An Inquisitor's Description of the Lollards

          Sometime around the year 1400, a Roman Catholic inquisitor named Reinher described the Lollards & Wycliffites in the following manner. For words that border on outright admiration, it is strange that he still believed men of this conduct were highly deserving of censure:

          "The disciples of Wycliffe are men of a serious, modest deportment, avoiding all ostentation in dress, mixing little with the busy world, and complaining of the debauchery of mankind. They maintain themselves wholly by their own labour, and utterly despise wealth; being fully content with bare necessities. They follow no traffic, because it is attended with so much lying, swearing, and cheating. They are chaste and temperate; are never seen in taverns, or amused by the trifling gaieties of life. You find them always employed, either learning or teaching. They are concise and devout in their prayers; blaming an un-animated prolixity [the unnecessarily lengthy prayers of the Romish priesthood]. They never swear; speak little; and in their public preaching they lay the chief stress on charity. They never mind canonical hours, because they say, that a paternoster [Lord's Prayer] or two, repeated with devotion, is better than tedious hours spent without devotion. They explain the scriptures in a different way from the holy doctors and the church of Rome. They speak little, and humbly, and are well-behaved in appearance."

Text from The Lollards, by George Stokes, 1838, 7-8.