The New Testament was published in English by the (Catholic) English College at Douay in 1582, and the Old Testament in 1609. The King James Version was published in 1611; therefore, the Catholic Church was the first to publish the Bible in English.
There were several vernacular translations made BEFORE the KJV. In fact, the KJV was much LESS vernacular (common) in its approach to translating than Tyndale (1526?), which is why Tyndale’s translation sounds very close to a modern translation.
Wycliffe’s translation was available in the late 1300s...early 1400s being a more realistic date. Thus the ban on English vernacular translations in 1408.
And the DR was such a pee-poor translation that it was almost unused until revised in the mid-1700s...by borrowing much of the text of the KJV!
And John Wycliffe translated the NT portion of the Latin Vulgate into the English vernacular in 1384. William Tyndalte translated the original Greek into english in 1526.
“The Geneva Bible was the “Bible of the Protestant Reformation”, and the Bible of the Puritans and Pilgrims. It was the first Bible taken to America, brought over on the Mayflower. The Geneva Bible is the Bible upon which America was founded. It was the first Bible in English to add numbered verses to each chapter of scripture. Also known as the “Breeches Bible”, the Geneva Bible was also the first “Study Bible” with extensive commentary notes on the margins. *******Printed from 1560 until 1644,*******the Geneva Bible is the only Bible to ever surpass the 1611 King James Bible in popularity among the people of its day.”
It is true that Rome Published the D/R translation before the KJV of 1611. And you would be making a great point nanetteclaret if it were not for the fact that in English there were numerous translations including the Tyndale NT 1526, the Matthews 1537 and The famous Geneva of 1560. What is interesting to those who follow these sort of things is that the D/R was a translation into English from the Latin Vulgate (ie: a translation of a translation). Tyndale translated the NT into English from the greek text. So your line of reasoning only works in and among those like yourself who basically don't know what they are talking about and or place the actual Word of God at the bottom of their summer reading list.
Another tid-bit of trivia, to find the first comparable Latin to English translation we go to AD 1388, thats right, 200 years before the D/R to Wyclif who was not treated very nice by the church you love so much.
Of course this has nothing to do with Luther and his translation of the NT from koine greek to the German language. The claim to fame of Luthers translation (1522) is that it was the first translation in the German language to make it's way into the hands of the people. Which brings me to making the point that it matter not if the Bible is available to the people actually doing the believing if those who profess to believe do not actually take the time to study the Word. St. Paul tells us (believers) to do just that (2 Timothy 2:15) but don't let the details of the NT get in the way of your good time bashing those who love the Word of God.
I would be interested in knowing of a corresponding probition among the Jews anywhere from the time of Moses to the present, where the Hebrew Scriptures were on their list of forbidden books. Help me out here.