England: Notable Religious Figures

909 - 988 - St. Dunstan (All Facts)

• English Benedictine Monk who spurred the revival, restoration, and reform of monasticism throughout England under the reign of King Edgar

  • He set about sacking lax secular priests and installing monks who adhered strictly to the Benedictine Rule

  • His efforts led to the revival of monastic culture, learning, and art as well as the development of new monasteries

• He was made Archbishop of Canterbury by King Edgar

  • He was helped by Oswald, Bishop of Worcester, and Aethelwold, Bishop of Winchester

1050 - 1154 - St. Stephen Harding (All Facts)

• English Abbot

• He was one of the founders of the Cistercian Order

  • He was known for his organizing talents which transformed the order into the fastest-growing of all the monastic orders at the time

1119 - 1170 - St. Thomas Becket (All Facts)

• Archbishop of Canterbury

• He was the London-born son of a Norman merchant

  • He rose rapidly in the royal service

  • When King Henry II of England had him installed at Canterbury, he believed he was installing a docile cleric, but he was anything but for he became a firm upholder of ecclesiastical privileges

    • One time, he waved his crozier at King Henry II of England and told him that the King of England had no right to judge him

    • When King Henry II of England had his son and heir crowned in Westminster Abbey by the Archbishop of York and six other bishops, the namesake had publicly denounced the action and excommunicated the bishops

    • In response, King Henry II of England cried out “Who will free me from this turbulent priest?” and he eventually had four English knights of the royal household go after the namesake to kill him

• He was known for his feud with King Henry II of England

• He was murdered and died after being struck down by swords in the north transept of his own cathedral as he stood by the altar of the Virgin Mary

  • His killers were four knights of the royal household, who rode there and began a violent argument with the namesake prelate

  • He struggled for several minutes with his assailants, while a crowd of his men and townspeople who had come to attend evensong looked on

  • When he realized that death was near, he bowed his head and joined his hands in prayer in which he is famous for having said, “I commend myself to God, the Blessed Mary, St. Denis, and the patron saints of this Church”

1328 - 1384 - John Wycliffe (All Facts)

• Proto-Protestant English Christian Religious Reformer, Priest, and Theology Professor

  • He was a renowned Oxford University scholar who delivered a series of lectures in which he moved from radical criticism of the church establishment to outright heresy

  • He was once the master of Balliol College

  • He left Oxford once the Blackfriars Council of 1382 condemned him and the Lollards / Lollardy Movement’s teachings

• He founded the Lollards / Lollardy Movement, which believed as he did that

  • the bread and wine are not miraculously changed into the body and blood of Jesus Christ literally, only symbolically

  • ordinary people can and should read the Bible for themselves, which rose the risk of a doctrinal free-for-all

• He launched attacks on papal authority which were sympathetically received in many regions

  • His attacks on papal power easily became critiques of state power

• Politically, he had many allies including John of Gaunt

  • Their support helped him to weather papal condemnation of a series of errors

• He died at Lutterworth, the parish to which he retired after leaving Oxford University

1370 - 1417 - John Oldcastle (All Facts)

• Leader of the Lollards in his namesake revolt in England against King Henry V of England and the Catholic Church

• Before the revolt, he escaped from the tower in which he was imprisoned and gave out word to Lollards across the country

• During the revolt, King Henry V, alerted to the plot, awaited for him and the rebels when they met outside London

• After the revolt, he was burned at the stake for heresy

• In his time, he was seen as having discredited the Lollardy Movement due to his linking it with social radicalism

1375 - 1447 - Henry Beaufort (All Facts)

• Bishop of Winchester who crowned King Henry VI of England King of France at Notre Dame