Records: Vernacular Bibles

## **Christmas, 1377**

England had been through some rough time recently but this last year had turned the country around. Granted, there were still tremors from the kingdom-wide Audit and Rectification, and there were still threats from Wales, Scotland, Ireland and France... but the nature of what had happened, from Excalibur to the Battle of Arundel, had given pause to enemies of the Crown.
While the Crown was testing the waters selling a newspaper, and the printing presses were giving others their own outlet, though literacy was still painfully low – the Crown was planning on a complex giveaway, no tax, no nothing: *bibles*.

### **The Vernacular Bibles**

Long a project of John Wycliffe, Richard had helped him along to get the translation *in the* *vernacular* *of* *Middle English* – and printed. That Christmans day, they handed out 1000 of Wycliffe's Bible bibles in the streets of London. There was an incredible rush to see these bibles printed in the vernacular.

The day after that, there was an incredible rush to buy more of them – but they were out of stock. Prince Rick refused to sell them, only giving them away as they were printed.

The Church, from both marginalized Avignon and recuperating Rome, condemn Richard for the blasphemy of selling non-latin bibles… The English church… *didn’t*. That was the nature of the game. More interesting was the sudden Cornish and Welsh demand, as well as the sudden French demand – *from France*.

As the bibles made their splash, the true power of the printing press made itself apparent.

### **Not just English**

Vernacular bibles absolutely threatened the established clergy of the time – and absolutely floored the world’s academics. This was giving access to the recorded holy word to the common man. And the common man, everywhere.

For the local travelers, there were bibles printed in Cornish, Welsh, Breton and Gaelic. For the more distant travelers, the translations were done in Spanish, Portuguese, German, Bohemian and Russian. This was attaching rocket boosters to the Protestant Reformation.

The Royal Company wasn't *officially* behind the effort, though Richard was. He gave away *thousands,*refusing to sell them, in the drive that it would spark literacy. And... *discussion*.

These opened the bible up to study and critique by the masses – *exactly what the Church feared*.

10-year-old Richard was now seen as a religious iconoclast on par with Wycliffe himself…

### **The Ricardian Bibles**

The *Ricardian Bibles* were a whole new level of academics and scholarship that world simply had never seen before. These had the texts in their original languages: Hebrew for the Old Testament, Aramaic and Greek for the new testament.

The original text had side-by-side translations, foot and end notes of historical context, with index, concordance, glossary, maps and illustrations and a few comparative religious notes, not so much focusing on the contrasts, but rather the similarities to Judaism and Islam (the Abrahamic religions), as well as Hinduism and Buddhism.

The Ricardian Bibles weresold in a 5-volume set (for those who judged quantity of information by page count). The World had never seen scholarship to that degree – and it did more to educate the world on Christianity than any source since Christ Himself walked the earth.

It was said that Pope Gregory XI seemed stricken by the news – especially when he finally had the chance to examine one. While the pontiff found no technical flaws in the translations, that it was done in the first place was the worst kind of heresy: *assuming people could read and think for themselves*.

## **Lexicography: First English Dictionary Published**

Compiled by the National Muses, with official contributions by both Oxford and Cambridge. Also, heavily assisted by Richard’s magical prowess – who was using magic in the typsetting.

The words and spelling were standardized, with denotation, connotation, pronounciation and etymology researched and cross-referenced. This was the standard for education moving forward, including grammar.

With the English version out there, there were efforts to repeat this work in every other language.

## **The Industry of Printing *Exploded* in England**

While Rick wouldn't sell bibles – he'd only give them away – the Royal Company created and sold movable-type presses as fast as they could be built. With demand growing far faster than he could keep up, it was a royal monopoly…

Paper had a few sources, but Richard’s pulping process was patented and the Royal Company became *the* go-to source for English paper.

Ink had few sources, though Royal Company was there for that, too – either importing it for resale or selling their own. The Royal Company was the one-stop show for subversives and raconteurs.