John Wycliffe

(John Wyclif)

1335–1384

WYCLIFFE WENT INTO THE COUNTRY AND THERE WROTE AND TAUGHT.

Wycliffe was an English priest who preached many of the ideas of the Protestant reformation nearly 200 years before it occurred. Like many of the later reformers, he was critical of the wealth and the corruption of the hierarchical church, and sought to reduce its interference in secular affairs. Towards the end of his life he became involved in an ambitious project to translate the bible into English. Even though he lived almost 100 years before Gutenberg, and his bibles originally needed to be transcribed by hand, they were still very popular, and helped spawn the "Lollard" movement, which was a precursor of the Reformation in England.

Wycliffe was educated at Oxford College, and was influenced by many of the most important theologians of his time, including Roger Bacon, and William Ockham. He became a doctor of divinity and one of the most popular lecturers of his time. Some of his criticisms of the church were well received, even by the ecclesiastical authorities, but eventually his ideas were considered too radical, and he was put on trial by the church authorities. He was, however, strongly supported by several secular patrons, most notably John of Gaunt, and was not silenced or reprimanded. When a peasants' revolt broke out in 1381 however, his radical preachings was blamed and the criticisms of him were renewed.

Wycliffe preached the doctrine that priests and the religious orders should live lives of poverty, and that the wealth of the monasteries corrupted them. This was not a new idea, and most of the religious orders were actually founded by priests who took a vow of poverty, but it was opposed by many church leaders, for both selfish and practical reasons. His ideas were seized upon by anti-clerical nobles, who sought to tax and take over the large holdings of the church, as Henry VIII actually did several generations later, as well as those who sincerely sought for honest reforms. Wycliffe was even more influential and controversial after his death than during his life because the movement that he spawned continued to grow and to vex church authorities right up until the Protestant Reformation.

Key events during the life of John Wycliffe:

Year	Event
1325	Birth of Wycliffe
1345	Begins his studies at Oxford
1360	Became head of Balliol College at Oxford
1366	Became a doctor of Divinity
1374	Nominated as a Royal envoy to Bruges
1377	Wycliffe put on trial for his criticisms of the church
1381	Peasants' revolt
1382	Anti Wycliffe synod
	Worked on a translation of the Latin Vulgate to English
1384	Death of Wycliffe

Other Resources

Story Links	Book Links
The Man Who Preached  in	The Story of Liberty  by  Charles C. Coffin
Richard II., the Last Plantagenet King  in	The Story of England  by  Samuel B. Harding
Wycliffe, 1320-1384  in	Saints and Heroes to the End of the Middle Ages  by  George Hodges
How the Bible came to the People  in	English Literature for Boys and Girls  by  H. E. Marshall
John Wyclif  in	Great Englishmen  by  M. B. Synge

Image Links
Wycliffe  in Saints and Heroes to the End of the Middle Ages	Wyclif went into the country and there wrote and taught.  in English Literature for Boys and Girls

Contemporary	Short Biography
Roger Bacon	Franciscan philosopher. Early proponent of empiricism and the scientific method.
William of Ockham	English Theologian who greatly influenced Wycliffe.
John of Gaunt	Powerful noble during the reign of Richard II. Father of Henry Bolingbroke.
John Purvey	Associate of Wycliffe who completed his translation of the bible.