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THE BIBLE PROHIBITED

“No man shall possess books of the Old or New Testament in Romance [the common language].”—JAMES THE FIRST, KING OF ARAGON (SPAIN), A.D. 1223

“Lay [common] people shall not have books of scripture, . . . moreover we prohibit that lay people should be permitted to have books of the Old or New Testament.”—RELIGIOUS SYNOD OF TOULOUSE (FRANCE), A.D. 1229

‘Wherefore, we strictly command all Archbishops, Bishops and all clerics, and all dukes, princes, etc., that you assist the said inquisitors and confiscate such books, written in the vulgar tongue, from all men. And all these are to be taken from all persons, secular and chiefly from lay [common] people (and the more especially, since it is not lawful, according to canon law, for lay people of either sex to read any books whatsoever of Holy Scripture written in the vulgar tongue).’—KING CHARLES IV, EMPEROR OF GERMANY, A.D. 1369

Shocking Persecution

Those “Biblemen,” as they were sometimes called, created quite a stir. The religious authorities in England responded with unbelievable persecution. In 1401 the English Parliament stated that any who possessed the Bible in the common language should be “before the people, in a high place caused to be burnt, that such punishment may strike fear to the minds of others.”

And indeed this caused such fear! One possessor of an English Bible, out of fear that this would incriminate him, remarked that “he would rather burn his books, than that his books should burn him.” Yet many were not that easily deterred from reading the Word of God. Hundreds of these persons were burned alive for simply, as the court records show, “having a certain little book of scripture in English.” Oftentimes these individuals were burned “with the books of their lore [the Scriptures] hanging about them.”

This persecution raged through one country after another. In some lands, whole villages were massacred where persons persisted in reading the Bible in the vernacular. No man was safe from his neighbors, his employees or even his own children, as all, under fear of severe reprisals, were urged to report anyone seen reading the Bible in his own tongue. Needless to say, to avoid detection, there were many midnight Bible readings.