John Mirk

John Mirk
Arch and tympanum over the processional entrance on south side of the church, Lilleshall Abbey.
Born	14th century
Died	15th century Lilleshall Abbey
Nationality	English
Other names	Johannus Myrcus, John Myrc, John of Lilleshall
Years active	c.1380–c.1420
Church	Catholic Church
Ordained	Priest
Writings	Festial, Instructions to Parish Priests, Manuale Sacerdotis
Title	Prior of Lilleshall Abbey

John Mirk was an Augustinian Canon Regular, active in the late 14th and early 15th centuries in Shropshire. He is noted as the author of widely copied, and later printed, books intended to aid parish priests and other clergy in their work. The most famous of these, his Book of Festivals or Festial was probably the most frequently printed English book before the Reformation.

Nothing is known of Mirk's life apart from what can be gathered from his works. Mirk was a canon of Lilleshall Abbey and later prior of the abbey. Until recently he was generally considered to have written mainly around 1400, but is now thought to have been active from rather earlier – probably the 1380s. His use of language and his name suggest he may have originated in northern England, a region strongly influenced by Norse settlement and culture. He seems to have been deeply committed to pastoral work and his work was directly relevant to the situation of Shrewsbury and its environs in his period. This has similarities to the work of lay catechesis pioneered under John of Thoresby, the Archbishop of York a generation earlier.

While biographical information is scant, the religious and political background to Mirk's work is fairly well-known. The defining event in Mirk's background was the Black Death, which killed half the population and had major and protracted consequences for society and economy, as well as the spiritual life of the survivors. However, Shropshire's agrarian crisis started much earlier in the century, with a major cattle murrain and crop failures between 1315 and 1322 Moreover, the prolonged recovery from the disasters was jeopardised by the disorder of the early years of Henry IV's reign, when Owain Glyndŵr's revolt and the uprisings of discontented English nobles devastated many areas.