The Vulgate
In the medieval period the version of the Holy Bible that the Roman Catholic preferred was the so-called Vulgate written in Latin. The Roman Catholic Church also considered itself to be the universal church, and therefore insisted that its religious services were carried out in Latin, as well as only authorising the use the Latin Vulgate version of the Holy Bible.
The Papacy was officially opposed to the production and the translation of the Holy Bible into vernacular languages especially in the latter part of the medieval period. In Western Europe the restriction of the Holy Bible to members of the clergy in a Latin only Vulgate version was in essence intended to shore up the authority of the Papacy as well as reducing the risk of spreading heretical beliefs.
Restricting The Bible's Use
Printing And HereticsThe availability of the Holy Bible as a material object was increasing towards the end of the medieval period due to technological, social, and also religious developments. Of course the technological development and innovation that increased the capacity to produce Holy Bibles was the movable printing press. It took over a century for the movable printing press to reach Western Europe yet when it got there it coincided with the Renaissance movement that increasing the scope of learning as well as slowly raising literacy rates. The availability of information from the former Byzantine Empire further promoted intellectual and theological learning.
There were also small movements in the medieval period that intended to increase the availability of the Holy Bible as a material object, especially in vernacular languages. The most well known movements were the Lollards in England and the Hussites in Bohemia. John Wycliffe and Jan Hus translated the Holy Bible into English and Czech respectively. The Lollards were the followers of Wycliffe, and the Hussites the followers of Hus. These movements were deemed to be heretical by the Papacy. Lollards and Hussites placed a great deal of emphasis upon the centrality of the gospels, which is why the availability of vernacular translations was so important. In particular the Hussites held a great deal in common with the Protestants of the Sixteenth century.
Bibliography
Chadwick, O (1990) The Penguin History of the Church 3 The Reformation, reprinted
Penguin Books London & New York
Fernandez-Arnesto, F & Wilson, D (1996) Reformation - Christianity and the World 1500-2000, Bantam Press, London
MacCulloch D, Reformation – Europe’s House Divided (2004) Penguin Books, London
Roberts, J.M (1996)- A History of Europe, Penguin, London & New York
