Dear John,
In 1995 I wrote an article on gender, heresy, and literacy in a collection
called *Women, the Book, and the Godly*, in which I discussed a case that
you might find of interest (although the context in which I discussed it
doesn't relate directly to your question of literacy and anticlericalism per
se). Here I quote from the article:
Thomas Boughton, an illiterate woolwinder and shoemaker of Hungerford who
appeared before Bishop John Blythe of Salisbury in 1499, confessed that he
"had a great mynde to here sermouns and prechynges of doctours and lerned
men of the church. And as long as they spack the veray wordys of the
gospels and epistles such as I had herd afore in our englissh bookys, I
herkned wele unto them and had great delight to here them. But assone as
they began to declare scripture after their doctouris and brought in other
maters and spack of tythes and offrynges, I was sone wery to here them and
had no favour in their wordys." (Wilts. R.O., Reg. J. Blythe, f. 74v.)
Hope this might be useful.
Shannon McSheffrey
Concordia University, Montreal
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