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You wrote:

“English Protestants and French Huguenots were burnt at the stake, etc for reading the Bible...”

Nope. Not one. Reading the Bible was not a crime. How could what happened every day in every church and every monastery and in many homes be a crime?

“Reading the Bible, even owning own was a crine...”

Nope. Not even remotely. Show me the law from the Vatican that says so. Show me the national law from any nation-state of the Middle Ages or Early Modern Period that says so.

“Only the Catholic Church, and the nobility had Bibles...If the nobility were Protestants, or if anyone else had a Bible they were murdered...”

Again, nonsense. The truth of the matter is simply this: few people outside of the clergy or nobility had the education necessary to read Latin or even the vernacular. As time went on, and medieval society became more stable, wealthy and educated, even the middle class, and yes, even shepherds read books - including the Bible. Not surprisingly, you are unaware of the following: http://www.geocities.com/militantis/biblechp11.html (Graham was a former Protestant by the way).

And S.R. Maitland was never anything but a Protestant, but he still had the courage to tell the truth unlike so many of his fellows. In his classic work, The Dark Ages, he tells us about the numerous cases of Bible reading in the Middle Ages that he encountered in sources. Of course, those cases time and again, were about priests, monks, nuns, bishops, abbots and nobles. After all, how many other could read until late in the Middle Ages? The fact that few had the money to buy an education does not mean that the Church either killed anyone for reading the Bible, nor that it kept the Bible from anyone. Look at the third world today. Missionaries can hand out all the bibles they want to illiterate people, but they still won’t be able to read them. IS that such a difficult concept to grasp? In America, who is more likely to be literate today? The well off or the poor? Clearly the well off.

“In the 1680s 200,000 Huguenots fled from France...”

So what? In the 1840s, 1,000,000 Catholics fled from Ireland...

So what?

“Plus the thousands who left in the earlier pogroms...”

Again, so what? None of that - NONE OF IT - says anything about the Bible, or literacy, etc.

“They hid their Bibles by baking them inside loaves of bread...”

1) I have no reason to believe a LeFevre-like baking story. 2) If the French were looking for Huguenot bibles then that was French policy - not CATHOLIC policy. The French also granted the Huguenots toleration, and then they rescinded it. Again, the French did what they did.

“If they were caught with a Bible they were murdered...”

1) What the French did to their citizens has nothing to do with the Church. 2) Show me the French law that says having a Huguenot bible meant death. Remember the The Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, October 22, 1685, was by the king, the grandson of the Protestant king of Navarre who abandoned his heresy in a heartbeat to become king of France and once issued the Edict of Nantes. This was all FRENCH policy. It was not conducted or insisted on by the Church.

“In one episode in 1572, alone, the St Batholomews Day Massacre, 30,000 French Huguenots were murdered ..”

Nope. The number that most scholars agree on is much closer these days to 5,000 than 30,000. And it is irrelevant in any case since that too was a French decision and had nothing to do with the Church. For the death tolls at the low end see: Philip Benedict, “The Saint Bartholomew’s Massacres in the Provinces,” The Historical Journal, Vol. 21, No. 2 (Jun., 1978), pp. 205-225. For the toll at the high end see: F. Fernández-Armesto and D. Wilson, Reformation: Christianity and the World 1500 - 2000, Bantam Press, London, pp. 236 - 237.

No one really knows.

What we do know is this - the Church had nothing to do with it.

[ Nope. Not even remotely. Show me the law from the Vatican that says so. Show me the national law from any nation-state of the Middle Ages or Early Modern Period that says so. ]

O.K...

The Roman Catholic Church admits this in her own Laws :

"Canon 14. We prohibit also that the laity should not be permitted to have the books of the Old or New Testament; we most strictly forbid their having any translation of these books." - The Church Council of Toulouse 1229 AD Source: Heresy and Authority in Medieval Europe, Scolar Press, London, England copyright 1980 by Edward Peters, ISBN 0-85967-621-8, pp. 194-195

The Council of Tarragona of 1234, in its second canon, ruled that: "No one may possess the books of the Old and New Testaments, and if anyone possesses them he must turn them over to the local bishop within eight days, so that they may be burned..." - The Church Council of Tarragona 1234 AD; 2nd Cannon - Source : D. Lortsch, Historie de la Bible en France, 1910, p.14.

"Opened on Thursday alongside the Inquisition archives was the infamous Index of Forbidden Books, which Roman Catholics were forbidden to read or possess on pain of excommunication. They showed that even "the Bible" was once on the blacklist. Translations of the holy book ended up on the bonfires along with other ``heretical'' works...The Index of Forbidden Books and all excommunications relating to it were officially abolished in 1966. The Inquisition itself was established by Pope Gregory IX in 1233...." -Vatican archives reveal Bible was once banned book By Jude Webber ROME, Jan 22, 1998 (Reuters)

"Canon 14. We prohibit also that the laity should be permitted to have the books of the Old or New Testament; ...we most strictly forbid their having any translation of these books."

- ITEM #2 COUNCIL OF TOULOUSE - 1229 A.D. Heresy and Authority in Medieval Europe, Edited with an introduction by Edward Peters, Scolar Press, London, copyright 1980 by Edward Peters, ISBN 0-85967-621-8, pp. 194-195 --After the death of Innocent III, the Synod of Toulouse directed in 1229 its fourteenth canon against the misuse of Sacred Scripture on the part of the athari: "prohibemus, ne libros Veteris et Novi Testamenti laicis permittatur habere" (Hefele, "Concilgesch", Freiburg, 1863, V, 875).

ITEM #3 THE COUNCIL OF TARRAGONA - 1234 A.D. The Council of Tarragona of 1234, in its second canon, ruled that:

"No one may possess the books of the Old and New Testaments in the Romance language, and if anyone possesses them he must turn them over to the local bishop within eight days after promulgation of this decree, so that they may be burned...." - D. Lortsch, Historie de la Bible en France, 1910, p.14.

ITEM #6 THE BIBLE PROHIBITED BY THE INDEX LIBRORUM PROHIBITORUM

Pope Pius IV had a list of the forbidden books compiled and officially prohibited them in the Index of Trent (Index Librorum Prohibitorum) of 1559. This is an excerpt :

"Whoever reads or has such a translation in his possession... cannot be absolved from his sins until he has turned in these Bibles...Books in the vernacular dealing with the controversies between Catholics and the heretics of our time are not to be generally permitted, but are to be handled in the same way as Bible translations..." - Rule IV & Rule VI

Die Indices Librorum Prohibitorum des sechzehnten Jahrhunderts (Tübingen, 1886), page 246f. Source: The Reformation, by Hans J. Hillerbrand, copyright 1964 by SCM Press Ltd and Harper and Row,Inc., Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 64-15480, pages 474, 475.

History's Most Indestructable Book

Many dictators have attempted to wipe the Bible from existence. Yet it has withstood all these attacks, remaining the most popular book in the world. More copies of the Bible are sold every year than any other book, despite its image as being "out of date."

Christendom Becomes - An Enemy of the bible

Christendom - as a political power

Unfortunately, this ultimately led to persecution again as the church quickly became a powerful political force, used to control public opinion and political ambitions.

The Bible continued to be attacked, now from within the church. Bibles in common languages such as Greek were outlawed. The Latin Vulgate Bible was produced and carefully controlled, readable only by specially trained representatives of the church. Laws were issued making it illegal for any Christian to possess a Bible. Penalties included burning at the stake. During the Dark Ages even priests were unable to read the Scriptures for themselves. As a result, they were unable to compare the false doctrines sweeping through the Roman church against the doctrines of the Word of God. In Italy, it was still illegal to own a Bible until 1870!

Political ambitions led to such crimes as the Crusader Wars, purported to be in the name of Christ but having no relationship with any Christian doctrine. Christianity was primarily an excuse used to give them credibility. Since the people had no Bibles to check such things for themselves, they were at the mercy of the corrupt religiious leaders behind these efforts.

"The Roman Catholic Church has traditionally suppressed, opposed, and forbidden the open use of the Bible. It was first officially forbidden to the people and placed on the index of Forbidden Books List by the Council of Valencia in 1229 A.D. The Council of Trent (1545-63 A.D.) also prohibited its use and pronounced a curse upon anyone who would dare oppose this decree. Many popes have issued decrees forbidding Bible reading in the common language of the people, condemning Bible societies and banning its possession and translation under penalty of mortal sin and death. The Roman Catholic Church has openly burned Bibles and those who translated it or promoted its study, reading, and use. (John Hus, 1415 A.D.; William Tyndale, 1536 A.D.)" -Christian Equippers International, 2941 Lake Tahoe Blvd, South Lake Tahoe 96150

1525: Six thousand copies of William Tyndale’s English translation of the New Testament were printed in Cologne, Germany, and smuggled into England—and then burned by the English church.

"Tyndale wrote that the Church authorities banned translation into the mother tongue “to keep the world still in darkness, to the intent they might sit through vain superstition and false doctrine, to satisfy their filthy lusts, their proud ambition, and insatiable covetousness, and to exalt their own honour... above God himself.” " --William Tyndale’s New Testament. Worms (Germany), 1526 British Library C.188.a.17 Copyright © The British Library Board ONLINE GALLERY LANDMARKS IN PRINTING

"Tyndale’s New Testament was the first to be printed in English. There are only two complete copies surviving from the 3,000 or more printed in 1526 by Peter Schoeffer in the German city of Worms. Tyndale’s translation was pronounced heretical in England, so his Bibles were smuggled into the country in bales of cloth. Those discovered owning them were punished. At first only the books were destroyed, but soon heretics (those found with the Bibles) would be burned too - including Tyndale himself in 1536."
-William Tyndale’s New Testament. Worms (Germany), 1526 British Library C.188.a.17 Copyright © The British Library Board ONLINE GALLERY LANDMARKS IN PRINTING

"For 600 years the Roman Catholic Church attempted to keep translations of the Bible out of the hands of the people. Bible-believing people were mercilessly persecuted and their Scriptures were destroyed. Those who possessed Bibles without a license were commanded to deliver them up to the Catholic authorities under threat of inquisition terrors. Booksellers were forbidden to sell any Bibles except to people who possessed a license from the Catholic church. Huge quantities of Scriptures in English, German, Italian, French, Spanish, and in other languages, were confiscated and destroyed throughout the 13th to the 19th centuries. Bible translators and distributors were imprisoned and burned. Even after the Catholic inquisition was outlawed in many lands in the 18th and 19th centuries, the popes continued to condemn the free distribution of Scripture." -ROME AND THE BIBLE: TRACING THE HISTORY OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH AND ITS PERSECUTION OF THE BIBLE AND OF BIBLE BELIEVERS, by David W. Cloud, Way of Life Literature, copyright 1996.

"In Roman-dominated lands, the Bible was almost an unknown book among the common people. The Bible in Rome is a strange and rare book. Indeed very few of the common people know what we mean by the Bible." -ROME AND THE BIBLE: TRACING THE HISTORY OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH AND ITS PERSECUTION OF THE BIBLE AND OF BIBLE BELIEVERS, by David W. Cloud, Way of Life Literature, copyright 1996.

"Book burnings which included Bibles were common after 1521. Sometimes the translators and publishers themselves were also burned. Possession of Bibles became criminal offenses and often resulted in the execution of the accused. There are cases on record of people executed by order of church for the "crime" teaching their children the Lord's Prayer or the Ten Commandments in their own native tongue." -What Happened this Day in Church History June 13, 1757 • The Bible in Many Tongues. Christian History Institute

"In the two decades after Wycliffe’s death, many Lollards were burned at the stake, some even with their Bibles hanging from their necks to be burned with them." -Ron Minton, The Making and Preservation of the Bible (n.p.; November, 2000) 216.

"By 1408 even reading the Bible in English was outlawed." - F. F. Bruce, PP 20-23 History of the Bible in English, 3rd ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1978)

"One of Wycliffe’s followers, John Hus, actively promoted Wycliffe’s ideas: that people should be permitted to read the Bible in their own language, and they should oppose the tyranny of the Roman church that threatened anyone possessing a Bible with execution. Hus was burned at the stake in 1415, with Wycliffe’s manuscript Bibles used as kindling for the fire. The Catholic Church excommunicated Hus in 1411 and burned him at the stake in Constance on July 6, 1415, having condemned him by the Council of Constance, in an unfair trial." -English Bible History; "John Hus" GREATSITE.COM; the online showroom of The Bible Museum, Inc. Since 1987