Thomas Netter

Thomas Netter (ca. 1375-1430, also known as Thomas Walden from the place of his birth, Saffron Walden) was well informed about Lollard doctrines and practices, as he both fraternized and argued with Lollards in his student years at Oxford. Later, when persecution intensified, Netter served as England's chief inquisitor, investigating Lollard leaders such as William Tailor and Sir John Oldcastle (executed in 1417). Netter became the confessor of Henry V, who, it is said, died in his arms, and Provincial of the Carmelite order in England. In 1419 he was sent as an envoy to Poland and Lithuania to shore up the effort to root out the heresy of the Hussites. He later joined young Henry VI in Rouen and died there.