Lollards

When John Wycliffe gained support for his vision of the Latin Bible translated into the common language of English, he led a handful of Oxford scholars in the Bible’s translation and copied the methods of St. Francis and the Friars. From Oxford Wycliffe sent out "poor priests" into the byways and village greens, sometimes even to churches, to win the souls of the neglected. Clad in russet robes of undressed wool, without sandals, purse, or scrip, a long staff in their hand, dependent for food and shelter on the good will of their neighbors, Wycliffe’s "poor priests" soon became a power in the land. Their enemies dubbed them Lollards, meaning "mumblers". They carried a few pages of the reformer’s Bible and his tracts and sermons as they went throughout the countryside preaching the Word of God. Wycliffe’s followers were hunted down, were expelled from Oxford, or forced to renounce their views.