In his article on the rough copy of the JKV of the Bible recently found in Cambridge, Sean Smith states that James I abolished the death penalty for translating the Bible into English - but surely that must be wrong.
Henry VIII ordered a copy of the Great Bible to be available in every parish church. It was to be chained in full view, I seem to remember, so that anyone could refer to it. The Great Bible was published in Paris in 1539 and went into several editions.
Revd Sara MacVane
ONLINE EDITOR'S NOTE: While I accept Reverand MacVane's assertion that "Henry VIII ordered a copy of the Great Bible to be available in every parish church", I stand by the article.
In 1530, Henry VIII issued a royal proclamation prohibiting the circulation of heretical books and Bible translations. He may have ordered a copy of the State-sanctioned Great Bible into ever parish church, but it was still a capital offence to translate a Bible into English and subsequently to circulate it.
That was because, in an age where print was wresting control of knowledge from the ruling classes (the Church and the State), the Bible was a significant battlefield. That William Tyndale - long seen as the author of the first translations to be circulated (illegally) in England - was hunted across Europe by the irate King bears testament to the fact. Henry needed control of his new power (the Church of England) in its early stages - and used control of the Bible to do so.
Of course, by the time of the King James Bible, the printing press had been tamed by the monarchy and the Church of England was established enough to be able to withstand an onrush of modern English books not sanctioned by the State.
Like all Tudor history, there is a lot more to it than that, but the upshot essentially is: if you were smart enought to be able to translate a copy of Bible into English in Henry VIII's time and then you published it, you were for the chopping block.
Or the hangman's noose.
Or The Tower.
Sean Smith, Online Editor
Read the original article: "King James Bible discovery provides clue to modern language"
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