What Chaucer hints, or places in the mouths of his characters, with
apparently no very serious intent, Wiclif, himself a secular priest,
proclaimed boldly and as of prime importance, first from his professor's
chair at Oxford, and then from his forced retirement at Lutterworth, where
he may well have been the model of Chaucer's poor parson.
Wiclif was born in 1324, four years before Chaucer. The same abuses which
called forth the satires of Langland and Chaucer upon monk and friar, and
which, if unchecked, promised universal corruption, aroused the
martyr-zeal of Wiclif; and similar reproofs are to be found in his work
entitled "Objections to Friars," and in numerous treatises from his pen
against many of the doctrines and practices of the Church.
Noted for his learning and boldness, he was sent by Edward III. one of an
embassy to Bruges, to negotiate with the Pope's envoys concerning
benefices held in England by foreigners. There he met John of Gaunt, the
Duke of Lancaster. This prince, whose immediate descendants were to play
so prominent a part in later history, was the fourth son of Edward III.
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