01-Introduction

It is the late fifteenth century. The medieval Roman Church,
collapsing under the weight of its own corruption, has, thus
far, resisted calls from within for serious reformation, and
resisted with barbaric cruelty. John Wycliffe has been dead
for a hundred years, his bones having been burned in 1427,
and Lollardy has been crushed (yet not exterminated –
‘heresy’ simmers just beneath the surface). But Rome has
more to contend with than internal pressures for reform.