“A Matter Newly Seene”: The Bishops’ Bible, Matthew Parker, and Elizabethan Antiquarianism

This essay examines Archbishop Matthew Parker’s prefaces to the 1568 Bishops’ Bible. It illustrates how these prefaces supported the attempts made by Parker (1504-75) to link the fledgling Elizabethan Church to the Anglo-Saxon Church. Particular attention is given to the use of the Venerable Bede (6...

Full description

Saved in:  
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Spillane, Harry (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Journals Online & Print:
Drawer...
Fernleihe:Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste
Published: Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group 2022
In: Reformation
Year: 2022, Volume: 27, Issue: 2, Pages: 107-124
IxTheo Classification:HA Bible
KAD Church history 500-900; early Middle Ages
KAG Church history 1500-1648; Reformation; humanism; Renaissance
KBF British Isles
KDE Anglican Church
Further subjects:B Archbishop Matthew Parker
B Bishops’ Bible
B antiquarianism
B Church of England
B King Alfred
B Bede
Online Access: Volltext (kostenfrei)
Description
Summary:This essay examines Archbishop Matthew Parker’s prefaces to the 1568 Bishops’ Bible. It illustrates how these prefaces supported the attempts made by Parker (1504-75) to link the fledgling Elizabethan Church to the Anglo-Saxon Church. Particular attention is given to the use of the Venerable Bede (673/4-735) and King Alfred (848/49-99) as precedents for the existence of vernacular Bibles within the English Church. It is suggested that the prefaces can only be understood properly if they are seen as a part of Parker’s antiquarian project and that, in turn, they develop our understanding of Parker’s antiquarian methods and his construction of new histories for the English Church. Questions are also raised about the motives Parker had for printing some medieval works but not others, namely Bede’s Ecclesiastical History. Ultimately, it is contended that the Bishops’ Bible prefaces are an important, but hitherto overlooked, part of Parker’s corpus of antiquarian works.
ISSN:1752-0738
Contains:Enthalten in: Reformation
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1080/13574175.2022.2123389