John Purvey

Who was John Purvey?

John Purvey was one of the leading followers of the English theologian and reformer John Wycliffe during the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries. He was born around 1354 in Lathbury, near Newport Pagnell in the county of Buckinghamshire, England. He was a great scholar, permitted to enter all priestly ranks on March 13th,1377, or 1378. It has been assumed by scholars that Purvey became acquainted with Wycliffe's ideas in Oxford. In around 1382, Purvey lived with Wycliffe at Lutterworth, Leicestershire,along with Nicholas of Hereford and John Aston, and became one of Wycliffe's disciples. These disciples were termed lollards; a name derived the medieval Dutch word meaning "to mutter". This reflected the Dutch's views on worship through their reading of the Scripture. The most important group of lollards were a group of knights who were a part of the king's court. Sir William Neville, Sir John Montague and Sir William Beachamp were a part of this group and had the support of the Black Prince and John of Gaunt, reflecting the tradition of noble anticlericalism.