spirituality, is important as showing the demand of the people for the Scriptures in their own tongue. Also it is the first time that the question of Bible translation as a matter of expediency had been discussed in open council. Notwithstanding the authoritative exhortation of Archbishop Warham "that the people should decline from their arrogancy of knowledge and understanding of the Scriptures, and meekly await the movement of their superiors, making no further demands," their impatience increased. During the years 1531 and 1532, appeared Tyndale's version of the Pentateuch and the book of Jonah, which helped to create a demand for a translation of the whole Bible. In evidence of this, we have the recorded action of the convocation of 1534. "The Bishops, Abbots, Priors, of this Upper House of Convocation, of the Province of Canterbury, met together in the Chapter House of St. Paul; unanimously did consent, that the most Reverend Father the Archbishop, should make instance in their Names to the King, that his Majesty, would vouchsafe,.... to decree, that the Scriptures should be translated into the Vulgar Tongue by some honest and learned Men, to be nominated by the King, and to be delivered unto the People according to their Learning." As this motion was made by Archbishop Cranmer, Strype says that they agreed upon him as the proper person to present the petition. But "they clogged it with another that the Archbishop did not so well approve," which was to the effect, that all persons having books in English, or of suspected doctrine, were warned to bring them within three months to persons to be appointed by the king, "under a certain Pain to be limited by the King."? No immediate results can be traced to this action; yet on account of it, this convocation holds an important place in the history of English versions of the Bible, in that the papists, now for the first time, accede to the right of the people to have the Bible in their own tongue. 1 1 Strype's Memorials of Archbishop Cranmer, B. I., Ch. VI., p. 24. London, 1694. 2 Ibid, p. 24. 1534.] THE CONVOCATION OF 1534. 153 Not long after this "the Archbishop," says Strype, "whose Mind ran very much upon bringing in the free use of the Holy Scripture in English among the People, put on vigorously a Translation of it." He began with the New Testament, taking an (old) English translation, dividing it into nine or ten parts, "causing each Part to be written at large in a paper Book and then to be sent to the best Learned Bishops and others to the intent that they should make a perfect Correction thereof." After which they were to return the same to him “by a day limited for that purpose."1 This enterprise of Cranmer, and the readiness with which the learned bishops entered into it, attests the progress of the reformed opinions, since all the bishops, excepting one, complied with the requirements of the archbishop. Even Gardiner, who so strenuously opposed in the council the resolutions relating to the translation of the Bible, diligently corrected the portion assigned to him. "Nevertheless I have," he wrote, "as gret cause as any man to desire rest and quiet for the helth of my body; whereunto I thought to have entended, and to absteyne from bookes and wryting, having finished the translation of Saynt Luke and Saynt John, wherin I have spent a gret labour."2 But Bishop Stokesley, instead of returning his portion after correcting it as requested, wrote to the archbishop a crispish letter, in which he said: "I marvel what my Lord of Canterbury meaneth, that thus abuseth the People, in giving them liberty to read the Scriptures; which doth nothing else but infect them with Heresy. I have bestowed never an Hour upon my Portion, nor never will. And therefore my Lord shall have this Book again, for I never will be guilty of bringing the simple People into Error." 3 During these years of conflict and ineffectual effort, Coverdale has been at work in secret, till now at last his translation is ready for the press. It was printed abroad, probably at 1 Strype's Memoria's of Archbishop Cranmer, p. 34. Zurich, by Christopher Froschover, in the year 1535, and finished on the fourth day of October. There are various suppositions as to the place of printing of Coverdale's Bible. Besides Zurich, Frankfort and Antwerp put in their claims. “Indeed, most of the cities of Germany come in for their share of the honor."1 The evidence, favoring any given place, is limited, for the most part, to the types or woodcuts used by a given printer at that time, with which the types and cuts of this Bible are thought to correspond. But the boldest and most unsatisfactory supposition is that of Mr. Henry Stevens, as set forth in the Caxton Catalogue, wherein he affirms that the Coverdale Bible was printed at Antwerp, and that Jacob Van Meteren, and not Coverdale, was the translator. Mr. Stevens publishes this assertion in somewhat of a sensational style, and with all the zest of a new discovery, confidently believing that he has cleared away all the uncertainties that have hitherto hung over the authorship of the Coverdale Bible. But his statements fail to carry conviction with them. Dr. Moulton, in his recent "History of the English Bible," says, in opposition to the claims put forth by Mr. Stevens in favor of Van Meteren, "that the translation was by any other hand than Coverdale's we should be very slow to believe."2 To Myles Coverdale, therefore, must still be accredited the honor of giving to England the first translation of the whole Bible printed in English. The following is the title of a copy in the library of the Duke of Sussex, which was reprinted by Bagster, and reads: "Biblia, the Bible, that is, the holy Scripture of the Olde and New Testament, faithfully and truly translated in to Englishe, ― M.D. XXXV.-S. Paul, II. Tessa., III. Praie for vs, that the worde of God maie haue fre passage, and be glorified, &c." This title occupies a small square in the middle of the page, and is inclosed by a border of woodcuts illustrating scenes both of the Old and New Testaments. The cut extending across the top of the page represents, the Fall and Redemption. The small squares on the right represent, 1 Caxton Catalogue, p. 88. London, 1877. 2 Note, p. 99. 1535.] DISAGREEMENTS IN TITLES AND DEDICATIONS. 155 the Giving of the law, and Ezra reading the book of the law to the people; and on the left, Christ showing himself after his resurrection, and Peter preaching to the people. The cut extending across the bottom of the page, represents Henry VIII. on his throne, presenting a clasped Bible to his bishops, who kneel on his right, while the peers of the realm kneel on his left. On the extreme right in this cut, there is a full-length figure of King David playing on a harp, with a connecting scroll bearing an appropriate inscription; so on the extreme left there is a corresponding full-length figure of the Apostle Paul, with a scroll bearing the inscription, I am not ashamed of the Gospell of Christ, for it is the power of God. Ro. I. Sebald Beham is the supposed author of these cuts. He was an engraver at Nuremburg and flourished about this time. His pictures, as well as his engravings, were held in the highest esteem by his cotemporaries.1 In respect to the titles of Coverdale's Bibles much has been made of the fact that in the earliest copies the title in some reads: "Faithfully and truly translated out of Douche and Latyn in to English," while in others the title reads simply: "Faithfully and truly translated into English." The specification, out of Douche and Latyn, is pronounced by some as a "book-selling artifice of the time, to make the work circulate better"; by others as the honest insertion of Coverdale. The importance to be attached to this question is, that if inserted by Coverdale, it settles the question that he did not translate directly from the Hebrew. And yet Coverdale was not without some knowledge of the Hebrew, "by which he was guided at times in selecting his renderings; but in the main his version is based on the Swiss-German version of Zwingli and Leo Juda, .... and on the Latin of Pagninus.” Again, there is a manifest disagreement in the dedicating prologue to Henry. VIII., which in some copies specify Queen Anne "as the dearest wyfe and most virtuous pryncesse;" while others of "2 1 Chalmer's Biographical Dictionary. Art.-Beham (Sebald). the same date, 1535, insert the name of Queen Jane, notwithstanding the fact that she was not married to Henry till in May, 1536. Lewis seeks to explain this inconsistency by the supposition that Coverdale, hearing that Anne Boleyn was declining in the king's favor, deferred the publication till his marriage with Jane Seymour. Anderson adopts the same theory; but it has been exploded by the showing of Mr. Fry, that all the dedications in which the name of Queen Jane appears are from the editions of 1537; which dedications were transferred to the editions of 1535–36, and that the insertion was not at that time deemed inappropriate.1 The dedication extends over five quarto pages, and must have been sufficiently adulatory even for that age, while it sounds belittling to our ears. This is followed by a prologue by Myles Coverdale "vnto the Christen Reader," which is written in a very different spirit. The prologue closes with the following exhortation: "Finally who so euer thou be, take these wordes of scripture in to thy herte, and be not only an outward hearer, but a doer therafter, and practyse thyselfe therin; that thou mayest fele in thine hert, the swete promyses therof for thy consolacion in all trouble, and for the sure stablishinge of thy hope in Christ, and baue euer an eye to yo wordes of scripture, that yf thou be a teacher of other thou mayest be within the boundes of the trueth, or at leest though thou be but a hearer or reader of another mans doynges, thou mayest yet haue knowlege to judge all spretes, and be fre from euery erroure, to the utter destruccion of all sedicious sectes and straunge doctrynes, that the holy scrypture maye haue fre passage, and be had in reputacion, to the worshippe of the author therof, which is euen God himselfe; to whom for his most blessed worde be glory and domynion now and euer.”2 The evangelical spirit of Coverdale is not only manifest in this extract, but also throughout the whole prologue. It was in this same spirit he executed the translation. He was grieved Westcott's History of the Eng. Bible, p. 59, note. London, 1872. ' Coverdale's Bible. Prologue, p. 5. 1535. |