Editing Lollardy (section)

===Vernacular scripture===
Lollardy was a religion of [[Bible translations in the Middle Ages|vernacular scripture]].<ref name=OER>{{Cite encyclopedia| isbn = 978-0-19-506493-3| last = Aston| first = Margaret| title = Lollardy - Oxford Reference| chapter = Lollardy| encyclopedia = Encyclopedia of the Reformation| access-date = 31 May 2017| date = 1996| chapter-url = http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195064933.001.0001/acref-9780195064933-e-0830}}{{subscription required|via=[[OUP]]}}</ref> Lollards opposed many practices of the Catholic church. [[Anne Hudson (literary historian)|Anne Hudson]] has written that a form of ''[[sola scriptura]]'' underpinned Wycliffe's beliefs, but distinguished it from the more radical ideology that anything not permitted by scripture is forbidden. Instead, Hudson notes that Wycliffe's ''sola scriptura'' held the [[Bible]] to be "the only valid source of doctrine and the only pertinent measure of legitimacy."{{sfn|Hudson|1988|p=280}}

Later Lollards believed that people deserved access to a copy of their own Bible. Many attempted to distribute English copies. Due to the lack of a printing press and low literacy levels, it was difficult to accomplish this goal.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last1=Bucholz |first1=Robert |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fvm4DwAAQBAJ |title=Early Modern England 1485-1714: A Narrative History |last2=Key |first2=Newton |date=2019-10-23 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-1-118-53221-8 |language=en}}</ref>

However, a notable feature of some Lollard inquisitions was the common claim of illiteracy, or vision impairment, as a defence against the suspicion of Lollardy raised by possession of suspect vernacular texts.<ref name=aston />{{rp|495}}

Despite popular beliefs to the contrary: 
{{quote|"There is no doubt that the Lollards (as Wycliffe's followers were called) were persecuted, but it does not appear that the possession, use, or manufacture of an English version of the Bible was one of the charges specially urged against them. The subject is not raised in the extant list of articles upon which the suspected were to be questioned."|Fredrick Kenyon, ''Our Bible and the ancient manuscripts'', 1903<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kenyon |first1=Frederic G. (Frederic George) |title=Our Bible and the ancient manuscripts [microform] ; being a history of the text and its translations |date=1903 |publisher=London, New York [etc.] : Eyre and Spottiswoode |url=https://archive.org/details/MN41613ucmf_0/page/n277/mode/2up}}</ref>{{rp|206}} }}