In England from Wicliffe to Henry VIII - James Aitken Wylie

lessons which these early disciples had yet to learn.
The bold step of the Wicliffites threw back the
movement, or we ought rather to say, made it strike
its roots downward in the nation's heart. The priests
took the alarm. Arundel, Archbishop of York,
posted with all speed to Ireland, where Richard II.
then was, and implored him to return and arrest the
movement, which was growing to a head. His
pious wife, Anne of Luxemburg, a disciple of
Wicliffe, was dead (1394), and the king readily
complied with Arundel's request. He forbade the
Parliament to proceed in the matter of the Lollard
petition, and summoning the chief authors of the
"conclusions" before him, he threatened them with
death should they continue to defend their
opinions. But Richard II. did not long retain a
scepter which he had begun to wield against the
Lollards. Insurrection broke out in his kingdom; he
was deposed, and thrown into the Castle of
Pontefract. There are but few steps between the
prisons and the graves of princes. Richard perished
miserably by starvation, and was succeeded by
Henry IV., son of that Duke of Lancaster who had
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