Meaning and Linguistics

De heretico comburendo is a Latin phrase meaning "Regarding the heretic who is to be burnt", or perhaps more colloquially "Regarding the burning of heretics". An alternate spelling is De haeretico comburendo, reflecting the proper ancient and Middle Ages spelling (by the second century C.E. the diphthong ae had been changed in prounciation from ai to [e], but most texts today use the spelling without the letter a. See Latin spelling and pronunciation for more information.

History

Although English translations of the Bible had existed for hundreds of years, the Middle English translation published under the direction of John Wyclif in the 1380s, known as Wyclif's Bible, was the first to gain widespread acceptance and use. The Church authorities comdemned Wyclif's translation, partially because they deemed the commentary included with the work to be heretical, and partially because they believed any translation of the Bible from the Latin Vulgate to be a heretical undertaking.

Wyclif was the inspiration for what would become the Lollard movement, which was considered heretical by the Church. The De heretico comburendo was passed in 1401 by King Henry IV, specifically punishing those who owned or produced any translation of the Bible with burning at the stake. This law was one of the strictest religious censorship statutes ever enacted in England.

The Constitutions of Oxford, established in 1409 by Archbishop Thomas Arundel, were further punitive measures intended to punish heresy in England that grew in large part out of the De heretico comburendo.

See also

• Heresy
• Britain in the Middle Ages
• History of the English Bible

External links

• The text of the De heretico comburendo
• [http://www.constitution.org/sech/sech_069.htm Annotated text, see (B) on the page