It was the week of the ‘Beast from the East’, but in late February around 80 people attended the first of three historical lectures at Little Hill Church in Leicester.
The focus was on John Wycliffe (c.1330-1384) and the Leicestershire Lollards, but the whole was a masterful exploration of pre-Reformation years in England. Under the title ‘Anticipating the Reformation’, Dr Lesley Rowe (Associate Fellow in History, University of Warwick) showed how God worked in and through men like Wycliffe and prepared the ground for the Protestant Reformation over a century later.
History and humour
A fantastic mix of robust historical detail, understated humour (was it really duck’s blood in the reliquary at Hailes Abbey?) and analysis of the political and religious climate of the time, the lecture was wide-ranging. What were the hallmarks of Roman Catholic worship? Who was the Morning Star of the Reformation? Why did a dedicated Latin scholar translate the Bible into English? What was the radical reconstruction of Christian practice that Wycliffe promoted? Why was Lollardy viewed as a negative protest movement?
