The Crusader Radulph of Caen expressed doubts about the discovery of the Holy Lance of Antioch during the First Crusade. The drawing at left shows Adhemar, bishop of Le Puy, carrying the Lance in battle outside the gates of Antioch.
William of Malmesbury chronicled the reign of ill-fated William Rufus, the red-headed son of William The Conqueror who was shot, so 'tis said, in mistake for a squirrel. In the early part of the 12th Century, he expressed some scepticism concerning portents following the king's burial within the tower of Winchester Cathedral.
Christopher Urswick, was almoner (an alms-giver or medieval social worker) to Henry VIL. His account of the king's run-in with an astrologer was repeated, with glee, by Erasmus.
Juan Perez may not be one of the most well known Great Skeptics of History, but he was one of the bravest. Hilary Evans tells his story in "Visions, Apparitions, Alien Visitors". Towards the close of the eighteenth century, Perez, a Madrid workman, was arraigned by the Inquisition for denying that there existed a Devil with power to seize the human soul. He admitted this sin and explained why:
John Jewel was Bishop of Salisbury during the reign of Elizabeth I.