york00orns

JOHN WVCLIFFE.
But Wycliffe assailed doctrine. He controverted
that which was taught and held concerning the
nature of the presence in the venerable sacrament of
the Eucharist. His views respecting it were set forth
in certain theses which he maintained at Oxford in
1 38 1, and they are fully given in the fourth book of
his "Trialogus." It was no wonder that they excited
hostility,
for they clearly contravened the teaching
which was given by the Church of that day.
He
was condemned by the authorities of his own university.
His appeal to John of Gaunt was met by the
suggestion that he should refrain from speaking concerning
the Holy Eucharist. He was subsequently
prosecuted by Archbishop Courtenay, and a synod
was convened at the Black Friars in May, 1382.
Wycliffe was not personally summoned to appear,
but certain conclusions drawn from his works were
condemned, some of his followers severely punished,
and he himself banished from Oxford. He retired to
Lutterworth. One more attempt is said to have been
made to procure a more distinct personal condemnation
of the great reformer. It has been alleged that
he was cited in 1384 to appear before the papal
court, and that he wrote a letter to the Pope, explaining
his physical inability to comply with the
summons he had received. Professor Lechler regards
this alleged citation to Rome as a thing v.-hich " must
be relegated to the category of groundless traditions,"
and he discusses with much acumen the assumption
that the letter given in Dr. Shirley's " Fasciculi
Zizaniorum " was addressed to the Pope. He considers
that the supposition is unsupported by any
N 2