Wycliffe and the Lollards: sowing the seeds of the English Reformation

To many, the Reformation began on 31 October 1517, when Martin Luther is said to have nailed his 95 theses to the door of All Saints Church in Wittenburg, Germany. But in England at least, the seeds of reformation had been sown around 150 years before.

Here, it was the work of Oxford lecturer John Wycliffe – whose works and teachings grew in notoriety as his views strengthened – which is now credited with laying the foundations for Protestant beginnings on English soil.

In the first of The Christian Institute’s Autumn Lecture series on the English Reformation, the former Principal of Wycliffe Hall, Oxford – Revd Dr Richard Turnbull – gave a glimpse into this early reformer’s life and works.

Free-thinker

Pronounced the “Morning star of the Reformation” by John Foxe, Wycliffe is believed to have been born around 1324.

He attended and later taught at Oxford University, where his low view of the state of the Church would begin to take shape, frequently observing the local friars, who had become renowned for their corruption.

Initially supported by the university in his position as a free-thinking lecturer, his teachings first gained the attention of the papacy when he questioned the Church’s approach to property and endowments.

He remained only a low-level nuisance as he attacked the finances of the Church in England. But when he denounced the Church in Rome itself, the Papacy began to view him as a serious threat – a threat to be quashed.

Denouncing the Pope

Noting the reformer’s increasing popularity, in 1377 the Pope issued a warrant for Wycliffe’s arrest.

The English Church, faced with the growing popularity of Wycliffe’s views, initially did nothing, and he continued his teachings – labelling the Pope an antichrist, denouncing relics, and calling the mass unbiblical.

Eventually he was branded a heretic and was forced out of Oxford in 1381. He moved to Lutterworth in Leicestershire where he died in 1384.

Lollards

His legacy lived on, however, as groups known as Lollards or ‘mutterers’ sprung up.

The Lollards made their own attempts at reform by continuing to preach against the Church in Rome, while petitioning the Lords and Commons with their Twelve Conclusions for necessary reform in the English Church.

These conclusions challenged papal teaching on the priesthood, clerical celibacy, transubstantiation, prayers for the dead, confession and ‘holy wars’ among others.

Authority of Scripture

Dr Turnbull described Wycliffe and the Lollards as “the beginnings of Protestantism, but not a fully-formed Reformation”, adding that they were simply “preparing the ground for what came next”.

In his life, Wycliffe consistently asserted the authority of Scripture, and that everything, even the Papacy, should be tested against it.

Today, he is perhaps best known for translating the Bible into English from the Latin Vulgate.

He once wrote: “Many nations have had the Bible in their own language. The Bible is the faith of the Church. Though the Pope and all his clerks should disappear from the face of the earth, our faith would not fail, for it is founded upon Jesus alone, our Master and our God.”

While he would not see lasting change in his lifetime, Wycliffe’s work was of profound importance to the fuller English Reformation which would eventually follow.