IN

CHAPTER III.

WICLIF'S QUIET WORK IN OXFORD-1345-1366.

SECTION I.-Wiclif as a Member of Balliol and Merton.

N commencing this period of Wiclif's life with the year 1345, we have before us two full decades of years during which he in no way appeared, as yet, upon the stage of public life, either in Church or State. That is the reason why, in those chronicles which record the history of England. in the fourteenth century, there does not occur the slightest mention of his person during these years. In fact it is not till ten years later still, that the chroniclers mention him for the first time (1377). It is for this reason that we designate this stage of his life, the period of his quiet work. And Oxford was the exclusive field of his work during all these twenty years.

We have to think of Wiclif at this time as a member in full standing of a college (socius, fellow), as one of the Regent Masters (magistri regentes), i.e., as a man taking an active part in the independent, and in some sense republican government of his own college and of the whole academic body-a position to which he had been in due order admitted, after passing through certain stages of academic study, and after he had acquitted himself of certain learned tasks (disputations and the like).

The college, indeed, of which Wiclif became a Fellow, is a question which lies under as much uncertainty as that other which has been discussed in the last chapter, viz.: what

college it was with which he had been previously connected as a scholar.

Since the appearance of Lewis's life in 1720, the common understanding has been that he was first a Fellow of Merton College, and afterwards, about the year 1360, was promoted to the presidency of Balliol College.1 In support of the first point, there exists a single documentary proof, but this a proof not absolutely free from question. It consists of an entry in the Acts of Merton College, according to which, in January 1356, "John Wiclif" held the office of seneschal or rent-master of the college. This has hitherto been understood of our Wiclif, without hesitation; but Shirley maintains, on the contrary, that that notice probably refers to his namesake and contemporary, John Wiclif or Wyclyve, who, according to trustworthy documents, was parish priest of Mayfield. The grounds upon which this scholar relies are the following:-The fact is certain beyond challenge, that the Reformer Wiclif and no other was Master of Balliol in 1361. Now, the relations which existed between this college and the Wiclif family, make it natural to presume that he belonged to Balliol from the first; while, on the other hand, it is in the highest degree improbable that the members of the college would have chosen for their Master a man who was a member of another college (Merton).3 The difficulty presented by this last remark will find its solution in an inquiry which we shall enter upon immediately; and as to Shirley's first ground of doubt, it is obvious to reply that John Wiclif of Mayfield is still also a Wiclif, and therefore stands as nearly related to Balliol College as our Wiclif, and to Merton College no nearer than he. Thus the most important element of the question still continues to be the established fact, that our Wiclif was Master

of Balliol in 1362. We are unable, for our part, to recognise any decisive weight in the critical observations of Shirley, in opposition to the view which has hitherto prevailed, that Wiclif for some time was a member of Merton. On the other hand, we believe that we are able to throw some new light upon a subject which has hitherto been somewhat obscure, and this, not by means of mere conjectures, but of documentary facts.

The difficulty lies chiefly here, that it has been found hard to explain the frequent change of colleges through which Wiclif is alleged to have passed, inasmuch as according to the older tradition, he was first admitted into Queen's, then transferred to Merton, and was soon thereafter made Master of Balliol; or, in case we set aside Queen's College (as the mention of it in connection with Wiclif's student-life is unhistorical), and prefer to assume that he belonged from the first, as a scholar, to Balliol, then it becomes almost stranger still to suppose that Wiclif should have afterwards left this college and become a member of Merton, and then should have returned again to Balliol, and that too in the capacity of Master. But precisely here is the point upon which we think we are able to throw light, from a document which, till now, has hardly been considered in relation to the subject. We refer to the Papal Bull of 1361, first published by Lewis, not indeed in the original, but in extensive extract, in which the incorporation of the parish church of Abbotesley with Balliol Hall (so the college was then called) is approved and sanctioned. This apostolic writ makes reference, at the same time, to the representation which the members of Balliol had submitted to the Papal See in support of their petition for the confirmation of the incorporation. From this representation we see pretty clearly what had

been the financial condition of the college up to that time. For it states that by means of the pious beneficence of the founder of the college, there are indeed numerous students and clerics in the hall, but aforetime each of them had only received*-farthings weekly; and as soon as they became Masters of Arts, they had immediately to leave the Hall, so that, on account of poverty, they were no longer able to continue their studies, and found themselves, in some instances, obliged to have recourse to trade for the sake of a living. Now, however, Sir William Felton, the present benefactor of the foundation, formerly patron of Abbotesley, but who had already, in 1341, transferred his right of collation to Balliol College,5 has formed the design, out of sympathy with its members, to increase the number of scholars, and to make provision for their having the common use of books in all the different faculties; and also, that every one of them should have a sufficient supply of clothing and twelve farthings a-week; and further, that they should be at liberty to remain quietly in the Hall, whether they were masters and doctors or not, until they obtained a sufficient church-living, and not till then should they be obliged to leave.

From this it appears as clearly as we could possibly desire, that up to the year 1360 the extremely limited resources of Balliol had made it necessary that every one belonging to the foundation should leave as soon as he obtained his Arts degree, and that the incorporation of the Church of Abbotesley, according to the intention of the benefactor, was designed, among other things, to provide that in future the members of Balliol, even when they became masters or doctors, might continue to live in the college as they had done before. If, therefore,

The blank here should be filled up with the number 8; vide Additional Note I. at the end of the chapter.

Wiclif, as we have reason to presume, was received into Balliol as a scholar, the circumstances of the college at that time must have obliged him to leave it as soon as he graduated. As now the above-mentioned notice in the papers of Merton mentions John Wiclif, in 1356, as seneschal of the college, there is not only nothing any longer standing in the way of identifying this "Wyclif" with our Wiclif, but we have even the satisfaction of learning from this source what had become of him since the time when, as we may now presume, he was obliged to leave Balliol as a promoted magister. And as it was customary in the colleges. that every one behoved to be for some considerable length of time a Fellow before he could undertake such a function. as that of seneschal, the inference may be allowed that Wiclit had been for several years a member of Merton before he entered upon the office, and in all probability since the date of his graduation as a master. The circumstances just men tioned serve to show, in addition, how easily it might come to pass that Wiclif, although he had left Balliol, where he had originally studied, might yet at a later period be called back again to that college, and even be placed at its head; for as his leaving was by no means a spontaneous act of his own, but was entirely due to the financial situation of the college, every surmise that it may have given rise to some feeling to his disadvantage is entirely out of the question, whereas, under other circumstances, such a feeling might have stood in his way to his subsequent promotion to the headship of the house.

We have thus been able, we believe, to clear up a point which has hitherto been obscure. But however this may be, the fact at least stands perfectly firm that Wiclif was Master of Balliol in the year 1361. This appears from four