John Wycliffe

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Wycliffe, John (c.1330–84), philosopher, theologian, and reformer. He was Master of Balliol (c.1360–1) and Warden of Canterbury Hall, Oxford (1365–7). He was also rector of Fillingham (1361–8), of Ludgershall (1368–84), and of Lutterworth (1374–84), but until 1381 he lived mainly in Oxford. He was in the service of the Black Prince and of John of Gaunt after 1371, and so protected against ecclesiastical censures.

Wycliffe's early reputation was as a philosopher. He reacted against the prevalent Oxford scepticism, which divorced the spheres of natural and supernatural knowledge; in his Summa de Ente he argued that individual beings derived from God through a hierarchy of universals and were therefore in essence changeless and indestructible. His repugnance at the religious institutions of his time led him to elaborate a concept of the Church which distinguished its eternal, ideal reality from the visible, ‘material’ Church, and denied to the latter any authority which did not derive from the former. In his De Civili Dominio he argued that secular and ecclesiastical authority depended on grace and that therefore the clergy, if not in a state of grace, could lawfully be deprived of their endowments by the civil power. He later maintained that the Bible was the sole criterion of doctrine, that the authority of the Pope was ill-founded in Scripture, and that the monastic life had no biblical foundation. He attacked the doctrine of transubstantiation as philosophically unsound and as encouraging a superstitious attitude to the Eucharist.

Wycliffe gradually lost support in Oxford. His Eucharistic teaching was condemned by the University in 1381, and in 1382 Abp. W. Courtenay condemned a wide range of his doctrines and the persons of his followers, though not Wycliffe himself. Wycliffe retired to Lutterworth. After his death his doctrines were again condemned in 1388, 1397, and at the Council of Constance in 1415. The extent of his influence in England is unclear, but from c.1380 his philosophical and theological writings exercised a major influence on Czech scholars, notably J. Huss. The 16th-cent. Reformers appealed to Wycliffe, but his preoccupations were largely different from theirs. Feast day in CW, 31 Dec.

WYCLIFFE, John, also Wyclif, Wiclif, and others [c.1320–1384]. English reformer and Bible translator, born at Wycliffe in Yorkshire, and Master of Balliol College, Oxford (c.1356–c.1382). His role in the Lollard movement and the politics of the Reformation have tended to overshadow his significant contribution to the language. His translations (with collaborators) of the Vulgate BIBLE were the first complete Bible in English and existed in two forms, the Early Version (c.1380–2) and the Late Version (c.1382–8), the second being more idiomatic, less archaic, and freer from Latinisms and generally more highly regarded. Wycliffe was a friend of Geoffrey Chaucer, who may have used him as the model for the Poor Parson in The Canterbury Tales. He did for Middle English prose what Chaucer did for poetry, making English a competitor with French and Latin; his sermons were written when London usage was coming together with the East Midlands dialect, to form a standard language accessible to all, and he included scientific references, such as to chemistry and optics. His style influenced Reformation and later nonconformist writing, and John Milton was among his admirers. More than 300 of his discourses survive, with some 170 manuscript copies of his Bible, circulated from Lutterworth, where he was rector (1374–84). Its opening words are: ‘In the firste made God of nought heuene and erthe. The erthe forsothe was veyn withynne and void, and derknessis weren upon the face of the see.’ Wycliffe's own share in the translations bearing his name is uncertain, but was probably considerable.

Wyclif(fe), John (c.1329–84). English philosopher, theologian, and proponent of reform. He was resident in Oxford for most of his life. His views were not wholly original, and were somewhat protected by the fact that they were normally expressed within the university. However, he engendered controversy by stressing the importance of civil powers within the Church, which scandalized the pope and leading clergy. He is chiefly remembered for his opposition to transubstantiation and his support for vernacular scripture. Some of his ideas were preserved in Wycliffe's Wicket, but his major achievements were to provide a translation of the Bible in English, and to put forward views on the Church which were later promoted by the Lollards. He is recognized in the Church of England Lesser Festivals, 6 Oct.

Wycliffe, John (1330–84) English religious reformer. Under the patronage of John of Gaunt, he attacked corrupt practices in the Church and the authority of the Pope, condemning in particular the Church's landed wealth. His criticism became increasingly radical, questioning the authority of the Pope and insisting on the primacy of scripture, but he escaped condemnation until after his death. His ideas were continued by the Lollards in England and influenced Jan Hus in Bohemia.