Led by Colet, More and Erasmus, they went back to basics, studying the Scriptures as they would any classical text. It rankled somewhat.Ĭriticism was stepped up, at home and abroad, by the Humanists. Whilst still a minority, the literate laity were no longer confined to those in on the game, and were better educated than many priests who claimed to be the path to salvation (while taking their money in taxes). What was new this time round was a by-product of the infant capitalism: wealth, urbanisation and education. So European anticlericalism was nothing new it had been seething for centuries. The church carried on unabashed and proud, selling offices and indulgences, a political plaything for princes and a useful source of income for second sons and men on the make. Wyclif's supporters, the Lollards, were driven underground after their failed rebellion of 1414, and remained a persecuted minority for another hundred years.

Piers Plowman, a popular poetic satire, attacked abuses in the entire church, from Pope to priest. In England, the same period saw John Wyclif, an Oxford academic, anticipate the arguments of Martin Luther over a century later, and also produce the first English Bible. They led early sixteenth century popes to resist reform and bolster their own position by using their spiritual power, along with war and diplomacy, to become territorial princes in Italy, building their bank accounts on the way. Combined, they hindered Papal government and harmed the reputation of the Church in the eyes of the laity. The Great Schism saw two, even three individuals claiming to be the Pope, and the Council of Constance in the early fifteenth century saw a power struggle between Bishops and Pope. The story really begins over a hundred years earlier, when the Papacy began to reap the effects of centuries of compromise.

The Counter-Reformation by A.G. Dickens