***The Scriptures (at that time) by the RC were locked up in Latin (nobody understood latin but priests or the highly educated) locked up BY LAW in many/most places.. Some people were prosecuted for even having bibles or portions of bibles in latin.. i.e. Fox’s Book of Martyrs(googleable)***
The percentage of the population that was literate prior to Gutenberg was less than 10%. There simply was not enough manpower available to copy Bibles out by hand.
Fox’s Book of Martyrs is a propaganda hit piece; besides, the Church is not responsible for secular law.
With the manpower allocated to copying out the Bible, the Church decided that that manpower was best suited to producing the Bibles that they could in as accurate a form as possible in the language of the Church - Latin. Is there any doubt that the secular efforts to translate the Bible turned out highly inaccurate and misleading translations ie Tinsdale?
It is quite funny how what we consider to be educated people think that folks 500 years ago are exactly as educated and have as much wealth and leisure as folks today. We must look at circumstances and the times.
TRUE... it is a propaganda hit piece.. Written so that people in future times could not re-write history.. Written as a memorial to heinous suffering and malfeasance.. John said as much himself.. Except the word propaganda had not been coined yet.. At the time of "its" writing the Roman Catholic hierarchy had real civil power in many country's..
Its no secret that several Popes were no more than con men and robbers if not murderers and Sadists.. Fox's Book of Martyrs testifys to some but by means not all the goings on that John Fox knew of..
The testimony that the Roman Catholic Church was a Cultic aberation during certain times in its history is recorded elsewhere as well.. i.e. Millers Church History.. Halles handbook..
It has been said, "Power does corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely".. Its no mystery that this can happen.. It happened to some Calvinist situations as well.. Wading thru the muck of church history takes a strong stomach.. Many have not the strengh for it.. Isreal became corrupted as well, several times.. Which is WHY God sent Prophets when Civil power(the Kingdom) was corrupted..