Rereading Henry Suso and Eucharistic Theology in Fifteenth-Century England

This article contributes to our knowledge of the reception of Henry Suso’s work in England by comparing the treatment of Eucharistic theology in chapter six of The Seven Poyntes of Trewe Wisdom with a newly discovered version of that chapter in Cambridge, St John’s College MS G.25. Examination of the two versions reveals that MS G.25, unusually for this text, is not written in dialogue form; it also omits significant material from The Seven Poyntes, as well as including additional matter from Suso’s Latin text. It is argued that these differences, taken together, reveal the author’s anxiety about certain aspects of contemporary mainstream Eucharistic piety, specifically his concern that believers misunderstand the nature of the sacrament and focus too readily on the visible host, rather than upon the sacramental process which it signifies. The article also demonstrates the extent to which the text’s Eucharistic doctrine is compatible with that of John Wyclif, whilst remaining unimpeachably orthodox.