Phisicions [1531]
phisicions] ed., phisions 1531, Phisitions 1573
167/18–19
the true kynge
... a false. Without naming him, Tyndale describes Richard II as "A kinge that is soft as sylke and
effeminate . . ." (Obedience E1v).
Thanks to David Daniell for this identification . Tyndale
upholds the legitimacy of Richard II (king, 1377–99) and opposes the
Lancastrian kings Henry IV (king, 1399–1413), Henry
V (king, 1413–22) and Henry VI
(king, 1422–61). According to Tyndale, orthodox prelates opposed Richard and supported Henry
(Prelates F3v-F4v). Here the reformer claims that
Richard was slain because he supported the Wycliffites and Henry was
crowned because he resisted them. Later, Tyndale repeats his
assertion that Richard was the rightful king (213/4–7;
Matthew
f4v), whose murder prepared the way for three illegitimate rulers (1 John H7).
167/21–22
scripture ... in
englysh. An outline history of the translation of
the Vulgate into English begins in the 8c with Bede, who translated
probably only the first six chapters of the Gospel of John. Alfred the
Great (king, 871–99) is traditionally associated with a prose
translation of Psalms 1–50; a later author made a verse translation of
the remaining psalms. In the mid-1oc a gloss in the Northumbrian dialect
was added to the Lindisfarne Gospels and another in the Mercian dialect
to the Rushworth Gospels. In the early 11c, Aelfric, Abbot of Eynsham
near Oxford, made abridged translations of the Pentateuch and other
books of the Old Testament. In the same era, the anonymous West-Saxon Gospels appeared. After the Norman
Conquest, the literate laity
were mainly French-speaking for the next three
hundred years. But by the mid-14c Richard
Rolle translated the whole Psalter into Middle English. Cf.
Geoffrey Shepherd, "English Versions of
the Scriptures before Wyclif," in Cambridge History of
the Bible, Vol. 2, The West from the Fathers
to the Reformation, ed. G.W.H. Lampe (Cambridge UP, 1969)
362–87.
167/21–23
The constitucion
of the bisshopes . . . approued it. Cf. CWM 6/1.315/27–35. In
the late 14c, the followers of John Wyclif twice translated the whole
Vulgate into English: "Wyclif A," a literal translation after
1382, and "Wyclif B," a more idiomatic one after 1387. In response,
Thomas Arundel, Archbishop of Canterbury
, and his clergy promulgated the Constitutions of Oxford,
of which the seventh forbad unauthorized translations of the Bible into
English, Ne quis texta S. scripturae transferrat in
linguam Anglicanum , 14 January 1409 [New Style], 10
Henry IV (Wilkins 3.317). Nevertheless, many manuscripts circulated, cf.
Foxe 3.245 and CWM 6/2.684. Cf. Henry Hargreaves, "The Wycliffite Versions ," in Cambridge History of the Bible,
2.387–415, esp. 392, 399, 409; CWM 6/2.684. In 1517 Lady Alice Danvers gave a copy of the first version
to the Bridgittine monastery at Syon. Earlier, Henry VI had presented a
copy of the second version, without heretical prologues or glosses, to
the Carthusian monastery at Sheen. More might have seen both.
Although his greatest work was a new Latin translation of the NT from the
original Greek, Erasmus vigorously defended vernacular translations of
Scripture to be read by all, even uneducated men, women, and
non-Christians. Cf. "Paraclesis," Holborn 142/10–19; Desiderius Erasmus: Christian Humanism and the Reformation,
tr. John C. Olin (New
York: Harper & Row, 1965) 96–97. This passage
contains the wish of the Latin scholar carried out by the English
translator: Utinam hinc ad stivam aliquid decantet
agricola . . .; "Would that, as a result, the farmer sing some
portion of them at the plow . . ." (Holborn 142/21; Olin 97). Tyndale
later declared, "If God spare my life, ere many years I will cause a boy
that driveth the plough shall know more of the scripture than thou dost"
(Mozley 34, paraphrasing the indirect discourse in Foxe 5.117). In 1 John (A7r—v), Tyndale defends the fidelity of
his
translations and offers as authentic
interpretations his Introduction to Romans, Pathway,
Exposition of 1 John.
On 24 October 1526, Cuthbert Tunstall, Bishop of London, ordered the
confiscation of Tyndale's unauthorized NT (Foxe 4.667). Several days later he preached at St. Paul's while some copies were burned.
Tyndale deplores the Constitutions of Oxford, which bar the laity from
the vernacular Scripture (Obedience A2v), but he
promotes their access to it (Obedience B4). Cf.
Deanesly passim; S.L.
Greenslade, "English Versions of the Bible, A.D. 1525–1611,"
in Cambridge History of the Bible, Vol. 3, The West from the Reformation to the Present Day,
ed. S.L. Greenslade (Cambridge UP, 1963)
141–70.
1 CORINTHIANS: 10.13:118/22–23, 162/19–22
moreouer] 1573, moreuer [1531]
phisicion] ed., phision 1531,
Phisition 1573