What is Wycliffe's Bible?
[[File:Wycliffe John Gospel.jpg|thumb|Beginning of the Gospel of John from a 14th-century copy of Wycliffe's translation.]] '''Wycliffe's Bible''' is the name now given to a group of [[Bible translations]] into [[Middle English]], that were made under the guidance of [[John Wycliffe]]. They appeared over a period from about 1382 to 1395. Although unauthorized, the work was popular. Wycliffite Bible texts are the most common [[manuscript]] literature in Middle English. More than 250 manuscripts of the Wycliffite Bible survive. These Bible translations were the chief inspiration and chief cause of the [[Lollard]] movement, a pre-[[Reformation]] movement that rejected many of the distinctive teachings of the [[Roman Catholic Church]]. The [[Catholic Church]] started a campaign to suppress it, Due to its many mistakes and changes. In the early 15th century, [[Henry IV of England|Henry IV]], Archbishop [[Thomas Arundel]], and Henry Knighton put into law some of the severest religious [[censorship]] laws in [[Europe]] at that time. Manuscripts of the Wycliffe Bible, if inscribed with a date before 1409 (the date of the ban) circulated freely and were widely used by [[clergy]] and laity.<ref>John, Stacey. 1964. ''John Wyclif and reform''. London: Westminster Press.</ref> Wycliffe's Bible was edited later in stages to bring it closer to spoken English of the day. His translation followed the Latin [[word order]] very closely, which is different from English word order: :[[Latin language|Latin]] [[Vulgate]]: '''Dixitque Deus fiat lux et facta est lux''' :Early Wycliffe: '''And God seide, Be maad liȝt; and maad is liȝt''' :Later Wycliffe: '''And God seide, Liȝt be maad; and liȝt was maad''' :Douay-Reims (1609): '''And God said: Be light made. And light was made''' Wyclif's Bible was followed later by [[William Tyndale]], who translated the Bible into a more modern form of English, and used Greek manuscript sources for the first time. He was pursued for many years by [[Thomas More]], whose agents finally caught hi