Anyone who was half-awake during European history class in high school remembers Dr. Martin Luther – the guy whose 95 theses were nailed to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenburg, Germany in 1517. These theses called for a reform of clerical abuses and practices within the Catholic Church. He is credited with sparking the Reformation and establishing the Protestant Church.
In his famous document, Luther railed against the powers of the papacy, especially the sale of indulgences, where one could buy forgiveness for lesser sins. The sale of indulgences got so out of hand that even the sins of the dead could be absolved, if their survivors believed their beloved deceased were suffering in purgatory.
Luther also advocated for a direct relationship with God, and although we cannot be sure that Luther wore a bracelet with the acronym WWJD? (What Would Jesus Do?), clearly the spirit of that question was in his 95 theses.
Dr. Luther, himself a priest, had the support of German nobles whose purses were being squeezed by the Catholic Church. This support did not protect him from the laws of the Church, and in 1521 he was excommunicated for his dangerous views.
Excommunication is never fun, but it sure beats death. Luther, like so many trailblazers, was a man protesting against authority at the right time; he risked much, indeed, but perhaps not as much as the Lollards, a splinter (read: heretical) group in England whose writings mirrored those of the good doctor, about 130 years prior.
The Lollards got in a lot of trouble in Chaucerian England, for, among other things, translating the Bible from the Latin Vulgate into English (gasp!). Translating the Word of God into the vernacular was dangerous because although your run-of-the-mill English peasant still couldn’t read, those who could would see that many of the teachings of the Church were not in the Bible. Now that’s dangerous.
The leader of the Lollards was Jon Wyclif, an Oxford master of divinity. Wyclif supervised the first translation of the Bible into English, publication date circa 1390.
Wyclif had much to say about the state of the Church in the 1380s, referring to the sale of indulgences as “infinite blasphemies” and calling the pope the Antichrist.
In Lollard Conclusions, Wyclif and his band of merry clerics railed against other practices, including the sacrament of communion, confession, the priesthood, and the vast fortunes amassed by the Church at the expense of those it was supposed to be serving. Sounds pretty Protestant to me.
So what happened to Wyclif and the Lollards? Well, Wyclif was protected by John of Gaunt, de facto ruler of England and the brother of King Edward, the Black Prince. The former golden child of Oxford was allowed to live out his life unperturbed by the perturbed English church. He was banished from his alma mater but allowed to live. In the decades following his death, anti-heretical fever became so high that in 1427 his bones were dug up and burned.
His Lollard disciples were not so lucky. John Purvey and Nicholas of Hereford, two men who were instrumental in translating the Bible into English, were imprisoned for their teachings. By 1401, 17 years after Wyclif’s death, England passed a law stating that heretics could, and would be burned at the stake. The burning of William Sawtrey, the first Lollard to die for his beliefs, sent a message to England and the rest of the Catholic kingdom that unorthodox views would be not tolerated.
Just ask Jan Hus of Bohemia and Joan of Arc.
Tracey McCormick is Managing Editor at GreatHistory.com.
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Titus Oates said:
Oops. The Black Prince was the son of Edward III and died before E III. Consequently, Blackie never became king. When E III died, Blackie’s son became Richard II.
John of Gaunt was brother to Blackie, and uncle to Richard II. He was VERY powerful, particularly when R II was a youth.
May 22nd, 2009 at 8:37 am
Tracey McCormick said:
Titus. Oops indeed. Thanks for straightening out the Edwards and Richards during that tumultuous time. And yes, John of Gaunt wielded some amazing power.
May 22nd, 2009 at 1:49 pm
Frank Chadwick said:
Under the heading of, “It’s a small world,” the persecution of the Lollards plays a central role in AGINCOURT, the latest historical novel of Bernard Cornwell, recently interviewed for this site. Great read, by the way.
May 23rd, 2009 at 2:14 pm
The Pre-Reformation « SheSpoke. Find out what she said said:
[...] Oxford theologian master Jon Wyclif, set about railing against the Church even if it meant being burned at the stake. [...]
May 26th, 2009 at 10:26 pm