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| Miles Coverdale, maker of Bibles. |
On this day in 1535 the first complete printed English translation
of the Bible into was published.
Because its translator Miles
Coverdale had been on the lam in Europe
for some years due to religious
turmoil at home, the book was printed
on the continent. For many years the
exact printer and his location were in dispute, but has fairly recently been established to be Merten de Keyser in Antwerp.
The book was evidently financed
by leading Low Countries Reformers.
Coverdale himself was born in Yorkshire around 1488. He was ordained
a priest in Norwich, a hotbed of religious fervor. In 1514 he joined the scholarly convent of Austin
friars at Cambridge where he was
also allowed to pursue his studies
at the University. He was a supporter of Prior Robert
Barnes who was sympathetic to
the Reformation on the
Continent. Barnes was tried for heresy in 1526 and Coverdale
was active in his defense.
He left the convent to resume preaching shortly thereafter,
but was forced to flee the country
in as pressure mounted against dissenters
in the English Church. Whether he had
already begun his work on a Bible translation
is unknown. But once in Europe, where
making the Word of God available in
the languages of the people was
considered essential to Reform, he
was undoubtedly encouraged and
financed in his efforts.
The trouble for Coverdale was that
although scholarly by bent, he was far
from well equipped to undertake such a massive
translation. Although proficient in Latin, he was barely competent in Greek
and knew only rudimentary Hebrew.
That meant that he had to rely
on either Latin texts or other translations into modern language
instead of working from near original
material. He claimed to have consulted “five soundry interpreters”
in Latin, English and German as source
texts.
His main sources were German texts
including Luther’s Bible and the Swiss-German
version Zürich Bible of Zwingli. That meant he was working from sources several times removed from
original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek
texts.
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| The title page of the Coverdale Bible. |
In fact Coverdale also drew heavily
on both the Latin Vulgate, a more recent
translation from the Greek made possible by the research of Erasmus and the early Humanists, and on the translation of
the New
Testament and a handful of Old Testament books into English by William
Tyndale which had been printed in
1525.
He did not
claim to have used the infamous Wycliffe’s
Bible, translated into Middle English way back around 1390. That had circulated only hand to hand in
manuscript and had resulted in the execution several churchmen over a number
of decades who possessed or passed it along.
But
Coverdale helped himself to big chunks, barely disguised from
Tyndale. Tyndale himself ran afoul of
the Counter Reformation and was executed by strangulation as heretic
in 1536, the year after Coverdale’s version first appeared.
Obviously
things were getting dangerous in Europe for Bible
translators. On the other hand,
things were becoming more congenial back home in England.
Coverdale
had managed to dash back to Cambridge in 1531 to finish his bachelor’s
degree at the University and had managed to make it back to Antwerp with
his head still attached to his body.
Then in 1534 Henry VIII, the former Defender of the Faith—Catholicism—broke
with the Roman Church over certain domestic matters and
established a new national Church with himself at its head.
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| Henry VIII, painted here in 1431, sponsored Coverdale's two Bible translations before turning on him. |
Originally
it was expected that the new Church would simply continue Catholic practice
and usage intact. But almost from the
beginning Reformers sought to make the church over in the manner of the Lutherans
and other Protestants. When Henry
decided to break up the Monasteries and appropriate their
lands and wealth for the Crown, he found more reason than
ever to be sympathetic of that trend.
Coverdale arrived back in England to
find himself a favorite of the King
in 1539. His Bible was printed for the first time in the country in folio and quarter-folio editions, carried the Royal license and was therefore the first officially approved Bible translation in English.
He was already at that time editing
on yet another new version of the Bible
known as the Great Book. This version drew even more strongly on Tyndale than his first effort under the
sponsorship of Thomas Cromwell,
the king’s first minister. Henry was
so enthusiastic in fact that he ordered every
parish in England to procure a copy and keep chained but publicly
available in every chapel so the any literate person would have direct access to the Scripture in the vernacular.
Despite the success of the newer
version, Coverdale’s first version continued to be printed in new editions
through 1553.
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| Thomas Cromwell was an ardent supporter but when he fell out of favor with the King and lost his head, Coverdale's fortunes fell. |
But favor of the mercurial monarch was a hard thing to hold. In 1440 Coverdale’s friend and main sponsor
at court, Thomas Cromwell, the king’s
former first minister lost his head.. Cromwell was also the leading voice for remaking the Church of England along Protestant
lines. With the balance of power
swinging back to the Anglo-Catholic
party, Coverdale had to return to Europe for this own safety.
He lived in impoverished exile in the German
states. From 1543 to 1547 he was a
pastor and schoolmaster at Bergzabern in the Palatinate Electorate.
Winds of change blew fortunate for
Coverdale when Henry’s son Edward VI assumed
the throne. He was made personal chaplain to the boy king and
then appointed Bishop of Exeter in
1653.
When Henry’s daughter Mary, who had remained a good Catholic, assumed the throne in 1657,
Coverdale was ousted from his See and once again went into
exile. For the next several years he
bounced around Europe.
It was safe to return again 1654 but
unable to reclaim his Bishopric. He served a modest parish as Rector of St. Magnus’s, near London Bridge increasingly drawn to Puritanism.
He died, however, still in the good
graces of the Church of England.
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| An American 1893 edition of the Palster from the Book of Common Prayer which used the Coverdale translation. It is still in use today. |
The Church still has a soft spot in its heart for the old
maker of Bibles. It still uses his
translation of the Psalter in the Book of Common Prayer.
Want to know what Coverdale’s work
sounded like? First hear is the familiar
VIII
Psalm as he rendered it in The
Coverdale Bible:
The
Lord is my shepherde, I can wante nothinge. He fedeth me in a grene pasture, ād
ledeth me to a fresh water. He quickeneth my soule, & bringeth me forth in the
waye of rightuousnes for his names sake. Though I
shulde walke now in the valley of the shadowe of death, yet I feare no euell,
for thou art with me: thy staffe & thy shepehoke cōforte me. Thou preparest
a table before me agaynst mine enemies: thou anoyntest my heade with oyle,
& fyllest my cuppe full. Oh let thy louynge kyndnes & mercy folowe me
all the dayes off my life, that I maye dwell in the house off the LORD for
euer.
And here it is in the Book
of Common Prayer Psalter:
The
Lord is my shepherd therefore can I lack nothing. He shall feed me in a green
pasture and lead me forth beside the waters of comfort. He shall convert my
soul and bring me forth in the paths of righteousness, for his Name's sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no
evil for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff comfort me. Thou shalt prepare
a table before me against them that trouble me thou hast anointed my head with
oil, and my cup shall be full. But thy loving-kindness and mercy shall follow
me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Not yet the majestic cadences of the King James Version but getting there.
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