The Lollard Bible
And Other Medieval Biblical Versions

This study examines the extent of Bible reading in medieval England, and in particular the place of the Lollard translations.

Margaret Deanesly (Author)

9780521090735, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 27 November 2008

508 pages
21.6 x 14 x 2.9 cm, 0.64 kg

This study examines the extent of Bible reading in medieval England, and in particular the place of the Lollard translations. Miss Deanesly shows that the medieval church tolerated translation in principle, but distrusted it in practice, because of its associations with Lollardy. She examines wills, library catalogues and episcopal registers where the existence of translations might be noted. She concludes that mystical writings in English were far more widely read than the Bible.

1. The problem of the Middle-English Bible and the aim of this study
2. The prohibitions of vernacular Bible reading in France, Italy and Spain
3. The prohibitions of vernacular Bible reading in the Holy Roman Empire and the Netherlands, before 1400
4. Bible reading in the Empire and the Netherlands c. 1400–1521
5. Translations of parts of the Vulgate in England before Wycliffe
6. Pre-Wycliffite biblical study by clerks: (a) the higher clergy, friars, monks
7. Pre-Wycliffite biblical study by clerks: (b) parish priests
8. Pre-Wycliffite biblical reading by lay people
9. Wycliffe as the instigator of a vernacular Bible
10. The two versions of the Wycliffite Bible, and the evidence of the General Prologue as to the authorship of the second version
11. The controversy about the English Bible 1384–1408 and the constitutions of 1408
12. Biblical translations contemporary with the Lollard versions
13. Bible reading by the orthodox, 1408–1526
14. The Lollards and English Bible reading.

Subject Areas: History [HB]