lollardy

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lollardy. Described recently as ‘the premature reformation’, lollardy developed originally from Wyclif's teaching. Lollards (from middle Dutch lollaerd—a mumbler) were a motley group lacking theological coherence. Few lollards emulated Wyclif's intellectualism, but Oxford lollardy lingered on with a resurgence in the 1400s under William Taylor and Peter Payne. Though Archbishop Arundel dealt the death blow to academic Wyclifism at the Council of Oxford (1411), the last academic, Richard Wyche, was not put to death until 1440. Lollardy also attracted influential men, close to the court, some driven by genuine puritanism, some anticlerical, some selfishly cynical with eyes on clerical wealth. These included the archbishop of York's brother William Neville, and even Arundel's relatives had lollard friends. Providing havens for writing and copying texts, they patronized lollard preachers, which alarmed the government, who enacted the statute De heretico comburendo (1401) to arrest unlicensed preachers and sometimes hand them over for public burning. After Sir John Oldcastle's abortive revolt (1414) and death (1417), aristocratic lollardy was a spent force. Chased from university and aristocracy, lollardy became geographically disparate, embracing local artisans and yeomen farmers, who held negative, often simplistic, views. They banned organ music and church bells, but caused greater concern by criticizing transubstantiation, confession, indulgences, and pilgrimages. Though the authorities feared lollards as dangerously articulate with a backbone of literacy, their negative ideas had little popular appeal except for emphasis on Bible-reading. A small Wyclifite group produced the lollard Bible, the first full translation from the Vulgate (1390), a ‘very literal almost unreadable version’ which the Church unsuccessfully banned (1407). By leaving biblical translation in the hands of this radical group, ecclesiastical authority damaged the case for authorized Bible translation, which existed on the continent. Though lollardy went underground, its extremism made the mass of lower orders, already conservative, more so. Modern historians feel that Wyclif ‘did little or nothing to inspire [the Reformation] and in effect [unintentionally] did every thing possible to delay’ it by discrediting even moderate reform.

Revd Dr William M. Marshall

Lollardy. A ‘Lollard’ was originally a follower of J. Wycliffe; later the term was applied somewhat vaguely to anyone seriously critical of the Church. The Lollards, following Wycliffe, based their teaching on personal faith, Divine election, and above all the Bible. They commonly attacked clerical celibacy, transubstantiation, obligatory oral confession, indulgences, and pilgrimages, and they held that the validity of priestly acts was determined by the priest's moral character.

The movement went through several phases. For about 20 years it enjoyed some academic support, though in 1382 Abp. W. Courtenay's condemnation of Wycliffe's teaching started to deprive Lollardy of a base at Oxford. Some knights at the court of Richard II also apparently supported Lollardy. In the early 15th cent. rigorous persecution diminished the number of its adherents, and after risings in 1414 (led by Sir John Oldcastle) and 1431, the movement went underground. It may have declined after the middle of the 15th cent., but apparently revived after c.1490. While it never won over the governing classes in strength, it seems to have contributed to the English Reformation by providing areas and minds receptive to Lutheranism, and its influence may be traced in the congregational dissent of the 17th cent.

lollardy Described recently as ‘the premature reformation’, lollardy developed originally from Wyclif's teaching. Lollards (from middle Dutch lollaerd—a mumbler) were a motley group lacking theological coherence. Lollardy also attracted influential men, close to the court, some driven by genuine puritanism, some anticlerical, some selfishly cynical with eyes on clerical wealth. Providing havens for writing and copying texts, they patronized lollard preachers, which alarmed the government, who enacted the statute De heretico comburendo (1401) to arrest unlicensed preachers and sometimes hand them over for public burning. After Sir John Oldcastle's abortive revolt (1414) and death (1417), aristocratic lollardy was a spent force. Chased from university and aristocracy, lollardy embraced local artisans and yeomen farmers, who held negative, often simplistic, views. Though the authorities feared lollards as dangerously articulate with a backbone of literacy, their negative ideas had little popular appeal except for emphasis on Bible‐reading.

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