Jonty Claypole

I think that's fueling it.

I think also, as we talked about, the absolute ravages of the Black Death has shaken things up so much.

And there are jobs to be done which no longer have enough Latin or French speakers to do them.

There's a very pragmatic sense that, you know, it's all hands to the pump.

Half the population is gone.

So that sudden need for people to come from different classes and backgrounds to come into jobs of responsibility, whether or not they can speak the language they're meant to be communicating in.

So the common tongue, the common tongue of English needs to be accommodated.

I think to an extent there's not much choice.

If you're not going to allow English in the legal system, that means a lot of people can't really work.

Another thing going on, Sophie, not that I want to steal your thunder, but I imagine you'll have more to say about this, are the changes in the church.

And there are two major rifts going on in the Catholic Church, which are affecting England at this time.

The first is the Western Schism between Avignon and Rome.

So the papacy itself has broken in two.

Earlier in the 1300s, the Pope moved to Avignon and there's been an effort to move the papacy back to Rome.

And Avignon and Rome are at complete loggerheads about this.

So I think if you're in England, you're kind of thinking those guys over there are kind of losers.

Like we need to depend upon ourselves a bit more.

I mean, that's colloquial English, but I think there's probably a bit of despair at the internecine fighting.

And also within England, there's a really powerful reformist movement growing, which will become known as the Lollards.

And the ringleader or one of the chief ideologues of this is a man called Wycliffe, who is promoting.