Sir John Oldcastle was an English Lollard leader. From 1409 to 1413, he was summoned to parliament as Baron Cobham, in the right of his wife.
John Oldcastle being burnt for insurrection and Lollard heresy
Illustration of the burning of John Oldcastle, 1870
Illustration of Oldcastle's hanging (1895)
Lollardy, also known as Lollardism or the Lollard movement, was a proto-Protestant Christian religious movement that was active in England from the mid-14th century until the 16th-century English Reformation. It was initially led by John Wycliffe, a Catholic theologian who was dismissed from the University of Oxford in 1381 for criticism of the Roman Catholic Church. The Lollards' demands were primarily for reform of Western Christianity. They formulated their beliefs in the Twelve Conclusions of the Lollards.
In this 19th-century illustration, John Wycliffe is shown giving the Bible translation that bore his name to his Lollard followers.
Lollards' prison in Lambeth Palace
Beginning of the Gospel of John from a pocket Wycliffe translation that may have been used by a roving Lollard preacher (late 14th century)
John Oldcastle being burnt for insurrection and Lollard heresy.