Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 1998. Vol. 2. Eger Journal of English Studies.(Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 26)

Studies - Lajos Szőke: Anglica vetera in the Archdiocesian Library of Eger

It was the Geneva Bible which had the greatest influence in the formation of the Anglican and especially the Puritan spirituality of the XVIth century, not only because it had seventy issues from 1560 to 1643 (Bruce 1979. 8695). For more than a century readers and believers in England and Scotland were instructed by the famous anti-Roman notes attached to the text of the translations. This technique of Protestant propaganda was introduced into Bible-translations by William Tyndale in his first English New Testament (1526). However, the idea of expressing opinions in the course of the biblical text had already been used by Erasmus in 1516. Not all the believers and Church leaders shared, of course, these outspoken and for them irritating Calvinistic views. This could be the reason why - in spite of the excellent translation - it was never granted royal authorization. The Library has the 1594 edition of the Geneva Bible (R - VIII - 10). The Bishops' Bible, although lacking the insulting annotations, did not supersede the Geneva Bible. As none of them could fulfill the expectations, a new translation was proposed. Under the leadership of King James I several leading biblical scholars took part in the work (First published in 1611). The main advantage of this variant was, that by being neutral and avoiding using hostile notes for either side, it did not divide people and its language, based on scholarly translation, was more understandable. The only places to reflect the translators' views were the chapter headings, but these were not numerous and long enough to divide the public. Later this version won overall popularity in England and was given royal authorization. The church' use of the King James Version was also prescribed by the Book of Common Prayer in 1662. In the collection of the Library there are three Bible editions (1626, 1631, 1646) based on the King James version of 1611. The copy of the 1631 edition held in the Library, however, is not the "Wicked Bible" as the misprint in this Bible had already been corrected and the seventh Commandment has the omitted "not" in Ex. 20.2. 17 and Dta. 5.6-21 The fact that the Archdiocesan Library of Eger has various Anglican Bible editions but no Catholic version seems to support the theory that Eszterházy and his supporters were interested just in the Anglican and not in the Catholic translations. The copies kept in the Library reflect all these stages in the development of the Anglican Bible-translations even if some of them have definite anti-Catholic content. They must have been aware of the fact that these translations through their notes and annotations were at the same time theological treatises the refutation of which was possible only on the basis of thorough knowledge of the texts. Differences in the biblical exegesis could arise also from the different protografs. From Tyndale on, Anglican translators relied not on the Latin Vulgata but used the Hebrew Old Testament and the Greek New Testament. The Archdiocesan Library of Eger 140