LOLLARDS

Lollards: translation

The Lollards were members of a controversial English reform movement that began in the 14th century. The wordLollardwas a derogatory term, perhaps from the Dutch wordlollaertmeaning “mumbler.” They were also sometimes referred to as Wycliffites because of the movement’s following of the unorthodox doctrines of the Oxford Franciscan John WYCLIFFE.

In his works Wycliffe emphasized the importance of a personal spiritual connection with the deity and of looking at the Bible as the literal word of God.Wycliffe, with the help of John Purvey and Nicholas of Hereford, translated the Bible into English in order to make it more accessible to the common people. The 1390 edition became known as the Lollard Bible and was widely available until it was banned in 1407.

Wycliffe denied the need for confession to a priest, the use of religious images, and prayers for the dead.He questioned the veracity of the doctrine of transubstantiation (that is, the belief that the bread and wine literally became the body and blood of Christ).Wycliffe also criticized pilgrimages. Later Lollards such as the priest William THORPE advanced the argument that pilgrimages were no longer taken for spiritual enlightenment, but instead for bodily pleasure or earthly achievement. Perhaps the most incendiary criticism was Wycliffe’s condemnation of the wealth and power of church authority and the clergy.

Wycliffe’s death in 1384 did not slow the growth of the Lollard movement. By 1395, almost half of England was considered Lollard (Lambdin 2000, 358). Support came from all backgrounds, including the wealthy under the reign of Richard II (1377–99) whose land had been confiscated by the church. Even Richard’s queen, ANNE OF BOHEMIA, had a Lollard Bible; however, she may have used it exclusively to learn English.

Noble support, including that of John of Gaunt, waned when Wycliffe sympathizers were active in the PEASANTS’ REVOLT of 1381.Court support also diminished under Henry IV (1399–1413) when the Roman church became more influential in England and Lollard intolerance increased. The persecution took place on both the intellectual and legislative fronts. Church authorities such as Reginald PECOCK wrote texts disputing the beliefs of the Lollards. New statutes were also passed. In 1406, an anti-Lollard statute was enacted to aid in the trials of the so-called heretics. Thorpe’s account of his examination is especially edifying with respect to the content of the trials. In 1410, trials became more consequential when theDe heretico comburendostatute was made to introduce the burning of heretics in England. Those burned included John Purvey and Nicholas of Hereford. In 1414 Sir John Oldcastle, Lord Cobham (c. 1370–1417), tried to dethrone Henry V (1413–22) in Oldcastle’s Uprising. In 1415, Oldcastle was convicted of heresy and sent to the Tower of London. He escaped, but was captured and executed as the last Lollard martyr in 1417.

The Council of Constance under Pope John XXIII (in the wake of the execution of John HUS for heresy) condemned Wycliffe’s writings as heretical in 1415. In 1428, the council exhumed his remains, cremated them, and threw them into the River Swift.

Although there were resurfacings of Lollards into the 16th century, the momentum had died out of the movement after the suppression of Oldcastle’s Uprising. Most Lollards had been driven underground. The ideas of the movement prevailed, however, and influenced the Hussites in Bohemia in the 15th century. The Hussites’ ideology influenced Martin Luther; thus there is a direct connection between Lollardy and the Protestant Reformation.

■ Copeland, Rita.Pedagogy, Intellectuals, and Dissent in the Later Middle Ages: Lollardy and Ideas of Learning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001.

■ Lambdin, Robert T., and Lambdin, Laura Cooner, eds.Encyclopedia ofMedieval Literature.Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2000.

■ Powell, Susan. “Lollards and Lombards: Late Medieval Bogeymen?”Medium Aevum59, no. 1 (1990): 133–139.

■ Rex, Richard.The Lollards. Houndmills, U.K.: Palgrave, 2002.