Final answer:
John Wycliffe translated the Holy Scriptures into English in 1382, making it accessible to the common man and setting the stage for the Protestant Reformation.
Step-by-step explanation:
In 1382, John Wycliffe and his followers produced handwritten English translations of the Scriptures, which allowed the common man to engage with the Bible in a language they could understand. This act was significant in the history of Christianity and was a precursor to the Protestant Reformation that would occur centuries later. While Wycliffe's Bible was not printed, it contributed to increasing calls for accessibility to scripture and laid the groundwork for later translations, including the work of William Tyndale, who translated the Bible into English in 1526 during the time of the Reformation. The invention of the printing press and the subsequent translation of the Bible into vernacular languages significantly democratized access to religious texts and allowed ordinary people to interpret scriptures directly.