Lollards were a group of Englishmen, led by the Oxford scholar-priest John Wycliffe, who began the fight for the supremacy of Scripture over the authority of the Pope. One Lollard follower was Sir John Oldcastle who was charged with heresy by Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Arundel on September 29, 1413. After hiding out for years, he was eventually turned in for a reward and roasted alive. Shakespeare modeled his character Falstaff after Oldcastle.
