Page:John Wycliff, last of the schoolmen and first of the English reformers.djvu/149

 in presence of a monarch as wilful and haughty as Edward III. Wyclif might well have expected that such an instrument—a "two-handed engine" which already in those days involved the power and strength of the nation—would be able to effect the great object which he had been courageous enough to desire. There are sundry passages in his writings which show that he took a strong interest in parliamentary debates affecting either the National Church or the Church of Rome. It may be that his chaplaincy imposed upon him certain clerical duties in connection with the meeting of the Houses, which rendered his presence necessary. At all events he refers more than once to discussions which he had heard amongst the Lords at Westminster. He had opportunities for preaching, and we know that he made a strong impression by his sermons in London. Perhaps the first of these opportunities was when he had to preach to King and Parliament at the opening of the session of 1366.

So far as the attitude of the State towards the papal authority was concerned, there was at this time very little difference of opinion amongst Englishmen. Apart from the Italians whom Rome had thrust into English benefices, and from Italianised members of the regular and secular clergy, all were against the papal assumptions. Wyclifs firmest opponent in the ranks of the hierarchy, William Courtenay, who rose to be Archbishop of Canterbury, was in this sense anti-papal. The clergy of England had had long and grievous struggles with a succession of monarchs in defence of their possessions,