254.  Wycliffe; the First Complete English Bible, 1378.

But the real reformer of that day was John Wycliffe, rector of Lutterworth in Leicestershire and lecturer at Oxford (S246).  He boldly attacked the religious and the political corruption of the age.  The “Begging Friars,” who had once done such good work (S208), had now grown too rich and lazy to be of further use.

Wycliffe, whose emaciated form concealed an unconquerable energy and dauntless courage, organized a new band of brothers known as “Poor Priests.”  They took up and pushed forward the reforms the friars had dropped.  Clothed in red sackcloth cloaks, barefooted, with staff in hand, they went about from town to town[1] preaching “God’s law,” and demanding that Church and State bring themselves into harmony with it.

[1] Compare Chaucer’s
        “A good man ther was of religioun,
         That was a poure persone [parson] of a town.” 
                        Prologue to the “Canterbury Tales” (479)

The only complete Bible then in use was the Latin version.  The people could not read a line of it, and many priests were almost as ignorant of its contents.  To carry on the revival which he had begun, Wycliffe now began to translate the entire Scriptures into English, 1378.  When the great work was finished it was copied and circulated by the “Poor Priests.”

But the cost of such a book in manuscript—­for the printing press had not yet come into existence—­was so high that only the rich could buy the complete volume.  Many, however, who had no money would give a load of farm produce for a few favorite chapters.

In this way Wycliffe’s Bible was spread throughout the country among all classes.  Later, when persecution began, men hid these precious copies and read them with locked doors at night, or met in the forests to hear them expounded by preachers who went about at the peril of their lives.  These things led Wycliffe’s enemies to complain “that common men and women who could read were better acquainted with the Scriptures than the most learned and intelligent of the clergy.”

255.  The Lollards; Wycliffe’s Remains burned.

The followers of Wycliffe were nicknamed Lollards, a word of uncertain meaning but apparantly used as an expression of contempt.  From having been religious reformers denouncing the wealth and greed of a corrupt Church, they seem, in some cases, to have degenerated into socialists or communists.  This latter class demanded, like John Ball (S250), —­who may have been one of their number,—­that all property should be equally divided, and that all rank should be abolished.

This fact should be borne in mind with reference to the subsequent efforts made by the government to suppress the movement.  In the eyes of the Church, the Lollards were heretics; in the judgment of many moderate men, they were destructionists and anarchists, as unreasonable and as dangerous as the “dynamiters” of to-day.