07 The Wycliffe Bible

Museum Description: Wycliffite Bible

Room: Sir John Ritblat Gallery

Scripture: Luke 10:1

This is a truly ground-breaking copy of the Bible.  John Wycliffe attended Oxford University, later became master of one of the colleges and then a doctor of theology.  Disillusioned by the infighting within the Catholic Church and the actions of the Popes, he reasoned that the Bible was the only standard of truth.  He therefore set about translating the Latin Vulgate into English, the language of the peoples.   The Christian Greek Scriptures were likely completed around 1382, and the translation of the Hebrew Scriptures was continued by followers of Wycliffe.  With the help of his powerful friends, he managed to keep out of the grips of the Catholic Church until his death from a stroke in 1383.  He was responsible for not only the beautiful copy of the Bible we can see here, but also for training preachers to tell the people the truths that the English Bible had revealed.  They were known as the Lollards, and carried on this work after Wycliffe's death.