Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Barton, John (15th cent.)

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790379Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 03 — Barton, John (15th cent.)1885Thomas Andrew Archer

BARTON, JOHN (15th cent.), writer on Lollardy, appears to have flourished in the reign of Henry V, to whom he dedicated his 'Confutatio Lollardorum.' A manuscript copy of this work is preserved in the library of All Souls' College, Oxford, written in a hand which Mr. Coxe assigns to the fifteenth century. Other manuscripts of this author are mentioned by Tanner, who apparently would identify him with a certain John Barton, Esq., buried in St. Martin's Church, Ludgate, 1439; but there does not appear to be any valid ground for this identification. Tanner says that he was possibly chancellor of Oxford; but for this statement likewise he fails to give any authority, and it is better to be content with Barton's own description of himself, as quoted by Bale—'plain John Barton, the physician.'

[Tanner; Coxe's Catalogue, All Souls', ii. 13.]

T. A. A.