Hudson, Anne, Ed. _Selections from English Wycliffite Writings_.
(Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1997). 235 pp.

Reviewed by Carolyn Coulson-Grigsby, cec94002@uconnvm.uconn.edu,
University of Connecticut

_Selections from English Wycliffite Writings,_ Medieval Academy
Reprint for Teaching 38, is a reprint of Hudson's 1978 book of the
same name. Only two changes have been made to the 1978 edition, one
a correction to a note, and the other an updated bibliography.  In
her Note on the reprint, Hudson acknowledges that the updates to
the bibliography do not attempt to cover all of the scholarship
from the intervening twenty years.  Because the reprint was done
"photographically," no changes have been made to the introduction,
texts or notes.  Although the texts, in theory, should not need to
have changes made to them, an updated introduction that took into
account new directions in scholarship and approaches to Lollardy
would be beneficial to the reader.  Certainly the references to
obsolete editions and superseded scholarship, which Hudson admits
can be found in her notes, are a drawback to the book.   The
current introduction, although not "up-to-the-minute," is
nevertheless a good general overview of Wyclif's career and the
Lollard movement.  Because many readers of this review may be
unfamiliar with the ideas of Wyclif and his followers, which could
be called proto-protestant, let me give a brief summary of Hudson's
introduction.
John Wyclif came to prominence at Oxford in the 1360s and 70s while
writing on logic and teaching theology. In 1377, an official attack
began on his teachings, culminating in the 1382 Blackfriars'
Council condemnation which found ten of his propositions heretical
and fourteen erroneous.  Most offensive to the authorities were
Wyclif's ideas on Dominion, which stated "that only a man in a
state of righteousness can truly be said to have authority" and
thereby called into question any clerical or secular authority
based solely on office, and his denial of the miracle of
transubstantiation in the Eucharist (Hudson 4).  This second heresy
is the most commonly found mark of Lollardy, which is often
difficult to uncover since Lollard texts rarely identify themselves
as Lollard.  The other frequent 'evidence' of an individual's
Lollard tendencies is his/her ownership of an English translation
of the Bible. 

Hudson identifies "the one crucial factor in Wyclif's heresy: the
combination of theological, political and popular radicalism in a
single programme of reform, a programme, moreover, that found
appeal beyond the confines of the university lecture room" (4).  By
1382, his followers were preaching his ideas outside Oxford.
Emphasizing the importance of lay knowledge of the Bible, the
Lollard movement (as it was called) grew in pockets around southern
England, but by 1413, after John Oldcastle's uprising failed, the
movement lost its political force.  Groups of Lollards continued to
meet and preach, however, particularly in Bristol, Coventry,
Leicester, Kent, East Anglia, the Chilterns and Berkshire.  Wyclif
himself died in 1384.

Citing the Bible as the only source of authority, Wyclif rejected
many forms of worship which by the late fourteenth century had
become integral parts of traditional Christianity: 'private
religion' which involved a life lived separate from the ordinary
community, special prayers, images, pilgrimages, indulgences, and
worldly display by the church.  Because some of these aspects of
medieval Christianity are so often connected to the experience of
medieval mystics, Wyclif's objections to them should be of
particular interest to this list's members.  While Hudson does not
refer to them, some recent studies have sought to see Lollardy as
particularly attractive to women because of the importance given to
the individual's moral integrity as opposed to the power of office.
Indeed, Lollards did not forbid lay men or women from preaching. 
However, Shannon McSheffrey's 1995 study, Gender and Heresy points
out that the forms of traditional religion which Wyclif rejected,
such as the devotion to images, were particularly feminine forms of
medieval piety. Therefore, although some women were prominent in
the Lollard movement, it was not especially attractive to females. 

Although Hudson does not discuss mysticism at all, let me try to
reflect on the possible relationship between mystics and Lollards.
It seems to me that, similar to women, mystics would find Lollardy
censuring some of the very types of worship and contemplation that
are so often the first step to the mystical experience.  For
instance, because Wyclif placed all authority in the Bible (which
he translated into English), other devotional texts such as the
Meditations on the Life of Christ would necessarily be no longer
part of one's worship. The contemplation of an image, which might
lead to a divine experience, would also be unacceptable to the
Lollards.  Margery Kempe was repeatedly brought in for questioning
under suspicion of being a Lollard, primarily because she seemed to
be preaching. The tenets of her faith, however, were consistently
found to be completely orthodox.  _Selections from English
Wycliffite Writings_ confirms the fact that Margery's faith is full
of the type of worship the Lollards would censure.

The texts in this volume represent the range of subjects treated
and rhetorical styles used by Lollard writers. Hudson has divided
the texts into four categories: I. The Nature of Wycliffite Belief,
which includes Wyclif's Confessions on the Sacrament, the Twelve
Conclusions of the Lollards, and Hawisia Moone's 1430 confession;
II. The Lollards and the Bible, which includes selections from
translations of the Bible and sermons on some specific biblical
passages; III. Lollard Polemic, which is probably the section of
most interest to this list and includes a sermon on the
Ecclesiastical Hierarchy and tracts on Images and Pilgrimages,
Mendicancy, and Miracle Plays; and IV. Lollard Doctrine. This last
section seems particularly problematic because of the diffused
nature of Lollard belief. The texts here seem to be less
"doctrinal" than one would expect given the title of the section
they fall under. The whole collection of texts effectively
demonstrates the breadth of concerns which the Lollards tackled.

I found the textual apparatus of the book to be fairly cumbersome.
In order to find out the manuscript source and other basic
information for each text, one must turn to the Notes section at
the back of the book. After a brief overview which identifies
manuscript(s) and context, including what other texts appear in the
same manuscript, Hudson identifies the highlights of the original
text. I wish that these introductions were placed before each
selection, because one basically cannot read the selections
properly without turning to the overview of them in the back of the
book. Consequently I felt like I was constantly flipping back and
forth, keeping a bookmark in both places.  The overviews are
followed by endnotes for the text in question. The footnotes found
with the selections themselves give textual variants.
In the "Select Bibliography," Hudson has placed asterisks next to
the works written since 1978 which she would have cited and used if
she had overhauled the entire text. Although including these works
is certainly a benefit to the edition, when one realizes that there
are only fourteen asterisked new works (plus some reprints), it
becomes apparent how slight the differences between the editions
must be.  The bibliography, which contains both primary and
secondary material, is divided into subject categories on Wyclif's
biography and writings, Wyclif and the Early Lollard Movement,
Later Lollardy, Lollard Texts, and Other Works Frequently Cited. 
The book also contains a Glossary and an Index of Proper Names, the
latter of which should prove useful for researchers looking for
references to specific individuals and/or places.