Question

References to John Wycliffe and the Lollards can be found in The Canterbury Tales as Chaucer.

a. Champions their cause and praises the Lollards for pursuing the truth at any cost.
b. Pokes fun at Wycliffe for being obsequious to the crown instead of standing up for his
c. own beliefs.
d. Includes Wycliffe among the pilgrims as the philosopher from Oxford.
e. Includes Wycliffe's dislike of church doctrine in his depiction of a Friar who sells
indulgences and enjoys the company of women.

Answer 1

Chaucer's references to Wycliffe and the Lollards in 'The Canterbury Tales' are interpreted as critical of Church practices and corruption, aligning with the sentiments leading to the Protestant Reformation.

Step-by-step explanation:

The references to John Wycliffe and the Lollards in Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales are often interpreted as critical of the Church and its practices, echoing the sentiments of anticlerical groups that laid the groundwork for the Protestant Reformation. While Chaucer does not explicitly champion the cause of Wycliffe and the Lollards, he does include criticisms of church corruption through his characters, such as the Friar who sells indulgences and enjoys worldly pleasures. Such characters can be seen as Chaucer's way of including Wycliffe's dislike of church doctrine within the tales, indirectly addressing the themes of religious reform and corruption.