At first he attacked only the luxurious and corrupt orders of monks and was on friendly terms with the friars, but from about 1379 the friars were also included in his condemnation. He was one of the last of the realists in philos ophy, and he tried to reconcile predestination with the freedom of the human will. Not only was Wiclif one of the chief forerunners of the Reformation, but he wa• also a pioneer in English o- 1 • He wrote many learned works in Latin, hut the nature of his message and the necessities of his position led him to appeal to the people in works in their own tongue. His chief Latin works are 'De Dominic Divino); 'De Domini() Civili'; 'De Officio Pastorali,' and 'Trialogus.' All, except the 'Trialogus' and the 'lie Officio Pastorali,' and also volumes of Latin sermons and a vol ume of Polemical Works, have been edited by English and foreign scholars for the Wiclif So ciety. The excepted words were edited by Lechler (1869 and 1863 respectively). His translation of the Bible was edited by Forshall and Madden (1850); and his English works are to be found in the three collections 'Three Treatises of John Wycliffe' (1831), by Todd; 'Select English Works of Wyclif' (1869-71), by T. Arnold; and 'The English Works of Wy clif ' hitherto unprinted (1880, Early English Text Society), by F. D. Matthew.
Wiclif ' in the Dictionary of National Lechler, 'Johann von Wick(' and die Vorgeschichte der Reformation' (1873); Poole, 'Wycliffe and Movements for Reform' (1889), and 'History of Mediaeval Thought' (18134); Burrows, lIA'yclirs Place in History' (1881); ,suddensieg, 'Johann Wield mid seine Zeit' (1885); Stevenson, Jos.. 'The Truth About John NViclif); Parson, 'Studies in Church History' (Vol_ 2); Gasquet. F. A., (The Eve of the Reformation' ; and Cadman's article on Wycliffe' in 'Three Religious Leaders of Oxford' (New York 1916).
viclin, or VIDIN, a town on the nght bank of the Danube, near the Serbian frontier, consisting of three parts, the town on the Danube, the walled city and the citadel. The principal buildings are the palace, several mosques with lofty minarets and a range of bazaars lining the main street. Ships can reach the town at high-water. There is • considerable trade, chiefly in corn, wine and salt, and the chief manufactures are gold and silver filigree work and jewelry. Widdin was formerly strongly fortified and during Russo-Turkish wars was important strategically, but the Treaty of Berlin (1878), which erected Bulgaria into a hereditary principality tributary to the Porte, decreed that its fortifications should be dismantled. Pop. about 15,000.