Dangerous Persuasion

Bishop Reginald Pecock and the Vernacular Instruction of the Laity

Yvonne Parrey

Abstract

Bishop Reginald Pecock's surviving vernacular theological writings indicate his intention to provide a means by which the laity might be corrected and brought into obedience to the Church. At least in part, his endeavour came to be condemned by critics, such as the Austin provincial John Bury, precisely because of this appeal to the laity. This paper examines Pecock's views of the laity and his intentions with respect to their instruction, as well as considering criticisms of him and of his approach. The analysis suggests that we must conclude that both his views and the reaction to them highlight a significant climate of clerical fear with respect to lay intellectual and spiritual development in the late medieval English Church. Ultimately Pecock's endeavours were dangerous for him, but his willingness to take the risks involved reveals something of the extent of his fears about the seriousness of the Lollard threat to the traditional Faith of the Church.

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