A Translation that Changed World Linguistics 

      John Wycliffe’s most remarkable accomplishment is translating the Holy Scriptures into Middle English.  Producing the first complete English Bible, Wycliffe was the first to set aside Latin as the language of the Scriptures and reach the English people in their own tongue.  Working from contemporary manuscripts of the Latin Vulgate, he sought “no strange English” but only the easiest, most common – albeit the most Latin-like language possible.  Latin constructions and word order were preserved even where they conflicted with English idiom.

      Wycliffe's Bible bears theological, historical, linguistic, and literary importance.  As Latin was declining, Germanic tribes would give rise to the English language derived from the Angles, Saxons, and the Jutes that mingled with the Celtic-Britions and Picts (Scotts). These people traded and fought with the Latin-speaking Roman Empire.  The Catholic Church influenced England through Christian missionaries (monks) like Augustine of Canterbury (597 A.D.), Paulinus, and Bede, initially commissioned by Pope Gregory I, who converted the predominantly pagan Anglo-Saxons of England.  They brought with them Latin religious terms that also had some Greek lexicon, forming Old English that had Britonnic and Germanic origins.  The Lindisfarne Gospels had previously been translated into Old English, but it was the Oxford scholar and priest John Wycliffe whose effort of translating the Bible into Middle English (1382 A.D.) also transmuted both Christianity and language into the emerging newer common tongue of English.   

John Wycliffe wrote:  “Holy Scripture is the preeminent authority for every Christian, and the rule of faith and of all human perfection.”  Also, “Forasmuch as the Bible contains Christ, that is all that is necessary for salvation, it is necessary for all men, nor for priests alone. It alone is the supreme law that is to rule Church, State, and Christian life, without human traditions and statutes.” 

      Amid taxation discontent and with much Christian influence, England faced peasant revolts in 1381.  Wycliffe’s translation of the New Testament helped transition the establishment of the English language and culture as a kingdom with an established European connection.  Grievously, the exhumation and burning of Wycliffe’s remains and the execution of many other English translators like Tyndale (1535 A.D.) and Huss reflect the recognition and significance of Wycliffe’s works.  Other persecuted translators like Martin Luther initiated biblical reforms within the Catholic Church in 1517 A.D. and translated his Bible into German 1522-1534.  Coverdale would follow Wycliffe in translating the first complete Bible into English in 1535 A.D.   King Henry VIII unwittingly likewise furthered this by commissioning a formally authorized version of the Great Bible (1539 A.D.), and by his separation of the Church of England from the Catholic Church.  Along with the subsequent King James I Bible (1611) and Geneva Bibles (1560), among others, did the newer and more influential English language take the Bible to New Worlds abroad through imperialistic colonization.  By translating the Bible into English, a prominent infusing of Biblical truths imbued a pervasiveness of liberty that would flourish in America.  
      As protests and reforms took place against the Latin Church, Luther was the first to publicly expose the corruption that had built up over the centuries.  Amid many protestants and reformers, Wesley would further proclaim “sola scriptura,” stating, “in all cases, the Church is to be judged by the Scripture, not the Scripture by the Church.”  Although, it was this concept that had reverberated long before it was finally actualized within Christendom.  Wycliffe’s translation is easily overlooked as to its significance, yet it could be viewed among the most important histories of the Bible.  Wycliffe’s translation laid a foundation for the protestant reformation, ultimately impacting England and beyond. Unfortunately, few of Wycliffe’s Bible translations survived, having faced the decree to burn his works upon his death.

Below is a copy of an 1850 republishing of the 1384 Wycliffe Bible.  It is incomplete; only Vol. III that included Proverbs through to the apocryphal book of Maccabees. For searching text within the Bible viewer below, use the search option to its left. Hover the edge of the pages to view and jump to page numbers. 

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