History of Protestantism History of Protestantism Protestantism originated from work of several theologians starting in the 12th century, although there could have been earlier cases of which there is no surviving evidence. Any prominent dissent was subject to persecution by the Roman Catholic Church, and thus attempts to change anything in the Catholic Church were kept isolated or effectively eradicated up to the 16th century. One of the early Protestant Reformers was John Wycliffe, an English theologian and early proponent of reform in the 14th century. His followers, known as Lollards, spread throughout England but soon were persecuted by both the Catholic Church
General Prologue of the Wycliffe Bible Bibles that contain just the New Testament. There are fifteen Wycliffe Bibles that have just the four Gospels of the New Testament. There are four copies of the Wycliffe Bible that comprise only the letters from the Apostles to the Christians commonly called the Epistles. There are known to be nine (Deanesly says 10) hand written copies of the "General Prologue" that survive today. There is one that is a manuscript by itself, while there are six attached to the later version of Wycliffe Bibles. There is wording in the "General Prologue" that give a probable time of writing of