The exact history of Wycliffe's translation of the
Bible is uncertain.
Separate versions of the Apocalypse and of a Harmony
of the Gospels have been attributed to him, with more or less probability,
but with no certainty.
In any case these were but preludes to the
great work.
The New Testament was first finished, about the year 1380;
and in 1382, or soon afterwards, the version of the entire Bible was
completed.
He was now rector of Lutterworth, in Leicestershire, living
mainly in his parish, but keeping constantly in touch with Oxford and
London.
Other scholars assisted him in his work, and we have no certain
means of knowing how much of the translation was actually done by himself.
The New Testament is attributed to him, but we cannot say with certainty
that it was entirely his own work.
The greater part of the Old Testament
was certainly translated by Nicholas Hereford, one of Wycliffe's most
ardent supporters at Oxford.
Plate XXX (above) gives a reproduction
of a page of the very manuscript written under Hereford's direction,
now in the Bodleian Library at Oxford (Bodl. 959).
Description & picture
from 'Our Bible & the Ancient Manuscripts'
by Sir Frederick Kenyon (1895 - 4th Ed. 1939) Page 203
& Plate XXX. (Section illustrated: 19 x 11.5cm. Page-size: 32.5 x
23cm. )
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