f 223v (1 July)
...tandem primo die mensis Iulij apud manerium de Sonnyng Anno domini suprascripto prefatus Reuerendus pater prefato Willelmo ... iniunxit quod toto tempore quod toto tempore vite sue abstineret se ab omnimoda arte mimorum gestis & cantalonis exceptis hijs que in ecclesiis ad honorem dei vel alicuius sancti fiunt omni die toto tempore vite sue...
f 223v (1 July)
...at last, on 1 July at the manor of Sonning in the year of our Lord abovesaid, the aforesaid reverend father ... enjoined the aforesaid William that for his entire life he shall abstain from every kind of entertainers' art and from songs except those which are done in churches to the honour of God or of a particular saint everyday for his whole life...
This entry is an excerpt from the judgment of John Waltham, bishop of Salisbury (1388–95), on William Rammesbury of the parish of Sonning (a village north-east of Reading) for Lollardy. William confessed to impersonating a priest and ‘celebrating’ mass in many churches in the area, mocking the sacrament. For a more detailed discussion of the significance of this judgment see Historical Background.
Record title: Register of John Waltham, Bishop of
Salisbury
Repository: Wiltshire and Swindon Archives
Shelfmark: D1/2/5
Repository location: Chippenham
The Register of John Waltham, bishop of Salisbury, is grouped into letters, licences, institutions, visitations, judicial acta, and ordinations. The relevant entry (ff 222–3v) is a judicial act.
1388–95; Latin; parchment; ii + 235 + ii; folio size variable, average 300–20mm x 215–30mm; modern pencil foliation beginning from f 1 replacing irregular 17th-c. ink foliation; leaves attached to stubs; bound in brown cloth- covered boards, modern black leather spine, title stamped on spine: 'EP:REG: | Waltham | 1388.'