JOHN KYNYNGHAM

Carmelite theologian (also known as John Cunningham) ; b. Suffolk, England; d. York, England, May 12, 1399. He entered the carmelite order at Ipswich, had moved to Oxford by 1372, and served as provincial prior of the English Carmelites from 1393 till his death. He was one of a number of Carmelite confessors to John of Gaunt and he witnessed that prince's will, in which he is described as "mestre Johan Kynyngham doctour en theologie." Kynyngham was an early (c. 1373) and vigorous opponent of John wyclif, and as a member of the council assembled at Black Friars, London, in 1382 to condemn 24 propositions taken from the writings of Wyclif, he was called upon to preach the final sermon to the assembly. He was present also for the trial of Henry crumpe in 1392, and on November 1 of the same year he preached before Richard II, who later summoned Kynyngham to a council scheduled to begin on Jan. 27, 1399, for the discussion of the western schism. He died in the Carmelite friary at York where he is buried.

Bibliography: Kynyngham's three Ingressus against Wyclif: Fasciculi Zizaniorum magistri Johannis Wyclif cum tritico, ed. w.w. shirley, [Rerum Britannicarum medii aevi scriptores, 244 v., 5, (1858) ] 4–104. c. de villiers, Bibliotheca carmelitana, ed. g. wessels, 2 v. in 1 (Rome 1927) 2:9, 21–23. c. l. kingsford, The Dictionary of National Biography From the Earliest Times to 1900, 63 v. (London 1885–1900) 11:361–362. j. crompton, "Fasciculi Zizaniorum, " The Journal of Ecclesiastical History (London 1950—) 12 (1961) 35–45, 155–166. j. a. robson, Wyclif and the Oxford Schools (Cambridge, Eng. 1961) 162–170. a. b. emden, A Biographical Register of the University of Oxford to A.D. 1500, 3v. (Oxford 1957–59) 2:1077.

[k. j. egan]