Reginald Pecock (or Peacock; c. 1395 – c. 1461) was a Welsh prelate, scholastic, and writer.

Life

Pecock was probably born in

Laugharne Laugharne () is a town on the south coast of Carmarthenshire, Wales, lying on the estuary of the River Tâf. The Ancient borough#Charters, ancient borough of Laugharne Township () with its #Laugharne Corporation, Corporation and Charter is a ...

and was educated at

Oriel College, Oxford Oriel College () is Colleges of the University of Oxford, a constituent college of the University of Oxford in Oxford, England. Located in Oriel Square, the college has the distinction of being the oldest royal foundation in Oxford (a title for ...

. Having been ordained priest in 1421, Pecock secured a mastership at Whittington College, London, in 1431 where he was also parish priest of St. Michael Paternoster Royal, the adjacent parish church. On 14 June 1444 he was consecrated as

Bishop of St Asaph The Bishop of St Asaph heads the Church in Wales diocese of St Asaph. The diocese covers the counties of Conwy county borough, Conwy and Flintshire, Wrexham county borough, the eastern part of Merioneth in Gwynedd and part of northern Powys. The ...

,Fryde, et al. ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 296 and translated as

Bishop of Chichester The Bishop of Chichester is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Chichester in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers the counties of East Sussex, East and West Sussex. The Episcopal see, see is based in t ...

on 23 March 1450.Fryde, et al. ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 239 In 1454 he became a member of the privy council. He wrote books of both a pedagogical and polemical nature. His pedagogical books, in which he proposes a wholly new catechism include ''The Donet'', ''The Follower to the Donet'', and ''The Rule of Christian Religion''. He joined the debate on Christian doctrine in his ''Repressing of Over Mich Wyting'' laming''the Clergie'', 1449, and ''Book of Faith'', 1456. These were both more cogent than the Lollard tenets, and sought to stay the Lollard movement by setting aside ecclesiastical infallibility, and taking the appeal to Scripture and reason alone. It was principally Pecock's appeal to reason and his attack on the primacy of episcopal authority for which he was deprived in 1458. In attacking the Lollards, Pecock put forward the following religious views: he asserted that the

Scriptures Religious texts, including scripture, are texts which various religions consider to be of central importance to their religious tradition. They often feature a compilation or discussion of beliefs, ritual practices, moral commandments and ...

were not the only standard of right and wrong; he questioned some of the articles of the

creed A creed, also known as a confession of faith, a symbol, or a statement of faith, is a statement of the shared beliefs of a community (often a religious community) which summarizes its core tenets. Many Christian denominations use three creeds ...

and the infallibility of the Church; he wished "bi cleer witte drawe men into consente of trewe feith otherwise than bi fire and swerd or hangement" and in general he exalted the authority of reason. Owing to these views, the

archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the Primus inter pares, ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the bishop of the diocese of Canterbury. The first archbishop ...

, Thomas Bourchier, ordered his writings to be examined. This was done and he was found guilty of

heresy Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, particularly the accepted beliefs or religious law of a religious organization. A heretic is a proponent of heresy. Heresy in Heresy in Christian ...

. Pecock was removed from the privy council and he publicly (at

St Paul's Cross Paul's Cross (alternatively "Powles Crosse") was a preaching cross and open-air pulpit in St Paul's Churchyard, the grounds of Old St Paul's Cathedral, City of London. It was the most important public pulpit in Tudor and early Stuart Englan ...

, 4 December 1457), renounced his opinions in accordance with his previously stated opinion about the need for obedience in all matters to the Church hierarchy. Pecock, who has been called "the most prolific English

theologian Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of ...

of the 15th century",Reginald Pecock and Vernacular Theology in Pre-Reformation England, Jennifer Anh-Thư Tran Smith, Univ of Los Angeles 2012, p.ii was then forced to resign his bishopric in January 1459, and was removed to

Thorney Abbey Thorney Abbey, now the Church of St Mary and St Botolph, was a medieval English Benedictine Congregation, English Benedictine monastery at Thorney, Cambridgeshire, Thorney, Cambridgeshire in The Fens of Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom Histor ...

in Cambridgeshire, where he doubtless remained until his death about 1461. Chichestercathedralwindowwilfredluffapeacock

The bishop's chief work is the famous ''Represser of over-much weeting lamingof the Clergie'', which was issued c. 1449–1455. In addition to its great importance in the history of the Lollard movement the ''Represser'' has an exceptional interest as a model of the English of the time, Pecock being one of the first writers to use the

vernacular Vernacular is the ordinary, informal, spoken language, spoken form of language, particularly when perceptual dialectology, perceived as having lower social status or less Prestige (sociolinguistics), prestige than standard language, which is mor ...

. In thought and style alike it is the work of a man of learning and ability. A biography of Pecock is added to the edition of the ''Repressor'' published by

Churchill Babington Churchill Babington (; 11 March 182112 January 1889) was an English classical scholar, archaeologist and naturalist. He served as Rector of Cockfield, Suffolk. He was a cousin of Cardale Babington. Life He was born at Rothley Temple, in ...

for the Rolls Series in 1860.

Extant works

*''The Repressing of Over Mich Wyting of the Clergie (The Repressor of Over Much Blaming of the Clergy)'',(1449); ed.Churchill Babington; Longman, Green and Roberts, (2 vols, London, 1860). *''The Book of Faith'' (1456), ed. J. L. Morison, (Glasgow, 1909). *''The Donet'', ed. E. V. Hitchcock, (London, 1921). *''The Follower of the Donet'', ed. E. V. Hitchcock (Oxford, 1971). *''The Reule of Crysten Religioun'', by Reginald Pecock ... now first edited from Pierpont Morgan Ms. 519, by William Cabell Greet; London, H. Milford, Oxford University Press, 1927; & New York, 1971); Millwood, N.Y., Kraus Reprint, 1987.

Citations

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pecock, Reginald 1395 births 1460 deaths People from Laugharne Bishops of Chichester Bishops of St Asaph Alumni of Oriel College, Oxford 15th-century Roman Catholic bishops in England 15th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Wales Welsh bishops 15th-century Welsh clergy