1 Tert. adv. Judaos, p. 189.
2 Tract 28 in Matt.
3 See J. Lingard, The History and Antiquities of the Anglo-Saxon Churchy
London, 1845, vol. i, pp. 1-63, for an outline of this early history.
323
324 A BOOK ABOUT THE ENGLISH BIBLE
missionaries, sent by Gregory at the beginning of the
seventh century. Bertha, the Queen of Ethelbert,
King of Kent, was a Christian, though her husband was
not. The latter however received Augustine and lis-
tened to his preaching. The earliest church buildings
in Britain were Celtic, and one of these at Canterbury,
named in honor of St. Martin, which had been given
by Bertha to Bishop Liudhard, was turned over to
Augustine. The efforts of Augustine and his associates,
and the purity of their teachings, won not only Ethel-
bert, but also his subjects, and Bede is authority for the
statement "that at the feast of Christmas ten thousand
Saxons followed their prince to the waters of baptism." *
The Roman Church, thus established in Britain by
Augustine, differed on some important points from the
Celtic Church. The most important difference was in
regard to the date at which Easter should be celebrated.
Other questions concerned the tonsure, and the celibacy
of the clergy. A conference was called in 664 by Oswiu
King of Northumbria to meet at Whitby, the monastery
presided over by the Abbess Hilda. The discussion of
the date of Easter was led on behalf of the Celtic party
by Colman, the Bishop of Lindisfarne, and for the Saxon
party by Wilfrid, who later became Archbishop of
York. The King favored the Saxon, or Roman, opinion
rather than the Celtic, and Colman and his followers
withdrew to the monastery of Iona, while the Abbess
Hilda and some of the clergy of the Celtic Church went
over to Wilfrid.
Celtic scholarship was of a high order and many
Anglo-Saxon scholars received their training at Celtic
schools. Celtic art likewise developed early, and not
only in church architecture and ornament, but also in
1 J. Lingard, History of the Saxon Church, vol. 1, p. 25.
THE ENGLISH BIBLE IN MANUSCRIPT 325
the early manuscripts of the Bible, such as the Lindis-
farne Gospels is its influence clearly seen in the minis-
cules and decorations. Ireland was during the middle
ages probably the most highly cultured nation in
Europe.
As the Celtic Church antedated the making of the
Vulgate, or Latin version of Jerome (d. 420), it was the
old Latin version of the Scriptures that was read in the
churches and religious establishments of various kinds,
that were in existence earlier than the coming of Augus-
tine. After the Synod of Whitby, however, where the
supremacy of the Roman Church was determined for
the Anglo-Saxons, the Vulgate became in time the ac-
cepted Bible. There is no indication, as yet discovered,
of Celtic as distinguished from Roman influence on
Biblical versions in English.
The translation of the Bible from the original lan-
guages into other tongues began very early, as is shown
by the early Greek versions of the Old Testament, the
Latin versions of both Old and New Testaments, and
the various translations into Oriental languages,
Syriac, Armenian and Coptic. In England, as in other
countries where Christianity was preached, the con-
tents of the Bible became known to the people in their
own language long before any attempt was made to
commit any portions of it to writing in the vernacular.
In time, parts of the Bible, especially the Gospels and
the Psalter, were translated into Anglo-Saxon, but a
fact usually overlooked in connection with the early
translations is that they were made to assist the less
well-educated clergy and the religious, and not for the
people. The idea that it was necessary or desirable to
place the text of the Bible in the hands of the people in
their own language developed much later. The misuse
326 A BOOK ABOUT THE ENGLISH BIBLE
of Scripture by ignorant priests and laymen was re-
ferred to by ^Elfric. We must be careful, therefore, in
thinking of the relation of the Bible to the people, not
to carry back into Anglo-Saxon times ideas that were
not commonly held until the days of Wycliffe, or even
after the Reformation.
A vernacular translation would have had few readers
outside of the ecclesiastical establishments, within
which, except among the lower clergy and the religious,
the need of such a translation was not felt, as Latin
was sufficient, the services of the Church being in
Latin. 1 The people could not have read a vernacular
version, had they possessed one, and only the well-to-
do could have afforded to own a manuscript copy. 2
While few of the laity cpuld read, and many of the
lower clergy and the religious were not learned, there
were great scholars within the establishments, and un-
der their influence many manuscripts of the Bible were
prepared, of which the Codex Amiatinus, now in the
Laurentian Library at Florence, made at Wearmouth,
or Yarrow, as a gift to the Pope, and the Lindisfarne
Gospels, referred to below, are notable examples.
Although the facts are as stated in regard to the trans-
1 "For the instruction of the people, the Epistle and Gospel were read,
and the sermon delivered in their native tongue, but God was addressed by
the ministers of religion in the Language of Rome." J. Lingard, History of
the Saxon Church, vol. I, p. 307.
2 In consequence of this there came into existence, much later, the Biblia
Pauberum, or Bible of the Poor, at first in manuscript, and, after about 1420
in block printing. The book was so called to distinguish it from complete,
Bibles and consisted of pictures illustrating scenes from the Bible. The
earliest printed copy, 1420, contained forty block plates. A second issue in
1450 contained fifty plates by another artist. There were many varieties of
the Biblia Pauperum, original copies of which are very rare. There are fac-
simile reprints of some of the copies such as — Biblia Pauperum, Reproduced
in facsimile from one of the copies in the British Museum; with Introduction
by J. P. Berjeau, London, 1859. Biblia Pauperum. Conteynynge Thyrtie
and Eyght Woodcuttes illustratynge the Lyfeof . . . Jhesus Crist, Descryp-
cions extracted off John Wiclif, with Preface by A. P. Stanley, London, 1884.
THE ENGLISH BIBLE IN MANUSCRIPT 327
lation of the Bible into Anglo-Saxon, and only parts of
the text were so translated, it is no exaggeration to say-
that a large part of all that was written in Anglo-Saxon
was based directly or indirectly on the Bible, including
poems, more or less original, of epic and liturgical char-
acter, legends, prose and verse paraphrases, commen-
taries and homilies. There are references in early rec-
ords to clerics who had thus utilized Bible stories. In
the Ecclesiastical History of Bede is found the Story of
Caedmon (670 fl.) : —
"His Song was of the creation of the world, of the birth of
man, of the history of Genesis. He sang too, the Exodus of
Israel from Egypt and their entrance into the promised land,
and many other narratives of Holy Scripture. Of the in-
carnation also did he sing, and of the passion; of the resurrec-
tion and ascension into heaven; of the coming of the Holy
Spirit, and the teaching of the Apostles." 1
We do not possess any part of Caedmon's transla-
tion or paraphrase. The Genesis, Exodus and Daniel,
formerly attributed to him, are found in a manuscript
of the tenth century, now in the Bodleian Library.
They are poems freely paraphrasing parts of the books.
Statements commonly 2 made concerning translations
of the Psalter by Aldhelm (640?~709) and Guthlac (d.
714) have been shown to be probably erroneous as
there is no real evidence that any such versions ever
existed. 3 Nothing remains of a translation of the Gos-
pel of John as far as 6:9, which it is stated by Cuthbert,
1 Bede's Ecclesiastical History, IV, 24.
2 For example, J. I. Mombert, Handbook of the English Versions of the
Bible, 2d ed., New York, 1890, p. 5. F. G. Kenyon, Our Bible and the Ancient
Manuscripts, 2d ed., London, 1896, p. 190.
3 For a discussion of this see A. S. Cook, Biblical Quotations in Old English
Prose Writers, London, 1898, pp. xiv-xix.
328 A BOOK ABOUT THE ENGLISH BIBLE
in a letter to Cuthwine, was made by Bede (d. 735).
The letter of Cuthbert, which is frequently referred to
as authority for the statement that Bede translated the
whole of the Gospel of John, is, in part, as follows: —
"Thus we passed in joy the quinquagesimal days till the
aforesaid festival; and he rejoiced greatly, and gave thanks
to God for the infirmities under which he suffered, often re-
peating 'God scourgeth every son whom he receiveth' (Heb.
12:6) with other passages of Scripture, and the saying of
St. Ambrose — T have not lived so as to be ashamed to live
among you, nor do I fear to die, for we have a gracious God.' "
"During these days, besides the lessons which he gave us,
and the chant of the psalms, he undertook the composition
of two memorable works, that is, he translated into our
language the gospel of St. John as far as 'But what are these
among so many?' etc. John 6:9 — and made a collection of
extracts from the notes of Isidore, the bishop, saying, 'I
will not suffer my pupils to read falsehoods, and labour with-
out profit in that book, after my death/ But on the Tuesday
before the Ascension, his difficulty of breathing began to
distress him exceedingly, and a slight tumour appeared in his
feet. He spent the whole day, and dictated to us with cheer-
fulness, saying occasionally, 'Lose no time.' *
" I know not how long I may last. Perhaps in a very short
time my Maker may take me. — In fact, it seemed to us that
he knew the time of his death. He lay awake the whole
night praising God: and at dawn on the Wednesday morning,
ordered us to write quickly, which we did, till the hour of
terce (nine o'clock). At that hour we walked in procession
with the relics, as the rubric for the day prescribed; but one
of us remained to wait on him, and said to him, Dearest
master, there still remains one Chapter unwritten. Will it
fatigue you if I ask more questions? 'No* said Beda, 'take
your pen and mend it, and write quickly.' This he did."
"When they heard him say that they would see him no
more in this world, all burst into tears; but their tears were
THE ENGLISH BIBLE IN MANUSCRIPT 329
tempered with joy when he said, 'It is time that I return to
Him who made me out of nothing. I have lived long, and
kindly hath my merciful judge forecast the course of my life
for me. The time of my dissolution is at hand. I wish to be
released, and to be with Christ. , In this way he continued to
speak cheerfully till sunset, when the forementioned youth
said, 'Beloved master, there is still one sentence unwritten/
'Then write quickly,' said Beda. In a few minutes the youth
said, 'It is finished/ "Thou hast spoken truly/ replied Beda,
'take my head between thy hands, for it is my delight to sit
opposite to that holy place in which I used to pray; let me
sit and invoke my Father/ Sitting thus on the pavement of
his cell, and repeating, 'Glory be to the Father, and to the
Son, and to the Holy Ghost/ as he finished the word 'Ghost,'
he breathed his last, and took his departure for Heaven/' *
Bede wrote a number of commentaries on the various
books of the Bible and this may be the basis for the
statement made by WyclifFe, 2 and others that Bede
translated the whole Bible into Anglo-Saxon, but there
is no other evidence of this.
The name of Eadfrith, (d. 721) a contemporary of
Bede, is connected with the Anglo-Saxon Gospels
which are variously known as the "Lindisfarne Gos-
pels," the "Durham Book," and the "Book of St.
Cuthbert." It is the most beautiful extant specimen
of Anglo-Saxon manuscript, and contains Jerome's
Latin version to which have been added Anglo-Saxon
interlineations or glosses. Appended to it are the
Eusebian Canons, and the Letter to Damasus. The
manuscript is now in the British Museum.
At the end of the Gospel of John is a note thus trans-
lated by Dr. Skeat: —
1 As translated in J. Lingard's History of the Saxon Churchy vol. 2,
pp. 197-200.
2 See below, p. 341.
330 A BOOK ABOUT THE ENGLISH BIBLE
"Eadfrith, bishop of Lindisfarne Church was he who at
the first wrote this book in honour of God and St. Cuthbert
and all the saints in common that are in the island . . . and
Aid red, an unworthy and most miserable priest, glossed it
above in English." *
Aldred (950 ?) however, belonged to a later time, as
do the Anglo-Saxon interlinear "glosses," which are
rather notes, than translations in the ordinary sense.
They have an important bearing on the whole question
of the vernacular version. The people, as has been
stated above, could not, except in rare instances, read,
but it was necessary for the clergy to be able to render
the Bible words accurately into Anglo-Saxon. The
glosses therefore were to aid the clergy in their preach-
ing to the people. They date probably from the tenth
century and, next to the "Lindisfarne Gospels," the
most famous is the "Rushworth Gospels" or the
" Rushworth Gloss," now in the Bodleian Library. This
contains a translation of Matthew, and a gloss of the
other Gospels. Appended to it are two notes: —
"Farmen the presbyter this book thus glossed."
"Let him that makes use of me pray for Owun, who glossed
this for Farmen, priest at Harewood."
Preserved in the British Museum is a Latin Psalter
thought to be the actual manuscript sent by Gregory
the Great to Augustine, when the latter was in England,
early in the seventh century. It has interlineation,
probably of the ninth century, of an Anglo-Saxon
translation. To the ninth and tenth centuries belong
several varieties of the Psalter glossed in Anglo-Saxon.
1 W. W. Skeat, The Saxon Gospels, Cambridge, 1871-87. Preface to John,
p. viii.
THE ENGLISH BIBLE IN MANUSCRIPT 33 1
What is known as the Vespasian Psalter is an inter-
linear version of the Roman Psalter, dating probably
from the first half of the ninth century. It is thought
by some scholars that all later glosses on the Psalms,
of which there are a number of varieties, may have
been derived from this. 1 Both the Roman Psalter and
the Gallican Psalter are found glossed. There are also
glosses on the Canticles which occur in the Liturgy,
and a Kentish gloss (fragmentary) on Proverbs.
We are told by William of Malmesbury 2 that King
Alfred (849-901) left unfinished at his death a trans-
lation of the Psalter. To him have been attributed
the prose version of the first fifty Psalms found in the
Paris Psalter, which consists of two parts, a prose
version of Psalms 1 to 51:8, and a poetical version of
the remainder of the book of Psalms, beginning with
52:6. This manuscript, probably of the eleventh
century, is now in the National Library in Paris. The
prose portion dates probably from the early part of the
tenth century and the poetic a little later. 3 Several
of the Psalms in the prose version are probably of
Alfred's translation, and possibly all of them.
In the preface to his translation of the Pastoral Care
of Gregory, which he made for the instruction of the
clergy and the consequent edifying of the people,
Alfred wrote: —
"I thought I saw how, before all was spoiled and burnt,
the churches were filled with treasures of books, yet but little
fruit was reaped of them, for men could understand nothing
1 See A. S. Cook, Bible Quotations in Old English Prose Writers, pp. xxvi-
xxxiv.
2 Gesta Regum Anglorum, II, 123.
3 See A. S. Cook, Biblical Quotations in Old English Prose Writers^
pp. xxxiv-xlii, for a discussion of the probable dates of the Paris Psalter
and Alfred's share in the translation.
332 A BOOK ABOUT THE ENGLISH BIBLE
of them, as they were not written in their own native tongue.
Few persons south of the Humber could understand the
services in English or translate Latin into English. I think
there were not many who could do so beyond the Humber,
and none to the South of the Thames. ,,
Alfred translated the Pastoral Care of Gregory, which
contained numerous passages from the Bible. He trans-
lated, or had translated, also, the History of Orosius,
the Ecclesiastical History of Bede, and the Consolation
of Philosophy of BoSthius. To his Laws he prefixed
a translation of the Ten Commandments. In the Laws
and in the translation of Bede's Ecclesiastical History,
and Orosius's History, are other passages from the Bible
translated by, or under the direction of, Alfred.
What are known as the West Saxon Gospels, which
are translations and not glosses, date probably from
the close of the tenth century. The authorship of the
translations is unknown, although in one of the manu-
scripts, that in the Corpus Christi Library at Cam-
bridge, is a note at the end of Matthew stating that it
was written by a scholar whose name was ^Elfric, and
that he gave it to Brihtwold. Nothing more is known
of either of these men. These Saxon Gospels are found
in seven manuscripts which contain many variants and
which probably date from about iooo to 1175. 1
Mention has been made of the poetic versions of
Genesis, Exodus and Daniel, formerly attributed to
Caedmon, and belonging to the eighth century. Two
other important poems which make free use of Biblical
material are the Christ of Cynewulf, eighth century, and
the Judith, of unknown authorship, and of uncertain
1 For an account of them see A. S. Cook, Biblical Quotations in Old English
Prose Writers^ pp. lix-lxiv.
THE ENGLISH BIBLE IN MANUSCRIPT 333
date, but probably of the ninth century. There were
also a number of varying versions of the Lord's Prayer
in Anglo-Saxon.
Aelfric Grammaticus (955-1020?) translated into
Anglo-Saxon a considerable part of the Old Testa-
ment and also of the Apocrypha, hoping by means
of the books of Judith, and the Maccabees, to stir
the people to resist vigorously the attacks of the
Danes. To him are due the translation of the Penta-
teuch, Joshua, Judges, part of Kings, Esther, and Job.
In the Homilies of ^Elfric in Anglo-Saxon are many
passages of Scripture from the Old and the New Testa-
ments and from the Apocryphal books. iElfric was
fearful lest he should be thought to have done an
unwise or dangerous thing in translating portions of
the Holy Scriptures into English, and refers to it in
the Preface to his Lives of the Saints, and also in the
Preface to his version of Genesis and says, in the
latter: —
"When you [yEthelweard the Earl] desired me, honored
friend, to translate the Book of Genesis, from Latin into
English, I was loth to grant your request; upon which you
assured me that I should need to translate only so far as the
account of Isaac, Abrahams son, seeing that some other per-
son had rendered it for you from that point to the end. Now,
I am concerned lest the work should be dangerous for me
or anyone else to undertake, because I fear that, if some
foolish man should read this book or hear it read, he would
imagine that he could live now, under the new dispensation,
just as the patriarchs lived before the old law was established,
or as men lived under the law of Moses" . . . "We say in
advance that this book has a very profound spiritual signifi-
cation, and we undertake to do nothing more than relate the
naked facts. The uneducated will think that all the meaning
334 A BOOK ABOUT THE ENGLISH BIBLE
is included in the simple narrative, while such is by no means
the case ... M|
None of these early translations of portions of the
Bible modified in any way the use of the Latin version
in the services of the Church. The attitude towards
the Bible on the part of ^Elfric was general, and shows
clearly why no complete translation into Anglo-Saxon
ever came into existence. A fact of great interest and
importance is that when we pass from the period of
Old English to that of Middle English, we find that
translation into the vernacular ceased until the four-
teenth century, with the better education of the clergy
in Latin, and with the increased use of Latin, as exem-
plified in the substitution of it for English after 1150
in the keeping of historical annals.
There were, however, after 1 1 50 many works in which
Biblical material was used in paraphrase, or the retell-
ing of stories. Religious works were produced in
large numbers, and there are collections of homilies
from the twelfth century which contain Biblical pas-
sages or paraphrases. A work of great importance is
the Ormulum of Orm, or Ormin, (circa 1200), who
wrote thirty-two out of the two hundred and forty-two
homilies which he had planned. This work with its
introductory material consists of 19,992 complete verses.
The plan of the author was to paraphrase the Gospels of
the Mass-Book for the year and to add a commentary
or homily on each in verse. Orm states that he wrote
in order that simple men might understand the teach-
ings of the Church. Paraphrases of Biblical stories
may be from Latin paraphrases, and not directly from
the Bible. Of these there are a number, all, except a
1 As translated in A. S. Cook, Biblical Quotations in Old English Prose
AuthorSy pp. lxx, Ixxi.
THE ENGLISH IN BIBLE MANUSCRIPT 335
few, in verse. The Ormulum and metrical paraphrases
of Genesis and Exodus and part of Numbers and
Deuteronomy are of the thirteenth century, the others
of the fourteenth. The Cursor Mundi contains many
Scripture narratives and is a general compendium of
religious material. There were other religious works of
information and instruction in which were quoted
many passages of Scripture. The most notable of these
was the Ancren Rizvle, the manuscripts of which date
variously from the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.
It exists in English, French, and Latin versions, and
it has been a question among scholars as to which
version was the earliest or original.
In the fourteenth century we find ' paraphrases,
chiefly metrical, of large parts of the Old Testament.
In addition to these are some notable Psalters of which
three call for special mention. They are I . the Surtees
Psalter, so called because published by the Surtees
Society, consisting of a translation of the Book of Psalms
into English from the Vulgate. It dates probably
from the first half of the fourteenth century; 2. Rolles'
(i 300-1349) commentary on the Psalter, based on
Peter Lombard's Latin Commentary, and itself the
basis of several Lollard revisions; 3. the West Midland
Prose Psalter, formerly wrongly attributed to William
of Shoreham, which contains the Psalms, eleven Can-
ticles, and the Athanasian Creed. There was also an
English version of Jerome's Abbreviated Psalter, and
paraphrases and commentaries on particular Psalms.
Of the New Testament there were paraphrases of
many stories, an English version of the Pauline Epis-
tles, an English version of Clement of Lanthony's
Harmony of the Gospels (circa n 50), a translation of
the Apocalypse with commentary, and several com-
336 A BOOK ABOUT THE ENGLISH BIBLE
mentaries on the Gospels, all of the fourteenth century.
There were also ballads and poems in which New
Testament stories were told. The various Legendaries,
Temporales and Passionales contained much Biblical
material. 1
THE WYCLIFFITE VERSIONS, I380-I388
Not yet was there any complete Bible in English.
The time was ripe for it, and through the labors of
John Wycliffe and his associates, carried on through a
period of years, the work of translation was finished,
and the Bible was set forth, probably as early as 1382.
That there was no English version earlier, may be due
in part, to the fact that after the Norman Conquest,
French was for three centuries the language of the
upper classes and of educated persons. From the begin-
ning of the fourteenth century we find great changes in
the use of English by the upper classes. In 1362, in
the reign of Edward III, Parliament passed an act
which required: —
"That all pleas which shall be pleaded in his courts . . .
shall be pleaded, showed, defended, answered, debated and
judged in the English tongue."
This act was published in French, and required that
the records of pleadings should be kept in Latin.
The latter part of the fourteenth century gave us
the beginnings of modern English literature and we need
only mention Wycliffe, Gower, and Chaucer, and com-
pare their writings with what had preceded them, to
1 An account of works derived directly or indirectly from the Bible in the
Middle English period, 1050-1400, will be found in A Manual of the Writings
in Middle English 1030-1400, by J. E. Wells, New Haven, 1916.