494 Otttlines of European History however, to prevent the Pope from filling English benefices. The English king was unable to keep the money of his realm i,f --^~<i^,4^^ u»J^wwaatei» to ]^wit« tfttffc ti^e^iaj to pc ftc s«pfit t^ei tWRi i atiooittii|rf tabo^ bcgcn'm Fig. 177. Page FROM Wycliffe's Translation of the Bible This is the upper half of the first page of the Gospel according to Mark and contains verses 1-7 and 15-23. The scribe of the time made i, y, and ik in something the same way. The page begins : " The bigyn- ninge of the gospel of ihusu crist, the sone of god. As it is writen in isaie, the prophete, Loo, I send myn aungel bifore thi face, that schal make thi weie redi bifore thee. The voice of one crying in deseert, make thee redi the weie of the lord," make thee his pathis ryghtful. Joon was in deseert baptizinge and prechinge the baptism of penaunce in to remissioun of sinnes." While the spelling is somewhat different from ours it is clear that the language used by Wycliffe closely resembled that used in the familiar authorized version of the New Testament, made two centuries and a half later from flowing to Avignon, and at the meeting of the English Parliament held in 1376 a report was made to the effect that the taxes levied by the Pope in England were five times those raised by the king.
