Who was John Wycliff

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Q.� How did this all come about

A.� Wycliff, born in Yorkshire about 1330, was educated at Oxford and became a doctor of divinity in 1372. In 1374, King Edward III made him rector of Lutterworth, Leicestershire, and later appointed him to meet a papal deputation to negotiate difference between King and Pope. He was also developing a revolutionary doctrine that was useful for the King in his fight against the established church.

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Q.� How

A.� Wycliff began to argue for 'dominion founded on grace'. Dominion meant the right to exercise authority in church or state and the right to own property. He said these rights were given to men directly from God. Thus, a man in a state of mortal sin could not lawfully function as an official of church or state, nor could he own property. He argued that the Church had fallen into sin - so it ought to give up all its property. The clergy, Wycliff argued, should live in complete poverty. The King would therefore become more powerful - and presumably get all the church property.

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Q.� And presumably this advice made Wycliff more powerful

A.� Edward III died in 1377 and 1378 Wycliff became clerical adviser to John of Gaunt, who governed England until his nephew, Richard II, came of age in 1381. John of Gaunt used Wycliff as a tool against the Church. In 1377, King and Parliament asked his judgment on whether it was lawful to withhold traditional payments from Rome. He said it was. Pope Gregory XI issued five bulls - decrees - against him.

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Q.� Ruined by the Pope

A.� Not really - they were surprisngly ineffective.�However, he retired from politics to private life in Lutterworth in 1381 ... and then published a series of severe attacks on church corruption. These might have been well received: they were pretty accurate. But he made a bad blunder by also attacking the doctrine of transubstantiation

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Q.� What's transubstantiation

A.� The doctrine that says the bread and the wine are transformed into the body and blood of Christ. Wycliff said the bread and the wine maintain their original form, being a sacrament in memory of the body and the blood of Christ.

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Q.� Er ... controversial, was it

A.� Yes. John of Gaunt instantly dropped his support - and so did many of Wycliff's friends. Things got worse in 1381, with the Peasants' Revolt when Wycliff's teaching were blamed for inciting rebellion against landlords. It was a poor argument: only the educated classes would have read Wycliff's works.

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Q.� What about the translation

A.� In the early 1380s he led the movement for a translation of the Bible into English, and two complete translations were made at his instigation. It's not known how much translation - if any - he undertook himself. He also proposed the creation of a new religious order of poor preachers, or Lollards, who would preach to the people from the English Bible.

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Q.� So he made quite an enemy of the Church

A.� Yes - even after death. He died from a stroke in 1384 and in 1428 was condemned as a heretic. The Roman Catholic Church gave orders to exhume his body, to burn his bones and throw his ashes in the Swift River.

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Q.� But his work went on

A.� Yes - many hail John Wycliff as the guiding light of the Reformation - the man who made people read the Bible, rather than take the word of the corrupt Catholic church. For this reason he is called The Reform Morning Star.

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By Steve Cunningham