leuen. Cf. Matt. 16.6 and 11, Mark 8.15, Luke 12.1.

legend . . . sayntes. Tyndale probably refers to the Golden Legend by Jacobus de Voragine OP (c1230–98), who compiled his commentaries on the feasts of Christ and the saints c1260. Second in popularity only to the Bible, it was widely translated. William Caxton made and published an English version in 1483 (GL 1.xiii–iv).

false bokes. In his edition of Jerome (1516), Erasmus names many false attributions among Greek and Latin classics, books of the Bible, and Christian authors, e.g.: The Battle of the Frogs and Mice by Pseudo-Homer, Rhetorica ad Herennium by Pseudo-Cicero , the supposed correspondence between Paul and Seneca, Ezra 3 and 4, the Apocalypse of John, and the Hierarchies of Pseudo -Dionysius (not in LB; CWE 61.71–73).

S. Hierome. Jerome (c345—c420) is the greatest Scripture scholar among the Western Fathers (NCE 7.872–74; OER 1.163–67). He corrected the Old Latin version of the NT according to the Greek (AD 382–85), but he did not make a new translation, as Erasmus correctly notes in the preface to Valla's Annotations . Cf. Ep. 182, To Christopher Fisher, Paris, [about March] 1505 (Allen 1.410/149–50; CWE 2.94/168–70). Both Erasmus and Tyndale assert that Jerome was not the author of the Vulgate. Cf. Ep. 337, To Maarten Van Dorp, Antwerp, [end of May] 1515 (Allen 2.110/773–74; CWE 3.135/811–12) and Tyndale's preface to the New Testament (Wallis 10/24; TNT 9). Erasmus dedicated his edition of Jerome to William Warham, Primate of England. See Ep. 396, Basel, 1 April 1516 (Allen 2.210–21; CWE 3.252–66; also CWE 61.3–14). After Augustine, Jerome is the Father most frequently represented in Unio Dissidentium, with about eighty passages (14%), most from his exegetical works. G. Lloyd Jones ranks Jerome first "among the Christian Hebraists of the Early Church" (7). Eugene Rice further claims that Jerome had better knowledge of Hebrew than any Christian until the 17c. Cf. Saint Jerome in the Renaissance (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1985) 10. Jerome had a working knowledge of the whole Hebrew Bible, but Tyndale was executed after translating only half. See also Jerry H. Bentley, Humanists and Holy Writ: NT Scholarship in the Renaissance (Princeton UP, 1983). In his Prologue to Numbers , Tyndale objects to Jerome's "vngodly perswasions" to celibacy (Mombert 395/26;TOT 197).

saynt Augustine. For his many theological works, at once passionate and profound, Augustine (354–430) is the greatest Father of the Western Church (NCE 1.1041–58; OER 1.98–100). He was converted to Christianity through the decisive experience of reading Rom. 13.13–14, "Let vs walke honestly as it were in the daye lyght: not in eatynge and drinkynge: nether in chamburynge and wantannes: nether in stryfe and envyinge: but put ye on the Lorde Iesus Christ. And make not provision for the flesshe, to fulfyll the lustes of it" (Wallis 338/24–28;TNT 239D). From Confessions (AD 397–401) 8.12.29 (PL 32.762; CSEL 33.195; 1NPNF 1.127). As Bishop of Hippo (395–430), Augustine wrote against Donatists [C7v, “But the pope . . . doctrine” and commentary note], Pelagians, and Semi-Pelagians [C1, “who soever . . . church” and commentary note]. Tyndale beats More to the punch by offering his own interpretation of Augustine's famous dictum on the relation between the Gospel and the church [D4v-5, “I had not beleued . . . moued me” and commentary note]. Erasmus contributed a preface to Juan Luis Vives' edition of The City of God. See Ep. 1309, To the Reader, [Basel, c August 1522] (Allen 5.117–21; CWE 9.168–73). He dedicated the complete edition of Augustine to Alfonso Fonseca, Primate of Spain. See Ep. 2157, Freiburg, <May> 1529 (Allen 8.145–61; not yet in CWE). Augustine 's De cura agenda pro mortuis (AD 421) is cited by name in Testament of Tracy (A3v). (Day reproduces Tracy's will in WCS 182.) Sidenotes on 1 Sam., Ch. 18 and Ch. 28 refer to Augustine (TOT 405, 419). The latter may have been supplied by John Rogers, who published Judges through 2 Chronicles in Matthew's Bible (1537), the year after Tyndale's execution. Unio Dissidentium contains about 250 passages (43%) from Augustine, especially from his anti-Pelagian writings, such as On the Spirit and the Letter (AD 412) (PL 44.199–216; CSEL 60.155–229; 1NPNF 5.83–114). Augustine is represented more frequently than any other Father in Unio. See O'Donnell, "Augustine in Unio Dissidentium and Tyndale's Answer to More," Reformation 2 (1997) 241–60.

S. Cyprian. Bishop of Carthage, Cyprian went into hiding during the persecution of Decius (AD 250–51) and was beheaded during the persecution of Valerian (AD 258) (NCE 3.564–66), [Q4v, “deuels marters and not Gods” and commentary note]. In the preface to his edition, Erasmus praises Cyprian for not excommunicating those who accepted the validity of Baptism administered by schismatics and heretics. Cf. Ep. 1000, To Cardinal Lorenzo Pucci, Louvain, 31 July 1519 (Allen 4.28/132–34; CWE 7.30/136–37). Unio Dissidentium contains seventeen passages (3%) from Cyprian, most from his letters, one selection from On the Lapsed (AD 251) (CCL 3.221–42; ANF 5.437–47) and none from On the Unity of the Church (AD 251) (CCL 3.249–68;ANF 5.421– 436) on the collegiality of bishops. Since Cyprian opposed Stephen I (pope, 254–57) on the question of rebaptism, Tyndale believes Cyprian would resist the contemporary monarchical papacy (Obedience T3v). In To Demetrianus (AD 252), Cyprian denied that rejection of the ancient gods by Christians was causing the decline of the Roman Empire (CCL 3A.33–51; ANF 5.457–65). Tyndale denies that the Reformation prompts its adherents to disobey civil authority (Obedience C6).

S. Deonise. Cf. Acts 17.22–34. This 5c or early 6c author assumed the name of the Athenian converted by Paul's sermon on the Areopagus (NCE 11.943–44). Lorenzo Valla denied that Dionysius belonged to the apostolic era chiefly because he was not mentioned before the time of Gregory I (pope, 590–604). In 1505 Erasmus was the first to publish Valla's Annotations on the NT (1453–57). He quotes the annotation on Acts 17 in his 1516 NT and later explains, "Dionysius, who in his second Hierarchy [Ecclesiastical Hierarchy of deacons, priests, and bishops], gives a fairly full description of the early rites of the church, is thought by the learned to be someone more recent than the celebrated member of the Areopagus who was a disciple of Paul." From Ep. 916, To Erard de la Marck, Louvain, 5 February 1519 (Allen 3.482/50–52; CWE 6.238/56–59). Cf. Karlfried Froehlich, "Pseudo-Dionysius and the Reformation of the Sixteenth Century," in Pseudo Dionysius , The Complete Works, tr. Colm Luibheid et al., Classics of Western Spirituality (Mahwah, NY: Paulist, 1987) 33–46. In 1501, William Grocyn changed his mind about the authorship of the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy during the course of a lecture series which he gave in London. Cf. Ep. 2, To John Holt, London, cNovember 1501> (More, Correspondence 4/14n); Ep. 118, To Robert Fisher, London, 5 December [1499] (Allen 1.273n22; CWE 1.236n26). Although a Londoner by birth, John Colet was a resident of Oxford (1496–1505) when Grocyn gave his lectures at St. Paul's. Perhaps for this reason, Colet held that Dionysius was the disciple of Paul when he later (1512–16) wrote on the Celestial Hierarchy and Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, cf. Gleason 92, 200–1. For the texts, see Two Treatises , ed. and tr. J.H. Lupton (1869; Ridgewood, NJ: Gregg, 1966) 19. For Colet's PN, cf. [N8v, “old deane Colet” and commentary note]. When Luther rejected Dionysius as the sole patristic witness for Orders as a sacrament, Henry VIII defended him as an ancient authority and a saint in Ch. 12 on Orders (Assertio, CC 43.212). Familiar with the humanist position on Dionysius as a later Father, More mentions him only three times: "Saint Dionysius, who [Luther] does not deny is very ancient," Responsio ad Lutherum, 1523 (CWM 5/1.69/19–2o);"Dyonise the fyrste chapyter of Ecclesiasticae hierarchiae, of the Ieders and maysters of the crysten fayth, sayth that they delyuered vs many thynges to be kepte, partely by wrytynge and partely by theyr instytucyons vnwryten," Confutation, 1532–33 (CWM 8/1.369/23–26); "Saynt Denise also in his booke de Ecclesiastica Hierarchia, sayth that the apostles taught the maner of consecrating in the masse by mouth" Treatise upon the Passion, 1534–35 (CWM 13.152/1–3).

other holy men. For a survey of Erasmus' patristic editions , see John Olin, "Erasmus and the Church Fathers," in Six Essays on Erasmus (New York: Fordham UP, 1979) 33–47. The four great Latin Fathers are: Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine, and Gregory . For the four major Greek Fathers, cf. [R1v, “Chrisostimus” and commentary note]. As Bishop of Milan, Ambrose (c339–97) baptized Augustine at Easter 387. Influenced by Philo and Origen, Ambrose practiced allegorical interpretation of Scripture (NCE 1.372–75). Erasmus dedicated his edition of Ambrose to John Lasky, Primate of Poland. See Ep. 1855, Basle, 13 August 1527 (Allen 7.118–26; not yet in CWE). Tyndale does not mention Ambrose by name, but he probably read the thirty-some passages from his biblical commentaries, letters, and treatises in Unio Dissidentium.

talmud. The authoritative body of post-biblical Jewish law. In the Talmud the base-text is the Mishnah (compiled AD c200) while the Gemara compiles the extensive elaborations of the rabbis down to the seventh Christian century. The first printed edition came out in Venice in 1520. The complete Talmud profoundly influenced classical, medieval, and modern Judaism. See R. Goldenberg, "Talmud," in Encyclopedia of Religion, ed. Mircea Eli–ade, 16 vols. including Index (New York: Macmillan, 1987) 14.256–60. (JW)

dunce. Cf. Mammon (G5) and Obedience (B8). The Franciscan John Duns Scotus (c1266–1308) taught the superiority of will to intellect in God and in humans, and consequently emphasized love and freedom (NCE 4.1102–6). Cf. [F6, “dunces disciples . . . raged in euery pulpyt” and commentary note] for opposition of the Scotists to humanism and [L1, “our lady . . . originall sinne” and commentary note] for Scotus' teaching in behalf of the Immaculate Conception.

Thomas. The Dominican Thomas Aquinas (c1225–74) wrote biblical commentaries, notably on the Gospel of John (NCE 14.102–15), cf. [L1, Thomas . . . full of miracles” and commentary note]. Tyndale spurned his Summa Theologica because it used the categories of Aristotelian philosophy to explain the Gospel. Tyndale compares biblical exegeses by Scotus and Aquinas with the Talmud to emphasize how inferior the scholastics are to the Bible itself. In Mammon (G5) Tyndale assures his readers that it is not through the reading of the Summa that one comes to know God. In Obedience (B8) Tyndale cites followers of Aquinas among a list of debaters, and in Prelates (F1) he mocks the universities for emphasizing disputation over interpretation of Scripture. In the same place he opposes Aquinas for making the pope into a god, and claims the pope returned the compliment by making Aquinas a saint. Tyndale admires Aquinas for questioning the Immaculate Conception [L1, “our lady . . . originall sinne”] but opposes him by allowing an equitable amount of interest in Matthew (h2v—h3).

Therfore . . . determined. CWM 8/2.706/21–707/13.