it  was  enacted,  that  the  Lollards  should  be  hanged  for  treason,
and  burnt  for  heresy ;  and  since  Sir  John  was  one  of  that
number,  he  suffered  in  both  respects.  But  in  the  act,  as  Fox
has  printed  it,  we  find  no  mention  of  this  double  punishment
for  Lollardism.  The  goods  indeed  of  those  that  were  con-
victed of  it  were  to  be  forfeited;  but  that,  as  Collier  has
observed  against  Fuller,  does  not  prove  that  the  Law  con-
demned them  as  traitors.  Besides,  Sir  John  Oldcastle  was  not
only  convicted  of  heresy,  but  indicted  for  treason,  before  this
act  was  thought  of,  and  was  at  last  condemned  upon  his  first
indictment.  Rapin  says l,  it  is  plain  that  Lord  Cobham  did  not
suffer  for  treason  because  he  was  burnt.  By  the  same  way
of  arguing  it  might  be  proved,  he  did  not  suffer  for  heresy
because  he  was  hanged.]

[i  sub  A.D.  1416.]


A  BRIEF   CHRONICLE

CONCERNING  THE

EXAMINATION    AND    DEATH

OF  THE

BLESSED  MARTYR   OF   CHRIST,

SIR    JOHN    OLDCASTLE,

THE  LORD  COBHAM.
COLLECTED  TOGETHER

BY   JOHN   BALE,

OUT  OF  THE  BOOKS  AND   WRITINGS  OF  THOSE   POPISH

PRELATES  WHICH  WERE  PRESENT  BOTH  AT  HIS

CONDEMNATION  AND  JUDGMENT.
THE    PREFACE.
IN  the  profane  histories  of  old,  orators  and  poets,  both  piu
Greeks  and  Latins,  they  are  much  commended  and  thought  cir '

•  °        Catullus.
worthy  of  eternal  memory,  which  have  either  died  for  their  Horatms.
»  »  '  Lucanus.
