P013 Preliminary.

P013 Preliminary.

Other Languages.—Bibles among other nations were printed for the first time as follows, all being translations from the Vulgate: Italian, 1471, at Venice; Flemish, 1475, at Cologne; Spanish, 1478, at Valencia; French, 1487, at Paris; Bohemian, 1488, at Prague. The Complutensian Polyglot.—This, the first Polyglot Bible published, was projected by Cardinal Ximenes, who employed the most eminent scholars in its preparation.

It was begun in 1502, and the six folio volumes were printed between 1514 and 1517, though not actually published until 1522. Only six hundred copies of the work were printed.

It was published at Alcala, in Spain, the old Latin name of which place was Complutum. Hence the name of the work. The Old Testament has the Hebrew, Latin, and Greek in three columns, and a Chaldee paraphrase at the bottom of the page. The New Testament has the Greek and the Latin Vulgate in parallel columns.

3. Facilities for studying Hebrew and Greek Before the time of the first printed English Testament.

Hebrew

1087-1100. In the reign of William Rufus some Jewish rabbis were permitted to open a school for Hebrew in the University of Oxford.

1290. On the banishment of the Jews from England by Edward I., their Hebrew MSS. fell into the hands of the monks.

1310. At the Council of Vienna, under Clement V., provision was made for teaching Hebrew in the universities of Paris and Oxford.

1320. A Hebrew lectureship was instituted at Oxford, but was not of long continuance. After a time the Hebrew became unknown to even many of the best-read scholars. Toward the close of the fifteenth century the interest in it was greatly revived.

1488. The first complete Hebrew Bible was printed at Soncino, in Italy. Portions of the Bible had been previously printed as follows: Psalter in 1477; Pentateuch in 1482; the Former Prophets in 1485; the Later Prophets in 1486; and the Hagiographa(1) in 1487.