degrees that the life and the teaching grew away from the old
model.

While Wyclif grew to be a man, England had fallen on troublous
times. Edward III, worn out by his French wars, had become old
and feeble, and the power was in the hands of his son, John of
Gaunt. The French wars and the Black Death had slain many of the
people, and those who remained were miserably poor. Yet poor
though they were, much money was gathered from them every year
and sent to the Pope, who at that time still ruled the Church in
England as elsewhere.

But now the people of England became very unwilling to pay so
much money to the Pope, especially as at this time he was a
Frenchman ruling, not from Rome, but from Avignon. It was folly,
Englishmen said, to pay money into the hands of a Frenchman, the
enemy of their country, who would use it against their country.
And while many people were feeling like this, the Pope claimed
still more. He now claimed a tribute which King John had
promised long before, but which had not for more than thirty
years been paid.

John of Gaunt made up his mind to resist this claim, and John
Wyclif, who had already begun to preach against the power of the
Pope, helped him. They were strange companions, and while John
of Gaunt fought only for more power, Wyclif fought for freedom
both in religion and in life. God alone was lord of all the
world, he said, and to God alone each man must answer for his
soul, and to no man beside. The money belonging to the Church of
England belonged to God and to the people of England, and ought