William. ? 1407.
[The Examination of sir William of Thorpe.]
nown be it to all men that read or hear this Writing beneath, that on the Sunday next [August 7th] after the Feast of St. Peter that we call Lammas [August 1st], in the year of our Lord a thousand four hundred seventh year, I, William of Thorpe, being in prison in the castle of Saltwood [near Hythe, in Kent], was brought before Thomas Arundell, Archbishop of Canterbury, and [Lord] Chancellor then of England.
And when that I came to him, he stood in a great chamber, and much people [were] about him; and when that he saw me, he went fast into a closet [private room], bidding all secular men [laymen] that followed him, to go forth from him soon; so that no man was left then in that closet, but the Archbishop himself, a physician that was called Malveren [i.e., John Malverne, S.T.P.], Parson of St. Dunstan's [Church, in Tower Street] in London, and two other persons unknown to me, which were Ministers of the Law [i.e., the Canon Law: later on, they are called Clerks, i.e., Chaplains].
A precise & authentic Lollard Creed.
Archbishop. And I standing before them, by and by, the Archbishop said to me, "William! I know well, that thou hast, this twenty winter and more [i.e., from before 1387], travelled about busily, in the North country and in other divers countries [counties] of England, sowing about false doctrine: having great business, if thou might, with thine untrue teaching and shrewd will, for to infect and poison all this land. But, through the grace of GOD! thou art now withstanded, and brought into my ward! so that I shall now sequester thee from thine evil purpose, and let [hinder] thee to envenom the sheep of my Province. Nevertheless, St. Paul saith, If it may be, as far as in us is, we owe [ought] to have peace with all men. Therefore, William! if thou wilt now, meekly, and of good heart, without any feigning, kneel down and lay thy hand upon a book, and kiss it; promising faithfully as I shall here charge thee, that 'thou wilt submit thee to my correction and stand to mine ordinance, and fulfil it duly by all thy cunning and power,' thou shalt yet find me gracious unto thee!"
William. Then said I, to the Archbishop, "Sir, since ye deem me an heretic out of belief, will ye give me here audience to tell my Belief."
Archbishop. And he said, "Yea, tell on!"
William. And I said, "I believe that there is not but one GOD Almighty, and in this Godhead and of this Godhead are three Persons; that is the Father, the Son, and the soothfast HOLY GHOST. And I believe that all these three Persons are even in power, in cunning, and in might, full of grace and of all goodness: for whatever that the Father doth or can or will, that thing also the Son doth can and will; and in all their power cunning and will, the HOLY GHOST is equal to the Father and to the Son.