John Wycliff (1320-1384). The Reform Councils and the Council of Pisa (1409). John Huss (1374-1415)

John Wycliff (1320-1384)

At Oxford university, John Wycliff by 1370 stirred up controversy in teaching the freedom of religious conscience of the individual believer, who stood in faith directly before God. He attacked a multitude of practices and features of the church--especially its wealth.

Wycliff's followers, contemptuously called " Lollards, " from a Dutch word of derision meaning " mumblers" (originally directed at the Beguines), preached reform in England. Also, Wycliff's movement made much of the Bible available to the masses in its English translation from the Vulgate. Wycliff's Lollard movement was eventually suppressed--but so was the intellectual ferment of Oxford university where his teachings had been widely accepted.

The Reform Councils and the Council of Pisa (1409)

The institutional church was trying to unify and reform itself--and at the same time bring independent voices of reform under submission--through the conciliar movement, a series of church councils called to unify the papacy and reform the church.

The Council of Pisa, in order to end the embarrassment of having two contending popes claiming to be the sole head of the Catholic church, deposed the two contenders, Gregory XII and Benedict XIII. This reform was undertaken even by the cardinals of both popes--who elected a new pope, Alexander V. But when the two popes refused to step down, there were then three contending popes!

John Huss (1374-1415)

Wycliff's teachings reached Bohemia after his death and were picked up by John Huss, at the University of Prague, in the early 1400s. Huss translated Wycliff's works into Czech and gave life to the reform ideals to the people. This stirred fear in the hearts of church officialdom.

In 1414 Huss was called (under the Emperor's promise of safe conduct) to the Council of Constance to explain himself. But he was arrested by the Council and burned at the stake in 1415--sparking revolt in Bohemia.

Attempts to put down what had become a popular national revolt failed; finally a compromise was reached with the Hussites.