HANBOROUGH

In the previous chapter, we had a look at how many of the ordinary folk of England rebelled against the way they were treated by the ruling classes. Some knights and others of similar wealth thought they also had problems, mainly about the church and the way it was run. At the time of the outbreak of the Black Death, and maybe because of it, questions were being asked about the Church, its’ ‘landed wealth and tax exemptions, and towards it as a bureaucratic and arrogant institution’. From this a political and religious movement developed, the members that joined it were called the Lollards. Lollard was from the medieval Dutch word ‘to mutter’, and was a popular derogatory nickname, but later came to mean a ‘heretic’ in general. There are at least 3 other interpretations suggested by some historians, but the Dutch one is the most popular. This group, which started during the last half of the 14th century, evolved from the teachings of John Wycliffe, who was a prominent theologian at Balliol College, Oxford. He, with others, did not like the way the Catholic Church were more interested in practices, dressing up and idolising artefacts, etc; which in their eyes had very little to do with the real meaning or teachings of the Bible. (John Wycliffe was also the chap who led the movement to translate the Bible into English). John died in 1384, but his thoughts on how religion should be properly interpreted from the Bible continued in many peoples’ minds until at least 1430, when the movement went underground. This group continued rebelling against the established church until the Reformation. What was the Lollard connection with Hanborough? John Norberry, soldier and administrator, became Keeper of the Hanborough Manor for the King in 1408, after Philip de la Vache. (Before this date, he was the man who financed Henry of Lancaster in his successful bid for the throne in 1399). He was a bitter enemy of the Lollard movement, especially in his Manor, and encouraged the Archbishop of Canterbury, Arundel, to take action against all Lollards in 1410. However, more interesting to us was the existence in Hanborough of a small but very strong group of Lollard followers. The two people we know about by name were John and William Parchemyner. They were, as their name suggests, parchment makers, who lived in Hanborough Town. The national leader of the Lollard movement was a Herefordshire knight, Sir John Oldcastle. He married the heiress of the barony of Cobham, so was also known as Lord Cobham. A Lollard uprising was planned by the movement in 1413 to remove Henry V, most of the House of Lords, and the Catholic Church authorities. Sir John and his followers, including John and William Parchemyner, failed in this attempt to seize power, and in 1415, Oldcastle was tried and convicted of heresy. Sent to the Tower of London, he managed to escape with the help of John perhaps, but definitely William. These two were both arrested soon afterwards. John was pardoned, but William was hanged. Sir John Oldcastle was chased around the country, eventually captured in the Welsh Marches, and executed in 1417. After this, the few Hanborough Lollard followers kept their heads down, which was probably the most sensible thing to do! About this time, our neighbour, Eynsham Abbey, was also having troubles. What was Hanboroughs’ connection here? When our Church was built, Hanborough Parish became part of the Diocese of Lincoln and was obliged to give the Dean and Chapter of Lincoln an annual sum of money called ‘Pentecostals’ or ‘Smoke Farthings’. From 1138, these payments were transferred to Eynsham Abbey. For some time after this, parochial matters relating to our church and church lands seemed to have been administered by the Abbey. According to the register of Bishop Philip Repington, in 1413-1416, (from the Lincoln Record Society) ‘All was not well at Eynsham’. Later, the then Bishop of Lincoln, William Alnewyk, set up a commission, ‘to look into certain transgressions, crimes, faults and offences, which were discovered and reported to us in our visitations, have laid enjoined upon and commanded to the Abbot and the Prior and Convent of the said Monastery that such injunction and mandate alike are observed in no whit; nay that the bridle of obedience being broken and the pathway of religion altogether stopped up, they are despised, resisted and utterly broken to pieces. We therefore, being zealous with earnest longings for the prosperity of religion in every place within our diocese and to tear up and lop off with the instrument of our corrective power those things which are blots upon religion.’ The Bishop of Lincoln received the report from the Commission, which met in Towcester on the 22nd January 1432. He found this report rather alarming and stated that; “Certain things forbidden and contrary to Holy religion were shamelessly committed therein – by the report of common rumour and by loud whispering which cannot be concealed by any turning away therefrom, it has very lately come to our ears, which we relate with sorrow, that the said Abbot and Convent have slackened the bridle of chastity returning as dogs untamed to the lust and vomit of their former lives, and plunging back into the mischievous state of disobedience and contempt, holding as it were to ridicule and sport such our injunctions. It has been found that these premises are supported by truth and because the Abbot is found to have committed grievous huge and detestable faults contrary to Holy religion and good manners such as adulteries, fornications, incest and rape grievously and with the utmost openness in the eyes of all”. Wow!! It was recorded in 1445 that Brother William, Sub-Prior of Hanborough, reported that; ‘All was well in Hanborough’. Thank goodness for that!