Heresy
John Wyclif
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| John Wyclif |
John Wyclif was born in central England in 1324 and died sixty years later, not all that far away from where he was born. He spent most of his life at the University of Oxford where he was first a student and then a professor.
He received most of his income from a prebend at Lutterworth, but he never resided there until close to the end of his life. While he spent most of his professional career at Oxford, he did enter government service for a time. John of Gaunt liked some of Wyclif's ideas, especially along the lines of dispossessing monasteries of their properties. Wyclif performed various special tasks for the government until 1376, when John of Gaunt was driven from power.
Once his protector was gone, Wyclif found himself openly attacked by people who believed his teachings were dangerous. He was brought up on charges in 1378 and again in 1381. In 1382 he was forced out of Oxford, along with a number of his adherents. He retired to Lutterworth, suffered a couple of strokes, and died in 1384.