The religious sect made their first appearance about the beginning of the fourteenth century. Among the various opinions touching the origin of their name, the most common is that which traces it to Walter Lollard, who was burnt for heresy at Cologne in 1322. Without doubt, however, he, instead of giving, owed his surname to the sect. The correct opinion is, that the Lollards received their distinctive title from their marked attention to the worship, and especially to the praise of God. From the German word *lullen*, *lollen*, or *lallen*, meaning "to sing in a low tone," they were called *Lullhards*, *Lollhards*, or *Lollards*. Their habit of frequent prayer was the cause of their other title, *Beghards*, derived from *beghen*, to "beg" or "be-seech." The term Lollards was often applied to sects known by other appellations, amongst which the most noted were the *Cellites*, or *Alexians*, of Antwerp. These, during the raging of a virulent pestilence, tended the couch of the dying which the priests had forsaken, and accompanied the dead to the grave, chanting as they went their usual mournful melodies. To the same humane duties did the Lollards of both sexes, over the greater part of Germany and the Netherlands, devote their lives, trusting for their livelihood to the benevolence of the pious, and to the gratitude of those whom they relieved. The priesthood vexed that their indolence had become so apparent by contrast with such active benevolence, keenly persecuted the Lollards, and arraigned them before the pontiffs for many faults and errors. Fastening upon the vices of some mere formalists who had joined the sect, they laid the hollow deceit of a few to the charge of all, and, in the course of time, applied the term Lollard as an epithet of contempt and reproach to all whom they considered hypocritical. The magistrates, however, appreciating the public services of the Lollards, advocated their cause with the pontiffs, and obtained for them a withdrawal from the jurisdiction of the Inquisition to that of the bishops alone. This freedom from molestation was perfected in 1472, when Charles Duke of Burgundy procured a decree from Sixtus IV., absolving the Lollards from the authority of the bishops, and constituting them a religious order. Additional privileges were conferred upon them in 1506 by Julius II. Many of their societies existed in Antwerp, Cologne, and Utrecht; and, according to Tridemius, their number in Germany amounted to 80,000.

The term Lollards, from being fixed as a stigma upon all those who simply disavowed ecclesiastical practice, came to be applied to those also who denied ecclesiastical doctrine. Accordingly, Walter, above mentioned, received his surname of Lollard on account of his rejection of the mass, extreme unction, and penances, and also, it is said, of baptism and repentance. For a similar reason, and not because, as some suppose, they came from Germany, the followers of Wickliffe in England were called Lollards. Their chief heresy was the denial of the Roman Catholic doctrine, that unbaptized infants must necessarily perish; and accordingly when Henry IV. enacted the statute concerning the burning of heretics this tenet was appointed the test for all suspected of Lollardism. Countenanced by many of the nobility, who concealed their envy of the wealth of the priesthood under the mask of zeal for church reform, the Lollards increased in numbers and in confidence. At the beginning of the reign of Henry V., they affixed placards at the different church doors in London, threatening to shake off by force the load of persecution under which they had so long groaned. Following up this menace, they mustered an army of about 20,000 under their leader, Lord Cobham, but were speedily dispersed by the prompt conduct of the king, and were afterwards kept under check by additional enactments. The Council of Constance, by removing many of the most glaring ecclesiastical abuses, caused a reaction in favour of the church, and thus weakened the strength of the Lollards. Yet this sect, still attracting within their pale all those who longed to lay their hands upon the ecclesiastical patrimony, continued to weather the storms of persecution that at intervals assailed them, and in the reign of Henry VIII. were the first to adopt those reformed doctrines that finally removed all distinction between them and the rest of the nation. Previous to this period, however, it is calculated by Fox that more than 100 of their number were burnt at the stake.