The Heresy That Haunted Medieval England

Описание: In 1382, John Wycliffe was declared a heretic for teaching four dangerous ideas: the Bible should be in English, the Church should abandon its wealth, transubstantiation was wrong, and ordinary people could interpret scripture without priests. He died peacefully in 1384. His followers were not so lucky.

They became known as the Lollards—named from a word meaning “mumblers,” because they were caught quietly reading scripture. Traveling preachers secretly carried handwritten English Bibles across England, meeting in homes at night, using code words and lookouts to avoid capture.

In 1401, England passed its first law allowing heretics to be burned alive. William Sawtrey became the first victim. Over the next 176 years, Lollards were hunted continuously—executed, imprisoned, tortured, and forced to wear yellow crosses marking them as heretics.

In 1414, Sir John Oldcastle led a failed revolt for religious reform. Dozens were slaughtered, and Oldcastle himself was burned alive in chains. After that, Lollardy went fully underground.

It survived through families, secret communities, and certain trades like weavers and shoemakers. Entire regions quietly kept the faith for generations, hiding books, pretending loyalty to the Church while rejecting it in private.

Persecutions kept erupting across England for over a century. Each time, networks were crushed—then rebuilt.

When Martin Luther launched the Reformation in 1517, Lollard networks spread Protestant ideas. When England finally broke with Rome, many who had kept the secret faith for fifty years emerged at last.

Mary I tried to restore Catholicism and burned nearly 300 Protestants—many from Lollard families. But in 1558, England became permanently Protestant. After 176 years, the persecution ended.

The Lollards had survived.

This was England’s first Protestant movement—existing more than a century before Luther. Ordinary people reading the Bible in their own language. Secret networks spanning generations. And believers who chose fire over surrender.