[3] 



inspection, the result being that three bulls were drafted 

 on May 22nd, 1377, and despatched to England, one 

 being addressed to Simon Sudbury, Archbishop of Can- 

 terbury, and William Courtenay, Bishop of London, 

 another being addressed to the King, and the third to 

 the University of Oxford. These bulls expressed the 

 surprise of his Holiness that such a fearful heresy had 

 not been at once suppressed, and commanded that 

 immediate steps should be taken for silencing the author 

 of it. He was to be apprehended and shut up in prison 

 until the further orders of the Pope arrived ; and all 

 proofs and evidence of his heresy were to be sent by 

 special messenger to Rome without delay. These bulls, 

 however, arrived too late to be of much use. Already 

 Wicliffe had been brought to trial before the Bishop of 

 London and his court at St. Paul's, with a result not at 

 all to the liking of his Holiness or any of his pious fol- 

 lowers, as he very soon discovered. 



On February iQth, 1377, Courtenay sat in Our Lady's 

 Chapel in St. Paul's, surrounded by Church dignitaries, 

 to hear the accusation against the reformer, a large and 

 excited crowd, favourably disposed towards Wicliffe, 

 howling outside the doors. Suddenly a disturbance 

 took place inside the chapel, caused by Lord Percy and 

 John of Gaunt forcing their way towards the reformer ; 

 the Bishop and his court were scandalised, and imme- 

 diately called upon the intruders to withdraw ; but, 

 instead of doing so, Percy quietly turned to Wicliffe and 

 politely requested. him to be seated, whereupon Courte- 

 nay became furious and yelled out : " He must and 

 shall stand; it is unreasonable that one on his trial 

 before his ordinary should sit." High words followed ; 

 the mob outside was in a state of fury, and the bishops 

 and clergy were terrified. The end soon came, for John 

 of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, stepping in front of the 

 Bishop, shouted : " As for you, who are growing so arro- 

 gant and proud, I will bring down the pride, not of you 

 alone, but that of all the prelacy in England," and then 

 declared that in a few moments he would drag him out 

 of the court by the hair of his head. This brought 

 matters to a climax ; the mob burst into the chapel, the 

 Bishop and clergy fled, and the reformer was set free. 



