* Thought about. So umgang, with the prefix used as in German. :
t Traill, Social England, ii. p. 159. t Ib. p. 226,
§ Collectanea, ii. 329. For the claims of a Supposed ‘ Spress- well’ to be his birthplace, see the Introduction to Wyclit’s English Works, by F. D. Matthew, 1880, p. i.
VERSIONS (ENGLISH)
VERSIONS (ENGLISH) 239
family, the Balliols of Barnard Castle, it may be reasonably concluded that this was the place of his education. In 1360 he became, as has just been said, Master of Balliol; and in 136] he was presented to the rectory of Fillingham in Lincoln- shire, resigning his Mastership soon after. This living he exchanged, in 1368, for that of Ludgers- hall in Buckinghamshire, probably as being nearer Oxford. Whether he was the John Wyclif ap- pointed by Archbishop Islip, in 1365, warden of his secularized foundation of Canterbury Hall, is doubtful.* In 1366 his pen was employed in the service of Parliament, which had rejected the claim of pope Urban v. for payment of arrears of the annual tribute first imposed on king John. On this occasion he terms himself ‘ peculiaris regis clericus.’ + In 1371 he advocated the proposal that the revenues of the Church should be subject to the general taxation. In 1374, being by this time a Doctor of Divinity, he was nominated on a com- mission appointed to confer with the pope’s repre- sentatives at Bruges about the exercise of papal Provisions.£ In his protracted stay on the Con- tinent his mind may well have been stirred by what he saw, to speculate ‘de optimo statu eccle- size,’ as More’s was, when on a similar mission on secular business, in the same region, to speculate ‘de optimo statu reipublice.’ The embassy was a fruitless one. Possibly as a reward for his ser- vices, rau was presented, in 1374, to the Crown living of Lutterworth; where, having resigned Ludgershall, he remained till his death.
In 1377 came the first open attack made upon him by the authorities of the Church. He was cited to appear before Convocation, assembled at St. Paul’s on Feb. 19th. But the prosecution was really a political one, aimed at John of Gaunt, through Wyclif, and the proceedings came to nothing. Papal bulls then arrived, requiring his prosecution on nineteen specified articles. For a time these were suspended owing to the death of Edward I. in June of the same year. But in the spring of 1378 he appeared at Lambeth to stand his trial. Once more, however, the prosecution was arrested, this time by the influence of the Princess of Wales, widow of the Black Prince.§ In 1382 he had a stroke of paralysis, from which he partially recovered. But on Innocents’ Day, 1384, he was again struck down, while engaged in Divine service, and died on the last day of that year.
Such are the bare outlines of Wyelif’s life. It would seem that one of the subjects most in his thoughts, suggested in part, no doubt, by the events through which he lived, was that of lord- ship or dominion. By what title did the pope, the abbot, the secular governor, claim the power he exercised? Was that ‘lordship’ dependent, in any way, on his own personal character? Did it involve a reciprocity of service? The theories he formed appear to have been suggested by the de Pauperie Salvatoris of Richard Fitz Ralph, archbishop of Armagh, who died in 1360.|| But in the mind of Wyclif they did not remain mere speculative theories, but became actively aggres- sive principles. One of his IO ets: was : ‘Quod ad verum dominium seculare requiritur iustitia dominantis, sic quod nullus in peccato
*F, D. Matthew inclines to the view that he was. See the Introduction as before, p.iv,n. Sir E. M. Thompson, in the account of Wyclif prefixed to the Guide-book before referred to, thinks the evidence for it conclusive. ae f
+ Compare the title ‘clericus specialissimus domini regis,’ borne by Philip Repyngdon. It appears to mean king’s chaplain, and not, as some think, a special clerk or com- missioner.
t Stubbs, Constitutional History, 1880, ii. p. 463.
§ Ib. p. 484. ie ae
| See the Preface to R. L. Poole’s edition of the de Dominio, 1890, pp. xxxiv-xxxvi.
mortali est dominus alicuius rei.2* From this great principle, which Wyclif intentionally made a prelude to his Swmma in Theologia, the line of action he subsequently followed may in large measure be deduced. His life was a rebellion against what he believed to be unjust dominion— a rebellion analogous to the national one going on in more than one country of Europe at the time. As a justification of this course of conduct, since ecclesiastical authority was adverse to him, he fell back upon the teaching of Holy Scripture. The Word of God, he believed, would support him in his position, though the religious orders might assail him, and archbishops condemn. Hence he began to lay stress on the importance of a study of the Bible, and the necessity that people should be able to read it in their own tongue. In his tract on the Pastoral Office, probably written not later than 1378,} he pleads for an English trans- lation. After instancing the gift of tongues at Pentecost, and the fact of St. Jerome’s making a translation of the Bible, he continues: ‘ Also the wurthy reume of fraunse, not-with-stondinge alle lettingis, hath translatid the bible and the gospels with othere trewe sentensis of doctours out of lateyn in-to freynsch, why shulden not engliysche men do so? as lordis of englond han the bible in freynsch, so it were not ayenus (against) resoun that they hadden the same sentense in engliysch ; for thus goddis lawe wolde be betere knowun & more trowid for onehed of wit (believed for unity of meaning), & more acord be be-twixe reumes.’ t At what precise date Wyclif began himself to supply this want, we have not the means of know- ing. No doubt, his thoughts had long been turned to it. But the genuineness of what is commonly cited as his first work in this field, a Commentary on the Apocalypse, with translation, has been called in question. At any rate, by the year 1380 he was busily occupied with the task of trans- lating the NT’, while a fellow-worker, Nicholas of Hereford,§ was engaged upon the OT. Hereford’s work, of which the original MS is extant, breaks off abruptly in the middle of a verse, Bar 3”. The cause of this sudden interruption has been conjectured to be a summons to appear before a synod of preaching friars, served upon Hereford in 1382, followed by an adjourned trial held at Canterbury, which ended in his being excom-