Nope, I know that illiteracy was widespread in the Middle Ages. However, education had been increasing dramatically since Renaissance times and it was inevitable that the masses were going to become literate.
Wycliffe, Tyndale and others yearned to have the Bible available in the vernacular. Here is a famous quote from Tyndale while addressing a priest: "If God spare my life, ere many years I will cause a boy that driveth a plough shall know more of the Scriptures than thou doest." He must have seen the inevitablility of the masses learning to read as he knew of Gutenberg's invention. And what better book to teach men and women to read from than the Bible itself? In fact, the Bible was used as a textbook, more than any other book. Tyndale was hounded by the Church for his translation work and later burned.
In addition, with the translation of the scriptures, preachers could read directly from a vernacular source which would also reach the masses (Wycliffe's Lollards were tireless in this type of preaching.) Even if one was illiterate, hearing the Word of God in one's own language must have been tremendously inspiring.
By the way, I recently learned that John Wycliffe was most likely the first person to translate the entire Bible anywhere in Europe in 1,000 years. Pretty amazing accomplishment. The Pope ordered his bones exhumed and burned for this and other "offences".
Indeed. As you may recall, Gutenberg - a staunch Catholic - made the Paris Bible the very first printed book.
And what better book to teach men and women to read from than the Bible itself? In fact, the Bible was used as a textbook, more than any other book.
Monastery schools had been using the clear and simple language of the Vulgate Gospel of John as a Latin primer for centuries before Tyndale.
Tyndale was hounded by the Church for his translation work and later burned.
He was, in point of fact, forbidden from returning to England by Henry VIII even after Henry had broken his allegiance with the Holy See. Henry had agents on the Continent seeking to seize Tyndale and bring him back to Protestant England for trial and execution. Tyndale was eventually executed by the government of Emperor Charles V for being in league with the Protestant rebels who were threatening his hold over his lands in the Low Countries. His translation work had little to do with the Emperor's complaint - in fact it is entirely possible that the prosecuting attorney had no knowledge of it.
(Wycliffe's Lollards were tireless in this type of preaching.) Even if one was illiterate, hearing the Word of God in one's own language must have been tremendously inspiring.
Whether it was inspiring or not, the Lollard texts in many respects bore only a passing resemblance to the actual text of the Bible.
By the way, I recently learned that John Wycliffe was most likely the first person to translate the entire Bible anywhere in Europe in 1,000 years.
Then you have been misinformed. The "Wycliffe Bible" was more the work of Nicholas Herford than Wycliffe himself, and textual analysis suggests than more than ten different Lollards were involved in the translation. The only parts of the Wycliffe Bible which demonstrate tolerable fidelity to the source text were Herford's.
The Pope ordered his bones exhumed and burned for this and other "offences".
Incorrect. The Council of Constance ordered his bones exhumed because the Council correctly concluded that a non-Catholic should not be buried in a Catholic cemetery.
I quote from the Acts of the Council:
"[This Council] decrees and orders that his body and bones are to be exhumed, if they can be identified among the corpses of the faithful, and to be sent far from a burial place of the church, in accordance with canonical and lawful sanctions."
No burning of his remains is mentioned, which makes sense, since the Church forbid cremation at that time.