Some English Manuscripts of Wyclif’s Latin Works

Abstract

A deliberate, many-sided literary effort on the part of a group of Wycliffite masters in the decade and a half after Wyclif’s death has been one of the most important discoveries in the field of Wyclif studies in recent years. Whatever the precise role of Wyclif himself in their common enterprise, its coherence and single-minded purpose can be traced confidently in the English translation of the Bible with its glossed gospels, the standard English sermon-cycle and the reference books of authorities for the preacher and polemicist. What is less clear is the role of Wyclif’s Latin works in this Lollard library. That they have on the whole come down to us through the filter of a comprehensive revision is likely enough, though whether this was the work of their author or of subsequent Lollard editors has not been established. In this paper I want to consider the circulation of the Latin writings before they were taken up by the Hussites: were they copied in the same way as other academic texts of the age, or were they transmitted through the specialised publishing-house of the Lollard masters? These categories are not entirely separate, but for immediate purposes perhaps they will do.