Page:John Wycliff, last of the schoolmen and first of the English reformers.djvu/167



THE CONFERENCE AT BRUGES.

LMOST everyone in England, except the alien priests and the independent monks and friars, was keenly opposed to the papal provisions, to the claim for first-fruits and annata—one year's revenue from the benefice conferred—and to other pretexts for the transference of English money to Avignon. The evil had been growing for many years, and it is easy to understand the satisfaction with which John Wyclif would receive his commission to go and argue the matter out with the delegates from Avignon, and to tell the representatives of the Pope that England was no longer to be his milch cow, or to pay him for the privilege of electing her own bishops and priests. 123