LOLLARDS, in Ecclesiastical History, a religious sect, which arose in Germany about the beginning of the fourteenth century, and was so called, as many writers have thought, from Walter Lollard, who began to dogmatize in 1315, and was afterwards burned at' Cologne; though others think that Lollard was no surname, but merely a term of reproach applied to all heretics who concealed the poison of error under the appearance of piety.

The monk of Canterbury derives the origin of the word Lollard amongst us, from lolium, a tare; as if the Lollards were the tares sown in Christ’s vineyard. Abelly says that the word Lollard signifies praising God, from the German loben, to praise, and herr, Lord; because the Lollards employed themselves in travelling about from place to place, singing psalms and hymns. Others, again, derive lollhard, lullhard, or lollert, lullert, as it was written by the ancient Germans, from the old German word lullen, lollen, or lallen, and the termination hard, with which many of the Dutch words end. Lallen signifies to sing with a low voice, and therefore Lollard is a singer, or one who frequently sings; and in the vulgar tongue of the Germans it denotes a person who is continually praising God with a song, or singing hymns in his praise. The Alexians or Cellites were called Lollards, because they were public singers, who made it their business to inter the bodies of those who died of the plague, and sang a dirge over them in a mournful and indistinct tone as they carried them to the grave. The name was afterwards assumed by persons who dishonoured it; for we find that, amongst those Lollards who made extraordinary pretences to piety and religion, and spent the greater part of their time in meditation, prayer, and such acts of piety, there were many abominable hypocrites, who entertained the most ridiculous opinions, and concealed the most enormous vices under the specious mark of this extraordinary profession.

Many injurious aspersions were propagated by the priests and monks against those who assumed this name; so that, by degrees, any person who covered heresy or crime under the appearance of piety was called a Lollard. Thus the name was used not to denote any one particular sect, but was formerly common to all persons and all sects who were supposed to be guilty of impiety towards God or the church, under an external profession of extraordinary piety. However, many societies, consisting both of men and women, under the denomination of Lollards, were formed in most parts of Germany and Flanders, and were supported partly by their manual labours, and partly by the charitable donations of pious persons. The magistrates and inhabitants of the towns where these brethren and sisters resided, gave them particular marks of favour and protection, on account of their great usefulness to the sick and needy. They were thus supported against their malignant rivals, and obtained many papal constitutions, by which their institute was confirmed, their persons exempted from the cognizance of the inquisitors, and subjected entirely to the jnrisdiction of the bishops; but as these measures were insufficient to secure them from molestation, Charles duke of Burgundy, in the year 1472, obtained a solemn bull from Sixtus IV. ordaining that the Cellites or Lollards should be ranked amongst the religious orders, and delivered from the jurisdiction of the bishops; and in the year 1506 Julius II. granted them still greater privileges. Mosheim informs us that many societies of this kind still subsisted at Cologne, and in the cities of Flanders, though they had evidently departed from their ancient rules.

Lollard and his followers rejected the sacrifice of the mass, extreme unction, and penances for sin; arguing that Christ’s sufferings were all-sufficient. He is likewise said to have set aside baptism, as a thing of no effect; and repentance, as not absolutely necessary.. In England, the followers of Wickliffe were by way of reproach called Lollards, from the affinity there existed between some of their tenets and those of that sect; though others are of opinion that the English Lollards came from Germany.’ The Lollards were solemnly condemned by the archbishop of Canterbury and the council of Oxford.