Who were the Lollards?

The Lollards were 14th- and 15th-century followers of the teachings of John Wyclif or
Wycliffe, a priest and Oxford scholar who was supported by John of Gaunt and who
sometimes assisted Edward II in diplomatic dealings with the papacy. Wyclif believed that the
ultimate authority was the Bible, as interpreted by the individual believer. To this end, he
wished the laity to be able to read the Bible in their native languages; in England, circulating
the Bible in English was illegal until the Great Bible in 1540. Wyclif's ideas were considered
heretical (undermining the authority of the church) and possibly treasonous (since church and
state were connected). At the end of his life, Wyclif also denied that the bread and the wine
were transubstantiated into Christ's body and blood in the mass. At this point, the archbishop
of Canterbury condemned Wyclif, who was allowed to die a natural death as a parish priest in
Leicestershire.

Wyclif was a reformer, not a revolutionary, but his ideas rang true to many who were
disillusioned with the corruption of the church (a disillusionment seen in the writings of
Geoffrey Chaucer, William Langland, and John Gower). Most Lollards were probably as
peaceful as Wyclif himself. But during the reign of Henry V (born two years after Wyclif's
death), a few prominent Lollards such as Sir John Oldcastle were involved in plots against the
government, convincing not only the leadership but also the common people that Lollardy
was synonymous with treason.

Margery Kempe was frequently accused of Lollardy: although a layperson and a woman, she
preached in public. Lollards believed that all Christians were priests and that any lay Christian
could preach the gospel; during Margery's lifetime women Lollards did in fact spread the
gospel in English translation. However, this was the only point Margery had in common with
these Lollards, who included one of her neighbors. She regularly engaged in practices that the
Lollards abhorred, including fasting, confession, pilgrimages, and the use of images in
worship. Margery was imprisoned by the mayor of Leicester, and released by the bishop of
Lincoln, himself a former Lollard. Before the actively anti-Lollard Archbishop of York, she
expressed a Lollard-like confidence in her ability to interpret the Bible (note that the clerics
respond that she is possessed), and refuses to swear an oath (again Lollard-like). Yet she
convinced him that her beliefs conformed to church doctrine, and thus won her release.

The Lollards

Lollardy has been called 'England's first heresy'. It was never an organized movement in
the sense of a modern religious or secular organization. There was no 'Head Lollard' or
organizational hierarchy of Lollards. Rather, Lollards were simply people tied together by
a set of beliefs. Those beliefs varied in focus and intensity from one person to the next,
so it is a mistake to think of Lollards as having unified beliefs or set of principals.

What did the Lollards believe?

Having said that, there are certain ideas that were commonly associated with Lollards.
Among these are the beliefs that:

 The pope had no part to play in worldly affairs

 The church was too worldly
 Monasticism had drifted from its spiritual foundation

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  The Bible should be available to everyone in their own language
 'Dominion is of Grace', that is, true power is God's, and attempts to use power for
individual gain is therefore wrong
 As human beings we are all brothers (this was well before modern politically
correct assumption of 'sisterhood' as well)

From these beliefs it was an easy jump to basic principles that today might be deemed
socialism or even anarchism. For that reason, though Lollardy started as a purely
religious urge towards reforming the established church, it came to be seen by the
established social order of nobility and the state as being a threat to their existence; an
incitement to upheaval and rebellion.

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. Certainly, his ideas
provided a platform upon which the later reformers built.

Wycliffe believed that the church had drifted away from its purely spiritual foundations,
and further, that it had no part to play in worldly affairs. He was strongly critical of papal
influence in secular life, and sought to make religious teachings more accessible to
everyone. He thought that the Bible should be available in the vernacular that is, in the
language of the common people, so that everyone could read and understand it, not just
those elite members of the church who were educated in Latin.

Wycliffe began a translation of the Bible into English. For the time, this was an act of
extreme courage, and one which brought him into direct conflict with the church in
Rome. It is worth noting that there were already portions of the Bible available in
English, but no complete translation. 'Wycliffe's Bible' as it was called, was widely
distributed throughout England, and had a huge influence at the time. Predictably, it was
denounced by the Church as an unauthorized and inaccurate translation. Later, in 1401
the Constitutions of Oxford made it heresy to translate the Bible into English

Enemies of Lollardy

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!).

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. Indeed, Wycliffe's staunch ally, John of Gaunt, was
one of the men most despised by the rebels. Yet, in the aftermath of the Peasant's
Revolt, Wycliffe's beliefs were declared heretical by an ecclesiastical body brought by the
Archbishop of Canterbury.

Though Wycliffe himself died in 1384, Lollardy as a movement lasted until well into the
following century. 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 labeled 'communists'

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The Peasants Revolt 1381

The Middle Ages encompass one of the most exciting periods in English History. One of the
most important historical events of the Medieval era is the The Peasants Revolt.  What were
the key dates of this famous historical event? What were the names of the Medieval people
who were involved in this historical occasion? Interesting facts and information about the The
Peasants Revolt in 1381 are detailed below.

The Story and Background the Peasants Revolt

The peasants who survived the Black Death (1348-1350) believed that there was something
special about them – almost as if God had protected them. Therefore, they took the
opportunity offered by the disease to improve their lifestyle. Feudal law stated that peasants
could only leave their village if they had their lord’s permission. But many lords were short of
desperately needed labour for the land that they owned. After the Black Death, lords actively
encouraged peasants to leave the village where they lived to come to work for them. When
peasants did this, the lord refused to return them to their original village.

Peasants could demand higher wages as they knew that a lord was desperate to get in his
harvest. So the government faced the prospect of peasants leaving their villages to find a
better ‘deal’ from a lord thus upsetting the whole idea of the Feudal System which had been
introduced to tie peasants to the land. Ironically, this movement by the peasants was
encouraged by the lords who were meant to benefit from the Feudal System.

The Cause of the Peasants Revolt

To curb peasants roaming around the countryside looking for better pay, the government
introduced the Statute of Labourers in 1351 that stated:

 No peasants could be paid more than the wages paid in 1346

 No lord or master should offer more wages than paid in 1346

 No peasants could leave the village they belonged to

Though some peasants decided to ignore the statute, many knew that disobedience would lead
to serious punishment. In 1380 the government also introduced the third Poll Tax in just four
years. Landlords were constantly increasing rents on their land to which the peasants was now
tied by the Statute of Labourers. This created great anger amongst the peasants which was to
boil over in 1381 with the Peasants Revolt. It can therefore be argued that the Black Death
and the Poll Tax was the cause of the Peasants Revolt.

The Peasants Revolt of 1381

In 1381, and under the leadership of heroes such as Wat Tyler and Jack Straw, the peasants
marched to London in order to present a petition to the king. 60,000 strong, the petitioned
called for the abolition of serfdom, tithes and the game laws as well as the right to freely use
the forests. The peasants also demanded that the poll tax be abolished. John Ball, a priest who

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spoke regularly to the people gathered in the marketplace, expressed the sentiments of the
revolt. The rallying cry of the peasants was a rhyme which spread dissension across the South
of England:

What were the peasants angry about and why had they come to London ?

1. After the Black Death, many manors were left short of workers. To encourage those who
had survived to stay on their manor, many lords had given the peasants on their estates their
freedom and paid them to work on their land. Now, nearly 35 years after the Black Death,
many peasants feared that the lords would take back these privileges and they were prepared
to fight for them.

2. Many peasants had to work for free on church land, sometimes up to two days in the week.
This meant that they could not work on their own land which made it difficult to grow enough
food for their families. Peasants wanted to be free of this burden that made the church rich but
them poor. They were supported in what they wanted by a priest called John Ball from Kent.

3. There had been a long war with France. Wars cost money and that money usually came
from the peasants through the taxes that they paid. In 1380, Richard II introduced a new tax
called the Poll Tax. This made everyone who was on the tax register pay 5p. It was the third
time in four years that such a tax had been used. By 1381, the peasants had had enough. 5p to
them was a great deal of money. If they could not pay in cash, they could pay in kind, such as
seeds, tools etc., anything that could be vital to survival in the coming year.

In May 1381, a tax collector arrived at the Essex village of Fobbing to find out why the
people there had not paid their poll tax. He was thrown out by the villagers. In June, soldiers
arrived to establish law and order. They too were thrown out as the villagers of Fobbing had
now organised themselves and many other local villages in Essex had joined them. After
doing this, the villagers marched on London to plead with the young king to hear their
complaints.

One man had emerged as the leader of the peasants - Wat Tyler from Kent. As the peasants
from Kent had marched to London, they had destroyed tax records and tax registers. The
buildings which housed government records were burned down. They got into the city of
London because the people there had opened the gates to them.

On June 14th, the king met the rebels at Mile End. At this meeting, Richard II gave the
peasants all that they asked for and asked that they go home in peace. Some did. Others
returned to the city and murdered the archbishop and Treasurer - their heads were cut off on
Tower Hill by the Tower of London. Richard II spent the night in hiding in fear of his life.

On June 15th, he met the rebels again at Smithfield outside of the city’s walls. It is said that
this was the idea of the Lord Mayor (Sir William Walworthe) who wanted to get the rebels
out of the city. Medieval London was wooden and the streets were cramped. Any attempt to
put down the rebels in the city could have ended in a fire or the rebels would have found it
easy to vanish into the city once they knew that soldiers were after them.

At this meeting, the Lord Mayor killed Wat Tyler. We are not sure what happened at this
meeting as the only people who could write about it were on the side of the king and their

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evidence might not be accurate. The death of Tyler and another promise by Richard to give
the peasants what they asked for, was enough to send them home.

Definition: The Constitutions of Clarendon were 16 articles that defined church-state

relations in England. Issued by Henry II in January, 1164, the Constitutions of Clarendon
gave Church courts control over Church property, but in cases where the king's subjects or
secular property were involved, accused members of the clergy were subject to secular courts.
The exception was when the charge was the clergyman's first offense, in which case he
enjoyed the benefit of clergy. The Constitutions of Clarendon were one cause of the famous
quarrel between Henry and Thomas Becket, the archbishop of Canterbury.
BACKGROUND

The Constitutions of Clarendon represent an attempt by Henry II to exert state control

over the Church in England. During the turmoil of the Civil War (see Stephen and Maud)
the church had extended its sphere of influence, and Henry was doing his best to reverse
that trend.

The Constitutions were composed of 16 articles, which laid out the extent of papal
influence in the realm and the degree to which church members were subservient to the
crown and English legal custom. The majority of the Constitution was simply a
restatement of English custom and practice, but severe controversy erupted over two
clauses which made "criminous clerks" (i.e. clerics accused of a crime) answerable to the
legal authority of crown courts rather than ecclesiastical courts, and prevented appeals to
the church in Rome without royal permission.

The church leaders in England, including Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas a Becket,

reluctantly agreed to the provisions. When Pope Alexander condemned the agreement,
Becket reversed his field and also condemned the Constitutions. This led to bitter conflict
between Becket and Henry, conflict which finally ended in Becket's murder in 1170. After
the murder Henry revoked the two controversial clauses, but the rest of the Constitutions
remained in effect and were integrated into the common law of Englan

FULL TEXT OF THE CONSTITUTIONS OF CLARENDON

From the year of our Lord's incarnation 1164, the fourth year of the papacy of Alexander,
the tenth of the most illustrious Henry, king of the English, in the presence of the same
king, was made this remembrance or recognition of acertain part of the customs,
liberties, and dignities of his predecessors, that is to say of King Henry his grandfather
and others, which ought to be observed and held in the kingdom. And because of
discensions and discords which had arisen between the clergy and the lord king's justices
and the barons of the kingdom concerning the customs and dignities, this recognition has
been made before the archbishops and bishops and clergy, and the earls and barons and
great men of the kingdom. And these same customs declared by the archbishops,
bishops, earls, and barons, and by the nobler and older men of the kingdom, Thomas
archbishop of Canterbury and Roger archbishop of York and Gilbert bishop of London and
Henry bishop of Winchester and Nigel bishop of Ely and William bishop of Norwich and
Robert bishop of Lincoln and Hilary bishop of Chichester and Jocelin bishop of Salisbury
and Richard bishop of Chester and Bartholomew bishop of Exeter and Robert bishop of
Hereford and David bishop of St. David's and Roger elect of Worcester conceded and on
the word of truth firmly promised by word of mouth should be held and observed for the
lord king and his heirs in good faith and without subtlety, these being present: Robert
earl of Leicester, Reginald earl of Cornwall, Conan earl of Brittany, John earl of Eu, Roger
earl of Clare, earl Geoffrey de Mandeville, Hugh earl of Chester, William earl of Arundel,

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earl Patrick, William earl of Ferrers, Richard de Luci, Reginald de Mowbray, Simon de
Beauchamp, Humphrey de Bohun, Matthew deHereford, Walter de Mayenne, Manser
Biset the steard, William Malet, William deCourcy, Robert de Dunstaville, Jocelin de
Baillol, William de Lanvallei, William de Caisnet, Geoffrey de Vere, William de Hastings,
Hugh de Moreville,Alan de Neville, Simon Fitz Peter, William Maudit the chamberlain,
John Maudit, John Marshall, Peter de Mara, and many other great men and nobles of the
kingdom both clergy and laymen.

A certain part of the customs and dignities which were recognized is contained in the
present writing. Of which part these are the articles:

1. If a controversy arise between laymen, or between laymen and clerks, or between
clerks concerning patronage and presentation of churches, it shall be treated or
concluded in the court of the lord king.

2. Churches of the lord king's fee cannot be permanently bestowed without his consent
and grant.

3. Clerks charged and accused of any matter, summoned by the king's justice, shall
come into his court to answer there to whatever it shall seem to the king's court should
be answered there; and in the church court to what it seems should be answered there;
however the king's justice shall send into the court of holy Church for the purpose of
seeing how the matter shall be treated there. And if the clerk be convicted or confess,
the church ought not to protect him further.

4. It is not permitted the archbishops, bishops, and priests of the kingdom to leave the
kingdom without the lord king's permission. And if they do leave they are to give
security, if the lord king please, that they will seek no evil or damage to king or kingdom
in going, in making their stay, or in returning.

5. Excommunicate persons ought not to give security for an indefinite time, or give an
oath, but only security and pledge for submitting to the judgment of the church in order
that they may be absolved.

6. Laymen ought not to be accused save by dependable and lawful accusers and
witnesses in the presence of the bishop, yet so that the archdeacon lose not his right or
anything which he ought to have thence. And if there should be those who are deemed
culpable, but whom no one wishes or dares to accuse, the sheriff, upon the bishop's
request, shall cause twelve lawful men of the neighborhood or the vill to take oath before
the bishop that they will show the truth of the matter according to their conscience.

7. No one who holds of the king in chief or any of the officials of his demesne is to be
excommunicated or his lands placed under interdict unless thelord king, if he be in the
land, or his justiciar, if he be outside the kingdom, first gives his consent, that he may do
for him what is right: yet so that what pertains to the royal court be concluded there, and
what looks to the church court be sent thither to be concluded there.

8. As to appeals which may arise, they should pass from the archdeacon to the bishop,
and from the bishop to the archbishop. And if the archbishop fail in furnishing justice, the
amtter should come to the lord king at the last, that at his command the litigation be
concluded in the archbishop's court; and so because it should not pass further without
the lord king's consent.

9. If litigation arise between a clerk concerning any holding which the clerk would bring
to charitable tenure but the layman to lay fee, it shall be determined on the decision of
the king's chief justice by the recognition of twelve lawful men in the presence of the

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king's justice himself whether the holding pertain to charitable tenure or to lay fee. And if
the recognition declare it to be charitable tenure, it shall be litigated in the church court,
but if lay fee, unless both plead under the same bishop or baron, the litigation shall be in
the royal court. But if both plead concerning that fief under the same bishop or baron, it
shall be litigated in his court; yet so that he who was first seised lose not his seisin on
account of the recognition thatwas made, until the matter be determined by the plea.

10. If any one who is of a city, castle, borough, or demesne manor of the kingshall be
cited by archdeacon or bishop for any offense for which he ought to beheld answerable to
them and despite their summonses he refuse to do what is right, it is fully permissible to
place him under interdict, but he ought not to be excommunicated before the king's chief
official of that vill shall agree, in order that he may authoritatively constrain him to come
to his trial. But if the king's official fail in this, he himself shall be in the lord king's
mercy; and then the bishop shall be able to coerce the accused man by ecclesiastical
authority.

11. Archbishops, bishops, and all ecclesiastics of the kingdom who hold of the king in
chief have their possessions of the lord king as barony and answer for them to the king's
justices and ministers and follow and do all royal rights and customs; and they ought,
just like other barons, to be present at the judgments of the lord king's court along with
the barons, until it come in judgment to loss of limbs or death.

12. When an archbishopric or bishopric, or an abbey or priory of the king's demesne shall

be vacant, it ought to be in his hands, and he shall assume its revenues and expenses as
pertaining to his demesne. And when the time comes to provide fro the church, the lord
king should notify the more important clergy of the church, and the election should be
held in the lord king's own chapel with the assent of the lord king and on the advice of
the clergy of the realm whom he has summoned for the purpose. And there, before he be
consecrated, let the elect perform homage and fealty to the lord king as his liege lord for
life, limbs, and earthly honor, saving his order.

13. If any of the great men of the kingdom should forcibly prevent archbishop, bishop, or
archdeacon from administering justice in which he or his men were concerned, then the
lord king ought to bring such an one to justice. And if it should happen that any one
deforce the lord king of his right, archbishops, bishops, and archdeacons ought to
constrain him to make satisfaction to the lord king.

14. Chattels which have been forfeited to the king are not to be held in churches or
cemetaries against the king's justice, because they belong to the king whether they be
found inside churches or outside.

15. Pleas concerning debts, which are owed on the basis of an oath or in connection with
which no oath has been taken, are in the king's justice.

16. Sons of villeins should not be ordained without the consent of the lord on whose land
it is ascertained they were born. The declaration of the above-mentioned royal customs
and dignities has been made by the archbishops, bishops, earls, barons, and the nobler
and older men of the kingdom, at Clarendon on the fourth day before the Purification of
the Blessed Virgin Mary, lord Henry being present there with the lord king his father.
There are, indeed, many other great customs and dignities of holy mother church and of
the lord king and barons of the kingdom, which are not included in this writing, but which
are to be preserved to holy church and to the lord king and his heirs and the barons of
the kingdom, and are to be kept inviolate for ever

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