Wycliffe brought the Bible to the masses and was repaid by having his remains burnt and thrown in a river by the Roman church. When there was an attempt to put him on trial in a synod, an earthquake struck the area and delayed it. A very rare thing in England. At least pre-fracking.
Background
The Wycliffe Bible is something of a curiosity now, but it occupies a special place in the hearts of many English-speaking Christians, especially Protestants because it sought to break the stranglehold of the Roman Catholic Church upon the Bible. It predates the KJV by about two centuries. Thus there is a direct line between Wycliffe, the Reformation and the Restoration, and even RCs themselves being able to read the Bible in their own tongue."...It helpeth Christian men to study the Gospel in that tongue in which they know best Christ's sentence" - John Wycliffe (c. 1328 –1384)
The RC priesthood had ditched the Greek and Hebrew texts, and also banned the use of the Bible in languages that ordinary people understood, and instead promoted the Vulgate, a Latin translation of the Bible used throughout western Europe.
A hand printed version appeared in 1382 (one can only imagine the labour involved) and an amended one in 1395 by John Purvey.
Broadly speaking, there are two versions of Wycliffe out there. The first is the original version, which contains the old spelling e.g. "u" and "v" are interchangeable and "ſ" is used for "s" in some cases. The second is a more modernised spelling.
Here is the version complete with thorn (þ/th) and yogh (ȝ/gh)..
In þe bigynnyng God made of nouȝt heuene and erþe. Forsoþe þe erþe was idel and voide, and derknessis weren on the face of depþe; and the Spiryt of þe Lord was borun on the watris. And God seide, Liȝt be maad, and liȝt was maad.
The beginning of John in the old spelling. Despite the age (14th century) it looks bizarre but is not complete gibberish. Some of the spellings are reminscent of Dutch (ij) and German.
Here is a modernised Wycliffe version. I think it retains the flavour and the style of the original while making it accessible to modern audiences.In the bigynnyng was the word, and the word was at God, and God was the word. This was in the bigynnyng at God. Alle thingis weren maad bi hym, and withouten hym was maad no thing, that thing that was maad. In hym was lijf, and the lijf was the liyt of men; and the liyt schyneth in derknessis, and derknessis comprehendiden not it.
Translation workIn the beginning was the word, and the word was at God, and God was the word. This was in the beginning at God. All things were made by him, and without[en] him was made nothing [nought], that thing that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men; and the light shineth in darknesses, and [the] darknesses comprehended not it.
Wycliffe's version is a translation of the Vulgate into English, unlike the KJV, but it was also a massive influence upon the KJV despite that. The work represents the bravery and triumph of defiant Christians who risked death and imprisonment for what they had done. Unlike the KJV they did not have state support. Wycliffe is not quite the first attempt at Bible translation, since sections had been translated into Old English. It is however the first major attempt at an English translation. Because of the sincerity and faith of those involved in the project, I think it can be rated more highly than some recent projects which have had access to a wider range of materials but deliberately sought to introduce new cultural Marxist and sexual content into the text, such as the New International Version (NIV). Errors in Wycliffe are usually sincere, unlike NIV.
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We can thank the Wycliffe translators who worked under threat of death far more than the NIV ones who merely risked their university tenures... if that. Wycliffe's project edified and helped restored Christian truth to English speakers.
The known translators:
* John Wycliffe or Wickcliffe etc: A Yorkshireman, who spent much of his life at Oxford and died in Leicestershire. He would have been a native speaker of northern forms of English and familiar with the Midland varieties. When the church authorities tried to put together a synod at Oxford to deal with Wycliffe, it was delayed by an earthquake. Earthquakes are rare in England.
* Nicholas Hereford (died 1420): Strong believer in the right of Christians to read the Bible in their own language. In later life he reconciled with the Church of Rome and withdrew some criticisms. He was more familiar with western and south western forms of English.
* John Trevisa (1342-1402): English was Trevisa's second language. His mother tongue would have been Cornish which was still widely spoken then.
* John Purvey (c. 1354 – c. 1414): Purvey helped revise the version and update it. He came from Newport Pagnell in Buckinghamshire so would have been a speaker of south eastern forms of English (which became dominant). He was banned from preaching due to his activities.
Their success is still palpable. More than 250 manuscripts of their translation still exist to this day and are the most common surviving document in Middle English. Their Bible helped crystallise the English language, with Chaucer hearing it among others, and its influence was felt as far away as Bohemia (the Czech Republic) where it inspired Jan Hus in his proto-Protestant movement.
Twenty years later the English church authorities were still terrified of new Bible translations which would threaten their priestcraft. Even after his death, they felt threatened by Wycliffe himself (Wikipedia again)
Influence on the KJV:The Council of Constance declared Wycliffe (on 4 May 1415) a heretic and under the ban of the Church. It was decreed that his books be burned and his remains be exhumed. In 1428, at the command of Pope Martin V, Wycliffe's remains were dug up, burned, and the ashes cast into the River Swift, which flows through Lutterworth.
Later Wycliffe: "For God louede so the world, that he ȝaf his oon bigetun sone, that ech man that bileueth in him perische not, but haue euerlastynge lijf."
King James Version: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
The recent Bible translations also omit significant verses and change things around for political reasons. (See my NIV discussion here 
