John Wycliffe appears wasted and physically weak. Thorpe says Wycliffe was of unblemished walk in life, and regarded affectionately by people of rank, who often consorted with him, took down his sayings, and clung to him. "I indeed clove to none closer than to him, the wisest and most blessed of all men whom I have ever found." Thomas Netter highly esteemed John Kynyngham in that he "so bravely offered himself to the biting speech of the heretic and to words that stung as being without the religion of Christ". But this example of Netter is not well chosen, since the tone
Lollardy of legitimacy." With regard to the Eucharist, Lollards such as John Wycliffe, William Thorpe, and John Oldcastle, taught a view of the real presence of Christ in Holy Communion known as "consubstantiation" and did not accept the doctrine of transubstantiation, taught by the Roman Catholic Church in 1215. "The Plowman's Tale", a 16th century Lollard poem argues that theological debate about orthodox doctrine is less important than the Real Presence: <poem> I say sothe thorowe trewe rede His flesh and blode, through his mastry Is there/ in the forme of brede Howe it is there/ it nedeth not stryve Whether