English Bible. (They also utilized original language texts; more on this below.) Their literal, respectful translation was hand-printed around 1382. Historians refer to this as the "Early Version" of the "Wycliffe Bible".
The Church princes, long before having anointed themselves as sole arbitrator (indeed "soul" arbitrator!) between God and man, condemned this monumental achievement as heretical - and worse:
"This pestilent and wretched John Wycliffe, that son of the old serpent... endeavour[ing] by every means to attack the very faith and sacred doctrine of Holy Church, translated from Latin into English the Gospel, [indeed all of the Scriptures,] that Christ gave to the clergy and doctors of the Church. So that by his means it has become vulgar and more open to laymen and women who can read than it usually is to quite learned clergy of good intelligence. And so the pearl of the Gospel, [indeed of the Scriptures in toto,] is scattered abroad and trodden underfoot by swine."
(Church Chronicle, 1395)
The Church princes decreed that Wycliffe be removed from his professorship at Oxford, and it was done. Two years later, his health broken, he died.
In the decade following John Wycliffe's death, his friend John Purvey revised their Bible. The complete text, including Purvey's "Great Prologue", appeared by 1395. But portions of his revision, in particular the Gospels and other books of the New Testament, were in circulation as early as 1388.
Historians refer to this as the "Later Version" of the "Wycliffe Bible". This vernacular version retained most of the theological insight and poetry of language found in the earlier, more literal effort. But it was easier to read and understand, and quickly gained a grateful and loyal following. Each copy had to be hand-printed (Gutenberg's printing press would not be invented for more than fifty years), but this did not deter widespread distribution. The book you now hold in your hands is that "Wycliffe Bible" (with modern spelling).
For his efforts, the Church princes ordered John Purvey arrested and delivered to the dungeon. He would not see freedom again until he recanted of his "sin" - writing the English Bible. His spirit ultimately broken, he eventually did recant. Upon release, he was watched, hounded at every step, the Church princes determined that he would tow the party line. His life made a living hell, the co-author of the first English Bible disappeared into obscurity and died unknown.
But the fury of the Church princes was unrelenting. Edicts flew. John Wycliffe's bones were dug up - and burned. Wycliffe's writings were gathered up - and burned. All unauthorized Bibles - that is, all those in the English language - were banned. All confiscated copies were burned. Those who copied out these Bibles were imprisoned. Those who distributed these Bibles were imprisoned. Those who owned an English Bible, or, as has been documented, "traded a cart-load of hay for but a few pages of the Gospel", were imprisoned. And those faithful souls who refused to "repent" the "evil" that they had committed, were burned at the stake, the "noxious" books that they had penned, or even had merely owned, hung about their necks to be consumed by the same flames. In all, thousands were imprisoned, and many hundreds executed. Merry olde England was engulfed in a reign of terror. All because of an English Bible. This Bible.
But the spark that John Wycliffe, John Purvey, and their followers had ignited could not, would not, be extinguished. The Word of Truth was copied, again, and again, and again. The Word of Truth was shared, from hand, to hand, to hand. The Word of Truth was spoken, and read, and heard by the common people in their own language for the first time in over 1000 years. At long last, the Word of God had been returned to simple folk who were willing to lose everything to gain all.
And so the pearl of the Scriptures was spread abroad and planted in their hearts by the servants of God….
216 years after Purvey's revision appeared, somewhat less than a century after Martin Luther proclaimed his theses (thereby sparking the Protestant Reformation), and Henry VIII proclaimed his divorce (thereby creating the Church of England), what would become the most famous, enduring, beloved, and revered translation of the Bible, the "Authorized" or "King James Version" (KJV), was published in 1611.
In their preface, "The Translators to the Reader", in the 1st edition of the KJV, the 54 translators detail many sources utilized and arduous efforts undertaken to achieve their supreme accomplishment. Interestingly enough, they make scant mention of even the existence of earlier, unnamed English versions. And they make no specific reference to the work of John Wycliffe and John Purvey (or even William Tyndale). It is not my desire or intention here to speculate on the political and ecclesiastical reasons for this omission, simply to state its fact.
From 1611 until today, historians of the English Bible have uniformly followed the lead of the KJV translators, and have ignored, dismissed, or denigrated John Wycliffe's and John Purvey's contributions to, and influences upon, that ultimate translation, the KJV. To wit:
"The Bible which permeated the minds of later generations shows no direct descent from the Wycliffite versions; at most a few phrases from the later version seem to have found their way into the Tudor translations….Tyndale's return to the original languages meant that translations based on the intermediate Latin of the Vulgate would soon be out of date."
(Cambridge History of the Bible, Vol. 2, p. 414.)
When you finish reading this book, you may reach a different conclusion.
Regarding Wycliffe's Bible
Wycliffe's Bible is comprised of Wycliffe's Old Testament, which is the Old Testament found in extant copies of the "Later Version" of the "Wycliffe Bible", with modern spelling, and Wycliffe's New Testament, which is the New Testament found in extant copies of the "Later Version" of the "Wycliffe Bible", with modern spelling. For 99.9% of Wycliffe's Bible, the word order, verb forms, words in italics, and punctuation are as they appear in the "Later Version". In addition, words and phrases found only in the "Early Version" are presented within square brackets, "[ ]", to provide more examples of John Wycliffe's and John Purvey's groundbreaking scholarship, as well as to aid comprehension and improve passage flow. (Literally thousands of "Early Version" verses were transcribed, but limited space meant most could not be printed in this book. See the online files, or the files on the Wycliffe's Bible CD, for these significant and interesting textual variations.)
Because their very lives were at risk, and personal glory was of no consequence to either man, neither Wycliffe nor Purvey signed any extant copy of either version, attesting to authorship. This omission has allowed some historians to debate the matter. Wycliffe's Bible is unambiguously credited: "Translated by John Wycliffe and John Purvey". While authorship of a particular chapter or verse can be argued by those concerned with such matters, there is absolutely no doubt about the essential role that each of these men played in the momentous effort to bring the English Bible to the English people.
Middle English
The "Wycliffe Bible" was written in Middle English in the last three decades of the 14th century. "Middle English" is the designation of language spoken and written in England between 1150 and 1450. The year 1300 is used to divide the period into "Early Middle English" and "Late Middle English". During the time of "Late Middle English", there were 5 regional dialects in England (with a sixth dialect eventually developing in London). Examples of at least three dialects are found in the "Later Version" of the "Wycliffe Bible".
What does one encounter reading the "Wycliffe Bible"? An alphabet with a widely used 27th letter, "3", and a 28th letter, "p", that already was frequently being replaced with "th" (even within the same sentence). A myriad of words which today are either obsolete ("anentis": with), archaic ("culver": dove), or at best, strangely-spelled precursors to our modern words ("vpsedoun": upside-down). Spelling and verb forms that are not standardized, in part because they were phonetic
