Taylor, William
TAYLOR, WILLIAM
lollard; b. Worcestershire, England, date unknown; burned at Smithfield, March 2, 1423. A master of arts of Oxford by 1405, he was principal of St. Edmund Hall in 1405–06. About 1407, he was excommunicated for contumacy by Abp. Thomas arundel when he failed to answer a citation for Lollard opinions expressed in a sermon at St. Paul's Cross. Absolved by Abp. Henry chichele in 1420, he was convicted of heresy in 1421 on the information of Thomas netter, and again in 1423, when he was degraded and executed by the state. Among the heresies of which he was accused, Taylor held that prayer should not be directed to Christ in respect of His humanity or to the saints.
Bibliography: Fasciculi zizaniorum Magistri Johannis Wyclif cum tritico, ed. w. w. shirley (Rerum Britannicarum medii aevi scriptores, 5; 1858) 412–413 gives Taylor's condemned beliefs. j. gairdner, Lollardy and the Reformation in England, 4 v. (London 1908–13) 1:127–128. a. b. emden, A Biographical Register of the University of Oxford to A.D. 1500, 3 vol. (Oxford 1957–59) 3:1852.
[f. d. blackley]