John Wycliffe

John Wycliffe
Portrait by Thomas Kirkby, c. 1828
Born	c. 1328 Hipswell, Yorkshire, Kingdom of England
Died	31 December 1384(1384-12-31) (aged 56) Lutterworth, Leicestershire, England[1]
Alma mater	Merton College, Oxford
Notable work	Wycliffe's Bible (attributed)
Era	Medieval philosophy
Region	Western philosophy
School	Scholasticism
Main interests	Theology

John Wycliffe (/ˈwɪklɪf/; also spelled Wyclif, Wickliffe, and other variants;^[a] c. 1328 – 31 December 1384)^[2] was an English scholastic philosopher, theologian, purported biblical translator, reformer, Catholic priest, and a seminary professor at the University of Oxford. He became an influential dissident within the Catholic priesthood during the 14th century and is considered an important predecessor to Protestantism. Wycliffe questioned the privileged status of the clergy, who had bolstered their powerful role in England,^[3] and advocated radical poverty of the clergy.

Wycliffe has been characterised as the "evening star" of scholasticism and as the morning star or stella matutina of the English Reformation.^[4][5]

Wycliffe's later followers, derogatorily called Lollards by their orthodox contemporaries in the 15th and 16th centuries, adopted many of the beliefs attributed to Wycliffe such as theological virtues, predestination, iconoclasm, and the notion of caesaropapism, while questioning the veneration of saints, the sacraments, requiem masses, transubstantiation, monasticism, and the legitimacy or role of the Papacy. Like the Waldensians, Hussites and Friends of God,^[6] the Lollard movement in some ways anticipated the Protestant Reformation.^[7] Wycliffe's writings in Latin greatly influenced the philosophy and teaching of the Czech reformer Jan Hus (c. 1369–1415), whose execution in 1415 sparked a revolt that led to the Hussite Wars of 1419–1434.^[8]

Wycliffe is traditionally believed to have advocated translation of the Bible into the common vernacular, though more recent scholarship has minimalized the extent of his advocacy.^{[9]: 7–8 [10][11]} According to tradition, Wycliffe is said to have completed a translation direct from the Vulgate into Middle English – a version now known as Wycliffe's Bible. He may have personally translated the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, but it is possible he initially translated the entire New Testament Early Version. It is assumed that his associates translated the Old Testament and revised the Late Version. Wycliffe's Bible appears to have been completed prior to 1384 with additional updated versions being done by Wycliffe's assistant John Purvey, and others, in 1388 and 1395. More recently, historians of the Wycliffite movement have suggested that Wycliffe had at most a minor role in the actual translations^[12] or contributed ad hoc passages taken from his English theological writings, with some, building on the earlier theories of Francis Aidan Gasquet,^[13] going as far as to suggest he had no role in the translations other than the translation projects perhaps being inspired, at least partially, by Wycliffe's biblicism at Oxford, but otherwise being orthodox Catholic translations later co-opted by his followers.^[9]

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