John Wyclif is recognized as the ‘Morning Star of the Reformation’ because his work inspired the first translation of the whole Bible into English and sparked a movement to read and obey the Bible involving tens of thousands of English people over a period of 150 years. His writings also touched off a spiritual revival in Bohemia led by Jan Hus and others. In 1401 the bishops persuaded Parliament to pass an act increasing the power of the church over heresy and forbidding any preaching or religious teaching without the authority of a bishop. This was the first such civil law in English history.
Many of the Lollards including Wyclif’s close associates now came under heavy pressure. Some recanted, while others fled or continued their work secretly. While the activities of the Lollards were in the main carried on in small groups with no attempt to organize or to go counter to the established church, there were also many instances of martyrdom that have become part of historical record. In the first year of the act against heresy a priest named William Sawtrey was burnt at Smithfield in London, and others followed him to the stake in the next several years. In 1413 a powerful lord and heroic veteran of foreign wars, Sir John Oldcastle, was imprisoned in the Tower of London for espousing Wyclif ’s doctrines and sheltering Lollard preachers. Sentenced to death by burning, Oldcastle said, ‘Ye judge the body, which is but a wretched thing, yet am I certain and sure that ye can do no harm to my soul. As to these articles, I will stand to them even to the very death, by the grace of my eternal God!’
A bit later Oldcastle was rescued, and an ill-advised plan was laid to muster an army of 100,000 Lollards under his leadership. In the end sixty Lollards of all ranks were hanged. Oldcastle himself was burnt in chains over a slow fire at Smithfield. Significantly, the Lollard movement was so closely associated with Wyclif and the English translation of the Scriptures that it became the practice to burn Lollards with a portion of a Wyclifite Bible hanging around their necks.