Henry V Crushes Lollards

1413

The English king's troops surprised a Lollard gathering in St Giles's Fields led by Sir John Oldcastle. The rising collapsed in hours. Oldcastle escaped but was eventually captured and hanged over a fire. The Wycliffite movement survived only underground, a forgotten rehearsal for the Reformation a century later. The suppression drove Lollard belief underground into artisan Bible-reading networks where it smoldered until merging with Protestantism.