The first tome or volume of the Paraphrase of Erasmus vpon the newe testamente
Encyclopedia
The First tome or volume of the Paraphrase of Erasmus vpon the newe testamente edited by Nicholas Udall
, first published in January 1548 by Edward Whitchurch, is the first volume of a book combining an English translation of the New Testament
interleaved with an English translation of Desiderius Erasmus
's Latin paraphrase
of the New Testament. The second volume was published in 1549. Translations were by Nicolas Udall, Catherine Parr
, Thomas Key, Miles Coverdale, John Olde, Leonard Coxe, and Mary I of England
.
According to a royal Injunction of 1547, copies were to be kept in every parish church in England, emphasizing the influence of Erasmus on the English Reformation
.
, which were composed and published between 1517 and 1523, exerted great influence on English Christianity of the time. It was probably the idea of Catherine Parr
, the last wife of Henry VIII of England
, to translate these paraphrases into English "to guide English Scripture readers into less contentious paths." She assembled a group of translators, and submitted their work and her patronage to Nicholas Udall, who oversaw the editing process and was probably responsible for the translation of the Gospel of Luke
. The queen herself may have translated parts of the Gospel of Matthew
and Acts of the Apostles
, and Mary I of England, a princess at that time, translated the Gospel of John
.
In his 1547 Injunctions, Edward VI of England
ordered that a copy of this work should be placed in every church within a year of its completion in 1547. This raised the commentary by Erasmus on the New Testament to the status of being the authorized commentary by the Church of England
under Edward VI of England; the book was "forced upon all parish churches in an effort to infuse the English Reformation with even more Erasmian thought."
and Richard Grafton
, also the printers of the Great Bible
, were given the job of printing the translated Paraphrases. The first printing appeared on the last day of January 1548. While the imprint lists only Whitchurch, Grafton must have been involved as well, as suggested by the typography. Incidentally, Whitchurch and Grafton also published the Injunctions, though earlier they had fallen from royal grace: they had been friends of Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex
and their fortunes declined with Cromwell's downfall.
According to Herbert, William Aldis Wright
has noted no less than six variants of the first edition because multiple presses were run to generate enough copies within the short period of a year.
.
Herbert gives a table of contents for the copy that he has examined (most Bibles from this period include neither an index or a table of contents). Placement of the contents may vary among copies because different variants of the Bible were produced at the same time. William Aldis Wright
found at least 6 variants of this volume were produced by different presses to satisfy the demand. Because they were set by different typesetters, there is no uniform placement of the contents for this Bible first volume of this Bible.
, a British book collector.
A second edition appears as "Herbert 73," printed in 1551-52, but only Volume 1 appears to be known. Herbert reports that the existent copies have many mutilated pages, and their scarcity is due to the efforts of Mary I of England
to restore the (Latin) Vulgate
Bible, after she became queen in 1553. In her effort to promote Roman Catholicism she ordered all copies of this book to be destroyed—despite having translated Erasmus' commentary on St. John, for which she is praised in this very book. Volume 2 may never have been printed, given that the timing of its printing would have been at the approximate time of her ascension to the throne. If it does exist, the location of any copies is not documented. Herbert http://bibles.wikidot.com/catalogues notes that Vol 1 of this second printing contains a concordance or table to the volume. Herbert also notes that the second printing is may be distinguished from the first printing by the fact that the second printing has pages sequentially numbered.
Nicholas Udall
Nicholas Udall was an English playwright, cleric, pederast and schoolmaster, the author of Ralph Roister Doister, generally regarded as the first comedy written in the English language.-Biography:...
, first published in January 1548 by Edward Whitchurch, is the first volume of a book combining an English translation of the New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
interleaved with an English translation of Desiderius Erasmus
Desiderius Erasmus
Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus , known as Erasmus of Rotterdam, was a Dutch Renaissance humanist, Catholic priest, and a theologian....
's Latin paraphrase
Paraphrases of Erasmus
The Paraphrases were Latin Biblical paraphrases, rewritings of the Gospels by Desiderius Erasmus. They were composed between 1517 and 1524 and occasionally revised by Erasmus during the remaining years of his life....
of the New Testament. The second volume was published in 1549. Translations were by Nicolas Udall, Catherine Parr
Catherine Parr
Catherine Parr ; 1512 – 5 September 1548) was Queen consort of England and Ireland and the last of the six wives of King Henry VIII of England. She married Henry VIII on 12 July 1543. She was the fourth commoner Henry had taken as his consort, and outlived him...
, Thomas Key, Miles Coverdale, John Olde, Leonard Coxe, and Mary I of England
Mary I of England
Mary I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from July 1553 until her death.She was the only surviving child born of the ill-fated marriage of Henry VIII and his first wife Catherine of Aragon. Her younger half-brother, Edward VI, succeeded Henry in 1547...
.
According to a royal Injunction of 1547, copies were to be kept in every parish church in England, emphasizing the influence of Erasmus on the English Reformation
English Reformation
The English Reformation was the series of events in 16th-century England by which the Church of England broke away from the authority of the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church....
.
Background
The Paraphrases of ErasmusParaphrases of Erasmus
The Paraphrases were Latin Biblical paraphrases, rewritings of the Gospels by Desiderius Erasmus. They were composed between 1517 and 1524 and occasionally revised by Erasmus during the remaining years of his life....
, which were composed and published between 1517 and 1523, exerted great influence on English Christianity of the time. It was probably the idea of Catherine Parr
Catherine Parr
Catherine Parr ; 1512 – 5 September 1548) was Queen consort of England and Ireland and the last of the six wives of King Henry VIII of England. She married Henry VIII on 12 July 1543. She was the fourth commoner Henry had taken as his consort, and outlived him...
, the last wife of Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
, to translate these paraphrases into English "to guide English Scripture readers into less contentious paths." She assembled a group of translators, and submitted their work and her patronage to Nicholas Udall, who oversaw the editing process and was probably responsible for the translation of the Gospel of Luke
Gospel of Luke
The Gospel According to Luke , commonly shortened to the Gospel of Luke or simply Luke, is the third and longest of the four canonical Gospels. This synoptic gospel is an account of the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth. It details his story from the events of his birth to his Ascension.The...
. The queen herself may have translated parts of the Gospel of Matthew
Gospel of Matthew
The Gospel According to Matthew is one of the four canonical gospels, one of the three synoptic gospels, and the first book of the New Testament. It tells of the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth...
and Acts of the Apostles
Acts of the Apostles
The Acts of the Apostles , usually referred to simply as Acts, is the fifth book of the New Testament; Acts outlines the history of the Apostolic Age...
, and Mary I of England, a princess at that time, translated the Gospel of John
Gospel of John
The Gospel According to John , commonly referred to as the Gospel of John or simply John, and often referred to in New Testament scholarship as the Fourth Gospel, is an account of the public ministry of Jesus...
.
In his 1547 Injunctions, Edward VI of England
Edward VI of England
Edward VI was the King of England and Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death. He was crowned on 20 February at the age of nine. The son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour, Edward was the third monarch of the Tudor dynasty and England's first monarch who was raised as a Protestant...
ordered that a copy of this work should be placed in every church within a year of its completion in 1547. This raised the commentary by Erasmus on the New Testament to the status of being the authorized commentary by the Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
under Edward VI of England; the book was "forced upon all parish churches in an effort to infuse the English Reformation with even more Erasmian thought."
Printing history
Edward WhitchurchEdward Whitchurch
Edward Whitchurch , was an English publisher of Protestant works.Whitchurch published the first complete version of the Bible in English. Other published works included The 1547 A Treatise of Morall Phylosophie, contayning the Sayinges of the Wyse, authored by William Baldwin.-References:Attribution...
and Richard Grafton
Richard Grafton
Richard Grafton , was King's Printer under Henry VIII and Edward VI. He was a member of the Grocers' Company and MP for Coventry elected 1562-63.-Under Henry VIII:...
, also the printers of the Great Bible
Great Bible
The Great Bible was the first authorized edition of the Bible in English, authorized by King Henry VIII of England to be read aloud in the church services of the Church of England. The Great Bible was prepared by Myles Coverdale, working under commission of Sir Thomas Cromwell, Secretary to Henry...
, were given the job of printing the translated Paraphrases. The first printing appeared on the last day of January 1548. While the imprint lists only Whitchurch, Grafton must have been involved as well, as suggested by the typography. Incidentally, Whitchurch and Grafton also published the Injunctions, though earlier they had fallen from royal grace: they had been friends of Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex
Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex
Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex, , was an English statesman who served as chief minister of King Henry VIII of England from 1532 to 1540....
and their fortunes declined with Cromwell's downfall.
According to Herbert, William Aldis Wright
William Aldis Wright
William Aldis Wright , was an English writer and editor.William Aldis Wright was son of George Wright, a Baptist minister in Beccles. He was educated at Beccles Grammar School and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated BA in 1858...
has noted no less than six variants of the first edition because multiple presses were run to generate enough copies within the short period of a year.
Contents
The book was dedicated to Catherine Parr. Volume 1 includes the Gospels through Acts; Volume 2 contains the balance of the New Testament with the exception of The Paraphrase on Revelation (omitted by Erasmus), which is by Leo JudLeo Jud
Leo Jud , known to his contemporaries as Meister Leu, Swiss reformer, was born in Guémar, Alsace....
.
Herbert gives a table of contents for the copy that he has examined (most Bibles from this period include neither an index or a table of contents). Placement of the contents may vary among copies because different variants of the Bible were produced at the same time. William Aldis Wright
William Aldis Wright
William Aldis Wright , was an English writer and editor.William Aldis Wright was son of George Wright, a Baptist minister in Beccles. He was educated at Beccles Grammar School and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated BA in 1858...
found at least 6 variants of this volume were produced by different presses to satisfy the demand. Because they were set by different typesetters, there is no uniform placement of the contents for this Bible first volume of this Bible.
Catalog entries
In Herbert's Historical Catalog of English Bibleshttp://bibles.wikidot.com/catalogues, it is identified as "Herbert 72," printed in 2 volumes; according to Herbert, volumes are kept at Bible House England, British Museum, Bodleian Library Oxford, University Library Cambridge, Harvard Library, and New York Public Library. Darlow and Moule reference this work in the catalog of English Bibles Two copies of vols. 1 and one copy of vol. 2 were in the possession of William Tyssen-Amherst, 1st Baron Amherst of HackneyWilliam Tyssen-Amherst, 1st Baron Amherst of Hackney
William Amhurst Tyssen-Amherst, 1st Baron Amherst of Hackney DL, JP was a British Conservative Member of Parliament and collector of books and works of art.-Background and education:...
, a British book collector.
A second edition appears as "Herbert 73," printed in 1551-52, but only Volume 1 appears to be known. Herbert reports that the existent copies have many mutilated pages, and their scarcity is due to the efforts of Mary I of England
Mary I of England
Mary I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from July 1553 until her death.She was the only surviving child born of the ill-fated marriage of Henry VIII and his first wife Catherine of Aragon. Her younger half-brother, Edward VI, succeeded Henry in 1547...
to restore the (Latin) Vulgate
Vulgate
The Vulgate is a late 4th-century Latin translation of the Bible. It was largely the work of St. Jerome, who was commissioned by Pope Damasus I in 382 to make a revision of the old Latin translations...
Bible, after she became queen in 1553. In her effort to promote Roman Catholicism she ordered all copies of this book to be destroyed—despite having translated Erasmus' commentary on St. John, for which she is praised in this very book. Volume 2 may never have been printed, given that the timing of its printing would have been at the approximate time of her ascension to the throne. If it does exist, the location of any copies is not documented. Herbert http://bibles.wikidot.com/catalogues notes that Vol 1 of this second printing contains a concordance or table to the volume. Herbert also notes that the second printing is may be distinguished from the first printing by the fact that the second printing has pages sequentially numbered.