John Wycliffe and in his sermons, but also in a series of sharp tracts and polemical productions in Latin and English (of which those issued in his later years have been collected as "Polemical Writings"). In the 1380 "Objections to Friars", he calls monks the pests of society, enemies of religion, and patrons and promoters of every crime. He directed his strongest criticism against the friars, whose preaching he considered neither scriptural nor sincere, but motivated by "temporal gain". While others were content to seek the reform of particular errors and abuses, Wycliffe sought nothing less than the extinction of the institution
14th century 14th century The 14th century, also known as the 1300s, was a century lasting from January 1, 1301, to December 31, 1400. Political and natural disasters ravaged both Europe and the four khanates of the Mongol Empire. Consequently, the Mongol court was driven out of China and retreated to Mongolia, the Ilkhanate collapsed in Persia, the Chaghatayid dissolved and broke into two parts and the Golden Horde lost its position as great power in Eastern Europe. In Europe, the Black Death claimed between 75 and 200 million lives, while England and France fought in the protracted Hundred Years' War after