or WICKLIFFITES, a religious sect which sprung up in England in the reign of Edward III. and took its name from John Wickliff, doctor and professor of divinity in the university of Oxford, who maintained that the substance of the sacramental bread and wine remained unaltered after consecration; and opposed the doctrine of purgatory, indulgences, auricular confession, the invocation of saints, and the worship of images. He maintained, that the children of the religious may be saved without being baptized; that priests may administer confirmation; that there ought to be only two orders in the church, that of priests, and that of deacons. He made an English version of the Bible; and composed two volumes, called Aletheia, that is, Truth, from which John Huss learned most of his doctrines. In short, to this reformer we owe the first hint of the reformation, which was effected about two hundred years after.