C RANM ER, THOMAS, the first Protestant Arch bishop of Canterbury, and `the great master builder of the Protestant Church of England' (Le Bas), was born July 2, 1489, at Aslacton, in the county of Nottingham. His father, according to Strype, was 'a gentleman of right ancient family, whose ancestor came in with the Conqueror.' In this work it is only with his exertions for the translation and propagation of the Holy Scrip tures that we have to do. In this achievement Cranmer's name stands out in bold relief with those of Wycliffe, Tyndale, Coverdale, Parker, and many others, who wrought either by their learning or their influence in the long labour of two centuries and a half in giving to the nation the English Bible. We propose to give a brief description of Cranmer's share in this great work, referring for authorities to the two excellent edi tions of the Martyr's Remains,* which have been published within the last thirty years. (I. ) From the first moment of his advancement Crammer was impatient for the circulation of the Scriptures in the vulgar tongue ; and in 1534 he had actually prevailed on the Convocation to frame an address to the king beseeching him to decree that the Bible should be translated into English, and that the task should be assigned to such honest and learned men as his Highness should be pleased to nominate. The king consented after much per suasion. The archbishop, in pursuance of his design, divided Tyndale's translation of the N. T. into nine or ten parts, which he distributed among the most learned bishops of the time, requiring that each of them should send back his portion carefully corrected by an appointed day. The project was strongly resisted by Stokesley, Bishop of London, and the Romish party, and eventually fell to the ground ; not, however, until some advance had been made in critical labour, which Cranmer pro bably turned to account afterwards in his own revi sion of the Great Bible (see below). But amidst these disappointments, he had the joy of receiving at his house at Ford, near Canterbury, an impres sion of the whole Bible in English, which had been completed under his private encouragement by two enterprising publishers, Grafton and Whitchurch. It appeared in one great folio volume, known by the title of Matthew's Bible. This name was, however, undoubtedly fictitious. The translation seems to have been mainly a reprint of that which had been a year or two previously published by Coverdale and Tyndale ; the printing was conducted abroad ; the uncertainty of the place, no less than the ficti tiousness of the editor's name, affords proof of the perilous nature of the undertaking. Foxe and Strype allege Hamburgh as the place, Mr. Lewis, Marpurg, in the province of Hesse ; there can be little doubt that the work was executed at some German press. It appears on comparison with Tyndale's edition of that the N. T. of this Bible was substantially a reprint of that martyr's version—there are not many alterations. The Pentateuch is also Tyndale's, with certain small variations, in which Coverdale's assistance seems to have been resorted to. From Joshua to Chro nicles we have probably the translation made by Tyndale, but left unpublished by him. The rest of the O. T. is Coverdale's, slightly revised. Some of Tyndale's prologues and notes are retained,a.nd at the end of the O. T. the letters W. T. are printed in very large letters curiously flourished. Beneath the nominis umbra of the title-page, Thomas Matthew, Foxe (folio iii. 98) expressly says was concealed the honoured name of John Rogers, the protomartyr of the Marian persecu tion, and the friend of Tyndale. In confirmation of the general opinion of Rogers' connection with the work, there is found prefixed to the Bible an exhortation to the study of the Holy Scriptures, with the initials J. R. appended at the close. And that Rogers assumed the name of Matthew is corroborated also by the curious fact that in Mary's reign he was condemned to be burnt by the name of Rogers alias Matthew. On receiving with so much joy this complete work, Archbishop Cranmer at once dispatched a copy to Cromwell with a let ter (Jenkyns, i. 196, 197; Parker Society, Letters, etc., p. 344), highly commending the translation as `better than any other heretofore made,' and earnestly entreating the powerful vicegerent to use his best endeavours to ' obtain of his grace [the king] a licence that the same may be sold, and read of [by] every person without danger,' etc. This letter was dated 'at Forde, the 4th day of August [1337]•' In the next year occurred the memorable event, for the first time in our history, of the authoritative publication of the English Bible. (Stow, Annals, as quoted by Jenkyns, 1. 200, note i.) II. In the year 1539 appeared the first edition of The Great Bible, a revision of Matthew's Bible. In the
April of the following year another edition ap peared, with this title, The Byble in Englishe, that is to saye, the content of al Me Holy Scrypture, both of ye Olde and Howe reshot., with a prologe there unto made by the Reverende Father in God, Thomas, Archbishop of Canterbury. (Printed by Richard Cum privilegio ad imprimendum solum, moxr....)' This ' prologue ' seems to have been afterwards inserted in some copies of 1539, and the two editions have been often confounded. But on a critical examination of the two, the latter is found to contain very different renderings ; e.g., Is. lvii. is adduced as varying in its translation conspicuously in the two editions. As Cranmer evidently wrote the preface for the latter edition, it is probable that the considerable revision ap parent in this edition was the work of the arch bishop also ; probably he availed himself at last of the corrections made in the old version by the bishops to which we have already referred. A letter of the primate is extant (Jenkyns, i. 290 ; P. Soc., Letters, p. 396), in which he alludes to this preface, which he had submitted to Cromwell that he might ascertain the king's pleasure about its publication with the Bible ; the author trusted that, `so his Grace allowed the same, it might both encourage many slow readers, and also stay the rash judgments of them that read.' This pro logue or preface is reprinted in Jenkyns (ii. 104– '17), and the Parker Society's vol. (Misc. Writ ings and Letters, p. 118-123). It was an intense satisfaction to the noble heart of Cranmer to find his efforts for the better understanding and circula tion of the Scriptures among all sorts of people so well appreciated. It was wonderful,' says Strype (Life of Cranmer, vol. i., p. 91), ' to see with what joy this book of God was received, not only among the learneder sort and those that were noted for lovers of the Reformation, but generally all England over by the vulgar and common people ; and with what greediness God's word was read, and what resort to the places where the reading of it was.' When the Romish party got the ascendancy later in Henry's reign, the king grew more averse to Scripture translation. On one occasion Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, and his party, proposed a new translation of the N. T., with the ill-concealed object of frustrating the in fluence of the vernacular versions by publishing a sort of travestie of,the Latin Vulgate, nominally giving the people the Scriptures, but at the same time obscuring their sense in unintelligible phraseo logy. The archbishop signally defeated this in sidious mischief by inducing the king (whose invariable protection and favour to Cranmer is the best trait of his fame) to decree that all further revision of Scripture versions should be referred to the universities. Throughout the reign of Edward VI., Cranmer's Bible was the authorised version. Nothing like a new translation was executed. One indeed was projected, but circumstances set it aside. Bucer and Fagius were invited into Eng land by Cranmer and Protector Somerset. As it had been a great while Cranmer's most earnest desire that the Holy Bible should come abroad in the greatest exactness and true agreement with the original text, so he laid this work upon these two learned men : First, that they should give a clear, plain, and succinct interpretation of the Scripture, according to the propriety of the language ; and, secondly, illustrate difficult and obscure places, and reconcile those that seemed to be repugnant to one another. And it was his will and advice, that to this end and purpose their public readings should tend. This pious and good work by the archbishop assigned to them they most gladly and readily undertook. For their more regular carry ing on this business, they allotted to each other, by consent, their distinct tasks. Fagius, because his talent lay in the Hebrew learning, was to under take the O. T., and Bucer the New' (Strype's Lift of Groomer, i. 281). The archbishop's pro ject, however, was soon after disappointed by the illness and death of his distinguished friends. If he could not gratify his desire to secure the very best translation possible in that age, Cran mer wisely laboured to encourage the careful study of that which existed. Archbishop Cran mer's various services of a literary description in connection with the progress of the Reformation are enumerated and described chronologically with great accuracy, perspicuity, and a masterly know ledge of the subject, in Mr. Jenkyn's preface to his edition of Cranmer's Remains, to which we have so often referred. Cranmer's well-known death of a martyr at the stake took place in the Broad Street, Oxford, in front of Balliol College, March 21, 1336.—P. H.