Editing Persecution of Christians (section)

=== Western Europe ===
Advocates of lay piety called for church reform and met with persecution from the Popes.<ref name="Humanities">{{cite book|author1=Roy T. Matthews|author2=F. DeWitt Platt| title=The Western Humanities|publisher=MayfieldPublishing|location=Mountain View, California|year=1992|isbn=0-87484-785-0}}</ref>{{rp|248–250}} [[John Wycliffe]] (1320–1384) urged the church to give up ownership of property, which produced much of the church's wealth, and to once again embrace poverty and simplicity. He urged the church to stop being subservient to the state and its politics. He denied papal authority. John Wycliff died of a stroke, but his followers, called ''Lollards'', were declared heretics.<ref name="Humanities" />{{rp|249}} After the [[Oldcastle Revolt|Oldcastle rebellion]] many were killed.<ref>{{cite web|last=Crompton|first=James|title=Leicestershire Lollards |url=https://www.le.ac.uk/lahs/downloads/LollardsSmPagesfromvolumeXLIV-3.pdf}}</ref>{{rp|12,13}}

[[Jan Hus]] (1369–1415) accepted some of Wycliff's views and aligned with the [[Bohemian Reformation|Bohemian Reform movement]] which was also rooted in popular piety. In 1415, Hus was called to the [[Council of Constance]] where his ideas were condemned as heretical and he was handed over to the state and burned at the stake.<ref>Kuhns, Oscar, and Dickie, Robert. Jan Hus: Reformation in Bohemia. United Kingdom, Reformation Press, 2017.</ref>{{rp|130,135–139}}<ref name="Humanities" />{{rp|250}}

The Fraticelli, who were also known as the "Little Brethren" or "Spiritual Franciscans", were dedicated followers of Saint Francis of Assisi. These Franciscans honored their vow of poverty and saw the wealth of the Church as a contributor to corruption and injustice when so many lived in poverty. They criticized the worldly behavior of many churchmen.<ref name="Wakefield">{{cite book|editor1-last=Wakefield|editor1-first=Walter|editor2-last=Evans|editor2-first=Austin|title=Heresies of The High Middle Ages |publisher=Columbia|year=1991|isbn=9780231096324}}</ref>{{rp|28,50,305}} Thus, the Brethren were declared heretical by [[John XXII]] (1316–1334) who was called "the banker of Avignon".<ref>Chamberlin, Eric Russell. The bad Popes. United States, Dorset Press, 1986.</ref>{{rp|131}}

The leader of these brethren, [[Bernard Délicieux]] (c. 1260–1270{{Snd}} 1320) was well known as he had spent much of his life battling the Dominican-run inquisitions. He confessed, after torture and threat of excommunication, to the charge of opposing the inquisitions, and was defrocked and sentenced to life in prison, in chains, in solitary confinement, and to receive nothing but bread and water. The judges attempted to ameliorate the harshness of this sentence due to his age and frailty, but [[Pope John XXII]] countermanded them and delivered the friar to Inquisitor [[Jean de Beaune]]. Délicieux died shortly thereafter in early 1320.<ref>Burr, David. The Spiritual Franciscans: From Protest to Persecution in the Century After Saint Francis. United States, Penn State University Press, 2001.</ref>{{rp|191,196–198}}