Lollardy

The Lollards ( the Lollards, the Lollards English or Mate Mans, Alexian, Celliten, also Wiklifiten ) were the members of a religious movement that developed in England in the late 14th century. They opposed the church hierarchy and argued for the justification by faith a. They rejected many Catholic doctrines from (such as transubstantiation ) and stood for sermons and Bible readings a. The Lollards were persecuted as heretics; many recanted, but others went to the underground, where they persisted in small groups throughout the 15th century. The Lollards most listened to city workers and artisans; they wore (though not decisive) the adoption of the Reformation in England at.

Name

The origin of its name is not known, it is believed the Latin name " lolium " ( ryegrass, oat dizziness ', a weed ). Maybe so that a comparison with the biblical pulled " tares among the wheat ", which was to burn after the harvest. (Matthew 13, 24-30 ). There is also an interpretation approach, where one derives the name from the Dutch word for marbles ( lollen ) because they held murmuring chants in personal devotions and funerals. In both interpretations of this name, it is unlikely that the Lollards have to itself as such.

Objectives

Their main demand was to reform the Catholic Church. In their opinion was considered as a criterion for a priest " true " piety as a prerequisite for the administration of the sacraments; a truly devout layman have the same religious authority as a priest and was therefore not bound to a church legitimizing hierarchy. For them, the term was a " Church of the Saved ", which referred to the true Church of Christ as an orthodox community, which did not coincide with the Roman institutionalized church. They taught predestination and advocated apostolic poverty and taxation of church property. They rejected transubstantiation and consubstantiation in favor of the. They spread despite a ban the Bible and religious literature in the English language. (see: Bible translation ). For these reasons they are considered as precursors of the Reformation in England.

History

The origins of the Lollards can be found in the teachings that developed the eminent Oxford theologian John Wyclif since the early 1350 's. Wyclif's views, starting propagate from the radical realist critique of nominalism a radical return to the text of the Bible and the states in the former church, especially the wealth of the clergy and monks denounce in strong terms, and as inconsistent with the ideals of biblical early church consistently represent, came in the academic world with great interest. They were very controversial and initially also found many advocates, especially the concern expressed by Wyclif criticism of the church hierarchy was shared by many. When her heretical character for contemporaries out peeled more and more in the 1370 -ies ( which made initially indeterminate particular Wyclif, then clearly negative stance to the fixed doctrine of transubstantiation ), Wyclif, however, lost the support of among his fellow professors and was in 1378 from the University service dismissed. Some of his followers began his teachings in the coming decades in transcripts, sermons and Bible circles to spread (often in a rather simplified form ). Many artisans and merchants, and later a number of nobles and knights, this movement joined.

The Lollards were initially supported by John of Gaunt ( John of Gaunt ), who gave them some protection and legal status. The University of Oxford defended their academic freedom and protected the lollardischen teachers in their area. While their criticism of the ecclesiastical and political power grew, grasped the secular powers, the Lollards increasingly seen as a threat to their own privileges as well as that of the Church and deprived of their protection. The drama of this change was underlined by the political retreat John of Gaunt, who left England to take the throne of Castile, which he claimed through his second wife.

The Lollards contributed to the attacks by the church and state power firm opposition. Among them was Thomas Arundel, Archbishop of Canterbury.

Beginning of the 15th century they found themselves exposed to the most severe persecutions. For wide stir the burning of John Badby craftsman made ​​at the stake. Badby refused to renounce the lollardischen teachings. This was the first execution of a layman in England because of the crime of heresy. Another lollardischer martyr Thomas Harding, who died in White Hill, Chesham 1532.