To find an original English translation of the Bible that dates back to 1566 is indeed a rare thing. But a copy of King Henry VIII’s “Great Bible” from this time has turned up in England and is offered for sale.
Fast Facts
- The 1550’s and 1560’s were a turbulent time for the Christian faith in England.
- During this period the “Great Bible” commissioned by King Henry VIII was accepted to be read in churches and these Bibles were often chained to the pulpit making them accessible to people to read, but theft resistant.
- In 1566 a batch of copies of the “Great Bible” were imported into England by a gentleman named Richard Carmarden.
- One of this batch of 1566 Bibles has turned up near the British city of Bristol and this original Bible is coming up for sale by Wotton Auction Rooms.
I was in England recently visiting with family and while there was able to visit Westminster Abbey in London. I had previously visited as a child and had seen it through a child’s eyes. But for this visit I saw the Abbey through the eyes of an aging adult.
One of the things that struck me while moving from place to place were the graves of Queen Mary 1st and her half-sister Queen Elizabeth 1st, which are located side by side. Two queens, far removed from each other in terms of their Christian faith, but now interred beside each other.
Queen Mary was the daughter of Tudor King Henry VIII and his first wife Catherine of Aragon. At that time Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon were devout followers of the Roman Catholic Church. In fact Henry VIII was such a committed Roman Catholic that he wrote “Assertio Septem Sacramentorum” (“Defence of the Seven Sacraments”) which was published in 1521 and earned him the title of “Defender of the Faith” by Pope Leo X: a title given to all British Kings and Queens from then on.
Mary was raised to be a committed Roman Catholic and in her adult years was married to King Philip II of Spain.
Mary was implacably opposed to the Protestant Christian faith and when she became queen of England and Ireland in 1553 she set about eliminating the protestant Christian leaders in Britain – thus earning herself the nickname “Bloody Mary”.
Elizabeth was the daughter of King Henry VIII and his second wife Anne Boleyn, and when Queen Mary died in 1558 she ascended to the throne to become Queen Elizabeth I. Queen Elizabeth was far more inclined towards the protestant Christian faith and so protestant leaders who had fled England during the reign of Mary I were able to return to their homeland and both promulgate and practice their faith.
These events would lead to a situation in which there were two notable English translations of the Holy Bible: one of them Catholic, and the other Protestant.
The Catholic English Bible was the “Great Bible” of 1539 commissioned by King Henry VIII, while the Protestant English Bible was the Geneva Bible, which had been translated by Protestants who had escaped the grip of Mary I and settled in Geneva. The Geneva Bible was first published in 1560. Both these Bibles were permitted to be published and used for teaching in churches during the reign of Elizabeth I.
The Geneva Bible was the first English Bible translated from the original languages, it established the chapter and verse organization, provided marginal notes and cross references, and diagrams. So it was arguably the first English study Bible.
The Great Bible was translated from the Catholic Latin Vulgate and so it was organized in accordance with the Catholic Vulgate with the “Deutero-canonical” (i.e. Apocrypha) books the Catholic Bible included.
It is rare to come across a physical Bible that was printed in this era but a copy of King Henry VIII’s “Great Bible” printed in 1566 has come to light in the Cotswolds in England.
When I first saw this advertised I was not totally surprised. During my time in England recently I had the opportunity to visit a couple of churches in the Cotswolds and examine some very old Bibles, still in use.
But to come across one that was actually published in 1566 is truly remarkable.
The Bible itself was printed in Rouen in France as part of a batch financed by Richard Carmarden and imported by him into England.
The sale page for this Bible has a detailed description of its condition and there are 33 photographs of key features to show its condition, of which we have included a small selection.
We hope to see this rather rare Bible find its way to an appreciative home.
Picture Credits: All pictures courtesy Wotton Auction Rooms.
Jon Branch is the founder and senior editor of Revivaler and has written a significant number of articles for various publications including official Buying Guides for eBay, classic car articles for Hagerty, magazine articles for both the Australian Shooters Journal and the Australian Shooter, and he’s a long time contributor to Silodrome.
Jon has done radio, television, magazine and newspaper interviews on various issues, and has traveled extensively, having lived in Britain, Australia, China and Hong Kong. His travels have taken him to Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan and a number of other countries. He has studied the Japanese sword arts and has a long history of involvement in the shooting sports, which has included authoring submissions to government on various firearms related issues and assisting in the design and establishment of shooting ranges.
