During the seventy-five years between the last issue of Tyndale's Testaments and the publication of the Authorised Version of 1611, six different versions of the English Bible issued from the press, and in saying this we are not taking account of the Rheims-Douai Bible, the Roman Catholic English Version dating between 1582 and 1610. These six versions were: Coverdale s Bible of 1535; "Matthew's" Bible of 1537; Taverner's Bible of 1539; the Great Bible, also of 1539; the Geneva Bible of 1560; and the Bishops Bible of 1568. It will be in the memory of our readers that when Coverdale appeared upon the scene Tyndale's Bible was far from complete. The New Testament had been finished and several times revised; the book of Jonah had been translated separately; and the Pentateuch had been issued in a revised second edition. Probably also a translation of the Old Testament from Joshua to Second Chronicles had been made by Tyndale and left in manuscript. This being the extent to which his work had gone it will be seen at once that a large portion of Scripture, including the Psalter and the Prophetical Books, still remained untranslated.
It is here that Miles Coverdale's work comes in and fills an important place. This man was a native of the North Riding of Yorkshire, where he was born in 1488, and we know of him further that he was Bishop of Exeter in 1551. Foxe tells us that Coverdale met Tyndale by appointment at Hamburg in 1529, and from Easter till December in that year helped him in translating the five books of Moses, so that there was so far a close and friendly relation existing between them.
It would seem that he set about completing Tyndale's work, being urged thereto and commissioned by others. These are his words: "To say the truth before God, it was neither my labour nor desire to have this work put in my hand, nevertheless it grieved me that other nations should be more plenteously provided for with the Scripture in their mother-tongue than we; therefore when I was instantly required, though I could not do so well as I would, I thought it yet my duty to do my best and that with a good will."
Coverdale made no claim to be a direct translator from the original Hebrew, but to have made his version from German and Latin sources. He translated he says out of "five interpreters." He had some knowledge of Hebrew to help him to discriminate between various renderings, but in the main his version is based on the Swiss-German version of Zwingli and Leo Juda (1542-9), known as the Zurich Bible, and on the Latin of Pagninus. So far as the Pentateuch is concerned, his translation has been described as the Zurich translation rendered into English by the help of Tyndale with constant reference to Luther, Pagninus and the Vulgate. It will be seen that Tyndale was a great resource to him when we find that in the whole Epistle of St James containing 108 verses, there is only a difference of three words between them.
Still, notwithstanding this dependence upon others, the value of Coverdale's version will be felt at once when we consider that for three-fourths of the Old Testament this is the first printed English Bible, and as such still stands alone, inasmuch as it had great influence in the shaping of the Authorised Version of 1611. His Bible is divided into six parts, the fifth part containing the Apocryphal books arranged in the same order as that of the Authorised Version; and the sixth part consisting of the books of the New Testament arranged in the same order as in Luther and Tyndale's version, that is, the Epistles of St Peter and St John come in before and not after the Epistle to the Hebrews. The most characteristic portion of Coverdale's translation is that of the Psalter, and this still remains in use as being the one printed in the Book of Common Prayer. While in the revision of this book in 1662 the Gospels, Epistles and other portions of Scripture were taken from the Authorised Version, the Psalms as translated by Coverdale were retained as being smoother and more amenable to musical treatment. In the Authorised Version, too, many of the renderings most valued for their beauty and tenderness are his; such as: "My heart and flesh faileth, but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever"; "Enter not into judgment with thy servant, for in thy sight shall no man living be justified"; "Cast me not away from thy presence, and take not thy Holy Spirit from me"; "For thy loving-kindness is better than life; my lips shall praise thee"; "Thou Lord in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of thy hands. They shall perish but thou shalt endure: they shall all wax old as doth a garment; and as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed. But thou art the same and thy years shall not fail." We feel there is a certain majesty about these passages entitling Coverdale to a high place in our literature.
The relation of this Bible of his to the civil power seems fitful and uncertain. In 1535 it was printed out of the country by Froschover of Zurich and was dedicated to the King, but appeared without express license. The following year it was printed at home by Nycolson of Southwark but again without royal license. Then again in 1538 another edition was printed by Nycolson and this time the title-page proclaims the fact that it was "Set forth wyth the Kynges moost gracious licence." The explanation of the difference is to be found in the fact that during these years the rupture with Rome had become an accomplished fact. Wolsey had fallen and Thomas Cromwell had become the King's Vicegerent in all causes ecclesiastical, with precedence over all prelates and peers. In the issue of the First Royal Injunctions of 1536 we have the first act of pure supremacy on the part of the King in the affairs of the Church, and in them we find him urging the clergy to give themselves to the study of Holy Scripture. But the changing attitude of the Crown to the Bible is brought out more clearly in the scene which took place at a Council of Convocation held in 1537. Foxe, making use of a narrative given to him by Alesius, or Hales, has described it for us. As Cromwell entered, the bishops and prelates rose up and did obeisance to him as their Vicar-General, he in turn saluting them, and then seating himself in the highest place at the table. Presently he proceeded to address them, setting forth the purpose for which they were met, and telling them that the King s desire was that they would conclude all things by the Word of God. His Majesty, he said, would not suffer the Scriptures to be wrested or defaced by any papistical laws, or any authority of doctors or councils, much less would he admit any articles or doctrines not contained in the Scriptures. In reply the bishops gave thanks unto the King's Majesty for his zeal and his most godly exhortation. But controversy arose at once when Stokesley, Bishop of London, maintained the validity of the Seven Sacraments, the Archbishop of Canterbury going one way with his followers, and the Archbishop of York another, with those who agreed with him. The question was really one of final authority; where does it rest, with the Church or the Bible? Foxe, the Bishop of Hereford, contended for the Bible, for the light of the Gospel hath put to flight all misty darkness, and it will be supreme "though we resist in vain ever so much." In spite of opposition that book was making its way, he said. "The lay people do now know the Holy Scripture better than many of us; and the Germans have made the text of the Bible so plain and easy, by the Hebrew and Greek tongues, that now many things may be better understood without any glosses at all, than by all the commentaries of the doctors." He urged them not to deceive themselves by the hope that there was nothing which the power and authority of the pope could not quench in process of time, but rather to take the other view "that there is nothing so feeble and weak, so that it be true but it shall find place, and be able to stand against all falsehood." He concluded with these eloquent words: "Truth is the daughter of Time and Time is the mother of Truth; and whatsoever is besieged of Truth cannot long continue; and upon whose side Truth doth stand, that ought not to be thought transitory or that it will ever fall. All things consist not in painted eloquence, and strength or authority: for the Truth is of so great power, strength and efficacy that it can neither be defended with words, nor be overcome with any strength, but after she hath hidden herself long, at length she putteth up her head and appeareth." This noble utterance may well coincide with the appearance of that first completed and printed English Bible which Coverdale sent forth; and it may well stand as fitting watchword at the opening of that new era in the history of that Bible which was even now at the doors.
The year 1537 which saw a new edition of Coverdale's Bible "overseen and corrected," saw also the issue of another Bible described as "Matthew's" about which there is a certain air of mystery. It was printed in black letter, in double columns, the title-page sets forth that it was "truly and purely translated into English by Thomas Matthew" and at foot of that page it was said to be set forth "with the Kynge's most gracious lycence." It seems to be generally agreed that the name of Matthew was assumed by John Rogers, an intimate friend of Tyndale, an earnest Protestant and one of the martyrs of Mary's time. The version bearing this name is of a composite character and comprised a reprint of Tyndale's New Testament and his Pentateuch. From Ezra to the end of the Apocrypha, not excluding Jonah, it is substantially Coverdale's version; but from Joshua to Chronicles the text differs so widely from Coverdale, that it is supposed to be from the translations left behind him by Tyndale. It was furnished with a dedication to the King and Queen, and the expense of the work, probably printed at Antwerp, was defrayed by two London citizens, R. Grafton and E. Whitchurch. The first news of its appearance in England is contained in a letter from Cranmer to Cromwell. "My especial good lord," he writes, "these shall be to signify unto the same that you shall receive by the bringer thereof a bible in English, both of a new translation and of a new print ... which in mine opinion is very well done, and therefore I pray your lordship to read the same. And as for the translation, so far as I have read thereof, I like it better than any other translation heretofore made. ... I pray you, my Lord, that you will exhibit the book unto the King's highness, and to obtain of his grace, if you can, a license that the same may be sold and read of every person, without danger of any act, proclamation or ordinance to the contrary, until such time that we bishops shall set forth a better translation which I think will not be till a day after doomsday." Cromwell did as Cranmer desired and presently informed him that he had not only shown the Bible to the King but had also "obtained of his grace that the same shall be allowed by his authority to be bought and read within this nation." Dr Westcott points out the deep significance of what had thus been accomplished: "By Cranmer s petition, by Cromwell's influence and by Henry's authority, without any formal ecclesiastical decision, the book was given to the English people, which is the foundation of the text of our present Bible. From Matthew's Bible--itself a combination of the labours of Tyndale and Coverdale all later revisions have been successively formed. In that the general character and mould of our whole version was definitely fixed. The labours of the next seventy-five years were devoted to improving it in detail."
It may now be mentioned in passing, though the matter is of small importance, that the successful sale of Matthew's Bible led in 1539 to the issuing of a rival edition, as a private venture, by "John Byddell for Thomas Barthlet" with Richard Taverner as editor. From the name of the editor it is known as Taverner's Bible. He was a Cambridge man and was also for a year and a half a student at Oxford. About 1530 he became a member of the Inner Temple; he afterwards went to Court and through Cromwell's influence became one of the Clerks of the Signet. In 1539 his version of the Bible was printed at the Sign of the Sun in Fleet Street, London, and was allowed to be publicly read in churches. The influence of the Vulgate is clearly traceable in what changes he made, which were but small in the Old Testament, but more numerous in the New. Those who have examined the book report that it is evidently the work of a scholar, but of a scholar of capricious and uncertain cast of mind. His version was once afterwards reprinted in its entirety but had little influence in after years.
We come now to the important version known as The Great Bible--"the hole byble of the largyest volume," which came out in 1539. This is the book referred to in the Second Royal Injunctions of 1538, sent to Cranmer by Cromwell under date September 30. In section 2 the following order was issued to the clergy: "You shall provide on this side the feast of Easter next coming, one book of the whole Bible of the largest volume, in English, and the same set up in some convenient place within the said church that you have cure of, whereat your parishioners may most commodiously resort to the same and read it; the charges of which book shall be rateably borne between you, the parson, and the parishioners afore said." In section 3 the clergy are charged--"You shall discourage no man privily or apertly from the reading or hearing of the said Bible, but shall expressly provoke, stir, and exhort every person to read the same, as that which is the very lively word of God, that every Christian man is bound to embrace, believe and follow, if he look to be saved."
The Bible, thus for the first time in English history to be openly placed in the churches for any man to read who could, was practically a revision of Matthew's Bible carried out by Coverdale himself. About the same time that Coverdale's own Bible of 1535 was going through the press there was being prepared a new Latin version of the Old Testament, giving also the Hebrew text and a commentary chiefly from Hebrew sources, the work of Sebastian Münster of Basle. It was, of course, not available at the time Coverdale was at work and he had to content himself with the Zurich version, but when he came afterwards to compare the two he felt at once that Münster's version was greatly superior as a text to work from. It was therefore adopted and the Great Bible is really the text of Matthew taken as a basis and revised by the help of Münster. This refers to the Old Testament only, but a revision of the New Testament was carried out also on similar principles and what Münster's version, as a text, was for the Old Testament that of Erasmus was for the New. But next to Erasmus the Complutensian edition was most largely made use of in what changes were made in the revision.
The Great Bible thus constituted was arranged in the first instance to be printed in Paris, that city taking precedence at that time in the matters of paper, types and workmanship. Through Cromwell's influence a licence was obtained from Francis I, the King of France, by which Coverdale and Grafton were authorised to print and transmit to England the Latin or the English Bible, it being a condition that no private or unlawful opinions should be introduced, and that all dues and obligations should be properly discharged. So the execution of the work was entrusted to Francis Regnault, a Paris printer of high reputation, and commenced on a splendid scale; Coverdale and Grafton going over to superintend. By September Cromwell was informed by Coverdale that in about four months he hoped the printing would be complete. Still they were not without misgivings as to possible interference and in December their fears were verified, for in that month an Order came from the Inquisitor General for France, for bidding further progress and ordering the removal of the sheets. Fortunately some of the sheets had been sent on to England and so were safe. And even those that were seized by the authorities, "four great dry vats-full," were afterwards re-purchased from a haberdasher, to whom they had been sold as wastepaper.
And the work was not really stopped but only delayed. For Cromwell, a man of executive ability, at once arranged that both types and presses and printers should be brought over to England and the work completed there. In this way the Great Bible which Cromwell in the Injunctions of 1538 had ordered beforehand to be placed in the churches by Easter, was really issued in April 1539. The title-page describes it as "The Byble in Englysh, that is to say the content of all the holy scrypture both of ye Olde and Newe testamente truly translated after the veryte of the Hebrue and Greke textes by ye dylygent studye of dyverse excellent, learned men expert in the forsayde tonges. Prynted by Eychard Grafton and Edward Whitchurch. 1539." A fine copy printed on vellum and illuminated, which was originally prepared for Thomas Cromwell himself, as the great promoter of the enterprise, is preserved in the Library of St John's College, Cambridge.
The Great Bible is sometimes called Cranmer's Bible; this is a mistake, however, as he seems to have had no connection with the enterprise till the appearance of the second edition in April 1540. For this he wrote a prologue which appeared in subsequent editions. The first title has these words: "This is the Byble apoynted to the use of the Churches." Of this edition the British Museum possesses a fine copy, printed on vellum and illuminated, which was presented to Henry VIII by Anthony Marler, of London, haberdasher, who is said to have borne the expense of these editions. The third Great Bible came out in July 1540, and the fourth in November of the same year. In April 1541 Anthony Marler received permission to sell copies of the Great Bible unbound for ten shillings sterling, and bound, "being trimmed with bullyons," for twelve shillings, equivalent, it has been calculated, to about £6 and £7.5s. 0d. of present value. The following month appeared the fifth Great Bible; in November of the same year the sixth; and in December the seventh and last of the 1539-41 series, being the sixth with Cranmer's prologue.
All these editions, though appointed to be read in churches, unlike the Authorised Version of 1611 have no dedication. The title-page takes a pictorial form said to have been designed by Hans Holbein, in the upper part of which the Lord Christ is represented in the clouds of heaven; lower down the King appears on his throne handing the Word of God to the bishops and clergy on the right and to Cromwell and others of the laity on his left. There was no mere courtly flattery in thus representing the Bible as being now accessible to the people. For copies were now actually within reach in their churches. Even Bishop Bonner, unhappily so prominent in the persecution of Bible-reading men in the days of Mary, actually "set up Six Bibles in certain convenient places of St Paul's Church," after the proclamation of May 1540; adding a pious admonition to the readers to bring with them "discretion, honest intent, charity, reverence and quiet behaviour." So far as the facts have come down to us, it is clear the people were not slow to take advantage of the opportunity thus afforded to them. Strype, the historian, making use of a manuscript of Foxe tells us: "It was wonderful to see with what joy the book of God was received not only among the learneder sort and those that were noted for lovers of the reformation, but generally all England over among all the vulgar and common people; and with what greediness God's word was read and what resort to places where the reading of it was. Everybody that could bought the book or busily read it or got others to read it to them if they could not themselves, and divers more elderly people learned to read on purpose." Foxe further relates how at the beginning of the reign of Elizabeth he met a certain William Maldon who could remember that "when the King had allowed the Bible to be set forth to be read in all the churches immediately several poor men in the town of Chelmsford in Essex, where his father lived and where he was born, bought the New Testament and on Sundays sat reading of it in the lower end of the church: many would flock about them to hear their reading; and he among the rest, being then but fifteen years old, came every Sunday to hear the glad tidings of the Gospel."
It is strange to find that this flood-tide of interest in the Scripture should so soon have been followed by a time of suspense and reaction as we find it was. The explanation is to be found in the political changes of the time. After a period of masterful power Thomas Cromwell had fallen from the royal favour as Cardinal Wolsey had fallen before him. He was assailed by his opponents, an Act of Attainder passed against him without a dissentient, and on the 28th of July 1540 he was beheaded on Tower Hill. Those who had been in opposition before, now came into power and favour in the Council with Gardiner at their head. These were conservatives of the Old Roman faith and hostile to the Reformation. They were, therefore, not slow to take advantage of the change. In 1543 an Act was passed prohibiting the use of Tyndale's translation, and ordering that all notes and marginal commentaries in other copies should be obliterated. It further provided that no woman (unless she be a noble or gentlewoman), and that no artificer, journeyman, servant husbandman or labourer under the degree of yeoman should read or use any part of the Bible under pain of fines and imprisonment. Further, in 1546 a proclamation was issued by which Coverdale's version as well as Tyndale's was expressly prohibited, the effect being that the Great Bible was now the only translation not interdicted. On all sides the Bibles proscribed were sought out and destroyed. Thus this time of reaction brought sorrow to many. But it was not to be for long. It came to an end with the King's life, and the year after his proclamation of prohibition, on the 28th of January 1547, Henry VIII passed out of this world, leaving other actors to come on to the stage, and other scenes to follow.