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Exhibit 495

Statute De heretico comburendo, 2 Henry IV c. 15

Exhibit 495 ยท Statute (modern-spelling text)

Statute De heretico comburendo, 2 Henry IV c. 15

that none from henceforth anything preach, hold, teach, or instruct openly or privily, or make or write any book contrary to the catholic faith or determination of the Holy Church

Forbids preaching without the diocesan's license and making or writing books contrary to the Catholic faith, requires holders of such books to deliver them to the diocesan within forty days, lets the diocesan arrest suspects, and orders the sheriff to burn before the people anyone convicted who refuses to abjure or relapses. The statute does not mention translating Scripture.

Source
Parliament of England (Henry IV)
Date
1401
Quoted from
Statutes of the Realm II, p. 125 (text as transcribed by R. Potter; also Gee and Hardy, Documents Illustrative of English Church History, 1896, no. XL; Peters no. 44)
Grade
Primary record
Document
https://w3.ric.edu/faculty/rpotter/heretico.html
Accessed
2026-11-09
Cited by
Findings citing this exhibit
Note
The recital gives the stated reason: heretics 'usurping the office of preaching' and holding schools, with diocesans unable 'without aid of the said royal majesty' to correct them.

Cited by

Finding REL-2.2
Primary record The Constitutions of Archbishop Arundel, drafted in 1407 and promulgated in 1409, forbade anyone to translate a text of Scripture into English on his own authority and forbade reading any such translation until the diocesan or a provincial council approved it, under the greater excommunication.