The commoners knew enough to have a hunger for the Bible in their own vernacular. That is why Wycliffe’s awkward translation was circulated at great risk. That is why Tyndale’s translation sold as fast as they could be printed. That is why Luther’s translation flooded the country - there WAS an unmet demand for good vernacular translations.
I’ll admit to regarding Jerome much higher than Augustine. It would be fascinating to have them as Freepers, however!
The letters were awesome. The first time I read them years ago I had to laugh as they reminded me so much of discussions here.
It wasn’t just the Bible. Until the Reformation, the idea that you should even HAVE a language outside of Greek or Latin was very suspicious for many nobles. The local languages were viewed with contempt, much like we view local slang. So translating the Bible to a population that should be speaking “correctly” was considered wrong.
The issue was that in the germanic groups, Latin had never been the language. Same with the slavonic areas. So they had no attachment to Latin. The Slavonic groups did have to Greek, but still had a unique outlook.
Even the Council of Trent had some rather odd statements. The Catholic church has many rites in local languages, most dating to prior to Trent. This caused all kinds of confusion when Latin prelates demanded that Greek Catholics ditch their rite in the 19th century USA.