This yeare was a bull sent from the pope vnto the vniuersitie of
Oxenford, to apprehend Iohn Wickliffe, parson of Lutterworth in
Leicestershire, within the diocesse of Lincolne. Also, there were other
bulles to the same effect, sent vnto the archbishop of Canturburie, and
to the bishop of London. Likewise to the king were letters directed
from the pope, to require his fauour against the said Wickliffe, so
greeuouslie was the pope incensed against him, and not without cause,
for if his conclusions in doctrine tooke effect, he well perceiued
his papisticall authoritie would shortlie decaie. As for the popish
cleargie, to them not onelie the sect but also the name of Wickliffe
was so odious, that in recording his opinions and sectaries, they
excéed the bounds of all modestie, aggrauating such reports as they
infer concerning him or his with more than hyperbolicall lies: as
appeereth by that long and tedious discourse which he wrote, that
compiling certeine annales intituled De euentibus Angliæ, prefixeth
this verse in the front of his volume, in letters of red vermilon, as
desiring to haue his name notoriouslie knowne to the world;
[Sidenote: _Hen. de Knighton canon abbat. Leicest. in annalib. de Rich.
secundo._]
Autoris nomen capitales litteræ pandunt:
He (I say) in that copious treatise hauing spoken as maliciouslie &
viperouslie as he might both of Wickliffes life, which he concludeth
to be lewd; of his opinions, which he auoucheth to be hereticall; and
of his fauourers and followers, to whom (at his pleasure) he giueth
vnreuerent epithets (all which to prosecute at length, as by him they
are in ample sort laid downe, would but detect the mans malignitie, and
procure an ouerthrow of credit to be attributed vnto his declarations)
he maketh vp his mouth with a tristichon |718| of poeticall imitation,
to bring Wickliffe and his adherents into perpetuall obloquie and
defamation, saieng as followeth in verse and prose;
Si totum membrana solum, calamus nemus omne,
Et Thetis encaustum, scriptor & omnis homo,
Istorum facinus scribere non poterunt.
Maledictus conuentus eorum, quoniam pertinax, propterea Deus destruat
eos, in finem euellat, & emigrare faciat de tabernaculis fidelium
suorum, & radicem eorum de terra regni; & hoc videant iusti, &
lætentur; vt dicere possint; Ecce populus qui se exaltauit super
electos doctores Domini, & sperauit in multitudine vanitatis suæ:
confundantur & pereant cum doctrina eorum in æternum, &c.
[Sidenote: The nauie setteth foorth, and is beaten backe by tempest.