Establishing an English Bible in Henry Viii’S England: Translation, Vernacular Theology, and William Tyndale
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ESTABLISHING AN ENGLISH BIBLE IN HENRY VIII’S ENGLAND: TRANSLATION, VERNACULAR THEOLOGY, AND WILLIAM TYNDALE Janice James Submitted for the qualification of PhD University of York Department of History October 2011 ABSTRACT In the 1520s, thanks to the infiltration into England of Martin Luther’s books, the English government began a dedicated campaign to protect the country from heresy. Their efforts, though substantial, failed to stem the tide of heresy. Though he was living in exile in the Low Countries, William Tyndale was the leading vernacular spokesman of the first generation of English religious reformers. He was also England’s most talented early sixteenth-century Bible translator. Tyndale’s opponents perceived him to be the greatest threat to the preservation of the traditional faith in England. This thesis argues that Tyndale’s position in modern historiography does not accurately reflect the one he held in his own day and that the erroneous portrayal is due to an inadequate examination of important aspects of the coming forth of the first printed editions of the English Bible. The areas of neglect include: the extent of the Biblical content of orthodox vernacular religious books published prior to 1526, English authorities’ perceptions of the social and political impact of an English Bible, Tyndale’s motivations for translating the Bible, the English government’s rejection of Tyndale’s English New Testament, and Tyndale’s theological influence on later translations of the English Bible. Drawing on all of Tyndale’s published works, the body of vernacular religious writings printed between 1500 and 1525, and on the six cardinal English Bible translations between 1535 and 1611, this thesis demonstrates Tyndale’s significant contributions to the English Reformation. It shows that Tyndale’s 1526 English New Testament filled lay desire for an English Bible, that Tyndale was a formidable theologian who developed a distinct theology and a unique Bible-based social structure, and that Tyndale exerted considerable influence over English vernacular theology as well as on the theology of the English Bibles that followed his own translations. 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract 2 Acknowledgements 4 Introduction 5 Chapter One—Crumbs from the Master’s Table: 17 Biblical Content in Printed English Books 1500- 1525 1. Lay Access to English Translations of the 23 Bible 2. Scriptural Content in English Religious 31 Publications Chapter Two—A Famine of Hearing the Words of 61 the Lord: England’s lack of a Printed Vernacular Bible 1. Sixteenth-Century Perceptions of John 65 Wycliffe 2. Fears of Heresy, Rebellion, and the 80 Destruction of the Traditional Social Structure 3. William Tyndale’s Bible-based Social Structure 91 Chapter Three—Ten Thousand Words in an 104 Unknown Tongue: Translation of the Bible into English 1. Tyndale, Erasmus, and Humanism 109 2. Tyndale and Erasmus’ Theology Programme 123 Chapter Four—Cast into the Midst of a Burning 147 Fiery Furnace: Official reactions to Tyndale’s 1526 New Testament 1. Burning the English New Testament 150 2. The Tokens of the Malice of a Heretic 172 Chapter Five—What Doctrine is this? Vernacular 193 Theology and William Tyndale 1. Vernacular Theology in England Prior to the 199 1520s 2. ‘Congregation’, ‘Senior/Elder’, and ‘Love’ 218 3. Conclusion 239 Conclusion 240 List of Abbreviations 249 Note on Online Sources 250 Bibliography 251 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Since this is a thesis about English scripture, it is fitting to begin my acknowledgements with a favourite passage from Alma 37:37: ‘Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good’. Though it may go against academic tradition to acknowledge a divine source of help in completing one’s thesis, my conscience requires it of me. Therefore, I gratefully and humbly acknowledge God’s help, direction, support, and encouragement as I have laboured to complete this project. His assistance has been crucial and I could not have completed this thesis without it. He has unfailingly answered my prayers at each stage of my work and has inspired me in all of my thoughts and ideas. I give all the credit for succeeding in this project to Him. My next acknowledgments go to my supervisor, John Cooper, and to my advisory committee, Bill Sheils and Kevin Killeen. These men have been encouraging, supportive, and helpful throughout. They have stimulated me with their constructive criticism and taught me to approach my subject matter from different angles by their superior knowledge, experience, and extensive expertise. I am grateful for their confidence in me and for their advice and assistance. I come to my family and friends last, though they are not last in my thoughts. I am especially grateful for the support of my parents, Morris and Coleen James. They have believed in me and have supported me in countless ways. Extra special acknowledgments go to my two closest friends, Elizabeth Feil and Ann Bryner. They have been my long-distance lifelines during all of the years working to complete my MA and my PhD. Though words on a page cannot convey how important their presence in my life has been, I could not have survived without them. I am so grateful for the many hours of conversation we’ve had, for the much needed laughter and distraction that they have provided, and for their continual encouragement and support. They have truly been living versions of the Lord’s tender mercies. 4 INTRODUCTION In 1516, against considerable opposition by some contemporary theologians, Desiderius Erasmus published a bilingual edition of the New Testament.1 It contained a corrected text of the Latin Vulgate facing a Greek text from which the corrections to the Latin had been made.2 In response to theologian Maarten van Dorp’s objections to his intended work on the Vulgate, Erasmus explained his rationale: There are often passages [in the Latin Vulgate] where the Greek has been badly translated because of the inexperience or carelessness of the translator, and often a true and faithful reading has been corrupted by uneducated copyists . or sometimes even altered by half-educated scribes not thinking what they do. Then who is giving his support . the man who corrects and restores these texts or the man who would rather accept an error than remove it?3 Staying true to his belief that the Vulgate was defective as a translation, Erasmus ‘revised the whole New Testament . against the standard of the Greek original,’ the language in which the New Testament had initially been written, and insisted that where the two texts differed, the Greek text should have the greater authority.4 When the Novum Instrumentum was published, it created enormous shock waves throughout Europe. The Vulgate Bible had enjoyed unrivalled authority in the western Christian church for more than eight hundred years, and a number of church doctrines and practices, such as the doctrine of the Trinity or the practice of doing penance, had been established and upheld on the basis of the Vulgate’s wording.5 Erasmus’ ad fontes approach to scripture challenged the authority of the Vulgate as well as the authority of the church. Religious reformers, including Martin Luther himself, were inspired by Erasmus’ work and used it as support for rejecting traditional church practices and beliefs.6 William Tyndale, a graduate of Oxford University and a reform-minded priest, was among those inspired by Erasmus’ ideas and publications. He was particularly 1 Erika Rummel, Erasmus (London: Contiuum, 2004), 76. 2 Anne M. O’Donnell & Jared Wicks, eds., An Answere unto Sir Thomas Mores Dialoge (Washington D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 2000), xxi. 3 CWE, vol. 71, Ep. 337:804, 384:222-23. 4 Ibid, Ep. 384:226. 5 Allan Jenkins and Patrick Preston, Biblical Scholarship and the Church: A Sixteenth- Century Crisis of Authority (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2007), 59, 93. 6 Jenkins, Biblical Scholarship, ix-xi. 5 moved by Erasmus’ insistence that there should be universal access to the Bible through vernacular translation. According to John Foxe, author of Acts and Monuments, Tyndale’s resolution to make the first English translation of the Bible from the original languages had been formed by 1523. By this time, Tyndale had graduated from Oxford and was living in Gloucestershire where he worked as a private tutor for Sir John and Lady Walsh of Little Sodbury Manor.7 Because translation of the Bible into English without the approval of a Bishop had been illegal since 1409, Tyndale sought permission to translate from the Bishop of London, Cuthbert Tunstal, in the summer of 1523.8 Though his petition was denied, Tyndale remained undaunted and went into self-imposed exile in the Low Countries in 1524.9 From there he published the first complete printed English New Testament in 1526 and a revised edition in 1534. Tyndale also published an English translation of the Pentateuch in 1530 and a translation of the book of Jonah in 1531. Because Tyndale was executed in 1536, his translation of the Old Testament books of Joshua through 2 Chronicles was published posthumously in 1537.10 Tyndale’s literary activities were not limited to Bible translation. He also published many polemical and exegetical works, such as the Obedience of a Christian Man (1528), The Parable of the Wicked Mammon (1528), The Practyse of Prelates (1530), and An Answere unto sir Thomas Mores Dialoge (1531). Tyndale’s biblical, polemical, and exegetical books made him the ‘leading vernacular spokesman of the first generation’ of English religious reformers.11 Andrew Hope argues that Thomas More, England’s primary lay defender of the established church, perceived Tyndale ‘as the greatest of threats to Catholic Christianity’ in England.12 Paul Arblaster believes that, in the sixteenth century, Tyndale was ‘seen by friend and foe alike as the intellectual father of English 7 John Foxe, Actes and monuments of these latter and perillous dayes (1563), STC (2nd ed.) / 11222, EEBO, 514, image 297L.