PECKHAM, JOHN (d. 1292), archbishop of Canterbury, was probably a native of Sussex, and received his early education from the Cluniac monks of Lewes. About 125o he joined the Franciscan order and studied in their Oxford convent. Shortly afterwards he proceeded to the university of Paris, where he took his degree under St. Bonaventure and became regent in theology. For many years Peckham taught at Paris, coming into contact with the greatest scholars of the day, among others St. Thomas Aquinas. About 127o he returned to Oxford and taught there, being elected in 1275 provincial minister of the Franciscans in England, but he was soon afterwards called to Rome as lector sacri palatii, or theological lecturer in the schools of the papal palace. In 1279 he returned to England as archbishop of Canter bury, being appointed by the pope on the rejection of Robert Burnell, Edward I.'s candidate. Peckham was always a strenuous advocate of the papal power, especially as shown in the council of Lyons in 1274. The characteristic note of his primacy was an insistence on discipline which offended contemporaries.
In philosophy Peckham represents the Franciscan school which attacked the teaching of St. Thomas Aquinas on the "Unity of Form." He wrote much on scientific, scriptural and moral subjects, and defended the Franciscan rule and practice. His hymns are characterized by a lyrical tenderness which seems typically Fran ciscan. Printed examples of his work as commentator and hymn writer respectively may be found in the Firamentum trium ordi num (Paris, 1512), and his office for Trinity Sunday in the "unreformed" breviary.
The chief authority on Peckham as archbishop of Canterbury, is the Registrum fratris Johannis Peckham, edited by C. Trice Martin for the Rolls Series (London, 1882-1885). A sympathetic account of his life as a Franciscan is to be found in L. Wadding, Annales minorum (Lyons, 1625, 1654). See also the article by C. L. Kingsford in Dict. Nat. Biog., and Wilkin's Concilia magnae Britanniae (London, 1737). PECOCK (or PEACOCK), REGINALD (c. 1395–C. British prelate and writer, was probably born in Wales, and was educated at Oriel college, Oxford. Having been ordained priest
in 1421, he secured a mastership in London in 1431, and soon became prominent by his attacks upon the religious position of the Lollards. In 1444 he became bishop of St. Asaph, and six years later bishop of Chichester. He was an adherent of the house of Lancaster and in 1454 became a member of the privy council. In attacking the Lollards Pecock put forward religious views far in advance of his age. He asserted that the Scriptures were not the only standard of right and wrong; in general he exalted the authority of reason. Owing to these views the archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Bourchier, ordered his writings to be ex amined. This was done and he was found guilty of heresy. He was removed from the privy council and he only saved himself from a painful death by privately, and then publicly (at St. Paul's Cross, Dec. 4, renouncing his opinions.
Pecock, who has been called "the only great English theologian of the 15th century," was then forced to resign his bishopric, and was removed to Thorney abbey in Cambridgeshire, where he doubtless remained until his death. The bishop's chief work is the famous Repressor of over-much weeting [blaming] of the Clergie, which was issued about 1455. In addition to its great importance in the history of the Lollard movement the Repressor has an exceptional interest as a model of the English of the time, Pecock being one of the first writers to use the vernacular. In thought and style it is the work of a man of learning and ability.