A Comprehensive History of Norwich

by A. D. Bayne

It was further deposed against Bilney, that he was notoriously suspected to be a heretic, and that in his sermons he had exhorted the people to put away their gods of silver and gold, and to desist from offering to them either candle, wax, money, or any other thing; and that in rehearsing the litany he said, “pray you only to God and no saints;” and when he came to that part, Sancta Maria, &c., or, O Saint Mary pray for us, he called out, “stop there.”

These and many other articles of the like nature being proved, he was exhorted to recant and abjure them; and upon his refusing to do so, the Bishop of London, having pulled off his cap, and made the sign of the cross on his forehead and breast, pronounced the following sentence:—

“I, by the counsel and consent of my brethren here present, do pronounce thee, Thomas Bilney, who has been accused of divers articles, to be convicted of heresy; and for the rest of the sentence we will deliberate till to-morrow.”

The next day Bilney was again asked whether he would recant and return to the unity of the church; when he desired a day or two for consideration and to consult his friends. In fear of a dreadful death at the expiration of the time, he subscribed his abjuration; and being absolved, he had the following penance enjoined him; to bear a faggot at the procession at St. Paul’s, bareheaded, and to stand before the preacher during the sermon there, and to remain in prison till he should be released by Cardinal Wolsey. When in prison, the reflection on what he had done drove Bilney almost to despair, and he suffered all the agonies of remorse for more than twelve months.

At length he resolved to seal that truth which he had so shamefully abjured, with his blood. For this purpose he travelled to Norwich, and on his way to the city he openly preached those doctrines for which he had been condemned; and being apprehended, was confined in one of the cells under the Guildhall. On August 19th, he was taken to Lollards’ pit, outside of Bishopsgate, and burnt there in the presence of a crowd of horrified spectators.

This and many other instances may serve to show the persecuting spirit of a church which had arrogated to itself a dominion over the consciences of men, and dared to propagate a religion of fear as the religion of Christ. After the Reformation, which had now begun, the same persecuting spirit was manifested by the Church of England; and many suffered here for their nonconformity to the Establishment. Several other martyrs were burnt in Norwich during the same reign, and in 1539, one William Leyton, a monk of Eye, in Suffolk, was burnt here, for speaking against a certain idol which used to be carried about in procession at Eye; and for asserting that the sacrament ought to be administered in both kinds.

In the same year peace and amity were settled between the church and the city on a much more stable foundation than had been previously effected, by an arrangement as to jurisdictions of the authorities.

In 1534 an act was passed for rebuilding those parts of the city which were laid waste by the late fires; by which it was enacted that if the owners of such void grounds should, by the space of two years after proclamation made by the mayor for all persons to rebuild or enclose their grounds, neglect to rebuild on such ground, or sufficiently enclose the same with mortar and stone, then it should be lawful for the mayor, etc., to enter on such vacant grounds, and hold and retain them to their own use and their successors’ use for ever, discharged of all rents and outgoings whatsoever, provided that, within two years after such entry made, they either rebuild or enclose them as aforesaid.

DISSOLUTION OF THE MONASTERIES.

If, in giving an account of the state of society in the middle ages, we were to omit from our enumeration of causes the vast influence of the clergy of the church of Rome, we should present a very imperfect view of the subject. The priests dominated over the minds of men for many centuries, and their influence either for good or evil pervaded all classes of society. This influence caused the erection of monasteries, nunneries, priories, and friaries, nineteen in number, in Norwich before the 16th century. Monastic institutions were originally beneficial to society. In the dark ages, they preserved learning to some extent, and were houses of refuge for the destitute. No doubt there were many good self-denying men and women amongst the monks and nuns, who did some service to the poor who then abounded in the land. But in time the monasteries sunk for the most part into dissolute confraternities; stupid and sleepy, where not vicious; and banded together against the liberties of the nation; and there were constant broils between the monks and the citizens in Norwich.