What is the origin of the term Lollard?
Answer: The term Lollard is a pejorative from the Middle Dutch lollaert, which meant “mumbler.” The term was used to refer to someone who had pious but heretical beliefs. It came to be applied to the followers of John Wycliffe (1330–1384).
Who were the Lollards and what did they believe?
Who were the Lollards? The term Lollard is a pejorative from the Middle Dutch lollaert, which meant “mumbler.” The term was used to refer to someone who had pious but heretical beliefs. It came to be applied to the followers of John Wycliffe (1330–1384).
What happened to the Lollards in England?
The Lollards’ first martyr, William Sawtrey, was actually burned a few days before the act was passed. In 1414 a Lollard rising led by Sir John Oldcastle was quickly defeated by Henry V. The rebellion brought severe reprisals and marked the end of the Lollards’ overt political influence.
What is the 'Lollards Pit'?
A gruesome reminder of this persecution is the 'Lollards Pit' in Thorpe Wood, now Thorpe Hamlet, Norwich, Norfolk, where men are customablie burnt, [27] including Thomas Bilney . Lollards were effectively absorbed into Protestantism during the English Reformation, in which Lollardy played a role.
Why are Lollards called Lollards?
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 in particular, and were certainly considerably energized by the translation of the Bible into the English ...
Where did Lollards come from?
Lollard, in late medieval England, a follower, after about 1382, of John Wycliffe, a University of Oxford philosopher and theologian whose unorthodox religious and social doctrines in some ways anticipated those of the 16th-century Protestant Reformation.
What did the lollards believe?
They were critical of the Pope and the hierarchical structure of Church authority. The Lollards emphasized personal piety, humility, and simplicity in their relationship to God, rather than formality. The term 'Lollard' was a derogatory term given to the group by the established Church.
How many Lollards were killed?
Despite these renewed pressures, the Lollard movement struggled on into the 16th Century and were to be still burnt at the stake during the reign of Henry VIII (1509 – 1547). In 1519, seven people were burnt in Coventry and within the next few years there were six burnt in Kent and five in the Eastern Counties.
What does Wycliffe mean in the Bible?
Wycliffe's Bible is the name now given to a group of Bible translations into Middle English that were made under the direction of John Wycliffe. They appeared over a period from approximately 1382 to 1395.
Was John Wycliffe burned at the stake?
Wycliffe was lucky not to have been burned as a heretic in his lifetime. Throughout his life he was protected by powerful friends. He was repeatedly summoned to appear before royal and Church officials. In 1376 he was called before the King's Council, but a riot broke out and the meeting was abandoned.
Why were the lollards unhappy the the church?
Critics of the Church He rejected the Roman church, preferring a church comprising the body of the elect with all authority derived from the scriptures - 'lordship depended on grace' - and he denied transubstantiation and believed in the spiritual Eucharist rather than the physical one.
What did the lollards condemn?
In the 14th century there was an important religion reformist movement called “Lollardy”; the leader of this movement was John Wycliffe who condemned the doctrine of transubstantiation of the bread and wine of the Eucharist. This movement was supported by non-academics, merchants and lesser clergy.
What happened at Lollards pit?
For those not quite up to scratch on their religious history, the Lollards were people who called for the reformation of the Church and, as punishment, were burnt to death in an old disused chalk pit in Norwich which is what the pub was then built on (the space was originally dug out as foundations for the Cathedral).
Why was Wycliffe accused of heresy?
Wycliffe believed that the Bible, not the church, was the supreme source of religious authority. Against church tradition, he had the Bible translated from Latin into English so that common people could read it. The pope accused Wycliffe of heresy, or opinions that contradict church doctrine (teachings).
Why was John Hus burned at the stake?
Despite the Emperor's guarantee of safe conduct for Hus, he was immediately imprisoned. When finally tried, he was accused of the crime of being a Wycliffite. He was not allowed to defend himself or his beliefs. Because of his refusal to recant, Hus was declared an heretic and was burned at the stake on July 6, 1415.
Why were the lollards unhappy the the church?
Critics of the Church He rejected the Roman church, preferring a church comprising the body of the elect with all authority derived from the scriptures - 'lordship depended on grace' - and he denied transubstantiation and believed in the spiritual Eucharist rather than the physical one.
What did the lollards condemn?
In the 14th century there was an important religion reformist movement called “Lollardy”; the leader of this movement was John Wycliffe who condemned the doctrine of transubstantiation of the bread and wine of the Eucharist. This movement was supported by non-academics, merchants and lesser clergy.
Why was Wycliffe accused of heresy?
Wycliffe believed that the Bible, not the church, was the supreme source of religious authority. Against church tradition, he had the Bible translated from Latin into English so that common people could read it. The pope accused Wycliffe of heresy, or opinions that contradict church doctrine (teachings).
Who were the Lollard Knights?
Lollard knights (act. c. 1380–c. 1414), is the name conventionally given to a close-knit group of influential courtiers, accused by contemporary chroniclers of promoting heretical Lollard doctrines during the reigns of Richard II and Henry IV.
What did the Lollards do?
Still heavily influenced by the Constantinian Hybrid, in 1394 the Lollards presented a pamphlet to the English Parliament asking it to reform the Church. Yet, their proposed reforms are an interesting mixture of Augustinian and kingdom teachings.
What happened to the Lollards?
Others recanted their doctrines when faced with torture and death. The survivors were driven underground. The Lollards continued to meet, but in secret.
What did the Lollards see after Wycliffe's death?
For example, despite their imperfect understanding of the kingdom, the Lollards could see that war was inconsistent with Christianity:
Where did the Lollards meet?
The Lollards continued to meet, but in secret. Their simple meetings emphasized Bible study and preaching of the Word. Lollards’ prison in Lambeth Palace. After the Lollard movement lost the support of the king and nobility, it began to take on many of the characteristics of the medieval kingdom movements.
Who were the Lollards of the Church?
Wycliffe’ s influence lived on in England through his disciples, who were called Lollards by the Catholics. Wycliffe had always argued the authority of Scripture over the authority of the Church.
Did the Lollards have a complete understanding of the gospel?
So like Wycliffe, the Lollards did not have a complete understanding of the gospel of the kingdom. They wanted secular and religious offices separated, but they still saw the secular and religious powers together constituting the entire Holy Church. God’s kingdom was still married to the state. Map of Lollardy’s influence.
Did the Catholic Church eradicate the lollards?
The Catholic Church could never eradicate them, and so the Lollards were still around when the Reformation reached England. © From The Kingdom that Turned the World Upside Down. The Lollards The Lollards grew out of the reform movement of John Wycliffe.
What did the Lollards believe?
In addition to the Twelve Conclusions, the Lollards also believed that the primary duty of the priests should be to preach and that every person should have access to the Bible in his own language. Wycliffe and the Lollards were responsible for an English translation of the Bible.
What is the meaning of the word "lolliard"?
The term Lollard is a pejorative from the Middle Dutch lollaert, which meant “mumbler.” The term was used to refer to someone who had pious but heretical beliefs. It came to be applied to the followers of John Wycliffe (1330–1384). Wycliffe was an Oxford theologian who questioned the authority of the Pope and emphasized the authority of Scripture. He is known as the Morningstar of the Reformation.
What is a lollard?
Lollards, the name given to the followers of John Wyclif, an heretical body numerous in England in the latter part of the fourteenth and the first half of the fifteenth century. The name was derived by contemporaries from lollium, a tare, but it had been used in Flanders early in the fourteenth century in the sense of “hypocrite”, and the phrase “Lollardi seu Deum laudantes” (1309) points to a derivation from lollen, to sing softly (cf. Eng. lull). Others take it to mean “idlers” and connect it with to loll. We first hear of it as referring to the Wycliffites in 1382, when the Cisterqian Henry Crumpe applied the nickname to them in public at Oxford. It was used in episcopal documents in 1387 and 1389 and soon became habitual. An account of Wyclif’s doctrines, their intellectual parent-age, and their development during his lifetime will be given in his own biography. This article will deal with the general causes which led to the spread of Lollardy, with the doctrines for which the Lollards were individually and collectively condemned by the authorities of the Church, and with the history of the sect.
Who was the leader of the Lollards?
Its leader during the reign of Henry V was Sir John Oldcastle, commonly known as Lord Cobham, from his marriage to a Cobham heiress. His Lollardy had long been notorious, but his position and wealth protected him and he was not proceeded against till 1413. After many delays he was arrested, tried, and sentenced as a heretic, but he escaped from the Tower and organized a rising outside London early in 1414. The young king suppressed the movement in person, but Oldcastle again escaped. He remained in hiding but seems to have inspired a number of sporadic disturbances, especially during Henry’s absence in France. He was finally captured on the west border, condemned by Parliament, and executed in 1417. His personality and activity made a great impression on his contemporaries and his poorer followers put a fanatic trust in him. He certainly produced an exaggerated opinion of the numbers and ubiquity of the Lollards, for Thomas of Walden, who wrote about this time, expected that they would get the upper hand and be in a position to persecute the Catholics. This unquiet condition lasted during the earlier part of the reign of Henry VI. There were many recantations though few executions, and in 1429 Convocation lamented that heresy was on the increase throughout the southern province. In 1413 there was even a small rising of heretics at Abingdon. Yet from this date Lollardy began to decline and when, about 1445, Richard Pecock wrote his unfortunate “Repressor of overmuch blaming the Clergy”, they were far less of a menace to Church or State than they had been in Walden’s day. They diminished in numbers and importance, but the records of the bishops’ courts show that they still survived in their old centers, London, Coventry, Leicester, and the eastern counties. They were mostly small artisans. William Wych, a priest, was indeed executed, in 1440, but he was an old man and belonged to the first generation of Lollards.
What were the causes of the spread of Lollardy?
The Manichean movements of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries which threatened the Church and society in Southern Europe and had appeared sporadically in Northern France and Flanders had made no impression on England. The few heretics who were heard of were all foreigners and they seem to have found no following in the country. Yet there was much discontent. Popular protests against the wealth, the power, and the pride of the clergy, secular and regular, were frequent, and in times of disorder would express themselves In an extreme form. Thus, during the revolution which overthrew Edward II in 1327, mobs broke into the Abbey of Bury St. Edmunds and attacked that of St. Albans. As the century proceeded there were many signs of national disorganization and of religious and social discontent. The war in France, in spite of the glories of Crecy and Poitiers, was a curse to the victors as well as to the vanquished. The later campaigns were mere ravaging expeditions and the men who inflicted such untold miseries on the French, whether under the English flag or in the Free Companies, brought home an evil spirit of disorder, while the military system helped to produce an “over-mighty”, greedy, and often anti-clerical nobility. In the lower ranks of society there was a similar growth of an intemperate and subversive independence. The emancipation of the peasant class had proceeded normally till the Black Death threw into confusion the relations between landlord and tenant. By giving the laborer an enormous economic advantage in the depopulated country it led the land-lords to fall back upon their legal rights and the traditional wages.
What is the nickname for Lollards?
Etymology. 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 in particular, and were certainly considerably energized by the translation ...
Where did the word "lolliard" come from?
The term is said to have been coined by the Anglo-Irish cleric Henry Crumpe, but its origin is uncertain. The earliest official use of the name in England occurs in 1387 in a mandate of the Bishop of Worcester against five "poor preachers", nomine seu ritu Lollardorum confoederatos. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, it most likely derives from Middle Dutch lollaerd ("mumbler, mutterer"), from a verb lollen ("to mutter, mumble"). The word is much older than its English use; there were Lollards in the Netherlands at the beginning of the 14th century who were akin to the Fraticelli, Beghards, and other sectaries similar to the recusant Franciscans.
What happened to Oldcastle in the Tower of London?
Oldcastle escaped from the 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 seem even more threatening to the state, and persecution of Lollards became more severe.
How many Lollards were burned?
In Lincoln 45 cases against Lollardy were heard in 1506–1507 and in 1521 there were 50 abjurations and 5 burnings of Lollards. In 1511 Archbishop Warham presided over the abjuration of 41 Loll ards from Kent and the burning of 5.
Why were the Lollards protected?
Lollards first faced serious persecution after the 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 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 who left England to pursue the Crown of Castile .
What was the influence of Lollardy before Richard II?
Areas of Lollardy's influence before the death of Richard II are in green. Areas where Lollardy spread in the 15th century are in red. Lollardy was a religion of vernacular scripture. Lollards opposed many practices of the Catholic church.
How many cases were there against Lollardy?
In Lincoln 45 cases against Lollardy were heard in 1506–1507 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.
Critics of the Church
John Wyclif and his Lollard followers were the first recognised critics of the established church since the fifth century. Wyclif was born in Yorkshire in the 1330s - he was a theologian at Balliol College, Oxford, and a 'realist' who believed that one's knowledge is derived from within rather than through the senses.
Persecution
John Wyclif's theology went far beyond that eventually adopted by the Anglican Church of Elizabeth I. His aim was for a reformation of the Church, but his movement failed because of several factors - mainly the lack of an established printing press as a tool of dissemination, and the limited literacy of the population in the 14th century.
About the author
Dr Mike Ibeji is a Roman military historian who was an associate producer on Simon Schama's A History of Britain.
What is a "Lollard"?
The term 'Lollard' became a rather generic label to slap on any opponent of the established social or religious order. A modern parallel might be the way in which those who questioned Western political and moral standards in the mid-20th century were often labelled 'communists'.
Why were the Lollards suppressed?
The fascinating aspect of the story of the Lollards is how the movement was first used by the crown as a tool against the influence of the Roman church on secular English affairs, and later suppressed because the views of the Lollards were seen as a threat to established political order inside Britain. So the Lollards went from being allies of the English nobility to a threat to same nobility (at least in the eyes of the nobility!).
What became of the ideas that Lollardy popularised?
That desire would eventually result in the upheavals of the English Reformation, the establishment of the Anglican Church, and the slow, often painful move towards democracy.
What was the name of the rebellion that led to the Lollards?
This is readily apparent in the rebellion known as the Peasant's Revolt. This popular uprising, which occurred in 1381, was widely attributed to Lollardy, despite the fact that Wycliffe himself opposed the revolt.
Who is the author of Lollardy?
John Wycliffe. The origins of Lollardy can be traced to the writings of John Wycliffe (alternately spelled Wiclif, Wicliff, or even Wickliff) Wycliffe was a churchman, writer, and theologian who was born sometime in the 1320s and died on the last day of 1384. He can in many respects be considered the father of the English Reformation.
Did there exist a Lollard membership card?
The short answer is that we don't know, because of course there were no membership cards, or no annual conventions of Lollards. We can, perhaps, get some idea of the influence of Wycliffe's ideas when you consider this contemporary comment; "Every second man that you meet is a Lollard."