The Latin Bible from the late Middle Ages to Junius-Tremellius

This essay considers the form and status of the Bible in Latin at the close of the Middle Ages and traces out the developments through the sixteenth century. Assumed to be inspired and unchanged, the Latin Bible had come to exist in a number of traditions and had acquired errors and variations with the passing of centuries. Humanist methods of textual criticism and the opportunities presented by moveable type reshaped the Latin Bible, and the Reformation saw the creation of new Latin translations which diverged from the Vulgate, the authority of which was asserted by the Tridentine Church. These processes inspired many remarkable scholarly collaborations and also fierce controversies: the Latin Bible, in all its old and new forms, remained at the very heart of the religious and intellectual transformations of the century. Protestants did not relinquish the Vulgate and Catholic scholars were not ignorant of the critical editions and translations being produced elsewhere.