| Copyright | ||
|
Home Wyclif and the Lollards Wyclif and the Lollards; Part 4 |
Wyclif and the Lollards; Part 4The latter part of Edward Ill's reign was, as we see, one of those periods when king and Pope were not friendly. Still worse days were in store for the papacy. In 1378 it had returned to Rome, but the Pope who was chosen, Urban VI, proved so violent and insulting to his cardinals that a number of them seceded from him and set up an anti-Pope, Clement VII. Europe was immediately divided into two camps, one supporting the Roman Pope, the other the Avignonese. Each Pope denounced the other as a schismatic; it was not long before pious men, witnessing this indecent contest, began to think that the fault lay with the papacy itself. This opinion was strengthened by the increasing taxation which fell on the Church. If one pope and his papal court were a financial burden to Europe at the best of times, it was doubly a burden to have to support two. Each of the popes busied himself in declaring the other to be anti-Christ, and Europe felt that they were in all probability both right.Thus when seventy years of "Babylonish captivity" (such was the name given to the period during which the popes lived at Avignon) had ended, only to give place to the "Great Schism" and the scandal of two popes at once, it was certain that there would be many led to criticize and condemn the papacy altogether; of this critical spirit Wyclif is the type. Wyclif was a Yorkshireman who had gone to Oxford, where he had become master of Balliol College. He looked at matters from a historical point of view. The faults of the Church, he said, came in the main from its pursuit of wealth and power on earth; if it had remained true to the poverty and simplicity of the apostles none of the abuses would have occurred. Thus he found nothing in the Bible to justify the payments made to the Pope, called annates and firstfruits, or to excuse the holding of more than one benefice at once (pluralities), or to defend the easy and careless lives which were led alike by many churchmen and many friars. These opinions were popular. Wyclif was employed to draw up an answer disputing the Pope's demands for money, and he was used by John of Gaunt in his political schemes. The end of Edward III's reign saw everything going awry: failure in France, corruption and jobbery at home, heavy taxes and great want. The Black Prince lay dying, and his brother, John of Gaunt, was the next most important person in the kingdom. He gained a sort of popularity by abusing the Government and promising reforms. He strove to turn out the clerical party, headed by William of Wykeham, who held all the chief posts. For a time he succeeded, but his government proved worse than the one it replaced. |
Chronology |
| copyright by uus-ununseptium.info |