rest, a number of his friends among the nobles came at once to London
too, in order that they might support him by their countenance and
encouragement, and restrain the prelates from carrying their hostility
against him too far. Among these were the Duke of Lancaster and a
certain Lord Percy, a nobleman of very high rank and station. The trial
took place in the Church of St. Paul's. Wickliffe was called upon to
answer to the charges made against him before a very imposing court of
ecclesiastics, all dressed magnificently in their sacerdotal robes. The
knights and barons who took Wickliffe's side were present too in their
military costume, and a great assembly besides, consisting chiefly of
the citizens of London.

The common people of London, being greatly under the influence of the
priests, were, of course, against Wickliffe, and they looked with evil
eyes upon the Duke of Lancaster and the other nobles who had come
there to befriend him. In the course of the trial, which it seems was
not conducted in a very regular manner, the prelates and the nobles
got into a dispute. The dispute at last became so violent that the
Duke of Lancaster had the rudeness to threaten the Bishop of London
that if he did not behave better he would drag him out of the church
by the hair of his head. This was certainly very rough language to
address to a bishop, especially at a time when he was sitting, under
authority from the Pope, as a judge in a high spiritual court, and
clothed in all the paraphernalia of his sacred office. The Londoners
were excessively angry. They went out and called their fellow-citizens
to arms. The excitement spread and increased during the night, and the
next morning a mob collected in the streets, threatening vengeance
against the duke and Lord Percy, and declaring that they would kill
them. The duke's arms, which were displayed in a public place in the
city, they reversed, as was customary in the case of traitors, and
then growing more and more excited as they went on, they directed
their steps toward the palace of the Savoy, where they expected to
find the duke himself. The duke was not there, but the men would have
set fire to the palace had it not been for the interposition of the
Bishop of London. He, hearing what was going on, repaired to the spot,
and with great difficulty succeeded in restraining the mob and saving
the palace. They, however, proceeded forthwith to the house of Lord
Percy, where they burst t