''The First tome or volume of the Paraphrase of Erasmus upon the new testament'' is the first volume of a book combining an English translation of the

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christ ...

interleaved with an English translation of

Desiderius Erasmus Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus (; ; English: Erasmus of Rotterdam or Erasmus;''Erasmus'' was his baptismal name, given after St. Erasmus of Formiae. ''Desiderius'' was an adopted additional name, which he used from 1496. The ''Roterodamus'' wa ...

's Latin paraphrase of the New Testament. It was edited by Nicholas Udall and first published in January 1548 by Edward Whitchurch. The second volume was published in 1549. Translations were by Nicolas Udall,

Catherine Parr Catherine Parr (sometimes alternatively spelled Katherine, Katheryn, Kateryn, or Katharine; 1512 – 5 September 1548) was Queen of England and Ireland as the last of the six wives of King Henry VIII from their marriage on 12 July 1543 until ...

, Thomas Key,

Miles Coverdale Myles Coverdale, first name also spelt Miles (1488 – 20 January 1569), was an English ecclesiastical reformer chiefly known as a Bible translator, preacher and, briefly, Bishop of Exeter (1551–1553). In 1535, Coverdale produced the first c ...

, John Olde,

Leonard Coxe Leonard Cox (or Coxe) (c. 1495 – c. 1549) was an English humanist, author of the first book in English on rhetoric. He was a scholar of international reputation who found patronage in Poland, and was friend of Erasmus and Melanchthon. He was ...

, and

Mary I of England Mary I (18 February 1516 – 17 November 1558), also known as Mary Tudor, and as "Bloody Mary" by her Protestant opponents, was Queen of England and Ireland from July 1553 and Queen of Spain from January 1556 until her death in 1558. Sh ...

. According to a royal ''Injunction'' of 1547, copies were to be kept in every parish church in England, emphasizing the influence of Erasmus on the

English Reformation The English Reformation took place in 16th-century England when the Church of England broke away from the authority of the pope and the Catholic Church. These events were part of the wider European Protestant Reformation, a religious and poli ...

Background

The ''Paraphrases'' of Erasmus, which were composed and published between 1517 and 1523, exerted great influence on English Christianity of the time. It was probably the idea of

, the last wife of

Henry VIII of England Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...

, to translate these paraphrases into English "to guide English Scripture readers into less contentious paths." She assembled a group of translators, and submitted their work and her patronage to Nicholas Udall, who oversaw the editing process and was probably responsible for the translation of the

Gospel of Luke The Gospel of Luke), or simply Luke (which is also its most common form of abbreviation). tells of the origins, birth, ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ. Together with the Acts of the Apostles, it makes up a two-volu ...

. The queen herself may have translated parts of the

Gospel of Matthew The Gospel of Matthew), or simply Matthew. It is most commonly abbreviated as "Matt." is the first book of the New Testament of the Bible and one of the three synoptic Gospels. It tells how Israel's Messiah, Jesus, comes to his people and for ...

and

Acts of the Apostles The Acts of the Apostles ( grc-koi, Πράξεις Ἀποστόλων, ''Práxeis Apostólōn''; la, Actūs Apostolōrum) is the fifth book of the New Testament; it tells of the founding of the Christian Church and the spread of its messag ...

, and Mary I of England, a princess at that time, translated the

Gospel of John The Gospel of John ( grc, Εὐαγγέλιον κατὰ Ἰωάννην, translit=Euangélion katà Iōánnēn) is the fourth of the four canonical gospels. It contains a highly schematic account of the ministry of Jesus, with seven "sig ...

. In his 1547 ''Injunctions'',

Edward VI of England Edward VI (12 October 1537 – 6 July 1553) was King of England and Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death in 1553. He was crowned on 20 February 1547 at the age of nine. Edward was the son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour and the first En ...

ordered that a copy of this work should be placed in every church within a year of its completion in 1547. This raised the commentary by Erasmus on the New Testament to the status of being the authorized commentary by the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

under Edward VI of England; the book was "forced upon all parish churches in an effort to infuse the English Reformation with even more Erasmian thought."

Printing history

Edward Whitchurch Edward Whitchurch (died 1561) was a London printer and publisher of Protestant works. Whitchurch jointly published the first complete version of the Bible in English in 1539. Other published works included the 1547 ', by William Baldwin, and the ...

and

Richard Grafton Richard Grafton (c. 1506/7 or 1511 – 1573) was King's Printer under Henry VIII and Edward VI. He was a member of the Grocers' Company and MP for Coventry elected 1562-63. Under Henry VIII With Edward Whitchurch, a member of the Haberdashers ...

, also the printers of the

Great Bible The Great Bible of 1539 was the first authorised edition of the Bible in English, authorised by King Henry VIII of England to be read aloud in the church services of the Church of England. The Great Bible was prepared by Myles Coverdale, worki ...

, were given the job of printing the translated ''Paraphrases''. The first printing appeared on the last day of January 1548. While the imprint lists only Whitchurch, Grafton must have been involved as well, as suggested by the typography. Incidentally, Whitchurch and Grafton also published the ''Injunctions'', though earlier they had fallen from royal grace: they had been friends of

Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex Thomas Cromwell (; 1485 – 28 July 1540), briefly Earl of Essex, was an English lawyer and statesman who served as chief minister to King Henry VIII from 1534 to 1540, when he was beheaded on orders of the king, who later blamed false charge ...

and their fortunes declined with Cromwell's downfall. According to Herbert,

William Aldis Wright William Aldis Wright (1 August 183119 May 1914), was an England, English writer and editor. Wright was son of George Wright, a Baptist minister in Beccles, Suffolk. He was educated at Beccles Grammar School and Trinity College, Cambridge, where ...

has noted no less than six variants of the first edition because multiple presses were run to generate enough copies within the short period of a year.

The book was dedicated to Catherine Parr. Volume 1 includes the Gospels through Acts; Volume 2 contains the balance of the New Testament with the exception of The Paraphrase on Revelation (omitted by Erasmus), which is by

Leo Jud Leo Jud (; also Leo Juda, Leo Judä, Leo Judas, Leonis Judae, Ionnes Iuda, Leo Keller; 1482 – 19 June 1542), known to his contemporaries as Meister Leu, was a Swiss reformer who worked with Huldrych Zwingli in Zürich. Biography Jud was born ...

. Herbert gives a table of contents for the copy that he has examined (most Bibles from this period include neither an index or a table of contents). Placement of the contents may vary among copies because different variants of the Bible were produced at the same time.

found at least 6 variants of this volume were produced by different presses to satisfy the demand. Because they were set by different typesetters, there is no uniform placement of the contents for this Bible first volume of this Bible.

Catalog entries

In A. S. Herbert's historical catalogue of English Bibles (1968) it is identified as "Herbert 72," printed in 2 volumes; according to Herbert, volumes are kept at Bible House England, British Museum,

Bodleian Library The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford, and is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. It derives its name from its founder, Sir Thomas Bodley. With over 13 million printed items, it is the second- ...

Oxford, University Library Cambridge,

Harvard Library Harvard Library is the umbrella organization for Harvard University's libraries and services. It is the oldest library system in the United States and both the largest academic library and largest private library in the world. Its collection ...

, and the

New York Public Library The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second largest public library in the United States (behind the Library of Congress ...

. A second edition appears as "Herbert 73," printed in 1551-52, but only Volume 1 appears to be known. Herbert reports that the existent copies have many mutilated pages, and their scarcity is due to the efforts of

to restore the (Latin)

Vulgate The Vulgate (; also called (Bible in common tongue), ) is a late-4th-century Latin translation of the Bible. The Vulgate is largely the work of Jerome who, in 382, had been commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Gospels u ...

Bible, after she became queen in 1553. In her effort to promote

Roman Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

she ordered all copies of this book to be destroyed—despite having translated Erasmus' commentary on St. John, for which she is praised in this very book. Volume 2 may never have been printed, given that the timing of its printing would have been at the approximate time of her ascension to the throne. If it does exist, the location of any copies is not documented.

References

External links

Editions
''The First tome or volume of the Paraphrase of Erasmus vpon the newe testamente (1548)''
Scanned public domain edition in PDF format from

Archive.org The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:First Tome Books by Desiderius Erasmus Early printed Bibles Bible translations into English 1548 books

Background

Printing history

Contents

Catalog entries

References

External links