ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY recorded of him, except his proceedings against WyclifFe. In 1376 he supported the Bishop of Winchester and the party of reform in the ' Good Parliament,' " and published a papal bull against the Florentines, ordering their goods to be seized on pain of interdict. The citizens had long been discontented at the favour shown to foreign merchants by the king,"^ who now took the Florentines under his protection. It is said that Courtenay, ordered by the chancellor to revoke his words on pain of losing his tempo- ralities, obtained leave with difficulty to perform the revocation by proxy, and his representative declared at the Cross that he had not mentioned an interdict, concluding : ' It is a wonder that you who hear so many sermons cannot understand those who speak.' ^^ This story shows that the citizens had already acquired the habit of frequent attendance at sermons which was later so prominent a characteristic of their religious life. Bishop Brunton of Rochester (1372—89) said that to preach in London as well as in his own diocese was one of the duties of a bishop, because of the greater devotion and intelligence of the people. He also said, however, that when processions were ordered in the City hardly a hundred men could be found to follow them ; those who came were the clergy and ' some few of the middle class,' while the rich and noble neither prayed nor did penance for their iniquities, and many preachers at Paul's Cross who had dared to rebuke the vices of the lords had been banished or suspended from their office of preaching by the king's Council. Under Courtenay's leadership, the bishops in 1377 persuaded the reluctant Sudbury to summon Wycliffe, then under the protection of John of Gaunt, to appear before him at St. Paul's. WyclifFe already had fol- lowers among the citizens, and had been going from church to church disseminating his opinions.*" One of the evils he denounced was the employment of the clergy in secular business, to the neglect of their spiritual duties ; this must have been specially evident in London, where lived ' Bishops and bachelors, both masters and doctors, that have cure under Christ,' but ' serven the king and his silver tellen in Chequer and in Chancery.'" Another was the abuse of excommunication for worldly purposes, as when the rector of St. Mary Woolchurch threatened to ex- communicate the wardens of London Bridge because they had let some stalls in the Stocks Market which he claimed as the property of his church.*^ On the morning of 19 February a proposal was made in Parliament to abolish the mayoralty and to give the Marshal of England power to arrest within the City ; in the afternoon WyclifFe was accompanied to St. Paul's by that marshal. Sir Henry Percy, and by the Duke of Lancaster. Percy assumed authority to clear a way through the crowd in the cathedral, and was told by the bishop that he had no jurisdiction there. A further altercation ensued in the Lady Chapel, and at last Lancaster threatened to drag the bishop out " Stubbs, Const. Hist. (ed. 3), ii, 446-53. For Courtenay's action on behalf of William of Wykeham in 1377, see ibid. 459 ; Chron. Angl. (Rolls Ser.), II3-14. "" Sharpe, Cal. Letter Si. G, Introd. p. iv ; Ca/. Letter Bk. //, 53. '" Rymer, Foedera, iii (2), 1050, 1071 ; Sharpe, Cal. Letter Bk. //, 55 ; Euhgium Hist. (Rolls Ser.), iii, 335-6 ; Chron. Angl. (Rolls Ser.), 109-11. Harl. MS. 3760, fol. 60 d., 1 89 d., 190, 187 d., translated by Gasquet, The Old Engl. Bible, 80, 70, 76, 73.
- " Chron. Angl. (Rolls Ser.), 1 1 6-1 7 ; cf. Chron. Adae de Usk (ed. Thompson), 3, 4.
- ' Piers the Plowman, B, Prol. 11. 87-93 ; cf A, Prol. 11. 84-95.
" Sharpe, Cal. Letter Bk. G, 194 ; cf 199. 211
