edited by Franz Pfeiffer, the edition of the works of John Staupitz, commenced by Knaake, and the publication of the collected Bohemian sermons and tracts of Huss, by Karl Jaroniér Erben.26

In addition, Constantin Hofler, in Prague, has published a series of The Historians of the Hussite Movement in Bohemia." Nor has England remained behind. Her most important achievement on this field, and the fruit of the industry and critical labour of many years, is the complete critical edition. of the Wycliffite versions of the Bible, edited by the Rev. Josiah Forshall and Sir Frederick Madden.28 Among the numerous chronicles and documents bearing upon the medieval history of England, which for a series of years back have been published at the cost of the State, some of them never before in print, and others in improved critical editions, there are found many writings in the department of ecclesiastical history, and especially such as have a bearing upon pre-Reformation subjects.

To mention only some of these, the "Political Poems," edited by Thomas Wright, contain a whole series of polemical and satirical poems, which appeared for and against the Wiclif movement in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.29 Further, of important interest for our object, is the correspondence of Grossetête, the celebrated Bishop of Lincoln, edited by the Rev. H. R. Luard, of Cambridge.30 A highly rich and acceptable new source for the history of Wiclif and his followers, has been opened up in the Fasciculi Zizaniorum Magistri Johannis Wyclif, collected without doubt by the controversialist, Thomas Netter, of Walden, and published for the first time in 1858, by Professor Walter Waddington Shirley, of Oxford, with an Introduction and Notes full of very valuable matter. At Shirley's suggestion, recommended

on the strongest grounds, the curators of the Clarendon and University Press resolved to publish a selection of Wiclif's works. Of this collection first appeared the Trialogus, with a text critically amended from four Vienna MSS. of the work; and next followed Wiclif's English sermons, and a large number of his short English tracts, edited by the Rev. Thomas Arnold, of Oxford.32

Thus much has been done since the middle of the present century to elucidate Reformation history, partly by the opening up of new historical sources and the publication of original documents, and partly by the monographic elucidation of single parts of the subject. We venture to come forward as a fellow-labourer in the same field, in undertaking to set forth anew the life and teaching of Wiclif, according to the original sources. John Wiclif appears to us to be the centre of the whole pre-Reformation history. In him meet a multitude of converging lines from the centuries which preceded him; and from him again go forth manifold influences, like wave pulses, which spread themselves widely on every side, and with a force so persistent that we are able to follow the traces of their presence to a later date than the commencement of the German Reformation. Such a man deserves to have a historical portraiture which shall aim to do justice to the greatness of his personality, and to the epochal importance of his work.

NOTES TO INTRODUCTION.

1. Compare letter to Spalatin (Feb. 1520), in Luther's Letters, by De Wette. Berlin, 1826. I., No. 208, 425. Comp. No. 162. Letter to Staupitz, 3 Oct. 1519, p. 341.

2. Luther's Opera. Walch. Ed. XIV., 220 f. In the preface to one of the earliest editions of Wessel's Farrago Rerum Theologicarum, Basel, 1522, Melancthon speaks of Wessel in the same way; he mentions him at considerable length in his Postils, in the following terms, among others :-" De plerisque capitibus religionis evangelicæ sensit idem quod a nobis nunc traditur, postquam nostra ætate repurgatio ecclesiæ facta est."

3. Luther's Table Talk. Edited by Foerstemann. 1845. II., 441 f.; IV., 391. 4. This rare tract has the title :-" Wie sich Johannis Huss, der Pickarder, und Johanuis von Wessalia Leren und Bücher mit Martino Luther vergleichen. Beschrieben durch Doctor Johann Fabri." Preface dated "Prag in Beham. 1 Sep. 1528." Under the name "Pickhards," the author no doubt refers to the Waldenses; but, in fact, he treats in this part of his tract, without knowing it, of the Bohemian brethren, for he founds his remarks upon the Confession presented by the latter to King Wladislaus.

5. Fasciculus rerum expetendarum ac fugiendarum. Colon, 1535, fol. It was not difficult for the English theologian, Edward Brown, to revise, with additions, this collection in the interests of Protestantism. London, 1690, fol. In 2 vols.

6. Catalogus testium veritatis qui ante nostram aetatem reclamarunt Papae. Basel, 1556, 8vo. 1562, fol. Geneva, 1608, fol. Frankf., 1666, 4to., with a supplement, printed in Cassel, in 1667.

The

7. "Commentarii rerum in Ecclesia gestarum, maximarumque per totam Europam persecutionum a Wiclivi temporibus ad hanc usque aetatem descriptio. Liber I. Autore, Joanne Foxo, Anglo. Argentorati. MDLIV." Small 8vo, 221 pp. second Latin edition, considerably enlarged, appeared at Basel, in folio, in 1559. After his return to England Foxe published his work in English in 1563; and, after his death, in 1587, a second English edition came out in 1610. But the completest edition was that of 1684, in three large folios, with the title, Acts and Monuments of Martyrs. Several editions have also appeared in our own time, the best being that edited with copious and valuable notes, by Rev. Josiah Pratt, M.A., and a "Life and Defence of the Martyrologist," by Rev. George Townsend, D.D.

8. E. g. Nicolaus Ferrar. Vide Mayor's Nicholas Ferrar. Two Lives. Camb. 1858.

9. An Apology for John Wickliffe, showing his conformity with the now Church of England. Collected chiefly out of diverse works of his in written hand, by God's especial providence remaining in the Publike Library at Oxford, of the Honorable Foundation of Sir Thomas Bodley, Knight. Oxford, 1608, 4to.

10. The History of the Life and Sufferings of the Rev. and Learned John Wiclif, D.D. London, 1720. New Ed., Oxford, 1820.

11. The Life of the Learned and Right Rev. Reynold Pecock, faithfully collected from records and MSS. London, 1725 and 1742. New Ed., Oxford, 1820.

12. Rerum Concilii Constantiensis. Tomi I.-VI. Fol. 1696-1700.

13. Monimenta Medii aevi. Vol. I., fasc. 1-4 (1757-1760). Vol. II., fasc. 1-2 (1761-1764).

14. Monimenta Medii aevi. Vol. I., fasc. 4. Præfatio, p. xxxiv.

15. Life and Opinions of John de Wycliffe, D.D., illustrated principally from his unpublished Manuscripts. 2 vols. London, 1828. The second improved edition appeared in 1831, and in 1853, Vaughan published a new work in one volume, entituled, "John de Wycliffe: A Monograph." London, 1853. The merits of Vaughan's labours on Wiclif consist of two things (1.) In the copious information touching Wiclif obtained from manuscript sources. Vaughan was, in particular, the first who communicated a fuller knowledge of Wiclif's English sermons. (2.) In a certain degree of chronological order, which he introduced into the series of Wiclif's writings-a circumstance of much importance, because thereby it became possible to follow, in some degree, the gradual progress of the reformer's opinions, and a comparison of the dates of his numerous writings served to exhibit his character for consistency and firmness in a more honourable light. The chief defects of Vaughan's work were that he manifested less interest in the speculative and strictly theological element of Wiclif's writings than in their practical and religious element, and that he left almost entirely out of consideration his Latin works, being of opinion that they were scholastic treatises of comparatively little worth. But, notwithstanding these defects, Vaughan's work must always take a foremost place as the basis of all accurate knowledge of Wiclif, and it has, in fact, been drawn upon by many later writers-e. g., in England, by Le Bas, in his "Life of Wyclif," 1853; in the Netherlands, by De Ruever-Gronemann, Diatribe in Johannis Wickliffe Vitam, Ingenium, Scripta. Utrecht, 1837; in Germany, by Engelhard, "Wycliffe, als Prediger, Erlangen," 1834; by Neander and Giesler, in their histories of the Church; and, further, in my Essay on Wiclif and the Lollards, Zeitschrift für Histor-Theologie, 1853. Boehringer in his "Kirche Christi und ibre Zeugen," II. 4, 1856, has chiefly made use of the latter work of Vaughan—the Monograph.

16. So the two Clarisse-first the son and then the father-in two papers in the "Archives of Church History," edited by Kist and Royaards, Over den Geest en de Denkwyse Van Geert Groot, 1829. Also, Delprat Verhandeling over de Broederschap van G. Groot. Utrecht. 1830.

17. Johann Wessel, ein Vorgänger Lutheri. Gotha. 1834. The second edition, in two volumes, appeared in 1841, under the title, "Reformatoren vor de Reformation, vornähmlich in Deutschland und den Niederlanden." English translation by Rev. Robert Menzies. Clark, Edinburgh, 1855.

18. Rudelbach Hieronymus Savonarola und Seine Zeit, 1835. Fredr. Karl Meier Girolamo Savonarola aus zum grossen Theile Handschriftlichen Quellen dargestellt. 1836.

19. Pasquali Villari.

Geschichte Girolamo Savonarola's und seiner Zeit.
The original appeared in 1860
Leipzig, 1868.

Nach neuen Quellen dargestellt. In two volumes. and 1861. We use the translation of Berduschek.

20. "Die grossen Kirchenversammlungen der fünfzehnten und sechzenten Jahrhunderts, in Beziehung auf Kirchenbesserung geschichtlich und kritisch dargestellt. 4 Bände, Constanz.

1840.

21. Johannes Gerson. Eine Monographie. Würzburg, 1858.

22. Von Helfert, Hus und Hieronymus, 1853. Hoefler, Magister Johannes Hus. Prag., 1864.

23. Johann Tauler von Strassburg. Hamburg, 1841. Nicolaus von Basel. Wien, 1866.

24. Geschichte von Böhmen. 5 Theile. Prag., 1836-1867.

25. Documenta Joannis Hus vitam doctrinam-illustrantia. Prag., 1860.

26. Published in Prague in three volumes, 1865-8.

27. Published in Vienna, 1856, in three volumes, as parts of the "Fontes rerum Austriacarum. I. Division." Vol. 2.

28. The Wycliffite versions of the Holy Bible. 4 vols. 4to. Oxford, 1850.

27. Political Poems and Songs relating to English History. Composed during the period from the accession of Edward III. to that of Richard III. Edited by Thomas Wright. London, 1859. 2 vols.

30. Roberti Grossteste Episcopi quondam Lincolniensis Epistolæ. Edited by Henry Richard Luard. London, 1861.

31. Fasciculi Zizaniorum Magistri Johannis Wyclif cum tritico. Ascribed to Thomas Netter of Walden. Edited by the Rev. Walter Waddington Shirley, M. A. London, 1858.

32. Joannis Wiclif Trialogus cum Supplemento Trialogi. Edidit Gotthardus Lechler. Oxonii, 1869. Select English Works of John Wiclif. Edited by Thomas Arnold, M.A., Oxford. Vol. I. 1869. Sermons on the Gospels for Sundays and Festivals. Vol. II. 1871. Sermons on the Ferial Gospels and Sunday Epistles. Treatises. Vol. III. 1871. Miscellaneous works.

VOL. I.

B