Martyrs (2.0)

AMERICAN PUBLIC UNIVERSITY SYSTEM
Charles Town, West Virginia
MARTYRS OF THE REFORMATION
by:
Francine T. Price
A Thesis prepared for the Faculty of the American Public University
History Department in partial Fulfilment for the Degree of Masters of History.
__________
Prepared on January 21, 2016
The author hereby grants the American Public University System the right to display these
contents for educational purposes. The author also accepts responsibility in accordance with the
United States Copyright Law for the inclusion of material that are not the author’s creation or in
the public domain.
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Copyright: © 2016 Francine T. Price
All Rights Reserved

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In Loving Memory of:
Jerome J. Mahoney Sr.
(May 24, 1913 – June 18, 1996)
and
James A. Anoia
(November 5, 1948 – April 12, 1996)

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Acknowledgements:
I wish to thank my family for their patience this year while I pursued this thesis paper and
my degree the past three years. I would like to thank my professors for their advice. I,
especially, would like to thank my mother, Anne Anoia, and my children for their understanding.
Writing this paper was an act of interest on my part to better understand my Catholic roots.
Thank you mom and Faith, my youngest daughter, for your sage advice.

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ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS
MARTYRS OF THE REFORMATION
by:
FRANCINE T. PRICE
AMERICAN PUBLIC UNVERSITY SYSTEM
AMERICAN MILITARY UNIVERSITY
HIST699: THESIS SEMINAR: DR. ANNE VENZON PROFESSOR AND ADVISOR
This thesis, entitled Martyrs of the Reformation, covers the ideas of three men, Martin
Luther, William Tyndale, and John Wycliffe, and their determination to bring the scriptures to
the people of their countries vernacular editions of the Holy Bible in a way in which it could be
read. These men understood that reform movements were needed whenever a system or
institution that previously worked becomes too powerful, too corrupt, or too concerned with
themselves that they no longer provide the structure a society needs. These three men
recognized that the popes and Roman Catholic Church fit all three of those criteria. With the
ending of the Medieval Period and the rise of the printing press Tyndale and Luther would be
handing an essential tool in the purpose of reform and spreading their reformation ideas and
translations of the Bible.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter Page
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………7
A. Background………………………………………………………………………….....7
B. Religious Movements…………………………………………………………………. 9
C. Reason for this Topic………………………………………………………………….12
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW…………………………………………….. 13
CHAPTER THREE: THE LATE MEDIEVAL CHURCH………………………………. 19
A. Background……………………………………………………………………………19
B Fourth Lateran Council-1215………………………………………………………… 24
C. Heresy and the Inquisitions………………….……………………………...................25
CHAPTER FOUR: JOHN WYCLIFFE …………………………………………………...35
A. Background ……………………………………………………………………………35
B. Oxford University ……………………………………………......................................37
C. Political Associations………..…………………………………………………………41
D. Further Problems for Wycliffe…………………………………………………………43
E. Retirement…………..………………………………………………………………….48
F. Council of Constance (1414-1418)……………………………………………………..49
CHAPTER FIVE: GUTENBERG PRINTING PRESS……………………………………51
A. Ancient Origins in Paper and Print…………………………………………………….52
B. Gutenberg’s Printing Press…………………………………………………………….53
C. Gutenberg Bible………………………………………………………………………..56
D. The Renaissance and the Printing Press……………………………………………….57
CHAPTER SIX: MARTIN LUTHER….…………………………………………………..59
A. Luther before Wittenberg………………………………………………………………60
B. The Reformation Begins………………………………………………………………..62
C. Luther’s Death………………………………………………………………………….64

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CHAPTER SEVEN: WILLIAM TYNDALE……………………………………………….65
A. Tyndale in Exile………………………………………………………………………....67
B. Betrayal and Death………………………………………………………………………68
C. Legacy……………………………………………………………………………………68
CHAPTER EIGHT: CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………69
APPENDIX A. CHARTS/GRAPHS………………………………………………………….70
BIBLIOGRAPHY……………………………………………………………………………..73

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CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
Background
There are almost two billion adherents that worship some form of Christianity in the
world today. It is the largest religion in the world today. Like Islam and Judaism it has its
foundation in religious movements and has Abrahamic roots. The number of different denomin-
ations within Protestantism numbers over a hundred (see Figure 2.1 in Appendix A). The
Bible remains the bestselling book in the world with many different versions available either in
print, audio, or e-reader form. How did the translation of the Scriptures threaten the power of the
Roman Catholic Church? This one book is possibly the most blood-stained book in history.
Reform movements are needed whenever a system that previously provided stability to a
society becomes too powerful and too corrupt and too concerned with itself that it no longer
provides the stability it once had. The Roman Catholic Church and the papacy over nearly a
millennium is one such organization. The Catholic Church regarded itself as all-powerful,
almost God-like, and forgot that the popes were merely fallible mortals and not gods themselves.
Several men would come forward between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries to protest the
abuses of the Catholic Church and attempt to reform Her teachings by providing the Holy Bible
in vernacular form to the people of England and Germany. These men were John Wycliffe,
Martin Luther, and William Tyndale. There were others as well, but these are the men to be
studied to understand why they became martyrs to their beliefs. Additionally, the idea of heresy,
the Inquisitions, and the printing press will be discussed in order to understand their struggles.
This thesis will be called “Martyrs of the Reformation” and will highlight why religious
movements were needed and the why the theologians and nobles who fought the Catholic
Church for the right to translate the Scriptures into the vernacular languages of their countries
and not use Latin, which few folk of the laity understood, were threatened with excommuni-
cation. The story of how the common people received a translation they could read goes back

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into the Late Medieval period. It is a time when the Hundred Years’ War was at its height and
just after the disastrous Black Plague. This story is filled with politics, death, and war. John
Wycliffe wrote his Summa de Ente, Opus Evangelicum, or Triagolus during the Hundred Years’
War. His most famous work is the Wycliffe Bible. The intention of this thesis paper is to
concentrate on the five men mentioned and how they advanced the idea of a vernacular
translation of the Holy Bible. The idea involved bringing the Holy Bible to the common man so
that he could read the Word of God for themselves and not rely on clergy to tell them truth of
God’s Word. This is a tumultuous era with much change and dovetailing of other important
historic events such as the Age of Discovery and the Renaissance eras in Italy, Europe, and
England.
There was more than one Reformation. Posterity remembers only Martin Luther and the
German Reformation as the true start of the Reformation. In this thesis the discussion will focus
on how the Inquisitions affected the work of the reformers mentioned, and will focus on the
reasons why the Catholic Church worked hard through her bishops and nobility to quash the
growing support for vernacular editions of the Bible and the Scriptures.
The Medieval Inquisitions introduced by Innocent III set the stage for the inquisitions
that would follow with the exception of the Great Witch Craze, which was set in motion by Pope
Innocent VIII (1484-1492). Chapter three will focus on how the Late Medieval Church from the
time of Innocent III until the time of John Wycliffe and continue until the end of the Council of
Constance in chapter four. Chapter five will be about the Gutenberg Printing Press and how it
helped the Renaissance, and briefly Erasmus and the ushering in of the Reformation. Chapter six
is about Martin Luther and how with the aid of the printing press, the prince of heresiarchs,
changed the idea of the Bible and religion in Europe forever. Finally, chapter seven will be on
William Tyndale and the early stages of the English Reformation. The paper ends with the death
of Martin Luther in 1546. Laced throughout will be the accompanying history of the steps taken
by both rulers and the papacy to stop the spread of the Reformation and the spread of
information that will have people start reading and asking questions.
Throughout these chapters questions will be asked to back the reasons for religious

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reform movements. For instance, was John Wycliffe that important a reformer or was he
merely a cog in the wheel of progress? Should he even be considered a reformer? Who or whom
did he influence? Even though the term was not coined until the nineteenth century, how can
Martin Luther, William Tyndale, and John Wycliffe be considered fundamentalists? Were they
forerunners of modern-day Christian fundamentalism? Why or why not? Finally, how did the
printing press help usher in a new era of thought among people in various countries?
How did the Black Plague and Hundred Years’ War help change people views on the
feudalism? The fall of Constantinople in 1453 re-introduced ancient texts and literature from
Greece to European culture thereby causing a great awakening in the form of Renaissance
culture. Printing would become the dominant form of spreading information with former scribes
and other artisans entering the industry. Amidst all this would be a continual religious
reformation movement even if it was underground. Art and culture would flourish in the form of
humanism. Petrarch and Erasmus would be the two most famous humanists with Erasmus
influencing Tyndale and Luther more than Petrarch. The medieval feudal civilizations with rule
by ecclesiastical hierarchies and the nobility was coming to an end. The old agrarian civilization
was giving way to national monarchies and urbanized, industrialized societies.1 The Renaissance
helped issue in a thirst for knowledge just as John Wycliffe in the 14th century would issue a
thirst for to read the Scriptures.
The actual Reformation began on October 31, 1517, when Martin Luther took his 95
Theses against the Catholic Church and nailed them to the Wittenberg Church doors. This
signaled a revolutionary change in how religion would change in Germany and eventually the
rest of the world. The final blow to temporal Catholic Church authority in Europe would not be
decided until the conclusion of the Thirty Years’ War in 1648. By then the power of the
Catholic Church is significantly weakened.
1 WallaceK.Ferguson, “The Church in a Changing World:A Contribution to the Interpretation of the Renaissance,”
The American Historical Review 59, no.1 (Oct. 1953): 2.

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Religious Movements
Why call the Reformation a religious movement? How did it change the thinking of men
and women in Europe? Why was the Catholic Church afraid of change? In many ways the
Reformation represented a desperately needed change in theological change as feudalism trans-
itioned into the early modern period. Society was changing in a way the Catholic Church had
neither anticipated nor welcomed. With that change their power weakened, and with the shift to
better education they would not get it back. Enter the religious reformers that have been ment-
ioned and people began to clamor for becoming smaller with new waves of expansion occurring
over the globe. As the people of Europe met native peoples, savages, in the New World, they
would want to convert the natives from their cultural religions into Christianity.
The definition of a religious movement is any or “deliberate change in religious beliefs
and practices.”2 Religious movements also have several characteristics. The first characteristic is
that religious movements occasionally occur within the broader contexts of contact, change, and
conflict. Of course, how rapid these three items occur is unspecified nor do these three items
always produce religious movements.3 Included in these characteristics are the more important
items of a founder/prophet and may die out after many years or be absorbed into a broader
context of a newer movement. Most religious movements are named after their founders.
Examples include Jesus Christ and Christianity; John Wycliffe and Wycliffism; Lao Tzu and
Taoism (a Southeast Asian religion).4
The Reformation was a religious movement because it had several charismatic leaders.
The religious movement had a characteristic that included a known identity of a person or group
of people who changed and adapted Christianity into what would become Lutheranism.
Lutheranism would be the first, but there would be many more as well. The second movement
would be Anglicanism under Henry VIII. Luther’s 95 Theses were embraced by German princes
2 Robert L. Winzeler, “Chapter 10: Religious Movements and the Origins of Religions,”i n Anthropology and
Religion: What We Know, Think, and Question 2nd ed., (Lanham: AltaMira Press,2012):197.
3 Ibid.;pg. 197.
4 Ibid.;pg. 198.

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and Henry VIII accomplished cultural transformation when he broke from the Roman Catholic
Church to form the Anglican Church or Church of England. Henry VIII did this in order to
divorce Catherine of Aragon to marry the much younger Anne Boleyn and try to secure an heir.
What was the final step in the ‘religious revival’ of the Bible? Why did it take so many
martyrs for the Bible to finally be established for the people? How did the inquisitions of the past
centuries and the ongoing century allow the people to react to being presented with a new way of
thinking? If there were no printing press could the Reformation have succeeded? It is assumed
the Reformation would failed without Gutenberg’s invention of movable type. Until the
invention of the printing press by Gutenberg books were hand copied. Sacred texts were written
only by monks or scribes for the clergy. Handwritten copies took months to produce instead of
a mere few days.
Religious movements like Wycliffism and Lutheranism include many examples of
oppression, suppression, and repression when trying to bring the Holy Bible to the people in their
vulgar tongue. The context, change, and conflict will include examples like century involved,
social changes like the Black Plague and the end of feudalism. Conflict will involve the Hundred
Years’ War with France and England or the Schmalkdic League in the case of Martin Luther.
For William Tyndale the conflict will be with the Catholic Church in England and with Henry
VIII (reigned 1509-1547).
Reasons for this Topic
The idea of “Martyrs of the Reformation,” was decided upon for several reasons. The
first reason was the Age of Exploration or Discovery. Europeans who came into contact with
Native Americans would have considered their ideas of sun worship pagan and evil. Catholic
Spain and Catholic Portugal would have wanted the people they subjugated to worship their
God. While the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisitions are not addressed in this paper, having the
ability to preach the gospels without being clergy was a plus during this era. Also, many of the
discoverers were of common stock.
The Catholic Church’s ancient sway crumpled in the onslaught of education, the printing

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press, and its rapid dissemination of vernacular editions of the Holy Bible. Knowledge is power.
Keeping knowledge for themselves and out of the illiterate hands of the laity was the main way
the Church controlled the common folk. The Counter-Reformation would the Catholic Church’s
attempt to roll back the hands of time. Because men such as Wycliffe, Tyndale, Luther, and their
followers struggled to bring the Bible to the common folk and changed the mind of the laity their
efforts would be rewarded with mankind’s open wonder of the world and our ability to learn to
control the world or to destroy it as we do now.

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CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW
What is Religion?
Religion is a man-made construct that developed before the end of the last major glacial
period developed by ancient peoples to explain what happens when we die and where we go after
we die. There is some basis in the age old argument between religions and the survival of the
soul, and that basis is one of the reasons men and women were persecuted by the Catholic
Church. Religion, therefore, exist while mankind exists because when humans go extinct so will
religion. The animals of this world will not care if there is a god or not. We are the only species
on Earth that are self-aware. No other species are as self-aware as we are and none are as
advanced as we are either.
Many religions are dualistic. Dualism is a concept used in Zoroastrianism,5 Waldensian
and Cathari beliefs, but not in Judaism, Catholicism, and Islam. Dualism is the belief that there
are two gods. One is either male or female or another form is a good god and an evil god. It is
second type that part of this paper focuses on especially when discussing the idea of heresy.
Martyrs of the Reformation
I have chosen to call this graduate thesis Martyrs of the Reformation because several men
saw through the Catholic Church’s use of supernatural phenomena in their doctrines. The men
studied are John Wycliffe, Martin Luther, and William Tyndale. Each of these men would work
to bring a vernacular version of the Holy Bible to the common folk of England and Germany.
They also railed against the abuse of selling indulgences to the ignorant people who believed in
the purchasing of indulgences to save their souls rather than adhering to the pure Word of God in
the Bible.
Heresy and the Inquisitions
5 John Wright Buckham, “Dualismor Duality?” The Harvard Theological Review 6, no. 1 (Apr. 1913): 156.

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The crime of heresy was imposed on anyone who was not a monarch or clergy for
reading the scriptures in the vernacular tongue. Heresy was considered a death sentence with
burning at the stake the punishment. The holy scriptures of the Vulgate Bible were to be written
only in Latin. The literature on this subject is expansive. Among the most informative is the
three book series on the History of the Inquisition by Charles Henry Lea. His work is exhaustive
and is still referred to in the twenty-first century even though it was published in the late
nineteenth century. Mostly Lea covers the history of the Inquisitions from the beginning of the
second millennium through to the beginnings of the Reformation in the early sixteenth century.
The last occurs at the end of volume 3 of the History of the Inquisition.
In contrast to Lea’s impeccable amount of scholarly study is the work of Philip Schaff’s
History of the Catholic Church (The Complete Eight Volumes in One). To say that this
monumental work was the work of a lifetime would be an understatement. Dr. Philip Schaff
began it around 1852 and would not live to see its completion.6 His son, David, would see the
completion of the final three volumes. Like Lea’s work on the Inquisitions, this work is
exhaustive and informative. The chapters most useful to this thesis that regard the idea of heresy
and the inquisitions in chapter three are those of volumes four, five, and six.
The third book that is used contrasts useful with the aforementioned scholarly works is
that of Edward Peters. His book, Heresy and Authority in Medieval Europe, is useful as a
sourcebook. Its use is primarily in the selected primary works of great theologians from the
beginnings of the Catholic Church in the fourth century straight through until the execution of
John Huss. As a work on heresy it is invaluable for helping the student understand the thinking
of the Catholic Church’s views on how heresy came to be known as the evil it was and gives a
better explanation to understanding the older works mentioned throughout the first part of this
paper. Unfortunately, after 1415, it is of not much use. After 1415 any discussion on heresy and
6 Philip Schaff,“Chapter V: The MiddleAges from Gregory VII, 1049,to BonifaceVIII,1249),in History of the
Catholic Church (The Complete Eight Volumes in One), (Hendrickson Publishing,Inc.,3rd ed., July 2006).The Kindle
Edition of this book was published by Amazon Digital. To providelegitimacy of the sourceit was felt proper to use
the publisher of the eight volume set in hardcover. Book V of the History of the Catholic Church was written by his
son, David Schaff,however the volume is included in the overall work being utilized.Philip Schaff passed away on
October 20, 1893 after completing the firsthalf of this seminal work on the Catholic Church.

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the inquisitions must be addressed in regards to the beginnings of the Witchcraft Hysteria and the
Reformation. This is where Lea’s third volume of the History of the Inquisitions become
necessary.
As far as primary sources are concerned with regards to heresy and the inquisitions, it is
best to look at Norman P. Tanners Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils. This is one of the best
sources for the writings of the popes on the internet. It lists almost every pope from Saint Peter
down to Pope Francis. Readily available are papal bulls and the full minutes of the ecumenical
councils. One caveat is necessary, however, and that is not every papal bull written by the
various popes are available.
John Wycliffe and the Council of Constance (1414-1418)
The Reformation usually called the pre-Reformation started with John Wycliffe or
Wyclif in the fourteenth century and became the formal Reformation in the sixteenth century.
The distinction is important for several reasons. First, the pre-Reformation began in the
fourteenth century with John Wycliffe and his revolutionary idea of remanence.7 Wycliffe’s
disciples, known as Lollards, helped spread his teachings into Bohemia. There are several works
that could be used as both primary and secondary sources. Wycliffe’s works were extensive and
many still survive today. Academically speaking, however, the best works include Stephen E.
Lahey’s John Wyclif, which is part of the Great Medieval Thinkers series. Wycliffe is portrayed
as an early ecclesiastical theorist in this work. What makes this biography so interesting is that
Dr. Lahey not only describes the life and work of John Wycliffe, but also describes the people he
viewed as his mentors and enemies along with their philosophical and theological works.
Another book that is a biography on John Wycliffe is G.R. Evans book entitled John
Wyclif. Dr. Evans book is more a true biography than Dr. Lahey’s book is. Her book focuses
on John Wycliffe. She describes Oxford as it was back in the fourteenth century as being a great
deal different than we know it today and how the townspeople seemed to dislike the students.
7 WilliamR.Cook, “John Wyclif and HussiteTheology 1415-1436,”Church History 42, no. 3 (Sep. 1973):336. For the
purposes of this literaturereview and formal thesis this is howJohn Wycliffe’s name will bespelled unless
otherwise noted.

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That seems to be a general feeling that is almost universal in college towns. The townspeople
don’t like the students but know the students’ presences helps their area economically.
The last two works are both either written by John Wycliffe or about John Wycliffe by
Dr. Johann Loserth. This last work is very old, but it is very informative commentary on the
Antichristo and Opus Evangelicum. The Antichristo attacks the papacy and no doubt was in
response the frustration and bitterness Wycliffe felt in response to the attacks on his character
and orthodoxy by rivals and Pope Gregory XI. He always considered himself orthodox, but it
should also be remembered that free thinkers like Wycliffe were inherently discouraged by the
medieval Church and any criticism of said Roman Church was considered heretical.
Finally, Father Norman P. Tanner book on the Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils is
invaluable in discussing how thinkers like Wycliffe, Huss, and Luther were dealt with by the
councils listed. Wycliffe had not only forty-five direct condemnations placed against him, but
also two-hundred and sixty indirect decrees placed against him. Not all were discussed in one
session. For brevity’s sake it should be stated here that this work is a major source for this thesis,
and thus should be considered for the whole of the paper since this thesis focuses on the
treatment of the Catholic Church’s views to heresy and personal attacks. It underpins most of the
papal bulls and ecumenical councils that occurred in the nearly one-hundred seventy-five years
after John Wycliffe’s death in 1384.
The Printing Press
The printing press, which was invented around 1451, proved invaluable to the success of
the Reformation. It is generally believed the Reformation would have failed without it. The
main fight that was waged during the sixteenth century was whether or not laymen should be
able to read the Scriptures. Going back to John Wycliffe for a moment, it can be said that he was
of similar opinion.8 According to a paper by Lawrence G. Duggan entitled “The Unresponsive-
ness of the Late Medieval Church: A Reconsideration, “ at least twenty-nine vernacular editions
8 Georgi Vasilev,“Chapter 4: The Specific New Testament Vocabulary of WycliffiteTranslations,”in Heresy and the
English Reformation (Jefferson: McFarland and Co., 2008): loc.no. 842. Kindle.

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of the Bible had appeared in Europe by 1500, and that they were already disseminated to the
common people and that the ecclesiastical authorities let it slide. This is point number one.9
Point number two mentioned by Duggan is that the clergy had understandable reservations about
letting the uneducated populace read the Good Book without guidance by the clergy.10
Understandable, of course. The Bible is a complex work and the salvific nature of the text is oft-
times in need of different interpretations if current events and the cherry-picking that goes on
now is any indication. An educated populace could also learn how to read and if the educated
populace could read, then ipso facto, they could also think and question.
Dr. Elizabeth L. Eisenstein, professor Emerita of History at the University of Michigan,
is considered an expert on the history of the Reformation and the history of printing. .
Eisenstein’s first book, The Printing Revolution in Early Modern Europe, Second Edition, and
Divine Art, Infernal Machine: The Reception of Printing in the West from First Impressions to
the Sense of an Ending, which is her second book, each focus not only on how the printing
revolution started, but also how it was received. Not everyone was enamored of the new printing
press.
William Tyndale and Sir Thomas More
This precipitated much back and forth between William Tyndale, who was living in exile
in Belgium, and Sir Thomas More, one of King Henry VIII’s friends and trusted advisor.
Thomas More’s book Utopia, while a work of fiction, does enlighten the reader about the morals
of the day and age and the religious norms of the time as well as attacking the politics of his
time. A better source of what More and Tyndale argued about is better highlighted in their
individual back and forth over the nature of religion. Thomas More died before Tyndale in 1535
and Tyndale was burned at the stake in Belgium near Brussels in 1536.
There is a plethora of information that has been written on the times of the Reformation,
9 Lawrence G. Duggan, “The Unresponsiveness of the Late Medieval Church: A Reconsideration,” The Sixteenth
Century Journal 9, no. 1 (Apr. 1978):15.
10 Ibid.,pg. 15.

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particularly the English Reformation. It should be understood, however; that the names so far
covered were each martyrs in their own way. Even Saint Sir Thomas More lost his head to King
Henry VIII’s executioner. By far the most important event in the whole of the Reformation era
was the printing press because it enabled information to be disseminated faster rather than have
each book hand copied. The Tyndale Bible was printed in the hundreds by a Belgian printer and
smuggled into England. It is unknown who betrayed Tyndale, but he was eventually caught,
tried for heresy, and burned at the stake. David Daniell’s biography, William Tyndale: A
Biography, is an intimate look and the life and work of the renowned linguist and theologian. It
is well documented and written. William Tyndale’s most famous quote before he was garroted
set aflame at the stake was “Lord, open the king of England’s eyes.” He would have his prayer
answered in 1535 when King Henry VIII divorced Catherine of Aragon and married the younger
Anne Boleyn in his quest to have a male heir.
The primary source included in this reading is Mr. William Roper’s A Life of Sir Thomas
More. William Roper was the son-in-law of St. Sir Thomas More and a lawyer like Sir Thomas
More himself. More would debate with William Tyndale over his translation of the Bible and
accuse him of improper translation because of words like ‘congregation’ for ‘church’ or the use
of ‘elder’ for ‘priest.’11 As will be seen, Tyndale will be remembered as a lamp in the dark.
Martin Luther and the Reformation
There are so many primary sources for Martin Luther that choosing the most important
one was actually difficult since they are all important. This German doctor and theologian was a
prolific author and reformer who posterity would come to call the “Charioteer of Israel,”12 and
the “Prince of Heresiarchs.”13 Martin Luther would stand up to the Roman Church that sought
his recantation.14 He would refuse to give it, as will be seen in chapter seven, because he stood
11 David Daniell,WilliamTyndale: A Biography, (New Haven: Yale University Press,2004):17.
12 Heiko A. Oberman, Luther: Man between God and the Devil, (New Haven: Yale University Press,2006):3.
13 Ibid.;pg.

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on his principles and the lies he was uncovering about the papacy and the papists in Rome.
Oberman calls Luther’s refusal to recant a German event. Luther’s refusal to recant was the first
time anyone priest or friar had refused to be cowed by the threat of death and excommunication.
Luther’s refusal to recant would firmly usher in the Reformation. Others would take courage
from his example and stand up to the injustice of the Catholic Church.15
Martin Luther left many extant writings to be read, but he would have liked his works
burned because he felt that they distracted from the reading of the scriptures.16 This is a two-
volume work that was translated by C.M. Jacobs. It is entitled Works of Martin Luther with
Introduction and Notes volume I.
14 Ibid.;pg. 39.
15 For the purpose of this paper I shall beusingCatholic Church to mean the Roman Catholic Church.The Russian
Orthodox and Eastern Orthodox Catholic Churches arenot part of this paper unless otherwise noted.
16 Martin Luther, Works of Martin Luther with Introductions and Notes, vol. 1. trans.,C.M. Jacobs (Philadelphia,A.J.
Holman Co., 1915): loc.74. WhileLuther does not say burned, he does say destroyed.

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CHAPTER THREE: THE LATE MEDIEVAL CHURCH
Background
What was the medieval Church like at the turn of the thirteenth century or 1200 C.E?
Before answering this question perhaps it would be better to ask what medieval life was like in
Europe and England before the year 1200 C.E? How did one act on the other? Life was violent,
unpredictable, and short at the start of the thirteenth century. Peasant farmers, mostly serfs,
worked for a manor and were virtual slaves to the land manorial lord. Free holders, peasants that
owned their own land, often worked from sun-up to sun down. The Medieval Warm Period kept
the summers pleasant and winters relatively mild. Because of this life would have generally
better with increased birth rates.17 If we refer back to chapter one of this thesis it will be seen that
a revitalization movement’s first step is a culture’s relative stability or satisfaction.
Europe and England were still agrarian societies with most of the crops going to the
manors and the lords and ladies or the king and surplus being given to the farmer. Overall,
though, everyone was subject to the Catholic Church. All parishioners, regardless of whether
they were nobility, royalty, or peasants were expected to tithe the church 10% of their income.
By year 1200 C.E. there had been two ecumenical councils and the Third Crusade had ended in
1193 and Richard the Lionheart had died in 1199. After the end of the Third Crusade Europe and
England started questioning the idea of the crusades. Europe and England had entered a period
of rejuvenation, but did this rejuvenation come at a cost? A period of stability is needed for the
first in a revitalization movement. People had to be comfortable with their environment and
culture.
The late medieval period is traditionally dated from 1300 until 1500, however for the
purpose of this thesis it is necessary to date the period under discussion from 1200 to 1450. The
choice of the year 1200 C.E. is important because this was the beginning of an era that would see
17 Brian Fagan, The Great Warming: Climate Change and the Rise and Fall of Civilizations (Bloomsbury Press: New
York, 2008):2. Dr. Fagan is emeritus Professor atthe University of California,Santa Barbara.

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many advances globally, socially, and scientifically. The years 1200-1450 paved the way for the
early modern period. This is done in order to begin with the papacy of Innocent III (1198-1216
C.E).
Pope Innocent III came to power after the death of his predecessor Celestine III.
Celestine III had been ninety-three years old at the time of his death. Innocent III, whose birth
name was Lothar. Innocent was only thirty-seven at the time of his ordination to the highest seat
of Christendom and was the ancient pope’s preferred choice. Here was the problem: Lothar was
declared a priest, then bishop, and finally a pope all within a few days of each. Most histories
acknowledge that the reason for his sudden rise to the heights of Christendom at the age of
thirty-seven has much to do with his influential and wealthy Roman family.18
The eighteen years of Pope Innocent III’s pontificate are considered the golden age of the
Catholic Church during the High Medieval Period. Innocent III and his beliefs in the absolute
power of the papacy over the Church’s adherents. The years of Pope Innocent III’s reign would
accomplish some good, but would also institute what would become a heinous search for alleged
heretics as well as the flowering of several mendicant orders. These orders would be the
Franciscans (1209) and the Dominicans (1216). The third order, the Benedictines, were already
established in 529 C.E. These three orders took vows of poverty and disavowed worldly
possessions. This idea of poverty and the clergy was one of John Wycliffe’s central issues as
will be seen in chapter four. For now, let us concentrate on the Dominicans and the Franciscans
and their place in thirteenth century Church politics.
In order to move forward with the discussion it is important to understand the politics of
Popes Innocent III and late Pope Boniface VIII in regard to heresy are essential to understanding
the pre-Reformation and later the Reformation as what they cause to happen will be important to
the future of the Protestant movement and the idea of bringing the Bible to the masses. Innocent
III would advance many of the Church’s views on absolutism and idea of theocracy in the lives
of her adherents, especially in the lives of the royalty of the kingdoms of Europe. “Princes,” John
Salisbury said, “were servants of the priesthood and derived their power or right to rule from the
18 Schaff, loc.48948 on Kindle.

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Church.”19
Innocent III went so far as to say that the Church was as superior to the secular as the
soul is to the body. He literally believed he was Christ’s Vicar or the God of Pharaoh and could
be judged by none. It could be said he believed himself God on Earth.20 Any action he took
could be considered divinely sanctioned or at least that is what he believed to be the truth. But
this position of divine and temporal power was fraught with its own problems. It sacrificed
humility, poverty, and self-abnegation in its quest for power and so would be corrupted by the
delusional belief of its absolute importance. As soon as he was crowned Innocent III began to
institute changes.
Among some of the changes Innocent III tried to make while pope the most important
was his belief that the papacy should be the sole leader of the Crusades. Calling for a Fourth
Crusade to regain the holy city of Jerusalem became one of his great obsessions. However,
things did not go quite as planned. There were many reasons for this. In his naïve belief that only
the papacy should head the Crusades as well as bankroll them he seemed to have not been able to
understand that the three great powers in Europe (France, England, and the Holy Roman Empire)
were the ones who bankrolled most of the Crusades. England, France, and the Holy Roman
Empire also were the chief suppliers of arms, men, and foodstuffs. With the dawn of the
thirteenth century these nations were embroiled in their own political problems. Thus, they could
be bothered with the expenses of a fourth expedition to the Holy Land.
Another reason the papacy failed to kick start a new Crusade was that the donation chests
placed in every church remained empty. Innocent III, in an attempt to bankroll his Crusade, had
wanted to levy taxes on the clergy at one-fortieth percent and for a period of one year place an
additional tax on all ecclesiastical property. Also, papal revenue was to have a ten percent levy
on it. Naturally, all laity, except children, were expected to place their alms in donation chests.21
The next setback for Innocent III’s dream of Crusade was the failure of people to enlist
19 Lea, loc.425.
20 Ibid.;Loc. 430
21 Asbridge, pg. 524.

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in the Crusade. While the poor flocked to the banners, the wealthy landholders did not. France’s
Philip Augustus was fighting with England over ancestral lands of the Angevin dynasty. This
was a difficult situation as the queen mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, was also the duchess of
Aquitaine in her own right. John was also the grandson of Empress Matilda of the Holy Roman
Empire through her marriage to the dukes of Anjou. John was the youngest son of Henry II.
When Henry II died and Richard I’s coronation Prince John became his brother’s heir. John
became king in 1199 and is remembered as one England’s cruelest kings.
Innocent III now had to deal with a man as powerful and as iron-fisted as himself.
Innocent III sought to have power over all the kingdoms of Europe and make these kingdoms
feudal fiefs of the Vatican. Two events would determine Innocent III’s and John of England’s
enmity toward each other. The first event was John’s absolute refusal to leave Europe while the
question of the question of the Angevin inheritance was determined. He was battling for his
mother and father’s realm. Because Eleanor of Aquitaine had given her first husband, Louis VII,
two daughters. Philip II Augustus also agreed that he would not leave France until he also had an
answer to the Angevin question of inheritance.
The second event that would incense Innocent III was his disagreement with King John
over the question of who should be the archbishop of Canterbury. Innocent III’s chosen
archbishop was Stephen Langton, cardinal of Chrysogonus.22 King John’s choice was John de
Grey, Bishop on Norwich.23 Langton, like Grey, was English-born, and well educated. Grey was
also well educated. Because the papacy asserted their right to be the only ones to give the scepter
to archbishops Langton was duly anointed Archbishop of Canterbury on June 17, 1207. A
position he would hold until his death in 1228.24 Infuriated John moved to seize all Canterbury
property and banished the friars as traitors. This will be important as precedent come the time of
Henry VIII. While Innocent III believed in the divine right of the papacy, John was of the
opposite mind. He seemed to believe in the divine rights of kings. Innocent III threatened to
22 Schaff, loc.49132.
23 Ibid.;loc. 49132.
24 Ibid.;loc. 49140.

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excommunicate the people of England and John threatened to massacre the Italian clergy if the
censure was obeyed. This fight was brutal and nasty and John, with stubborn pride, let the
excommunication stand until 1213.
John did not shy from persecuting the servants of Rome. John’s defiance could be seen
as a precursor to England’s continued fight with Rome over the next few decades. John
eventually bowed to the papacy and gave up his kingdom as fiefdom to Rome in 1213 to the
Pope Innocent III’s emissary Pandulf.25 This act would also be important in the time of Edward
III. The next kingdom had its own problems that set back the timeline for Innocent III’s crusade.
That was the Hohenstaufen dynastic crisis.
Frederick of Barbarossa had died while traveling to the Holy Land during the Third
Crusade in 1190. Barbarossa’s heir was his son, Henry VI (r. 1190-1197). Before Barbarossa
died in 1190 he had already assured his son’s succession by arranging Henry’s marriage to the
young princess of Sicily, Constance. With this royal alliance the Holy Roman Empire would
stretch from Germany to Sicily. Constance was the sole heir to the Norman kingdom of Sicily.
With Henry’s and Constance’s marriage the Holy Roman Empire would surround the papacy.
This was a situation that the Vatican did not like to contemplate. There are several reasons for
this dislike of such an extensive Holy Roman Empire. The first is that Constance’s kingdom
fattened the coffers of the Henry VI’s empire, and such and extensive empire would be very
powerful in Europe. If rebellions broke out then they would be hard to quell.
But both Henry VI and Empress Constance would be dead by 1198 leaving only their
three-year old child, Frederick II (r.1215-1250) as the heir to a vast empire. Children could not
reign in their own right, a regent would either had to be proclaimed or a new emperor chosen.
Because of his age the Vatican would now have a say who held the power in the Holy Roman
Empire until Frederick II reached his majority. His regent would be his uncle, Philip, Duke of
Swabia, Frederick II’s father’s brother.26
25 Ibid.;loc. 49164.The rest of the history of John’s rulealongwith his legacy is a paper in itself and won’t be
discussed here.
26 Judith M. Bennett and C. Warren Hollister,“Chapter 10: Worlds in Collision,c.1125-1300,”in Medieval Europe:
A Short History, 10th ed. (Boston: McGraw Hill,2006):258. Like John of England, the dynastic crisis in the

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The Fourth Crusade would eventually be fought, but with the help of the Venetians and
the laity instead of the royalty. The Fourth Crusade would not reach the Holy Land, instead
Constantinople would be sacked so thoroughly that it would never be able to rise to its former
glory. The Fourth Crusade started in 1203 and would end in 1204. The leader of the Crusade,
Boniface of Montferrat, did not take the papal legate with him, and openly defied the injunctions
of Innocent III.27
Fourth Lateran Council-1215 C.E.
The Fourth Lateran Council was summoned on April 19, 1213, and would sit in
November 1215, in the Lateran basilica.28 This particular council is considered one of the
greater councils of the Late Medieval Period. It had several aims including declaring a
moratorium on the creation of new religious orders (constitution number 13),29 new profession of
faith (constitution number one),30 heretics (constitution number 3),31 and corrections of offenses
and morals of clergy (constitution numbers 7,32 14-18,33 and the Crusade to recover the holy
Land, which was constitution number 71).34
Hohenstaufen Dynasty would and could be a thesis in its own right and to abbreviatethe subjectwould do it an
injustice. For now understandingthe reason why the Holy Roman Empire could not join the Fourth Crusadeis
enough.
27 H.W.C Davis,M.A., Medieval Europe, (London, Williams and Norgate, 1911): 202.
28 Norman P. Tanner, S.J., “Fourth Lateran Council:1215”in Decrees of the Ecumenical Council. (Georgetown
University Press,June 1, 1990) http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Councils/ecum12-2.htm[accessed November 3,
2015]. This pastNovember marked the 800th anniversary of this particularcouncil.
29 Ibid,;pg. 7. The followingpages are taken from a printout of the above reference on the Fourth Lateran Council.
They are for ease of use when tryingto reference where in the computerized version of the record of the Fourth
Lateran Council.
30 Ibid,;pg. 2
31 Ibid.;pg. 3 Established the Inquisitionsand gavecredence to the persecution of heretics duringthe Albigensian
Crusades which lasted from 1209-1229. Posterity seems to argue that this was an unjustpersecution of different
Catholic sects.
32 Ibid.;pg. 4
33 Ibid.;pg. 7

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During the Council in question Innocent III moved to forbid the ecclesiastical authorities
from making people go through the various ordeals (tortures) and passed that responsibility to
the hands of the secular authorities. Secular authorities included people such as Countess
Yolande and Count Robert, cousin of King Philip Augustus in France. Both members of the
nobility could judge heresy cases.35
Innocent III died in 1216 and did not see the end of the Fourth Lateran Council. His
successor was Honorius III (r. 1216-1227). Honorius was not as strong as his predecessor, but
would have more to do with ensuring the decisions of the Fourth Lateran Council. Of the
seventy-one constitutions in this conference, the ones this paper will be concerned with
Constitution number three. Constitution number three of the Fourth Lateran Council is about
heresy. The following section will describe what heresy was and how the Medieval Inquisition
operated. There were five Inquisitions with the persecutions of the Waldensians and Cathars
being the first.
Heresy and the Medieval Inquisitions
There are many symbols and words that did not carry negative connotations until some-
one used them in such a way that those symbols, the swastika, for example, now carry nothing
but evil reminders of times in history that humanity would like to forget, but cannot and should
not forget. In the history of the Catholic Church there are several periods that should never be
forgotten lest they be utilized again. The period looked at here will be the Inquisitions, but not
the Great Witch Craze. This last was a phenomenon that is deserving of its own treatment.
What is heresy? Heresy is a word that did not have a negative connotation until after
Constantine the Great declared Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire after the
victory at Milvian Bridge in 314 C.E. But heresy goes further back than the fourth century; it
goes back to the second century. The word heretic is taken from the Greek word hairesein.36
34 Ibid.;pg. 17. Innocent III would not see the Fifth Crusadeto fruition.He died in 2016. His successor was
Honorius III (1216-1227).
35 Lea, loc.4994 in the History of the Inquisitions, vol. 1.
36 Peters, pg. 1.

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Hairesein originally meant “to take,”37 and hairesis,38 the singular form, was some who made a
choice or chose to take different view of scripture, while the plural form hairesein designated a
sect or a group of people who chose to take a different view of scripture.39 Hairesein would fall
into disuse while its singular form would eventually acquire its familiar meaning of countering a
Catholic truth.40 Heretics were Christians. They could not be Islamic or Jewish. Heretics were
people who chose to believe a certain belief that was not orthodox. But at the beginning of
Christianity people were still trying to figure out how Christ the Man fit in with God the Father
and the Holy Spirit. They were trying to figure if Christ and God were the same or if all three
were the same. In the first to fourth centuries of Christianity many different belief systems like
Arianism sprang up. It was not until the first ecumenical council at Nicaea in 325 C.E. that some
of the Church Fathers would settle on a belief system and begin what we know as Catholicism
today.
Tertullian, who was a Montanist, said the following:41
“It is a fundamental human right, a privilege of nature that every man should worship
according to his own convictions. It is assuredly no part of religion to compel religion. It must be
embraced freely and not forced.”
Taking this philosophical argument further we see that as time went on how the Catholic
Church abandoned this idea and persecuted heretics like Arians who did not believe in a
Trinitarian form of Catholicism. There was another Church father, Origen (c.184 – c. 254 C.E.),
who believed Christians should not follow the Law of Moses which entreated that apostates be
37 Ibid.;pg. 14.
38 Ibid.;pg. 14. One such example of a “hairesis” would be Bogomil and another would be Valdes. The firstman,
Bogomil, founded the Bogomils in Bulgaria.The Bogomils would be an Eastern European sect that believed in
dualism.Valdes,founded the Waldensians,and inter-married with the Cathars.
39 Ibid.;see note above.
40 Ibid.;pg. 17.
41 E. (Elphege) Vacanard, The Inquisition: A Critical and Historical Study of the Coercive Power of the Church, (New
York: Longmans, Green, & Co., 1915): Loc. 97 on Kindle.

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stoned. Rather, Origen believed apostates should not be put to death by either burning or
stoning.42 In addition to the terms heresy and inquisition, there are four other terms that should
be understood when discussing the Inquisitions and how they were used to prosecute crimes of
“supposed” heresy. They are as follows:
Orthodoxy conforms to an established doctrine, e.g., the Trinitarian Doctrine as set
forth by the Council of Nicaea I in 325 C.E.
Heterodoxy means that something is different than established form, religious doctrine,
or an acknowledged standard. One example would be the idea of dualism or one good God and
one evil God. This idea will be discussed in further detail in a moment.
Doxa is a Greek word meaning common belief or popular opinion and finally the last
word is doxology.
Doxology is usually a liturgical expression or praise of God.
These four words are important in the discussion of this paper because until the 1830s the
Catholic Church continued to prosecute heretics. They will also be important when discussing
the great reformers Wycliffe, Tyndale, Luther, and finally Cranmer. In terms of how they were
used during the religious revivals in reference to the paradigm of revitalization movements set
forth in the introduction it is hoped they will help clarify some points made. Heresy is defined in
relation to orthodoxy. According to Malcom Lambert it takes two to create a heresy.43 One, is the
heretic with his dissident beliefs, and the second was Catholic Church with condemnation and
orthodoxy.44 An example of this statement can be seen many times over the next several hundred
years in both religious and scientific circles.
One of the most important treatises on the idea of heresy was the Passau Anonymous.
The Passau Anonymous maybe Rainier Sacconi’s own text.45 Rainier Sacconi was one of the
42 Ibid.;loc. 107.
43 Jacques Berlinerblau,“Toward a Sociology of Heresy, Orthodoxy, and Doxa,” History of Religions, 40, no. 4 (May
2001): 331.
44 Ibid.;331.
45 Peters, pg. 142

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chief Inquisitors against the Waldensians. Reading through Edward Peters’ excellent text on
Heresy and Authority in Medieval Europe it could be said that the papacy and ecclesiastical
hierarchy of the middle ages were selfishly holding all knowledge and the scriptures close to
themselves.
The Passau Anonymous is a long treatise that lists six forms of heresy with the first
heresy being vainglory.46 According to the Passau the Waldensians were jealous of the honored
elite and those who were educated and coveted that same honor. The second heresy was that men
and women did not quit teaching and that they even taught at night. Again, if anyone but the
clergy were educated or the people educated were not royalty or nobility, then they were
declared heretics. After all, why should women be educated or teach? Weren’t women chattel
back then? The third and fourth heresies included the crimes of translating the Holy Bible into
the vulgar tongue of the laity and then the illiterate and rustic learn them by rote and teach
others. The fourth heresy could be said to be judgment against supposed bad peoples and the fact
that they use the Apostles as examples of a Christ-like life.47 The fifth heresy has to do with the
Waldensians saying that what the Doctors of the Church cannot give proven evidence for in the
New Testament, then those items that cannot be proven are complete fables.48Finally, the sixth
heresy the Passau lists it has irreverence. Thus, if someone took the Lord’s name in vain or
irreverence toward the sacraments (not baptizing infants), then these were sure signs of
irreverence towards the Catholic Church and Her doctrines.
The year 1209 began the Albigensian Crusade and the attempt to actually stamp out the
Cathars, Albigenses, Bogomils, and Waldensians. The Catholic Church was waging religious
warfare against a different Christian sect. It was an attempt to stamp out heresy. These four
46 Ibid.;pg. 150.
47 Ibid.;pg. 151.
48 Ibid.;pg.152. An excellent example of unproven evidence are the supposed relics of the Holy Family. Mary’s
breastmilk was one such relic.Sinceitis said thatMary was carried bodily to heaven, then where did breastmilk
from the Holy Virgin come from? This particular[fifth] heresy echoes in our own time as modern thinkers and
students of history,theology, and politics,and non-religiouspeopleask the same question about the provability of
Scripture. How much is truth and how much is complete myth?

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sects doxa were dualistic. They believed in a dualistic nature of Creationism. On one hand they
had a God that was all loving and good and He created angels and the heavens, but on the other
hand there was an evil God, and he created the earth and the different devils and demons of the
lower regions that inspired all the wickedness on earth. This Creation story was at odds from the
officially sanctioned story of the Holy Bible in Genesis. Innocent III was also an advocate of
Church reform. Interestingly enough the Crusade against the Waldensians and Albigenses would
with their anti-sacerdotalism precipitate the rise of the Cistercian and Carthusian orders.49
During the Fourth Lateran Council of 1215 one of the key issues that Innocent III
denounced and anathematized the idea of heresy and also condemned the ideas of preaching the
Scriptures without the consent of the Catholic Church. The following is clearly directed toward
the Waldensians. This “heretical” sect allowed women to preach the Scriptures as well as men.50
“There are some who holding to the form of religion but denying its power…claim for
themselves the authority to preach…and dare publicly or privately to usurp the office of
preaching without having received the authority of the apostolic see or Catholic bishop,”51 This
quote referred to the aforementioned sect. At the same time he called for a Crusade to stamp out
heresy in all forms in Europe, thus causing a massive bloodletting of Christian against Christian.
This persecution of different Christian sects like the Cathars and Waldensians requires an
explanation of how they were tried and found guilty.
Innocent III instituted the Inquisitions against the Cathars and all heretics who dared
challenge the doxology and orthodoxy of the Catholic Church, but he did not make it
permanent. The permanency of the Inquisitions would not be established until Pope Gregory IX
49 Charles Edward Smith, “Clerical Violencein the Pontificateof Innocent III,” The Journal of Religion 24, no. 1 (Jan.
1944): 37.
50 Edward Peters, Heresy and Authority in Medieval Europe, (Philadelphia:University of PennsylvaniaPress,1980):
144. On page 144 is the twenty-third tract of Heresy and Authority. Itis a letter written by Etienne de Bourbon
entitled Waldensiansand Vernacular Scripture.Itwas already considered a heresy if women preached the
Scriptures sincethe Catholic Church considered that apostolic authority belonged solely to men because Jesus’
apostles were mostly men. Conveniently, it seems, they also forgotabout his female followers likeMary
Magdalene and Mary, the sister of Lazarus.
51Tanner: page 4 of print-out on the Fourth Lateran Council—1215,Constitution number 3.

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(r.1227-1241) issued his papal decretal, Excommunicamus,52 and called for a permanent tribunal
head by the Dominican order. To assign this order to the right to oversee trials concerning
heretics Gregory IX would issue his Ille humani generis.53 This heinous piece of Vatican
legislation would be responsible for the deaths of thousands of men, women, and children over
the next several centuries. The Ille humani generis promulgated in 1231 authorized the
Dominicans to “exercise their office given them freely…paying close attention to those who
seemingly revert to orthodoxy” but are secretly heretical in their beliefs.54 This was the Vatican’s
answer to the politics and procedures for trying heretics, which had become unwieldy. Therefore
the Malleus Maleficarum, this will not be examined. Nor will the inquisitorial processes for the
Portuguese and Spanish Inquisitions. Several of the Inquisitor manuals were written before the
fifteenth century.
In order to understand the inquisitorial process it is necessary to examine three Medieval
inquisitorial manuals. Because the inquisition of witches during the Great Witch Hysteria or
Witch Craze has its own iniquitous manual, the Malleus Maleficarum. The Spanish Inquisition
goes well into the Enlightenment Era (1700-1799) and part of the Early and Middle Romantic
Era (1800-1819; and 1820-1839) before it is relinquished around 1830.55 Because of the
extensiveness of the Spanish Inquisition (1498-c.1830) no more will be said. Thus, the following
inquisitorial manuals will be studied. They include: the Manual for Inquisitors at Carcassonne
(1248-1249)56 and the Inquisition Record of Jacques Fournier (1312-1325).57
The Inquisitor’s Manual at Carcassonne was commissioned on October 21, 1244 so that
52 Peters, pg. 190.
53 Ibid.,pg. 191.
54 Ibid.,pg. 197.
55 The dates listed correspond with the dates the Great Composers of the era flourished.These composers
included Ludwig von Beethoven, Niccolo Paganini,and FranzSchubert to name only a few.
56 Ibid.,pg. 200.
57 Ibid.,pg.

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friars Peter Durand and William Raymond, of the Order of Preachers,58 could have a method
relating to how they should look for and prosecute religious dissidents and heretics. This manual
appears to only relate to the province of Narbonne in France. There were eight steps to the
procedure on how to deal with so-called heretics, their defenders, the defamed and their favorers
and concealers.
The first step was the establishment of procedure. First, a proper place would be sought
to hold the inquisition and then the people and clergy would be called together to witness it, then
a method of citation would be read where upon the alleged heretic would be told why he or she
or they were being charged with heresy. The next step is a declaration of abjuration of heresy
and the oath is similar to that which people take before taking the stand in a modern-day trial.
They swear to tell the whole truth. During the abjuration oath the plaintiff promises not to harbor
other heretics or Waldensians. Third, during the course of the questioning they are asked several
questions about whether or not they knew of any Waldensians, where they were or if they had
any business.59 This was not always a peaceful questioning. It was often quite stressful and often
meant testifying against neighbors or even loved ones. Sometimes the person questioned was
tortured to get answers. The reality was not as straight forward as Peters would make it in his
book Heresy and Authority in Medieval Europe.
There are five other steps in the Inquisitor’s Manual for Carcassonne. Those six steps are
the summoning of individuals, which involves a form letter to the priest chosen to try the heresy
cases as inquisitor before turning over those guilty to the secular authorities. The fifth and sixth
steps include more oaths and affirmations regarding methods of reconciling and punishing
heretics who either return to the fold or excommunicating those that abjure their oaths to the
Catholic Church.60 The penance, as outlined in step six of the Inquisitor’s Manual for
Carcassonne outlines the performance of the penance involve. Two crosses, yellow, were to be
58 Ibid.;pg. 200. The Order of Preachers were Dominicans. This would be one of the group of begging friars John
Wycliffewould rail againstaround themid-1360s.
59 Ibid.;pg. 201.
60Ibid.;204.

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worn about the penitent’s neck and shoulders, while attending mass and vespers on Sunday and
traveling to various shrines throughout the year. They were required to do this for an unknown
number of years. Unlike the sixth step the seventh part of the manual arranged for the
determination of punishment by the secular arm of the Inquisition tribunal. Only the secular
authorities could pass punishment as the clergy did not want to sully their hands by punishing
people. This step involved another letter that states the reasons for whomever is judged a heretic
and the reasons they are being excommunicated or sentenced to death. The death sentence was
usually given to recalcitrant and unrepentant. Additionally, anyone who harbored a heretic or
defended him could themselves be charged with heresy and excommunicated.
Finally, the last step in the Inquisitor’s Manual of Carcassonne is how those who died as
heretics were to be treated. If the decease were adjudged heretics then their bones, if
distinguishable from others, were to be exhumed and roasted.61 When this occurred the deceased
one’s memory was also condemned. This step also involves more writs and ordinances
condemning those who died as heretics. As will be seen this type of punishment will be applied
to John Wycliffe.
The next manual to be examined will be Jacques Fournier’s Inquisition Record. Jacques
Fournier was Bishop of Pamiers from 1312-1325. Given the last section discussed the eight
steps of the inquisitorial process in Carcassonne, a Cathari city in Southern France, it is reason-
able to discuss not only Nancy P. Stork’s translation of Jacques Fournier’s Inquisition record but
how it relates to the discussion in Edward Peter’s Heresy and Authority in Medieval Europe.
Reading through the first section of the Inquisition Records of Jacque Fournier in the Peter’s
book, the modern student in history or theology gets a sense of the argument between those
accused of heretical notions of whether or not the soul survives and how people thought during
the fourteenth century. The idea and argument of whether or not the soul survives or is similar to
what a person looks like is one that still rages in modern-day theological circles. This is not
unusual since no one knows where the soul goes. The Catholic Church of the Medieval Period
argues that the soul can travel to one of three places after birth: heaven, purgatory, or hell. In the
61 Ibid.;pg. 206.

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case of unbaptized infants there was the idea of limbo. This last was dissolved after Vatican II in
the twentieth century. The people who had been Cathari or Waldensians did not believe in
indulgences or that buying them could save a soul.62 This idea of indulgences would be denied
by Martin Luther as well. More will be said on this shortly.
62 Ibid;pg. 261.

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CHAPTER FOUR: JOHN WYCLIFFE
Background
The century John Wycliffe was born into experienced a scale of social and political
change that would not be rivaled again until the nineteenth change. One of the major changes
was climate change. The social changes that occurred were the results of the Black Plague, the
ongoing wars with France, which posterity would remember as the Hundred Years’ War, and
ultimately changing social structures. The beginning of university systems where scholars and
clergy could share their knowledge and teach also created an intellectual atmosphere.
Scholasticism was at its height, but was going into a slow decline. This chapter focuses on one
such thinker, John Wycliffe, and some of the men who influenced him while also focusing on his
writings, controversies, and political associations. His death would have what many modern
students would call a bizarre coda.
Who was John Wycliffe and what were his writings like while he was at Oxford, working
for the Crown, and while in retirement? Why did he object to certain Catholic Church practices?
Did he begin any religious reforms that were noteworthy? Finally, in terms of religious reforms,
as they pertain to a revitalization movement, how important were he and his followers, the
Lollards?
There is a dearth of information available to researchers regarding John Wycliffe’s first
forty years of life. What we do know is so much supposition because no one fully agrees on the
date of his birth. Was he born in 1324 or 1328? He could not have been born after 1330 only
because it would not fit the time frame of later events in his life. What historians do agree on is
the year of his parents’ wed. Roger and Catherine Wycliffe, were likely minor nobility and were
married in 1319.63 John Wycliffe was born around 1328 near Hipswell, England, or Wycliffe-on-
Tees, England, near Richmond. Another date given was 1330,64 however 1328 is the accepted
date. The convention of the day was to use the place you were born as a surname. So it is likely
that he was near Wycliffe-on-Tees. Wycliffe was born in an area that was familiar with Scottish
63 G.R. Evans, John Wyclif: Myth & Reality (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press,2005):15.
64 Peters, pg. 265.

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raiders and the Battle of Bannockburn (1314).65 Also, if his parents were married in 1319, then it
seems likely Roger and Catherine Wycliffe would have had several children before 1328. Of
course, this does not mean that John Wycliffe had a brother. He may still have had only sisters
or have been an only child. We simply do not know.
One reason for this is that Roger would have needed an heir and two and the high level of
infant mortality would have made it necessary for a line of succession to be created which would
ensure the survival of the family name. It seems likely that John Wycliffe was a younger son.
Younger sons were known to seek inclusion in the clergy or military service because of the loss
of primogeniture to an older sibling. One person mentioned by Stephen Lahey is Bernard of
Clairvaux,66 He would have likely have learned to read and write, do mathematics, and it seems
rhetoric before attending Oxford University when was sixteen in about 1340. His education and
life at Oxford will be expounded on in a moment.
His theological and political careers are the areas for which we have the most
information. John Wycliffe was a prolific writer, especially toward the end of his life, and his
criticisms of the Catholic Church, its friars, and the idea of transubstantiation were extensive.
John Wycliffe drew on the teachings of several former Oxford theologians including William
Ockham (1287-1347) and was a proponent of St. Augustine. He was influenced by several other
theologians and writers including Robert Grosseteste (1170-1273), Walter Burley (c. 1275-
1344/45), Richard FitzRalph (c. 1300-December 16, 1360), and Thomas Bradwardine (c.1290-
August 26, 1349). John Wycliffe has been called both the evening star of scholasticism and the
Morning Star of the Reformation. John Bale was the first to apply this epithet to the medieval
Reformer in 1548.67 But was he really? Logic and realism were part of Wycliffe’s irascible
character make-up, as will be seen, but he was also a man devoted to the truth of scripture and
disliked the mendicancy of the friars and the corruption of the Roman Catholic Church. What his
65 Stephen E. Lahey, John Wyclif, (Oxford: Oxford University Press,2009):4. Wycliffe-on-Tees was a tiny village
near the Richmond castle.Itwould have been a rather remote, frontier-likearea in the 14th century.
66 Ibid.;pg. 4.
67 Ibid.;pg. 135

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education like at Oxford University and what was Oxford University like in 1340?
Who were John Wycliffe’s enemies? Why were they so adamant in their attempts to
destroy John Wycliffe’s legacy as an ecclesiastical scholar? Politics are often vicious and they
were no less vicious in ecclesiastical circles in the fourteenth century than they are today. John
Wycliffe also wrote during the time of the Papal Schism (1378-1417). Finally, it is not possible
to cover all of John Wycliffe’s works or those of his predecessors and those theologians who
influenced his writings. For that purpose, it is practical to stick to the most important issues.
The following works would be used against him at the Council of Constance in 1415. They were
his issues with the friars and his treatises on the Eucharist. He also wrote dominium and
Triagolus. These works would also be used against him at the Council of Constance. Along with
those works are the Wycliffe Bible, his Postilla and his Confessio. The last was a response to the
bishops and Archbishop Sudbury, before his death, on charges of heresy. His final work was the
Opus Evangelicum and the Antichristo. He would die before completing this work.
Oxford University
Oxford University was less than three-hundred years old when John Wycliffe joined the
university first as a student and later as a member of the faculty. The word “universitas” once
meant gild. The Oxford University John Wycliffe attended does not resemble what we know of
how a university looks in the twenty-first century.68 The original university was different than
what we know today. It did not have the look it does today, instead it was made up of a
community known as a corporation.69 When Wycliffe attended Oxford he probably spent his first
night in an inn with the term beginning on the Feast of St. Denys.
The Faculty of the Arts ruled the university’s curriculum. The Arts could be found in
four distinct colleges. They were the Merton College (1264), Queen’s College (1341), Balliol
College (1263) and Hertford College (1283). The Faculty of the Arts had a strong Scholastic
tradition built on the teachings of the Greek philosopher Aristotle. Before Wycliffe could go on
68 Evans, pg. 21.
69 Ibid.;pg. 18.

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to study theology or the law he had to master the first seven approved courses. They were
grammar, rhetoric, logic, arithmetic, astronomy, music, and geometry.70 He would likely have
studied these subjects in Queen’s College. This is because Merton’s College was reserved for
higher learning.
John Wycliffe studied theology at Merton College among the calculators and his forte
was natural philosophy. One of the men who made an influence on John Wycliffe would have
been the late-Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Bradwardine (1300-1349). Like Wycliffe,
Bradwardine was a Mertonian who became archbishop after the death of John Ufford and
succumbed to the Black Plague after only thirty-eight days.71 Wycliffe graduated from Queen’s
College in 1356, but before he graduated he had already been “ordained a subdeacon in March of
1351. A month later in April he was ordained a deacon and in September received the Sacrament
of Holy Orders and ordained a priest by the Archbishop of York, William de la Zouche at York
Minster.”72 In 1356, he entered Merton College as a probationary fellow. Upon receiving his
Master’s Degree he became the parish priest of Fillingham, Lincolnshire, in May of 1361 and
later the parish priest of Bristol of Aust at Westbury. His request for a canonry seems to have
been ignored. A few years later in 1363 Wycliffe requested to return to Oxford, which was
granted in August of 1363. He would begin his work to receive a doctorate in theology in the
autumn of that year.73
Wycliffe would receive his doctorate in theology once he had completed the required
regimen. The first was four years of lectures and formal disputations while caring for his parish
in Fillingham and his prebend in Aust. He also had to complete his commentary on Peter
Lombard’s Sentences. Once all this was completed he would receive his doctorate. Wycliffe
70 John de Wycliffe. Tracts and Treatises of John de Wycliffe, D.D. (1845).(Glasgow: Oxford University Press,1976):
loc.342. KindleBook. This book was made availablethrough the Gutenberg Projectand through the Liberty Fund,
Inc. The Liberty Fund’s address and phone number is listed in the copyrightand fair usesection of the downloaded
book.
71 Lahey, pg. 39.
72 Ibid.;pg. 5
73 Ibid.;pg. 6.

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completed his Sentences and received his doctorate in late 1372. During his tenure at Oxford
John Wycliffe would become Master of Balliol College, but would once again invite
controversy. He had many character traits that would land him in trouble, but two of the most
distinct included his being an anti-fideist and a realist. Philosophy would lead to the latter trait
and his realism would have him questioning the ideas of predestination and the idea of transub-
stantiation.
Why would these two ideas land the Oxford don in such trouble? Why did the friars
dislike him? John Wycliffe was no mere cog in the wheel of progress, he was an original thinker
and an intellectualist. The next section is about his religious controversies and then his political
intrigues. While at Oxford John Wycliffe would be characterized by another name. It was doctor
evangelicus, of course, the “damn heresiarch” floated around too.74 He gained this first nom de
plume of doctor evangelicus because of his instance that scripture was central to all learning and
to all life. He only ever saw himself as an orthodox priest. Unfortunately, as will be seen, his
enemies like Simon Sudbury and William Courtenay would not feel the same about him.
John Wycliffe’s writings are marked by controversies. His views on the friars, the
Sacraments of the Eucharist and Confession would later be declared heretical and unorthodox
in the eyes of the pope and later the Council of Constance. But he did not start his religious
controversies after leaving Oxford, rather they began while he was at Oxford. Wycliffe was the
type of man who did not shy away from creating controversy. In fact, he seemed to embrace it.
Why? Perhaps, he felt it made people actually stop and think. But the Catholic Church had a
cognitive control policy. And the cognitive control policy dictated that the “faithful,” were only
supposed to think what the Catholic Church in Rome dictated and to contradict the dogma of the
Holy Church was anathema. Nor were the “faithful” allow to ask questions or to even question
the right or wrong of Catholic teachings. Those who did question and criticize the Roman
Catholic Church were declared heretics as mentioned in chapter three. John Wycliffe was the
rare exception to the rule in the Medieval Period. Not only did he question, but he openly
criticized and questioned. This was an unforgivable offense.
74 Ibid.;pg. 135. Only doctors of theology at Oxford were allowed a second name.

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His first encounter to land him at loggerheads with the Catholic Church was over the
issue of friars and monks and their mendicancy. Before that, in 1365, Wycliffe became warden
of Canterbury Hall by the late-Archbishop of Canterbury Simon Islip. After Islip died, the new
Archbishop of Canterbury, John Langham, a Benedictine monk.75 John Wycliffe shows his
tenacity and early anger at the monks by appealing to Pope Urban V in Avignon. While Pope
Urban V (1362 to 1370) did not like Langham primarily because the latter refused to help him
exact tribute from England for Rome, Urban V would rule in Langham’s favor five years later.
How did this help fuel Wycliffe’s resentment for the friars in later years?
John Wycliffe held most friars and mendicants in utter contempt. There are times he can
be seen to work them, but after 1381 he was done with them and with Oxford University. He had
enough of both. In the Tracts and Treatises of John Wycliffe, D.D. (1845), Wycliffe says that
friars who leave their bishoprics or priesthoods are heretics equal to those who start a new
religion and do not live Christ’s religion.76 He railed against their mendicancy most of his life
and felt that friars should earn their lodging, clothes, and food through honest labor rather than
begging.77 Wycliffe felt that the interference of the friars towards how priests would preach the
gospel to their parishioners was heretical and hypocritical. He said in his Tracks and Treatises
that friars believed it apostasy and heresy when a priest lived as Christ ordained them too.78
Wycliffe even went so far in part three entitled A Treatise on John Wycliffe against the Order of
the Friars to call the pope the Antichrist. Even though the friars thought begging was lawful,
Wycliffe maintains the Scriptures by citing that Solomon was taught by the Holy Spirit not to
give into “begging or beggingness,”79 instead that Solomon should have vanity and leasing.
75 Ibid.;pg. 6.
76 Wycliffe,loc.6225.
77 Tanner, Council of Constance 1414-18,pg. 4 of printed webpage. This idea about begging and manual work was
condemnation number 24 in Session 8 of the Council of Constance. This session occurred on May 4, 1415. That
would be over five-hundred years ago this pastMay.
78 Wycliffe,loc.6228.
79 Ibid.;loc. 6282.

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Another reason Wycliffe could not abide the friars is that they perceived a mere beggar, when
Christ was believed to be more than that.
John Wycliffe gained a following of men once derisively known as Lollards, which
meant mutterers, who helped to spread his teachings. They could be found in Oxford as teachers
and students, and out of Oxford by men who took his teachings to heart. Wycliffe’s writings
were popular among younger secular scholars who were called Lollards. These Lollards were
devoted to spreading the idea of Wycliffism to the poorer class of people. These Lollards would
bring the Wycliffe Bible to the classes that could not read Latin and they would learn the
Wycliffe Bible in its vernacular form. Wycliffe believed that God’s word was meant for all men
not just the clergy and its hierarchy and the noble class. This was a heresy in the eyes of the
Roman Catholic Church and heresy was considered a burnable offense.
Political Associations
By the year 1372 John Wycliffe had finished his Summa de Ente and entered the service
of John of Gaunt, the third living son of King Edward III Plantagenet, duke of Lancaster.
Wycliffe seemed to be out of his league in the realm of politics. In addition to his duties with his
parishes and benefice he also had to act as an emissary for his Grace, the duke of Lancaster.
Wycliffe was use to arguing in philosophical circles at Oxford University. How did John
Wycliffe come to be associated with the royal family and why was the association both helpful
and disastrous?
After the death of Edward III, in 1377, John of Gaunt became one of the young king’s,
Richard II (1367 to 1400), regents but without the ability to gain the throne. John of Gaunt was
the overseer for the land the Wycliffe family held in the north near Richmond. As the duke of
Lancaster John would have been familiar with the family, and he would have known that at least
one son of that minor noble family was in the clergy. John of Gaunt held anti-papal feelings and
did not approve of the Roman Catholic Church trying to exact tribute from the English king. In
his dealings with the friars he had already said the Antichrist ruled them, but it would be a
further eight years until he referred to the whole papal system as being run by the Antichrist in

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the guise of the pope. John of Gaunt was a man who was ambitious, but also highly disliked. He
saw Wycliffe as a tool because of his high placement in theological circles.
Two important events happened in 1374 that would affect John Wycliffe. The first is that
he was presented with the rectory of Lutterworth in Leicestershire by the Crown and then in that
same year was chosen for a delegation to the French town of Bruges to treat with the papal
representatives on the subject of “provisions.”80 What were the provisions? The provisions that
that the pope provided to the Roman Catholic Church in England were that the pope was spiritual
head of England and thus was allowed to tax England as provided in the provisions allowed by
King John. This was not necessarily true as it was determined, by Parliament, under King
Edward III, that King John had betrayed England by making her a papal fief in exchange for
freeing the kingdom from interdict.81 Later, in that same year John Wycliffe returned to England
and his parish at Lutterworth. The diplomatic venture at Bruges was not going well and it was
determined he was not needed.
While King Richard II was in his minority the administration of the Crown was in the
hands of his uncle, John of Gaunt (6 March 1340 – 03 February 1399), after 1376. His father,
when the Black Prince, Edward, Prince of Wales died. John of Gaunt was not sole regent so his
power waned albeit not considerably but it would be enough for Wycliffe’s enemies to attack the
ecclesiastical theorist. John would support Wycliffe many times during the near decade long
association but over time it would soon sour as Wycliffe was too hot-headed and refused to heed
good advice. From 1377 until his retirement in 1381 John Wycliffe would be involved in both
national and ecclesiastical politics. Some of the time spent in ecclesiastical politics would swirl
around accusations of heresy and his heretical writings.
Wycliffe had several enemies in the Roman Catholic Church in England. Among them
were the Archbishop of Canterbury Simon Sudbury (c.1316 to 14 June 1381) and his successor
the then Bishop William Courtenay. When did Gregory XI send his letters to England and when
80 Lahey, pg. 16.
81 John Foxe, Fox’s Book of Martyrs or a History of the Lives, Sufferings, and Triumphant Deaths of the Primitive
Protestant Martyrs, (Chicago: The John C. Winston,Co., n.d.): loc.9931.This book was released digitally on May
11, 2012,by Amazon Digital,Inc.

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was John Wycliffe told he had to appear at Lambeth Palace on February 19, 1377, to answer for
charges of heresy? How did John Gaunt help him? What effect did these charges have on
Wycliffe’s career at Oxford?
First, John of Gaunt was a wily politician who, as mentioned earlier, had anti-papal
pretensions. On February 19, 1377, Wycliffe was commanded to appear at St. Paul’s in London,
by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Simon Sudbury, to answer questions regarding his teachings.
He had royal protection in the form of John of Gaunt and Sir Henry Percy and four friars. The
hearing started off interesting. Sir Henry Percy directed Wycliffe to sit, but the Archbishop took
umbrage at this and said it was proper for Wycliffe to stand while being questioned. Sir Henry
Percy was the Lord Marshall at the time, and he had gone to St. Paul’s in the duke’s company,
and Wycliffe’s. The Archbishop had not expected the Duke of Lancaster to appear, but had he
known would have taken steps to make sure he had not appeared. Meanwhile, Wycliffe waited
patiently for the charges to be laid so he could answer them. The day turned into a debacle when
the people outside St. Paul’s began to riot and Wycliffe never answered any questions. It has
been speculated that Wycliffe was a pawn for John of Gaunt; that he was an unwitting, naïve tool
in the duke’s pursuit of power and the throne.82 But this is rumor and cannot be proven.
Further Problems for Wycliffe
May 22, 1377, was the day that Pope Gregory XI issued five papal bulls against John
Wycliffe. In these bulls Gregory demanded that Sudbury and Courtenay have Wycliffe arrested
so that they could extract a confession from him. These bulls were issued in response to his
tracts on dominium. What was dominium? Dominium is Latin for dominion. Wycliffe wrote two
tracts on this subject. One was De Dominio Divinio or On Divine Dominion (1373 to 1374) and
the other was De Civili Dominio or On Civil Dominion (1375 to 1376).83 He had begun to
contemplate and research both after his return to Bruges. His tracts were completed before the
death of King Richard III and in time for the pope to charge him with heretical writings. The
82 Joseph H. Dahmus, “John Wyclif and the English Government,” Speculum 35, no. 1 (Jan. 1960): pg . 54.
83 Evans, pg. 151.

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above two works make up a portion of Wycliffe’s Summa Theologica. There were other works,
of course, but these are the two that will be focused on.
Why did these writings alarm both Pope Gregory XI and the English bishops? How did
these affect his final years in Oxford? The De Dominio Divinio was one the first book in the
Summa Theologica and it advocated reform and that the clergy should not be subjected to
“covetous and worldly passions.”84 He taught in the Divine Dominion that the idea of the
Catholic Church should have better stewardship over the earth and that clergy should not be
exempt from the authority of the civil magistrates. He felt that if the clergy committed civil
offenses, then they should be subjected to the same laws and that the laity had as much fitness as
that of the Church. Naturally, the pope, who believed himself God on Earth, would not have
agreed and that the clergy should answer only to itself.
De Civili Dominio or On Civil Dominion was John Wycliffe’s second book on the idea of
dominion. Civil Dominion states that “civil justice presupposes divine justice”85 and that the civil
lord should be obligated to control the Church. After all, the divine nature of man is already in
full swing in terms of spiritual, natural, and civil. In his On Civil Dominion John Wycliffe also
argued for the total royal divestment of Augustinian ecclesiastical property. This idea of civil
dominion is important to understand. Wycliffe’s teachings here will be seen again when talking
about how German princes such as the Elector, Frederick the Wise (January 17, 1463—May 5,
1525), would defend the Great Reformer from Roman punishment.86 This treatise was a
described civil lordship and how the state should have some ecclesiastical authority over its
priests and bishops, including taxation of ecclesiastical property. In that same year, in December
of 1377, Gregory XI issued another papal bull that he sent to the chancellors of Oxford. Oxford
was authorized to act and try to obey the pope’s demands. Knowing they have to act, the
chancellors attempt to issue a house arrest of John Wycliffe.
John Wycliffe’s ideas would once again be put on trial in 1378 as the Catholic Church in
84 Loserth, loc.3073.
85 Lahey, pg. 210.
86 Oberman, pg.22.

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Rome tried again to have him arrested and held for heretical beliefs. This time he would be tried
at Lambeth Palace in March of 137887 and he would receive no help from John of Gaunt. Even
though, the duke was not present at this trial it appears someone intervened on his behalf for the
trial did not commence because the charges could not be read. Perhaps it was the queen mother,
Joan, who had intervened on his behalf by sending Sir Lewis Clifford. Either way, Wycliffe had
once again escaped judgement. An important note to be made is that in 1378, during the time
Wycliffe was preparing for his trial at Lambeth, Pope Gregory XI had died. With the election of
Pope Urban VI at Avignon, Clement VII had set up a rival curia also in Avignon. This Papal
Schism would last from 1378 until 1417 when Martin V was declared the legitimate pontiff.
In 1379, John Wycliffe began work on his De Eucharistia. The idea of transubstantiation
was a subject he should have steered cleared of because it would accelerate his further fall from
grace with the Chancellors at Oxford University. The ideas he formulated would also top the list
of forty-five direct condemnations in his posthumous heresy trial at the Council of Constance on
May 4, 1415. Throughout 1379 Wycliffe would lecture, dispute and work on his Postilla, which
was an early translation of some of the Scriptures in the Bible.
The idea of how Christ was present in the Mass was an issue of theological debate that
went back into the ninth century. Before the idea of transubstantiation was coined in 1079 there
was the other idea of consubstantiation. What is the difference? Transubstantiation is the theo-
logical belief that during the Sacrament of Communion the bread and wine are changed into the
body and blood of Jesus Christ. Consubstantiation is a theological doctrine that attempts to
describe the nature of the Christian Eucharist. In consubstantiation the idea is that the body and
wind do not change but the “spiritual substance” of Christ is present. The Roman Catholic
Church would codify the idea of transubstantiation during the Lateran IV ecumenical council
while Innocent III was alive.
John Wycliffe, when he wrote his De Eucharistia, would have done to leave the subject
alone. However, his investigations on the idea of transubstantiation led him down a disastrous
path that would eventually ruin him. For his exegetical analysis in Matthew 26: 26-29, Wycliffe
87 Dahmus, pg. 55.

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draws on such theological philosophers like Robert Holcott, William Ockham, and Walter
Crathorn, and St. Thomas Aquinas.
He also believed that if a clergyman (a bishop, priest, cardinal, etc.) was in mortal sin
they could not conduct Mass nor could they perform any sacrament authorized by the Roman
Catholic Church.88 The idea of whether or not the bread and wine become the true body and
blood of Christ will be a subject that will be returned to with Martin Luther who also rejected the
idea of transubstantiation.
On a final note for this discussion on the Eucharist it should be noted that John Huss (c.
1369 to July 6, 1415) rejected the idea of Christ not being present during the Mass and
celebration of the Eucharistic sacrifice. In rejecting the idea of transubstantiation Wycliffe went
not only Church dogma but he also viewed the idea of annihilation of the bread and wine as
apostasy. After if the bread and wine were annihilated, then how can the body and blood of
Christ be present? Wycliffe would address the idea of transubstantiation in his De Eucharista in
1380 and later in the Trialogus, and a section of the Opus Evangelicum entitled De Antichristo.89
The De Antichristo attacks the pope and calls him the Antichrist. This idea will be addressed last
in this chapter as the Opus Evangelicum was not completed because Wycliffe died before he
could complete it in 1384.
In 1380, shortly after he released his Eucahrista, his teachings were condemned. He
was present when the judgment was cast by twelve of his fellow theologians. John Wycliffe had
no idea that he was about to be vilified for his beliefs and when he heard them in late 1380 was
astounded. He would issue his Confessio before retiring from academic life, and he would lose
all support with the Crown after Wat Tyler’s rebellion during the Peasant’s Revolt of 1381. It
was during this revolt that Archbishop Simon Sudbury was murdered by the people as they
rioted.
His Confessio is a precis for his De Eucharista. In it he explains that the body of Christ
is substantially, corporeally, and dimensionally the same. Christ is spiritually present in the host
88 Tanner, Council of Constance, pg. 5 of printoutfrom website.
89 Lahey, pg. 134.

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during Mass. He goes onto say, sardonically, that if Christ really were present he would be
seven-feet high.90 Now, it should be remembered that the idea of transubstantiation was codified
only during the time of Innocent III and that for all intents and purposes the Jesus that is
purported to exist may never had ever said that “this is my body,” nor “this is my blood,” at the
Last Supper. There was no one around to record what he actually said. So how can the Catholic
Church judge what is true and what is not? The Confessio goes into detail on the Euchrista,
which was a series of books written by John Wycliffe, and then taken very literally. Even at the
start of the Confessio Wycliffe takes pains to paraphrase parts of the Nicene Creed or the
Apostle’s Creed. The pseudo-Reformer also mentions that the sacrament on the altar is bread
and wine in nature, and body and bread during the sacrament.91 His Confessio seems orthodox,
and it also seems that the enemies he had made saw heretical thinking. They wanted someone
who would tout the company line and not question the Holy Catholic Church. Later, after he died
in 1384, his followers would spread his teachings.
The Peasants’ Revolt, under the leadership Wat Tyler, was supposedly tied to Wycliffe’s
teachings. But was the Revolt really tied to Wycliffe’s teachings or could there have been
another reason the Morningstar of the Reformation was blamed? His followers were called
Lollards and his teachings probably would not have had a chance to reach a larger extent of his
countrymen. Such teachings would have needed to have been taught and assimilated by the
poorer populace.92 There was simply not enough time for that to be the case. Instead, his critics
scapegoated him for the rebellion. Still, with the help of his Lollard followers, his denial of
celibacy, critique of transubstantiation, and his advocacy for an English Bible that the people
could read in their vernacular language stayed alive and well.93 The Reformation of the sixteenth
century would see his ideas come to the fore again. John of Gaunt no longer supported him and
90 Ibid.;228.
91 Ibid.;232.
92 Oberman, pg. 46.
93 Ibid.;pg. 46.

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the Crown under Richard II (1367 to 1400) distanced themselves from him after the Peasants’
Revolt. He retired to his parish of Lutterworth, England, where he remained for the last three
years of his life. While in retirement he was not idle. Besides saying his Masses for the faithful
he continued to write. His most important writings from this time frame include his Triagolus,
Confessio, and Opus Evangelicum.
Retirement
Work began on his English Bible in 1382, and though he would do a great deal of
translating would not finish it. That task would be for his followers to complete. While in
retirement he remained active preaching at his Lutterworth diocese and editing his vast body of
work. Lollardly had been cast out of Oxford by 1380.
John Wycliffe’s Triagolus, written in 1383, concerns a discussion between three
imaginary people. They are Alithia (Wycliffe’s version of pure philosophy), Phronesis
(Wycliffe’s hero), and Pseustis (the Infidel).94 In the Triagolus Wycliffe talks about the Trinity.
He uses his three main characters to do the talking. Phronesis, for example, argues about the
truth of God’s existence being the must be acknowledged first before any other truth of
something existing can be validated and that it is a contradiction to hold that something exists
without first for the aforementioned existence of the Heavenly Father.95 However, given that
Wycliffe lived in the fourteenth century, it would have been impossible for him to have foreseen
the beginnings of Darwinian thought and the ideas of evolution, which weakened the Catholic
Church’s position on the omniscience of a divine being.
The Opus Evangelicum was the last book Wycliffe wrote, but as mentioned is
incomplete. It contains contradictions to the Holy Bible especially Mt 5:42.96 This chapter and
verse enjoins the reader to give to the one who begs off the faithful for food or money or drink.
Wycliffe rails against the friars begging, yet the Bible specifically says to help them. If the Holy
94 Ibid.;pg. 28.
95 Ibid.;pg. 62.
96 Matthew is abbreviated Mt. The number 5 represents the chapter and the number 42.

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