In 1409, in direct response to Wycliffism and Lollardy, the English archbishop of Canterbury (and Oxford alumnus) Thomas Arundel issued a series of thirteen “Constitutions”—clerical rulings directed specifically at the University of Oxford, which strictly limited the freedom of speech and research among academics, forbade unlicensed preaching and English translation of scripture, demanded monthly inspections by senior university officials to ensure that no untoward opinions were being expressed, and forbade teachers to say anything to their students that was not approved church doctrine.
