Making Known the Word of God in Medieval Spain

“When I journey to Spain, I hope that I will see you and be accompanied partway there by you after I have ﬁrst enjoyed your company for a time.”—Romans 15:24.

HE apostle Paul wrote those words to his fel- the Vulgate gradually supplanted the Vetus La- T low Christians in Rome in about the year tina Hispana. Those Latin translations enabled 56 C.E. Whether Paul actually made the jour- the people of Spain to read the Bible and un- ney to Spain, the Bible does not say. In any case, derstand its message. But as the Roman Empire through the efforts of Paul or other Christian mis- came to an end, new linguistic needs arose. sionaries, the good news from God’s Word, the THE BIBLE ON SLATES Bible, did reach Spain by the second century C.E. In the fifth century, the Visigoths and other Soon, Christian communities began to devel- Germanic tribes invaded Spain, and a new lan- op and flourish in Spain. With that, there arose guage—Gothic—arrived on the peninsula. The in- the need for the people there to have the Bible vaders practiced a form of Christianity known translated into Latin. This was because by the as Arianism, which rejected the Trinity doctrine. second century, Spain had long been under Ro- They also brought with them their own transla- man rule and Latin had become the common lan- tion of the Scriptures—Ulfilas’ Gothic Bible. This guage throughout the vast Roman Empire. Bible was read in Spain until the end of the sixth LATIN BIBLES FILLED THE NEED century, when Reccared, the Visigothic king, be- Early Spanish Christians produced several Lat- came a Catholic and renounced Arianism. He in translations known collectively as the Vetus had all Arian books collected and destroyed, in- Latina Hispana. These Latin Bibles circulated in cluding Ulfilas’ Bible. As a result, all Gothic texts Spain for many years before Jerome completed disappeared from Spain. his renowned Latin Vulgate early in the fifth cen- Yet, the Word of God continued to spread in tury C.E. Spain during this period. Apart from Gothic, Jerome’s translation—which he completed in there was still a Latin dialect widely spoken in Bethlehem, Palestine—reached Spain in record Spain, which later gave birth to the Romance lan- time. When Lucinius, an affluent Bible student, guages spoken on the Iberian Peninsula. The learned that Jerome was preparing a Latin trans- oldest documents in this Latin dialect are known lation, he wanted to have a copy of this new as Visigothic slates, since they were written on translation as soon as possible. He dispatched pieces or slabs of slate. They date from the sixth six scribes to Bethlehem to copy the text and and seventh centuries, and some contain pas- take it back to Spain. In the following centuries, T These include Castilian, Catalan, Galician, and Portuguese.

12 | THE WATCHTOWER sages from the Psalms and the Gospels. One whole day creating one initial letter or a whole slate contains the entire 16th Psalm. week preparing a title page. Precious as they are, The existence of Scriptural texts on humble those Bibles, however, did little to spread the slates shows that ordinary people both read and message of God’s Word among the people. copied the Word of God at that time. Apparent- THE BIBLE IN ARABIC ly, teachers used these Bible texts as exercises for By the eighth century, another language began pupils who were learning to read and write. The to take root in Spain as a result of the Islamic in- slates were a cheap writing material, in contrast vasion of the peninsula. In the areas that the with the expensive parchment that the medieval Muslims colonized, Arabic gained ground over monasteries used to produce their illustrated Bi- Latin and the need arose for a Bible in this new bles. language. One priceless illustrated Bible is housed in ó Many Arabic translations of the Bible—espe- the church of San Isidoro in Leon, Spain. Dat- cially of the Gospels—doubtless circulated in me- ed 960 C.E., it has 516 leaves measuring about dieval Spain. Apparently, in the eighth century, 18 inches (47 cm) by 13 inches (34 cm) and weigh- John, a bishop of Seville, translated the entire ing some 40 pounds (18 kg). Another, now in Bible into Arabic. Sadly, most of those Arabic the Vatican Library, is the Bible of Ripoll, dated translations have been lost. One Arabic transla- about 1020 C.E. It is one of the most profusely il- tion of the Gospels from the middle of the tenth ó luminated Bibles of the Middle Ages. To produce century is preserved in the cathedral of Leon, such works of art, a monk might have spent a Spain.

From the ﬁfth to the MAS Slate: - Le Isabel on eighth century C.E., ó (Espa Vel azquez á

the Bible in Latin and na) ñ

Arabic enabled the Soriano; Spanish people to read God’s Word Arabic Bible: Fotograf ıa í

A slate slab with Bible text in a Latin dialect, sixth century C.E.

A detail from theó highly illuminated Leon Bible. Precious as they are, such Bibles did little to spread the message of God’s Word among the people An Arabic translation of the Gospels, tenth century C.E.

MARCH 1, 2014 | 13 King Alfonso X supported Bible translation into Spanish SPANISH VERSIONS APPEARED Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid During the late Middle Ages, Castilian, or Spanish, began to take shape on the Iberi- an Peninsula. This new tongue was destined to become an important vehicle for spreading the Word of God. The earliest translation of Bible text into Spanish appeared in La Fazienda de Ultra Mar (Deeds From Across the Seas), of the early 13th century. This work contains an account of a journey to Israel, and it includes material from the Pentateuch and other books of the He- brew Scriptures as well as the Gospels and the Epistles. Church authorities were not pleased with this translation. In 1234, the Council of Tarragona decreed that all Bible books in the vernacular Pages of the 13th-century Pre-Alfonsine (left) must be handed over to the local clergy to be and Alfonsine (right) Bibles burned. Happily, this decree did not put a stop to further Bible translation. King Alfonso X (1252- 1284), considered to be the founder of Spanish directly from the Hebrew. At the time, Spain prose, wanted the translation of the Scriptures had the largest Jewish community in Europe, and into the new language and supported it. Span- Jewish translators had access to good Hebrew ish translations from this period include the so- manuscripts for making their translations. called Pre-Alfonsine Bible and the Alfonsine Bi- One outstanding example was the Alba Bi- ble that appeared shortly thereafter, which was ble, completed in the 15th century. A prominent á the largest translation into Spanish of its time. Spanish nobleman, Luis de Guzman, commis- é Both of those works helped to establish and sioned Rabbi Moises Arragel to translate the Bi- enrich the nascent Spanish language. Schol- ble into castizo (pure) Spanish. He gave two rea- ar Thomas Montgomery says regarding the Pre- sons for requesting this new translation. First, Alfonsine Bible: “The translator of this Bible pro- he said: “The Bibles that today are found in the duced an admirable work with regard to accuracy Romance language are very corrupt,” and sec- as well as elegant language. . . . The language is ond, “People like us very much need the margin- simple and clear, as was needed for a Bible pre- al notes for the obscure passages.” His request re- pared for people unversed in Latin.” veals that people of his day had a keen interest in Those early Spanish Bibles, however, were reading and understanding the Bible. It further translated from the Latin Vulgate rather than indicates that the Scriptures in the vernacular from the original languages. Starting in the language already had quite a wide distribution in 14th century, Jewish scholars produced several Spain. Spanish translations of the Hebrew Scriptures S See the article “The Divine Name and Alfonso de Zamora’s Today, Spanish is the ﬁrst language of some 540 million peo- Quest for Textual Accuracy,” in the December 1, 2011, issue of ple. this magazine.

14 | THE WATCHTOWER “The Spanish people knew the Bible much better than the people of Germany or England before the time á of Luther.”—Historian Juan Orts Gonzalez The Bible in Other Vernacular Languages of Spain

Catalan The Bible was translated into Catalan in the 13th century. One version, known as the Rhymed Bible, was a partial translation of the Scriptures in rhyme to help the reader to memorize the text. In the same century, between 1287 and 1290, Jaume de Montjuich translated the first complete Bible into Catalan at the order of King Alfonso II of Catalonia and Aragon. Valencian In the early 15th century, Bonifacio Ferrer translated the Bible into The Alba Bible, the first translation in castizo (pure) Valencian, and it was printed in 1478. Spanish, 15th century C.E. This Valencian version was the first Bible to be printed in Spain. Regrettably, the flames of the Inquisition devoured every copy, and only its final page has survived. Thanks to the medieval translators and copy- This sheet is in the collection of the ists, educated people in Spain could read the Hispanic Society of America in New York. Bible in their own language without great hin- á Basque In 1571, Jean de Licarrague drance. As a result, historian Juan Orts Gonzalez ç translated the Greek Scriptures into observed that “the Spanish people knew the Bi- Basque, thanks to the sponsorship of the ble much better than the people of Germany or queen of Navarre. Licarrague’s work England before the time of Luther.” ç helped lay the foundation for a unified By the close of the 15th century, however, the Basque grammar. It has been said that Spanish Inquisition forbade the translation and Licarrague was for Basque what Jerome possession of the Scriptures in any vernacular ç was for Latin and Luther for German. language. A long night for the Bible descended on Spain. Three centuries passed before the ban was finally lifted. During that difficult time, a few val- iant translators produced new Spanish versions abroad and had them smuggled into Spain. The tireless work of many scholars enabled the As this history of the Bible in medieval Spain Bible to take root and spread in medieval Spain. reveals, opposers have endeavored to suppress Modern translators have followed in the foot- the Word of God in many ways. Nonetheless, steps of those pioneers who translated the Scrip- they were unable to silence the sayings of the Al- tures into Latin, Gothic, Arabic, and Spanish. mighty.—Psalm 83:1; 94:20. As a result, millions of Spanish-speaking people See the article “Casiodoro de Reina’s Fight for a Spanish Bi- today can read God’s Word in the tongue that ble,” in the June 1, 1996, issue of this magazine. touches their heart. ˇ

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