Ai,r. X-u
Facsimile T
ACSIMILE EXTS.
THE FIRST PRINTED
ENGLISH NEW TESTAMENT.
TRANSLATED BY
WILLIAM TYNDALE.
PHOTO-LITHOGRAPHED FROM THE UNIQUE FRAGMENT, NOW IN THE GRENVILLE COLLECTION, BRITISH MUSEUM.
EDITED BY
EDWARD ARBER,
Associate, Kin^s College, London, F.R.G.S., ^r^c.
3Lontian: 5 QUEEN SQUARE, BLOOMSBURY 15 February, 187 i.
ALL RIGHTS RBSBkVED.
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Rev. Tames Stratten.
IN PERPETUAL TESTIMONY
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of itpbarbs of Jfortg-tfeo gears,
this volume is respectfully Inscribed.
COJ^TE]^T^.
PAGE
The Preface.
Evidence connected with the first Two Editions of the EngUsh New Testaments, viz. : in Quarto and in Octavo.
I. William Tyndale's antecedent Career . . . . . . . . 7-18
II. The Printing at Cologne 18-24
III. The Printing at Worms 24-27
IV. William Roy's connection with these Editions 27-36
V. The Landing and Distribution in England 36-47
VI. The Persecution in England 48-64
Typographical and Literary Evidence connected with the present Fragment. I. It was printed for Tyndale by Peter Quentel at Cologne,
before 1526 65
II. It is not a portion of the separate Gospel of Matthew, printed previous
to that year 65
III. It is therefore certainly a fragment of the Quarto 66
Is the Quarto a translation of Luther's German version ?
Text 67
The prologge 67
Inner Marginal References 67
Outer Marginal Glosses 68
The Photo-lithographed Text,
[The Title Page is wanting in the Grenville Copy.]
The prologge [by Tyndale] 1-14
The bokes conteyned in the newe Testament 15
Woodcut [by Anthon von Worms] . 16
The Gospel according to St. Matthew :
Chapters I. — XXII. 12 [where the Fragment ends] 17-62
Part of the Title Page of Rupertus' In Matthaeiim :
Printed by Peter Quentel at Cologne, between March and July 1526 . 64
TRANSLATED BY
WILLIAM TYNDALE.
"Thk true seruaunt and Martyr of God . . . Who for his notable paynes and trauell may well be called the Apostle of England in this our latter age."— John Fox ; Actes and Monuntentes, p. 1224, Ed.
''^k
e "put forthe certaine bookes of the olde Testament and the hole newe Testament, into the En<Tlyshe tongue . . . whereby sence thankes be geuen to God, the dore of lyght into the scriptures, hath and dailie is more and more opened unto vs, the whiche before was many yeares closed in darkenes." — Anonymous Writer : Idtm, p. 514, Ed. 1563.
PREFACE.
jITH reverence, almost with awe, we here offer to the reader the photographic likeness of a priceless gem in English litera- ture. It is the unique Fragment of that first and fontal edition of the English New Testament, to which Mr. Anderson refers as "the veritable origin of all those millions of English Scriptures now being read in so many different and distant parts of the globe — parts, utterly unknown to our immortal Translator, when he sent the sheets to the press — parts, then untrodden by any Englishman — parts, then undiscovered." ^ The first Printed portions of any part of the English Scriptures were the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, probably separately printed by Tyn- dale, somewhere on the Continent,^ in 1524-5. While there is abundant evidence of the former existence of these two Gospels, no copies of them whatever are now known to be extant. After these, in time, came simul- taneously his first two editions of the New Testament — one in Quarto, * with glosses or marginal notes ; the other in Octavo, without glosses — one of which, perhaps both, were in England in March 1526. Of the Quarto edition, there is only the Fragment, here photo-lithographed, known ; of the Octavo, there is one perfect text in the librar)'^ of the Baptist College at Bristol, and a portion of another in that of St. Paul's Cathedral, London. These three copies, all denuded of their title pages, are the earliest im- pressions of any portion of the printed Bible in the English tongue, now known to be in existence.
- 'Annals of the English Bible.' vol. L,/. 74, Ed. 1845.
' The Rev. R. Demaus, who is writing z. Life of Tyndale, which is to appear this year, has noticed that no printer is known to have been at Hamburgh about these years.
6 PRE FA CE.
Looking over the present photo-lithographed Text, the reader will readily mark the total absence of all those distinctions which have always been used for the separation of books, and the discernment from each other of their several editions. It wants the names of Translator or Editor, of the Printer, and the Place of printing, together with the Date of printing. As wx now have it, it is an unowned, unavowed fragment of black letter English. There is however an accumulation of evidence, perfectly over- whelming, which assures us, beyond the possibility of a doubt, that this fragment is verily and indeed a part of the earliest edition of the Neiu Testament, ever printed in the English language. It is our duty here to exhibit this evidence.
At the outset, however, we must limit this testimony to these first two editions only. Afterwards came 'thicker and threefold' into England, editions both of the New Testament and of the Bible. Some of these attempted an accurate authenticity, being produced solely from a love to God and Truth ; others were surreptitiously and often carelessly produced by speculators, for the mere sake of money. All these can only be rightly analysed and adjudged in a thorough and complete ' History of the English Bible, both manuscript and printed.' A work yet to be written ; though the way has been made smoother by such pioneers as Rev. J. Forshall, Sir F. Madden; Revs. J. Lewis, H. Cotton, D.C.L., Canon B. F.^Vest- COTT ; Messrs. Lea Wilson, C. Anderson, G. Offor, F. Fry, and others. Such a work would be based upon deep sacred interest. It would record a marvellous story of human heroism and self denial, of untiring effort and labour. It would catalogue all known editions, all accessible early copies, and point out their various differences. And, with it, would be largely in- terwoven the political and social history of what may be looked upon as our Biblical Century — that hundred years, roughly speaking, of incessant Biblical translation and revision, which was cro\vned with that literary marvel, the present authorized version. What Froude has done for the Court and Political History of our Reformation ; what Macaulay for twenty years later on in our National History ; might, with even a more interesting subject — the most interesting of all literary subjects to many — be done for the Story of the Word of God in English. Is any man so bold, so earnest, so devout, as to attempt this work ?^
In adducing this Testimony from original sources, and in eliminating it from the confusion of many conflicting and perplexing statements, it will be convenient to quote each passage, once for all, in its principal place ; though it may occasionally anticipate somewhat in time, or contain ex- traneous matter.
1 Such a worker may consult with advantage the manuscript transcripts and notes of Mr. OfFor, no- , Add. MSS. 26,670-5, in the British Museum.
WILLIAM TYNDALES ANTECEDENT CAREER. 7
We may group the evidence —
As IT RELATES TO THE FIRST TWO EDITIONS. As IT VERIFIES THE FRAGMENT, HERE REPRODUCED.
As to the two editions, it may be arranged under —
I. William Tyndale's antecedaU career.
II. The prifiting at Cologne.
III. The printing at Worms.
IV. William Roys connection with these editions. V. The landing and distribution in Engla?id.
VI. The persecution in England.
As relates to the existing fragment ; there is possibly, only —
VII. Typographical and Literary evidence.
We must also premise, that, in judging of moral actions by the use made of money, we have followed the usual estimate, in a matter so hard to determine absolutely ; that the multiple of Fifteen approximately represents the increased power of the same standard coin in purchasing the neces- saries of life (food, raiment, rent, books, and the like), in the reign of Henry VIII., as compared with the present day. So that £,\o then, represents ;;^i5o now; i6j'. 4//. then, j£,\2 ^s. od. now; and so on. We have inserted the modem equivalent, upon this estimate, within [ ], after every sum mentioned. •
I. William Tyndales antecedent Career.
1. Tyndale is believed to have been bom either at Stinchcomb or North NiBLEY, in the hundred of Berkeley, in the county of Gloucester, not earlier than 1484-6 -^ where his family, during the wars of the Roses, had for a time adopted, probably for the sake of concealment, the name — variously spelt— of Hitchins or Hotchyns.
2. The authority for the early life of our great Englishman is John Fox ; in the editions of his Ades and Monumentes, etc., published during his life- rime, viz., 1563, 1570, 1576, 1583; and in the account partly extracted there- from and prefixed to The Workes of Tyndale, Frith, and Barnes, 1573, fol.
1 Mr. Dade Roberts, of Painswick [d. 1821] in 1561, the estate of Melksham's Court, Sunchcombe,
Lysons • Topog. Coll.' Add. MSS. 9458. Plut. fol. from Thomas, Lord Wentworth, was the Transla-
63-^ ; in the British Museum. Mr. Roberts tor's nephew, thought that Richard Tyndale, who purchased, in
WILLIAM TYNDALE'S ANTECEDENT CAREER.
A comparison of these editions evidences two narratives. The earlier one is a brief and graphic Memorandum, — probably more correct as to the sequence of events — written from memory by a confidential friend, who had his infonnation from Tyndale's own lips, probably during his stay in London : which Memorandum evidently preserves the very words of Tyndale. The later account is written impersonally, and amplified after Fox's vehement manner. We here place the two side by side.
Fox's First Account, 1563.
Fox gives the following summary of Tyndale's career ; which may be taken as expressing his own estitnate oftJie Translator.
This good man William Tyndall the faithfull minister and constant martyr of Christe, was borne vpon ye borders of wales, and brought vp euen of a childe in the vniuersitie of Oxford,^ being alwayes of moste vpright maners and pure lyfe. This man as soneas he had receyuedsome taste and sauour of the diuine truth by reading of Luthers bookes,* he thought no labour or trauaill to be pretermitted to allure and to drawe all other englishmen to the like knowledge and vnderstanding. For the better and more easy accomplishing wherof, he first together with Frith, labored in translating the olde and newe Testament into English, a most hol- some worke for the Englishnation, he wrote also diuers other workes of Sundry tytles, amon[g]st the whiche is that moste worthy monument of his in- tituled Thobedience of a christen man, wherin with a synguler dexteritie he instructeth all menne to the office and dutie of christian obedience, with diuerse conflictes and disputations against More and others, no lesse delectable as also fmtefuU to be read. p. 520. Ed, 1563.
[Here begins the Memorandum of Tyndalis friend."]
First mayster Tyndall beyng in seruice with one maister Welche* a Knyght, who maried a doughter
Fox's Second Account, 1570.
William Tyndall the faythfull Minister and con- stant Martyr of Christ, was borne about the borders of Wales, and. brought vp from a child in the Vniuersitie of Oxford, where he by long continu- ance grew vp, and increased as wel in the know- ledge of tounges, and other liberall Artes, as es- pecially in the knowledge of the Scriptures : where- unto his mynde was singularly addicted '.^ In so much that he lying then at Magdalene Hall, read priuely to certeine studentes and felowes of Mag- dalene Colledge, some parcell of Diuinitie : in- structing them in the knowledge and truth of the Scriptures. Whose maners also and conuersation being correspondent to the same, were such that all they which knew hym, reputed and estemed hym to bee a man of most vertuous disposition, and of life vnspotted.
Thus he in the Vniuersitie of Oxford ^ increasing more and more in learnyng, and procedyng in de- grees of the scholes, spying hys time, remoued from thence to the Vniuersitie of Cambridge,^ where after hee had lykewise made his abode a certaine space, being now further ripened in the knowledge of Gods word, leauyng that Vniuersitie also, he resorted to one M. WelcJie^ a knyght of Glocester-
1 The dates of Tyndale's connection with Oxford and Cambridge have not yet been recovered. See Wood, A thents Oxonienses, «'. 94, -Ed. 1813, and C. H. and T. Cooper, Atfietue Cantabrigienses, i. 59, Ed. 1858.
* If Tyndale went a ' child ' to Oxford, and was there ' singularly addicted ' to the study of Scrip- ture, it must have been long before Luther attached his ninety-five Theses to the door of the church at Wittenberg (31 October, 1517) ; which protest first gave him a European reputation. Tyndale may Have been confirmed in his opinions by Luther ; and we shall see one of the works of Erasmus was so congenial to him that he translated it : but a con- sideration that he must have been about 30 years of age, and a priest, when Ltlther.attacked the sale of indulgences, is conclusive that he was but fol- lowing the dictates of his own mind and conscience when m early life he searched after truth in the Revelation of God, and/iot among the writings of
3 Sir John Walsh, son and heir of John Walsh, married Anne, daughter of Sir Robert Pointz, and having served the office of high sheriff of Glouces- tershire, 18 and 27, H. 8 \i.e. 1526 and 1535] died seized of Little Sodbury in the 38th year of the same reign [22 April 1546 — 28 Jan. 1547], leaving Maurice his son thirty years old, who had the livery of the manor the same year, and married
Bridget, daughter of Vause. S. Rudder,
Hist, of Gloucestershire, p. 677, Ed. i779._
Little Sodbury is two miles from Chipping Sod- bury, and fifteen from Bristol, on the Bath and Chippenham road. • _• _• The old church of St. Adelme was a stone building in the Early English style, with tower, nave, transept, and porch, and situate adjacent to the manor house ; but having fallen into decay, a new church was erected in 1850 on a more convenient site, which church, with the addition of a vestry room and north aisle, was as nearly as possible a restoration of the old one. Keliys Gloucestershire, p. 634., Ed, 1870.
>
IVILLTAM TYNDALES ANTECEDENT CAREER.
Fox's First Account, 1563. of SyT Robert Pointz, a knyght dwcllyng in GIo- ccstr shyrc, the saydc Tyndall beyng scholemaister to the sayde maistcr Welche his children,' and being in good fauour with his maister, sat moste commonly at his owne table, whiche kept a good ordinary, hauing resort to hym, many tymes diuerse great beneficed men, as Abbots, Deancs, Archedeacons, and other diuerse doctors, and learned men. Amongest whome commonly was talke of learning, as well of Luther and Erasmus Roterodamus, as of opinions in the scripture. The saide Maister Tyn- dall being learned and which had bene a studient of diuinitie in Cambridge,* ai^ hadde therein taken degree of schole, did many times therin shewe his mynde and leamyng, wherein as those men and Tyndall did varie in opinions and iudgementes, then maister Tyndall would shewe them on the booke the places, by open and manifest scripture, the whiche continued for a certaine season, diuerse and sondry tymes vntyll in the continuance thereof, those great beneficed doctors waxed weary and bare a secAit grudge in their hartes against maister Tyndale.
So vpon a tyme some of those beneficed doctors, had maister Welch and the Lady his wyfe, at a supper or banquet, there hauinge amonge them talke at wyll without any gainsaiyng, and the supper or banquet beyng done, and maister Welche and the Lady his wyfe, came home. They called for maister Tyndall, and talked with hym, of suche communication as hadde bene, where they came fro, and of their opinions. Maister Tyndall there- unto" made aunswere agreable to the truthe of gods worde, and in reprouing of their false opinions. The Lady Welche being a stoute woman, and as maister Tyndal did reporte* her to be wise, beyng there no more but they* three, maister Welche his wyfe and maister Tyndall.' Well sayde she, there was suche a doctor, he may dispende CC. pounde [,£yxx>\ by the yeare, an other one hundred pounde [;6i50o],and an other three hundreth pounde [^4500], and what thynke ye, were it reason that we should beleue you before them so great learned and bene- ficed men.* Maister Tyndall hearyng her, gaue her no aunswere, nor after that, had but small argu- mentes against suche, for he perceiued it would not
Fox's Second Account, 1570.
shyre, and was there scholemaster to his children,' and in good fauour with his mxstcr. This Gentle- man, as hee kept a good ordinarie commonly at his table, there resorted to hym many times sondry Abbots, Dcanes, Archdeacons, with other diuers Doctors and great beneficed men : who there toge- ther with M. Tytidall sittyng at the same table, did vse many tymes to enter communication and talke of learned men, as of Lutlur and of Erasmus : Also of diuers other controuersies and questions vpon the Scripture.
Then M. Tyndall, as he was learned and well practised in Gods matters, so he spared not to shewe vnto them simply and playnly hys iudgement in matters, as he thought : and when as they at any tyme did varye from Tyndall in opinions and iudge- ment, he would shewe them in the booke, and lay plainly before them the open and manifest places of ye Scriptures, to confute their erours, and to con- firme his sayinges. And thus continued they for a certaine season, reasonyng and contending togethex diuers and sundry tymes, till at length they waxed wery, and bare a secret grudge in their hartes agaynst hym.
Not long after this, it happened that certaine of these great Doctours had inuited M. Welclie and hys wife to a banket : where they had talke at will and pleasure, vttering their blyndes and ignoraunce without any resistance or gaynsaying. Then M. Welche and hys wife comming home and calling for M. Tyndall, began to reason with him about those matters, wherof ye priestes had talked before at theyr banket. M. Tyndall aunswer- ing by scriptures, mayntayned the truth, and re- proued theyr false opinions. Then sayd the Lady Welch, a stout and a wyse woman (as Tyndall re- ported) Well (sayd she) there was such a Doctor which may dispend a C. li. [hundred pounds=;f 1500] and an other, ij. C. li. [two hundred pounds =;£3ooo] and an other, iij. C. li. [three hundred pounds =;^4 500] and what? were it reaSon, thinke you, that we should beleue you before them ? ♦ M. Tyndall gaue her no aunswere at that time, nor also after that (because he sawe it would not auayle) he talked but litle in those matters. At that tyme he was about the translation of a booke called Enchiridion militis ChristiaHi?v\iixs^ beyng^ translated, he dclyuered
' If Maurice, bom in 1516, was the eldest born son of Sir J. Walsh, Tj-ndalc's connection with his family as tutor must necessarily have been short ; probably at most the two or three years 1531-3.
*NoUx,p. 8.
» Graphic points showing the narrative to be at first hand.
♦ What unconscious satire !
* That is. Enchiridion Militis Ckristiani [The Pocket Dagger of the Christian Soldier] written by
B
lO
WILLIAM TYNDALE'S ANTECEDENT CAREER.
Fox's First Account, 1563.
helpe in effect to the contrary. But then did he translate into Englyshe a booke called as P remem- ber Enchiridion militis Ckrisiiani.^ The whiche being translated, deliuered to his maister and Lady. And after they hadde read that booke, those great prelates were no more so often called to the house, nor when they came, had the cheare nor counten- ance as they were wont to haue, the whiche they did well perceiue, and that it was by the meanes and incensing of maister Tyndall, and at the last came no more there.
After that, when there was a sj'tting of the by- shops comissarie or chauncelor : And warning was g^uen to ye priests to apeare, maister Tindal was also warned to be there. And whether he had knowledge by their threa[t]ning, or yat he did sus- pect yat thei would lay to his charge, it is not now perfitly in my mynde,but thus he tolde me,i that he doubted their examinations, so that he in his going thetherwardes prayed in his minde hastely to God' to strengthen him, to stande faste in the truthe of his worde, so he being there before them, they layde sore to his charge, sayng he was an heretike in Sophistry, an heretike in Logike, an heretike in his diuinitie, and so continueth. But they sayde vnto hym, you beare your selfe boldely of the Gentlemen here in this countrey, but you shall be otherwyse talked with. Then maister Tj'ndal aun- swered them. I am contente that you bryng me where you wyll into anye countrey within England, getting me x. pound [;^iso] a yeare to lyue with. So you bynde me to nothing but to teache children and preache. Then had they nothing more to saye to hym, and thus he departed and went home to his maister agayne.
There dwelt not far of an olde doctour that had bene Archechauncelour to a byshoppe, the whiche was of olde familiar acquaintaunce with maister Tyndal, who also fauoured him well, to whome
Fox's Second Account, 1570.
to his Maister and Lady. Who after they had read and well perused the same, the Doctorly Prelates were no more so often called to the house, neither had they the cheare and countenaunce when they came, as before they had. Which thyng they mark- yng and well perceiuing, and supposing no lesse but it came by the meanes of M. Tyndall, refrayned them selues.andat last vtterly withdrew themselues, and came no more there.
As this grewe on, the Priestes of the countrey clustring together, began to grudge and storme against Tyndall, rayhng agaynst hym in alehouses and other places. Of whom Tyndall him self in his prologue before ye first booke of Moses. . .
[ The etitire Prologue is reprinted below. "]
It folowed not long after this, that there was a sittyng of the bishops Chancellour appointed, and warnyng was giuen to the Priestes to appeare : amongest whom M. Tyndall was also warned to bee there. And whether he had any misdoubt by their threatnynges, or knowledge giuen him that they would lay some thinges to his charge, it is vncerteine : but certein this is (as he hym self declared) that he doubted their priuye accusations : so that he by the way in goyng thether wardes, cryed in hys mynde hart[e]ly to God, to gyuehim strength fast to stand in the truth of hys worde.
Then when the tyme came of hys appearaunce before the Chancellour, he threatned him greuously, reuilyng and ratyng hym as though hee had bene a dogge, and layd to his charge many thynges, whereof no accuser yet could be brought forth (as commonly their maner is, not to bryng foorththe accuser) not- withstandyng that the Priestes of the countrey the same tyme were there present. [This is taken from the Prologue : see/urther on.] And thus M, Tyndall after those examinations escapyng out of their handes, departed home and returned to his master agayne.
There dwelt not farre of a certaine Doctour that had ben an old Chauncellour before to a Byshop, who had ben of old familiar acquayntance with M, Tyttdall and also fauored hym well. Vnto
Erasmus at Audomarum [St. Omer] in 1501. 'It openly taught ... that the true Christian's re- ligion, instead of consisting in the acceptance of scholastic dogmas, or the performance of outward rites and ceremonies, really consists in a true self sacrificing loyalty to Christ, his ever living Prince ; that life is a warfare, and that the Christian must
sacrifice his evil lusts and passions, and spend his strength, not in the pursuit of his own pleasure, but in active service of his Prince.' F. Seebohm, The Oxford Reformers, etc., p. 173, Ed. 1869.
1 Note 3, p. 9.
• Note StP' 9-
WILLIAM TYND ALE'S ANTECEDENT CAREER.
1 1
Fox's First Account, 1563. •
maister Tyndall went and op[en]ed his mynde vpon diuerse questions of the scriptures, for he durst boldly open vnto hymTiis mynde. That auncient doctor saide, do you not knowe yat the Pope is the very Antichrist, whiche the scripture speaketh of, but beware what ye saye, for if you shal be per- 'ceiued to be of that opinion, it will cost you your lyfe, and sayde, I haue bene an officer of his, but I haue geuen it vp and deiie him and all his workes.
And sone after Maister Tyndall happened to be in the companie of a learned man, and in commun- ing and disputing with him, droue him to that issue that the learned manne sayde, we were better be without Gods lawe then the Popes : Maister Tyn- dall hearing that, answered hym, I defie the Pope and all his lawes, and sayde, if God spare my lyfe ere many yeares, I wyl cause a boye that dryueth ye plough, shall knowe more of the scripture then thou doest.
[ The fini accowtt is evidently letter here, as it tells us the occasion of this Reply : see aiove.]
Shortly after that he required his maister Welche of his good wyll to depart from hym, saying to hym, syr : I perceiue that I shal not be suffered to tary long here in this countrey, nor you shalbe able to kepe me out of their handes, and what dis- pleasure you might haue therby is harde to knowe, for the whiche I should be ryght sory. So with the good wyl of his Maister he departed from hym to London, and there taried a whyle and preached. But it was not longe after but he departed out of the Realme into Germanic, and there put forthe certaine bookes of the olde Testament and the hole newe Testament, into the Englyshe tongtie, with other diueise bookes of his owne compiling, the whiche he sent from thence into Englandc, whcrby
Fox's^ Second Account, 1570.
whom Maister Tyndall went and opened hys mynde vppon diuers questions of the Scripture : for to hym hee durst bee bold to disclose his hart. Vnto whom the Doctour sayd : do you not know that the Pope is very Antichrist, whom the Scripture speaketh of? But beware what you say : for if you shalbe perceiued to be of that opinion, it will cost you your lyfe, and sayd moreouer, I haue bene an officer of hys, but I haue gyuen it vp and defie hym and all hys workes.
It was not long after, but M. Tyndall happened to be in the companye of a certayne Diuine recoun- ted for a learned man, and in commoning and dis- puting with hym, hee droue hym to that issue, that the sayd great Doctour burst out into these blas- phemous wordes, and sayd : we were better to be without Gods law then the Popes. M. Tyndall hearj'ng this, full of godly zeale and not bearyng that blasphemous saying, replj'ed agayne and sayd : I defie the Pope and all hys lawes : and further ad- ded that if God spared hym life, ere many yeares he would cause a boy that driueth the plough to know more of the Scripture, then he did.
After this the grudge of the Priestes increasing still more and more against Tindall, they neuer ceased barkyng and ratyng at hym, and layd many sore thynges to his charge, saying yat he was an hereticke in Sophistry, an hereticke in Logicke, and an hereticke inDiuinitie : and sayd moreouer to hym that he bare hym selfe bold of the Gentlemen ther^ in that country : but notwithstandyng, shortly hee should bee otherwise talked withall. To whom M. Tyndall a.uns\veryns agayne thus sayd : that he was contented they should bryng him into any coun- trey in all England, giuyng him x. li. [jCj5o] a yere to Ijoie with, and byndymg hym to no more but to teach children and to preache.
To bee short, M. Tyndall beyng so molested and vexed in the countrey by the Priestes, was con- strayned to leaue that countrey and to seke an other place : and so commyng to M. IVelche he desired hym of hys good will, that hee might departe from hym, saying on thiswise to hym: Syr, I perceaue I shall not bee suffered to tarye long here in this countrey, neither shal you be hable though you would, to kepe me out of the handes of the spiritu- altie, and also what displeasure might grow thereby to you by kepyng me, God knoweth : for the whiche I should be right sory. So that in fine, Af. Tyndall with the good will of his master, departed and eftsoones came vp to London, and there preached a while, accordyng as hee had done in the countrey
B 2
12 WILLIAM TYNDALE'S ANTECEDENT CAREER.
Fox's First Account, 1563. Fox's Second Account, 1570.
sence thankes be geuen to God, the dore of lyght before, and specially about the town of Bristowe,
into the scriptures, hath and dailie is more and more and also in the sayd towne, in the common place
opened vnto vs, the whiche before was many yeares called Saint Austins Greene.l
closed in darkenes. ^p. 513-4. Ed. 1563. //. 1224-5. Ed. 1570.
.3. Earlier than the testimony of the Author of the Memorandum, preserved by Fox, is the evidence that comes out in the ' trouble ' of Humphrey Monmouth. In answer to twenty-four articles of heresy charged against him, in May, 1528, Monmouth wrote to Wolsey and the Council the following petition, here reprinted from J. Strype's Ecclesiastical Memorials, I., Part 11., pp. 363-7, Ed. 1822 ; who gives it verbatim : the originals themselves are in Harl. MS., 425, Articles 4 and 5.
Unto iJie most honorable Lord Legate, and Chancellor of England, and to the honorable Councel unto your Sufferain Lord, King Henry VIII. the xixth day of May, and in the xxth yere of his raigne; .beseching your Grace, and al my lords and masters, to have pitie on me, ;^oor prisoner in the Towre of London, at your plesure .
THE xiiiith day of May, and in the yere abovesaid, Sir Thomas Moore, Knight, and Sir William Kingeston, Knight, and of the Kinges noble Counsaill, sent for me unto Sir John Dauncies, and of the same Counsaill, and there they examyned me what letters and what books I receved lately from beyond the seas, and I said, None, nor never had of trewthe. And what exhibition I did give to any bodie beyond the sea. I said, None in three yeres past : and examyned me, whether I was acquaynted with many persons ? Of the which I was acquainted with none of them to my knowledge and remembrance. I told them in iiii yeres past I did give unto a Priest called Sir^ William Tyndal, otherwyse called Hotchens. And then Sir Thomas Moore and Sir William Ken[g]yston had me home to my house, and serched it, and saw al the letters and books in my howse to my knowledg, by my faith ; and there they found no lettres that they regarded, nor Ynglish books but five or six printed, the which they regarded not ; and they left them with me as they found them. And from thence I went again to Sir John Dauncys, my special good master, and he brought me the same day to the Towre of London, and delivered me unto Sir Edmonde Walsyngham, Kt., and Lyftenant of the Towre.
Upon iiii yeres and a half past, and more,^ I herde the foresaid Sir William preach ii or iii sermons at St. Donstones in the west, in London ; and after that I chaunced to meet with him, and with com- munication I examyned what lyving he had. He said he had none at all, but he trusted to be with my Lord of London in his service. And therfore I had the better fantasy to him. And afterward he went to my Lord and spake to him, as he told me, and my L. of London answered him, that he had Chaplaines inough, and he said to him, that he would have no more at that tyme. And so the Priest came
1 Every preaching trip to Bristol involved a thirty ' In four yeres past ' Monmouth did give exhibition miles' walk, fifteen each way. _ unto Tyndale : ' I did paie it him, when he made
2 Priests, at this time and previously, received his exchange to Hamborow.' Therefore Tyndale the title of Sir, as a mark of respect ; as we now left England about May 1524. ' Within a year after designate laymen, Esquire. he sent for his [other] ten pounds to me from Ham-
3 This fixes precisely the date of Tyndale's coming borow, and thither I sent it him ' ; say about March to London. He must have begun to preach immedi- 1525. Tyndale therefore left Hamburgh for Cologne ately on arrival. Monmouth spoke with him before he in the summer of 1525. He probably stayed not long applied to Tonstall. ' Four yeres and a halfe past' there ; but being discovered, he escaped with Roy would be 19th November, 1523; 'and more 'would, at up the Rhine, and came to Worms about September the latest, place Tyndale'sjourney to town in October 1525 ; and then and there working unremittingly — of that year. He stays with Monmouth six months the actual translation being probably already according to Monmouth's account, who would finished — saw the two editions through the press, by naturally represent his stay as short as possible ; the end of that year.
'almost an yere' he says himself, see page 16.
WILLIAM TYNDALE'S ANTECEDENT CAREER. 13
to me againe, and besought me to help him, and so I took him into my house half a yere : and there he lived like a good Priest, as methought. He studied most part of the day and of the night, at his book ;* and he would eat but sodden meat by his good wil, nor drink but small single beer. I never saw him weare linnin about him in the space he was with me. I* did promys him xi. sterling [;CiSo], to praic for my father and mother there sowles, and al Christen sowlcs. I did paie it him, when he made his exchange to Haniborow. Afterwards he got of some other men xA sterling [;{^iso] more, the which he left with me. And within a yere after he sent for his ten pounds to me from Hamborow : and thither I sent it him by one Hans Collenbeke, as I remember is his name, a merchant of the Stilyard. And since I never sent him the value of one peny, nor never wil. I haue given more exhibitions to skollers in my dayes, than to that Priest. Mr. Doctor Royston, Chaplen to my Lord of London, hath cost me more than xl or l pounds sterling t;C6oo or £jso\. And also Mr. Doctor Wooderal, Provinciall of Friar Austynes, hath cost me as much, or more. Mr. Doctor Watson, Chaplain to the Kings good Grace, hath cost me some- what, and somewhat I have given to skollers at his request, and to divers priests and fryers: and yf any of those other should chaunce to turn, as that Priest hath done, as God forbid, were I to bbme for giving them exhibition ?
The foresaid Sir William left me an English book, called Enchiridion.'* The which book the Abbes of Dennye desyred yt of me, and I sent >-t to her. And that howse hath cost me more than l pounds sterling [;^75o]. I could reherse many more. I do not say this because I wold be praised, as God knoweth, but bicause your Gr. and my Lords of the Counsell should know that I have speilt more for the love of God, after the counsil of good Doctors, than of that one Priest.
Another book I had. of the same copie :* a Frier of Grenwich desired yt of me, and I gave yt him. I think my Lord of Rochester hath it. I had two books in English wrytten ; the one was called the Pater Noster, an old book.' How yt came to my howse, on my faith I cannot tel ; and the other book is called De Libertate Christiana.^ I receved him of one Arnold, a yong man that is gone into Spain to a gentle- m.-in whose name is Mr. Woodall, that went with Sir John Wingfeld, Kt. Embassador into Spaine. I delivered those two books to the Father Confessor of Sion. And also I delivered him a book of the N. Testament, the which book my L. of London had. Also, I had a litle treatise, that the Priest sent me, when he sent for his mony. And all those books, save the books of the N. Testament, laye openly in my house for the space of two yeres or more, that every man might rede on them that would, at their pleasure. I never harde priest, nor fryer, nor lay man find any great fault in them. And so I trust in our Lord God, that your good Grace, nor none of my lords and masters of the Kings noble Councel, wil find any great faults in any of them, when it shal please your Gr. or any of the Councel to read them or hear them. And so I trust in our Lord God I shal be gyltless for any e\il books, or any other thing that hath been siu-mysed wrongfully on me. And yf mine accusers be wel examined, peradventture they should be fotmd more fawlty than I shal be, when the trewth shal be known.
I have shewed the book called The Enchiridion to Mr Doctor Watson, and to Mr Doctor Stochouse, Parson of Laname, [Lavenham,] in Suflfolk, and to many other, that never found fault in him to my
1 i.e. Studying : but undoubtedly his chief book phrase of the Lord's Prayer. Tyndale, in his was the New Testament. ' And even in the bisshope A nnvere to More states that the Bishop of London of londons house I entended to have done it,' see [Fitz James] 'wold haue made the old deane Colet /. 16. Once ensconced in Monmouth's house, he \d. 16 Sept. 1519] of paules an heretykej for trans- appears to have ceased to preach and to have latynge the Pater noster in englyshe/ had not the devoted himself unremittingly to the task of trans- bysshope of canterbury holpe the deane.' Jol. 104. b. lation ; and that work he continued— singlehanded * This is the title of a tract by Luther, first doing this great task— for the next two years, as he published with his letter to Pope Leo X., dated 6 says, ' even very necessitie and combraunce fGod Sept. 1520, in Latin, at Wittenberg, m 1520, m is recorde) aboue strength . . . caused that which year two 4to editions were printed there, many thynges are lackynge.' So that there re- one occupying 18, the other 21 leaves. Luther mained but to polish his version; and to see it again printed it there <n 1521, in an ediUon of 20 correctly printed : when Tyndale was able to make leaves.
arrangements for the secret impression at Cologne, The tract is written on these two propositions.
and to obtain Roy's assistance in collating, etc. 1. A Christian man ts a most free lord of all
• Evidently copies by Monmouth's amanuensis, subject to none. 2. A Christian man is a tnost
' my servant ' that ' did write,' of Tyndale's transla- dutiful servant of all, subject to all. Monmouth
don of Erasmus' book. appears to have had a ' wrytten English transUp
» Evidently some old English exposition or para- tion of one of these Latin editions.
14 WILLIAM TYNDALE'S ANTECEDENT CAREER.
knowledg ; and to the Father Confessor of Syon, and to Mr Martyn, Priest and Parson of Totingebeke. And also the other two books, called the Pater Noster and De Libertate Christiana, I think they looked them most part over, and they found no fault at them. But in one of them, De Libertate Christiana, they said, there was in him things somewhat hard, except the reader were wyse. And by my faith there was al the fault that ever I herde of them. If I had thought they had not been good, or put any mistrust in any of them, I would not have shewed them openly to so many men as I did. But mine accusers unto your noble Gr. I think did never read them over ; and yf they did, they were to blame, that they had not the order of charity with them. And yf they had shewed me, that they had been nought or evil books, yf they had been lerned, I would have given credence to them, and done them immediately away. And. yf . I had then kept them, and they had complayned, then I had bene worthy to have bene punyshed. I pray God forgive them, as I would be forgeven my self.
When I harde my Lord of London ^ preach at Pawles Cross, that Sir William Tyndal had translated the N. Testament into English, and was noughtilie translated, that was the first time that ever I suspected or knew any evil by him. And shortely after, al the lettres and treatyes that he sent me, with dyvers copies of books that my servant did write, and the sermons that the Priest did make at St. Dunstones, I did bume them in my howse. He that did write them did se it. I did burne them for fear of the translator, more than for any yll that I knew by them.
If it like your Grace, for this imprisonment I have utterly lost my name, and also my litle credence, which I had, for ever. The which is the greatest loss, and the more sorrow and shame, that ever I had in my lifFe. I occupy with divers clothe-men in Sufiblk, and in other gjaces. The which have wekely some of them, as they send up their clothes, most have their mony. And yf they fail of their monye, they say, they cannot set the poore folks aworke. There is divers clothe-men, the which I buy al their clothes that they make. And yf they should go offer them to sel to other men now at this time, they wold bid them go and sel where they were wont to sel, when the sale was good ; and so the poor men should have great loss. I was wont to sel for most part every yere iiii or v hundred clothes to strangers, which was worth. to the Kinges Gr. in his customes, more than though I had shipped over my self five times so many.2 I was wont betwixt Chrystmas and Whytsontide to sel most part of them. And of trewthe as yet since Chrystmas, I have sold but xxii clothes, nor I send over none, nor no man axeth for none : I praye God amend it, whan yt shal please him. And yf I leye here in prison long, I cannot help my self more, nor none other man but shal be utterly undon for ever : and if your Gr, be not good and merciful unto me. God is merciful, and wil forgive them that be penitent, and axeth forgivenes. I trust in the Lord I have not offended your Gr. nor none of my lords nor masters of the Kinges noble Counsail, willingly, nor to my knowledg. And yf I have, I beseche your good Gr. and al my lords and masters, to forgive me, as you would that God should forgive you.
Yf I had broken most part of the Ten Commandments of God, being penitent, and confessed, [I should be forgiven,] by reason of certen pardons that I have, the which my company and I had graunted when we were at Rome, going to Jerusalem, of the holly Father the Pope, a poena and a culpa, for certain times in the yere. And that I trust in God I receved at Easter last past ; furthermore I receved, when your Gr. was last at Pawles, I trust in God, your pardon of a poena and a culpa ; the which I belave verily, yf I had don never so great offences, being penitent and confessed, and axing forgiveness, that I should have forgivenes. Beseching your Gr. and al my lords and masters to pardon me and to forgive me, as I shal be your poor headman during my liffe : and that the bl. Trinitie, and our bl. lady Saint Marie, and al the holly company of heaven, may help you al at your most neede in vertue and grace, Amen. I beseche your Gr. and al my lords and masters, to pardon me of my rude wrytinge and termes. I am unlemed ; my witt is no better.
By your poor bedman and prysoner at your Gr's pleasure,
Humfrye Munmouthe, Draper of London.
In presentia reverendi patris in Christo Cuthberti London Episcopi, Hutnfridus Monmouth recognovit se scripsisse istas cartas.^
1 Tonstall returned fri^m Spain in the first week of possible be recovered.
April 1526. I am una.jle to fix the date of this * An appeal to the king's pocket,
sermon ; to which we shall find so many references : ^ Monmouth, having many friends, was let out of
it is a central date in this history, and should if the Tower. He became Sheriff of London in 1535.
IVILUAM TYND ALE'S ANTECEDENT CAREER. 15 VJn ^/^ "
AVliether this petition represent the religious opinions of Monmouth at ^^s^TA ^ its date ; or whether it be a most subtle representation of all those of his ^*^
acts which harmonized most with the shibboleths of the older * faith '; may now perhaps be hard to determine. But it is clear that henceforth he turned more and more to the Reformation. In his remarkable will, dated 1 6th November, 1537, is the following provision : —
.^d I wyl that my Lord Byshop of Worcester [i.e. Hugh Latimer], Doctor Barnes, Doctor Crome, and Mayster Tayllour [All four ultra-Protestants] shal preach in my parysh-church aforesayd [Alhallowes in Barkynge of London], every week two sermonds, tyl they have preached among them xxx. sermonds : and I wyl gyve them for every sermonde xiiLy. imd. [;^io]. And yf any of these foresayde persons cannot be Aere to preach these sermonds, than I wyl that the other supplie his place, that shal be absent : so that after they have begonne to preach, (which I wold have them do immediatly after my buryal,) they shal contynue wekely every weke, tyl the said xxx, sermonds be al preached, except there be an urgent cause, allowed by myn executours and supervisour, to the contrary. And that this thing may be perfourmed the better, I bequethe to eyther of myn especial and singular good Lords, Syr Thomas Audeley, Knyght, Lord Chauncellour, and Syr Thomas Crumwel, Knyght, Lord Crumwel, a standyng cup of sylver and gylte, of the value of x. pounds [;^»5o], that they may be good Lords to these foresayd preachers, to helpe them and maynteyne them, that they be suffered to preach the forsayd sermonds quietly, to the laud and prayse of Almyghty God, to the settyng forth of my Prjmces godly and hevenly purposes, to the utter abolyshyng and extincting of the usurped and false fayned power of the Byshop of Rome.'— Strypb, EccUs, Mem. I. Part ii., p. 369., Ed. 1822.
\. Yet still more authoritative, is the account by Tyndale of himself. In what is usually known as his preface to the Pentateuch, but which is actually that to The fyrst boke of Moses called Genesis, the printing of which book at Marburg was finished on 17th January, 1531; Tyndale cautiously refers to his early life ; without naming those of his friends, whom to name would have been to have thrown in prison. We give the preface entire.
W. T, To the Reader.
Hen I had translated the newe testament/ 1 added a pistle vnto the latter ende/ In which I desyred them yat were learned to amend if ought were founde amysse. But oure malicious and wylye hypocrytes which are so stubbume and hard herted in their weked abhominacions that it is not possible for them to amend any thinge at all (as we see by dayly experience when their both lyvinges and doinges are rebuked with the trouth) saye/ some of them that it is impossible to translate the scripture in to English/ some that it is not lawfuU for the laye people to have it in their mother tonge/ some that it wora make them all heretykes/ as it wold no doute from many thinges which they of longe tyme have falsly taught/ and that is the whole cause wherfore they forbyd it/ though they other clokes pre- tende. And some or rather every one/ saye that it wold make them ryse ageynst the kinge/ whom they them selves (vnto their damnatyon) never yet obeyed. And leste these temporal] rulars shuld see their falsehod/ if the scripture cam to light/ causeth them so to lye.
And as for my translation in which they afferme vnto the laye people (as I haue hearde saye) to be I wotte not how many thousande heresyes/ so that it can not be mended or correcte/ they haue yet taken so greate payne to examyne it/ and to compare it vnto that they wold fayne haue it and to their awne imagi- nations and iuggUnge termes/ and to haue some what to rayle at/ and vnder that cloke to blaspheme the
• * Thirty sermons remunerated at £,i-o each, and large hearted and openhanded man, who thus
two silver gilt cups of ;C» 50 each, making together bequeathed a legacy of £,ti to each of his four
£,fxio devoted to a seven months' protest against favourite preachers, upon the performance of, to
the Papacy : such b the benefaction of this them, a congenial and easy duty.
i6 WILLIAM TYNDALE'S ANTECEDENT CAREER.
treuth/ that they myght with as litle laboure (as I suppose) haue translated the moste parte of the bible. For they which in tymes pasA were wont to loke on no more scripture then they founde in their duns or soch like develysh doctrynej haue yet now so narowlye loked on my translatyonj that there is not so moch as one I therin if it lacke a tytle over his hed/ but they haue noted it/ and nombre it vnto the ignorant people for an heresy. Fynallye in this they be all agreed/ to dryve you from the knowledge of the scripturef and that ye shall not haue the texte therof in the mother tonge/ and to kepe the world styll in darkenessef to th[e]entent they might sitt in the consciences of the people/ thorow vayne superstition and false doctrine/ to satisfye their fylthy lustes/ their proude ambition/ and vnsatiable covetuousnes/ and to exalte their awne honoure aboue kinge and emperoure/ yee and aboue god him silfe.
C A thousand bokes had they lever to be put forth agenste their abhominable doynges and doctrine/ then that the scripture shulde come to light. For as longe as they may kepe that doune/ they will so darken the ryght way with the miste of their sophistrye/ and so tangle them that either rebuke or despyse their abhominations with argumentes of philosophye and with worldly symylitudes and apparent reasons qf naturall wisdom. And with wrestinge the scripture vnto their awne purpose clene contrarye vnto ye processej order and meaninge of the texte/ and so delude them in descantynge vppon it with alligoryes/ and amase them expoundinge it in manye senses before the vnlerned laye people (when it hath but one simple litterall sense whose light the owles can not abyde) that though thou feale in thyne harte and arte sure how that all is false yat they saye/ yet coudeste thou not solve their sotle rydles.
C Which thinge onlye moved me to translate the new testament. Because I had perceaved by ex- peryence/ how that it was impossible to stablysh the laye people in any truth except/ ye scripture were playnly layde before their eyes in their mother tonge/ that they might se the processe/ ordre and meaninge of the texte : for els what so ever truth is taught them/ these ennymyes of all truth qwench it ageyne/ partly with the smoke of their bottomlesse pytte wherof thou readest apocalipsis. ix. that is/ with apparent reasons of sophistrye and traditions of their awne makynge/ founded with out grounde of scripture/ and partely in iugglinge with the texte/ expoundinge it in soch a sense as is impossible to gether of the texte/ if thou see the processe ordre and meaninge therof.
<[ And even in the bisshope of londons house I entended to have done it.^ For when I was so turmoyled in the centre where I was that I coude no lenger there dwell (the processe wherof were to longe here to reherce) I this wyse thought in my silfe/ this I suffre because the prestes of the contre be vnlearned/ as god it knoweth there are a full ignorant sorte which haue sene no more latyn then that they read in their portesses and missales which yet many of them can scacely read (except it be Alberius de secretis muliermn in which yet/ though they be never so soryly lerned/ they pore day and night and make notes therein and all to teach the mydwyves as they say/ and linwod^ a boke of constitutions to gether tithes/ mortuaryes/ offeringes/ customs/ and other pillage/ which they calle/ not theirs but/ godes parte and the deuty of holye chirch/ to discharge their consciences with all : for they are bound that they shall not dimynysh, but encreace all thinge vnto the vttmost of their powers) and therfore (because they are thus vnlerned thought I) when they come to gedder to the alehouse/ which is their preachinge place/ they afferme that my sainges are heresy. And besydes yat they adde to of thir owne heddes which I never spake/ as the maner is to prolonge the tale to shorte[n] the tyme with all/ and accuse me secretly to the chauncelare and other the bishopes officers/ And in deade when I cam before the chauncelare/ he thretened me grevously/ and revyled me and rated me as though I had bene a dogge/ Und layd to my charge wherof there coude be none accuser brought forth (as their maner is not to bringe forth the accuser) and yet all the prestes of ye contre were yat same daye there. As I this thought the bishope of london came to my remembrance whom Erasmus (whose tonge maketh of litle gnattes greate elephantes and lifteth vpp aboue the starres whosoever geveth him a litle exhibition) prayseth excedingly amonge other in his annotatyons on the new testament for his great learninge. Then thought 1/ if I might come to this mannes service/ I were happye. And so I gate me to london/ and thorow the accoyntaunce of
1 How Tonstall must have gnashed when he wode, [who became Bishop of St. Davids, 14 Aug. read this, and recalled to mind the person and 1442 ; was Lord Privy Seal to Henry V. ; and died manner of Tyndale at their interview nearly five 21 Oct. 1446] about 1433. It was one of the earliest years before ! printed books in England ; and several editions were
2 The Provincial Constitutions of the English printed at Paris before 1520. (Church, in Latin, were compiled by William Lynde-
IVJLLIAM TYND ALE'S ANTECEDENT CAREER. 17
n>.y master came to sir harry gilford the kinges graces countrollerf and brought him an oration of Isocrates which I had translated out of greke in to English/ and dcsyred him to speake vnto my lorde of london for me| which he also did as he shewed me/ and willed me to write a pistlc to my lordc/ and to goo to him my silf which I also did/ and delivered my pistle to a servant of his awnej one wyllyam hebilthwaytc, a man of myne old accoyntaunce. But god which knoweth what is within hypocrites/ sawe that I was begylcd/ and that that counccU was not the ncxte way vnto my purpose. And therfore he gate me no favourc in my lordes sight.
C VVherevppon my lorde answered mef his house was fullf he had mo then he coude well Andej and advised me to seke in london/ wher he sayd I coude not lacke a service/ And so in london I abode almoste an yere/ and marked the course of the worlde/ and herde our pratars/ I wold say oure preachers how they hosted tnem selves and their hye authorite/ and beheld the pompe of oure prelates and how besyed they were as they yet are/ to set peace and vnite in the worlde (though it be not possible for them that walke in darkenesse to continue longe in peace/ for they can not but ether stomble or dash them selves at one thinge or a nother that shall clene vnquyet all togedder) and sawe thinges wherof I deferre to speake at this tyme and vnderstode at the laste not only, that there was no rowme in my lorde of londons palace to translate the new testament/ but also that there was no place to do it in all englonde/ as experience doth now opienly declare.
H Vnder what maner therfore shuld I now submitte this boke to be corrected and amended of them| which can suffer nothinge to be well ? Or what protestacyon shuld I make in soch a matter vnto our prelates those stubburne Nimrothes which so mightely fight agenste god and resiste his holy spiritej enforceynge with all crafte and sotelte to qwench the light of the everlastinge testament/ promyses/ and apoyntemente made betwene god and vs : and heapinge tlie firce wrath of god vppon all princes and Hilars/ mockinge them with false fayned names of hypocrysye/ and servinge their lustes at all poyntes/ and dispensinge with them even of the very lawes of god/ of which Christe him silf testifieth Matthew, v. yat not so moch as one tittle therof may perish or be broken. And of which the prophete sayth Psalme. cxviij . Thou haste commaunded thy lawes to be kepte meod\ yat is in hebrew excedingly/ with all diligence might and power/ and haue made them so mad with their iugglinge charmes and crafty persuasions that they thinke it full satisfaction for all their weked lyvinge/ to torment soch as tell tliem trouth/ and to borne the worde of their souleshelth and sle whosoever beleve theron.
<[ Not withstondinge yet I submytte this .boke and all other that I haue other made or translated, or shall in tyme to come (if it be goddes will that I shall further laboure in his hervest) vnto all them that submytte them selves vnto the worde of god/ to be corrected of them/ yee and moreover to be disalowed and also bumte/ if it seme worthy when they have examyned it wy th the hebrue/ so that they first put forth of their awne translatinge a nother that is more correcte.
5. It will help US to understand what manner of man Tyndale was, if we consider the account that Fox gives of him, at a period some eight or ten years later on, in his Life, prefixed to the edition of his Workes (London, 1573, fol.) above referred to.
And here to ende and conclude this history with a fewe notes touching his priuate behauiour in dyet, study, and especially his charitable zeale and tender releuing of the poore: Fyrst he was a man very frugall, and spare of body, [Fox had previously stated that Tyndale was ' a man of no great stature '] a great student and earnest laborer, namely in the setting forth of ye Scriptures of God. He rcserued or halowed to hjrmselfe ij. dayes in the weeke, which he named his dayes of pastime, and those dayes were Monday the first day in the weeke, and Satterday the last day in the weeke. On the Monday he visited all suche poore men and women as were fled out of England by reason of persecution into Antwarp, and those well vnderstanding their good exercises and qualities he did very liberally comfort and relieue : and in like maner prouided for thesicke and deceased persons. On the Satterday he walked round about the towne in Antwarpe, seeking out euery Corner, and hole where he suspected any poore person to dwell, (as God knoweth there are many) and where he found any to be well occupied, and yet oucrburdened with children, or els were aged, or weake, those also hee plentefully releued. And thus he spent his ij. dayes of pastime as he cauled them. And tnielye his Almose was very large and great : and so it might well bee :
C
i8 THE PRINTING AT COLOGNE.
for his exhibition that he had yearley of the" Englishe merchauntes was very much, and that for the most part he bestowed vpon the poore as afore sayd. The rest of the dayes in the weeke he gaue hyra wholy to his booke where in most diligently he traueled. When the Sonday came, then went he to some one merchaunts chamber, or other, whether came many other merchauntes : and vnto them would he reade some one percell of Scripture, eyther out of theolde testament, or out of the new, the which preceded so frutefully, sweetely and gentely from him (much like to the writing of S. lohn the Euangelest) that it was a heauenly comfort and ioy to the audience to heare him reade the scriptures : and in likewise after dinner, he spent an houre in the aforesayd maner. He was a man without any spot, or blemishe of rancor, or malice, full of mercy and compassion, so that no man lining was able to reprooue him of any kinde of sinne or cryme, albeit his righteousnes and iustification depended not there vpon before God, but onely vpon the bloud of Christ, aijd his fayth vpon the same : in which faith constantly he dyed, as is sayd at Filforde [Vilvorde], and now resteth with the glorious campany of Christes Martyrs blessedly in the Lord, who be blessed in all his saintes Amen.
Thus much from friends : the next testimony comes from a bitter enemy.
II. The Printing at Cologne,
Great allowance must be made in considering this hostile testimony, in respect both to the ignorance and the animus of Roman Catholic writers, in matters connected with the vernacular translation of the New Testament. Guessing causes for that, the occasion of which they were ignorant of, they hazarded all manner ot statements contrary to the tact : while as to motives, they could see, or at the least would acknowledge little that was upright and noble in the Reformers. Making, however, all necessary deductions, we shall recover much valuable information through these antagonistic writers.
X, John Dobneck, surnamed Cochl^us, an incessant pamphleteer, and virulent antagonist to Luther, in a controversy with Alexander Ales of Scotland, as to the free reading of the Scriptures, printed a letter to James V. of Scotland, (Colophon dated Dresden, vi. Idus Junij [lo June] 1533,) of which the title is A71 expediat laicis, legere Noui Testameftti lihros lingua vernacida ? * Whether it be expedient for the laity to read the books of the New Testament in the native tongue ? ' In which occurs his earliest printed reference to the secret printing at Cologne.
COCHLiEUS' FIRST ACCOUNT. TRANSLATION.
Etenim ante annos octo,duo ex Anglia Apostatse, And indeed eight years ago, two apostates from
qui Vuittcnbergse Teuthonicam edocti llnguam, Lu- England, who having learnt the German language
theri nouum testamentum in linguam Anglicanam at Wittenberg had translated Luther's New Testa-
uerterant, Coloniam Agrippinam uenerunt, tanquam ment into English, came to Cologne, being a city
ad urbem Angliae uiciniorem, mercatuque cele- nearer to England, more frequented by commerce,
briorem, et nauigijs ad transmittcndum aptiorem, and better furnished with boats for conveyance ;
ibique post rusticorum tumultum aliquamdiu ' lati- and there, living in concealment for some time^
^ 'The revolt of the peasants began on 19th July, .Suabia to the districts on the Rhine, and mto Fran- 1524.' It ' spread with inconceivable rapidity from conia, Thuringia, and Saxony. All these countries
THE PRINTING AT COLOGNE.
»9
COCHL«US FIRST ACCOUNT.
tantes, conduxemnt sibi in occulto Chalcographos, ut mox primo aggressu tria milia excmplarium imprimercnt, Cumque eo in opere alacriter ingenti spe proccdcrent, iactitabant conscij Bibliopolae et Chalcographi, totam Angliam breui fore Luthe- ranam, uclint nolint Rex et Cardinalis. Id ego intelligens, premonui quosdam Anglorum Regi iideles, qui et senatus authoritate malignam illorum machinationem interceperunt, et Regem tanti peri- culi per literas admonucrunt. Vndc factum est, ut ea iacula, foeliciter praeuisa, non potuerunt ferire incautos, de quibus tantopere gloriati fuerant Lu- therani. A. vi.
TRANSLATION.
after the riots of the peasantry, they secretly hired printers to print at first 3000 copies. As ihey pro- ceeded eagerly and hopefully in the work, the booksellers and printers who knew of it boasted that the whole of England would shortly be Lu- theran, whether the king- and cardinal wished it or not. Hearing of this, I warned some faithful servants of the king of England, who by authority of the senate intercepted the evil design and warned the king by letter of the danger. Thus it happened, that these weapons, happily foreseen, could not strike unawares the people of whom the Lutherans liad boasted so highly.
2. Cochlaeus wrote De matrimonio serenissimi Regis Anglice, Henrici Odavi, Congratulatio dlsputatoria (Colophon dated Lipsiae, Feb. 1535): to which Sir Richard Morison replied in his Apomaxis Caliimniarum J. Cochlai contra Henry VIII. (Colophon dated London 1537) : to which work Cochlceus rejoined with Scopa .... in arancas Richardi Morysini Am^li (Colophon dated Lipsiae, March 1538). In this last work, Cochlaeus again alludes to the printing at Cologne.
COCHLiBUs' SECOND ACCOUNT.
Ego uero Morysine Regem tuum non segniter laudaui, dum laude digna faceret. Et possem pro- fect5 multo iustius ei ingratitudinis dicam scribere, quam tu Caesari nostro Opt. ac sanctiss. Principi. Nam anno Domini M.D.XXV. cum essem pauper et exul per seditiosos plebis et rusticorura tumultus, Coloniae constitutus, non solum indicaui ei per epistolam priuatam occultas duorum Anglorum contra regnum suum machinationes improbas, quibus Lutheri Testamentum nouum in Anglicanam linguam uersum, Colonise excudebatur, ut in Angliam in mulcis milibus occulte transmitteretur, Verum etiam et publice nuncupaui ei subsequente mox altero anno XIL libros Ruperti Tuitiensis in Apocalypsim loannis, et librum plurium eiusdem Ruperti opusculonim bene compactum, dono trans- misi. Ipse uero ad haec omnia perpetu5 mutus ad me ac dissimulator permansit, paupertatis et exilij mei prorsus immemor, licet eo tempore Lutheranae sectae infensissiraus esset hostis et aduersarius. Vt mihi tunc suomet iudicio non minus pro illo indicio meo de duobus Anglis, in regni tran- quillitatem male machinantibus, debuerit, quam
TRANSLATION, BY MR. C. ANDERSON.
But, Morysin, I was not slow to praise /our King, when he did things that were worthy of praise ; and I could immediately write against him a charge of ingratitude, much more justly than you can against our excellent Emperor and most sacred Prince. For in the year of our Lord MDXXV. when I was poor, and by the seditions of the people and tumult of the rustics settled an exile of Cologne, not only did I discover to him, by a private epistle, the secret wicked machinations of two Englishmen against his kingdom, by whom the New Testament (of Luther) translated into the English language, was printed at Cologne, that it might be transmitted secretly, in many thousands into England : But I also forthwith, in the next year, publicly dedicated to him xii. Books of Rupert of Deutz, on the Apo- calypse of John, and I sent him, as a present, a book, well bound, consisting of the greater part of the small works of the said Rupert. But, notwith- standing all these things, he still remained silent, and took no notice of me, altogether unmindful of my jwverty and exile, although at that time he was a most determined enemy and opposer of the
had revolted in January, 1525.' D'Aubign^, Hist, of Hu Reformation, ii. 343 ; Ed. 1855. The revolt was finally suppressed by the defeat, on 15th May,
1525. of the peasants, by Philip, the Landgrave of Hesse. Cocnlajus phiccs Tyndale's residence at Cologne some time aifter the tumults.
C 2
20
THE PRINTING AT COLOGNE.
COCHLiEUS SECOND ACCOUNT.
Mardochseo debuit Assuerus pro indicfo quod Is de duobus Eunuchis Regi periclitaati per Hester insinuauerat. B. ij.
TRANSLATION, BY MR. C. ANDERSON.
Lutheran sect. So, then, even in his own estimation, he was indebted to me, for that discovery of mine, concerning the two Englishmen, plotting wickedly against the peace of his kingdom, not less than Ahasuerus was indebted to Mordecai, for the dis- covery, which, through Esther, he unbosomed to the King, when in jeopardy from his two eunuchs. Anuals of the Eng, Bible : i. 6i. Ed. 1845.
3* But the fullest account of the secret impression given to us by Cochlasus is in his history De Actis et Scriptis Martiiii Liitheri, printed at St. Victor's Mount, a monastery near Mayence [Moguntium] 1549, wherein under the year 1526^ occurs the following most important passage.
COCHL^US THIRD ACCOUNT,
Verum Duo Angli Apostatse, qui aliquandiu fuerant Vuittenbergse,^ non solum quaerebant subuertere Mercatos suos, qui eos occulte in exilic fouebant et alebant : Verum etiam cunctos Angliae populos, uolente nolente Rege, breui per nouum Lutheri Testamentum,^ quod in Anglicanam traduxerant linguam, Lutheranos fore sperabant. Venerant iam Coloniam Agrippinam, ut Testa- mentum sic traductum, per Typographos in multa Milia multiplicatum, occulte sub alijs mercibus deueherent inde in Angliam. Tanta enim eis erat rei bene gerendse fiducia, ut primo agressu peterent a Typographis, Sex Milia sub praelum dari. Illi autem subuerentes, ne grauissimo afficerentur damno, si quid aduersi accideret, tantum Tria Milia* sub praelum miserunt : Quae si foeliciter uenderentur, facile possent imprimi denuo. Iam literas ad Sanctos, qui sunt in Anglis, praemiserat Pomeranus,* et ad Regem quoque scripserat ipse
TRANSLATION, BY MR. C. ANDERSON.
Two English apostates, who had been sometime at Wittenberg,'* sought not only to subvert their own merchant (who secretly favoured and supported them in their exile,) but even hoped that, whether the king would or not, all the people of England would in a short tim? become Lutherans, by means of the New Testament of Luther,* which they had translated into the English language. They had already come to Cologne, that thence they might convey, secretly, under cover of other goods to England, the Testament so translated, and multi- plied by printers into many thousands. For they had so much confidence of managing the business well, that, at the first onset, they asked from the printers six thousand to be given from the press. But fearing lest they should meet with a very heavy loss, if anything happened unfortunately, they only put three thousand * to the press ; which, if they should happily be sold, could with ease be printed
' Cochlaeus, •writing 23 years after the event, summarises events from their perspective at that distance of time. He groups matters together which occurred over a period of several years, as if thejiwere but the stages in a vast preconceived plot, so subtle and far-reaching as to require even dia- bolic powers of invention and construction : instead of, as in truth and fact, the uncombined efforts of many men who strove to bring the system of which he was the advocate, down to the dust. The date 1526 is no contradiction, for his main story is the publication of the works of the Abbbt Rupcrtus, the publishing of which at Cologne began in 1526 ; his notice of the New Testament being but episodical.
* It is to be noted that Cochlaeus did not know even the names of Tyndale and Roy, much less their previous history. Therefore he supposes that these two ' apostates ' had been first with Luther : which is quite contrary to the fact. There is nothing to show that Tyndale ever saw Luther.
He denied that he was confederate with him. Both Reformers were apparently quite independ- ently at work.
* How could Cochlaeus know this, when he never saw a sheet of the impression ? Luther's German version first appeared in Sept. 1522.
■* This fixes the final number of the Quarto im- pression : of which the present fragment is the only known relic.
5 The title of this short letter (4 leaves) is Epistola loaiuiis Btti^eiihagii J'ovterani ad Ang;los, Wit- temberg. MDXXV. The nd Sanctos, S'c, quoted by Cochlaeus, is found in the bending /oannes Bvp-en hagms Pomeranus Pastor Ecclesia Witteitiber- gensis Sa7ictis in Christo qui sunt in Anglia. The essence of this letter is the following, taken from the first English edition 1536. " And because thou shalt not excuse thyself with the diuersyte ot doctrynes, to be shorte, we teach but one artikle, though we preach much daylye, and wryte much,
THE PRINTING AT COLOGNE.
COCHL-EUS THIRD ACCOUNT.
I-utherus. ' Cunqiie nouum Testamentum mox subsequuturum crc^derctur, tanta ex ea spe Ijctitia Lutheranos inuasit, ac uanx fiducia: iiento inflauit, ut gaudio distenti, ante diem ruperint secretum uanis iactationibus. *
Exulabat co tempore Colonise loannes Cochlaeus, Decanus Ecclesiae B. Virginis Francofordensis, Qui per hospitem suum, Georgium Lauer, Canon- icum ad Apostolos, Abbati Tuitiensi redditus fami- liariter notus, ubi audisset opera quaedam Ruperti Tuitiensis quondam Abbatis, mittenda esse Nurcn- ber^m, ut a Lutheranis aederentur in publicum : coepit sammo studio earn rem et dbsuadere et impedire. Nam Lutherani in eum usque diem, cum omnes Bibliothecas antiquas diligentissime exquisiuissent ac discussissent, nullum ^prorsus autorem ex cunctis tot saeculorum Doctoribus Ecclesise inuenire p>otuerunt, qui Lutheri dogmata comprobasset. Inuentum tandem illius Ruperti, qui ante 400. annos uixerat, opusculum, cui titulus erat, De Victoria uerbi Dei,* mox Nurenbergse a Lutheranis euulgatum est. Quod suo titulo ita mox placuit omnibus Lutheranis, ut nihil uideretur eo autore desiderabilius. Interim ex Tritemio in- telligebant, ilium complura scripsisse opuscula, sed duo tantum paruula inuenerant : Quorum unum de potentia, alterum de uoluntate Dei inscriptum erat. In eorum xditione multa Lutherice apposuerat Osiander, uxoratus presbyter et prsedicator, quibus pium autorem impiae sectse patronum facere tentabat. Et iam dudnm egcrant cum ipso Abbate Tuitiensi : ut reliqua Ruperti Opera Nurenbergam excudenda, transmitteret. Ille uero, ut k Cochlaeo audiuit, quantum periculi foret ea in re, si pium autorem traderet in manus impiorum, qui eura non solum impijs praefationibus, et annotationibus focde contaminaturi essent : Verum etiam integros et sanos illius sensus deprauaturi, ex Catholico antiquo facturi essent ha:reticum nouum, qui uideretur cuncu Lutheri dogmata ante annos 400.
TRANSLATION, BY MR. C. ANDERSON.
anew. Already Pomeranus had sent forward letters to the saints who are in England,* and Luther him- self had also written to the King.^ And when it was believed that the New Testament was about to fol- low by and bye, so great joy from that hope seized the Lutherans, and inflated them with the wind of vain confidence, that, filled with delight, they, with theirvain boasting, broke the secret before its time.' At that time John Cochlaeus, Deacon of the Church of the Blessed Virgin at Frankfort, lived as an exile, at Cologne, who, by his host George Laver, Canon to the Apostles, [became] intimately acquainted with the Abbot of Deutz, when he heard that certain works of Rupert, formerly an Abbot of that Abbey, were to be sent to Nuremberg, that they might be published by the Lutherans, he began, with the greatest eagerness, both to dissuade from, and to hinder that business. For the Lutherans, even to that day, after they had diligently searched and turned over all the ancient Libraries, could find no author of all the Doctors of the Church for so many ages, who could have approved of the doctrines of Luther. At last a little work of that Rupert, who had lived 400 years before, was found. The title of it was ' of the Victory of the "Word of God.'* And it was forthwith published by the Lutherans ; because, by its title, it so directly pleased all, that nothing more desirable could be seen than that author. In the meantime, they understood from Trithemius, that he had written many little pieces, but they had found only two ; of which one was inscribed 'of the power,' the other 'of the providence' of God. In their edition, Osiander, a married priest and preacher, applied many things after the manner of Luther, by which he attempted to make the pious author the patron of that infamous sect ; and now they were treating with the Abbot of Deutz himself, that he might send the rest of the works of Rupert to Nuremberg, to be printed. He, however, as soon as he heard from Cochlajus what great danger there would be in that matter, if he delivered the pious author into the hands of the impious, who were about, not only to
and do many thynges for our aduersaryes, that they also maye be saued. And this is the artykle, namely : <[ Christ is cure ry^lituysnesse. Yox he is become vnto vs of God the father, wysdome, iustice, satisfaction, and redemption."
J On I September 1525. Cochlaeus puts the printing at Cologne after this date : at all events his discovery of it was so. • Note 5, /. 20.
• Cochlaeus, erroneously attributing a concerted plan to all the Protestants, has great glee over his
discovery. His representation here is quite false. It was a drunken printer, not the Lutherans, that betrayed the secret.
* This edition was printed by Frederic Peypos, and finished in March, 1525, in 8vo: therefore Cochlaeus first made the acquaintance of the Abbot of Deutz some time after that month. Cochlxus edited another in 4to at Cologne : the date of his dedication to the Bp. of Ely in which is iv. Idus Apriles [xo April] 1529.
22
THE PRINTING AT COLOGNE.
COCHLvliUS THIRD ACCOUNT.
approbasse. Abbas igitur ille, vir bonus, mutata sententia uolumina iam in grandem fascem compacta, uelut Nurenbergam transmittenda, apud se retinuit. In quo sane fasce erant xiiii. libri in Euangelium loannis,^ xii. libri in Apocalypsim^ eiusdem, et xii. libri, de Diuinis Officijs.^
Cum autem Monachi quieturi non essent, nisi sederentur opera ilia : Cochlseus Petro Quentellio, et Arnoldo Berckmanno sedulo suasit, ut communi- bus inter se impensis et lucris ea opera susciperent sedenda. Persuadere tamen non potuit, donee tandem omnem suam operam adseditionem illam^ eis pollicitus esset. Cunque seditio illa^ satis quasstuosa eis existeret, non egebant amplius impulsore Cochlaeo, sed ipsimet ultro plura illius opuscula desiderabant : rogantes nunc Abbatem, nunc Coch- Iseum, ut undecunque plura conquirerent. Abbas itaque ex uetustis S. Benedicti Monasterijs per- quisiuit xxxii. libros in xii. prophetas minores,' et VII. libros in Canticum Canticorum.^ Cochlaeus vero inuenit Colonise in Bibliotheca Maioris Ecclesise ix. libros, De glorificatione Trinitatis, et processione Spiritus sancti.^ Et in scholis Artiuin grande uolu- men, quod de operibus Trinitatis ^ inscriptum, xlii. complectebatur libros. E quibus in Genesim erant IX. In Exodum iiii. &c.i Cunque sciret Rupertum
TRANSLATION, BY MR. C. ANDERSON.
basely contaminate him by impious prefaces and an- notations, but even to pervert his upright and sound opinions, and of an ancient catholic were about to make a new heretic, who, four hundred years before, should seem to have approved of all the dogmas of Luther. The Abbot, therefore, good man, having changed his opinion, kept by himself volumes, al- ready packed up into a large bundle, ready to be con- veyed to Nuremberg. In this bundle there were four- teen books on the Gospel of John,i twelve on the Revelations,iand twelve books 'DeDivinis Officiis.'^ When, however, the monks were not to be at rest, unless they published these works, Cochlaeus earnestly entreated Peter Quentel and Arnold Byrckman that they should, on their joint expense and profit, undertake their publication ; notwith- standing, he could not persuade them, till at length he had promised them, to that^ edition, all his own labour. .When that became sufficiently profitable to them,2they no more required Cochlseus to urge them, but themselves, of their own accord, sought out more of his small works, requesting now the Abbot, and then Cochlseus, that they might search for more of them in any quarter. The Abbot, therefore, thus excited, diligently searched out of the old monas- teries of St Benedict, thirty-two books on the twelve minor Prophets, 1 and seven on the Songof Solomon.^ Cochlseus found at Cologne, in the library of the Greater Church, nine books concerning the Glorifi- cation of the Trinity ,1 and the procession of the Holy Spirit ; ^ and in the School of Arts a large
1 The Commentaries of Rupertus were first printed in this order.
(i) Cologne. 13 Books on Matthew, with 9 Books on the Trinity, etc. Cochlseus' dedications are dated 20 April and 3 July 1526. Col. dated Pridie Idus Junias [12 June] 1526.
(2) Nuremberg. 14 Books on John (Froies^ani edition). Col. dated July 1526.
(3) Cologne, The same {Catholic edition). Col. dated simply 1526.
(4) Cologne. 12 Books on the Apocalypse. Col. dated 1526. There is no printed dedication to Henry VIII. as stated by Cochlseus : see/. 19.
(5) Cologne. 7 Books on the Song of Solomon. Dedicated by Henry, Abbot of Deutz, to Tonstall, Bishop of London, pridie Octobres [30 Septeni.] 1526. Col. dated 1527.
(6) Cologne. 32 Books on the Minor Prophets. Pio Lectori dated 3 Sept. 1527. Col. Sept. 1527.
(7) Cologne. 42 Books on the works of the Holy Trinity. Ded. to Wolscy, dated 3 Sept. 1528. Col. dated Sept. 1528.
From this it is clear that Cochlaeus is summar- izing, in the text, the whole of these transactions rather than narrating, in consecutive order, the occurrences of the one year 1526.
^ Special attention should be paid to the first edition of this work : Cologne, 1526. It is printed in the same style as the present Fragment, with large black type for the headings and first lines of each book, as is here done to each chapter ; but the small type is not the same. It is, however, very valuable as containing Cochlseus's dated dedication to Herman, Archbishop of Cologne : ' Ex Colonia, iij. Idus Marcias [13 March ]m.d.xxvi.' Up to that date at least Cochlseus had not left that city. It was also the success of this book that stirred Quentel and Byrckman to seek out the other works of Ru- pert of Deutz. The search detailed in the text must therefore have occurred between 13 March and 20 April 1526, when Cochlseus wrote his dedication dated Ex Moguntia, 12 Calendas Maias 1526, of the 9 books 'on the Trinity' to Bp. Fisher: see fol. 200. Cochlaeus was also at Mayence on 3 July following, when he dedicated the 13 Books In Mattkcennt, to the Archbp, of Capua : see /ol. 200 of the same book. It would therefore appear that it was while assisting in the publication oi De DivifiisOJjficiis—ihc earliest book of Rupert, printed at Cologne — that Cochlseus obstructed the secret printing of the English Testaments. Tyndale there- fore certainly left Cologne before April 1526.
THE PRINTING AT COLOGNE.
23
COCHL^US' THIRD ACCOUNT.
olim Leodij ad S. Laurentium fuisse Monachum, scripstt Thcoderico Hezio, Canonico Leodiensi, quem Roma: post obitum Adriani vi. (cuius ille k Sccretis intimus extiterat) familiarius cognouerat, obsecrans, iit is in eo Monasterio perquireret, quidnam ex Ruperti libris extaret. Ille ergo rep- pcrit maxime desideratum opus, xiii. libros in Mat- thscum, de Gloria et honore filij hominis. Verum transmittere Coloniam non potuit Archetypum, nisi ipse cum duobus alljs Canonicis, pro restituendo exemplari, cuncta bona sua in hypothecam Mona- chis obligarent.
Ea igitur uolumina uniuersa Cochlaeus, Mogun- tiam euocatus, secum detulit, atque ibi residens, ad aeditionemprxparauit,Coloniamquesedendaremisit.^
Hinc Typographis Coloniensibus notior ac fa- miliarior factus, audiuit eos ali^uando inter pocula fiducialiter iactitare, Velint Nolint Rex et Cardi- nalis Angliae, totam Angliam breui fore Luther- anam. Audiuit item, duos ibi latitare Anglos, eruditos linguarumque peritos et disertos, quos tamen uidere aut alloqui nunquam potuit. Vocatis itaque in hospitium suum quibusdam Typographis, postea quam mero incaluissent, unus eorum in secretion coUoquio reuelauit illi arcanum, quo ad Lutheri partes trahenda esset Anglia. Nempe uersari sub praelo Tria Milia Exemplarium Noui Testamenti Lutherani, in Anglicanamlinguam trans- lati, ac processum esse iam usque ad literam Alpha- beti K, in ordine Quatemionum. Impensas abunde supp«'ti k Mercatoribus Anglicis, qui opus excusum clam inuecturi per totam Angliam latenter dis- pergere uellent, antequam Rex aut Cardinalis rescire aut prohibere possit.
CochUeus intra se metu et admiratione uarie afiectus, foris mirabundus moerorum dissimulabat. Altero autem die, periculi magnitudinem tristis secum expendens, cogitabat, quo nam pacto possit com- mode pessimis illis conatibus obsistere. Abijt igitur clam ad Hcrmannum Rinck, Patricium Colonien* sem, ac Militem Auratum, qui et Cassari et Regi Angliae familiaris erat et Consiliarius, eique rem omnem, ut acceperat uini beneficio, indicauit. Ille, ut certius omnia constarent, alium misit exploratum in earn domum, ubi opus excudebatur
TRANSLATION, BY MR. C. ANDERSON.
volume [which was inscribed 'of the works of the Trinity ' and comprised forty-two books, of which nine were on Genesis, four on Exodus, &c.] When, however, he learnt that Rupert was formerly a Monk of St Laurence at Liege, he wrote to Theodoric Hezius, a Canon of Liege, whom he had known intimately at Rome, after the death of Adrian VI. [Sep. 1523], whose private secretary he had been, entreating that he would search out in that monas- tery whatever remained of the books of Rupert. He found, therefore, a work greatly esteemed — thirteen books on Matthew ' of the glory and honour of the Son of Man.'^ He could not, however, send the original to Cologne, except he, with two other Canons, would pledge in security to the monks all their goods, for the restoration of the copy !
All these volumes, therefore, Cochlaeus, being called away to Mentz, carried with him, and while residing there prepared them for publication, and sent them back, to be published at Cologne.^
Having thus become more intimate and familiar with the Cologne printers, he sometimes heard them confidently boast, when in their cups, that whether the King and Cardinal of England would or not, all England would in short time be Lutheran. He heard also that there were two Englishmen lurking there, learned, skilful in languages, and fluent, whom, however, he never could see or converse with. Calling, therefore, certain printers into his lodging, after they were heated with wine, one of them, in more private discourse, discovered to him the secret by which England was to be drawn over to the side of Luther — namely, That three thousand copies of the Lutheran New Testament, translated into the English language, were in the press, and already were advanced as far as the letter K, in ordine quatemionum {i.e. in quarto]. That the expenses were fully supplied by English merchants ; who were secretly to convey the work when printed, and to disperse it widely through all England, before the King or Cardinal could discover or prohibit it.
Cochlaeus being inwardly affected by fear and wonder, disguised hii grief, under the appearance of admiration. But another day, considering with himself the magnitude of the grievous danger, he cast in mind by what method he might expeditiously obstruct these very wicked attempts. He went, therefore, secretly, to Herman Rinck, a patrician of Cologne and Military Knight, familiar both with the Emperor and the King of England, and a Counsellor, and disclosed to him the whole affair, as, by means of the wine, he had received it He,
' t^Ote I, /. 23
24
THE PRINTING AT WORMS.
COCHLiEUS* THIRD ACCOUNT.
iuxta indicium Cochlsei. Cumque ab illo accepisset rem ita habere, et ingentem Papyri copiam ibi existere : adijt Senatum, atque effecit, ut Typo- graphis interdiceretur, ne ultra progrederentur in eo opera. Duo Apostatse Angli, arreptis secum Quaternionibus impressis, aufugerunt, nauigio per Rhenum ascendentes Vuormacium, ubi plebs plane furore Lutharizabat, ut ibi per alium Typographum coeptum perficerant opus. Rincus uero et Cochlaeus de his mox admonuarunt htaris suis Regam, Car- dinalamque et Episcopum Roffensem,i ut quam diligentissima praecauarent in omnibus AngHse portubus, ne merx iila perniciosissima inueherentur. (//. 132-134)
TRANSLATION, BY MR. C. ANDERSON.
that he might ascertain all things mora certainly, sent another parson into the house where the work was printing, according to the discovery of Cochlseus ; and when he had understood from him that the matter was even so, and that there was great abundance of paper there, he went to the Senate, and so brought it about that the printer was interdicted from proceeding farther, in that work. The two English apostates, snatching away with them the quarto sheets printed, fled by ship, going up the Rhine to Worms, where the people were under the full rage of Lutheranism, that there, by another printer, they might complete the work begun. Rinck and Cochlseus, however, im- mediately advised by their letters ^ the King, the Cardinal, and the Bishop of Rochester [Fisher], that they might, with the greatest diligence, take care lest that most pernicious article of merchandise should be conveyed into all the ports of England. Annals of the Eng. Bible: i. 56-59. Ed. 1845.
We are much indebted, in a way he did not anticipate, to the rabid zeal of Dobneck, for these circumstantial details of the secret printing of our first New Testament, which otherwise we should not have known.
III. The Print mg at Worms.
\, Tyndale produced at Worms the Second edition in Octavo : to which he added the following his secqnd Address.
To the Reder. Eve diligence Reder (1 exhortethe) that thou come with a pure mynde/ and as the scripture sayth with a syngle eyej vnto the wordes of health/ and of eternall lyfe : by the which (if we repent and beleve them) we are borne a newe/ created a fressha/ and enioye the frutes off the bloud of Christ. Whiche bloud cryeth not for vengeauncef as the bloud of Abel : but hath purchased lyfa/ love/ faveour/ grace/' blessyngef and whatsoever is promysed in the scriptures/ to them that beleve and obeye God : and stondeth bitwene vs and wrathe/ vengeaunce/ cursse/ and whatsoever the scripture thraateneth agaynst the vnbelevers and disobedient/ which resist/ and consent not in their hartes to the lawe of god/ that it is rightf wholy/ iuste/ and ought soo to be.
Marke the playne and manyfest places of the scriptures/ and in doutfull places/ se thou adde no interpret- acion contrary to them : but (as Paul sayth) let all be conformable and agreynge to the fayth.
Note the difference of the few/ and of the gospell. The one axeth and requyreth/ the wother perdoneth and forgevelh. "i'he one threateneth/ the wother promyseth all good thynges to them that sett their trust in Christ only. The gospell signifieth gladde tydynges/ and is nothynge butt the promyses off good thynges. All is not gospell that is written in the gospell boke : For if the lawe were a waye/ thou couldest not know Mjhat the gospell meante. Even as thou couldest not se perdon/ favour/ and grace/ excepte the lawe rebuked the/ and declared vnto the thy sinne/ mysdede/ and treaspase. Repent and beleve the gospell as .sayth Christ in the fyrst of Marke. Applye all waye the lawe to thy
1 These letters by Rinck and Cochla:us have not yet been recovered. Their being private or secret communications may partly account for this. Their
loss simply, does not invalidate Cochlajus' state- ments as regards facts that came within his own personal knowledge.
V
ry/^' PRINTING AT WORMS. 2*^-^ "^^i?
dcdes/ whether thou finde histc in the bottom of thyne herte to the lawe warde ; and soo shall thou no dout rcpentf and fcale in the silfe a certayne sorowe/ payne/ and grefe to thyne hcrtc ; because thou canst nott withfuU Uiste do the dedes off the lawe. Applye the gospell/ that is to saye the promyses/ vnto the deservynge off Christ/ and to the mercye of god and his trouthj and soo shall thou nott dcspcare ; butt shall feale god as a kynde and a mercifull father. And his spretc shall dwell in the/ and shall be stronge in thee : and the promises shalbe geven the at«he last (though not by and by| lest thou shuldest forgctt thy sylfe and be negligent) and all threatenyngcs shalbe forgeven the for Christis blouddis sake/ to whom commit thy silfe all togedderj with out respect/ other of thy good dedes or of thy badde.
Them that are learned Christenlyf I bcseche : for as moche as I am sure/ and my conscience bcareth me recorde/ that of a pure entent/ singilly and faylhfully I have interpreted itt/ as farre forth as god gave me the gyfte of knowledge/ and vnderstondynge : that the rudnes off the worke nowe at the fyrst tyme/ offcnde them not : but that they consyder howe that I had no man to counterfet/ neither was holpe with englysshe of eny that had interpreted the same/ or soche lyke thinge in the scripture beforetyme. Moreover/ even very necessitie and combraunce (God is recorde) above strengthe/ which I will not rehearce/ lest we shuldc seme to host oureselves/ caused that many thynges are lackynge/ whiche necessaryly are requyred. Count it as a th\'nge not havynge his full shape/ but as it were borne afore hys tyme/ even as a thing begunne rather then fynnesshed. In tyme to come (yf god have <ipoynted vs there vnto) we will give it his full shape : and putt out yf ought be added superfluusly : and adde to yff ought be oversene thorowe negligence : and will enfoarce to brynge to compendeousnes/ that which is nowe translated at the lengthe/ and to geve lyght where it is requyred/ and to seke in certayne places more proper englysshe/ and with a table to expounde the wordes which are nott commonly vsed/ and shewe howe the scripture vseth many wordes/ which are wother wyse vnderstonde of the commen people : and to helpe with a declaracion where one tonge taketh nott another. And will endever oureselves/ as it were to sethe it better/ and to make it more apte for the weake stomakes : desyrynge them that are learned/ and able/ to remember their duetie/ and to helpe there vnto : and to bestowe vnto the edyfyinge of Christis body (which is the congregacion of them that beleve) those gyftes whych they have receaved of god for the same purpose. The grace that commeth of Christ be with them that love hym. Praye for vs.
From Mr. F. Fry's Handtraced-lithographed edition {o/^ij-j copies only) . Bristol, 1863.
2. Mr. A. Bower in his Life of Luther^ 1813, under the year 1526 writes, ' The Imperial Diet assembled at Midsummer at the iity of Spires, and the pressure of business was such as to require the attendance of the elector John, during several months.' /. 243.
Spalatin was with the Elector at Spires. He noted in his diary * Saturday the morrow of St. Lawrence,' i.e. 11 August, 1526,1 the follow- ing Table Talk :
Sabbato postridie Laurentii.i Princeps nosier On the Saturday the morrow of St. Lawrence,*
Elector Saxoniae (Spirae in comitiis imperialibus) our prince the Elector of Saxo^ (then at the Diet
audito in aedibus Principis Hessorum sermone, of Spires) having heard a sermon at the residence
domum rediit. . . . Buschius [dixit nobis in of the Landgrave of Hesse, returned to his house,
coena] . . . Item Wormatiae' vi. mille . . . Buschius [told us at supper] . . . Also at
cxemplaria Novi Testamenti Anglice excusa. Id Worms* 6000 copies of the New Testament were
opcris versum esse ab Anglo, illic cum duobus aliis printed in English. This work was translated by aii Britannis* divertente, ita vii. linguarum pcrito, ' EngUshman, who was staying there with two of his
Hebraicae, Graecae, Latinae, Itaiicae, Hispanicae, countrymen,' and who was so learned in seven lan-
Britannicac, Gallica:, ul, quamcunque loquatur, in guages, Hebrew, Greek, Latin, lulian, Spanish,
ea natum pules. Anglos enim, quamvis reluctante English, and French, that, whichever he spoke,
el invito Rege, tamen sic suspirare ad Evangelion, you would think his native tongue. The English
» St. Lawrence's day is August 10. The day » Worms is only some twenty miles from Sipires.
following was a Saturday in 1526 ; which proves the » One of these two assistants was Roy : who was
occurrence to be in that year. the other T Certainly neither Fysh nor Fnth.
D
26 THE PRINTING AT WORMS.
ut affirment, sese empturos Novuig Testamentum, indeed have such a desire for the gospel, although
etiamsi centenis millibus seris sit redimendum. the king opposes and dislikes it, that they say they
Adhaec Wormatiae etiam Novum Testamentum would buy a New Testament, even if each copy
Gallice excussum esse.'— Extracts from the MS. cost 100,000 of money. In addition to this the
diary of George Spalatin, printed in Avioenitates New Testament was printed in French at Worms.! Literarice hy Schelhorn : [Francofurti et Lipsise, 14 vols. 8vo] iv. 431-2. Ed. 1730.
3. We have now come to the question; whether the Quarto was finished at Worms or elsewhere ? There is no express statement on the subject ; but we possess circumstantial evidence that renders it morally certain that it was completed in that city or in its neighbourhood.
Mr. F. Fry in his facsimile edition (1862) of the Octavo has demonstrated by similarity of type, water- marks, etc., beyond all reasonable doubt, that it was printed by Peter Schoeffer of Worms. It is impossible to apply a typographical test of like kind to the present fragment, for we do not possess in it even all that was printed at Cologne, by eight or sixteen pages. The evidence is therefore external : arising principally out of four points.
TJie above testimony of Cochlceus.
o Cochlaeus knew nothing of the Octavo.
j8 He indubitably fixes the impression begun at Cologne to be the Quarto, in ordine Quaternionum ; and that it actually consisted of three thousand copies ; though it was first intended to print six thousand.
y He states — and it was quite within his power to ascertain it — that the two Englishmen fled, with the printed sheets, to Worms, to complete the work there by another printer.
*•* Cochlasus, at all events, believed the Quarto to have been finished there.
Tyndale's residence at Worms : as chiefly fixed by the beginning of the Preface to the Parable of the Wycked Mammon, the printing of which book was finished 8 May, 1528. See opposite page.
S Tyndale says of Roy, ' Neuerthelesse I suffered all thinges tyll yat was ended whych I coulde not doo alone wythout one both to wryte and to helpe me to compare ye textes together. When that was ended I toke my leue and bode him farewel for oure two lyues : ' Roy therefore left as soon as the two editions had passed the press.
e Roy left Tyndale in the spring of 1526, going to Strasburg.
fTyndalq was at Worms about August 1526, by the testimony of Busche.
t] Tyndale was at Worms in May 1527 : and had an interview with Jerome there. * A yere after that and now. xii. monethes before the pryntinge of this worke/ came one lerom a brother of Grenewich also/ thorow Wormes to Argentine.' ... * Which lerom with all diligence I warned of Royes boldnesse.'
The fair inference is therefore that Tyndale did not leave Worms from his arrival there with Roy in October 1525 until after May 1527.
Herman von Busche's Snpper-talk, on 11 August, 1526.
Q Busche's talk, combined with Cochla;us' accounts, fixes the impression of the Octavo, as well as the Quarto, at three thousand copies : or Six thousand in all. For supposing signature {i.e. sheet) K had not actu- ally been struck off when the printing at Cologne was stopped there ; nine signatures (A to I) would have been printed ; 3000 copies of which, or 27,000 sheets altogether, Tyndale and Roy must have taken with them up the Rhine. If Busche's six thousand refer to the Quarto alone, it follows that Tyndale duplicated at Worms what had already been printed at Cologne : and that having deliberately reduced the impression from its first intended number of six thousand to the three thousand actually begun there, that he had changed his mind on arriving at Worms, and increased it again to six thousand : a purposeless waste of power for which he can hardly be credited. On this assumption also the Octavo, which we know was printed at Worms, has to be accounted for.
On the other hand, it is more reasonable to believe that Tyndale did not duplicate the beginning of the Quarto, but 'completed' it, and that he printed a like impression of the Octavo. It is not necessary to
! I have not been able to trace any French New Testament printed at Worms In 1525. One was printed at Basle in that year.
WILLIAM ROY'S CONNECTION WITH THESE EDITIONS. 27
suppose that Schocflcr finished the Quarto : John Erfibrdianus, another printer about that time in Worms, may have done it, or it may have been finished in some neighbouring city. Indeed the short time in which the two editions were produced favours the employment of more than one^rinter. Notices of the Ne^u Testament in England in 1526.
t John Pykas of Colchester confessed on 7 March, 1528, ' that about a two ycres last past, he bought in Colchester, of a Lumbard of London, a New Testament in English, and payd for it foure shillingcs.'
f John Tyball of Bumstede confessed on 28 April, 1528, ' abowght ii yeres agon he compayned with syr Richard Fox curate of Bumstede, and shewid hym al his bookys that he had : that is to say, the New Testamente in Englishe, the Gospel of Matthew and Mark in Englishe.'
X John Tyball and Thomas Hilles, between Whitsontide and Michaelmas 1526, bought each a Testa- ment of Dr. Robert Barnes in the Augustine Friary, London.
*,* All these may have been either Quartos or Octavos.
ft- Tonstall, Bishop of London, denounces both impressions on 24 Oct., 1526.
" Archbishop Warham does the same, in almost identical terms, on 3 Nov., 1526.
^ Robert Necton is actually selling the Quartos in January, 1527.
0 Henry VIIL's preface to his English translation of his answer to Luther, early in 1527, refers to both editions.
T Dr. Robert Ridley's letter dated 24 Feb. [1527 in all probability] pointedly refers to the Quarto.
*,* All- these occurrences — and possibly they might be multiplied — will be narrated further on. The point here to be marked is their very early date : all before Jerome called on Tyndale at Worms, in May 1527.
If then Tyndale remained in that city till after May 1527 ; and the Octavo, as we know it was, was printed there ; and that both editions, simultaneous^ denounced on 24 Oct. 1526, came into England to- gether early in that year, — a supposition that Busche's talk would favour, — it follows that Tyndale, by some printer, finished the Quarto at or near Worms.
IV. William Roys connection with these editions,
\, In his Address above referred to, prefixed to The Parable of the Wycked Mammon, ^c. ; the printing of which work was finished by Hans Luft at Marburgh in Hesse on the 8 May 1528; Tyndale thus informs us of . Roy's share in the production of the first two New Testaments.
H William Tyndale otherwj'se called Hychins to the reader Jrace and peace with all maner spirituall fealinge and lyuinge worthy of the kyndnes of Chryst, be with the reader and with all that thurst the vryl of God Amen. The cause why I set my name before this lytle treatyse and haue not rather done it in the newe testament is that then I folowed the counsell of Chryst which exhorteth men Math. vi. to doo theyr good deades secretly and to be content with the conscience of weldoynge/ and that god seeth vs| and paciently to abyde the rewarde of the last daye which Chrjrst hath purchased for vs and now wold fayne haue done lykewysej but am com- pelled otherwyse to doo. •
Whyle I abode a faythful companyon ^ which now hath taken an other vyage vpon him/ to preach Christ where (I suppose) he was neuer yet preached (God which put in his herte thyther to goo sende his sprite with him| comforte him and bringe his purpose to good effecte) one William Roye a man somewhat craftye when he cometh vnto new acquayntaunce and before he be thorow knowen and namely when all is spent/ came vnto me and offered his helpe. As longe as he had no money/ somwhat I could ruele him : but as sone as he had goten him money/ he became lyke hym sclfc agayne. Ncuerthelesse I suffered all thinges tj-ll yat was ended whych I coulde not doo alone wythout one both to wryte and to helpe me to
» Can this be Thomas Hytton, the priest, whose hjTn selfe was preste, but sayed that he had by the mart^Tdom on 24 February, 1529, Tyndale felt so space of. ix yeres ben beyonde the see, and there deeply? More, in the Preface to his Confutacyon, lyued by the ioyners craft,' Bb. iii. states th'>' V'vitnii would not be 'a knowen that
D 2
28 WILLIAM ROY'S CONNECTION WITH THESE EDITIONS.
compare ye textes together. When that was ended I toke my leue and bode him farewel for oure two lyues/ and as men saye a daye longer. After we were departed he went/ and gate him new frendes which thinge to doo he passeth a^l that euer I yet knewe. And there when he had stored hym of money he gote him to Argentine where he professeth wonderfull faculties and maketh host of no small thinges. A yere after that and now. xii. monethes before the pryntinge of this worke/ came one lerom a brother of Grene- wich also/ thorow wormes to Argentine/ sayenge that he entended to be Christes disciple an other whyle and to kepe (as nye as God wolde gyue him grace) the profession of his baptim/ and to gett his lyuinge with his handes/ and to lyue no lenger ydely and of the swete and laboure of those captyues whiche they had taught/ not to byleue in Chryst : but in cuttshowes and russet coetes. Which lerom with all diligence I warned of Royes boldnesse and exhorted hym to bewarre of hym and to walke quyetly and with all pacience and longe sofFeringe acordinge as we haue Chryste and his apostles for an ensample/ which thinge he also promysed me. Neuerthelesse when he was comen to Argentine William Roye (whos tonge is able not only to make foles sterke madde/ but also to disceyue the wisest that is at the fyrst syght and ac- quayntaunce) gate him to hym and set him a werke to make rymes| whyle he hym selfe translated a dialoge out of laten^ in to Englysh/ in whose prologe he promyseth moare a greate deal than I fere me he wyll euer paye. . . .
Some man wyl aske parauenture why I take ye laboure to make this worke, in as moch as they wyll brunne it seynge they brunt the Gospel I answare, in brunninge the new testamente they dyd none other thynge then that I loked for/ no more shall they do yf the[y] brunne me also, yf it be gods wyll it shall so be. Neuerthelesse in translatynge the newe testamente I dyd my dutye/ and so do I now/ and wjdl do as moch more as god hath ordened me to do. And as I offered that to all men to correcte it/ who soeuer coulde, euen so doo I this. Who soeuer therfore readeth this/ compare it vnto the scrypture.
2, Rede 7ne and he nottwrothe is a miscellany of invective verse. It was first known as The burying of the mass, from The Lamentacion at the beginning, which has the refrain of
• Seynge that gone is the masse, Nowe deceased alas alas.'
The Satire is evidently written upon information such as Jerome had brought from England; say up to April 1527. Roy had a thousand copies printed of it ; and another of his ' dialoge out of laten,' but not having money to pay for paper or printing to the printer, John Schoet of Strasburg, (which quite accords with Tyndale's account of his powers of gammoning,) the most part of the two impressions were pawned to the Jews of Frank- fort. Some copies however were sent into England ; and Wolsey wrote,
1 This translation is now apparently lost. The sayd the furst way all redy/ sendyng forth Tyndals author of the original Latin work (which I have translacyon of the new testament in such wyse also been unable to see) is unknown. Its title is handled as yt shuld haue bene the fountayn and given by Park [Harl. Misc. ix. 3] as Inter patrem well spryng of all theyr hole heresies. For he had Christianum et filiutn contumacem dialogunt corrupted and purposely changed in many placys Christianum. That this work is also the same as the text/ with such wordys as he myght make yt Roy's book against the seven sacraments is proved seme to the vnlerned people/ that the scrypture by the following passage in his Snpplicacyon of affyrmed theyr heresyes it selfe. Then cam sone Sonlys (in answer to Simon Fyshe's Supplication after out in prynt the dyaloge of frdte Roye and /J^r /A^7y^^^rtr.O published before More had become frere Hyerome/ betwene ye father and ye sonne Lord Chancellor (25 Oct. 1529). The reference is agaynst ye sacrament of ye aulter ; and the bias- important as fixing the order in which the several phemouse boke entytled the beryeng of the masse, works became known in England. I'he dates will [i.e. Rede me, &c.] Then cam forth after Tyndals be seen to confirm Tyndale's statement ; that Roy's wykkyd boke of Mammona [dated 8 May 1528] two works were printed at Strasburg in 1527. and after that his more wykkyd boke of obydyence' 'They parceyuyng thys/ haue therfore furste as- [dated 2 October 1528]. foL xix. b.
WILLIAAf ROY'S CONNECTION WITH THESE EDITIONS. 29
on 5 August 1528, to Herman Rinck, to arrest Roy and Tyndale and to buy up all their works. Rinck's reply will be found at//. 32-36.
3. The Invective mainly consists of A brcfe Dialoge betwene two prestes servaunUsl named Watkyn and Jeff ray e [Jerome and Roy] in which ^e two following passages refer to the first reception by the Hierarchy in 1526, of the New Testament in England ; and in so pointed a manner as to con- stitute very early and important evidence on that point : as we said, not later than April 1527.
The first passage proves the private * consistory ' of the Bishops under Wolsey, deliberating what was to be done with the Forbidden Book
ffi[at. C Art thou not a frayde to presume| Agaynst the Cardinalls fume/
Seynge they wilbe all on his syde? Sif. C No I do rather gretly reioyce/ That of a lytell wormes voyce/
Goddis iudgement may be veryfyed. Agaynst soche a wickeS brothellj Vihich sasrth/ vnder his girthell/
He holdeth Kynges and Princes. To whom for a salutacionf I will rehearce a brefe oracionf dedicate vnto his statlynes. KsL <[ Now gentell mate I the praye. lUf . <[ Have at it then with out delaye/
Contempnynge his maliciousnes.
O miserable monster/ most malicious/
Father of perversite/ patrone of hell,
O terrible Tyrant/ to god and man odious,
Advocate of antichrist/ to Christ rebell.
To the I speake/ o cay tife Cardinall so cruell.
Causles chargynge by thy coursed commandment
Td brenne goddis worde the wholy testament.
Goddis worde/ grownd of all vertue and grace The fructeous fode/ of oure faythfull trust. Thou hast condempned in most carfull cace/ Throwe furious foly/ falce and vniust. O fearce Pharao/ folower of flesshly lust What moved thy mynde by malyce to consent/ To brenne goddis wordef the wholy testament.
The tenoure of thy tyranny passeth my brayne In every point evidently to endyght. Nero nor herod/ wer never so noyus certajme All though of goddis lawis they had lytel lyght Shame it is to speake howe agaynst ryght. Thy hatfull hert hath caused to be brent/ Goddis true worde/ the wholy testament.
O perverse
O perverse preste patriarke of pryde/ Mortherer with out mercy most execrable. O beastly brothell/ of baudry the bryde/ Darlynge of the devill/ gretly detestable, Alas/ what wretch wolde be so vengeable ? At eny tyme to attempte soche impediment/ To brenne goddis worde the wholy testament.
God of his goodenes/ grudged not to dyef
Man to delyver from deadly dampnacion.
Whose will is that we shulde knowe perfetly
What he here hath done for oure saluacion.
O cruell kayface [Caiaphas] / full of crafty conspi-
racion. Howe durst thou geve then falce iudgement To brenne goddis worde/ the wholy testament
Thy leawednes of lyvynge is loth to heare/ Christis gospell to come vnto clcare light. Howe be it surly it is so sprcd farre and neare That forto let it thou haste lytell myght. God hath opened our dercke dimed syght. Truly to perceave thy tyrannous intent/ To brenne goddis worde the wholy testament.
Agaynst thyne ambicion all people do crye/ Pompously spendinge the sustenaunce of the pore Thy haulte honoure hyly to magnify/ Maketh/ theves/ traytours/ and many a whore Wo worth the wretche of wickednes the dore Forger of oure dayly damage and detriment To brenne goddis worde the wholy testament
O paynted pastoure/ of Satan the Prophet/ Ragynge courre/ wrapped in a wolues skynne O butcherly bisshop/ to be a ruler vnmete/ Maker of misery/ occasion of synne. God graunt the grace nowe to begynne. Of thy dampnable dedcs to be penitent/ Brennynge goddis worde/ the wholy testament.
30 WILLIAM ROY'S CONNECTION WITH THESE EDITIONS.
WxA. C No more for onre lordis passion/ Thou raylest nowe of a fassion/
With rebukis most despytous/ No man shall these wordes advert/ But will iudge theym of an hert/
To precede/ most contumelious.
^ff, Though popisshe curres here at do barcke/
Yet thou mayst therin well marcke/
The will of god accomplesshed.
The Cardinall thus to rewarde/
Which with oute eny godly regarde/
Desdayneth the trothe to be pubblisshed. Therfore as he did the trueth condempne/ So god wil hym and all his contempne/
With the swearde of punnysshment. Wi.lA, C[ They had fyrst some provocacion ? ^tl, <[ None wother then the translacion/
Of the englysshe newe testament. Wherin the authors with mecknes/ Vtterly avoydynge conviciousnes/
Demeaned them so discretly. That with all their invencion/ They coulde fynde no reprehencion/
Resistynge goddis worde wilfully. Mat, C Howe had the gospell fyrst entraunce/ Into Englonde so farre of distaunce/
Where to rede hym/ no man maye ? ^tl. <[ Goode christen men with pure affecte/ Of god singulerly therto electe/
With cost did hym thether conveye. Which/ even as Christ was betrayed/ So with hym the clargy played/
Thorowe trayterous prodicion. 8Hat <[ Who played the parte of ludas ? ^tf. <[ The wholy bisshop of Saynct Asse/
A poste of Satans iurisdiccion. Whom they call Doctour standisshe/ Wone that is nether fiesshe nor fisshe/
At all tymes a commen Iyer. He is a bablynge Questionist/ And a mervelous grett' sophist/
Som tyme a lowsy graye fryer. Of stommake he is fearce and bolde/ In braulynge wordes a very scolde/
Menglynge vennem, with sugre. He despyseth the trueth of god/ Takynge parte rather with falcehod/
Forto obtayne worldly lucre. Tn carde playinge he is a goode greke/ And can skyll of post and glyeke/
Also a payre of dyce to troUe. For whordom and fornicacionsj He maketh many visitacions/
His Dioces to pill and polle.
Though he
Though he be a stowte divyne/ Yett a prest to kepe a concubyne/
He there admitteth wittyngly. So they paye their yearly tributis Vnto his dyvlisshe substituti^/
Official!/ or commissary. To rehearce all his lyvynge/ God geve it yvell chevynge/
Or els some amendment shortly. Wat. <[ Howe did he the gospell betraye ? Ifef. <[ As sone as ever he hearde saye/
That the gospell cam to Englonde. Immediatly he did hym trappe/ And to the man in the red cappe/
He brought hym with stronge hondc. Before whose prowde consistory/ Bryngynge in fake testimony/
The gospell he did theare accuse. Mat. C He did mo persones represent/
Then ludas the traytour malivolent/
Whiche betrayed Christ to the lues, ^ff. <[ Thou mayst se of theym in one manne/ Herod/ Pilat/ Cayphas/ and Anne [Ananias].
With their propertis severall. And in another manifestly/ ludas full of conspiracy/ ■
With the sectes pharisaicall. They are a grett deale more mutable/ Then Proteus of forme so variable/
Which coulde hym silfe so disgyse. They canne represent apes/ and beares/- Lyons/ and asses with longe eares/
Even as they list to divyse. But nowe of standisshe accusacion/ Brefly to make declaracion/
Thus to the Cardinall he spake. Pleaseth youre honourable grace/ Here is chaunsed a pitious cace/
And to the churche a grett lacke. The gospell in oure Englisshe tongej Of laye men to be red and songe/
Is nowe bidder come to remayne. Which many heretykes shall make/ Except youre grace some waye take/
By youre authorite hym to restrayne. For truly it is no handlynge/ For laye peoples vnderstondynge/
With the gospell to be busy. Which many wone interprisynge/ Into heresy it did bryngc/
Disdaynynge the churche vnrcvcrently. Mat. C Tosshe/ these saynges are sophisticall/ I wolde heare the sence misticall/
Of these wordes right interpreted.
WILLIAM ROY'S CONNECTION WITH THESE EDITIONS. 3^.^
|p{. a In fayth with out simulacion/ This is the right significacion/
Of his mcanyngc to be expressed. O Cardiiiall so glorious/ Thou arte dpitayne over vs/
Antichristis chefe member. Of all cure detestacions/ And sinfuU prevaricacionsf
Thou alone/ arte the defender. Wherfore healpe nowe or els never/ For we are vadonc for ever/
Yf the gospell abroade be spred. For then with in a whyle after/ Every plowe manne and carter/
Shall se what alyfe we have led. Howe we have this five hondred yeres/ Roffled theym amonge the bryres/
Of desperate infidelite. And howe we have the worlde brought/ Vnto beggery worsse then nought/
Through oure chargeable vanite. Which knowen/ we shalbe abhorred/ Reddi to be knocked in the forhed/
Oure welth taken awaye clene. Therfore Tyrant playe nowe thy parte/ Seynge with the devill thou arte/
Gretter then eny manne hath bene. Put the gospel a waye quyght/ That he come not to laye mens sightf
Forto knowe goddis commaundements. And then we that are the remmenaunt/
Shall diligently
Shall diligently be attendaunt/
To blynde theym with oure commentis. If they have once inhibicion/ In no maner of condicion/
To rede goddis wordc and his lawes. For vs doctours of theology/ It shalbe but a smale mastery/
To make theym foles and dawes. Loke what thou dost by tyranny/ We will alowe it by sophistry/
Agaynst these worldly villaynes. WviX. C Nowe truly this is the meanynge/ Howe soever be the speakynge/
Of these spretuall lordaynes. H But what sayde the Cardinall here at ? Htf. <[ He spake the wordes of Pilat/
Sayinge/ I fynde no fault therin. Howe be it| the bisshops assembled/ Amonge theym he examened
What was best to determyn ? Then answered bisshop Cayphas/ ffoc est. That a grett parte better it was/ London
The gospell to be condemned. Episcopus. Lest their vices manyfolde/ Shulde be knowen of yonge and olde/
Their estate to be contempned. The Cardinall then incontinent/ Agaynst the gospell gave iudgeraent/
Sayinge/ to brenne he deserved. Wherto all the bisshoppis cryed/ Answerynge/ it cannot be denyed/
He is worthy so to be serred. j.
The second passage of The dialogue indelibly fixes the first burning of the printed New Testament — not, as has been often thought, on 11 February 1526, on the occasion of the humiliation of Dr. Barnes, when Bishop Fisher preached a sermon against the Lutherans within, and Lutheran books were burnt * before the rode of Northern ' without St. Paul's church : but in connection with Bishop Ton stall's sermon at Paul's Cross, after the * conspiracy ' of Wolsey and the bishops. The important allusion to The prologge, see/. 10 of the lithographed text, will be referred to again.
JSoL C Holde thy peace and be content/ The gospell by a commaundment/
To do it will strayghtly theym compelL Hd C They sett nott by the gospell a flye/ Diddest thou nott heare whatt villany/ Th[c]y did vnto the gospell ? Wat. a Why/ did they agaynst hym conspyrc? ||(f. ([ By my trothe they sett hym a fyrc/ Openly in London cite.
Wat. c Who
®tat. C ^Vho caused it so to be done?
gtt C I" sothe the Bisshoppe of London/ With the Cardinallis authorite : Which at Paulis crosse cmestly/ Denounced it to be heresy/ That the gospell shuld come.to lyght. Callynge them heretikes execrable/ Whiche caused the gospell venerable/ To come vnto laye mens syght.
32 WILLIAM ROY'S CONNECTION WITH THESE EDITIONS.
.M-
He declared there in his furiousnes/ That he fownde erroures more and les/
Above thre thousande in the translacion. Howe be it when all cam to pas/ I dare saye vnable he was/
Of one erroure to make probacion. Alas he sayde/ masters and frendes/ Consyder well nowe in youre myndes/
These heretikis diligently. They saye that commen women/ Shall assone come vnto heven/
As those that lyve perfectly. . <[ And was that their very sayinge ? <[ After this wyse with oute faynynge/
In a certayne prologe they wryte.
That a
That a whoare or an open synner/ By meanes of Christ oure redemer/
Whome god to repent doth incyte. Shall soner come to saluacion/ By meritis of Christis passion/
Then an outwarde holy lyver. JEtst. C They did there none wother thinge shewe/ Then is rehearced in mathewe/
In the one and twenty chapter. ^ti. C For all that/ he sayde in his sermone/ Rather then the gospell shdlde be comone/
Bryngynge people into erroure He wolde gladly soffre marterdome/ To vpholde the devyls fredome/
Of whom he is a confessoure,
C. ij & iij.
\, We get further information of Roy's connection with the first New Testaments from the following letter of Herman Rinck, written to Wolsey the 4th October 1528. The original MS. is imperfect at the edges r
on
hence the gaps in the following Latin.
HERMANN RINCK TO WOLSEY.
Sanctissime ac gratiosissime pater in Christo ac domine .... clementissime, post humilis benevolique servitii me[i] titudinem ad qusevis
vestrae sanctitati beneplacita, obsequen .... grata obnixa ac sincera mente, vestram gratiam, ac paternita[tem] scire exopto, quatenus etc.
Literae gratiae vestrae ad me datae per dominum lohannem West, sacerdotem ordinis divi Fran- cis[ci] de Observantia, scriptae quinto Augusti, le apud^ Hampton Korte, in vestrae gratiae pallat[io] mihi a Colonia ad Francofordiam in biduo celeri nuncio sunt missae et perlatae, 21 Septembris, de commercandis undique libris Anglica lingua ex- cussis, et de capiendis Roy et Huckynck. At illi et eorum complices a paschate* et proximis quad- ragesimae nundinis Francofordiae non sunt visi, neque scitur quo abicrunt, superstites ne sint an vita functi.3 Neque lohannes Schott, civis Argen- tinensis et eorum chalcographus,* se scire dixit quo evanuissent.' Sunt autem ipsorum libri referti hseresi, ac contra vestrae gratiae magnificentiam et honoremjpleni invidia et infamia, qui et pessime et praeter Christianam charitatem, regiam serenitatem, benignissimum dominum meum et generosissimum
TRANSLATION.
Most holy and most gracious father in Christ, most merciful lord — after offering my humble and willing service to your Holiness's pleasure, with grateful and sincere mind, I wish to inform your grace and fatherhood as follows.
Your grace's letters dated Aug. 5, at your palace of Hampton Court, were given to me by John West priest of the order of St. Francis de Obser- vantia, at Cologne on Sept. 21, having been sent on from Frankfort by a swift messenger in two days, which letters ordered me to buy up everywhere books printed in English, and to arrest Roy and Hutchins. They and their accomplices have not been seen at Frankfort since Easter^ and the market after Lent, and it is not known whither they have gone, and whether they are alive or dead.^ John Schott, citizen of Strasburg, their engraver,* says he does not know whither they^ have vanished. Their books indeed are stuffed Miith heresy, full of envy and slander against your grace's glory and honour,^ and what is worst and contrary to Christ- ian charity, make the king's serenity, my most kind and noble lord and illustrious prince, infamous to all worshippers of Christy However, I, as a most
^ 1 for 'apud le Hampton Courte.'
• Easter Day in 1528 fell on 12 April. There- fore Tyndale, or Roy, or both of them were at Frankfort fair about April 1528.
' Tyndale at least had gone on to Marburg, and was there when Rinck was writing this letter. ♦ i.e. printer.
" Schott possibly never knew Tyndale. 8 Rinck is referring to Roy's Satire.
I VILLI AM ROY'S CONNECTION WITH THESE EDITIONS. 33
HERMANN RINCK TO WOLSEY.
et illustrissimum principcm, omnibus christicolis in- famcm reddunt. Ego tamen tanquam humillimus fidelissimus et diligentissimus minister, tribus heb- domadibus^ ante vestrae gnitix acccptas literas, audivi et percepi illos ipsos libros ludeis Franco- fordiae certo acre vel nummo oppigneratos esse, et turn quam primum pro ipsis consequendis ex me- ipso elaborabam, et sollicitus eram. Chalcographus autem lohannes Schott prater faenus ludaeis dan- dum et sui laboris mercedem et papiri sumptum exigebat, et illi se eos venditurum aicbat qui plus pecuniae offerret Cum itaque gratia vestra mihi literas et mandata ex Anglia mittebat, illico neque corpora neque pecuniae neque diligentiae parcebam (ut merito debebam) sed privilegiis a Caesarea Maiestatc olim acceptis utebar. Consules Franco- fordienses et aliquot senatores ac iudices mihi donis et muneribus conciliabam, quo libros illos omnes, omni ex loco corraderera et coacervarem quod et tribus aut quatuor locis factum est, ita quod spero, quotquot talium librorum excussi sunt eos apud me contineri, praeter duos quos vestrae gratiae commis- sarius praenominatus lohannes West, a me exoptavit et accepit, in maiorem et frugem et utilitatem regiae gratiae et vestrae. Libros vero duos ipsi dedi, cum eum turn fidclem tum diligentem vestrae gratiae comperirem, et cui saepe inserviisset, et adhuc pro- cul dubio inserviet. Debebant autem libri ipsi, (nisi pcrcepissem et intervenissem) in thecas chart- aceas compingi et occultari, et decem inclusas sarcinis, lino obductis, callide et sine omni sus- picione, per mare, tempore transmitti in Schotiam et Angliam, ut ibidem ac sola et nuda papirus venderentur, sed admodum paucos aut nullos transvectos vel venditos puto. Caeterum et . . . . . et procuravi coram consulibus Franckfordien- ^bus iuramentis acceptis [et] praestitis, quod denuo non excudentur typis aeneis, tum chalcographus ipse vigore sui iuramenti exemplar scriptum et prindpale ad me mittere obstrictus est. Insuper et summa opera curabo in praedictis Roy et Huckyng caeterisque regiae gratix et vestrae aemulis et re- bellionibus, tum capiendis, tum ubi locorum agant, perdpiendo, ut dominus lohannes West et filius meus Hermannus Rynck, et lohannes Geilkyrche, meus minister ore et praescntes testabuntur, quibus vestra gratia non secus ac mihi ip^ fidem adhibeat et praebeat; ipsi enim rem omnem et celabunt et obticebunt, quamcumque vestra gratia ipsis com- miserit, quos praecipue et praesentes ad regiam et
TRANSLATION,
humble, faithful and diligent servant, three weeks ' before receiving your grace's letters, heard and perceived that those very books had been pawned to the Jews at Frankfort for a certain sum of money, and then, on my own account, I laboured and en- deavoured to get hold of them as soon as possible. The engraver, John Schott, demanded beside the interest for the Jews, the pay for his labour and the expense of the paper, and said that he should sell them to whoever would give the most money. So, as your grace had sent me letters and commis- sions from England, I immediately spared neither my person, my money nor my trouble, (as I was bound to do,) but made use of the privileges pre- viously received from his Imperial Majesty. I gained over the consuls of Frankfort and some senators and judges, by gifts and presents, so that I might scrape and heap together all those books from every place ; which was done in three or four places, so that I hope that all of those books yet printed are in my possession, except two which your grace's commissary the above named John West asked for and received from me for the greater profit and advantage of th» king's grace and yours. Two books indeed, I gave him, as I found him faithful and diligent for yoiu- grace, whom he has often served and doubtless will in future serve. Unless I had discovered it, and interfered, the books would have been enclosed and hidden in paper covers, packed in ten bundles covered with Unen and conveyed in time by sea,* craftily and without exciting any suspicion to Scotland and J^ngland, where they would have been sold only as blank paper ; but I think that very few, or none, have been exported or sold. Besides 1 have . . . and procured from the consuls of Frankfort a prohibi- tion strengthened by oaths, of their further printing from copper types, and the engraver himself is bound by his oath to send me the original written copy. In addition to this, I will endeavour in every way to arrest Roy and Hutchins and other op- ponents and rebels of the king's grace and yours, and to find out where they Uve, as John West, and my son Hermann Rynck and John Geilkyrche my servant will assure you by word of mouth, to whom your grace may give credence just as to myself, for they will keep silence concerning and conceal what- ever orders your grace gives them. I send them now to the king's grace and yours, chiefly on ac- count of the favourable issue of the business, and
1 i.e. about i Sept. 1528.
■ By whom ? Probably English merchants, who
would have repaid the Jews' loan and reimbursed
Schott.
E
34 WILLIAM ROY'S CONNECTION WITH THESE EDITIONS.
HERMANN RINCK TO \IIOLSEy.
vestram gratiam transmitto, ob commodiorem ipsius negotii exitum, et ut rem gratam regiee et vestrse gratiae exhibeam et faciam. Totaque vita mea cum omnibus et prognatis et posteris hac in re sollicitus et sedulus ero provisor. Neque mei laboris, conatus et pecuniae a me expensae elapsis multis annis neque per me neque meos posteros expetam et efflagitabo, sed singula regiae gratiae et vestrae promissis committo, prorsusque confido permagnas vestrae providentiae, iuxta operam meam quam collocavi in electione Caesareae Majestatis, et regiae gratiae, et secundum vestra pollicita, si sponsalia inter Caesarem Carolum et regiae gratiae filiam pro- gressum et excitum sortita fuissent, turn in ipsis omnem meam impendissem diligentiam et indus- triam, turn per me, tum meos et cognates et affines omnibus modis expedivissem. Nunc vero sponsa- liciis non executis vel progredientibus, spero alio beneficio regia gratia me condonabit, ut suae gratiae literae apertius indicabunt.
Praeterea, anno dommi 1502, mensis Augusti, maximum privilegium a Caesarea Maiestate regiae gratiae in Anglia et intercursum negotiatorum a Caesarea Maiestate concessum largissima libertate, impetrare iuvi et opitulatus sum, per Caesaris et regiae gratiae commissarios in usum et commodum omnium in Anglia regiae gratiae subditorum, ut manifestius est eo in loco, ubi episcopus Cantuargensis Doctor Domi- nus Warren, antea commissarius cum Carolo de Sowmerschett, piae memoriae, camerario regis Angliae, Becem millia librarum sterlingarum contulit regiae gratiae, dum ego, nomine Caesareae Majes- tatis, huius regis patri praesens obtuli privilegium, praesentibus suis optimatibus, et consiliariis, in le Westmunster, tum religiosis, tum secularibus, simul et decern mil[l]ia librarum sterlingarum data accepi mittenda Csesari Maximiliano, quae eidem Caesari et contuli et meo secrete sigillo libera com- probavi et soluta esse testatus sum, proprioque et nomine et cognomine in maiorem fidem meipsum subscripsi, ac ambasiatorem vel legatum Caesareae Maiestatis decuit, quod Caesarea Maiestas eiusque successores illud ratum et sancitum habere deber- ent, ipsumque a Caesare Carolo nunc et renovatum et confirmatum aestimo, vel saltern augendum regiae gratiae facile sitpassurus, et consensum concessurus, ad quod consequendum, humile et exiguum ob- sequium (si Anglia vestra opus habuerit, et Regia gratia mihi mandaverit) paratissimum et me sine mora advent . . . iure debeo, ac sponte volo, aut vellem, ad Caesaream Maiesta[tera in] His- paniam aut alibi> quorsum sua Regia gratia tunc
TRANSLATION.
that I may show and do a thing pleasing to the king's grace and yours. During the whole of my life, I, with all my children and posterity, will care- fully and sedulously attend to this matter, and will not ask or demand, either personally or by my descendants, any return for the labour, trouble and money which I have spent for many years, but I commit everything to the promises of the king's grace and yours, trusting completely in your great prudence, in consideration of the assistance which I gave the king's grace at the election of his Imperial Majesty, and according to your promises, if the espousals between the Emperor Charles and the king's grace's daughter had been proceeded with and taken effect ; in which I used all my diligence and industry, and employed all my relations and connections. Now that the espousals have not been executed and are not still in progress, I hope that the king's grace will favour me with some other kindness, as his grace's letters openly declare.
Besides, in the year 1302, in the month of August, I aided and assisted in obtaining a great privilege from the Emperor's Majesty, for the king's grace in England, and the mercantile intercourse which was granted with the most ample liberty by the Imperial Majesty, through his and the king's grace's commissioners, to the profit and advan- tage of all the king's grace's subjects in Eng- land ; as was more apparent at the time when the bishop of Canterbury, Dr. Warham, formerly com- missioner with Charles Somerset, of pious memory, chamberlain of the king of England, offered in the name of the king's grace, ;^io,ooo sterling ; while I, in the name of the Emperor's Majesty, offered in person the privilege to the father of the present king, in the presence of his peers and counsellors spiritual and secular, at Westminster, and received the ;^io,ooo sterling to be sent to the Emperor Maxi- milian, to whom I gave the said sum and attested the delivery with my own private seal, signing my own name and surname for greater security, as was fit for an ambassador or legate of the Emperor's Majesty ; and the Emperor's Majesty and his suc- cessors ought to keep it valid and secure. I believe that it has now been renewed and confirmed by the Emperor Charles, or at least he would easily allow it to be increased, and would grant his consent to the king's grace ; in obtaining which I offer my humble and small but ready service, (if England has need and the king's grace orders,) and would go without delay, (as I ought of right, and as I freely wish and would wish to do,) to the Emperor's Majesty in Spain or elsewhere, wherever the
WILUAM ROY'S CONNECTION WITH THESE EDITIONS. 35
HERMANN RINCK TO WOLSEY.
iusserit profici . . . obsequentissimus turn minister, turn ambnsiator sive legatu[s . . . eisdcm privilegiis, iuxta quae et me habeo erga regiam gratiam. In quibu[s] . . . privilegiis, meo tudicio, continetur quod per totum Komanum imperium p[r3Ecipue] in Germania obstrepentes Angliac regi neque eiusdem traditores dcbcant con- servari aut perpeti, multo minus haeretici.scditionem Christianorum excitantes totius Anglici regni. Qua propter eiusde[m] privilegii vigore et lege, Emundus de Lapoell qui se ducem Suffolx[iae] nominabat, per regem Philippum desiderabatur ut dignum erat in Angliam adduci. Deinde et Wilhelmus Roy, Wil- helmus T>'ntaell, Hieronim[us] Barlo, Alexander Barckley et eorum adhaerentes,etc., olim observantes, ordinis Divi Francisci, nunc vero apostatae. Nec- non et Georgius Constans, et alii complures, regix gratise obstrepentes, capi plecti et oflerri deb?bant, ob haeresim lutheranam, turn delendam, turn eradi- candam et ad fidem Christianam confirmandam, ut plurimum nunc opus est in Anglias regno. Hanc meam opinionem multo clarius, prjedlctum privi- legium ostendet, cujus exemplar nullum mihi retinui, sed gratiae vestrae excellentissima prudentia haec multo prudentius perpendere et agere potest, quam ipse scriptis exprimere valeo. Cum itaque tale mandatum hue ad me missum fuerit, deo Optimo maximo in honorem ac vestrae gratia: toiius- que regni Anglici turn Christiane, turn diligen- tissime, omnibus viribus et sedulo ipsum exequar. Hoc itaque modo', regiae gratiae et vestrae omnibus- que turn religiosis turn saecularibus subditis Anglici regni in salutem et commodum quantum potui divino opitulamine et iuxta vestrae gratiae mandatum, hsereticorum libros inquisiAd ncque labori neque pecuniae parcens, sed Francofordiam ad nundinas abii, tum papali tum Cajsareo man- dato cum ipsis egi, praesertim usus sum iisdem privilegiis vel mandatis quae a divo Maximiliano Caesare, et nunc modemo imperatore Carolo conse- cutus sum, olim calcographum ipsum lohannem Schott coram consulibus iudicibus et senatoribus Francofordiensibus iureiurando compuli, ut fateretur quot libros tales excusserit in lingua Anglica, Germanica, Gallica, aut alio ideomate, tunc ad sacramentum dictum fatebatur quod solum mille sex quatemionum et adhuc miHc libros novenv^qua- temionum Anglico sermone excussisset, et hoc
TRANSLATION.
king's grace might order, as an obedient servant, ambassador or legate, [to obtain] the same privi- leges, according to which I act towards the king's grace. These privileges, in my opinion, contain that throughout the whole Roman Empire, especi- ally in Germany, no rebels or traitors to the king of England shall be kept or suffered, much less heretics who excite sedition among the Christians of the whole kingdom of England. By force of this privilege, Edmund de la Pole, who called himself the duke of Suffolk, was demanded by king Philip, to be sent into England, as was fitting. Then William Roy, William T5mdale, Jerome Barlow,^ Alexander Barclay,* and their adherents, formerly Qbservants of the order of St. Francis, but now apostates, George Constans' also, and Bany other rebels of the king's grace, ought to be arrested, punished and delivered up on account of the Lutheran heresy, which ought to be blotted out and rooted up, to confirm the Christian faith, of which there is much need in the kingdom of Eng- land. This opinion of mine the aforesaid privilege will show much more clearly, but I have retained no copy of it. Your grace's excellent prudence however will be able to consider and manage these matters more prudently than I can express them in writing. When therefore such a mandate comes to me hither, I will execute it to the honour of Almighty God, your grace and the whole realm oi England, as a Christian, and with all my diligence, strength and care. In this manner therefore, foi the safety and profit of the king's grace apd yours, and of all the subjects of the English realm, both religious and secular, as far as I could with divine help, and according to your grace's command, I searched for heretical books, sparing neither labour nor money. I went to the market at Frankfort with a papal and imperial mandate, using espe- cially the privileges or mandates which I obtained from the late Emperor Maximilian and now hold from the present emperor Charles. I compelled the engraver John Schott to take an oath before the consuls, judges, and senators of Frankfort to confess how many of such books he had printed in English, German, French or other languages. Then he confessed on oath that he had only printed hitherto a thousand books of six quires * and a thousand of nine quires ♦ in the English tongue, at
' Here we ^et the surname of 'frere Jerome.' » The Enehih translator of T/u Ship of Foo
How did he come into this list ? ' ».*. Constantine.
♦ Or signatures, i.e. sheets. Roy's Rtde mt consists of nine signatures. I suppose TA* Dia- loge out o/laten to oe the one of six sheets.
E 2
36 THE LANDING AND DISTRIBUTION IN ENGLAND,
HERMANN RINCK TO WOLSEY.
iussu Roy et Huckyngk,^ qui sere charentes, libros excussos solvere non poterant, multo minus eos in caeteris linguis excudi facere. Quare ipsos ferme omnes emptos Colonise domi mese habeo, ... a gratiae vestrae filius meus persuadcbit et desider- abit ut vestra gratia me certior[eni faci]at quid cum ipsis commergatis libris fieri velit, turn omni diligentia exequatur et fiet, quoad et mihi et meis Deo favente possibile fuerit Regiae gratiae et vestrae obsequium praestandi. Valeat igitur gratia vestra multis faelicibus annis. Datum Coloniae, quarto nonas Octobris, anno 1528.
Obsequiosissimus ac deditissimus vestrae gratiae ac sanctitatis familiaris, Hermannus Rinckus, manu propria scripsit.
Addressed, Reverendissimo in Christo patri, ac domino Thomse Cardinal! Ebro- censi, archicancellario, illustrissimi principis regis Angliae, etc.
Endorsed. Harman Rynge, iiij nonas Octobris. [yUellitts, B. xxi. 43 ; British Museum.)
TRANSLATION.
the order of Roy and Hutchins,^ who had no money to pay for the books printed, much less to have them printed in other languages. Wherefore I bought almost all these, and have them at my house at Cologne, as my son will show your grace and will request your grace to inform me what you wish to be done with the books so bought, which shall then be executed and done with all diligence as far as is possible to me and mine with God's favour, to show our duty to the king's grace and yours. So may your grace fare well for many happy years. Dated at Cologne, 4 October, 1528.
The most dutiful and devoted servant to your grace and holiness,
Hermann Rinck. Addressed. To the most reverend Father in Christ, and lord Thomas Cardinal of York, lord Chancellor to the most illustrious Prince, the King of England, etc. Endorsed, Harman Rynge, 4 October.
5, In A Proper Daylogej betwene a gentillman and a Jmshandmanl eche coinplaynynge to other their miserable calamitiej thi'ough the ambicion of the clergye, printed by Hans Liift, at Marburg, in Hesse, 1530 ; and of unknown authorship, unless it be by Jerome Barlow or William Roy ; there occur, in similar triplets, the following allusions to the burning of the New Testament.
©tntillmmt. Yf the holy gospell allege we shuld As stronge heretikes take vs they would
Vnto their churche disobedient. For why they haue commaunded straytely That none vnder great payne be so hardye
To haue in englishe the testament. Which as thou knowest at London The bisshop makinge ther a sermon
With shamefull blasphemy was brent.
Whan they brennyd the newe testament They pretendyd a zele very feruent
To maynteyne onely goddes honour. Which they sayde with protestacyon Was obscured by translacyon
In englysshe/ causynge moche errour.
C. vii
B. ij.
V. The Landing and Distribution in England.
\, In addition to the warnings of Cochlaeus and Rinck, there came other tidings to the king of the designed introduction into his realm of the Forbidden Book.
Edward Lee, the king's Almoner (who became Archbishop of York in
' A mistake : Tyndale had nothing to do with either of these books. This statement of Schott's is
conclusive that the English New Testaments, which wereoi much greater bulk, were not printed by him.
THE LANDING AND DISTRIBUTION IN ENGLAND 37
1 53 1, and d, 13th September, 1544), journeying into Spain, wTote a letter to the king, from Bordeaux, on 2nd December, 1525, in which he thus announces what he had learnt in his hurried journey through France in the previous month of November.
Please it your Highncsse to undrestand that sithen I found so large occasion by Englishe merchaunts, your subjects I could no lesse than advertise your Grace as well howe farr I am proccded in my iornaye, as also of the successe in the same. This seconde daye of Decembr I arrived at Burdeaulx, aftre a con- tinuall and as diligente jomaye as this pouer bodie and my cariages togidr would suffr, not sparinge oone daye, Sonda)'es oonelie except, and oone day at Parisse, for the relief of my self and my hors. In certayne places, as Bolayne, Mottrell, Abbevil, Bloys, and this towne Burdeaulx, I fownd cortesie and honor in the reverence of your royall Majestie. At Pariss, Orleanns, and oodr, besides thees rehersed, none. The people shcwe them self joyfull of the peax, wiche they wisshe to be perdurable, God knowethe they have mutche neede of it. . .
Please it your Highnesse moreover to undrestand that I am certainlie enformed as I passed in this contree that an Englishman, your subject, at the solicitation and instance of Luther, with whome he is, hathe translated the Newe Testament in to English, and within fewe dayes entendcthe to arrive with the same emprinted in Englond. I neede not to advertise your Grace what infection and daunger may ensue heerbie, if it be not withstonded. This is the next way to fulfill your realme with Lutherians. For all Luthers perverse opinions bee grownded opon bar words of Scriptur not well taken ne vndrestonded, wiche your Grace hathe opened in sondrie places of your royall Booke. All our forfadres, governors of the Churche of Englond, hathe with all diligence forbed and exchued publication of Englishe bibles, as apperethe in Constitutions provincial! of the Churche of Englond. Nowe, Sir, as God hathe endued your Grace with Christen courauge to sett forthe the standard against thies Philistees and to venquish them, so I doubte not but that he will assist your Grace to prosecute and performe the same ; that is to vndre treade them that they shall not nowe againe lift vppe their hedds, wiche they endevor nowe by meanes of Englishe Bibles. They knowe what hurte such books hath doone in your Realme in tymes passed.
Hidretoo, blessed bee God, your Realme is save from infection of Luthers sect, as for so mutche that althowg anye peradventur bee secretlie blotted within, yet for fear of your royall Majestie, wiche hathe drawen his swerd in Gods cause, they dar not openlie avowe. Wherefor I can not doubte but that your noble Grace wiU valiauntlie maignetaine that you have so noblie begonne.
This realme of Fraunce hathe been somewhat tooched with this sect, in so mutche that it hathe entred amongs the Doctors of Parisse, wherof some bee in prison, some fled, some called in judicium. The bisshoppe also of Meulx, called Melden, is summoned for that cause, for he suffred Luthers perverse opinions to bee preched in his diocese. Faber also, a man hidertoo noted of excellent good lief and lemyng is called among them, but somme saye heer for displeasur, whiche I can well think. The Parliament of Parisse hath had mutche business to represse this Sect. And yet, blessed be God, your noble Realme is yet unblotted. \Vherefor lest any dawnger myjht ensue, if thies Books secreatlie shold bee browght in, I thowght my dutie to advertise your Grace therof, considering that it toochethe your highe honor, and the wealthe and integrite of the Christen fayth with in your Realme ; whiche can not long endur if thies Bookes may comme in. The Holie Gost evermor assist your noble Grace. At Burdeaulx, the second daye of Decembr. . . . Your most humble preest , subject, and almosinar — Edouardh Lee. Sir Henry Ellis's Ortg. Letters, 3 S. it. 72. The original is MSS. Cotton. Vesf. c. Hi. fol. 211. Orig.
2. The famine in London in 1527 leading to a vastly increased importa- tion of Com could have nothing to do with the first introduction of the Testaments by March 1526; though it may have facilitated their later importation. Edward Halle's account is as follows :
By reason of the great raynes, which fel in the sowing time and in the beginning of the last yere now in the beguming of thys yere come began sore to fayle throughout the realme, in so niuche that in the citie of London, bread for a whyle was very skant and peopls did starue daily for bread, for wheat so fayled
38 THE LANDING AND DISTRIBUTION IN ENGLAND.
that none could be gotten for money. Sauyng that the king of his goodnes sent to the citie of his owne prouysion, vi. C. [six hundred] quarters, or els for a weeke ther had ben litle bread in London, yet was the scarcitie more then yederth. For then wheat was only at xv. s. [;^ii. 5J. oaf.] the quarter, and from thence it rose to xx. s. \_£\s\ and after to xxvj. s. viii. d. [;^2o] the quarter. Men sayd that the negligence was in sir Thomas Seimer knyght then Maior. Many substanciall men would haue made prouision for their houses, but they feared lest the comminaltie would haue taken it from them. Then were commissions sente into all shires and commissioners appoynted to see what wheat was in the realme, and the commis- sioners ordered that no wheate should be conueyed out of one shire to another, which commaundment had lyke to haue raj-^sed trouble, and specially the citie of London with the same-was sore agreued, for thei had no arable ground to sowe, but must make prouision with money, which prouision was them denied in •diuerse shires by that commaundement, wherat the citezens grudged, so the Maior and Aldermen seyng that the people began to murmure, came to the Cardinall and moued him of ye mischiefe that was like to ensue : either the people must dye for famyne or els they wyth strong hand wil fetche come from them that haue it. To whom he answered yat they should haue wheat ynough out of Fraunce, for the French kyng seyd to me quod the Cardinall that yf he had but three bushels of come in all Fraunce, Englande should haue twayne so muche he loueth and regardeth this realme ; with this answer thei departed and euery day loked for French wheat, but none came : and farther such wheat as ye Marchauntes of England had brought and shipped in Normandy, and other places were ther restrained, so that the relefe ther failed, but the gentle marchauntes of ye Styliard brought from Danske, Breme, Hambrough and other places great plentie, and so did other marchauntes from Flanders, Holand and Frislande, so that wheat was better chepe in London, then in all England ouer. Then the people sayd, se how we had bene serued by the Frenchmen in our necessitie if th[e]emperors subiectes had not holpen vs. For this kindnes the common people loued th[e]emperor the better and al hys subiectes. The kyng of hys goodnes hearyng that ye wheat in Fraunce was stopped, mused not a litle, and so for comfort of thys cyty of London he lent M [a thousand] quarters, for ye whych they both thanked him and prayed for hym. Then wythin short space the marchauntes of London so diligently made prouysyon in all places for Wheat and Rye, that after Christmas [1527-8] they lacked none, and al the parties adioynyng to themwer fain to fetch wheate of them and none to them was denied, notwythstanding their vnkynd commaundement geuen that the Londoners should none haue of them. The xix. yere of Hen. VIII. [22 Apr. 1527 — 21 Apr. 1528.] Fol. 166-7.
3* A principal person on the continent, connected with the Importation of the New Testaments into England was Richard Harman, a merchant of the English factory at Antwerp, respecting whom there is the following Royal prescript extant.
By the Queue.
Anne the queue Trustie and right welbiloved we grete you well/ and where as we be crediblie enformed
{This is the queen's that the berer hereof Richard Herman marchaunte and citizen of Antwerpe in
autography Brabant was in the tyme of the late lorde Cardynall put and expelled frome his fredome
and felowshipe of and in the Englyshe house there for nothing ells (as he affermethe)
but oonly for that that he dyd bothe withe his gooddis and pollicie to his greate hurte
and hynderans in this worlde helpe to the settyng forthe of the newe testamente in
Englyshe/ we therefore desire and instantly praye you that with all spede and fauoure
conuenient ye woll cause this good and honest marchaunt being my lordis true faithfull
and loving subiecte restored to his pristine fredome libertie and felowshipe aforesaid
and the sonner at this oure requeste, And at your good leyser to here hym in suche
thinges as he hathe to make further declaration vnto you in this behalf Geven vndir
our signett at my lordis manoure of Grenewiche the xiiijth daye of May.^
Cotton MSS, Cleop. E. v. fol. 350. Addressed on the hack. To oure trustie and right welbiloved Thomas Crumwell esquyer chief Secre-
tarye vnto my lorde the kinge hyghnes Endorsed on the back. The Queenys Grace letters for Richard Harman.
1 The year is 1534. Cromwell was acting as made a Lord, until 9 July 1536. Secretary of State in April 1534: and was not
^3 ,
r//^ LANDING AND DISTRIBUTION IN ENGLAND. ^¥ nZ ^,
We possess in a collection of State correspondence between England v^*^^4^ and the Low Countries in 1526-31, now Cott. MSS., Galba B. /x, ^^"" further information respecting Richard Harman's imprisonment at Ant- werp, on the accusation of John Hackctt, the English Envoy. Harman and his wife were sent to prison on 12 July 1528 ; and being charged first with being heretics, afterwards with being traitors, were remanded from time to time, while Hackett was endeavouring to obtain proofs of his accu- sation; which failing to do, they were discharged on 26 February 1529. Hackett Avriting in December 1528 states that Harman estimated this im- prisonment to have entailed a loss of two thousand guilders [;^2oo then, equal to ;^3ooo now] ; and the above 'letters' of Anne Boleyn's show that he was expelled of the English House at Antwerp. When Hackett therefore happened, on the 7 April following, to be in that city, Harman got him arrested for false imprisonment, but the Amant and Lords of the city after long deliberation released him. Whereupon Hackett appealed to the Margrave, and on the 12th April the Amant and Lords of Antwerp were summoned to the court at Mechlin, and there reprimanded and directed to apologise for the affront given to the English Envoy \ which they did. Meanwhile Harman sustained * greate hurte and hynderans in this worlde.'
We have in the first of Harman's two petitions to the Emperor, in July 1528, both written in Flemish, the exact grounds of his first accusation; for the follo^\^ng abstract of which I am indebted to Edward Levien, Esq., M.A., of the British Museum.
To the Emperor. Richart Hermans and his wife, arrested by the Margrave of Antwerp (i) for having received books from a German merchant (viz. New Testament in English without a gloss '), and sold them to an English merchant who has had them conveyed to England ; did not know he had done wrong, be- cause he is ' no clerk ' [!] (2) Also accused of sheltering suspected Lutherans ; if so, he did it unwittingly, as many people are in the habit of lodging with him. (3) Also accused of eating meat on Saturday ; did so with the knowledge and consent of his priest. As money is due by and to him, and he has much busi- ness with English merchants, who may soon depart and so leave him without means to pay his debts, begs the Emperor will give the Margrave an order to release them on solvent bail, promising to return to prison when ordered ; especially as he has never supported any of Luther's opinions, fol. 131. Orig.
\, Here, as in our researches we leave the continent and return to Eng- land, we cannot but call special attention to the secret, we might almost say organised action of English merchants abroad, by whom Tyndale was sustained. Tyndale lands at Hamburgh, an unknown man, in May 1524 ; within eighteen months he has printed three books, counting Matthew and Mark as one : which apparently involved an investment of money approach- ing to ;^i 0,000 of the present day. He had to pay Roy and to defray the
* Although the date, July 1528, is comparatively No other English edition printed in Germany before late, this can be no other than the Octavo, inasmuch this date is known. as Harman bought them* of a German merchant.
40 THE LANDING AND DISTRIBUTION IN ENGLAND.
expenses of living, travelling, and the like ; yet whether at Hamburgh, at Cologne or at Worms, at Marburg or at Antwerp, he is personally cared for and supported in his great work. Money never failed him. We trace this assistance especially, in that the first impression of the Quarto was reduced from 6000 to 3000 not on the score of money but from fear of detection. And not only Tyndale, but Roy also. Had not Rinck been quick, the English merchants would have redeemed his anti-papal works from pawn, and scattered them through England. We know not the extent of this strong Protestant anti-Wolsey feeling, for many of the early printed English Protestant books which were produced abroad before 1532, such as Hortulus Animce in English, the very earliest editions of The Primer^ and the like, appear to have utterly perished. Yet there are sufficient of such works extant to show how heartily many English merchants on the con- tinent laboured for the Reformation of their own country.
5, The printed English Testaments being ready, there was a people pre- pared to receive them. For upwards of a century, amid all manner of national vicissitudes, the Lollards had been multiplying written copies of the original translation of Wycliffe and of its revised version by John Purvey. They had increased, despite continuous persecution; and were now a scattered unorganised association of tradesmen, craftsmen, and such like, especially numerous in those districts nearest the continent and therefore most ac- cessible to influences- from without, as in London and the Eastern Counties. Many of them learnt to read — an unusual accomplishment among the lower classes at that time ; and where they could not read, they often committed to memory entire doctrinal treatises or dialogues, if they were short ; or whole gospels or epistles of the New Testament. Fewer of them could write, yet it was through the devotion of those few that so many copies of the whole or portions of Holy Writ were spread through the country. They knew each other by the names of brethren and sisters in Christy or as knowii men and known women. We get an explanation of these latter titles in the follow- ing passage of a book entitled The Repressor of over-much blami?tg of the Clergy, which one of their adversaries, Regiriald Pecock, then Bishop of St. Asaph, wrote against them about the year 1449.
The firste of tho textis is written i. Cor. xiiije 'c. in the eende thus: Sotheli if eny man vnknowith, he schal he vnImowun> Bi this text thei taken that if eny man knowith not or putte not in what he mai his bisynes forto leeme the writing of the Bible, as it Hjth in text, namelich the writing of the Newe Testament he schal be vnknowen of God forto be eny of hise. And for this, that thei bisien hem silf forto leeme and knowe the Bible, namelich the Newe Testament, in the forme as it is writun word bi word in the Bible, thei geucn a name propre to hem silf and clepen hem silf knoivun men, as thoug alle othere han them ben
1 This is a very corrupt translation by Wycliffe. ing that all the learning of the age was against them —
The Authorised Version has it, Bnt if any be igno- based upon a mistranslation, shows how eager these
rant, let him be ignorant : i Cor. xiv. 38. The desig- men were after the Word of truth, as the revelation
nation, though a perversion — very excusable consider- of the will and mind of Cod.
THE LANDING AND DISTRIBUTION IN ENGLAND. 41
vnknowun ; and whanne oon of hem talkith with an other of hem of sum other iijc [third] man, the hcerer wole aske thus : ' Is he a knowen man ? ' and if it [be] answerid to him thus : ' Yhe, he is a knowen man/ al is saaf, perel is not forto dele with him ; and if it be answerid to him thus : ' He is no knowen man ' thanne. perel is castid forto miche homeli dele with him. i. 53. Ed. i860.
While Lollardism had thus long been a standing element in the religious life of England ; there had lately come into the country from the continent two distinct influences of dissent ; the new * learning,' Hebrew, Greek, Plato, and the like ; and the new * faith,' the teaching of Luther and his colleagues. What Lollardism had done for the artisans, these two in- fluences were doing for the Universities, and some of the clergy and monks; unbinding their hearts from old delusions, attaching utterly new ideas to old familiar words, revealing a new way of salvation — faith simply on the Saviour of mankind — and especially giving insight into the depth, beauty, fulness, and sufiiciency to teach, of the Sacred Scriptures. Now the Papal system was, and is chiefly founded upon false ideas being attached to words which are unquestionable. The English Hierarchy, as we shall presently see, instinctively felt that the sting of Tyndale's translation lay precisely in this. Tyndale also knew this to be the point of attack of all others, and inserted the following Prologge entirely for this purpose ; that right ideas should be attached to well known words. The three thousand errors with which his translations were charged were for the most part but so many new meanings attached to old words. We shall see presently the grossly dis- honest way in which that number of exceptions was arrived at. Meanwhile we realise the superlative value and importance of a simple truthful transla- tiori of the Scriptures over all mere attacks or arguments, to the turning of the minds and hearts of Englishmen to a truer knowledge and a purer love of the Triune God.
6, One of the chief agents in the distribution in England was Simon Fyshe, the author of The Stipplicacyon for the Beggers. John Fox gives the following account of this boldhearted man in his Actes^ <S>v.
Maister Symon Fyshe, borne of a Noble stock, a gentleman of graies innc, one of a tal stature. A. xxxvi. yeare a goo the fyrst yeare after he came to London to dwell [which was about ye yeare of our Lord, 1525. Ed. 1570] theire was a certeyne playe made by one maister Roo of the same inne genlil- man, wherin partly ther was matter a geinst the Cardinall Wolsey. And where none durst take vpon them to playe that part which touched the saide Cardinall, this forsaid maister fishe toke vpon him to do It wherupon great displeasure followed vpon the Cardinails part. In somuch as he being pursued by the said Cardinall the same night this tragedy was plaid, was compelled of force to voyde his ownc house, and so fled oucr sea vnto Tindall. vpon occasion wherof the next yeare following this boke was made, [ being about the yeare 1527) Ed. 1570] and so [not long after in tlie yeare (as I suppose) 1528, was Ed. 1570] sent ouer to my Lady Anne Bulleyn, who then lay at a pl.ice not farre from the Courte. Whichc booke her brother scinge in her hande, tooke it and reade it, and gauc it heragaine, willing her earnestly to giue it to the king, which thing she so did, xst Ed., 1563 ; /. 448 ; -ind Ed., 1570, p. 1152.
We have quoted this statement merely to confute it in some particulars. There is an earlier description of this play, which was performed in the Christmas of 1526-7. Tyndale was at that time in Worms.
F
42 THE LANDING AND DISTRIBUTION IN ENGLAND.
This Christmas was a goodly disguisyng plaied at Greis inne, whiche was compiled for the moste part, by Master lohn Roc, seriant at the law. xx. yere past, and long before the Cardinall had any aucthoritie, the effecte of the plaie was, that lorde gouernaunce was ruled by dissipacion and negligence, by whose misgouer- nance and euil order, lady Publike wele was put from gouernance, which caused Rumor Populi. Inward grudge and disdain of wanton souereignitie, to ryse with a great multitude, to expell negligence and dis- sipacion, and to restore Publik welth again to her estate, which was so done. This plaie was so set furth with riche and costly apparell, with straunge diuises of Maskes and morishes that it was highly praised of all menne, sauyng of the Cardinall, whiche imagined that the plaie had been diuised of hym, and in a great furie sent for the saied master Roo, and toke from hym his Coyfe, and sent hym to the Flete, and after he sent for the yong gentlemen, that plaied in the plaie, and them hyghly rebuked and thretened, and sent one of them called Thomas Moyle of Kent to the Flete, but by the meanes of freendes Master Roo and he wer deliuered at last. This plaie sore displeased the Cardinall, and yet it was neuer meante to hym, as you haue harde, wherfore many wysemen grudged to see hym take it so hartely, and euer the Cardinall saied that the Kyng was hyghly displeased with it, and spake nothyng of hymselfe. TJie xviith. yere of Hen. VIII,: [22 Apr. 1526 — 21 Apr. is2j]/ol. 154. £d. 1548.
There is a letter, date, 6 February 1527, in the State Paper Office, of Archbishop Warham, deprecating the excessive punishment of Serjeant Roo. The date of the play is therefore beyond question. It is certain that Fyshe did not go beyond the seas to Tyndale, in January 1527. He may for a time have been in hiding : otherwise when the storm had blown over he occupied his own house in Whitefriars up to the spring of 1528,* and was busily engaged in superintending the sale of the New Testaments which he had received from Richard Harman.
William Rastell, Serjeant at law, who edited the English 'Workes' of his uncle Sir Thomas More, states that T/ie Supplycacyon of Soulys was 'made' in 1529. It was certainly ^r///^;z after Tyndale's Obediejice of a Chi'istia7i Man (the printing of which, at Marburg in Hesse, was finished on 8 October 1528) had reached England, as the note at /. 28 testifies. It could therefore have hardly been written wwiA early in 1529. It was published — as the title-page of the first edition witnesses — while More was still only Chancellor • of the Duchy of Lancaster, and therefore before 25 October 1529, when he became Lord Chancellor. More was also abroad signing the Treaty of Cambrai in July and August [the treaty was signed on 5 August], and with the King at Woodstock in September : his Supplicacyon was therefore m all likelihood written in the spring of the year, though it may have been published while he was on the continent.
The composition of More's Supplicacyon fixes with certainty the public- ation of Fyshe's Supplicacyon for the Meggers, to which it is a prompt reply, to have been early in 1529. *That dyspytuose and dyspyteful person/ which of late vnder pretexte of -pyte/ made and put forth among you/ a boke that he namyd the supplycacyon for the beggars/' fol. i. Fox states that Fyshe's Invective was 'throwen and scattered at the procession in Westminster upon Candlemas day, before the king,' and that Wolsey caused his servants /diligently to attende to gather them up that they should not come into the kinges handes.' pp. 445-9. Ed. 1563.
THE LANDING AND DISTRIBUTION IN ENGLAND, 43
Fyshe may have gone abroad as soon as the persecution of 1528 arose,, and there printed his- Sufpiicacyo/i, which is a small eight-paged tract, now excessively scarce. Anyhow he was soon back again in London : where he died in 1530.
7. But the most precise evidence as to the Distribution is to be found in the confession of Robert Necton, made apparently at London in 1528. It is reprinted by Strype from the Registries of the Bishop of London. There is no date, but it was certainly made about ihe middle of that year. Necton distinctly refers to this Quarto edition as *of the great volume,' ' of the biggest ' : to the Octavo edition as * of the smal volume ' : and to the first surreptitious edition, printed by Christopher Endhoven at Antwerp in the autumn of 1526, in the edition that was offered to him about Christmas 1527, by the 'Duche' /. e. German man. He also gives us infonnation as to the prices at which the Testaments were sold.
jE bowght at sondry tymis of Mr Fyshe dwellyng by the Whight Frears in London, many of the New Testaments in English ; that is to say, now v. and now x. And sometyme mo, and some- tyme less, to the nombre of xx. or xxx. in the gret volume. The which New Testaments the said Mr Fyshe had of one Harmond, an English man, beyng beyond see. But how many he had this respondent cannot tell. And this respondent saith, that about a yere and half agon he fell in a quain- taunce with Vicar Constantyne here in London. Which shewed this respondent first, that the said Mr Fyshe had New Testaments to sell ; and caused this respondent to by some of the said New Testaments of Mr Fyshe. And the said Mr Fyshe, at the desire and instance of Vicar Constantine, browghte the said New Testaments home- to this respondents house. And before that Vicar Constantine caused this respond- ent to by some of the said New Testaments, he had none, nor no other books, except the chapiters of Matthew. 1
And moreover, this respondent saith, that about the same tyme he sold fyve of the said New Testa- ments to Sir William Furboshore synging man, in Stowmarket in'SufTolk, for vii. or viii. grotes a pece [is. ^d. or 2s. 8d. equal to £i iss. od, or £,^ os. od. now]. Also, two of the same New Testaments in Bury St Edmonds : that is to say, to Raynold Wodelesse one ; and lliomas Horfan another, for the same price.
Also, he saith, that about Cristmas last, he sold one New Testament to a Priste ; whose name he cannot tell, dwellyng at Pycknam Wade in Northfolke ; and two Latin books the one Oeconomia Christiana ; • and the other Unio Dtssidentium* Also, one Testament to William Gibson merchaimt man, of the parish of S. Magaret Patens.
Also, Vicar Constantyne at dyvers tymes had of this respondent about a xv. or xvi. of the New Testaments of the biggest. And this respondent saith, that the sayd Vicar Constantyne dyvers tymes
' Evidently Tyndale's first publication. we are delivered from sin, and concerning infant
• This book has defied my research. All I can baptism. (4) Concerning predestination, vocation,
le.am of it js its fuller title, Economica Christiana justification, and glorification. (5) Concerning the
rem chrisiiauam instituens. double law, i.e. the natural law and the positive
'A Protestant work by the ' venerable ' Doctor, law. (6) The works of the law. (7) Of judicial
Herman Bodius. Of the Latin editions of separate law ancl the secular sword. (3) Of grace and
parts, separately issued one after the other, before merit. (9) Of faith and its works.
1527, I have been' unable to see a copy ; but have The second part treats (10) Of the sufficiency of
inspected a French edition, L' union de toute dis- the word of God. (11) Of penitence and the
corde, printed by Martin Empercur at Antwerp in three modes of confession. (la' Of brotherly
1532. It is a collection of passages of Scripture rebuke. (13) Of abstinence and fasting. (14) Of
and of extracts from 17 of the early Fathers ; and prayer. {15) Of the labour of the hands. iC) Of
has for its motto Spes mea lesus. The first pardons and indulgences. (17) ()f th<
treats of ( i) Adam's transgression and original sin. of the Body and B!ood of Christ. (
(2) All men are dinners through Adam. (3) How order of the ecclesiastical constitution. . , - .....
F 2
44 THE LANDING AND DISTRIBUTION IN ENGLAND.
bowght of him certayne of the sayd New Testaments ; and this respondent lykewise, of hym. Also, he sold Sir Richard Bayfell two New Testaments unbound, about Cristmas last ; for the which he payd iii^ \\\\d. [£2 los, od.'i
Farthermore, he saith, that he hath sold v. or vi. of the said N. Testaments to diverse persons of the cite of London, whose namys, or dwellyng places, he doth not remember.
Moreover, he saith, that since Easter last, he bowght of Geffray [Lolme] Usher of Saynct Antonyes, with whom he hath byn aqueynted by the space of a yere, or therabout (by reason he was Mr Formar>, the person of Hony Lane his servant, and for that this respondent did moche resort to the said persons ser- mons) XVIII. N. Testaments in English of the smal volume, and xxvi. books, al of one sort, caMcdOecona- vtici Christiana in Latin ; and two other books in Latin, called Uftio Dissidentiuin. For which he payed hym xl i'. [;^3o.] Of the which Oeconomia Christiana Vicar Constantyne had xiii. at one tyme.
And of which N. Testaments since Easter this respondent caryed xv. of them, and the other xxiii. Oecofiomia Christiana, to Lynne, to sell. Which he wold have sold to a young man, called William
merchant man, dwellyng by one Mr. Burde of the same towne. Which young man wold
not medle with them, because they were prohibite. And so this respondent left the said books at Lynne with the said William, untyll his retornyng thider ayen. And so the said bookes do remayne ther still, as yet. And two of the said N. Testaments he hath in his own custodie, with another of the great volume. Also, another Testament of the smal volume he sold since Easter to young Elderton, merchant man, of Saynct Mary Hill parishe.
Howbeit he saith, that he knew not that any of thies bookes were of L,uthers sect.
To the xviiith [/ e. article of the Indictment], That he hath byn a receptor, he saith, that he twice or thryese hath byn in Thomas Mathews house of Colchestre. Wheras he hath red diverse tymes in the N. Testament in English, before the said Thomas Matthew, his wife, William Dykes, and other servantes ther. And there, and then have herd old Father Hacker speke of prophesies ; and have had communi- cations of diverse articles ; which he doth not now remember.
To the xixth, so begynnyng. That he iven-t about to by a great nombre of N. Testaments, he saith, that about Cristmas last, there came a Duche man, beyng now in the Flete, which wold have sold this re- spondent, ii or iii hundreth of the said N. Testaments in English : which this respondent did not by ; but sent him to Mr Fj'she to by them : and said to the Duche man. Look what Mr Fyshe doth, I wil do the same. But whether Mr Fyshe bowght any of them, he cannot tell : for which iii. hundreth he shold have paid xvi/. v^-^., after ix^. a pece. [;^3oo at gd. would amount to £\x $s. od. : representing ii.f. 3^. and ;£i68 15J'. od. now. The price offered was evidently put at the very lowest.]
To the XX. article, That he is injramed ; he saith, that since Easter last, he was at Norwiche at his brothers house, wher as one had complayned of this respondent to my Lord of Norwiche, because he had a N. Testament. Wherfor his brother counceled this respondent to send or delyver his said N. Testa- ment : and said to him. If he wold not delyver it, my Lord of Norwiche would send him to my Lord of London, his Ordinary. And so afterwards he sent it to London by the caryer.
To the XXI. article, so begynnyng, T/iat contrary to the prohibition, he hath kept the New Testament, he confessith, that after he had knowledge of the condempnation of the said N. Testament, by the space of a yere, or more, he hath had in his custodie, kept, and studyed the same Testament, and have red it thoroughly many tymes. And also have red in it as wel within the citie and diocess of London, as within the citie and diocesse of Norwiche. And not onely red it to himself, but redd and tawght it to diverse other.
To the XXII. he answeryth and denyeth, that he had Wycliefs Wycket or the Apocalips at any tyme. J. Strype, Eccles. Mem. \. Part 11. pp. 63-5. Ed. 1822. ^^' "^^ ^^^'^^'^ Necton.i
all the faithful are priests, kings, and prophets ; Gregory, Hilarius, Jerome, Lactantius, Origen,
but all are not ministers of the church. (20) Of Tertullian, Theophylactus. This work was of great
the honour due to saints. _ (21) Of the burial value in proving that the doctrine of the Reformers
of the dead. (22) Of Antichrist. (23) Of the agreed with that of the Fathers and of Scripture,
flight and per.secutions of Christians. (24) Of the ^ The general tenour of the confession would
essence of divinity. The Fathers quoted are seem to show that Necton was answering three
Ambrose, Athanasius, Augustine, Bede, Bernard, general charges ; as to the Quarto, then as to the
Chrysostom, Clemens, Cyprian, Cyril, Fiilgentius, Octavo, then as to the Antwerp impression.
Tim LANDING AND DISTRIBUTION IN ENGLAND, 45
NectOD; whose brother was Sheriff of Norwich in 1530, and who him- self appears to liave been of good position, does not seem to have carried on this hazardous work of coli)ortage for the sake of money ; but to have sold the Testaments approximately at cost price, viz. at about two shillings or two shillings and sixpence each, bound [equal to ;£\ 10s. od. to ;£i lys. dd, each].
If three thousand copies were struck off of each edition by Tyndale's printers ; the amount invested by the English merchants, who supported him in the two impressions, at two shillings each copy, was ;^6oo, repre- senting p^9,ooo of the present day. It would seem also from the above, that the Octavo copies were cheaper than those in Quarto : but Necton's deposition is not sufficiently clear to determine by how much.
8. Respecting Constantine ^ and Necton, there is the following later in- formation in Sir Thomas More's Cojifutacyon of Tyndales Answer e^ 1532 : with which we must here dismiss them.
As George Constantync ere he escaped, was redy to haue in worde at the leste wyse abiured all that holy doctryne \_More is speaking derisively\\ what his herte was god and he know, and pcraducnture the deuyll to yf he entended otherwyse. But surely there was entended toward hym somwhat more good, then his dealyngc had byfore deserued. And so mych the more fauour was there mynded hym, in that he semed very penytent of his mysse vsynge of hym selfe, in fallynge to Tyndales heresyes agayne. For whychc he knowledged hym selfe worthy to be hanged, that he haddc so falsely abused the kyngcs graciouse rcmis- syon and pardon geuen hym byfore / and hadde for all that in the whylc both bought and solde of those heretycall bokes, and secretely set forth those heresyes. Wherof he shewed hym selfe so repentaunt, that he vttered and dysclosed dyuers of hys companyons, of whom there are some abiured synnys, that he wyste well were abiured before, namely Rycharde Necton whyche was by Constantynes deteccyon taken and commytted to Newgate / where except he happe to dye before in pryson, he standeth in grete paryll to be ere it be longe, for hys fallynge agayne to Tindales heresyes burned
How be it Necton now syth he was taken sayed that hys wyfe had burned them. But it is well knowen that Necton had hym selfe and a man of hys also, solde many such bokes of heresye, bothe in London and in other shyres syth his abiuracyon Cc.i.
How be it as for Constantyne as I sayd before, semed in pryson here very penytent, and vtterly mjTided to forsake such heresyes and heretykes for euer. In profe wherof he not onely detected as I sayd hysowne dedes and his felowes, but also studyed and deuysed how those deuelysshe bookes whyche hym selfe and other of hys felowes hadde brought and shypped, myghte come to the bysshoppes handcs to be burned. And
' The following somewhat incorrect account of abroad in order to escape punishment for heresy,
this man may be preserved in a note. It seems however that sii Thoinas More set him in
George Constantine, bom about 1504, received the stocks, and that he made his escape and went
his education in Cambridge university, and was again to Antwerji. He was residing in Wales 1539.
bachelor of oinon law 1524. Adopting Protestant About 15^6 he became registrar of the diocese of
opinions he went to Antwerp, where he assisted St. David s, and in 1549 archdeacon of Carmarthen.
Tyndale and Joye in the translation of the New He was one of the principal accusers of Ferrar
Testament, and the compilation of various books bishop of St. David's, but before the death of that
exposing the corruptions of the church and prelate was reconciled to him. In 1559 he became
the superstition of the age. Whilst in Brabant archdeacon of Brecon, which office w.-»s vacn;-' *'-
he practiaed for a year as a surgeon. AlKJUt same year by his death. It appears thai
1530 he was seized on a visit he made to Eng- married, and had a daughter who was the .
land for the dispersion of prohibited books. Thomas Young, afterwards bishop of St. David s
He was examined by sir Thomas More, and is and ultimately archbishop of York. C. H. and
said to have made disclosures as to his associates T. Cooper, Ath. Cantab. /'. 305, EJ. i8?8.
46 • THE LANDING AND DISTRIBUTION IN ENGLAND.
therfore he shewed me the shypmannes name that had them, and the markes of the ferdellys, by whych I haue synnys hj^ escape receyued them. And it maye be by goddes grace, that though the man fled hense for feare of suche harme as he wyste he had well deserued/ and yet was nothynge towarde hym, but per- aduenture more good then he was ware of : he is yet amended in hys mynde and hath in hys harte forsaken all Tyndales heresyes, and so I pray god it be/ for I wold be sory yat euer Tyndale sholde glory and boste of hys burnynge. How be it in the meane whyle, tyll it may -wfell appere that he be surely turned to the catholyke fayth agayne, I wil aduyse all good ci-ysten folke and specyally the kynges subiectes, to forbere and estyew [eschuewe] hys company. For j'at englyshe man which shall be founden to be famylyarf wyth hym there, before his conuersyon here knowen and proued, maye therby brynge hym selfe in suspycyon of heresye, and happely here thereof at hys retournynge hyther. Cc. ii.
9. It is with regret that we cannot enter here into the story of Robert Barnes, D.D., the Augustine monk of Cambridge ; of his Sermon on Christmas Eve, 24 Dec. 1525, and the consequent trouble that came to him through it until it climaxed in that 'gorgeous fasyng with myters, and cros- staues, abbots and pryours,' with Wolsey enthroned at their head, at St. Paul's on Sunday 11 Feb. 1526. There Barnes was put to open penance and thence returned to the Fleet, where he remained about six months. After which he was a free prisoner at the Augustine Friary in London, where we have the following pictures of him, actively engaged in the distri- bution of the printed New Testaments.
John Tyball of Steeple Bumsted, on 28 April 1528, deposed as follows.
Furthermore, he saythe, that at Mychaelmasse last past was twelve monethe this respondent and Thomas Hilles came to London to Frear Barons, then being at the Freers Augustines in London, to buy a New Testament in Englishe, as he saythe. And they found the sayd Freer Barons in his chamber ; wheras there was a merchant man, reading in a boke, and ii. or iii. more present. And when they came in, the Frear demawnded them, from whence they cam. And they said, from Bumstede ; and so forth in communication they desyred the sayd Freer Barons, that th[e]y myght be aquaynted with hym ; because they had herd that he was a good man ; and bj'cause they wold have his cownsel in the New Testament, which they desyred to have of hym. And he saithe, that the sayd Frear Barons did perseve vei^ well, that Thomas Hilles and »his respondent were infected with opinions, bycause they wold have the New Testament. And then farther they shewyed the sayd Frear, that one Sir Richard Fox Curate of Bumstede, by ther means, was wel entred in ther lernyng ; and sayd, that they thowghte to gett hym hole in shorte space. Wherfore they desyrj'd the sayd Frear Barons to make a letter to hym, that he wold continew in that he had begon. Which Frear did promyse so to wryte to hym a letter at afternoone, and to gete them a New Testament. And then after that communication, the sayd Thomas Hilles and this respondent shewyd the Frear Barons of certayne old bookes that they had : as of iiii. Evangelistes, and certayne Epistles of Peter and Poule in Englishe. Which bookes the sayd Frear dyd little regard, and made a twyte of it, and sayd, A poynt for them, for they be not to be regarded toward the new printed Testament in Englishe. For it is of more cleyner Englishe. And then the sayd Frear Barons delyverid to them the sayd New Testament in Englyshe : for which they payd iiij \\d \_£\ \is. 6d.] and desyred them, that they wold kepe yt close. For he wolde be loth that it shold be knowen, as he now remembreth. And after thedelyverance of the sayd New Testament to them, the Frear Barons dyd lyken the New Testament in Latyn to a cyTnball tynkklyng, and brasse sowndyng. But what farther exposytion he made uppon it, he cannot tell. And then at afternone they fett the sayd letter of the sayd Frear, which he wrote to Sir Richard : and red that openly before them, but he dolh not now remember what was in the same. And so dcpartyd from hym ; and did never since speke with hym, or write to hym, as he saithe. Also, he saithe, that abowgh a half j^ar agone, he delyverid the sayd New Testament to Frear Gardyner : which he never had ageyne. J. Stkype. Eccles, Mem. I. Part ii., pp. 54-5. Ed. 1822.
Harl MSS. 42i,/<?/. 35, contains what is without doubt the correspond-
7'//E LANDING AND DISTRIBUTION IN ENGLAND. <^Qs v^-v'
ing deposition of T. Hilles, servant of Christopher Raven a tailor ot^^^^ Wytham. It runs thus : ' —
Also he saithe that abowt whytsontyde was twelf moneth he came to london with lohn Tyhall and speke with frenr barons at frears Augustyns in his chambre and the said lohn I'yball told the said frear bar^s that they came from Cantebrige to by some of the new testaments. And in his chambre they fownde a youn;:; gentleman whom he did not know hauyng a chayne about his neck, to whom the said frear did rede in the newe testament and this respondent taryed still in his chambre and herd hym rede a chapitour of powle as he remembrith and after that done I. Tyball moued the said frear barons of sir Richard Ffox and shewed that sir Richard was well lemed and rekened that he wold do well wherfore he desjTcd frear barons that he wold wryte a louyng letter to the said sir Richard which frere barons so wrote a letter to the said sir Richard which letter after he had wryten it he did rede it to this re- spondent and lohn Tyball, howbe it he doth not now remembre what was contcyned in it and dclyucred to Tyball. And afterward eche of them bowght a nfw testament in Englishe of hem and paid iijs [£3 55. ck/.] for a pece, which he kept after that it was forboyden [? Sept. or Oct. 1526] vntyll the sondaj before m'yd lent last past [8 March 1528]. In which new testament -he red in Roger a Tanner house of bres GyfTord, bower hall, mother Bochcrs and mother Chartes, and at last sold the said new testament to sir Richard Ffox.
10. Of the labours of Geoffrav Lolme, Stephen Forman, S.T.P., and other suspected Distributors, not much detailed information has come do\vn to us.
n. These Testament-Circulators deserve to be held in perpetual honour. They were anti-Papists before the Testaments arrived in this country. They instinctively saw in them the great instruments of deliverance of the people from priestly thraldom that weighed so heavily upon them : and at the hazard of all their worldly health and wealth, they devoted themselves to the dangerous work of their distribution far and wide.
12. It may be interesting to close this section with the records of the earliest possession of the printed New Testaments in England, viz. in March and April 1526, as yet known.
John Pykas, a baker of Colchester, confessed on 7 March 1528 : —
That about a v years last past at a certayne tyme his mother then dwellyng in Kury sent for hym and mouyd hym that he shuld not beleve in the sacraments of the church for that was not the r>'ght way. And then she delyvered to this respondent. on[e] booke of powles Epistoles in Englyshe and bide hym lyve after the maner and way of the said epistoles and gospclls and not after the way that tlie church doth teche. Also about a ij yere last past he bowght in Colche'^ter of a lumbard of london a new testament m . Englisheand paid for it iiijf [£3] which new testament he kept by the space of iiij yeres [? months] and red it thorowghly many tymes. And afterward when he hard that the said new testament was forboden that no man should kepe them, he delyvered it and the book of powles Epistoles to his mother aycn. f/ar/. MSS. ^ii./ol. 17.
John Tyball of Steeple Bumsted, already quoted, confessed on 28 April 1528:—
Furthermore, he saythe, that abowght ii yeres agon he companyed with Sir Richard Foxe Curate of Bumstede, and shewid hym al his bookys that he had ; that is to say, the NewTcstamente in Englishc, the Gospel of Matthew and Mark in Englishe ; which he had of John Pykas of Colchester ; and a book ex- poundyng the Pater Noster, the Ave Maria, and the Credo ; certain of Powles Epistoles in Englishe, after th[e] old translation ; the iiii Evangelists in Englishe. J. Strype. EccUs. Mem. I. Part n., //. 52-3. Ed. 1822.
48 THE PERSECUTION IN ENGLAND,
VI. The Persectttion in England.
The hunting down of the Book (and it is with that chiefly that we have to do) preceded the punishment of its readers.
t» Our earhest printed information of the very first action of Cardinal Wolsey and the Bishops respecting the destruction of the printed New Testaments comes to us in the name of the King himself
Luther, on ist Sept. 1525, wTOte his second letter to Henry VIII.; but with bad taste published it before the King himself received it, which was not till the 20th of March, 1526. Some time afterwards Henry printed his answer, with Luther's letter; prefixing to both a short preface Pio lectori ; all three in Latin : in a small book entitled Literarium, . . . quihis respondet ad quandam epistolani Ltitheri, the printing of which was finished by R. Pynson on the 2nd of December, 1526.
Not satisfied w^ith this, Henry subsequently had this work translated into English : A copy of the letters wherm the most redouted and mighty prince\ our soiierayne lorde kyng Henry the eight] kyng of Engla?ide and of Frauncej defensor of the faith\ and lorde of Irelande : made answer e imto a certayne letter of Marty n Luther j sent vnto hym by -the samej and also a copy of ye foresayd Luther s letter j in suche order] as here after followeth : which was also printed by Pynson, without date : but the latest date assignable to it cannot be long after the beginning of 1527. For Jerome doubtless got the account he gave to Roy of the Episcopal ' consistory,' from it.
To this English translation tliere was added in the King's name a special preface in which occurs the following passage.
For we doute nat but it is well knowen to you all/ that Martyn Luther late a frere Augustynef and now ron out in Apostacy and wedded/ hath nat onely scraped out of the asshen/ and kyndeled agayne/ almost all the embres of those olde errours and heresyes/ that euer heretyke helde sythe Christ was borne hytherto: but hath also added some so poysoned pointes of his ownej so wretched,) so vyle[ so detestable/ prouokynge men to myschefe/ encoragyng the worlde to syn/ preachyng- an vnsaciat lyberte/ to alleden them with all/ and finally/ so farre against all honesty/ vertue and reason/ that neuer was there erst any heretyke/ so farre voyde of all grace and wyt/ that durst for shame speke them. We therfore seyng these heresyes sprede abrode/ and inwardly sorowynge so many christen soules to ron to ruyne/ as hath done in other regions/ by the occasyon of suche pestylent errours/ entendyng for our parte/ somwhat to set hande therto/ wrote after our meane lernyng/ a lytell treatyse/ for the assertyon and probatyon of the holy sacramentes : In whiche we reproued/ and as we trust/ suffyciently refuted and conuynced/ the most parte of the detestable heresies of the sayde Luther/ contaygned in his abhomynable bokef entytuledV^ Babilonica Captiuitate. For angre and furj'e wherof] vpon two yeres after/ Luther wrote and sent oute agaynst vs a bokc/ nothyng answeryng to ye mater/ but all reason sette asyde/ stuffed vp his booke with only furious raylyng/ whiche his boke we regardynge/ as it was worthy/ contempned and nat wolde vouche safe any thing to reply/ reputyng our selfe in Christes cause/ nat to good with a ryght meane man to reason or contrary/ but nothing metely frutelesse with a leude Frere to rayle. So came it than to passe/ that Luther at laste/ parceyuyng wyse men to espye hym/ lerned men to leaue hym/ good men to abhorre hym/ and his frantyke fauourers to fall to wracke|«the nobles and honest people in Almaygne/ beynge taught by the profe of his vngratyous prac- tyse/ moche more hurt and myschefe to folovve theroff than euer they loked .ifter/ deuysed a letter to vs/ written/ to abuse them and all other nations/ in such wyse/ as ye by the contentes therof/ hereafter shal well
THE PERSECUTION IN ENGLAND. 49
perceyue. In whiche he fayneth himselfc to be enformed/ that we be tourncd to the fauour of his secte. And with many flateryng wordes/ he laboreth to haue vs content that he myght be bolde to write to vs in the mater/ and cause of the gospell : And thervpon without answere had from vs/ nat oneiy publysshed the same letter and put it in print/ of purpose that his adherentes shulde be the bolder/ vndcr ye shadowe of our fauour/ but also fell in deuyce with one or two leude persons/ borne in this our realmef for the translatyng of the Newe testament in to Englysshe/ as well with many corruptions of that holy text/ as certayne prefaces/ and other pestylcnte gloses in the margentes' for the aduauncement and scttyng forthe of his adbomynable heresyes/ entendynge to abuse the gode myndes and dcuotion/ that you oure derely beloued people beare towarde the holy scrypture/ and to enfect you with the decdly corruption and contagious -odour of his pestylent errours. In the aduoydynge wheroff we of our espedall tcndre zeale towardes you/ haue with the deliberate aduyse of the most reuerende father in god/ Thomas lorde Cardynalll legate de Latere of the see apostolyke/ Archebysshop of yorke/ primate and our Chauncellour of this realmrf and other reuerende fathers of the spyritualtye/ determyned the sayd and vntrue translatyons to be brennedj with further sharppe correction and punisshment against the kepars and reders of the same/ rckenyng of your wisdomes very sure that ye wyll well and thankfully jjarceyue our tendre and louyng mynde towarde you therin/ and that ye will neuer be so gredy vppon any swete wyne/ be the grape neuer so plesaunt/ that ye
wyll desyre to taste it/ beyng well aduertised yat your enemy before hath poysoned it
^ We therfore our well-beloued people/ nat wyllyng you by such subtell meanes/ to be disceyued or seduced/ haue of our especiall fauour toward you/ translated for you/ and gyuen out vnto you/ as well his said letter written to vs/ as our answere also made vnto the same : By the sight wherofy jre may partely parceyue bothe what the man is in hym selfe/ and of what sorte is his doctrine.
From the Bodleian copy of this excessively rare tract.
There was then indubitably a secret delibefation of the Cardinal and the Bishops at some time after Tonstall's arrival home in April, 1526; and, as we shall immediately see, before or in the October following.
2. One of the first results of this concerted action was the sermon at Paul's Cross by Tonstall, Bishop of London, in which he told the people that there were three thousand errors in the translation, and made the other statements quoted by Roy, see pp. 30-31. On this occasion Tyndale's New Testaments were first officially denounced, and publicly burnt.
Though the date of this Sermon and Auto da fi cannot be exactly recovered, it may provisionally — until demonstrative proof turns up — be placed in September or October of that year.
A confused rumour of the occurrence reached even to Rome ; and there is extant a letter of Cardinal Campeggio to Wolsey, dated Rome, 21 November, 1526, which begins with the following passage —
Non possum non maxime Isetari, cum quottidie I cannot but greatly rejoice, when I hear dail> intelligam a serenissimo et potentissimo Rege from our most serene and most powerful king, that nostro ope[ra] et diligentia lUustrissimae Domina- by your most illustrious Lordship's assistance and tionis vestrje, aliquod opus gloriosum et salutare diligence, a glorious and saving work is being car- pro tuenda rcligione Christiana in isto su[o] regno ried on in his kingdom for the protection of the geri, sicuti nuper cum summa eius laude et gloria Christian religion; as, for instance, we lately heard, auditum est, Majestatem suam sacrum B[ibli3e] to his Majesty's great praise and glory, that he had codicem,qui ad peruertendum pias fidelium simpli- most justly caused to be burnt a copy of the Holy cium mentes a pcrfidis abominandx sectae Lut[her- Bible, which had been mistranslated into the common anae] sectatoribus uemaculo sermone deprauatus, tongue by the faithless followers of Luther's abomin- et ad eius regnum delatus fuerat, iustissime com- able sect, to pervert the pious minds of simple bun fedsse. Quo certe nullum gratius onuiipotcnti believers, and had been brought into bisj^ingdom.
G
so
THE PERSECUTION IN ENGLAND.
Deo holocaustum fieri potuit. Persistat igitur Illustrissima [Dominatio vestra] in ea in qua est specula, et pium Christianissimumque illud regnum a tarn scelerata et peruersa heresi, (uti semper fecit) tueatur atque defendat, Vt Maximi Regis nostri proprium decus sit Ch[ristianam] fidem non minus felicissimis armis quam diuino ingenio summis lucubrationibus . et exacta di- lige[ntia] a sceleratis hostibus protexisse et in tutiorem, felicioremque statum redegisse. Quod ego, qui eivi[s] incomparabiles uirtutes optime noui, omnibus affirm o, et futurum certissime confido. — Cott. MSS. Vit. B. viii. 164.
Assuredly no burnt offering could be more pleasing to Almighty God.
May your most Illustrious Lordship long continue on your present vvatchtower, and protect and defend, as you have always done, that pious and most Christian kingdom, from so accursed and perverse a heresy, so that the peculiar glory of our great king may be to have protected the Christian faith from the accursed enemies, not less by successful war, than by his divine talents, great studies, and careful diligence, and to have brought the faith into a safer and more happy state. Of this, I, who well know his incomparable virtues, assure every one, and I most assuredly trust that it will be so.
Henry may have himself, as a symboHcal and official act, burnt one copy of Tyndale's translation (for no English Bible existed at the time or for long after) ; but it is far more reasonable to take the Rumour in Rome as originating from the Burning at Paul's Cross. If so, allowing a month backwards from 21 November for the news to travel to the Papal Court, we get the middle of October as the approximate date of Tonstall's Sermon and Bonfire.
3, This seems the more probable : inasmuch as without doubt that Sermon and its attendant Fire were only a part of a general scheme of attack on the Forbidden Book : and it was on the 24th of October, 1526, that Tonstall issued the following injunction to his four Archdeacons of London, , Middlesex, Essex, and Colchester, after the manner of the following one.
Cutbertus permissione diuina Lond. Episcopus dilecto nobis in Christo Archidiacono nostro Londo. seu eius officiali, salutem gratiam et bene- dictionem.
Ex pastoralis officij nostri debito ea quae ad subiec- torum nostrorum periculum, et maxime ad interne- tionem animarum earundem tendere dinoscuntur, salubriter propellere et totis viribus extirpare as- tringimur. Sane ex fide dignorum relatione ipsaque rei euidentia, ad nostram iamdudum peruenit noti- ciam, quod nonnulli iniquitatis filij ac Lutheranae factionis ministri quos summa excaecauit malicia, a /ia veritatis et orthodoxae fidei declinantes, sanctum del euangelium in vulgare nostrum Anglicanum subdola ver&utia transferentes ac nonnullos haere- ticae prauitatis articulos et opiniones erroneas pemi- ciosas pestiferas, scandalosas et simplicium mentium seductiuas intermiscentes, illibatam hactenus sacrae scripturae maiestatem, suis nepharijs et tortuosis interpretationibus prophanare, et verbo domini sa- crosancto et recto sensu eiusdem callide et peruerse abuti tentarint. Cuius quidem translationis non-
TRANSLATION BY JOHN FOX.
Cutbert by the permission of god, byshop of London, vnto our wellbeloued in christ the Archdeacon of London, or to his officiali, helth grace and benediction.
By the deuty of our pastorall office, we are bounde diligently with all our power to forsee, prouide for, roote out and put away all those things, which seme to tende to the perill and daunger of our subiectes and specialy ye distruc- tion of ther soules, wherfor we hauing vnderstand- ing by ye reporte of diuers credible persones, and also by the euident apparaunce of the matter, that many children of iniquitie mainteiners of Luthers sect, blinded through extreame wickednes, wandring from the way of truth and the catholike faith, craft[e]ly haue translated the new testament into our English tongue, entermedling therewith many hereticall articles and erronious opinions, pernicious and offensiue, seducing ye simple people, attempt- ing by their wicked and peruerse interpretations to prophanate ye maiestie of the scripture, whiche hetherto hath remayned vndefiled, and craftely to
THE PERSECUTION IN ENGLAND.
null! libri impress! quidam cum glosis, quidam sine glo&is, vt accepimus, dictum pcstifcrum ct pemici- osum virus in vulgari idiomate in sc continentes in promiscuam nostrarum dioc. et iurisdictionis Lond. multitudine sunt disi>ersi, qui sane gregem nobis commissum, nisi citius prouideatur tarn pestifcro veneno et mortifero prauitatis hsercticac morbo, pro- culdubio inficient et contaminabunt in animarum nobis commissarum graue periculum et diuinae maiestatis grauissimam ofTensam.
Vnde nos Cutbertus episcopus ante dictus de pre- dictis magnopere dolentes et antiqui hostis calliditati ire, quam suis satellitibus ad animarum subditorum nostrorum interemptionem subministrat, ob<iiam curaque pastorali super grege nobis commisso diligenter inuigilare ac remedia opp>ortuna praemissis adhibere cupientes, vobis coiunctira el diuisim committimus ac firmiter in virtute sanctx obediendae qua nobis tenemini iniungendo mandamus, quatenus autoritate nostra moneatis monerive facialis omnes et singulos lam exemptos quam non exemptos, infra vestrum Archidiaconatum vbi libet commo- rantes, quatenus infra xxx. dierum spadum quo- rum quidem dierum decem pro primo, decem pro secundo, el decem pro lertio et peremptcrio termino sub excommunicationis poena ac criminis haereseos suspicionis incurrendae eis assignamus, omnes et singulos huiusmodi libros translationem noui lesta- menti in vulgarem linguam factam continent^ ad nos seu nostrum in spiritualibus vicarium generalem inferanl el realiter iradant. Et quid in pra;missis feceritis nos aut vicarium nostrum huiusmodi infra duos menses a die dati presentium debite cerlifi- care personaliter vel per literas veslras patentes vna cum praesentibus autenlice sigillalas non omit- talis sub poena conlemptus.
Dal. sub sigillo nosiro 24. die mensis Octobris An. M.D. 26, nostraecons. An. quinlo.
Fox, Actes, &'c., p. 449. \st Ed. 1563.
abuse the raoste holy word of God, and the true sence of the same, of the whichc transblion there arc many bokes imprinted, some with gloses and some without, conteining in the cnglish tongue that pestiferous and moste pernicious poyson dis- persed throughout all our dioces of London in great nomber, whiche truely without it be spedely fursene without doubt will contaminate and infect the flocke committed vnto vs, with rooste deadly poyson and heresy. To the greuous perill and daunger of the soules committed to our charge, and the offence of gods diuine maicstie.
Wherfore we Cuthbert the byshop aforesaid, greuously sorowing for the premisses, willing to withstande the craft and subteltie of the auncient enemy and his ministers, which seke the deslruc- ion of my flock, and with a diligent care to take heade vnto the flock committed to my charge, de- siring to prouide spedy remedies for ye premisses, we charg[e] you ioinlly and seuerally, and by virtue of your obedience, straightly enioyne and com- maund you that by our autorj'tie you wame or cause to be warned, all and singuler aswell exempte as not exempt, dwelling with in your Archdecon[rieJs. that with in. xxx. dales space, whereof ten daies for the first, x. for ihe second and. x. for ye third peremptory terme, vnder pajTie of excommunica- tion, and incurring the suspicion of heresie, they do bring in and really deliuer vnto our vicau" general, all and singuler such books conteyning the trans- lation of ye new testament in the English tongue, and that you doo certyfie vs or our said commissary, within, ii. monthes, after ihc day of the date of these presents, dewly, personally or by your leters, together with these presenles, vnder your seales, what you haue done in the premisses, vnder paine of contempt.
Geuen vnder our seale the xxKi[j]. of October, in the V. yeare of oure consecration.
'^tl'>
i*. A further presumption of a previous examination of the Transla- tion, and a concerted plan respecting it, may be found in that the gravamen of Archbishop Warham's Mandate of 3 Nov., 1526, as addressed to Voysey, Bishop of Exeter, is identical with that of Tonstall's Injunction.
Willielmus, permissione divina Cant, archiepiscopus, etc. vener. confratri nosiro domino Johanni, Dei gratia Exon. episcopo, vestrove vicario in spiritualibus generali, salutem, et fratemam in Domino charitatcm.
Ex pastoralis officii nostri debito ea, quae ad subjectorum nostrorum, periculum el maximc ad inteme- donem animarum earundem tendere dignoscuntur, salubriter propellere, et totis viribus extirpare astnn- gimur. Sane ex fide dignorum relatione ipsaque rei evidentia ad nostram jamdudum pervcnit notitiam, quod nonnuUi iniquitatis filii, ac Lutheranae factionis minislri, quos summa excaccavit malilia, a via veritaiis el orlhodoxse fidei declinantcs, non modo sanctum Dei e\-angelium, sed etiam rcliquam Novi Testamcnti partem in vulgare nostrum Anglicanum subdola versutia transfcrenies, ac nonnulloshaereticae praviiatis ar^iculos, et opiniones erroneas, pemiciosas, pestiferas, tcandalotat, et simplidum aaentiuu seductivas intromiscentes, illibatam baaenus sacrae scripturae msgestatem, sub ncfarils ct tortuoais inter-
c, 2
52 THE PERSECUTION IN ENGLAND.
pretdtionibus profanare, et verbo Domini sacrosancto, et recto sensu ejusdem callide et perverse abuti temptarunt. Cujus quidem translationis nonnulli libri impress!, quidam cum glossis, quidam sine glossis, ut accepimus, dictum pestiferum et perniciosum virus in vulgari idiomate in se continentes, in promiscuam vestrarum dioec. et provinciae Cant, multitudinem sunt dispersi, qui sane gregem nobis et vobis com- missum, in [ni ijcitius provideatur, tarn pestifero veneno, et mortifero pravitatis haereticae morbo pro- culdubio inficient, et contaminabunt, in animarum nobis et vobis commissarum grave periculum, et divinae majestatis gravissimam offensam.
Unde nos Willielmus, archiepiscopus antedictus, de praedictis magnopere dolentes, et antiqui hostis calliditate, quam suis satellitibus, ad animarum dictorum nostrorum subditorum interemptionem subminis- trat, obviam ire volentes, vos hortamur et nihilominus (quia res gravis praejudiccii agitur) in virtute sanctae obedientiae firmiter injungendo mandamus, quatenus cum ea, qua decet, celeri diligentia moneatis, monerive faciatis omnes et singulos, tarn exemptos quam non exemptos, infra vestram dioec. ubilibet com- morantes, quatenus infra 30. dierum spatium, quorum quidem dierum decern pro primo, decem pro secundo, et decem pro tertio et peremptorio termino, sub excommunicationis poena, ac criminis haereseos suspicionis incurrendo eis assignetur, omnes et singulos huiusmodi libros, translationem Novi Testamenti, vel aliquam ejus particulam in vulgarem linguam factam continentes, ad vos seu vestrum in spiritualibus vicarium generalem inferant, et realiter tradant per vos seu vestram auctoritatem igni committendos. Et quid inpraemissis feceritis, n9S citra ultimum diem mensis lanuarii prox. post datam praesentium per literas vestras patentes auctentice sigillatas, numerum librorum hujusmodi ad manus vestras obtentu praefatae monitionis delatorum, ac per vos, ut, praemittitur, numeratorum [incineratorum^] in se continentes, una cum prsesentibus debite certificare non omittatis sub poena contemptus.
Dat. in manerio nostro de Lamehith tertio die mensis Novembris, anno Dom. M. D. xxvi, et nostras transl. xxiii. Wilkins Concilia Magnce Britannice, iii. 706. Ed. 1737.
5. Then probably in order of time next came King Henry's Preface to his people, about the beginning of 1527 ; quoted above.
6. There is also a short but singularly important note from Dr. Robert Ridley, chaplain to Tonstall, Bishop of London, to Henry Golde, nephew and chaplain to Warham, Archbishop of Canterbury, which possibly gives the title of this Quarto New Testament. The date is only 24 February ; but we believe from the absence of any mention of the later Protestant literature (Tyndale's Parable of the Wicked Mammon and the like) and the general tenor of the note, that the year is without any doubt 1527.
Robert Ridley to Henry Golde. Maister Golde, I hartly commande me vnto you. As concernyng this common and vulgare translation of the new testament in to englishe, doon by Mr, William Hichyns, otherwais called Mr. W, Tyndale, and frear William Roy, manifeste lutheranes heretikes and apostates, as doth oppynly apeir, not only by their daily and continuall company and familiarite with Luther and his disciples, bot mych mor by their com- mentares and annotationes in Mattheum et Marcum in the first print,* also by their preface in the 2d prent,* and by their introduccion in to the epistle of Paule ad Romanes* al to gither most posoned and abhominable hereses that can be thowght ; he is not filius Ecclesise Christi that wold receaue a godspell of such damned and precised heretikes, thowh it wer trew, lyk as Paule and our Saviour Crist wold not take the trew testimonial of Evil Spretes that prased Criste trew saying Qjiod filius dei erat,^ et quod ipse Paulus servus esset vert Dei.^ As for errours if ye haue the first prent with annotationes in Mattheum et Marcum, and the preface, ''al
__ ' True readings in the copy in Voysey's Register * Separate publications simultaneously published.
ii. 51. at Exeter. See Foxe's Acts, ?/c., iv. 764. ' The present Quarto.
Ed. by Rev. S. Townsend, M.A., 1846. ♦An aaaptatiou by Tyndale of Luther's Preface,
John Voysey, alias Harman, was Bishop of translated into Latin'by Justus Jonas in 1522.
Exeter between 31 Aug., 1519, and 14 Aug., 1551. ^Mark iii. 11. ^Actsxvi. 17. ^ i.e. The Prologge.
THE PERSECUTION IN ENGLAND. 53
is mere frcnesy, he saith that cuangelium nihil est aliud quam dulcis promissio gratiae,' so that by that meanes pcenitentiam agite, is no part of the euangelion, the pater noster is no part of the godspell, ite maledicti in igncm etemam, no part of the euangelion hot only such appropitujuabit rrgnum caelorunt,*iHueHutU rtquUm aHi>Mal>Ms z'estris.* Also he writ[eth] in that preface and annotationes that there is no difference between virginite and an hoor of the stewes, if she cum to repentaunce> Also that lyk as no man doth evil to the entent that he show[d] be punyshed or hanged therefor, so no man showd do good to haue any rewarde therefor,* contra <u/ facUndas iustiJicatioHes tuas propter retributionem^ et ad Hcbraws de Mose aspicitbat enim in rvmuturatorem alias remuneratiotum^ et illud, facite vobis amicos de mammtrna, ut cufK defeceritis, rfcipi-tnt eos in oftema tabemacMla.^ Also that by good warkes we do no thyng merite,' contra illud, ad Corinthos, ut referat UKUsquisque prout gessit siue bonum, siue malum}^ et illud genes(eos] ad Abraam, quod fecisti hanc rem etc.^^ item illud ^Matthaei, quod sitivi et dedistis miki Potum <Sr»c." et, venite benedict i patris mei.^ Also he saith that he that doth any thyng to haue hy place in heven, he is Satanice et Luciferine superbus.* I haue none of thies bowkes bot only I remembre such thj-nges I redde in the prefaces and annotationes. As for the texte of the godspell first the title is hereticall, saying that it is prcnt as it was writen by the euangelistes:'* cum neque consentiat cum antiqua translatione neque cum Erasmica ; this is the bowk of generacion of iesus the sonne of Abraam and also the Sonne of Dauid.i* Cum in archetypo sit nominatus absolutus, et in illo, filii Abraam, /ilii Dauid.^^&'c. fit sensus, ipse unum solum affert eumque minus germanum ; voluit clam ab ea divertere}'' he wold haue putt hir away ; in quo omnes peccaverunt^^ ad Romanos, in so mych that euery man hath synned. et homo stultissime, pcenitentiam agite,^"* repent*** — By this translation shall we losse al thies cristian wordes, penaunce, charite, confession, grace, prest, chirche, which he alway calleth a congregation, quasi turcharum et brutorum nulla esset congregatio, nisi velit illorum etiam esse ecclesiam ; Idololatria callith he worshippyng of images. I wold that ye showd haue seen my lordes bowkes. As for the translation in Franche withowt any p>ostille it is for certane condemned in Parys decreto publico,*' thow it be trewly doon, condemned I say, that it shal not be lawful! to publishe it to euery layman — bot by prests qncrum labia custodiunt s[cientiam].'' and so it was in the old law and in the tyme of the apostles. Vide Sutorem de translatione biblia.^
I certify you if ye look well, ye shal not look iij lynes withowt fawt in al the bowk, bot I haue not the bowk to marke tham owt, ye showld haue had lasure yourselff to haue doen it, how be it, it becummyth the people of Criste to obey and folow their rewellers which hath geven study and is lemed in such matters as their people showd heir and beleve, thai showd not iudge the doctrine of Paule ne of Paule vicares and successours bot be iudged by their learrijTig as long as thai knaw nothyng contrary Goddes lawes as Saynt Bernard saith most goodly and clerkly in libro de dispensatione et pracepto.
Vale in al haist Your awne, Robert Ridlev, priest.
Item, illud PauH, stuUas qucestitmes devita ^/f.**— bewarre of fowlishe problemes or qucstiones in the scoles. Hoc procul dubio dictum in odium scolasticx theologiz et universitatum. Such a thyng is in the translation, thowh it be not in the same wordes. Ego et pater ttnum^ sumus,^ We ar on, quasi diceret, unus *> sumus, and not on substance or on thyng. Shew yc to the people that if any be of so prowde and stubume stomac that he will