25. JOHN DE WAKERYNG, archdeacon of Canterbury, who was confirmed by the _archbishop_; which unusual circumstance was owing to the ecclesiastical anarchy still existing, occasioned by the continuance of the grand schism, which was then at its height. During that period there always were _two_ popes, but they were now _three_, and each prefering a legal claim to the papal chair, as the lineal descendant of St Peter! Three contemporary popes exhibited an unusual and queer spectacle, and would naturally suggest the idea of three heads of the church: and a church, or any thing else, with _three heads_ may pretty fairly be deemed a _monster_. Even the protestant church of England, however, has had before now _two_ heads; one in London, and the other at St. Germans; which ought to deter its members from bearing too hard on the church of Rome in the above case. Bishop Wakeryng is said to have made considerable improvements in and about his cathedral; which seems to have been among his most praiseworthy performances. It appears that he died in 1425. Here it may be proper to observe, that in this bishop’s time, and that of some of his predecessors, as well as of his immediate successor, the tranquillity of the town of Lynn appears to have been exceedingly disturbed by the violence of two contending factions, which kept the town in a continual state of discord and distraction, it seems, for the space of about thirty years: as may be gathered from existing documents, or copies of Letters, of that period, still preserved in a MS. History of Lynn, in the possession of _Mr. Thomas King_ of this town. {363} From which we discover that those two contending factions were headed by two of the Aldermen of that time; one of whom was _Bartholomy Petipas_, who was _twice_ mayor, and the other _John de Wentworth_, who served that office _three times_. The cause and nature of the difference that arose between these opposing parties is not easy to develop. That their animosity was bitter and violent is but too obvious, but its source or ground is involved in no small obscurity.