Wyclif, Dialogus

Chapter 1

The three parts of the church militant

Pollard pp. 1.1–3.13

About this chapter

Occasion. Written "some time in 1379" according to its editor, since it treats the double papal election as a fresh scandal (Pollard, pp. xvi–xvii). It is a dialogue between Truth and Falsehood on the endowment of the church. Pollard's outline: chapters 1–10 make the case from scripture; 11–23 answer Falsehood's appeals to church authority; 24–33 meet the practical objections to disendowment; 34–36 conclude (pp. vi–vii). Truth speaks as God in the opening chapters, and "after Chapter 3 Veritas is Wyclif, and Wyclif only" (p. vi).

The text. Pollard prints the only English manuscript, Ashburnham XXVII C, and collates three Vienna manuscripts (ÖNB 3930, 1387 and 4505, his sigla B, B¹ and C respectively; pp. xxii–xxiii). Ten copies survive in all, nine of them made by Bohemian scribes. Our Latin is Pollard's printed text, checked word by word against six witnesses (the Fordham transcription and the OCR of five scans), with the words they could not settle read on the plates. In the printed scripture references the chapter numbers are Wyclif's; the verse numbers are Pollard's.

The move. Before any argument, Truth lays down the plan of the church. It has three parts, clergy, temporal lords and common people, each with its office, and charity binds them. The clergy are to live on alms and tithes, as Christ did; the lords hold what they have of Christ by service. Every later chapter measures the endowed church of 1379 against this plan.

Where it is answered. It has more surviving manuscripts than any other work of Wyclif's. It was banned from public lectures at Prague in 1408, and it stands first in the list of his writings condemned there in 1410. Loserth used it in proving Hus's debt to Wyclif (Pollard, p. v n. 1). No English translation has been traced.

Prologue1.1–1.12

1Cum idemptitas sit mater fastidie et pulcra alternacio delectat animum, ac lingua latina plus regulariter dilatatur atque extensius, visum est quibusdam quod sentencia catholica collecta fidelibus in vulgari reseretur communius in latino. Veritas enim utilis de quanto diffusius dilatatur de tanto mentes fidelium plus illustrat. Et quia multi delectantur in loquela dialogi, moventur a deo duas personas adducere, scil. veritatem atque mendacium, que per modum disputacionis loquuntur in ista materia alternatim. Et quia veritas est Christus, ut patet jo 14°, et diabolus ipsum mendacium, ut patet jo 8°, racionabile videtur veritatem proponere et sermonem istum, mediante Christi gracia stabilire.

1Since sameness is the mother of tedium, and graceful alternation delights the mind,1 and the Latin tongue spreads more regularly and more widely, it has seemed good to some that the catholic teachingsentencia: teaching gathered for the faithful in the vernacular should be opened up more commonly in Latin.2 For useful truth enlightens the minds of the faithful the more, the more widely it is spread. And since many delight in the speech of dialogue, they are moved by God to bring in two persons, namely Truth and Falsehood, who speak in turn on this matter by way of disputation. And since Truth is Christ, as is clear from John 14, and the devil is Falsehood itself, as is clear from John 8,3 it seems reasonable that Truth should propound this discourse and, by the mediation of Christ's grace, establish it.

Truth1.13–2.11

1veritas. Cum ego sum deus conditor cujuslibet creature et judicabo quoscunque homines vel ad beatitudinem vel ad eternum supplicium in finali judicio, racio exigit quod cuncti homines per meam legem, tam in suis conscienciis quam in operibus suis cunctis extrinsecis regulentur. Hec enim est racio quare Christus fuerat incarnatus et 30 annis et amplius cum suis fratribus conversatus, ut sermonibus suis 2mansuetis veritas catholica plus lucescat. Finis autem tam digni laboris et tam assidui est ut homines qui sunt Christi ecclesia sint beati. Dividebam autem meam militantem ecclesiam in tres partes quarum prima foret clerus meus, qui vocantur sacerdotes Christi; qui me instar apostolorum propinquius in moribus sequerentur. Et sic ad animandum eos in humilitate, viverent de elemosinis instar mei. Per hoc enim de me magis recolerent; cum sim deus qui vendico partem decimam tanquam meam. Qui enim vivit de parte domini recoleret recencius dominum partem istam tam libere largientem.

Truth. Since I am God, the maker of every creature, and will judge all men at the final judgement, whether to blessedness or to eternal punishment,4 reason requires that all men be ruled by my law, both in their consciences and in all their outward works. For this is the reason why Christ had become incarnate and had lived for thirty years and more with his brethrenfrater: friar (of the mendicants) / brother: that by his gentle 2sermons catholic truth might shine the more. And the end of so worthy and so constant a labour is that the men who are Christ's churchecclesia: church may be blessed. Now I divided my church militantecclesia militans / triumphans / dormiens: the church militant / triumphant / sleeping into three parts, of which the first should be my clergyclerus; clericus: the clergy; cleric, who are called priestssacerdos / presbiter: priest / presbyter of Christ, and who should follow me more closely in their manner of life, after the pattern of the apostles.5 And so, to hearten them in humility, they should live on almselemosina: alms, as I did. For by this they would be more mindful of me, since I am God, who claim the tenth part as my own. For he who lives on the Lord's portion would remember the more freshly the Lord who bestows that portion so freely.6

Truth (cont.)2.12–3.13

2Secunda pars mee militantis ecclesie forent domini temporales, qui debent esse vicarii deitatis. Ideo sepe meminit augustinus quomodo rex est vicarius deitatis. Sacerdos autem qui secundum humilitatem et pauperiem debet procedere est vicarius humanitatis domini jhu Christi. Et sic secundum potentiam regulatam racione debent hii domini virtuose defendere legem dei. Nam titulo istius servicii tenent de Christo tanquam capitali domino quicquid habent. Tercia autem pars militantis ecclesie sunt vulgares qui in operarios, mercantes et iconomos multipliciter sunt divisi. Ista autem tercia pars et infima ut fundamentum sustinet duas partes alias in corporalibus necessariis vite. Sed caritas que est 3tercia persona in divinis debet connectere has tres partes. Omnes enim iste tres debent sibi ipsis prodesse reciproce et juvare. Clerus autem debet esse vita aliis duabus partibus inferioribus, et vivere ipsis spiritualius ac quo ad mores mundius; et sic tam vita quam verbis docere eos viam ad beatitudinem promerendum. Media autem pars que est domini temporales debet quadam austeritate modesta juvare partes alterutras extremales, et specialiter secundum legem dei in his que promovent ad beatitudinem [conse]quendam. Tercia vero pars vulgarium debet ex animo secundum regulam legis dei servire partibus duabus superioribus; cum omnes iste tres partes debent esse unum corpus ecclesie, currens hilariter in amore ad beatitudinem patrie consequendam.

The second part of my church militant should be the temporal lordstemporales domini: temporal lords, who ought to be vicars of the Godheadvicarius deitatis / vicarius humanitatis Christi: vicar of the Godhead / vicar of Christ's humanity. Therefore Augustine often recalls how the king is the vicar of the Godheaddeitas / divinitas: the Godhead / divinity.7 But the priest, who ought to proceed according to humility and poverty, is the vicar of the humanityvicarius deitatis / vicarius humanitatis Christi: vicar of the Godhead / vicar of Christ's humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so these lordsdominus; dominari: lord; to exercise lordship / to lord it, according to power regulated by reason, ought virtuously to defend God's lawlex dei / lex Christi / lex evangelica: God's law / the law of Christ / the gospel law. For by titletitulus: title of this service they hold ofcapitalis dominus; tenere de: chief lord; to hold of Christ, as chief lordcapitalis dominus; tenere de: chief lord; to hold of, whatever they have.8 Now the third part of the church militant is the common peoplevulgares: the common people, who are divided in many ways into workers, merchants and householdersiconomus (= oeconomus): householder.9 And this third and lowest part, as a foundation, sustains the two other parts in the bodily necessities of life. But charitycaritas: charity, which is 3the third person in the Godhead, ought to bind these three parts together.10 For all these three ought to benefit and help one another reciprocally. Now the clergy ought to be a life to the other two, lower parts, and to live more spiritually than they and, as regards conduct, more cleanly;11 and so, as much by life as by words, to teach them the way to merit blessedness. And the middle part, which is the temporal lords, ought with a certain measured severity to help both the outer parts, and especially, according to God's law, in the things that advance toward attaining blessedness.12 And the third part, of the common people, ought from the heart, according to the rule of God's law, to serve the two higher parts; since all these three parts ought to be one body of the church, running joyfully in love toward attaining the blessedness of the homelandvia / patria: the way / the homeland.

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Notes

  1. 1 Fastidie = fastidii, as printed. The indicative delectat after cum … sit is also as printed; Pollard records no variant. The opening has the form of a proverb.
  2. 2 Collecta fidelibus: most naturally a dative, "gathered for the faithful". But medieval Latin allows an ablative of agent without a: "gathered by faithful men". On the second reading the vernacular teaching was compiled by Wyclif's followers. The Latin cannot decide it, and the English keeps the likelier dative. Either way, the sentence presents the Dialogus as a Latin opening-up of teaching already current in English. Pollard observes that "nearly the whole of the work can be paralleled from the English writings", and explains the nine Bohemian copies by its popular character (p. v).
  3. 3 John 14:6, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life"; John 8:44, the devil "is a liar, and the father thereof". Pollard notes that Truth speaks as God in chapters 1–3 but mentions Christ in the third person alongside (as at 1.16–19). After chapter 3 Truth is simply Wyclif (p. vi).
  4. 4 Cum ego sum: so Pollard's text (the Ashburnham MS). B and C read sim, and Pollard's own introduction quotes the line with sim (p. vi). The mood does not change the English.
  5. 5 The three parts are the medieval three orders (those who pray, those who fight, those who work), recast as parts of the church militant. Instar apostolorum … instar mei: the apostolic and dominical pattern of poverty. The treatise's case against endowment starts here.
  6. 6 The priests live on the Lord's portion, as the Levites did. Pollard notes that the Old Testament proof in the next chapters rests mainly on Num. 18:20 and Deut. 18:1, the Levites' having no inheritance but the Lord (p. vii). Recencius: "more freshly".
  7. 7 "Augustine" is not identified by Pollard. It is the Quaestiones Veteris et Novi Testamenti of Ambrosiaster, which circulated as Augustine's: the king habens imperium Dei quasi vicarius ejus; quia omnis rex Dei habet imaginem (q. 106, PL 35:2319; also q. 91, Rex enim adoratur in terris quasi vicarius Dei, PL 35:2284). Gratian took q. 106 into the Decretum under Augustine's name (C.33 q.5 c.13). The same attribution in De officio regis (13.8–9: dicit Augustinus quod rex habet ymaginem dei sed episcopus ymaginem Cristi) is q. 35, Dei enim imaginem habet rex, sicut et episcopus Christi (PL 35:2234). The apparatus to 2.13 shows the sentence omitted in some MSS (printed "om. B, B, C¹", apparently a misprint). B reads divinitatis for the first deitatis, and has in its margin Sacerdos vicarius Christi, Dominus vicarius divinitatis. See the glossary, vicarius deitatis.
  8. 8 Tenure language, kept literal: the lords "hold of Christ as chief lord", like a tenant-in-chief of the crown, and titulo istius servicii, "by title of this service". The doctrine that all just lordship is held of God, and by service, is the doctrine of De civili dominio.
  9. 9 Iconomos = oeconomos. We render "householders": those who manage a household or holding. It may mean stewards, or husbandmen. Provisional; see the glossary, .
  10. 10 Charity as the Holy Spirit, "the third person in the Godhead", is Peter Lombard's thesis in Sentences I d.17. The house has its pilot at sententiae.wrootpress.com. In divinis: "in the divine [persons]", i.e. in God.
  11. 11 Esse vita aliis: "be a life to the others". Pollard's side-note takes it as example ("must set a good example"). Vita may be an error for via ("a way"), but no MS reads so, and it stands. Vivere ipsis spiritualius: we take ipsis as an ablative of comparison, "more spiritually than they", rather than a dative ("live for them"). The comparative settles it.
  12. 12 [conse]quendam: Pollard's brackets supply the syllable from B, B¹, C (apparatus to 3.9), so his base MS evidently reads quendam. At 3.6 promerendum is printed so; B has been corrected by another hand to promerendam. The English is unaffected in both places.
How the Latin of this chapter was established
  • Plate readings; page · reading · note):
    • 1: 14° (degree sign)
    • 2: est (15 is the line number)
  • Omitted per §3.5 / kept in the English (margin matter): reference John xiv. 6 (1.10); reference John viii. 44 (1.11).
  • Ranges: the first draft ended chapter 1 at 3.14; the plate (n34) puts hilariter … consequendam on line 13 and the heading CAPITULUM 2m. before line 15, so the working transcription's 3.13 stands.
  • Side-notes re-keyed on the plate (n32–n34): the first draft placed "And in the form of a dialogue…" at 1.7 and "Truth standing for Christ…" at 1.10; on the plate they begin at lines 6 and 9. The first draft's single 2.5 note is three marginal blocks at 2.5, 2.7 and 2.9, given separately here.
  • Carried from the first draft (its Latin was Fordham, collated against the plates, 2026-09-28):
  • Collation, Fordham vs plate, 1.1–3.14, every word: no word discrepancies. Formatting only: Fordham has jo 14o, jo 8o for the printed 14°, 8°; it drops the space at 14o,et; and it drops the MS folio asterisks (as we do) and leaves a double space where one stood (2.5).
  • ⚠ Structural discrepancy: Fordham supplies a heading "CAPITULUM PRIMUM" that Pollard does not print. His chapter 1 is unheaded, under the running title SPECULUM ECCLESIE MILITANTIS. Fordham also puts Pollard's "CAPITULUM 2m" (3.15) inside its chapter 1 as a body paragraph. This is a live example of PHASE0 finding 6: chapter structure comes from the plate.
  • Omitted per: line numbers; MS folio markers B.1b (2.5), C.1b (2.23), B¹.150b and 97b (3.3–4), B.1c (3.10) and their asterisks; Pollard's marginal scripture references (John xiv. 6, John viii. 44), whose content is kept in the English; a reader's pencil "15" at the foot of p. 1.
  • Variants noted but not affecting the English: 1.2 B, B¹, C et for ac, et plus, racionabiliter; 1.7 B moventur corr. from moveor; 2.1 B, B¹ enim for autem; 2.1 B, C tantum for tam; 2.16 B¹ domini nostri.