Lollardy
Lollardy (Lollardism, Lollard movement) was a pre- Protestant
Protestant Christian religious movement that existed from the mid-14th century to the English Reformation. It was initially led by John Wycliffe,[1] a Roman Catholic theologian who was dismissed from the University of Oxford
University of Oxford in 1381 for criticism of the Roman Catholic Church. The Lollards' demands were primarily for reform of Western Christianity.

Contents

1 Etymology 2 Beliefs 3 History 4 Representations in art and literature 5 See also 6 Notes 7 References 8 External links

Etymology[edit]

Lollards' prison in Lambeth Palace

Lollard, Lollardi or Loller was the popular derogatory nickname given to those without an academic background, educated (if at all) only in English, who were reputed to follow the teachings of John Wycliffe
John Wycliffe in particular, and were certainly considerably energized by the translation of the Bible into the English language. By the mid-15th century, "lollard" had come to mean a heretic in general. The alternative, "Wycliffite", is generally accepted to be a more neutral term covering those of similar opinions, but having an academic background. The term is said to have been coined by the Anglo-Irish cleric Henry Crumpe, but its origin is uncertain. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, it most likely derives from Middle Dutch lollaerd ("mumbler, mutterer"), from a verb lollen ("to mutter, mumble"). It appears to be a derisive expression applied to various people perceived as heretics—first the Franciscans
Franciscans and later the followers of Wycliffe. Originally the Dutch word was a colloquial name for a group of the harmless buriers of the dead during the Black Death, in the 14th century, known as Alexians, Alexian Brothers or Cellites. These were known colloquially as lollebroeders ( Middle Dutch for "mumbling brothers"), or Lollhorden, from Old High German: lollon ("to sing softly"), from their chants for the dead.[2] Middle English loller (akin to the verb loll, lull, the English cognate of Dutch lollen "to mutter, mumble") is recorded as an alternative spelling of Lollard, while its generic meaning "a lazy vagabond, an idler, a fraudulent beggar" is not recorded before 1582. Two other possibilities for the derivation of Lollard are mentioned by the Oxford English Dictionary,[3]

the Latin
Latin lolium, the weedy vetch (tares), supposedly a reference to the biblical Parable of the Tares
Parable of the Tares (Matthew 13:24-30); after a Franciscan named Lolhard who converted to the Waldensian way, becoming eminent as a preacher in Guyenne, then under English domination, influencing lay English piety. He was burned at Cologne
Cologne in the 1370s; coincidentally, a Waldensian teacher named Lolhard was tried for heresy in Austria in 1315.[4]

Beliefs[edit]

Map of Lollardy's influence. Areas of Lollardy's influence before the death of Richard II are in green. Areas where Lollardy
Lollardy spread in the 15th century are in red.

Lollardy
Lollardy was a religion of vernacular scripture.[5] Lollards opposed many practices of the Catholic church. Anne Hudson has written that a form of sola scriptura underpinned Wycliffite beliefs, but distinguished it from the more radical ideology that anything not permitted by scripture is forbidden. Instead, Hudson notes that "Wycliffite beliefs [stressed] the bible and [insisted] that it formed the only valid source of doctrine and the only pertinent measure of legitimacy."[6] With regard to the Eucharist, later Lollards such as John Wycliffe, William Thorpe, and John Oldcastle, taught a view of the real presence of Christ in Holy Communion known as "consubstantiation" and did not accept the doctrine of transubstantiation, taught by the Roman Catholic Church
Catholic Church in 1215.[7][8] What is meant by consubstantiation is that, contrary to the doctrine of the Catholic Church, Lollards believed "that material bread still existed there".[9] Wycliffe believed that the bread and wine themselves were "materially unchanged by the consecration", but he also believed that the consecration added "the spiritual being of Christ" to the bread and wine.[10] They did not believe the church practices of baptism and confession were necessary for salvation. They considered praying to saints and honoring of their images to be a form of idolatry. Oaths, fasting, and prayers for the dead were thought to have no scriptural basis. They had a poor opinion of the trappings of the Catholic church, including holy bread, holy water, bells, organs, and church buildings. They rejected the value of papal pardons.[5] Special
Special vows were considered to be in conflict with the divine order established by Christ and were regarded as anathema.[11] 16th century martyrologist John Foxe described four main beliefs of Lollardy: opposition to pilgrimages and saint worship, denial of the doctrine of transubstantiation, and a demand for English translation of the Scriptures.[12] One group of Lollards petitioned Parliament with The Twelve Conclusions of the Lollards by posting them on the doors of Westminster Hall in February 1395. While by no means a central authority of the Lollards, the Twelve Conclusions reveal certain basic Lollard ideas. The first Conclusion rejects the acquisition of temporal wealth by Church leaders as accumulating wealth leads them away from religious concerns and toward greed. The fourth Conclusion deals with the Lollard view that the Sacrament
Sacrament of Eucharist
Eucharist is a contradictory topic that is not clearly defined in the Bible. Whether the bread remains bread or becomes the literal body of Christ is not specified uniformly in the gospels. The sixth Conclusion states that officials of the Church should not concern themselves with secular matters when they hold a position of power within the Church because this constitutes a conflict of interest between matters of the spirit and matters of the State. The eighth Conclusion points out the ludicrousness, in the minds of Lollards, of the reverence that is directed toward images of Christ's suffering. "If the cross of Christ, the nails, spear, and crown of thorns are to be honoured, then why not honour Judas's lips, if only they could be found?"[13] The Lollards stated that the Catholic Church
Catholic Church had been corrupted by temporal matters and that its claim to be the true church was not justified by its heredity. Part of this corruption involved prayers for the dead and chantries. These were seen as corrupt since they distracted priests from other work and that all should be prayed for equally. Lollards also had a tendency toward iconoclasm. Expensive church artwork was seen as an excess; they believed effort should be placed on helping the needy and preaching rather than working on expensive decorations. Icons were also seen as dangerous since many seemed to be worshiping the icons more than God. Believing in a universal priesthood, the Lollards challenged the Church's authority to invest or deny the divine authority to make a man a priest. Denying any special status to the priesthood, Lollards thought confession to a priest was unnecessary since according to them priests did not have the ability to forgive sins. Lollards challenged the practice of clerical celibacy and believed priests should not hold government positions as such temporal matters would likely interfere with their spiritual mission. History[edit]

Beginning of the Gospel of John from a pocket Wycliffe translation that may have been used by a roving Lollard preacher (late 14th century)

Although Lollardy
Lollardy is denounced as a heresy (by the Roman Catholic Church and the early pre-reformation Church of England), initially Wycliffe and the Lollards were sheltered by John of Gaunt
John of Gaunt and other anti-clerical nobility, who may have wanted to use Lollard-advocated clerical reform to acquire new sources of revenue from England’s monasteries. The University of Oxford
University of Oxford also protected Wycliffe and similar academics on the grounds of academic freedom and, initially, allowed such persons to retain their positions despite their controversial views. Lollards first faced serious persecution after the Peasants' Revolt
Peasants' Revolt in 1381. While Wycliffe and other Lollards opposed the revolt, one of the peasants’ leaders, John Ball, preached Lollardy. The royalty and nobility then found Lollardy
Lollardy to be a threat not only to the Church, but to English society in general. The Lollards' small measure of protection evaporated. This change in status was also affected by the 1386 departure of John of Gaunt
John of Gaunt who left England to pursue the Crown of Castile. A group of gentry active during the reign of Richard II (1377–99) were known as "Lollard Knights" either during or after their lives due to their acceptance of Wycliffe's claims. Henry Knighton, in his Chronicle, identifies the principal Lollard Knights as Thomas Latimer, John Trussell, Lewis Clifford, John Peachey, Richard Storey, and Reginald Hilton. Thomas Walsingham's Chronicle adds William Nevil and John Clanvowe
John Clanvowe to the list, and other potential members of this circle have been identified by their wills, which contain Lollard-inspired language about how their bodies are to be plainly buried and permitted to return to the soil whence they came. There is little indication that the Lollard Knights were specifically known as such during their lifetimes; they were men of discretion, and unlike Sir John Oldcastle years later, rarely gave any hint of open rebellion. However, they displayed a remarkable ability to retain important positions without falling victim to the various prosecutions of Wycliffe's followers occurring during their lifetimes. Religious and secular authorities strongly opposed Lollardy. A primary opponent was Thomas Arundel, Archbishop of Canterbury, assisted by bishops like Henry le Despenser
Henry le Despenser of Norwich, whom the chronicler Thomas Walsingham praised for his zeal.[14] King Henry IV (despite being John of Gaunt's son) passed the De heretico comburendo in 1401, which did not specifically ban the Lollards, but prohibited translating or owning heretical versions of the Bible and authorised death by burning for heretics.

John Oldcastle
John Oldcastle being burnt for insurrection and Lollard heresy.

By the early 15th century, stern measures were undertaken by Church and state which drove Lollardy
Lollardy underground. One such measure was the 1410 burning at the stake of John Badby, a layman and craftsman who refused to renounce his Lollardy. He was the first layman to suffer capital punishment in England for the crime of heresy. Main article: Oldcastle Revolt John Oldcastle, a close friend of Henry V of England
Henry V of England and the basis for Falstaff
Falstaff in the Shakespearean history
Shakespearean history Henry IV, Part 1, was brought to trial in 1413 after evidence of his Lollard beliefs was uncovered. Oldcastle[15] escaped from the Tower of London
Tower of London and organized an insurrection, which included an attempted kidnapping of the king. The rebellion failed, and Oldcastle was executed. Oldcastle's revolt made Lollardy
Lollardy seem even more threatening to the state, and persecution of Lollards became more severe. A variety of other martyrs for the Lollard cause were executed during the next century, including the Amersham
Amersham Martyrs in the early 1500s and Thomas Harding
Thomas Harding in 1532, one of the last Lollards to be made victim. A gruesome reminder of this persecution is the 'Lollards Pit' in Thorpe Wood, now Thorpe Hamlet, Norwich, Norfolk, where men are customablie burnt.[16] Lollards were effectively absorbed into Protestantism
Protestantism during the English Reformation, in which Lollardy
Lollardy played a role. Since Lollards had been underground for more than a hundred years, the extent of Lollardy
Lollardy and its ideas at the time of the Reformation is uncertain and a point of debate. Ancestors of Blanche Parry
Blanche Parry (the closest person to Elizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I of England for 56 years) and of Blanche Milborne (who raised Edward VI and Elizabeth I) had Lollard connections.[17] However, many critics of the Reformation, including Thomas More, associated Protestants with Lollards. Leaders of the English Reformation, including Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, referred to Lollardy as well, and Bishop Cuthbert of London called Lutheranism
Lutheranism the "foster-child" of the Wycliffite heresy.[18] Scholars debate whether Protestants actually drew influence from Lollardy
Lollardy or whether they referred to it to create a sense of tradition. Despite the debate about the extent of Lollard influence there are ample records of the persecution of Lollards from this period. In the Diocese of London there are records of about 310 Lollards being prosecuted or forced to abjure between 1510 and 1532. In Lincoln 45 cases against Lollardy
Lollardy were heard in 1506–07 and in 1521 there were 50 abjurations and 5 burnings of Lollards. In 1511 Archbishop Warham presided over the abjuration of 41 Lollards from Kent and the burning of 5.[19] The extent of Lollardy
Lollardy in the general populace at this time is unknown, but the prevalence of Protestant
Protestant iconoclasm in England suggests Lollard ideas may still have had some popular influence if Huldrych Zwingli
Huldrych Zwingli was not the source, as Lutheranism
Lutheranism did not advocate iconoclasm. Lollards were persecuted again between 1554 and 1559 during the Revival of the Heresy
Heresy Acts, under the Catholic Mary I of England, which specifically suppressed heresy and Lollardy. The similarity between Lollards and later English Protestant
Protestant groups such as the Baptists, Puritans, and Quakers, also suggests some continuation of Lollard ideas through the Reformation. Representations in art and literature[edit] The Church used art as an anti-Lollard weapon. Lollards were represented as foxes dressed as monks or priests preaching to a flock of geese on misericords.[20] These representations alluded to the story of the preaching fox found in popular medieval literature such as The History of Reynard
Reynard the Fox
Fox and The Shifts of Raynardine. The fox lured the geese closer and closer with its words until it was able to snatch a victim to devour. The moral of this story was that foolish people are seduced by false doctrines. See also[edit]

Christianity portal

Margery Baxter Ecclesiae Regimen General Prologue of the Wycliffe Bible Jan Hus Jerome of Prague William Langland Nicholas Love Thomas Netter Piers Plowman Piers Plowman
Piers Plowman tradition Waldensians

Notes[edit]

^ Roberts, Chris (2006), Heavy Words Lightly Thrown: The Reason Behind Rhyme, Thorndike Press, ISBN 0-7862-8517-6 . ^ cf. English lullaby, and the modern Dutch and German lallen "to babble, to talk drunkenly".Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, entry for "lallen" ^ Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford University Press . ^ TJ van Bright. The Bloody Theater or Martyrs Mirror of the Defenseless Christians (1660). Third English Edition. 1886. Translated by Joseph F. Sohm. Herald Press, Scottsdale, Pennsylvania. ^ a b Aston, Margaret (1996). " Lollardy
Lollardy - Oxford Reference". Encyclopedia of the Reformation. ISBN 978-0-19-506493-3. Retrieved 2017-05-31.  – via  OUP
OUP (subscription required) ^ Hudson 1988, p. 280. ^ Walker, Greg (6 February 2013). Reading Literature Historically: Drama and Poetry from Chaucer to the Reformation. Edinburgh University Press. p. 152. ISBN 9780748681037.  ^ Hornbeck, J. Patrick (10 September 2010). What is a lollard?: dissent and belief in late medieval England. Oxford University Press. p. 72. ISBN 9780199589043.  ^ Hudson 1988, p. 281. ^ Hudson 1988, p. 282. ^ Gasse, Roseanne (1996-01-01). "Margery Kempe and Lollardy". Magistra. Retrieved 2017-05-30.  – via HighBeam (subscription required) ^ Walker, Greg (1993-05-01). "Heretical Sects in Pre-Reformation England". History Today. Retrieved 2017-05-30.  – via  HighBeam (subscription required) ^ Hudson 1988, p. 306. ^ Walsingham. Historia Anglicana. 2. p. 189. . ^ Richardson 2007, pp. 87–89. ^ Rackham, Oliver (1976). Trees and Woodland in the British Landscape. JM Dent & Sons. pp. 137–38. ISBN 0-460-04183-5. . ^ Richardson 2007, pp. 10–11, 87–89. ^ Potter, R. "Documents on the changing status of the English Vernacular, 1500–1540". RIC. Retrieved March 11, 2008. . ^ Dickens, AG (1959). Lollards & Protestants in the Diocese of York, 1509–58. A&C Black. ISBN 9780907628057. . ^ Benton, Janetta (January 1997). Holy Terrors: Gargoyles on Medieval Buildings. Abbeville Press. ISBN 978-0-7892-0182-9. , p. 83

References[edit]

Duffy, Eamon (1992), The Stripping of the Altars, Yale University Press . Hudson, Anne (1988), "The Ideology of Reformation", The Premature Reformation: Wycliffite Texts and Lollard History, Oxford: Clarendon Press . Lowe, Ben (2004), "Teaching in the 'Schole of Christ': Law, Learning, and Love in Early Lollard Pacifism", Catholic Historical Review, 90 (3): 405–38, doi:10.1353/cat.2004.0142 . Lutton, Robert (2006), Lollardy
Lollardy and Orthodox Religion in Pre-Reformation England, Woodbridge and Suffolk, UK: Boydell and Brewer . McFarlane, KB (1952), The Origins of Religious Dissent in England . Rex, Richard (2002), The Lollards: Social History in Perspective, New York: Palgrave . Richardson, Ruth Elizabeth (2007), Mistress Blanche, Queen Elizabeth I's Confidante, Logaston Press . ———; Richardson, TG, Blanche Parry . Robson, John Adam (1961). Wyclif and the Oxford Schools: The Relation of the "Summa de Ente" to Scholastic Debates at Oxford in the Later Fourteenth Century. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.  edit & trans. Shannon McSheffrey and Norman Tanner, ed. (2003). "Lollards of Coventry, 1486–1522". Royal Historical Society. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Camden Fifth Series 23.  McSheffrey, Shannon (2005). "Heresy, Orthodoxy and English Vernacular Religion 1480–1525". Past and Present. 186 (1): 47–80. doi:10.1093/pastj/gti001. 

External links[edit]

Wikisource
Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Lollards.

The Lollard Society — society dedicated to providing a forum for the study of the Lollards BBC radio 4 discussion from In Our Time. "John Wyclif and the Lollards". (45 mins)

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