In 1376 Parliament renewed its assault on pontifical pretensions and exactions; and there was cause, since twenty thousand marks, or pounds, were sent annually to Rome from the Pope’s collector in England, which collector was a Frenchman,—­another indignity.  Against these corruptions and usurpations Wyclif was unsparing in his denunciations; and the hierarchy at last were compelled, by their allegiance to Rome, to take measures to silence and punish him as a pertinacious heretic.  The term “heretic” meant in those days opposition to papal authority, as much as opposition to the theological dogmas of the Church; and the brand of heresy was the greatest stigma which authority could impose.  The bold denunciator of papal abuses was now in danger.  He was summoned by the convocation to appear in Saint Paul’s Cathedral and answer for his heresies, on which occasion were present the Archbishop of Canterbury and the arrogant Bishop of London,—­the latter the son of the Earl of Devonshire, of the great family of the Courtenays.  Wyclif was attended by the Duke of Lancaster and the Earl Marshal,—­Henry Percy, the ancestor of the Dukes of Northumberland,—­who forced themselves into the Lady’s chapel, behind the high altar, where the prelates were assembled.  An uproar followed from this unusual intrusion of the two most powerful men of the kingdom into the very sanctuary of prelatic authority.  What could be done when the great Oxford professor—­the most learned Scholastic of the kingdom—­was protected by a royal duke clothed with viceregal power, and the Earl Marshal armed with the sword of State?

The position of Wyclif was as strong as it was before he was attacked.  Nor could he be silenced except by the authority of the Pope himself,—­still acknowledged as the supreme lord of Christendom; and the Pope now felt that he must assert his supremacy and interpose his supreme authority, or lose his hold on England.  So he hurled his weapons, not yet impotent, and fulminated his bulls, ordering the University, under penalty of excommunication, to deliver the daring heretic into the hands of the Archbishop of Canterbury or the Bishop of London; and further commanding these two prelates to warn the King against the errors of Wyclif, and to examine him as to his doctrines, and keep him in chains until the Pope’s pleasure should be further known.  In addition to these bulls, the Pope sent one to the King himself.  It was resolved that the work should be thoroughly done this time.  Yet it would appear that these various bulls threatening an interdict did not receive a welcome from any quarter.  The prelates did not wish to quarrel with such an antagonist as the Duke of Lancaster, who was now the chief power in the State, the King being in his last illness.  They allowed several months to pass before executing their commission, during which Wyclif was consulted by the great Council of State whether they should allow money to be carried out of the realm at the Pope’s demands, and he boldly declared that they should not; thus coming in direct antagonism with hierarchal power.  He also wrote at this time pamphlets vindicating himself from the charges made against him, asserting the invalidity of unjust excommunication, which, if allowed, would set the Pope above God.