SCOTTISH LOLLARDY AMD ITS CONTRIBUTION TO THE REFORMATION IN SCOTLAND WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE LOLLARDS OF THE WEST. ProQuest Number: 13905452 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 13905452 Published by ProQuest LLC(2019). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY ( Ph. D. In THEOLOGY ). BY THOMAS MITCHELL AULD MACNAB. M. A* B. D. MINISTER OF ST. ANDREW'S CHURCH PAISLEY. ■APRXL ■:' 1033* ' Introduction* Nature, Extent and Character of Material* pp. iv - xl The Scottish Church. The Lollard Period - 140® - 1525* (a).Formative Influences and Tendencies. pp. xii - xxiil The Scottish Church. The Lollard Period - 1400 - 1525. (hj.The Seedhed of Lollardy. pp. xxiv - xlvi. Nature, Extent &bcL Character of Material* The great difficulty with which the student of Scottish Lollardy is faced is the dearth of material with which to reconstruct the history of the movement* There are several reasons for this* There was no great leader in Scotland comparable to Wyelif in Eng­ land or Hus in Bohemia* That meant that the Scots, so far as Lollardy was concerned, were receptive rather than creative and consequently had. not the same need for self-expression, that is, for a Lollard literature. Again with regard to Scotland, there is a sense in which ifc is true to say that the roots of this movement were elsewhere, for its inspiration and drive were got from sources outwith the country* Again, as a consequence, there was very little occasion for Lollard literary V activity, but documents connected with the movement in England and Bohemia are invaluable and not to be neglected* Although from the earliest appearances of the move­ ment in Scotland, St* Andrews seems to have been a centre of Lollard sympathies, yet these were evident­ ly among the students rather than among the teachers, whereas both in England and Bohemia the leaders of the reform movement were among those who were moulding the minds and influencing the thought of the students and found the need for setting forth their teaching in writ­ ing* It was only nearer the Reformation that "St. Leonard1 s Well” became notorious* Another stream of Lollardy was mainly in the west, particularly in Ayrshire, where in later generations t&e Covenanters found many recruits* There, while not without the support of some of the chief families in the district, it could in no sense be called a lit­ erary movement. Rather was it one of nonconformity, in belief and practice, on the part of folks compar­ atively humble and obscure, who had neither the training Vi nor the opportunity to inaugurate or carry through a great national movement* In the present study three lines of investigation have been followed. These may toe classified as fol­ lows i. the records of the doings of the Lollards; ii. the memorials left toy the Lollards themselves; iii. indirect witnesses to the presence and work­ ing of the movement* i. The Records?- These unfortunately are very meagre indeed. One had hoped that loeal sources of informat­ ion, which lie outwith the scope and interest of the ordinary historian might toe discovered, tout these have proved disappointingly few. Take, for example, the Burgh Records of Prestwick. These have toeen transcrib­ ed for the Maitland Cluto. A careful perusal ©f them failed to discover a single reference to a movement that lived and had its toeing in that very neighbourhood. So too with regard to the Records of Ayr. The Burgh Court Book 1428-78 is unfortunately still only in manuscript, tout is well preserved. Such entries in it as the writer was atole to examine, through the courtesy of the Town Council, while telling of the usual inci­ dents in connection with the life of the burgh* are silent regarding anything connected with the Lollard movement. But dne cannot consider this source exhaust­ ed until the minutes are transcribed and so made more conveniently accessible. The nearest approach to local documents are the Protocol Books 1512-1532 of Gavin Ros, the Ayr notary, published in one volume by the Scottish Record Society. These have been carefully sifted and the results set forth in the appropriate chapters. These along with the Register of Great Seal and Privy Seal and the Acts of the Lords in Council in Civil Causes, Scotland^prac­ tically exhaust all the sources that have yielded in­ formation. Another difficulty confronts us in the fact that while doubtless there were considerable numbers of Lollards, there are very few of whom we know even the name, and regarding those few, it has been exceedingly difficult to discover raets sufficient to clothe the name with flesh and blood. Much that passes for viii info ma t ion has, on examination, been found to be at fault. This undoubtedly has had the effeet of making Scottish Lollardy appear somewhat shadowy and led to the temptation to underestimate its strength and im­ portance. Such sourees as PitcairnTs Criminal Trials in Scot­ land and the Diurnal of Occurrents are familiar and no doubt have yielded their data to previous enquirers but they give us something of the spirit of the times and, studied along with the other sources of informat­ ion* help us to put the movement into better focus* ii. The Memorials:- The memorials left by the Lollards themselves are also tantalisingly few. Lollardy, of course, was not merely suspect. It was under the ban of the Church as heresy. Prudence, therefore, and an instinct for self-defence would naturally lead the Lol­ lards to cover up their traces as far as possible, and no doubt this furnishes quite a good reason why the material today available is so meagre* Moreover, when the Reformation came, many records were carried off and either lost or destroyed, though some have been recovered, so that it is quite possible the sources ix of data, few enough to begin with, were still further diminished* Two important relics of this movement claim our attention viz. The Nova Scocie by Quintin Folkhyrde and Murdoch Nisbet!s New Testament in Scots* Thanks to Professor J.H.Baxter the text of the Nova Scocie is now available for all students in Appendix 6 of his edition of Copiale prioratus Sanetiandree* These letters are undoubtedly Lollard in tone and inten­ tion and raise several questions which, if able to be answered, would throw light on an obscure period in the history of our subject. The New Testament in Scots is unique in as much as it is the only relic of Scottish Lollardy in the ver­ nacular* At first sight it may not seem a specially fruitful source,yet the study of it, particularly in comparison with other translations of the New Testament, is by no means barren of results. iii. Indirect Witnesses;- A movement like Lollardy could not fail to have its repercussions in the history of the country and this is one of the most profitable fields in which the student may glean* Laws enacted X from time to time; policy modified or determined in the light of known or suspected facts, all are sign­ posts on the way of the history of the movement and the task is to endeavour to reconstruct the histor­ ical situation in the light of these facts. For this not only are the Acts of Parliament most valuable, but the Calendars of State Papers and Documents also help to make more intelligible incidents of which ww know too little. One of the most interesting of the indir­ ect witnesses is our Scottish Literature. Through it we come into touch with the spirit of the age and be­ come aware of the different interests and tendencies of the times. The voice or orthodoxy and of heresy both can be distinguished, along with others whieh give the age its character and expression. We get few facts of history here, but we get an atmosphere in which the facts live; and that is no small help. It is somewhat difficult to find an appropriate boundary line for a movement like Lollardy which passed away by passing into a larger movement. A comparison of the tenets of Lollardy with the teaching of Patrick Hamilton in his ”Places” and with that of xi John Gau in "The Richt Vay to the Kingdom of Heuine,"- both among the earliest fruits or the Reformation in Scotland,- helps us to fix on a line not only conven­ ient but defendable, after which Lollardy really mer­ ged in the Reformation. This naturally rules out much, like the (Jude and Godlie Ballatis, that is invaluable for the student of the Reformation, but obviously does not lie within the history of the earlier and lesser movement» xii II. The Scottish Church. The Lollard Period 1400 - 1525. (a). Formative Influences and Tendencies. It Is hardly possible to emphasise too frequently or too strongly the fact that in the history of move­ ments, dates, however necessary, are at best only conveniences and more or less arbitrary. The roots of every movement strike deep 5.nto the past, deeper than is to be discerned at first glance, and the consequences continue long after the movement itself has been lost in the larger life of history.