12th July, 2011

DAVID ADAMS

To mark the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible, Sight is running a special series on some of the key people on whose work the King James was to draw. First up is the English scholar and church reformer John Wycliffe (also Wyclif or Wiclif), a key advocate for translating the Bible into the common language (then Middle English) and founder of the Lollard movement.

Born in Yorkshire in the 1320s, Wycliffe – often known as the ‘Morningstar of the Reformation’ thanks to being a precursor of later reforms - is believed to have been educated initially at home after which, in around 1340, he went to Oxford.

JOHN WYCLIFFE. PICTURE: Wikipedia.

There he obtained a Bachelor of Theology and is recorded as having been the Master of Balliol College in 1360-61 and the head of the new created Canterbury Hall in 1365-66. By 1372 he was a Doctor of Divinity and one of the most respected English philosophers and scholars.

In 1374, he was awarded the rectory of Lutterworth in Leicestershire by the king, before, later that year, travelling to Bruges in modern-day Belgium to meet with representatives of Pope Gregory XI as part of a diplomatic mission on behalf of King Edward III which discussed ecclesiastical appointments.

During his studies, Wycliffe had increasingly became disillusioned with current scholastic theology and the corruption and wealth of the church and, in line with his critical views on the latter. he argued against parliament not to comply with the demands of Pope Urban V for financial support - a view which won him the support of the influential John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster and son of the king.

Wycliffe’s views challenging papal authority – published in numerous writings – did eventually lead to censure by the church and in 1377 Archbishop Sudbury summoned him to answer ecclesiastical authorities  at St Paul’s Cathedral in London. The trial apparently ended in adjournment after a brawl broke out when Wycliffe refused to be seated.

That same year Pope Gregory XI issued five papal bulls  condemning Wycliffe following lobbying from the Order of Mendicant Friars – the subject of his earlier pamphlet Objections to the Friars which had criticised their lifestyles.

Summoned back to London in 1378, the hearing again ended without a judgment against Wycliffe (thanks in part to the support of the new King Richard II’s mother).

Around this time his followers – former students at Oxford – began to be organised and sent out as wandering preachers or “poor priests” to proclaim the Gospel where-ever the could find an audience to listen. They become known as Lollards (meaning either ‘mumblers of prayers’ or ‘wanderers’).

It was the need to provide them with a Bible that he and some friends began the first translation of the Bible from the Latin Vulgate into English, driven by the belief that everyone should have access to the Scriptures which he regarded as having a unique authority above that of the church.

The handwritten Bible, the New Testament of which was published in 1382 and the Old Testament of which was published after his death creating what was the first complete European translation of the Bible in almost 1,000 years, was later banned and burnt but some 170 copies reportedly survive, indicating that the number of copies produced at the time must have been significant.

Wycliffe, meanwhile, continued to write, producing tracts on the church, the king and the papacy. In 1381, he published the extremely controversial tract De Eucharistia in which he attacked the doctrine of transubstantiation. It was to cost him much and led to attacks from colleagues at Oxford as well as a rift with his hitherto patron, John of Gaunt.

Following this, in 1382, his doctrines were condemned at a synod at Blackfriars in London and  the following year Wycliffe was again summoned – this time to a trial at Oxford. But again, this concluded without a judgment against him – Wycliffe, after delivering his arguments, returned to his home at Lutterworth. He died there on New Year’s Eve the following year after suffering a stroke.

Following the succession of John of Gaunt’s son, King Henry IV, to the throne in 1399, attitudes against the Lollards hardened and many were driven into hiding while others who were captured were burnt alive. Wycliffe’s own remains were dug up, burnt and scattered in 1428 on the order of Pope Martin V.

SOURCES AND FURTHER INFORMATION:

• For a range of biographies on Wycliff, see

www.wholesomewords.org/biography/biorpwycliffe.html

Individual biographies

• www.greatsite.com/timeline-english-bible-history/john-wycliffe.html

• http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bio/27.html

• www.religionfacts.com/christianity/people/wycliffe.htm

To download a copy of Wycliffe's Bible, see

• http://wesley.nnu.edu/fileadmin/imported_site/biblical_studies/wycliffe/

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