P022 A Short History of the English Bible.
P022 A Short History of the English Bible.
Two of the greatest events in this period are the invention of printing, in the middle of the fifteenth century, and the discovery of America in 1492. Of Popes there were more than twenty, sometimes two at a time, and in one instance there were three different claimants for the tiara. The great "Schism of the West" ended in 1429, after lasting for fifty years.
There were two important ecumenical councils held. At the Council of Constance, 1414-1418, John Huss and Jerome of Prague were condemned to be burned to death. The doctrines of Wycliffe were also condemned by this council, and he was formally declared a heretic.
It was ordered that his bones be taken from the place of burial, cast upon a dung-hill, and then, with his writings, be burned. His bones, however, remained undisturbed for thirteen years more, when, by command of Pope Martin V., they were taken from the grave where they had quietly lain for forty-four years, and were burned, and the ashes thrown into the Swift, a neighboring brook. In 1431-1443 the Council of Basle was held. This council declared that a "general council is superior to a Pope," a proposition which had been previously discussed in the Council of Constance. In England, after Wycliffe’s death, his doctrines became more popular. The "Lollards,"(1) as his disciples were called, went everywhere, teaching the Scriptures and denouncing the superstitions of Rome.
They met, however, with much opposition. In 1390 an attempt was made to suppress the manuscript Bible by act of Parliament, but it was defeated through the influence of John of Gaunt. In 1395 the Lollards petitioned Parliament for a general reform from the corruptions of the Romish Church, but they failed. Persecution followed. In March, 1401, William Sawtre, a priest, was burned alive. He had dared to say, "Instead of adoring the cross on which Christ suffered, I adore Christ, who suffered on it." He was really the first martyr to Protestantism, though he suffered more than a hundred years before that word became famous.
------------
(FN1)The etymology of this word is uncertain; some deriving it from the low-German lollen or lullen, to sing softly, and others from the Old English loller, a vagabond.
See an interesting article in M’Clintook & Strong’s "Cyclopædia," s. v.
------------