On this date in 1401, Lollard priest William Sawtre(y) was burned at Smithfield for heresy — the first known heresy execution in England. Sawtre was a follower of John Wycliffe, the Biblical translator and church reformer 16 years dead as we lay our scene. Wycliffe anticipated much of Luther’s later critique of the Catholic Church. His call to study Scripture directly without the intercession of doctors in Rome touched a spiritual thirst; his summons to apostolic poverty for the wealthy vicars of Christ was a message with a ready audience. “From about 1390 to 1425, we hear of the Lollards...