"K" is for Knox

     Elizabeth I and her successor James I settled on a "middle way" in religion that preserved certain aspects of Catholicism yet at the same time rejected Papal authority in England.  This "middle way" was probably motivated by political interests; i.e., a desire to put an end to religious conflict in England.  John Knox, c. 1514-1572, however, was not inclined to settle for a "middle way", and as a result was instrumental in bringing a religious reformation to Scotland which was of a very different nature.  Knox was greatly influenced by time spent among the "radical" Protestants of Geneva where he resided in exile during the reign of Mary Tudor, Catholic Queen of England. 
     Wikipedia writes:  In the summer of 1558, Knox published his best known pamphlet, The first blast of the trumpet against the monstrous regiment of women.   In calling the "regiment" or rule of women "monstrous", he meant that it was "unnatural".  Knox states that his purpose was to demonstrate "how abominable before God is the Empire or Rule of a wicked woman.  The women rulers that Knox had in mind were Queen Mary I of England and Mary of Guise, the Dowager Queen of Scotland and regent on behalf of her daughter, Mary, Queen of Scots.  Although Know had not targeted Elizabeth Tudor, he deeply offended her because of this pamphlet, and she never forgave him.
     Knox also distanced himself from the Church of England by challenging the English Book of Common Prayer on the grounds that it preserved a number of worship practices that were, in his estimation, Roman Catholic in nature.  Wikipedia writes:  On August 1, 1560, the Scottish Parliament met to settle religious issues in Scotland.  Knox and five other ministers were called upon to draw up a new confession of faith.  Within four days the Scots Confessions was presented to Parliament, voted upon, and approved.  A week later, the Parliament passed three acts in one day:  the first abolished the jurisdiction of the Pope in Scotland, the second condemned all doctrine and practice contrary to the reformed faith, and the third forbade the clebration of the Mass in Scotland.  Knox and the oither ministers were given the task of organizing the newly reformed church in Scotland. 
     Wikipedia continues:  Knox was a ruthless and successful revolutionary and it was this revolutionary philosophy that had a great impact on the English Puritans.  Despite his strictness and dogmatism, Knox has also been described as contributing to the struggle for genuine human freedom, by teaching a duty to oppose unjust government in order to bring about moral and spiritual change.  Knox was notable not so much for the overthrow of Roman Catholicism in Scotland, but for assuring the replacement of Roman Catholicism with Presyterianism rather than Anglicanism.  It was thanks to Knox that the Presbyterian polity was established.  In that regard, Know is considered the founder of the Presbyterian denomination whose members number millions worldwide.
     Below, images from the OCHF Library's copy of writings by Knox in The History of the Reformation of the Church of Scotland, David Buchanan, editor printed in London by John Raworth, 1644.  (Click for larger image).

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"J" is for James, King of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, and the Bible of the "Middle Way"

     By the time King James I ascended to the throne of England, earlier attempts by the Bishops of England during the reign of Elizabeth I to ensconce a "Middle Way" Bible neither Roman Catholic nor radically protestant in nature had lost ground and been undermined by the English-language protestant Geneva Bible.  The KJV was an attempt to find a competitive alternative to the Geneva Bible.  Forty-seven learned men gathered at the king's request, meeting at Westminster, Oxford, and Cambridge to produce what would be published in 1611 and commonly known to later ages as the "Authorized, or King James, Version."
     In the way of thinking of the Bishops of England, the chief problem with both the English Douay-Rheims bible, and the English-language Geneva Bible were the notoriously biased interpretive notes included in the margins of those Bibles, especially the Geneva Bible.  While the poetry and clarity of the language utilized in the KJV is regarded by many to be inspired, the true miracle of the KJV was the removal if interpretive margin notes, in so doing leaving the interpretation of the text up to the reader (guided by the illumination of the Holy Spririt rather than the theology of man).  
    The following illustrative comment is excerpted from "The Translators to the Reader" section of the KJV bible first published in 1611:
Some per adventure would have no varieties of senses to be set in the margin, lest the authoritie of the Scriptures for deciding of controversies by that shew of uncertaintie, should somewhat be shaken.  But we hold their judgement not to be so found in this point.  For though, whatsoever things are necessarie, are manifest, as S. Chrysostome saith; and, as S. Augustine, in those things that are plainly set down in the Scriptures, all such matters are found that concern faith, hope, and charitie:  yet for all that it cannot be dissembled, that partly to exercise and whet our wits, partly to wean the curious from lothing of them for their everwhere plainnesse, partly also to stirre up our devotion to crave the assistance of Gods Spirit by prayer, and lastly, that we might be forward to seek aid of our brethren by conference, and never scorn those that be not in all respects so complete as they should be, being to seek in many things ourselves, it hath pleased God in his divine providence, here and there to scatter words and sentences of that difficultie and boubtfulnesse, not in doctrinal points that concern salvation (for in such it hath been vouched that the Scriptures are plain) but in matters of lesse moment, that fearfulness would better beseem us then confidence, and if we will resolve, to resolve upon modestie with S. Augustine, (though not in this same case altogether, yet upon the same ground....It is better to make doubt of those things which are secret, then to strive about those things that are uncertain.

Below, examples of the notes from the Geneva Bible (click for larger image):



 





Below, a page from the 1613 folio KJV showing lack of interpretive margin notes (click for larger image):

Below, images from a 1660 octavo KJV Bible printed in London by Henry Hills and John Field.  Note especially the image of Mary bound with this Bible, something inconceivable with the Geneva Bible (click for larger image):

 





"I" is for Illuminated Manuscript Style

     Illuminated manuscript style influenced the style of later printed Bibles in Europe.  During the medieval and late medieval period, Bibles were copied by hand and often richly decorated.  The two-column style also became standard.  After the development of printing, wealthy patrons who purchased printed bibles wanted the printed Bible to resemble the style of earlier hand-illuminated bibles, that style having become inseparably associated with the Bible because of centuries of producing Bibles in that style, namely, two-column pages with hand-painted initials beginning chapters and hand-painted decorations to finish the printed page.  Below, detail from a page from Exodus showing typical hand-painted decoration.  This leaf, held by the OCHF Library, dates from the 14th Century.  As in the case of most bibles of this period, the writing is done on fine animal skin (vellum) rather than paper.  (Click image for larger view.)

 

     Below is a typical hand-written Bible leaf from the 13th Century.  This leaf is from a small portable Bible.  (Click image for larger view.)

 

     The first printed Bible was produced by Johann Gutenberg in Mainz, Germany, probably completed between March and November 1455.  It is a print of the Latin Vulgate translation of the Bible.  Intended for wealthy clients, these large and expensive Bibles sold at a cost equivalent of three years' pay for the average clerk.  The Gutenberg Bibles were not ready for use when they came off the press.  Large capital letters and decoration were still to be added by hand.  The style and extent depended on how much money the buyer wanted to spend, and differed from one copy to the next, some pages being as highly decorated as the beautiful illuminated 14th Century leaf above.  Below, reproductions of two versions of Genesis I, the printed pages finished by hand to the individual taste of the patron who purchased the Bible.  (Click image for larger view.)

 

 

     The OCHF Library has many illuminated manuscripts including this Century leaf from a 16th Century "Antiphonary".  (Click image for larger view.)

 

 

     The OCHF Library has a number of original pages from an early printed Bible, the Jenson Bible of 1479, with fine hand-painted initials.  Note the exceptionally fine hand decoration added to the printed pages, below.  (Click image for larger view.)

 

 



"H" is for Hus

     The Czech literature of the Middle Ages is very rich in translations of Biblical books made from the Vulgate.  During the 14th Century all parts of the Bible seem to have been translated into the Bohemian language at different times and by different hands.  The oldest translations are those of the Psalter.  The New Testament must also have existed in the Bohemian language at that time, for according to a statement of Wycliffe, Anne, daughter of Charles IV, received in 1381 upon her marrying Richard II of England a Bohemian New Testament.
     It is certain that John Hus (1372-1415) had the Bible in Bohemian before him as a whole when he and his successors undertook a revision of the text according to the Vulgate.  The work of Hus on the Bible antedated 1412.  During the 15th Century the revision was continued.  The first complete printed Bible in the Bohemian language was published in Prague in 1488.  Other editions were issed at Kutna Hora, 1489, and Venice, 1506.
     Below are photos of OCHF Library's framed copy of a leaf from a hand-rubricated Bohemian Bible printed in Venice, Italy, by Peter Lichtenstein in 1506.  This Bible was prepared by John Hus and his followers, and edited by Jan Jindrissky of Zatec (Saaz) and Tomas Molek of Hradec Kralove.  The cost of printing this edition was financed entirely by three wealthy merchants of Prague for the use of the Ultraquist sect, then the strongest religious denomination among the Czechs.  This Bible is extensively rubricated with hand-painted initial letters and text emphases in red and blue inks.  Reference D&M 2180.

 

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