parish, and designing his son for the clerical profession, sent him to Queen's College, in Oxford, then recently founded. He did not, however, in that new established house, meet with the advantages for study which he expected, and therefore removed to Merton College, which was then esteemed one of the most learned societies in Europe. His application to his studies in this seminary of learning was very great; he is said to have committed to memory the most abstruse parts of the works of Aristotle. His attention appears chiefly to have been engaged by the logic of that acute philosopher, in which he was so conversant that he became a most subtle disputant, and reigned in the schools unrivalled. He then proceeded to his theological studies, and made himself a master of all the niceties and subtle distinctions of what is commonly called school-divinity, which was well calculated to display the acuteness of his parts, and to distinguish him above his fellow-students; and which was the fashionable study of the times. The superior penetration of Wycliffe, however, soon enabled him to discover the unprofitableness of these studies. He chose, therefore, a more simple and more rational mode of inquiring after truth; he took the plain text of scripture into his hands, uncorrupted by commentators and scholastic divines, and endeavoured to discover the true and genuine sense of the sacred writings, without regarding, or implicitly assenting to, any prevailing or established system.

By this method of investigating truth, Wycliffe attained that noble freedom of thought by which his writings were afterwards so much distinguished, and which procured him among his contemporaries, according to the fashion of the times, the title of the Evangelic Doctor. To these studies he added that of the civil and canon law, and is said to have been well acquainted with the municipal laws of his country. As Wycliffe continued thus to extend his knowledge, he increased also in reputation; and he was respected, not only as an able scholar, but as a man of piety and virtue, a sincere inquirer after truth, and a bold defender of it.

Wycliffe drew upon himself the public attention in a more particular manner, by his defence of the university against the begging friars. These religious, who first settled in Oxford in

WYCLIFFE ATTACKS THE BEGGING FRIARS.

25

1230, had made themselves very offensive and troublesome to the University, by setting up a different interest, aiming at a distinct jurisdiction, fomenting feuds between the scholars and their superiors, and in various other respects, so that the University was obliged to curb and restrain them by severe statutes. By these means the foundation of an endless quarrel was laid between them. The friars appealed to the pope, and the scholars to the civil power; and sometimes one party prevailed, and sometimes the other, so that the cause became so general, that an opposition to the friars was considered as a test of a student's attachment to the University.

Whilst things were in this situation, the friars had gotten among them a notion, which they zealously propagated in Oxford, and wherever they came, that Christ was a common beggar, that his disciples were also beggars, and that begging, by their example, was an institution of the gospel.

Wycliffe, who had long despised these friars, on account of their useless and lazy lives, considered this a fair opportunity of exposing them. He therefore drew up and published a treatise against able beggary, in which he pointed out the difference between the poverty of Christ and that of the friars, and shewed the obligations which all Christians lay under, to labour in some way or other for the good of society. He also proved the friars to be an infamous and useless set of men, who wallowed in luxury, and were so far from being objects of charity, that they were a disgrace, not to religion only, but even to human society. This piece made a great impression on the generality of the people, and also increased his reputation with the learned, as all men of sense and freedom admired the work, and applauded the spirit of the author.

The University from this time began to consider Wycliffe as one of her principal champions; and in consequence of the reputation he had acquired, he was soon afterwards preferred to the mastership of Baliol college. About this time, Simon Islip, archbishop of Canterbury, having founded Canterbury-hall, in Oxford, established therein a warden and eleven scholars. The Warden, whose name was Wodehall, was a monk, as were also three of his scholars; the rest were seculars. The archbishop,

who was unwilling to irritate either party, thought proper to divide his favours in this manner. Wodehall, though brought from a distant monastery, interested himself immediately in the quarrel which was subsisting at Oxford; and having vexed the seculars who were incorporated with him, by all the methods in his power, he became next a public disturber, by making it his employment, to raise and foment animosities in colleges, and disputes in the convocations. The archbishop, hearing of his behaviour, and finding, upon examination, that the complaint against him was justly founded, made an apology to the University for placing so troublesome a man among them, and immediately ejected both him and the three regulars, his associates. Archbishop Islip's next care was to appoint a proper successor, and for this purpose he applied to Wycliffe, whom he was very desirous of placing at the head of his new foundation. Wycliffe thought proper to accept of the proposal, and was accordingly chosen warden of Canterbury-hall about the year 1365.

He did not, however, enjoy this dignity peaceably for any continuance: he soon found himself involved in difficulties in consequence of it. He was scarcely established in it, when Archbishop Islip died, and was succeeded by Simon Langham, bishop of Ely, a prelate who had spent his life in a cloister, having been first a monk and afterwards an abbot. The ejected regulars took advantage of this favourable opportunity, and made immediate application to the new archbishop, not doubting of his good will to their order. Langham readily espoused their cause, ejected Wycliffe and the regulars, his companions, and sequestered their revenues. So manifest a piece of injustice raised a general outcry, and Wycliffe's friends advised him to appeal to the pope, who, they told him, durst not countenance such a proceeding. However, Urban V., who was then pope, not choosing openly to interest himself on either side of the question, appointed a cardinal to hear the cause. Archbishop Langham was cited; he put in his plea, and each side accusing and answering by turns, protracted the business to a considerable length.

An affair, however, happened whilst this matter was in agitation, which brought it to a speedy conclusion. To understand

WYCLIFFE OPPOSES THE POPE'S CLAIM TO TRIBUTE. 27

this, it will be necessary to look back to the reign of King John,* who, having drawn upon himself the displeasure of the papal see, had the sentence of excommunication and deposition pronounced against him, and his crown given by the pope to the king of France. The pope also laid an interdict upon John's dominions, and the king of France made great preparations to invade them. King John was very far from being attached to the Roman see; however, being a tyrannical prince, and hated by his own subjects, he was terrified with the dangers that surrounded him; and therefore, to reinstate himself in the favour of the pope, meanly resigned his crown to Pandulph, the pope's legate. The haughty legate treated John with the utmost insolence and arrogance; and, after detaining the crown two days in his own possession, restored it to him on this condition,-"That he and his successors should hold the kingdom of England and lordship of Ireland, from the see of Rome, at the annual tribute of a thousand marks of silver." This tribute had been constantly paid from the time of King John to the reign of King Edward III., and the popes, from the time of John's resignation, seem, in many respects, to have considered England only as a conquered country. Edward had, however, for some time, thought proper to discontinue the payment of this tribute. This measure was extremely disagreeable to the court of Rome, and the pope threatened; but Edward was a prince not easily intimidated. He called a parliament, laid the affair before them, and desired their advice; and they were speedily resolved, that King John had done an illegal thing, and had given up the rights of the nation; at the same time they advised the king not, by any means, to submit to the pope; and promised, if the affair should bring on consequences, to assist him to the utmost of their power. Whilst the parliament was in this manner disputing the authority of the Roman pontiff, the clergy, and particularly the regulars, very zealously defended it, both by speaking and writing; and endeavoured to prove his undoubted right to his revenue by a variety of arguments. Amongst others, a monk, of more than ordinary ingenuity and learning, listed himself in this cause, and published a treatise,

See Vol. ii. Lect. xxxiv. p. 94, &c.

written with great spirit and plausibility, in defence of the pope's claim; and his arguments met with so many advocates, that the minds of the people were kept in suspense. Wycliffe's indignation was excited, at seeing so unworthy a cause defended with so much ability; he therefore undertook to oppose the monk's book, and executed his design in so masterly a manner, that it was not only well received, but considered as unanswerable. In Wycliffe's reply to the monk's book, he maintained, amongst other things, that the pope had no right to impose a tax upon England, which he had never conquered by force of arms, nor delivered from any tyranny; and that as to King John, how sovereign a prince soever he might be esteemed, yet his power did not extend so far as to make his crown tributary for the sake of his own particular interests; or that if he could, yet the tribute ought not to continue longer than his life, nor pass to his successors, who had not, as he had done, murdered their nephews, and consequently ought not to be reduced to the necessity of purchasing so dear an absolution from those censures which they had never incurred. It could not be imagined, that Wycliffe's conduct in this affair could be of any service to his suit at Rome: it manifestly was not; for a very short time after his book was published, his suit was determined against him.

It has been insinuated, by the enemies of Wycliffe, that his chief motive for opposing popery was his resentment against the court of Rome for determining his suit relative to the wardenship of Canterbury-hall against him. This insinuation will, however, appear to be totally void of foundation, if it be considered that his reply to the monk's book in defence of the pope's right to the tribute-money, was prior to the determination of his suit. Indeed, his appearing so openly against the papal see, at the same time when he had such a cause depending at Rome, is the strongest evidence which could possibly have been given to his integrity.

Wycliffe, notwithstanding the loss of his wardenship, still continued at Oxford; and his friends, about this time, procured him a benefice there. And the divinity-professor's chair falling vacant soon after this, he took a Doctor's degree, and was elected into it, the University complimenting him with this both as a