Wicliffe and His Times - James Aitken Wylie

established in England, where, from their black
cloak and hood, they were popularly termed the
Black Friars.
Finding themselves now powerful, they
attacked the laws and privileges of the University
of Oxford, where they had established themselves,
claiming independence of its jurisdiction. This
drew on a battle between them and the college
authorities. The first to oppose their encroachments
was Fitzralph (Armachanus), who had been
appointed to the chancellorship of Oxford in 1333,
and in 1347 became Archbishop of Armagh.
Fitzralph declared that under this "pestiferous
canker," as he styled mendicancy, everything that
was good and fair – letters, industry, obedience,
morals – was being blighted. He carried his
complaints all the way to Avignon, where the
Popes then lived, in the hope of effecting a
reformation of this crying evil. The heads of the
address which he delivered before the Pontiff were
as follow: – That the friars were propagating a
pestiferous doctrine, subversive of the testament of
Jesus Christ; that, owing to their machinations, the
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