Recent Publications: Secondary Sources

This list features some recent secondary sources and especially focuses on the essays published in the recent volume edited by Mishtooni Bose and J. Patrick Hornbeck: Wycliffite Controversies.  Please contact Mary Raschko with any changes to the material below or with any items you would like to ensure I include in the next update.


Barr, Helen. “The Deafening Silence of Lollardy in the Digby Lyric.” Bose and Hornbeck 243-260. [Barr examines the noteworthy absence of references to Lollardy in an early fifteenth-century series of lyric poems extant in Bodleian Library MS Digby 102. She argues that rather than directly condemn Lollards, as much contemporary Benedictine poetry did, these lyrics appropriated and adapted Lollard critiques to promote an orthodox agenda for church reform.]

Bose, Mishtooni, and J. Patrick Hornbeck II, eds. Wycliffite Controversies. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2011.

—.  “Reversing the Life of Christ: Dissent, Orthodoxy, and Affectivity in Late Medieval England.” Johnson and Westphall 55-77. [Bose investigates how Wycliffite and other reformist writers used the life of Christ to “anchor, define, and legitimize” their positions, describing Christ’s vita as common discursive ground for scholastic theologians. In addition to Wycliffite sermons, the essay analyzes works by Reginald Pecock and Nicholas Love’s Mirror.]

Campi, Luigi. “‘But and Alle Thingus in Mesure, and Noumbre, and Peis Thou Disposedist’: Some Notes on the Role of Wisdom 11, 21 in Wyclif’s Writings.” Recherches de Théologie et Philosophie Médiévales 80.1 (2013): 109-143. [The essay discusses Wyclif’s use of Wisdom 11:21, a passage of scripture that, according to Campi, Wyclif regarded as “the most difficult verse in the whole of scripture…due to the theoretical content it conveys, which relates to the issue of the creative, legislative and redemptive order imposed by God.”]

Craun, Edwin. “Discarding Traditional Pastoral Ethics: Wycliffism and Slander.” Bose and Hornbeck 227-242. [Craun demonstrates how Lollards adapted a pastoral discourse on fraternal correction to validate their criticisms of the contemporary church, especially those directed at friars. Among other texts, the essay features analysis of Pierce the Plowman’s Crede, Hou Sathanas & his Prestis & his Feined Religious, and Of Pseudo-Friars.]

Dove, Mary. “The Lollards’ Threefold Biblical Agenda.” Bose and Hornbeck 211-226. [Based on comments in the Prologue to the Wycliffite Bible, Dove describes the Lollards’ biblical agenda as threefold: “to enable simple people to have the Bible (or access to it), to understand it, and to live in accordance with it.” This essay primarily discusses the issue of understanding scripture, comparing statements on literal and figurative interpretation in the Prologue to the Wycliffite Bible with other Middle English treatises on biblical translation, including The Holi Prophete Dauid.]

Forrest, Ian. “Lollardy and Late Medieval History.” Bose and Hornbeck 121-134. [In response to the increasingly interdisciplinary study of Lollardy, Forrest explores how “lollard studies” have diverged from the disciplinary study of medieval history. Considering trends in scholarship on religious orthodoxy, the history of late medieval England, and the history of late medieval Europe, he proposes directions for future research.]

Gayk, Shannon. “Lollard Writings, Literary Criticism, and the Meaningfulness of Form.” Bose and Hornbeck 135-152. [Observing that scholarship on Lollard texts – even from literary scholars – focuses almost exclusively on cultural and theological content rather than aesthetics, Gayk argues for more attention to the form of Lollard writings. With reference to select sermons, the Lanterne of Liȝt, and the trial of John Falks, the essay explores the potential for “new formalism” to complement and enrich the historical study of Lollardy.]

Ghosh, Kantik. “Wycliffite ‘Affiliations’: Some Intellectual-Historical Perspectives.” Bose and Hornbeck 13-32. [Ghosh analyzes the combination of scholastic discourse and anti-academic polemic in a Wycliffite treatise on the Eucharist (De oblacione iugis sacrifcii), placing the treatise in the context a larger fifteenth-century debate over the appropriate method and style for theological writing, given its widening audience.]

Hornbeck, J. Patrick. “Wycklyffes Wycket and Eucharistic Theology: Cases from Sixteenth-Century Winchester.” Bose and Hornbeck 279-294. [Hornbeck examines records from two early sixteenth-century heresy trials in Kingston upon Thames and Farnham, asking what they can tell us about dissenters’ use of vernacular texts and how those texts may have influenced dissenting views on the Eucharist.]

Hudson, Anne. “ ‘Who Is My Neighbor?’ Some Problems of Definition on the Borders of Orthodoxy and Heresy.” Bose and Hornbeck 79-96. [With three vignettes, Hudson argues that there was considerably less division between “orthodox” and “heterodox” texts in late medieval England than the writings of Archbishop Arundel or William Thorpe would suggest. The vignettes feature the Rolle Psalter commentary in Oxford Bodleian Library MS Bodley 953, contrary assessments of the orthodoxy of Dives and Pauper, and Oriel College’s commissioning of Wyclif’s De civili dominio and De blasfemia in 1454.]

Johnson, Ian and Allan F. Westphall, eds. The Pseudo-Bonaventuran Lives of Christ: Exploring the Middle English Tradition. Medieval Church Studies 24. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2013.

Jurkowski, Maureen. “Henry V’s Suppression of the Oldcastle Revolt.” Henry V: New Interpretations. Ed. Gwilym Dodd. York: York Medieval Press, 2013. 103-129. [Jurkowski reevaluates Henry V’s reputation as a ruler who effectively administered justice in light of his handling of the 1414 rebellion lead by the Lollard-sympathizer John Oldcastle. Focusing on the diverse fates of rebels and the strategies employed to pursue the elusive Oldcastle, she points to frequent disregard for common law and suggests that the ability to purchase pardon significantly affected an accused rebel or heretic’s fate.]

—. “Lollard Networks.” Bose and Hornbeck 261-278. [Jurkowski asks whether Lollard networks extended nationally or just regionally, examining evidence regarding where Lollards preached, from whom they received support, and what professions they populated. She concludes that while we lack sufficient information to answer the question conclusively, Lollards felt that their networks extended beyond local communities.]

—. “La Noblesse anglaise de la fin du Moyen Age: Pour ou contre la défense de l’orthodoxie religieuse?” Le Salut par les armes. Noblesse et defense de l’orthodoxie (XIIIe-XVIIe siècles). Ed. Franck Mercier, Ariane Boltanski, and Jean-Phillippe Genet. Rennes: Presses Universitaires de Rennes, 2011. 227-38.

—. “Who Was Walter Brut?” English Historical Review 127 (2012): 285-302. [Going beyond study of Walter Brut’s trial records, Jurkowski mines other documentary evidence for information regarding Brut’s Welsh heritage and eventual involvement in Welsh rebellion, his potential education at a cathedral school and at Oxford, and his role as a landowner in Hereford, offering a more diverse portrait of this famous early Lollard.]

Kuczynski, Michael P. “An Important Lollard Psalter in Trinity College Library.” Studies 99 (2010): 181-187. [Describing features of Dublin, Trinity College MS 70, Kuczynksi argues why the manuscript, with its psalter, glosses, and works of religious instruction, may have suited the interests of its seventeenth-century Irish owner as well as fifteenth-century Lollards.]

Lahey, Stephen. “Late Medieval Eucharistic Theology.” Levy, Macy, and Van Ausdall 499-540.

Levy, Ian Christopher. “The Literal Sense of Scripture and the Search for Truth in the Late Middle Ages.” Revue D’histoire Ecclésiastique 104.3-4 (2009): 783-827. [Levy studies the expanding notion of the literal sense of scripture in the later Middle Ages, especially its identification with the sense intended by its divine author, in the writings of five fourteenth- and fifteenth-century theologians: Richard FitzRalph, John Wyclif, Henry Totting de Oyta, Jean Gerson, and Paul of Burgos.]

—. “A Contextualized Wyclif: Magister Sacrae Paginae.” Bose and Hornbeck 121-134. [Levy describes Wyclif’s views on the authority of scripture, the nature of the literal sense, and the relationship between personal piety and exegesis as typical of late medieval theologians. He argues that because Netter and others distort Wyclif’s beliefs, scholars too often read Wyclif’s works through “the lens of heresy” and disregard his more conventional theology.]

Levy, Ian Christopher, Gary Macy, and Kristen Van Ausdall, eds. A Companion to the Eucharist in the Middle Ages. Leiden: Koninklijke Brill NV, 2012.

Lutton, Rob. “Lollardy, Orthodoxy, and Cognitive Psychology.” Bose and Hornbeck 97-120. [In an effort to “develop frameworks for studying Lollardy and orthodoxy side by side,” Lutton describes anthropologist Harvey Whithouse’s model of religiosity and suggests how Lollardy may align with it. Lutton argues that Lollardy included both “doctrinal” and “imagistic” modes of religiosity and proposes that dissent may have been a psychological reaction that attempted to “re-enliven religious experience.”]

Malo, Robyn. “Behaving Paradoxically? Wycliffites, Shrines, and Relics.” Bose and Hornbeck 193-210. [Malo challenges the idea that it would be unlikely for a Wycliffite to value a relic, arguing that Wycliffite treatises more often object to elaborate enshrinement than to relics themselves. Characterizing this criticism of enshrinement as a reformist critique, the essay features analysis of writings by Wyclif (and his opponents), Wycliffites, and Reginald Pecock.]

Marshall, Peter. “Lollards and Protestants Revisited.” Bose and Hornbeck 295-318. [In this historiographical essay, Marshall reviews descriptions of the relationship between Lollardy and the English Reformation in scholarship from the end of the Victorian era to the present. He aims to place modern discussions of Lollardy in a larger history and argues that political and ideological concerns often affect scholars’ assessment of its role in the Reformation.]

Minnis, Alastair. “Wyclif’s Eden: Sex, Death, and Dominion.” Bose and Hornbeck 59-78. [This essay analyzes De statu innocencie, a speculative treatise Wyclif wrote about the condition of humanity in Eden. Minnis characterizes its subject matter as a typical subject of inquiry for scholastic theologians and often compares Wyclif’s views on bodily pleasure, death, and dominion to Aquinas’ writings.]

Peikola, Matti. “The Sanctorale, Thomas of Woodstock’s English Bible, and the Orthodox Appropriation of Wycliffite Tables of Lessons.” Bose and Hornbeck 153-174. [In this essay, Peikola describes different styles of the sanctorale (lists of lessons for the feasts of saints) in Wycliffite Bibles and argues that changes over time point to an increasingly orthodox readership. In addition to outlining this broader phenomenon, he analyzes polemical comments in the Bible thought to be owned by Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester (London, British Library, MS Egerton 618) that challenge the sainthood of many canonized by the church.]

Raschko, Mary. “‘To þe worschipe of God and profite of his peple’: Lollard Sermons on the Parable of the Labourers in the Vineyard.” Bose and Hornbeck 175-192. [This essay analyzes Middle English sermons on the Parable of the Labourers in the Vineyard, pointing out common interpretations in Lollard and mainstream sermons, including Mirk’s Festial and Wimbledon’s Sermon, that encourage workers to remain within a three-estates model. Raschko examines how the Lollard writers direct this conventional social model to reformist ends.]

—. “Oon of Foure: Harmonizing Wycliffite and Pseudo-Bonaventuran Approaches to the Life of Christ.” Johnson and Westphall 341-373. [Raschko demonstrates that the Middle English gospel harmony Oon of Foure shares features with both Wycliffite translation and the Pseudo-Bonaventuran tradition. Examining the rearrangement of gospel sources and the varied manuscript contexts of Oon of Foure, she suggests that those who translated and copied this version of the gospels aimed to facilitate Christian devotion and conduct.]