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The Wycliffite Manuscript
is a fifteenth-century Middle English translation – from the Latin – of the New Testament,
made by Lollard (lay preacher) disciples of
John Wyclif. A distinguished teacher and scholar
at Oxford, Wyclif (ca. 1330–84) came
to doubt the validity of Vatican authority,
and urged all Christians to instead follow
the authority of “God’s law” itself; to that end, he called for English
translations of the Bible. At the time, the
clergy, with the aid of Mother Church, decided
what was appropriate for the laity to know.
There was little anxiety over universal access
to the Bible; books were too rare and expensive
for most people, and few outside the clergy
and the higher ranks of society were even
literate.
Wyclif changed all that. Although there is no evidence that he himself translated the Bible, this New Testament owes its existence to the impetus of his writings. About 250 hand-written manuscripts (complete and fragmentary) survive, in spite of a 1409 condemnation of Wyclif’s teachings from the Archbishop of Canterbury, which not only forbade the translation into English of the Bible, but also the reading of such a translation.
The original book imaged for this digital edition:
10 5/8 x 7 1/2 inches (270 x 191 mm)
Wyclif changed all that. Although there is no evidence that he himself translated the Bible, this New Testament owes its existence to the impetus of his writings. About 250 hand-written manuscripts (complete and fragmentary) survive, in spite of a 1409 condemnation of Wyclif’s teachings from the Archbishop of Canterbury, which not only forbade the translation into English of the Bible, but also the reading of such a translation.
The original book imaged for this digital edition:
10 5/8 x 7 1/2 inches (270 x 191 mm)
Luckless Lollards
The Wycliffite Manuscript of the New Testament was made by the Lollard disciples of John Wyclif in England in the early 1400s. Both Wyclif and the Lollards were persecuted extensively for the publication of this controversial vernacular Bible. In 1415 the Council of Constance convened and an investigation of Wyclif’s writings led to the condemnation first of 45 theses, which included the 24 condemned by the Blackfriars council, then of 260 articles as either “heretical, seditious, erroneous, audacious, scandalous, or infamous,” and of almost all of them as “contrary to good morals and catholic truth.” Persuant upon this judgement Wyclif was declared a heretic, his writings were to be burned and his “bones to be dug up and cast out of consecrated ground, provided they could be distinguished from those of Christians buried near-by.” This order was issued in 1415, but because Wyclif’s old disciple, Philip Repingdon, was bishop of Lincoln at the time, nothing was done to carry out the sentence. There is, however, no record of any papal directive to that effect, which might account for Repingdon’s failure to act. In any event Pope Martin V issued an order in December, 1427, to Fleming, Repingdon’s successor. In the spring of 1428, 44 years after his death, Wyclif’s bones were dug up, burned, and the ashes thrown into the river Swift.
Excerpted from Joseph H. Dahmus, The Prosecution of John Wyclyf (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1952)
The Wycliffite Manuscript of the New Testament was made by the Lollard disciples of John Wyclif in England in the early 1400s. Both Wyclif and the Lollards were persecuted extensively for the publication of this controversial vernacular Bible. In 1415 the Council of Constance convened and an investigation of Wyclif’s writings led to the condemnation first of 45 theses, which included the 24 condemned by the Blackfriars council, then of 260 articles as either “heretical, seditious, erroneous, audacious, scandalous, or infamous,” and of almost all of them as “contrary to good morals and catholic truth.” Persuant upon this judgement Wyclif was declared a heretic, his writings were to be burned and his “bones to be dug up and cast out of consecrated ground, provided they could be distinguished from those of Christians buried near-by.” This order was issued in 1415, but because Wyclif’s old disciple, Philip Repingdon, was bishop of Lincoln at the time, nothing was done to carry out the sentence. There is, however, no record of any papal directive to that effect, which might account for Repingdon’s failure to act. In any event Pope Martin V issued an order in December, 1427, to Fleming, Repingdon’s successor. In the spring of 1428, 44 years after his death, Wyclif’s bones were dug up, burned, and the ashes thrown into the river Swift.
Excerpted from Joseph H. Dahmus, The Prosecution of John Wyclyf (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1952)
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