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In 1381, however, when the [[Peasant's Revolt]] broke out in Kent, some blamed Wyclif's teachings for this outbreak of popular dissent.  A Synod was convened at Oxford in 1382 which condemned Wyclif's teachings, but he was permitted to retire to his country parish at Lutterworth, where he died peacefully in his bed  two years later.  During the last years of his life, he organized and supported an undertaking for a translation of the [[Bible]] into English; while there is no evidence that he himself translated any substantial portion of it, the translation became indelibly linked to his name.  The first version of this work, however, was marred by clumsy syntax in which the English text followed the Latin word by word, rather than translating sentences into English forms and idioms; Nicholas Hereford and John Purvey, two of Wyclif's closest followers, revised the text extensively, producing the first full and readable translation of the [[Bible]] into English ever completed.

In 1381, however, when the [[Peasant's Revolt]] broke out in Kent, some blamed Wyclif's teachings for this outbreak of popular dissent.  A Synod was convened at Oxford in 1382 which condemned Wyclif's teachings, but he was permitted to retire to his country parish at Lutterworth, where he died peacefully in his bed  two years later.  During the last years of his life, he organized and supported an undertaking for a translation of the [[Bible]] into English; while there is no evidence that he himself translated any substantial portion of it, the translation became indelibly linked to his name.  The first version of this work, however, was marred by clumsy syntax in which the English text followed the Latin word by word, rather than translating sentences into English forms and idioms; Nicholas Hereford and John Purvey, two of Wyclif's closest followers, revised the text extensively, producing the first full and readable translation of the [[Bible]] into English ever completed.

After the condemnation of Wyclif at Oxford and London, his followers were forced to recant or lose their ecclesiastical offices.  In 1401, with the act [[De Haeretico Comburend]] (on the Burning of Heretics), the new [[King Henry IV]] added the power of the State to the condemnation of the Church, and followers of Wyclif who were found to have relapsed into their beliefs were burned at the stake.  The teachings of Wyclif passed then into the hands of a number of itinerant preachers, who wandered the countryside, teaching peasants and artisans the rudiments of literacy, and leaving behind them copies of the Gospels in English.   

After the condemnation of Wyclif at Oxford and London, his followers were forced to recant or lose their ecclesiastical offices.  In 1401, with the act [[De Haeretico Comburendo]] (on the Burning of Heretics), the new [[King Henry IV]] added the power of the State to the condemnation of the Church, and followers of Wyclif who were found to have relapsed into their beliefs were burned at the stake.  The teachings of Wyclif passed then into the hands of a number of itinerant preachers, who wandered the countryside, teaching peasants and artisans the rudiments of literacy, and leaving behind them copies of the Gospels in English.   

The Council of Constance, meanwhile, declared Wyclif a heretic, and ordered his bones exhumed and burned.  Henry IV, as well as his son Henry V, were vigorous in their persecution of suspected "Lollards" as these followers of Wyclif were known, and many were arrested; the preachers who had led them were executed.  Nevertheless, many of the ideas taught by Wyclif survived in the popular imagination, and when the teachings of [[Martin Luther]] reached England in the early sixteenth century, the same areas of England where the Lollards had been prominent were among the strongest in Protestant dissent.

The Council of Constance, meanwhile, declared Wyclif a heretic, and ordered his bones exhumed and burned.  Henry IV, as well as his son Henry V, were vigorous in their persecution of suspected "Lollards" as these followers of Wyclif were known, and many were arrested; the preachers who had led them were executed.  Nevertheless, many of the ideas taught by Wyclif survived in the popular imagination, and when the teachings of [[Martin Luther]] reached England in the early sixteenth century, the same areas of England where the Lollards had been prominent were among the strongest in Protestant dissent.