original work of an English author; but in any case its main contents are
a mere adaptation of a peculiar outgrowth on a foreign soil of conceptions
common to chivalry in general.

Of another force, which in the Middle Ages shared with chivalry (though
not with it alone) the empire over the minds of men, it would certainly be
rash to assert that its day was passing away in the latter half of the
fourteenth century. It has indeed been pointed out that the date at which
Wyclif's career as a reformer may be said to have begun almost coincides
with that of the climax and first decline of feudal chivalry in England.
But, without seeking to interpret coincidences, we know that, though the
influence of the Christian Church and that of its Roman branch in
particular, has asserted and reasserted itself in various ways and degrees
in various ages, yet in England, as elsewhere, the epoch of its moral
omnipotence had come to an end many generations before the disruption of
its external framework. In the fourteenth century men had long ceased to
look for the mediation of the Church between an overbearing Crown and a
baronage and commonalty eager for the maintenance of their rights or for
the assertion of their claims. On the other hand, the conflicts which
still recurred between the temporal power and the Church had as little
reference as ever to spiritual concerns. Undoubtedly, the authority of
the Church over the minds of the people still depended in the main upon
the spiritual influence she exercised over them; and the desire for a
reformation of the Church, which was already making itself felt in a
gradually widening sphere, was by the great majority of those who
cherished it held perfectly compatible with a recognition of her
authority. The world, it has been well said, needed an enquiry extending
over three centuries, in order to learn to walk without the aid of the
Church of Rome. Wyclif, who sought to emancipate the human conscience
from reliance upon any earthly authority intermediate between the soul and