Short answers, pulled from the story.
The word lollard began as a Middle Dutch term for mumblers or mutterers, a colloquial name for groups of buriers of the dead during the Black Death known as Alexian Brothers who sang softly for the deceased. By the mid-15th century, this derogatory nickname had evolved to mean a heretic in general, applied to those without an academic background who were reputed to follow the teachings of John Wycliffe.
The earliest official use of the name in England occurs in 1387 in a mandate of the Bishop of Worcester against five poor preachers, marking the beginning of a long and dangerous association between the term and religious dissent. While the etymology remains uncertain, with some theories linking it to a weedy vetch or the surname of a Franciscan preacher burned at Cologne in the 1370s, the word itself became a weapon used by the Church to label and destroy those who dared to question its authority.
In the year 1401, a priest named William Sawtry was burned at the stake for preaching that bread remains in the same nature as before consecration, a belief that directly contradicted the Church's doctrine of transubstantiation. This belief was so central to their identity that it became the fourth of the Twelve Conclusions and the first of the Sixteen Points on which the Bishops accused Lollards.
The year 1381 marked a turning point for the Lollard movement, as the Peasants' Revolt brought them into direct conflict with the state and the Church. The Lollards' small measure of protection evaporated, particularly with the departure of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, who left England in 1386 to pursue the Crown of Castile, leaving the Lollards without their most powerful patron.
The legal landscape changed dramatically with the enactment of the law De heretico comburendo in 1401 during the reign of Henry IV. This statute equated theological heresy with sedition against political rulers, making it a crime punishable by death and transforming heresy from a theological error into a political crime.
In the Diocese of London, there are records of about 310 Lollards being prosecuted or forced to abjure from 1510 to 1532. In Lincoln diocese, 45 cases against Lollardy were heard in 1506, 1507, and in 1521, there were 50 abjurations and 5 burnings of Lollards.