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The Antichrist and the "trewe men": Lollard apocalypticism in late medieval and Early Modern England. Item Type text; Dissertation-Reproduction (electronic) Authors Bostick, Curtis Van. Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 05/10/2021 12:30:07 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/186574 INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. 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Contact UMI directly to order. U·M·I University Microfilms International A Bell & Howell Information Company 300 North Zeeb Road. Ann Arbor. M148106-1346 USA 313/761-4700 800/521-0600 Order Number 9421779 The Antichrist and the "trewe men": Lollard apocalypticism in late medieval and Early Modern England Bostick, Curtis Van, Ph.D. The University of Arizona, 1993 Copyright @1993 by Bostick, Curtis Van. All rights reserved. V·M·I 300 N. Zeeb Rd. Ann Arbor, MI 48106 THE ANTICHRIST AND THE "TREWE MEN". LOLLARD APOCALYPTICISM IN LATE MEDIEVAL AND EARLY MODERN ENGLAND by Curtis Van Bostick Copyright c Curtis Van Bostick 1993 A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 199 3 2 THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA GRADUATE COLLEGE As members of the Final Examination Committee, we certify that we have read the dissertation prepared by Curtis Van Bostick ----~~~~~~~~~~--------------- entitled The Antichrist and the "trewe men". Lollard Apocalypticism in Late Medieval and Early Modern Eng] and and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation Doctor of Philosophy 7- /;() -)(9' '? Date 1- I 7 I (J I fCf;) ~~~~~------~JDate~ Date Date Date Final approval and acceptance of this dissertation is contingent upon the candidate's submission of the final copy of the dissertation to the Graduate College. I have read this dissertation prepared under my it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation (' 2- I'D - r3 Disserfation Director D te Profe~sor Dr. Heiko A. Oberman 3 STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This dissertation has been submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for an advanced degree at The University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this dissertation are allowable without special permission, provided that accurate acknowledgment of source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the copyright holder. SIGNED: 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to acknowledge the United States-United Kingdom Educational Commission for the grant of a Fulbright-Hays Fellowship awarded for the year 1990-91 and the support of the Graduate College, University of Arizona, for a Grant from the Graduate Student Research Fund. I have benefitted immensely from the critique and encouragement of my fellow members in the Division for Late Medieval and Reformation Studies of the Department of History at the University of Arizona. Ms. Luise Betterton, the Administrative Assistant of the Division, has been most helpful at all times. The patient reading and persuasive advice of Professors Donald Weinstein, Richard Cosgrove, and Alan Bernstein, University of Arizona, have saved the dissertation from innumerable errors in composition and judgment. Professor Richard Jensen in the Classics Department of the University of Arizona was always available for questions on Latin readings and transcriptions. Professor Anne Hudson, Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, deserves special recognition for her generous help with microfilms and print-outs and for extensive discussions about all things related to the Lollards. I owe a measureless debt of gratitude to my advisor, Professor Dr. Heiko A. Oberman, for his patience with my belated introduction into scholarship, for his enthusiasm about my topic and for the tenacity with which he scrutinized this study from its inception to completion. 5 DEDICATION For Gwen "not even the rain has such small hands" e. e. cummings 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABBREVIATIONS . 10 I. APOCALYPTICISM: DEFINITIONS AND CONNOTATIONS 12 A. The Sociological Model of Millenarianism 15 B. The Medievalist Approach 19 C. Apocalyptic Spectacles 22 D. Apocalyptic Functions 30 II. "TO MORALYZE ARIGHT": THE ESTABLISHED APOCALYPTIC VISION IN LATE MEDIEVAL AND EARLY MODERN ENGLAND 38 A. The Archetypal Antichrist . 40 B. The Historical Antichrist . .. 44 C. The popularization of the Historical Antichrist Tradition . 58 D. The Established Apocalyptic Vision and the Church . 84 III. THE MISSING LINK: LOLLARDY AND ENGLISH APOCALYPTICISM . 89 IV. FOR THE REFORMATION OF THE WHOLE CHURCH: THE OPUS ARDUUM . .. 105 A. Prolegomena: The World in Schism 105 B. Historical Exegesis in the Opus Arduum 108 V. COMPETING APOCALYPTIC VISIONS: THE OPUS ARDUUM VERSUS THE POPULAR VERSION . 134 VI. DEGRADATION AND REFORMATION: CANON LAW AND EVANGELICAL LAW IN THE OPUS ARDUUM . 157 VII. THE DISSEMINATION OF LOLLARD APOCALYPTICISM .. 173 VIII. LOLLARD APOCALYPTICISM: LOOKING IN FROM THE OUTSIDE . 224 7 IX. THE LEGACY OF LOLLARD APOCALYPTICISM . .. 279 A. Models of Late Medieval Apocalypticism 287 B. Lollard Apocalypticism . .. 292 APPENDIX A: THE ENTRY "ANTICHRISTUS" IN THE FLORETUM 303 APPENDIX B: THE ENTRY "ADVENTUS" IN THE FLORETUM .. 317 WORKS CITED 321 8 ABSTRACT The outpouring of apocalyptic thought in the late sixteenth- and seventeenth-centuries in England has been acknowledged; the sources of these ideas have not been explored sufficiently. The aim of this study is to redress that imbalance by showing the pervasiveness of fear aroused by the Antichrist and the sense of imminent judgment that affected mentalities of the Later Middle Ages and Reformation. Particularly in the case of the Lollards, one finds a heightened sense of the impending "Day of the Lord" because they perceived that the principal foe of Christ, the horrific Antichrist, had seized the Holy See of the established church; hence, Christ must soon appear to vanquish his enemy. The identification of the papacy as the dreaded Antichrist was more than a rhetorical ploy used by the Lollards to cast aspersions on their opponent. They corroborated the historical record of the papacy's rise to power with the absolute standard of the 'law of Christ'. Biblical prophecies of the Antichrist's tactics were confirmed by their experiences before episcopal commissions-- at times concluded by death at the stake. In homes and in secret gathering places, they communicated the reVOlutionary vision that the Antichrist was a 'corporate' 9 entity, not a super-human megalomaniac nor a mere symbol of evil; indeed, the 'Abomination of Desolation' reigned from within the church. Denouncing the Roman church as the "sinagogue of Satan", they resisted the hegemonic control stealthily acquired by the Antichrist, propagated through church law and papal accretions of dogma. They exposed the machinations of the Beast attempting to gain absolute control over secular authorities as well. Thus, the Lollards abrogated the authority claimed by the medieval church as they formed their own concept of church and community. A reform movement, initiated from the 'ivory tower' of Oxford University, penetrated into the fields, villages and towns of late medieval and Reformation England. The measure of its impact is reflected in the concerted effort of church and crown to eradicate Lollardy and in its legacy--that harried Elizabeth I, while it motivated Oliver Cromwell. 10 ABBREVIATIONS AHR American Historical Review CChr Corpus Christianorum Series Latina CH Church History CIHEC Commission Internationale d'Histoire Ecclesiastique Comparee CM Cursor Mundi Comm. Commentarius in Apocalypsin ante Centum Annos aeditus (Wittenberg, 1528) CSSH Comparative Studies in Society and History EETS Early English Text Society EHR English Historical Review EWS English Wycliffite Sermons HThR Harvard Theological Review JEH Journal of Ecclesiastical

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