Ecclesiae Regimen

The Ecclesiae Regimen, also Remonstrance, xxxvii Conclusiones Lollardorum, or Thirty Seven Articles against Corruptions in the Church, is a church reformation declaration against the Catholic Church of England in the Late Middle Ages. It had no official title given to it when written and the author(s) did not identify themselves in the original manuscript. This public declaration by the English medieval sect called the Lollards was announced to the English parliament at the end of the manifesto Twelve Conclusions of the Lollards published in 1395.

The manuscript (usually associated with the name Ecclesiae Regimen) is a medieval Latin undated handwritten text document containing church reform thoughts of John Wycliffe and the Lollards. The Roman Catholic Church reformation ideas identified as originally belonging to John Wycliffe was expounded upon by the Wycliffite party known as the Lollards. The purpose of the manuscript was to show the reader how corrupt the Roman Catholic Church was at the time and that it needed reform. Scholars attribute the original manuscript ideas to Wycliffe but that it was actually written by John Purvey after Wycliffe's death in 1384 and sometime before 1395. The arguments for Purvey being the sole author are based on the similarity between this and the General Prologue of the Wycliffe Bible (known to be written by Purvey). Another argument is in the similarity and style of Purvey’s confession in 1400.

This manuscript was edited by Josiah Forshall and published in 1851 by Mr. Longmans. The English title they ascribed to this manuscript was Remonstrance against Romish corruptions in the Church: addressed to the people and parliament of England in 1395 - with a shortened name of just Remonstrance.

The provenance of the text manuscript emanates from November 1897 when it was purchased at a sale in London by Mr. J. J. Green of Godwyn Lodge, Clive Vale, Hastings. There is no paper trail history on the document before this time. There are known to be three copies of the manuscript in existence. The British Museum has one, the Bodleian Library has another and the third copy is at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland.

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