The Great Bible
As the language of the learned, Latin made it harder for people to read, hear, and understand the Scriptures. Therefore, they relied on the teachings of those in power when it came to what they should believe and how they should behave. An English bible threatened not only to defy the Catholic Church, but also opened up the possibility of the people being able to think for themselves--and all the disagreements, questions, and actions that follow. According to Richard Duerden, scholar of British Renaissance literature,
Such plurality could be introduced though the word choice within the translation itself as well as through the notes and references sometimes accompanying the text. For Henry, who had recently broken with Rome and was seeking to win the dedication of his subjects, both as their king and also as their head of church, an official English bible was a way in which he could appease his people by providing them with a Bible they could understand while controlling the message that that Bible contained.Into a world structured as unity, the translation of the sacred text introduced plurality, a multiplicity of contesting texts, interpretations, practices, and authorities both sacred and secular.
Thus in 1539 the Great Bible was printed. Although it was alleged that many distinguished scholars had collaborated on this translation, it was mostly the work of Miles Coverdale, whose own version of the English bible had been printed only four years earlier. An introduction was written by Thomas Cranmer, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and it featured minimal accompanying material--as seen in the images above, rather than notes or commentary which could spark discussion, there are simply brief references scattered throughout the margins. A revised edition was published the following year.
A proclamation was issued in 1541 declaring that this "Bible of the largest and greatest volume" was "to be had in every church," at the congregation's own expense. Warning against any potentials disagreements which might arise from reading the bible for themselves, the proclamation stated the purpose for this act:
In some ways, then, the Great Bible was the king's book, meant acknowledge his headship in matters spiritual and temporal. But in other ways, this translation was also the people's book: for the first time, it was mandated that the people have a Bible in their own language and in their own parish, which they could access and and read for themselves should they desire to do so.The which Godly commandment and injunction was to the only intent that every of the king's majesty's loving subjects, minding to read therein, might by occasion thereof, no[t]?? only consider and perceive the great and ineffable omnipotent power, promise, justice, mercy, and goodness of Almighty God. But also to learn thereby to observe God's commandments, and to obey their sovereign Lord and high powers, and to exercise Godly charity, and to use themselves, according to their vocations: in a pure and sincere life without murmur or grudgings.
Duerden, Richard. “Equivalence or Power? Authority and Reformation Bible Translation.” In The Bible as Book: The Reformation, 9–24. New Castle: Oak Knoll Press, 2000.
Vincent Strudwick. “English Fears of Social Disintegration and Modes of Control, 1533-1611.” In The Bible in the Renaissance: Essays on Biblical Commentary and Translation in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries, 133–49. St Andrews Studies in Reformation History. Aldershot, Hants, UK : Burlington, USA: Ashgate, 2001.
England and Wales. Sovereign (1509-1547 : Henry VIII). A Proclamacion, Ordeyned by the Kynges Maiestie, with the Aduice of His Honorable Counsayle for the Byble of the Largest and Greatest Volume, to Be Had in Euery Churche Deuised the .VI. Day of May The. XXXIII. Yeare of the Kynges Moste Gracious Reygne. Early English Books, 1475-1640 / 10:11. [London] : Excussum per Richardum Grafton & Edwardum VVhitchurch. Cum priuilegio ad imprimendum solum, [1541], 1541. Note: quotes from this source have been modernized for convenience of reading; emphasis is mine.
Brennan, Gillian. “Patriotism, Language and Power: English Translations of the Bible, 1520-1580.” History Workshop, no. 27 (1989): 18–36. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4288885.
