Posted on 12/02/2008 5:33:53 PM PST by Alex Murphy
A MYSTERIOUS Bible printed more than 400 years ago could be the key to unlocking little known secrets about Sheffield's historic Manor Castle. Little is know about the origins of the ancient book found at the site best known as a prison for Mary Queen of Scots.
And the more local historians find out about it, the more questions need answering.
Printed in 1594, the ancient tome is a Geneva Bible which went on to cause great controversy because it contained annotations which enraged the Catholic Church and infuriated King James.
Inside the front cover is a handwritten list containing entries for the birth and death of the Pollard family from Wakefield including Richard, born 1725 and his wife Ann Walker.
Council worker Charles Edward Lee lived on Fairfax Road overlooking the ruins and found the family Bible in the ruins of the Manor House, although nobody knows exactly when.
The English Geneva Bible was published at a time when the Roman Catholic Church had banned all vernacular translations of the scriptures.
It is also the edition of the Bible that Shakespeare read and is quoted in his plays.
Charles died in 1950 and the Bible was kept by his son, until he passed away in 1984 and his family donated it the Manor House Museum.
The Bible was carefully kept in storage until Charles' granddaughter Hazel Whatley, who lives in Western Australia, began digging into its past.
Now it is to be given pride of place in a display in the new visitor centre which is due to open next year.
Peter Machan, education and interpretive officer, is hoping planned excavations of the site over the next five years will uncover other interesting finds and help trace the history of the Bible.
He has already uncovered a coal mining Pollard family who were living at Manor Castle Colliery during the 1841 census but it is unclear if they are related. So the hunt is on to find out who they were and how they came to own a Bible printed at a time when historians believe there were only two in the whole of Sheffield.
Peter said: "This is a really fascinating find.
"At more than 400 years old it is the oldest book I have ever touched and it was very exciting to hold especially when you think what was happening at that time in terms of religious upheavals.
"We don't know who the Pollards are and how this has survived in a completely redundant building but it makes you wonder what there is still to find.
Printed in 1594, the ancient tome is a Geneva Bible which went on to cause great controversy because it contained annotations which enraged the Catholic Church and infuriated King James....The English Geneva Bible was published at a time when the Roman Catholic Church had banned all vernacular translations of the scriptures. It is also the edition of the Bible that Shakespeare read and is quoted in his plays.
That is amazingly cool!
I love the Elizabethan time period.
It is pretty cool to find one, isn’t it?
GGG?
YES!
Especially one that was discovered at such a historical landmark. I realize it wasn’t there when Mary Queen of Scots was, but it’s just a very unique estate.
Oh, to tour the UK. One day, one day I will and hopefully it won’t be completely under Sharia Law by then. I better hurry.
The Geneva Bible was completed between 1557 and 1560.
The "Roman Catholic Church" in England was on its way to being hunted into extinction by 1560. (Queen Mary had died two years before.)
By the time the Geneva Bible was actually printed, in 1575, the persecution was well advanced.
If you want someone to blame for the suppression of the Geneva Bible, blame the CofE, because they were the ones running the show in England after 1558.
Oh, and the Catholic Church has never had a universal ban on vernacular translations of the Scriptures. There was a local ban in France in between about 1229 and 1259, due to the Albigensian heresy. Vernacular Bibles in England, prior to the Reformation, were often considered a sign of Protestant sympathies and prosecuted as such. Of course, we're talking about a period >30 years before the Geneva Bible existed.
Wow! I thought the Public School Bible I purchased at an auction was rare (circa 1915).
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Yeah, gotta love all that "off with their heads" stuff...so entertaining.
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Oooh! Nice catch. Definitely pingworthy. Thanks Hegemony Cricket. |
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whoops, forgot to ping ya.
Whoops again!
Ahem. Was it perhaps this Bible?
THE BUGGRE ALLE THIS BIBLE
The book was commonly known as the Buggre Alle This Bible. The lengthy compositor's error, if such it may be called, occurs in the book of Ezekiel, chapter 48, verse five:
2. And bye the border of Dan, fromme the east side to the west side, a portion for Afher.
3. And bye the border of Afhter, fromme the east side even untoe the west side, a portion for Naphtali.
4. And bye the border of Naphtali, from the east side untoe the west side, a portion for Manaffeh.
5. Buggre all this for a Larke. I amme sick to mye Hart of typefettinge. Master Biltonn if no Gentelmann, and Master Scagges noe more than a tighte fisted Southwarke Knobbefticke. I telle you, onne a daye laike thif Ennywone half an oz. of Sense should bee oute in the Sunneshain, ane nott Stucke here alle the liuelong daie inn thif mowldey olde By-Our-Lady Workefhoppe. @*"Æ@;!*
6. And bye the border of Ephraim, from the east fide even untoe the west fide, a portion for Reuben.
(With grins and appreciation to author Terry Pratchett!)
The off with their heads stuff was prior to Elizabethan time. Even though the guillatine was the method of execution, at the time, it was the quickest execution method. And there were valid reasons for execution just as there is now.
Now Elizabeth’s father was definitely an “off with their heads” kinda guy. But Elizabeth wasn’t nearly as insane as her father and the example her crazy sister tempered her justice as she didn’t want to be perceived as Mary was. At least Elizabeth didn’t order Catholics to be burned at the stake!
......Even though the guillatine was the method of execution, at the time, it was the quickest execution method.....
This statement is about two hundred years off the mark. An ax was the Elizabethan head chopper.
The guillotine was the super efficient and painless tool of the French Revolution.
You are correct, I apologize. The ax was the method and I was horribly mistaken which is quite embarrassing since I do study history.
I will blame this on 7am Freeping before the complete cup of coffee. ;o)
Yet, Elizabeth's mum requested and was granted a sword rather than the ax. Some say that it's being granted by Henry was proof that he still cared.
A single swing of the sword was a cleaner way out than an ax, which took more than a single swing at times.
Some of us are becoming able to blame age :)
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