Million Book Collection - The Fishers of Men Ministries

PECULIAR
CLERK
'
.
285
I
loss of prestige entailed by his discreditable suit with
f
the Archbishop of Canterbury was no recommenda-
tion to any cathedral chapter. He was passed over,
and, say contemporaries, he vented his disappointment
in abuse of Church endowments and ecclesi-
l
astical authority.
Another light on his subsequent career is thrown
by the next office he took. He became, according
to his own expression, peculiaris regis dcricus, a post
for which he was eminently qualified. He laid his
ecclesiastical learning and training at the king's
feet for the treatment of " cases where the Crown
expected to come into collision with the Church ".2
This occurred in 1366, when the Parliament met in
no good humour to consider the arrears of John's
tribute to the Holy See, which was now claimed by
Urban V. The English people had no wish to pay,
and Wycliffe, as the " peculiar clerk," furnished them,.
it would seem, with reasons why they should not
pay.
In consequence of this anomalous but lucrative
position at Court, Wycliffe was appointed in 1374 a
Eoyal Commissioner "to treat with certain Papal
Nuncios who were expected to arrive at Bruges
during the course of the summer ". His work was
again to supply arguments against the Papal
claims.3
It was probably at Bruges that Wycliffe and John
1 The Truth about John Wycliffe, p. 26.
*Ibid., p. 32. slbid., p. 52.