This appendix traces the long arc from Wycliffe’s birth through the emergence of a printed English Bible in every parish. It links key moments in his life with the parallel story of Lollardy, continental reform, printing technology, and the work of Tyndale and his successors. The dates are approximate where noted, but together they show an unbroken line of providence from manuscript to movable type, from a handful of Lollard readers to a nation with Scripture in its own tongue.

Wycliffe’s Formation and England in Crisis (c. 1300–1374)

c. 1300

Nicholas of Hereford, later one of Wycliffe’s closest allies and a chief hand in the first English Bible translation, is born. His life will intersect Wycliffe’s in the crucial years when the Latin Vulgate is first rendered into complete English.

c. 1328–1330

John Wycliffe is born in Yorkshire, probably in the village of Hipswell near Richmond. He grows up in a world shaped by feudal bonds, local lordship, and the powerful presence of the medieval Church in everyday life.

1348–1349

The Black Death reaches England and sweeps through the country, killing perhaps a third to a half of the population. The young Wycliffe, about nineteen to twenty-one years old, survives. The plague exposes the fragility of life, the inadequacy of many clergy, and the need for solid biblical hope in the face of death—realities that will mark his theology.

c. 1350

Wycliffe arrives at Oxford as a student. The university is the intellectual heart of England, where scholastic theology, canon law, and philosophy are debated. Here Wycliffe is formed as a philosopher and theologian with a sharp mind and a growing concern for truth and justice.

1356

He is ordained to the priesthood. Wycliffe now belongs formally to the clerical estate whose abuses he will later denounce. His ordination also gives him direct pastoral experience, which deepens his sense of responsibility to feed Christ’s flock with the Word of God.

1361

Wycliffe becomes Master of Balliol College, Oxford, a position of academic prestige and influence. His reputation as a scholar and teacher begins to grow, particularly in theology and in the complex field of both civil and canon law.

1365–1366

Pope Urban V demands that England resume payment of the old feudal tribute first acknowledged in the days of King John, adding a claim for thirty-three years of arrears. Parliament flatly refuses. Wycliffe writes his earliest political-theological works in defense of England’s stand, arguing that papal claims to earthly dominion must be tested by Scripture and law.

1372

Wycliffe is awarded the degree of Doctor of Theology, the highest academic rank in the medieval theological faculty. This formal recognition cements his status as one of Oxford’s leading theologians and gives added weight to his later critiques of papal power and clerical abuses.

1374

He is appointed to a royal commission sent to Bruges to negotiate with papal representatives over appointments and revenues. This mission exposes him first-hand to the machinery of papal finance and deepens his conviction that Rome has strayed far from the humble pattern of Christ and His apostles.

From Court Theologian to Dangerous Reformer (1376–1384)

1376–1377

During the “Good Parliament,” reform-minded members of the Commons attack royal corruption and papal exactions. Under the protection of John of Gaunt, Wycliffe’s major work De civili dominio (On Civil Dominion) begins to circulate. In it he argues that true lordship and property right are founded in grace, not merely in office or custom—a doctrine that will alarm both Church and crown.

1377

Pope Gregory XI issues five bulls against Wycliffe, condemning his teachings and summoning him for examination. Wycliffe is called to appear at St. Paul’s Cathedral, but the proceedings are disrupted by clashes between Londoners and noble factions. In the same year King Edward III dies, and the ten-year-old Richard II comes to the throne, introducing political instability into an already tense religious scene.

1378

The Great Western Schism begins, with two rival popes—one at Rome, the other at Avignon—each claiming to be the true Vicar of Christ. The spectacle of competing papal courts shatters what remained of Wycliffe’s confidence in papal authority. Around this time he completes De ecclesia (On the Church), redefining the true Church as the company of the predestined rather than the institutional hierarchy. An English council at Lambeth—sometimes called the “Earthquake Council” because of a tremor felt during its sessions—issues only mild censure, in part due to popular and noble support for Wycliffe.

1380–1381

Wycliffe now publicly attacks the prevailing doctrine of transubstantiation, arguing that the substance of bread and wine remains while Christ is truly present sacramentally and spiritually. At the same time, he and his circle undertake the great labor of translating the entire Bible into English from the Latin Vulgate. These years mark the decisive turn from academic critique to constructive reform centered on Scripture.

1382

The first complete English Bible, often called the “Early Version,” is finished—highly literal, closely following Latin structure, but groundbreaking in its scope. Oxford authorities condemn twenty-four Wycliffite propositions, particularly on the Eucharist and dominion. In the same year the Peasants’ Revolt shakes England; though Wycliffe neither taught nor encouraged revolution, some blame his criticisms of authority for inspiring unrest. Anne of Bohemia marries Richard II, creating a crucial link between England and Prague through which Wycliffe’s Latin writings will soon travel.

31 December 1384

John Wycliffe suffers a final stroke while in Lutterworth and dies a few days later. He is buried quietly in the parish churchyard. His enemies have silenced the man, but his writings and his English Bible continue to move among scholars and commoners alike.

Lollardy, Revision of the English Bible, and Growing Repression (1387–1428)

1387–1388

Lollards, drawing heavily on Wycliffe’s thought, publish and affix the “Twelve Conclusions” to the doors of Westminster and St. Paul’s, attacking clerical corruption, pilgrimages, images, and unscriptural practices. Their boldness shows that Wycliffe’s ideas have taken root beyond the university and the court.

1388–1394

John Purvey and other Wycliffite scholars undertake a thorough revision of the English Bible. The “Later Version” appears, using better Latin witnesses and clearer English idiom while retaining the literal care of the first translation. It becomes the standard Wycliffite Bible and will shape English biblical language for generations.

1395

A substantial Lollard manifesto—sometimes identified with a fuller set of “Conclusions”—is presented to Parliament. It calls for wide reform of doctrine and practice in light of Scripture. Parliament and the hierarchy react with anger and alarm, associating Lollardy with both religious error and potential political disorder.

1401

The statute De heretico comburendo is enacted under Henry IV, making it legal for secular authorities to burn convicted, unrepentant heretics at the request of the Church. William Sawtry, a priest who denies transubstantiation, becomes the first known victim burned in England explicitly for heresy. Henry IV had seized the throne from Richard II two years earlier and leans heavily on ecclesiastical support; repression of Lollardy is part of the price.

1407–1409

Archbishop Thomas Arundel intensifies the campaign against Lollardy. Provincial councils discuss measures to restrict preaching, teaching, and the circulation of English books. The groundwork is laid for a direct assault on vernacular Scripture.

1408

The Constitutions of Oxford are promulgated. They forbid the making of any new translation of the Bible into English or other tongues without episcopal approval and prohibit the reading, publicly or privately, of books “lately composed in the time of John Wycliffe or since.” Wycliffe-era English Scriptures are now directly targeted.

1414

Sir John Oldcastle, Lord Cobham—once close to the crown and sympathetic to Lollard beliefs—is implicated in a rising and escapes into hiding. The attempted gathering hardens the government’s resolve to treat Lollardy as both religious heresy and political sedition. Henry V is crowned the same year, inheriting a kingdom already committed to suppressing Wycliffite teaching.

1415

Oldcastle is eventually captured and executed by hanging and burning as both traitor and heretic. At the Council of Constance, Jan Hus of Prague—deeply influenced by Wycliffe’s writings on Scripture and the Church—is condemned and burned at the stake on 6 July for “Wycliffite” doctrines. Wycliffe’s reach, stretching to Bohemia, is now written in blood.

1417

The same Council of Constance issues a formal condemnation of Wycliffe, anathematizing 267 articles attributed to him and declaring him an obstinate heretic. His writings are ordered to be burned, and his remains to be removed from consecrated ground. Officially, Wycliffe is branded the arch-heretic behind a continental wave of reform.

1428

Carrying out the council’s decree, under Pope Martin V’s authority, Bishop Richard Fleming of Lincoln orders Wycliffe’s bones exhumed from the Lutterworth churchyard. They are burned, and the ashes are thrown into the nearby River Swift. In later reflection, this act becomes a powerful symbol: as the Swift runs into the Avon, the Avon into the Severn, and the Severn into the sea, so Wycliffe’s teaching, in spite of persecution, spreads far beyond England.

Printing, Persistent Lollardy, and Humanist Foundations (c. 1450–1525)

c. 1450–1455

Johannes Gutenberg perfects movable type in Mainz. Around 1455, the first printed Latin Bible appears. The technology that will one day multiply English Bibles begins its work with the Vulgate, setting in motion a revolution in the production and distribution of books.

1450s–1500s

Despite legal prohibitions and periodic crackdowns, small Lollard communities continue across England. They meet quietly in homes and fields, read from hand-copied English Scriptures, teach one another the Lord’s Prayer and the Ten Commandments, and criticize unbiblical practices. Wycliffe’s ideas survive here as lived piety more than as academic theory.

1506–1509

Desiderius Erasmus, the great humanist scholar, visits England, forming friendships with men such as John Colet and Thomas More. During and after these years he begins work on a critical edition of the Greek New Testament, drawing on multiple manuscripts and seeking a text close to the original.

1516

Erasmus publishes the first printed Greek New Testament. This edition, accompanied by a revised Latin translation, becomes a primary tool for Reformers and translators. It gives scholars direct access to the Greek text that lies behind the Vulgate and thus behind Wycliffe’s English Bible.

1525

William Tyndale, convinced that the Scriptures must be translated from the original tongues, oversees the printing of his English New Testament in Cologne and then in Worms. His work, largely based on Erasmus’s Greek text, is the first printed New Testament in English.

1526

Smuggled copies of Tyndale’s New Testament reach England hidden in bales of cloth and other goods. Bishop Cuthbert Tunstall of London orders these New Testaments publicly burned, echoing earlier burnings of Wycliffite manuscripts. Yet, as before, destruction only increases desire; the more copies are seized, the more people want to read them.

From Royal Supremacy to the Great Bible (1530–1539)

1530

Tyndale’s translation of the Pentateuch (the first five books of Moses) is printed, giving English readers, for the first time in print, large portions of the Old Testament directly from Hebrew. His work continues the path Wycliffe opened, but with a more accurate textual base.

1534

Parliament passes the Act of Supremacy. Henry VIII is declared Supreme Head of the Church of England, severing papal jurisdiction in the realm. Though the king’s initial motives are political and personal rather than doctrinal, his break with Rome opens space for a more open circulation of vernacular Scripture.

1535

Miles Coverdale publishes the first complete printed Bible in English. Drawing on Tyndale’s work where available and using Latin and German sources elsewhere, Coverdale produces a single-volume Bible now legally printed, though not yet fully authorized for liturgical use. In this moment, the dream that Wycliffe had pursued with hand-copied manuscripts begins to be realized in printed form.

1536

William Tyndale is arrested near Antwerp, condemned for heresy, strangled, and then burned at the stake on 6 October. According to later tradition, he prays with his last breath, “Lord, open the King of England’s eyes.” His death stands in the line of Wycliffe’s followers who suffered for the sake of giving Scripture to the people.

1537

“Matthew’s Bible,” edited by John Rogers under the pseudonym Thomas Matthew and drawing heavily on Tyndale’s translations, receives royal license for sale in England. For the first time, an English Bible with a strong Tyndale foundation is published with explicit royal approval.

1539

The “Great Bible,” overseen by Coverdale and based largely on Tyndale and Matthew’s Bible, is issued by royal authority. Copies are ordered to be placed in every parish church in the realm, chained to lecterns so that all may come and read or hear. What Wycliffe and the Lollards once did in secret, with precious hand-copied manuscripts, is now done openly under the crown’s command: the Bible in English stands in the heart of every parish.

From the obscure birth of a Yorkshire scholar in the 1320s to the public display of the Great Bible in 1539, this timeline shows a single thread of divine providence. Wycliffe’s insistence on Scripture’s authority, his labor for an English Bible, the courage of Lollard readers, the scholarship of Erasmus, and the sacrifice of Tyndale and others all converge. Together they break the medieval monopoly on God’s Word and ensure that, in England, the Scriptures in the language of the people can no longer be chained.

You May Also Enjoy

John Wycliffe: Oxford Scholar and Defender of English Liberties

About the Author

CLICK LINKED IMAGE TO VISIT ONLINE STORE

CLICK TO SCROLL THROUGH OUR BOOKS