Many people today, present their take on the history of the protestant reformation as the time of Martin Luther. The ideologies, and theologies that Martin Luther promoted can actually be linked back to an earlier time of almost two hundred years. This can be traced back to a man by the name of John Wycliffe. Around the time of 1330, Wycliffe an Englishman born near Yorkshire was a young student who focused his time and attention to the studies at Oxford University. No later than forty years, Wycliffe achieved his Doctorate, with the focus of Divinity. Becoming a theologian, reformer, with the presentation of egalitarianism and the ideals that came with that camp, Wycliffe began to pave the way for the Protestant Reformation.
Looking for a variety of ways to share his ideas, Wycliffe published a portion of his works called the "Summa Theologiae". This was the evaluation of his stance on theology, and the doctrine of the Christian Faith. Within this work, Wycliffe began to challenge the church in ways that it had never experienced before. Challenging it's biblical translations, and the authority of the papacy. The church now, beginning to challenge him as a heretic, the birth of the reformation was beginning to unfold. However, not within John's lifetime; his works, studies and passion for bringing the church to where it is today, has not gone unnoticed.
With the philosophy and theories that John brought to the table, didn't just show how intelligent he was, however, it also showed how much patience and wisdom he held within his heart. The fourteenth century experience change on an everyday basis, and not just within the faith of the Christian church. Music was changing, technology was beginning to make leaps and bounds, and influencing wars in a way that had never been experienced. Due to this, the Roman Catholic Church began to undergo a negatively influenced flow of view. Making way for not only one pope, however, for two. One pope was stationed in the Roman capital, and the other in Avignon. This was due to a difference in belief over the papacy, and their involvement of authority within the church. One was more focused on government being influential of the land, and the other more focused on the papacy being in control. Wycliffe, was in support of the local government being the authority that God appointed. With this said, the papacy was reluctant to allowing the common people of the land access to the Holy Bible. John knew that allowing the public access to the scriptures was the only way to bring Rome to the ground and with this in mind, Wycliffe made this a staple of his mission.
English Translation
With the bible being translated into English, it is unsure with how much influence Wycliffe had within this process. However, it is known that John was an important figure within this time to translate many parts of the Scriptures to English. There were others that helped alongside Wycliffe to make sure that this was achieved, and one of these men was Nicholas Hereford. Hereford, known at the time as a biblical scholar who spent most of his time writing about the influence of the Old Testament, took only the Latin from both the Old Testament translation and the New Testament to translate into English. It is still unknown as to why Hereford preferred the Latin over the original languages. It is assumed that both Wycliffe and Hereford may not have known these languages with fluency.
John Wycliffe gathered his doctrine on the Lord's Supper around the year of 1381 and did so within only two paragraphs. During this time, the hierarchy of England began to move their emotions in opposition of him. These emotions were made public and known towards Wycliffe which in return, he proclaimed that his motions would be unaltered, and John would stay within the same direction he was focused within his original intent. Instead of attending to share his thoughts at a hearing with the pope or other papacy authority, John attended a meeting with the King of England and fought for the appalment, of the accusations of heresy.
After all of the drama that took place in accusation of Wycliffe, he returned to his home, where he posted his antagonisms towards the monks, priest, and authorities of the church. At the time the pope (Urban VI) was not to be known as the one true pope. However, instead the pope brought himself to be known in more of a malevolent intent. With this began the unfolding of the historical and infamous Crusades.
The Death of Wycliffe
With the news of the horrific sights of the Crusades traveling across the world, many believe that this news sent John Wycliffe into a downward spiral towards death. With news of Wycliffe becoming ill, this spread throughout England at a fierce pace. Towards the end of John's life, many clerics, and well known Christian Philosophers attended a meeting at his house, to hear one last message from John. To their disappointment, this did not happen with John being paralyzed, while experiencing a stroke.