Historians by the 1980s characterized Purvey's reputation as "a largely posthumous concoction of dubious connections, unwarranted assumptions, and, in some cases, mere speculation.
Wycliffe's disciples were called Lollards; a name perhaps derived the medieval Dutch word meaning "to mutter".
The 1382 EV translation has been a more verbatim rendering of the Vulgate and had little consideration for the differences between the Latin and the English, making some passages confusing.
He also delves in the ideas how a labourer at Scripture hath "nede to live a clene life, and with good livyng and great traviel" meaning to come to "trewe understanding of holi writ."
Archbishop Arundel investigated Purvey's teachings and found several counts of heresy including the invalidity of wrongful excommunication, and the ineffectuality of papal law.
Nonetheless he continued to write various works, including commentaries, sermons and treatises condemning what he perceived to be the corruptions of the Catholic Church.
By 1401, he was brought before convocation and chose not to face death by burning, like William Sawtrey, he recanted at St Paul's Cross in London and returned to orthodoxy.
[2] In 1414, Purvey was named and caught as a participant in the ill-fated Oldcastle rebellion in Derbyshire and Warwickshire , suggesting he had reverted to Lollardy.