The Anti-Lollardry of Chaucer's Parson

Description: Those similarities to Lollard doctrine--protest against blasphemy, unwillingness to "curse for tithes," and distaste for storytelling--that have been used to argue that Chaucer's Parson was a Lollard or Wycliffite were not peculiar to the Lollards; they were common to orthodox men such as Bromyard and John Myrc as well as to certain of the Church fathers.; A comparison of the Parson's scriptural proofs with similar passages from the Wycliffite Bible reveals a technique closer to that of the postilator Nicolas de Lyra and strongly suggests that the Parson--rather than being a Lollard--was "meant to stand as the best of the zealous, orthodox priests whose standards, if followed universally, would put Wycliff's criticisms, at least at the parochial level, out of court."