Origins of the
English Bibles

What's in a Name?

The name given this Bible, while some would consider it a harmless pseudonym, was really a deliberate subterfuge to throw off the authorities and get the book distributed on the black market.

Tyndale had dispensed huge quantities through the same means, but without disguising his identity. Though it became known as the Matthew Bible, the work can be directly traced to John Rogers.

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Matthew (Rogers) Bible

The actual origin of the Matthew Bible is somewhat obscure. It was completed and published the same year as Tyndale's second edition. It was presented for the king's license, having been inscribed on the title page, "set forth with the king's most gracious license." The Pentateuch and New Testament were taken directly from Tyndale with very little variation. Ezra through Malachi (including Jonah) plus the Apocrypha were taken from Coverdale. Joshua through 2 Chronicles, though no documentation is made, appears to be from Tyndale's work, which may have been done while he was in prison. At any rate, the title page attributes it to Thomas Matthew. Nothing is known of this man, but the arrest record of John Rogers lists an alias of "Matthew."

John Rogers was born near Birmingham, England, about 1500. He was graduated from Cambridge in 1526 with a B.A. degree. Though apparently not moved by the spiritual awakenings of the students at Cambridge, Rogers became rector of Holy Trinity in London. Two years later he found himself in Antwerp as chaplain to the English merchants who traded there.

Through a brief friendship with Tyndale, he was profoundly affected spiritually -- so much so that he abandoned the Catholic Church and married a woman from Antwerp.

Tyndale had translated the Old Testament through 2 Chronicles, but nothing had been published after the Pentateuch. The balance of the work needed to be completed to get the Bible published. Rogers helped, to be sure, but with Rogers' limited knowledge of Hebrew it seems likely that Coverdale actually did at least the bulk of the work, using much of Tyndale's work to produce the Coverdale Bible. The complete Bible was published under the name of Thomas Matthew in 1537, just one year after Tyndale's death.

Assembling all the evidence, it appears that John Rogers, who was befriended by Tyndale, helped in the completion of Tyndale's work, along with Miles Coverdale. This Bible seems to embody all the work of Tyndale (including his prologue to Romans, volumes of notes, plus the contribution of Coverdale) -- all decidedly Protestant in spite of the imprimatur of the King!

Whittington		Great Bible