ABSTRACT
Mediaeval heretical movements can be divided into two broad groups, those which were basically popular in character and those which both originated and remained in the schools, when a theological debate overstepped the boundaries of accepted orthodoxy. A further and more difficult question is what Chaucer’s own views, and how far the parson’s tale can be seen as reflecting them. If one finds areas of belief where there are doubts about the orthodoxy or heresy of those expressing them, one can see similar ambiguities in the careers of the Lollard knights themselves. There is evidence of the spiritual concerns of yet another of the suspect knights in a manuscript French bible, now in the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris. Historians of Lollardy have had problems in reconciling the fact that some men who were identified as Lollards, or even identified themselves as such, did not hold views or follow practices which conform with the customary ideas of the sect.
