Mr. Michael Davies describes John Wycliff and the first Protestants, the Lollards. John Wycliffe was, after the Catharists, perhaps the most clear cut heretic of the era. His whole approach to Faith and Reason led him to conclusions of the most blasphemous sort, attacking the very holiness of Christ as well as any proper understanding of the Eucharist. The heretical movement promoted by the Lollards, which, despite some help from powerful noblemen, was fought so vigorously by Church and State in England, was in some ways linked with his ideas. Wycliffe and the Lollards developed ideas and practices which, Mr. Michael Davies argues, justify them being considered as Protestants before the term had been coined. Taken from: Christianity in the Late Middle Ages-Early Renaissance - 1996 Von Hildebrand Institute