Page:John Wycliff, last of the schoolmen and first of the English reformers.djvu/406

 to the internecine war of the rival vicars of Christ—"the unkouthe discencion that is betwixt thes popes"—with further reference to the campaign in Flanders and the proclamations of Pope Urban and the English bishops on behalf of their crusade against the cross. In Wyclif's eyes, we may be sure, this particular outcome of the great Schism was the worst of the long series of scandals which had been presented to Christendom by the Papacy. It is probable enough that he would refer to it in everything which he wrote during his later years.

Bishop Despenser of Norwich, whom Urban appointed to lead the crusade against the friends of Pope Clement in Flanders, had been nominated to his see by papal provision when he was a young soldier of thirty. His martial tastes led him to take part in the suppression of the Peasants' Revolt in 1381, when he attacked and dispersed John Littester's contingent at North Walsham. It was at the end of 1382 that Urban's bulls, proclaiming the crusade and granting plenary indulgence to all who took part in it, were sanctioned by the King and Parliament. Courtenay published them, and so no doubt did other bishops, including Despenser himself. The disastrous expedition lasted from May till September, 1383, and there would thus be nearly a year during which the subject was one of present interest in the minds of Englishmen, as well as a rock of offence to vast numbers of pious Churchmen.

Wyclif saw in this war of popes for temporal authority and possessions a striking instance and