The Earliest Advocates of the English Bible: The Texts of the Medieval Debate

One of the major debates in English cultural, literary and religious history concerned whether or not the Bible should be translated into English. Underlying this was the question of whether people who were literate in English but not Latin should be able to read for themselves the book regarded as uniquely holy and authoritative. This debate took place c. 1380-1410, during and immediately after the composition of the first English (’Wycliffite’) Bible. The Middle English texts edited in this book all argue on the same side of the debate, that is, that there should be a Bible in English, but they include arguments put forward on the other side, in order to refute them.

The late Mary Dove was Professor in the School of English at the University of Sussex. This edition builds on her well-received monograph of 2007: The First English Bible: The Text and Context of the Wycliffite Versions