The Earthquake Synod was an English

synod A synod () is a council of a Christian denomination, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. The word '' synod'' comes from the meaning "assembly" or "meeting" and is analogous with the Latin word mea ...

that took place on 21 May 1382 in the Blackfriars area of London, England.

William Courtenay William Courtenay ( 134231 July 1396) was Archbishop of Canterbury (1381–1396), having previously been Bishop of Hereford and Bishop of London. Early life and education Courtenay was a younger son of Hugh de Courtenay, 10th Earl of Devo ...

, the Archbishop of Canterbury, convened the synod to address the emerging

Lollard Lollardy, also known as Lollardism or the Lollard movement, was a proto-Protestantism, proto-Protestant Christianity, Christian religious movement that existed from the mid-14th century until the 16th-century English Reformation. It was initial ...

thinkers challenging the church. In particular, the synod condemned

John Wycliffe John Wycliffe (; also spelled Wyclif, Wickliffe, and other variants; 1328 – 31 December 1384) was an English scholastic philosopher, theologian, biblical translator, reformer, Catholic priest, and a seminary professor at the University o ...

's twenty-four theses, although many had already been condemned as

heresy Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, in particular the accepted beliefs of a church or religious organization. The term is usually used in reference to violations of important religi ...

by a synod at

St. Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in London and is the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London. It is on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London and is a Gr ...

in February 1377. The synod also issued teachings on the doctrine of

transubstantiation Transubstantiation (Latin: ''transubstantiatio''; Greek: μετουσίωσις '' metousiosis'') is, according to the teaching of the Catholic Church, "the change of the whole substance of bread into the substance of the Body of Christ and of ...

and

friar A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders founded in the twelfth or thirteenth century; the term distinguishes the mendicants' itinerant apostolic character, exercised broadly under the jurisdiction of a superior general, from the o ...

s. The synod got its name from the fact that the

1382 Dover Straits earthquake The 1382 Dover Straits earthquake occurred at 15:00 on 21 May. It had an estimated magnitude of 6.0 and a maximum felt intensity of VII–VIII on the Mercalli intensity scale. Based on contemporary reports of damage, the epicentre is thought to ...

shook the city of London during its meetings.*"Earthquake Synod." In Cross, F. L. and E. A. Livingstone, eds. ''The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church.'' London: Oxford UP, 1974. p. 437.

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