Thomas Brinton grew up with Adam at the Benedictine monastery of Norwich and went with on to be educated with him at Gloucester College, Oxford. Brinton continued his career initially at the papal court until his reputation as a preacher and advocate was rewarded with his election to the Bishopric of Rochester. Here his sermons were carefully recorded throughout his rule and many have survived in transcription to this day. Here Brinton complains about the parlous state of moral welfare he found all around him in the closing years of the reign of Edward III and interesting warns England that such moral lapses deserve the same punishment as that of the Jews (who had been expelled from England just half a century or so earlier).
(With thanks to David Oliver for his contribution to the translation below.)
Verum igitur in regno Anglia tam crudelis pestilencia, tanta iniusticia, tot falsi heredes, nisi quod ex omni parte est tantum adulterium quod pauci de suis uxoribus contentantur sed unusquisque post uxorem proximi sui abiit vel sub uxore propria quantumcumque pulchra et honesta fetentem detinet concubinam ut concludendo ista dicam congrue cum psalmo Infecta est terra in sanguinibus. Alii de fornicacione simplici sunt scandalose diffamati, que in tanta persona tante dignitatis poterit regnare quod in persona gradus inferioris adulterium vincit partier et incestum. Dic quomodo per exempla. Item in Anglia sunt tot furta que ita euadunt penitus incorrecta, quod ubi in aliis regnis homicide et fures per colla communiter sunt suspensi, certe pro maiori parte in Anglia per loculos suspenduntur. Tot in Anglia inundany homicidia quod ita "Veloces sunt pedes hominum ad effundendum sanguinem" Psalms 13 quod non habent conscienciam hominem occidendi. Verum timeo quod sanguis occisorum ad Deum clamat pro vindicta.
In cuius signum cum Pilatus voluisset Christi sanguinem innoxium liberasse et Iudei unanimiter acclamarent "sanguis eius super nos et super filios nostros" ex illa hora ulcio sanguinis Christi super Iudeos adeo est effusa, quod ex tunc serui Christianorum facti in omnem terram fuerunt fugitiui et mirabiliter maledicii. Immo ex tunc angeli qui custodies fuerunt Iudeorum eos relinquerunt. Erant et auditi sic super Ierusalem talitur conclamasse "transeamus ab his sedibus et relinquamus vallem". Item in obsidione civitatis Ierusalem venditi erant triginta Iudei pro uno denario sicut ipsum Christum triginta argentiis vendiderunt.
So in the realm of England, there is such a cruel plague, so much injustice, so many false heirs. In all regions, there is so much adulterous conduct, because few are satisfied with their wives or, with a wife of their own, however beautiful, retain some disreputable concubine, in order to enjoy what I shall call, following the psalm, congress.
The earth is soaked in blood. Some are scandalously slandered with the charge of simple fornication. This can happen in the case of the upper classes, while with those of inferior rank , adultery and incest are more prevalent.
Let me give an example. In England, there are so many thefts that go completely unpunished that, whereas in other countries murderers and thieves are hanged by the neck in public, in most parts of England they are hung by their purses. There are so many murders in England that, "swift are the feet of men to the spilling of blood" as Psalm 13 puts it, because they have no conscience about murder.
As a sign of this, after Pilate had wanted to free the innocent blood of Christ, and the Jews had shouted with one voice "let his blood be on us and on our children", from that hour the blood of Christ is poured out upon the Jews so that from then they have been servants of the Christians, fugitives and terribly abused. From that time, the angels who had been the guardians of the Jews abandoned them. All over Jerusalem, they were heard to cry "let us go from this place and abandon this valley". At the siege of the city of Jerusalem, 30 Jews were sold for one denarius, just as they had sold Christ himself for 30 pieces of silver.
Taken from Sermon 54, The Sermons of Thomas Brinton, edited by Sister Mary Devlin
