early reformers and humanists

• John Wyclife


  14th century theologian who challenged the papacy (founded Lollardy)
• Lollards


  Believed that Christianity should be based on the bible and not the interpretations of priests
• Heretic


  Anyone holding the views of Lollards was considered this by the Church
• William Tyndale


  Translator of the Bible in the sixteenth century
• Vernacular


  Everyday language of ordinary people
• Simon Fish


  Believed that Henry VIII could clean the Church of its sins
• Royal Supremacy


  When the monarch is head of Church (Tyndale and Fish argued for this)
• Martin Luther


  Believed that power over religion should come from the people
• Thomas Cranmer


  Later archbishop of Canterbury who supported Luther's ideas
• Humanism


  An intellectual movement of the Renaissance that focused on education and the classics rather than religious beliefs
• Renaissance


  The cultural rebirth that occurred in Europe from the 14th to 17th centuries
• Free will


  Humanists believed in this concept - that God gave mankind had the right to choose and make decisions
• Erasmus


  Dutch humanist and critic of many Catholic practices
• Thomas More


  Adviser to Henry VIII and leading humanist scholar
• John Colet


  English humanist and critic of many Church practices
• Defender of the Faith

  Title awarded to Henry VIII by the Pope for his attack on Luther's ideas