Henry V – A new reign dawns – The Lollards Lullaby

King Henry V.

As the new reign of Henry V dawned, so did a serious religious problem that could not be left to fester. Some years before, John Wycliffe, a priest and scholar at Oxford university had attacked Roman Catholic beliefs. He held that the Bible should be translated from Latin into English and that the monasteries should be shut down.

‘There had in England, emerged a group with vastly differing religious views!

This gave the powers that be, a really nasty dose of the blues!’

Wycliffe also attacked the papacy, which enraged the Church, particularly the pope. Although Wycliffe died in 1384, his ideas lived on, as he had amassed a group of followers known as the Lollards. The Catholic Church denounced these people as being heretics.

John Wycliffe.

The Lollards Lullaby.

‘We call the pope, a pompous old fool!

He is not good, indeed he is the devil’s tool!

We dislike the money grabbing priest!

It is about time that his actions ceased!

We disapprove of paying money for masses for the souls of the dead!

They will not return to life, no matter what is done or said!’

The Oldcastle affair.

One of these heretics was a friend of king Henry, Sir John Oldcastle, who had fought alongside him in Wales. Discovered in possession of Lollard material, Oldcastle was dispatched to the Tower of London in September 1413. The penalty for heresy was death by burning, so Oldcastle’s fate was a foregone conclusion. The king, ever the loyal friend, ordered a stay of execution and tried to persuade Oldcastle to recant his Lollard beliefs in order to save his life.

Henry might have said:

‘Change your tune to avoid suffering a painful death at the stake!

Dear friend, do this for yourself, as well as your family’s sake!’

Oldcastle did not change his mind and rather ungallantly used the period of grace obtained for him by the king to escape from the Tower in October 1413. From his place of hiding in London, Oldcastle devised a plot to abduct the king at Eltham Palace during the Christmas festivities. The plan was for Lollards from all over the country to meet at St Giles’s Field outside London on January 9th 1414.

‘Sir John Oldcastle sent word to his fellow Lollards to gather in the field named for St Giles!

Eagerly they came, but their intentions were thwarted by royal Henry’s wiles!’

The authorities had learned of the meeting and the king’s men were waiting for them. The Lollards were easily crushed, many fled, but others were imprisoned and some of them executed for their pains. However, Oldcastle escaped and was at large for almost four years. Henry had tried to save Oldcastle from execution, and he had rewarded him with rebellion. Betrayal always hurts, and King Henry was hurting bad. Oldcastle had to be apprehended, so the hunt was on. King Henry might have said about his old friend:

‘Sir John, my very person, you did seek to betray!

Your very self, I will hunt until your dying day!’

Oldcastle was caught in November 1417 and thence conveyed to London. The Lollard enthusiast was hanged from a gibbet over a huge fire in St Giles’s Field, the very venue where in 1414, he had hoped to lead a successful Lollard rebellion against Henry V. Clearly the place of execution was deliberately selected by the king in order to rub salt into the wound of defeat.

Whether Oldcastle suffered a slow, agonizing death from burning, or expired due to the more merciful process of strangulation, was never confirmed. What is said to be certain, is that the rope and the wood from the gallows acted as his funeral pyre.

The death of Sir John Oldcastle.