"C" is for Coverdale

       The first complete English Bibles were completed by Myles Coverdale in 1535, and, by John Rogers under the pseudonym "Thomas Matthew" in 1537.  The first English Bible actually printed in England was Coverdale's in 1537.  Coverdale translated primarily from German and Latin sources.  Rogers' edition was based upon the translation of William Tyndale.  Tyndale translated directly from the Hebrew and Greek.  Rogers' edition, known as the "Matthew Bible" or "Matthew's Version", combined the New Testament of William Tyndale, and as much of the Old Testament as Tyndale had been able to translated before being captured, condemned for "heresy" (he translated Ecclesia as "congregation"--not acceptable to the Church of England), stripped of his priesthood, publicly strangled, and his body burned at the stake.  The translations of Myles Coverdale from German and Latin sources completed the Old Testament and the Apocrypha of Rogers' edition.  Both the Coverdale and Matthews versions were "licensed" but not totally accepted--the Coverdale was not totally accepted because it was not translated from the original languages, and, the Matthews was not totally accepted because it preserved some objectionable aspects of Tyndale's translation (e.g. the translation of Ecclesia as "congregation" rather than "church", and, Tyndale's marginal notes of a "radical" flavor).  As a result, Thomas Cromwell, the King's principal advisor, commissioned Coverdale to create a new version based upon the original languages and "devoid of personal interpretation".  The result was the "Great Bible" of 1539, the first "authorized" version of the English Bible.  The text of the Great Bible adheres closely to the Matthew Baible but with the objectionable elements modified.  In addition, various phrases and sentences found only in the Vulgate were interpolated into the text, apparently to make the Great Bible more palatable to conservative English churchmen, many of whom still at that time considered the Vulgate to be the only legitimate Bible. 

The following, from the OCHF library collection, is the dedicatory page from the first edition of the first English-language Bible to be printed in England, the 1537 edition of the Coverdale Bible printed by James Nycolson in Southwark (the 1535 edition having been printed on the continent).

 

The following, from the OCHF Library Collection, is an original hand-engraved copper plate from William Henry Mountague's History of England, printed 1885, depicting Thomas Cromwell presenting King Henry VIII with a copy of the first authorized edition of the Bible, the "Great Bible" of 1539.

 

Finally, from the OCHF Library Collection, the title page to Romans from a 1541 printing of the Great Bible of 1539 prepared by Myles Coverdale, working under commission of Sir Thomas Cromwell, Secretary to Henry VIII and Vicar General.