Defending Images in Pecock's Repressor: Caritas, the Absent Friend and the Sense of Touch

In Part One of the Repressor of Over Much Blaming of the Clergy (c. 1449), Reginald Pecock outlines in detail the foundations on which his defence of orthodox practices against Lollard attack will be built. The last of these foundations, which he terms 'general profis', is comprised of three rules from which he draws four conclusions. 2 The first is grounded in the biblical commandment of caritas, first articulated in the Pentateuch but established as the Great Commandment in the New Testament, that a man should (in Pecock's modified rendering) 'loue God and drede God My thanks to the anonymous readers for SAC, and to Sebastian Sobecki and Sarah Salih for their careful readings of this essay; to Eva von Contzen for guidance on translations from Latin; and to audiences at Cornell, Oxford and Cambridge whose comments have been valuable in shaping my argument. 1