Unwinding Anti-Catholic History: John Wycliffe and the English Translations of the Bible

The English pre-Protestant, John Wycliffe, was burned at the stake--or at least persecuted by the Catholic Church--for translating the Bible into English, right? Right? 

Wrong. 

Large sections of the Vulgate (Latin) Bible had been translated into Old and Middle English long before Wycliffe. The Church was always translating the Bible into the vernacular language as part of its missionary efforts. 

The Venerable Bede, for example, translated the Gospel of John into Old English c. 735. 

Ultimately, the first complete, printed English translation of the Bible was published in 1535 by Myles Coverdale, an Augustinian friar from Yorkshire.

Check out the full chronology of the Bible being translated in English below.   

Who was the Proto-Protestant John Wycliffe? What did Wycliffe Believe and Argue?

John Wycliffe was an Oxford professor, Catholic priest, and proto-Protestant. Here is a summary of his beliefs, arguments, and attacks on the Church: 

• Reacting to Church’s wealth, advocated that Church should rid itself of all political power, practice strict poverty  
• His famous quote was “Dominion is found in grace”. This seems like a good idea, i.e. the Church embracing poverty. However, Wycliffe argued this in part because the English wanted to seize Church lands and revenues in the wake of the revenue-depleting Hundred Years War  
• Attacked Authority of Pope
• Attacked Indulgences 
• Attacked Scholasticism, claiming religious knowledge from Bible only, not Tradition 
• Argued for Predestination, likely Double Predestination (that some are predestined for heaven and some are predestined for hell), as the Church supports Predestination (that all are predestined for heaven) 
• Argued that the Church didn’t need clergy, sacraments, or priesthood
• Attacked Free Will, claiming man’s was completely subjected to the will of God

 

Was John Wycliffe Burned at the Stake or Executed for Heresy?

No. Wycliffe wasn't executed for heresy. He suffered a stroke while celebrating Mass on Holy Innocents' Day, December 28, 1384, and died a few days later.

First Translations of the Bible into English

Note that John Wycliffe is 8th person to have contributed a significant translation of the Bible into English. Wycliffe was far from being the first to translate the Bible into English, despite what is often taught. 

 

1. Aldhelm's Psalmody (c. 7th century): Aldhelm, Bishop of Sherborne and Abbot of Malmesbury (639–709), is thought to have written an Old English translation of the Psalms.  
2. The Venerable Bede's Gospel of John (c. 735): St. Bede produced a translation of the Gospel of John into Old English, which he is said to have prepared shortly before his death. This translation is lost. We know of its existence only from Cuthbert of Jarrow's account of Bede's death.
3. Aldred's Gloss (c. 950-970): The earliest surviving translation of any part of the Bible into English is Aldred's gloss to the Lindisfarne Gospels, a word-for-word Old English translation written between the lines of the Latin text by Aldred, Provost of Chester-le-Street. This is the oldest extant translation of the Gospels into the English language.
4. The Wessex Gospels (c. 990): Also known as the West-Saxon Gospels, these are a full translation of the four gospels into a West Saxon dialect of Old English. Produced in approximately 990, they are the first translation of all four gospels into English without the Latin text.
5. Aelfric's (Ælfric's) Translation (11th century, possibly as early as c. 990): Ælfric of Eynsham translated parts of the Old Testament, including the Pentateuch and some historical books, into Old English. The Old English Hexateuch is an illuminated manuscript of the first six books of the Old Testament (the Hexateuch).
6. Ormulum (c. 1150): Orm, an Augustinian monk, wrote the Ormulum, a poetic paraphrase of the Gospels and Acts of the Apostles in early Middle English.
7. Richard Rolle's Psalter (c. 1340): Richard Rolle of Hampole translated the Psalms into Middle English.
8. Wycliffe's Bible (c. 1382-1395): John Wycliffe and his followers produced the first complete translation of the Bible into Middle English.
9. Tyndale's New Testament (1526): William Tyndale published the first printed New Testament in English.
10. Coverdale Bible (1535): Miles Coverdale produced the first complete printed Bible in English, based on Tyndale's work and translations from Latin and German.
11. Matthew Bible (1537): John Rogers, under the pseudonym "Thomas Matthew," published this Bible, which combined Tyndale's New Testament and parts of the Old Testament with Coverdale's work.
12. Great Bible (1539): Commissioned by King Henry VIII, the Great Bible was prepared by Miles Coverdale and was the first authorized edition for use in English churches.
13. Geneva Bible (1560): This translation, produced by English Protestant exiles in Geneva, was the first English Bible to use verse divisions and became very popular among Puritans.