Peter Stokes (died 1399) was an English

Carmelite The Order of the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel (; abbreviated OCarm), known as the Carmelites or sometimes by synecdoche known simply as Carmel, is a mendicant order in the Catholic Church for both men and women. Histo ...

friar, known as an opponent of the teachings of

John Wyclif John Wycliffe (; also spelled Wyclif, Wickliffe, and other variants; 1328 – 31 December 1384) was an English scholastic philosopher, Christian reformer, Catholic priest, and a theology professor at the University of Oxford. Wycliffe is ...

Life

Stokes became a Carmelite at

Hitchin Hitchin () is a market town in the North Hertfordshire Districts of England, district of Hertfordshire, England. The town dates from at least the 7th century. It lies in the valley of the River Hiz at the north-eastern end of the Chiltern Hills ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

. Later at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

, he graduated there as doctor of divinity, by 1382. During the religious troubles in that year of 1382, Stokes acted as the representative of Archbishop William Courtenay in the university. During Lent he had made an ineffectual complaint against Nicholas of Hereford; and in May he had a statement of Hereford's heresies drawn up by notaries. On 28 May the archbishop sent him a list of twenty-four heresies extracted from Wyclif's writings, and directed him to publish it in the university.

Robert Rygge Robert Rygge (a.k.a. Rugge) (died 1410) was an English medieval churchman, college fellow, and university Chancellor, and archdeacon of Barnstaple in Devon. Rygge was at Exeter College, Oxford, later a Fellow of Merton College, and four times Ch ...

, the chancellor, opposed Stokes in the matter, and on 5 June, when

Philip Repington Philip Repyngdon ( – 1424) was a bishop and cardinal. Life It is believed Repyngdon was born in Wales in around 1345. He became an Augustinian canon, first at Repton Abbey, then at Leicester Abbey where he was ordained to the priestho ...

preached at the Priory of St Frideswide, Stokes was prevented from publication by the implied threat of violence. On 10 June Stokes took up a position against Repington, but on the following day left Oxford at the summons of the archbishop. He had already reported what had happened in a letter to Courtenay on 6 June, and was now present in the council on 12 June, when Rygge was condemned. The royal letter of 13 July specially forbade Rygge to molest Stokes further. Stokes, however, appears to have withdrawn from Oxford; he was in Hitchin, when he died on 18 July 1399.

Works

Stokes is credited with ''quæstiones'', ''conclusiones'', and ''lecturæ''. He also wrote a work in defence of

William Ockham William of Ockham or Occam ( ; ; 9/10 April 1347) was an English Franciscan friar, scholastic philosopher, apologist, and theologian, who was born in Ockham, a small village in Surrey. He is considered to be one of the major figures of mediev ...

, and ‘Præconia Sacræ Scripturæ.’ But the only one of Stokes's writings which seems to have survived is his letter to Archbishop Courtenay on 6 June 1382; it is printed in '' Fasciculi Zizaniorum''.

References

* ;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Stokes, Peter Year of birth missing 1399 deaths Carmelites English theologians English male non-fiction writers