake as a heretic.
Featured Image
The execution of William Sawtrey from Foxe’s Book of Martyrs. Public Domain via Wikipedia.
