WYCLIFFE, JOHN DE, the greatest of all the "reformers before the reformation," was born in 1324, and is supposed to have been a native of the parish of the same name, near the town of Richmond in Yorkshire. He studied at Oxford; hut of his early university career nothing is known.
Wycliffe first emerges into public notice in 1361, when his name appears as master of Balliol Balliol college was then called. In May of the same year be was instituted to the rectory of Fylingham in Lincolnshire, and shortly after resigned his mastership and went to reside at his rectory. About 1363 he took his degree, and began to read lectures on divinity at Oxford, in which his anti-Romish views were first expounded. In 1368 he exchanged the rectory of Fylingham for the living of Ludgers hall, in Bucks; and in 1374 was presented to the parish of Lutterworth, of Which he remained priest till his death.
In the great struggle maintained by Edward III. and his parliament against the pre tensions of the papacy, regarding the exaction of certain tribute-money which had been granted by king John in acknowledgment of the fealty of the kingdom to the Roman see, Wycliffe, who had been advanced to be one of the king's chaplains, was called upon to reply to a defense of the papal claim, which had been anonymously sent abroad. This he did publicly at Oxford in an ingenious and powerful manner, and thus early showed his antipathy to the pretensions of Rome. A clear evidence of his growing reputation is furnished by his appointment in 1374, as second in a commission sent to Bruges to confer with the papal legate as to certain abuses on the part of the papacy complained of by the English parliament. It was probably on his return from this mission, that Wycliffe was promoted to a prebend in the diocese of Worcester, and at the same time presented to the rectory of Lutterworth in Leicestershire. Here he labored with great zeal, preaching not only on Sundays, but on the several festivals of the church, and show ing himself " a most exemplary and unwearied pastor." Here also he began at length to speak his mind as to the papacy. The insight into papal doings which lie had re ceived at Bruges seems to have confirmed suspicions previously forming in his mind, and he is said, soon after his return to England, to have styled the pope "antichrist," "the proud worldly priest of Rouw,, the most cursed of clippers and purse-kervers" (cut purses). Then began in real earnest his troubles with the hierarchy. In the beginning of 1378, he was summoned to a meeting of convocation, to be examined for his opinions. He obeyed the summons, but he appeared attended by his friend John of Gaunt and others. A great tumult ensued, the London citizens hurstinginto the chapel, and fright
ening the synod of clergy, who were ordered to sist proceedings. The papal authority was then invoked against him, and Gregory VI. issued several bulls, three addressed to the archbishop of Canterbury and other bishops, one to the king, and one to the university of Oxford, commanding an inquest into the erroneous doctrines attributed to the former. Wycliffe was accordingly again summoned before the prelates at Lambeth; but on this occasion also he was favored by circumstances, and escaped merely with an injunction to refrain from rieaching the obnoxious doctrines.
These proceedings only served to make Wycliffe a more thorough reformer. He now entered upon his great work of translating the scriptures, and circulating them among the common people. He had a great retinue of poor preachers, who went from village to village bearing copies of parts of them. He also challenged the doctrine of tran substantiation. Many of the people, the burghers and the middle class, heard him gladly, and matters seemed tending to an open rupture with the papacy. But the times were not as yet ripe for this. Many who otherwise sympathized with the reformer were afraid of his views about transubstantiation. He was especially summoned to answer on this head, first, before a synod at the Greyfriars, London, and finally before convocation in 1332. He appeared, and defended himself with great subtlety and power. His defense was unavailing. Twenty-four "erroneous" statements were picked out of his works, which were in consequence condemned and ordered to be burned. He was banished from Oxford, but was allowed to retire to his parish of Lutterworth. His health was already shattered by hard work and many anxieties, and on the last Sun day of the year 1384, be was struck down by paralysis while conducting public. worship, and two days afterward expired. Wycliffe appears to have been a man of simple faith and of earnest and manly courage. He made a strong impression upon his age; an impression there is reason to think not entirely effaced even to the time of the refor mation. The Lollards, as his disciples were called, were to be found not only among the poor, hut in the church, the castle, and even on the throne. Political mischances, however, overtook the party in the following century, and only a few traces of it survived here and there when the movement of the 16th c. began. See Huss.—T. Arnold published 3 vols. of Wycliffe's select works in 1871. The Iiialogus was edited by Lechler in 1869; and Johann von 1Vycliffe in 1875, trans. (1873) by prof. Lorimer.