John+Wickliffe


 * ~ c. 1324 - December 1384 ||
 * [[image:600-johnwycliffe2.jpg width="239" height="265" align="center"]] || John Wickliffe was born in the North Ridings, Yorkshire. When he was a young man he went to Oxford and studied at Balliol College. He later became the master of Balliol.

The first thing which drew him into public notice, was his defence of the university against the begging friars, who about this time, from their settlement in Oxford in 1230, had been troublesome neighbors to the university. Feuds were continually fomented; the friars appealing to the pope, the scholars to the civil power; and sometimes one party, and sometimes, the other, prevailed. The friars became very fond of a notion that Christ was a common beggar; that his disciples were beggars also; and that begging was of Gospel institution. This doctrine they urged from the pulpit and wherever they had access.

In 1365, Wickliffe was made head of Canterbury Hall. During this time the clergy began to write in favor of the pope. Wickliffe wrote opposing the pope which he did so masterfully that he was no longer considered as unanswerable.

Wickliffe was afterward elected to the chair of divinity professor. He was now fully convinced of the errors of the church of Rome and the vileness of the monks. He determined to expose them and began speaking out during public lectures. This led the archbishop of Canterbury to deprive him of his office. ||
 * In 1374, he began his career as a reformer as he served as the rector of a church in Lutterworth which became his headquarters. From Lutterworth he sent out the Lollards (his poor preachers) in 1378. Around the year 1379 Wickliffe began translating the Bible into English. He was the first to translate most of the Bible from the Latin Vulgate into English.

The king of England granted a license to imprison the teacher of heresy, but the commons made the king revoke it as illegal. Letters from the king were obtained which directed the head of the University of Oxford to search for all heresies and books published by Wickliffe.

Wickliffe then went into exile as a result of the Peasant Revolt in 1381 for which he was blamed although he condemned it. This exile lasted for a short time before he was able to to return to his parish of Lutterworth. In 1384 he died of a stroke.

In the year of 1428, forty-one years after his death, his bones where dug up and burned for his heretical views. While he was not killed for his faith during his lifetime, Wickliffe suffered much and was viewed in such a way that his enemies still burned his bones trying to erase his influence. He was the Morning Star of the Reformation. || References: [] http://www.ccel.org/ccel/foxe/martyrs/files/fox107.htm http://www.biographyonline.net/spiritual/john-wycliffe.html Reese's Chronological Encyclopedia of Christian Biographies
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