Wycliffe, Huss, the Waldenses and other Christians
During the Middle Ages
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The Catholic Church was considered the church of Jesus Christ at the beginning of
the Middle Ages and some of the greatest theologians of all time (Augustine, Jerome, Aquinas,
etc.) were all part of the Catholic Church. However, as the church gained money and power
during the Middle Ages, some Catholics sought to reform the church, believing she had departed
from Scripture. Often, these attempts at reform failed, but the people who sought to bring the
church more in line to Scripture during the Middle Ages were pre-Reformation (1517)
reformers.
The Waldensians
Protestant religious sect of medieval origin, called in French Vaudois. They originated in the late
12th century as the Poor Men of Lyons, a band organized by Peter Waldo, a wealthy merchant of
Lyons, who gave away his property (c. 1176) and went about preaching the gospel. Being a
layman, he was forbidden to preach, as were his followers. They went to Rome, where Pope
Alexander III blessed their life but forbade preaching (1179) without authorization from the local
clergy. They disobeyed and began to teach others the Scriptures, they were formally declared
heretics by Pope Lucius III in 1184 and by the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215. In 1211 more
than 80 were burned as heretics at Strasbourg, beginning several centuries of persecution. The
Waldenses proclaimed the Bible as the sole rule of life and faith. They rejected the papacy,
purgatory, indulgences, and the mass, and laid great stress on gospel simplicity. Worship
services consisted of readings from the Bible, the Lord's Prayer, and sermons, which they
believed could be preached by all Christians as depositaries of the Holy Spirit. Their distinctive
pre-Reformation doctrines are set foth in the Waldensian Catechism (c. 1489). The
Waldenses were most successful in Dauphine and Piedmont, and had permanent communities in
the Cottian Alps SW of Turin. In 1487 at the insistence of Pope Innocent VIII a persecution
overwhelmed the Dauphine Waldenses, but those in Piedmont defended themselves successfully.
In 1532 they met with German and Swiss Protestants and ultimately adapted their beliefs to those
of the Reformed Church. In 1655 the French and Charles Emmanuel II of Savoy began a
campaign against them. Oliver Cromwell sent a mission of protest; that occasion also prompted
John Milton's famous poem on the Waldenses. At the time of the revocation of the Edict of
Nantes (1685), the Waldensian leader, Henri Arnaud, led a band into Switzerland, then later led
them back to their valleys. After the French Revolution the Waldenses of Piedmont were assured
liberty of conscience, and in 1848, King Charles Albert of Savoy granted them full religious and
civil rights. A group of Waldensians settled in the United States at Valdes, N.C. The
Waldensian Church is included in the Alliance of Reformed Churches of the Presbyterian
Order.
John Wycliffe
c. 1328-1384, English reformer. A Yorkshireman by birth, Wycliffe studied and taught theology
and philosophy in Oxford. He was later made rector at Fillingham (1361), at Ludgershall (1368),
and at Lutterworth (1374). His belief in the doctrine that Christ is man's only overlord and that
power should depend on a state of grace made him a champion of the people against the abuses
of the Church. He early associated himself with the anticlerical party in the nation and in 1374
was sent to Bruge to represent the English crown in negotiations over payment of tribute to the
Holy See. From 1377 he made many vigorous attacks in both Latin and English on Orthodox
Church doctrines, especially that of transubstantiation. Through his own preaching in the
vernacular at Oxford and London and the itinerant teaching of his "poor priests," he spread the
doctrine that the Scriptures are the supreme authority and that the good offices of the church are
not requisite to grace. He was condemned as a heretic in 1380 and again in 1382, and his
followers were persecuted, but he was not disturbed in his retirement at Lutterworth, where he
died in 1384. The Wycliffe Bible is a great landmark in the history of the Bible and of the
English language. This first and literal translation of the Latin Vulgate Bible into English was
mainly the work of his followers, notably Nicholas Hereford: the smoother revision of c. 1395
was directed by Wycliffe's follower John Purvey. In England the Lollards (followers of
Wycliffe) formed the link between Wycliffe and the Protestant Reformation; on the Continent he
was a chief forerunner of the Reformation, through his influence on Jan Huss, the Bohemian
reformer, and through Huss on Martin Luther and the Moravians.
John Huss
136/9? - 1415, Czech religious reformer. Huss was of peasant origin, he was born in Husinec,
Bohemia (from which his name is derived). He studied theology at the University of Prague, was
ordained a priest c. 1400, and in 1402 was appointed preacher of the Bethlehem Chapel, a
foundation dedicated to preaching in the Czech language. He early came under the influence of
the workings of John Wycliffe, and though he did not fully espouse Wycliffe's doctrine, he
opposed its condemnation (1403) by the University of Prague and translated Wycliffe's
Triologus into Czech.
In his own sermons Huss attacked the abuses of the clergy, thus earning the hostility of
many priests, who turned the archbishop of Prague against him. Huss, however, had the support
of Wenceslaus IV (see Wenceslaus, Holy Roman emperor). He furthermore represented the
Czech national aspirations in conflict with the German elements in Bohemia. In 1408 the
archbishop and the university opposed the king's scheme to have Bohemia observe neutrality
between the rival popes Gregory XII and Benedict XIII (Pedro de Luna). Only the Czech
members of the university supported Wenceslaus, who as a result changed (1409) the university
charter, giving the Czechs a predominant position; he made Huss rector of the university. The
Bohemian clergy thus were split into two groups. This situation was not helped when , in the
same year, the Council of Pisa deposed both popes and chose Pietro Cardinal Philarghi as
Alexander V, who was shortly succeeded by Baldassarre Cardinal Cossa as John XXIII. With
papal support the archbishop forbade preaching in the Bethlehem Chapel, ordered the burning of
Wycliffe's books, and excommunicated (1410) Huss and his followers. Wenceslaus stood by
Huss and in 1411 brought about a truce, but the fight flared up again in 1412, when huss openly
denounced the bulls of the antipope John XXIII against King Lancelot of Naples and preached
against indulgences.
The pope excommunicated Huss, who -- to save Prague from the papal interdict -- retired
to a castle near Tabor. During his two years of exile he wrote his Chief works, including the De
ecclesia, which increasingly reflected Wycliffe's influence. He denied the infallibility of an
immoral pope, asserted the ultimate authority of Scripture over the church, and accorded the state
the right and duty to supervise the church. Because of these ideas he is generally considered a
forerunner of the Protestant Reformation. At the invitation of Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund,
who granted him a safe-conduct, Huss presented himself in 1414 at the Council of Constance to
justify his views. The council refused to recognize his safe-conduct, and Huss was imprisoned
and tried as a heretic. His friend Jerome of Prague was also seized and put on trial. Huss denied
some of the beliefs attributed to him; others he refused to modify unless convinced of their error.
The council condemned his writings and sentenced him to be burned at the stake, where he died
heroically. By his death he became a national hero. He was declared a martyr by the University
of Prague, and the modern Czech Protestant church claims to continue his tradition.
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Pastor Wade
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