Page:John Wycliff, last of the schoolmen and first of the English reformers.djvu/148

 and of the events in which we know that he bore his part.

At the time when he was brought into contact with the English Parliament, that body had but recently become effective for other purposes than the granting of supplies, and the presenting of petitions which might or might not form the basis of ordinances. The inferior ranks of the Church dignitaries had ceased to attend, the clergy sitting apart in a Convocation of their own. The prelates still sat with the barons—twenty-seven abbots and two priors in addition to the bishops; whilst the knights of the shires sat with the burgesses from the towns. The Lords and Commons thus constituted had begun to pass their statutes, and forward them to the monarch for his assent. Not only had Parliament deposed a king in 1327, but it had repeatedly checked the arbitrary levy of taxes by Edward III. The Commons had expressly claimed freedom of speech, the finality of elections by constituencies, the immunity of their Speaker, and the right to audit public accounts. It was already the established rule that the two Houses should meet every year; and the failure to issue writs for upwards of a year, towards the close of Edward's reign, was deeply resented. Parliament was thus a very powerful and serviceable body, even