Voting Station

John Wycliffe

Please vote to return to collections.

Religious Figure

The Resume

    (circa 1325-December 31, 1384)
    Born in Ipreswell, England, United Kingdom
    English theologian and lay preacher
    Dismissed from Oxford for criticizing the Catholic Church (1381)
    Founder of the anti-clerical Lollard movement
    Translated the Bible from Latin into English (1384)
    Called 'the Morning Star of the Reformation'

Why he might be annoying:

    His last name was also spelled Wyclif, Wycliff, Wiclef, Wicliffe and Wickliffe.
    He waived the right of sanctuary, allowing the henchmen of his patron, John of Gaunt, to murder a man in Westminster Abbey.
    He compared the Pope to the Antichrist.
    Three decades after his death, the Catholic Church declared him a heretic, and ordered that his remains be exhumed and burned.

Why he might not be annoying:

    He recommended that the clergy live in poverty as in the days of the apostles.
    He was one of the first opponents of church power over the government.
    He refused to renounce his beliefs after the Chancellor of Oxford declared them heretical.
    His ideas were so popular in England that a contemporary wrote, 'Every second man that you meet is a Lollard.'

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 12 Votes: 41.67% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 6 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 219 Votes: 56.16% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 3 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 4 Votes: 25.00% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 14 Votes: 42.86% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 12 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 10 Votes: 60.0% Annoying
    In 2012, Out of 11 Votes: 54.55% Annoying
    In 2011, Out of 11 Votes: 18.18% Annoying
    In 2010, Out of 35 Votes: 68.57% Annoying