John Wyclif translates the Bible into English

Historical Context Note

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John Wyclif was an Oxford-based reformist theologian, whose ideas became the basis of the Lollard movement, which is often seen as a precursor of Protestantism. One of the ways in which his beliefs foreshadowed those of Martin Luther and other sixteenth-century reformers was his emphasis both on the authority of scripture (relative to later Church writings) and on vernacular translation. He pointed out that listening to the Bible in Latin made less sense in England than in areas like Italy, Spain and even France, where the vernacular language bore a closer relation to the Vulgate. In 1380 he was responsible for the production of an entire translation of the Bible into English.

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9547 John Wyclif translates the Bible into English 2 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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