Page:John Wycliff, last of the schoolmen and first of the English reformers.djvu/371



CHAPTER XVI.

COURTNEAY'S TRIUMPH.

PON Wyclif and his friends the effects of the Peasants' Revolt could not fail to be very disastrous. The King's Council was not satisfied with the vengeance which it had executed throughout the disturbed districts, with violating the young King's pledges, annulling the manumissions and indemnities granted to the serfs, and attempting to rivet their chains more securely than ever. It determined to curb the spirit of Wyclif and his Poor Priests, believing or feigning to believe that they were in part responsible for the outbreak. In most of these measures it required the assistance of Parliament, and it might have been thought that reaction in the country, added to the influence of the King's uncles and principal officers, would have ensured the 299