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I Bell chiming]

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[Indistinct conversations]

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[Mediaeval folk music playing]

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BRAGG:
In the last programme,

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we looked at the way in which
English had begun to oust French

6
00:00:30,330 --> 00:00:32,161
as the language
of law and government

7
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and how there was
a new confidence

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in English literature.

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MAN: Father, we are full fain
Your bidding to fulfil.

10
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Nine months past and plain
Since we were put to pain.

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BRAGG: But during
the 1 4th and 1 5th centuries,

12
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there began a movement
to return English

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to its central place in society.

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This fight
was often a violent one.

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It was as much a political story
as a linguistic one,

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and it starts right at the top,

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for late mediaeval Britain was,
above all, a religious society.

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The Catholic Church
controlled and pervaded

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all aspects of life,
and it was in the Church

20
00:01:07,901 --> 00:01:10,836
that this struggle for access
and power would be fought.

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English set out
to become the language of God.

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Subtitling made possible by
Acorn Media

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WOMAN: "In the beginning was the
Word, and the Word was with God,

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and the Word was God.

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And God created
the heavens and the earth."

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"Now the earth
was formless and empty."

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"And God said, 'Let there be
light, ' and there was light."

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WOMAN: "Through Him,
all things were made.

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Without Him, nothing was made
that has been made.

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In Him was life, and that life
was the light of men."

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Right, find number 1 2
in your hymnbook

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and then stand up
ready to really sing

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as well as you possibly can.

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# All over the world #

35
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# The spirit is moving #

36
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# All over the world #

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# As the prophet
said it would be #

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# All over the world #

39
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# There's a mighty revelation #

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# Of the glory of the Lord #

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In the beginning was the Word,

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but not if you lived
in 1 4th-century England

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and couldn't speak Latin.

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Power in words lay in the Bible.
There was no Bible in English.

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In formal terms, God spoke
to the people in Latin.

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Six centuries ago, the Bible
stories were commonly enjoyed,

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but not the Bible itself.

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To the vast majority,
it was a closed book.

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Bothe Osye and Isaye,

50
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Preued that a prins
withouten pere

51
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Shulde descende doune in a lady,

52
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To make mankynde clerly,

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To leche tham that are lorne.

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And in Bedlem hereby
Sall that same barne by borne.

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BRAGG:
These are the Mystery Plays,

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first performed in York
around 1 3 7 6

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and still being performed today.

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They tell the Christian story,

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from the mystery
of God's creation

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to the birth, death,
and resurrection of Christ.

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They are religious plays,
but they're not the Scriptures.

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They're a sort of
biblical soap opera,

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at the same kind of remove
from the original source

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as our nativity plays are today.

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If you wanted
to hear the real thing,

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you'd have to go in there,
in the minster,

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and hear it in Latin.

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[Women singing in Old English]

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Out here, you'll get
the strip-cartoon version

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in English.

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Only one play each year
is now performed

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in the original language...

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the language
of the time of Chaucer.

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Itt menes some meruayle
us emang,

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If fully you behete.

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[Laughs]

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What it shulde mene
that wate not yoee.

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For all yoe can gape and gone.

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I can synge itt
alls wele as they,

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And on asaie itt sall sone be
Proued or we passe.

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If yoe will helpe, halde on,
for thus it was.

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[Sings to "Tempus Adest
Floridum" in Old English]

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BRAGG: This year
it's the "Shepherds' Play,"

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the story of the three shepherds
seeing the angelic host

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coming and preparing
for the newly born Jesus.

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[Laughs]

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This was a mery note,
Be the dede that I sall dye,

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I have so crakid in my throte
That my lippis are nere drye.

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I trowe thou royse.

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An aungell brought vs
tythandes newe

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A babe in Bedlem
shulde be borne,

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Of whom than spake
oure prophicie trewe...

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And bad us mete hym thare
this morne.

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[Women singing in Latin]

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[Applause]

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BRAGG: That was
the language of the streets...

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immediate and direct.

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But in God's house, Latin ruled.

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MAN:
# Hallelujah #

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[Men vocalising]

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BRAGG:
Anybody who was brought up

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in the ways of
the Church of England, as I was,

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would find
a mediaeval church service

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linguistically
a strange and remote affair.

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00:06:20,947 --> 00:06:22,505
When you went to church then...

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and everybody had to,
it was compulsory...

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there was
no familiar English Hymnal,

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Hymns Ancient and Modern,

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or even
the Book of Common Prayer.

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Everything was in Latin.

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And, at best, you'd only have
understood the odd word of it.

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[Men singing in Latin]

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Only the clergy were allowed
to read the Word of God,

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and they did even that silently.

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A bell was rung
to let the congregation know

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when the priest had reached
the important bits.

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[Singing continues]

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[Ringing]

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For the authority
of the Catholic Church,

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it was vital that a priest
and a language

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stood between
a believer and the Bible.

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[Singing continues]

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But all that was about to
change dramatically.

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In the 1 4th century,

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there was the beginnings
of a countermovement

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that was going to turn

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the English-speaking world
on its axis.

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It would eventually
tear the Church in two.

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It would mark
the end of the Middle Ages

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and would cost many, many lives.

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It was the battle
for the language of the Bible.

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The English... some of them...

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wanted access
to the kingdom of heaven

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in the language of the streets.

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They wanted a Bible
that belonged to them,

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and they were prepared
to fight for it.

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It was the boldest way

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for English to become
the language of real power.

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The prime mover
was John Wycliffe,

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who at the age of 1 7
was admitted here...

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to Merton College, Oxford.

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[Organ music playing]

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Wycliffe was a charismatic
scholar, fluent in Latin,

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and therefore familiar
with the Bible.

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He was a major philosopher
and theologian

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who believed passionately

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that his knowledge
should be shared by everyone.

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And he was fiercely opposed

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to the power and wealth
of the Church.

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"When men speak of the Church,"
he said,

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"they usually mean priests,
monks, canons, and friars.

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But it should not be so.

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Were there 1 00 popes," he wrote,

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"and all the friars
turned to cardinals,

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their opinions
in matters of faith

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should not be accepted

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except insofar
as they're founded

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on the scripture itself."

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The Church in Wycliffe's time
was often lazy and corrupt.

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Bible reading,
even among the clergy,

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was surprisingly rare, for often
they didn't have the Latin.

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When the Bishop of Gloucester

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surveyed 3 1 1 deacons,
archdeacons,

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and priests of the diocese,

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he discovered that 1 68

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were unable to repeat
the 1 0 Commandments,

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3 1 didn't know where
those Commandments came from,

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and 40 couldn't repeat
the Lord's Prayer.

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Wycliffe railed
at the corruption

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and complacency of the Church.

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His overriding thought
was summed up

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in his passionate belief in

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the right of every man,
whether cleric or layman,

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to examine the Bible
for himself.

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This meant a full English Bible.

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But it wasn't an easy task.

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It was unauthorised
by the Church

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and so potentially heretical,
even seditious.

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It had to be done in secrecy,

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for its aim was to overthrow
the powerful with words.

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We know that
by the beginning of 1 380,

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Wycliffe had organised
the translation from the Latin

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of the first English Bible.

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The work took place here
in Oxford,

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probably with
a number of translators.

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And it wasn't only
the mammoth task

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of translation that faced them.

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Their Bible
had to be disseminated, too.

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00:11:00,827 --> 00:11:04,729
Once a translation was done,
the new Bible was reproduced.

190
00:11:04,831 --> 00:11:06,924
Hundreds were copied
in scriptoria,

191
00:11:07,033 --> 00:11:10,366
production lines
turning out handwritten copies.

192
00:11:12,705 --> 00:11:15,640
1 7 0 of these Bibles survived...

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a huge number
for a 600-year-old manuscript...

194
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which tells us there must have
been armies of people

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00:11:20,980 --> 00:11:26,247
secretly transcribing it,
copying it, and passing it on.

196
00:11:35,528 --> 00:11:38,520
And here it is,
the first English Bible,

197
00:11:38,631 --> 00:11:41,964
laboriously copied out
in perfect script.

198
00:11:42,068 --> 00:11:43,296
Look at it.

199
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The first thing that strikes me

200
00:11:44,904 --> 00:11:46,997
is how like
the Lindisfarne Gospels is.

201
00:11:47,106 --> 00:11:48,437
The tradition went on.

202
00:11:48,541 --> 00:11:51,374
Of this book, you can fairly say
it literally changed the world.

203
00:11:51,477 --> 00:11:53,104
And later,
for the sake of this book,

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00:11:53,213 --> 00:11:56,341
hundreds would be martyred,
dying the most horrible deaths.

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But this was the most radical
cause of its day,

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00:11:58,885 --> 00:12:04,187
one, some thought, worth dying
for... God's Word in English.

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00:12:07,894 --> 00:12:10,488
Here it is in modern speech.

208
00:12:12,432 --> 00:12:17,335
"In the beginning, God made of
naught heaven and earth.

209
00:12:17,437 --> 00:12:21,100
Forsooth, the earth
was idle and void,

210
00:12:21,207 --> 00:12:24,142
and darkness
were on the face of depth,

211
00:12:24,244 --> 00:12:28,374
and the spirit of God
was borne on the waters.

212
00:12:28,481 --> 00:12:34,818
And God said, 'Light be made, '
and light was made.

213
00:12:34,921 --> 00:12:37,947
And God saw the light,
that it was good,

214
00:12:38,057 --> 00:12:41,652
and he departed the light
through darkness.

215
00:12:41,761 --> 00:12:46,994
And he kept the light day
and the darkness night.

216
00:12:47,100 --> 00:12:52,766
And the eventide and morrowtide
was made one day.

217
00:12:54,775 --> 00:12:56,766
There was a problem
with Wycliffe's Bible.

218
00:12:56,877 --> 00:12:58,572
It wasn't an easy translation.

219
00:12:58,679 --> 00:13:01,842
Many familiar phrases
do have their origin here...

220
00:13:01,948 --> 00:13:04,473
"woe is me,"
"an eye for an eye,"

221
00:13:04,584 --> 00:13:07,553
and words such as
"barbarian," "birthday,"

222
00:13:07,654 --> 00:13:10,179
"canopy," "childbearing,"
"cockcrow,"

223
00:13:10,290 --> 00:13:12,087
"communication," "crime,"

224
00:13:12,192 --> 00:13:14,820
"dishonour," "envy,"
"frying pan,"

225
00:13:14,928 --> 00:13:17,419
"godly," "graven," "humanity,"

226
00:13:17,531 --> 00:13:20,295
"injury," "jubilee," "lecher,"

227
00:13:20,400 --> 00:13:23,369
"madness," "menstruate,"
"middleman," "mountainous,"

228
00:13:23,470 --> 00:13:25,165
"novelty," "oppressor,"
"philistine,"

229
00:13:25,272 --> 00:13:27,536
"pollute," "puberty,"
"rampart," "schism,"

230
00:13:27,641 --> 00:13:30,041
"tramp," "unfaithful,"
"visitor," and "zeal."

231
00:13:30,143 --> 00:13:32,668
You read them first
in Wycliffe's Bible

232
00:13:32,779 --> 00:13:34,872
from the 1 380s, onwards.

233
00:13:34,981 --> 00:13:36,846
But on the whole,
Wycliffe and his team

234
00:13:36,950 --> 00:13:40,147
were so in awe of the sacred
nature of the Latin Scriptures

235
00:13:40,253 --> 00:13:42,847
that they did a translation
word for word,

236
00:13:42,956 --> 00:13:44,651
even keeping
the Latin word order.

237
00:13:44,758 --> 00:13:46,385
So it contains phrases like,

238
00:13:46,493 --> 00:13:48,927
"Lord, go from me,
for I am a man sinner,"

239
00:13:49,029 --> 00:13:52,624
and, "l, forsooth, am the Lord
Thy God, strong jealous."

240
00:13:52,733 --> 00:13:55,793
These were people still nervous
with their own language,

241
00:13:55,902 --> 00:13:59,235
anxious that it could carry
the weight of God's Word.

242
00:13:59,339 --> 00:14:03,036
One result was that there are
over a thousand Latin words

243
00:14:03,143 --> 00:14:05,111
that turn up
for the first time in English,

244
00:14:05,212 --> 00:14:07,305
whose use in English
is first recorded

245
00:14:07,414 --> 00:14:08,779
in Wycliffe's translation...

246
00:14:08,882 --> 00:14:11,350
quite ordinary ones
like "emperor," "justice,"

247
00:14:11,451 --> 00:14:14,750
"profession," "city," "cradle,"
"suddenly," "angel,"

248
00:14:14,855 --> 00:14:19,292
"multitude," and "glorie"...
a good word for this Bible.

249
00:14:20,527 --> 00:14:22,290
This was still
a difficult language

250
00:14:22,395 --> 00:14:25,193
to Wycliffe's contemporaries,
but at least it wasn't Latin.

251
00:14:28,935 --> 00:14:32,302
By the standards of the day,
it was the best seller.

252
00:14:32,405 --> 00:14:34,305
The Church condemned him for it,

253
00:14:34,407 --> 00:14:36,932
maintaining that he had made
the Scriptures

254
00:14:37,043 --> 00:14:39,739
"more open to the readings
of laymen and women.

255
00:14:39,846 --> 00:14:41,643
Thus, the jewel of the clerics

256
00:14:41,748 --> 00:14:43,682
is turned
to the sport of the laity,

257
00:14:43,784 --> 00:14:46,446
and the pearl of the gospel
is scattered abroad

258
00:14:46,553 --> 00:14:49,750
and trodden underfoot by swine."

259
00:15:06,506 --> 00:15:09,475
Wycliffe had begun to organise
and train what amounted to

260
00:15:09,576 --> 00:15:11,669
a new religious order
of itinerant preachers,

261
00:15:11,778 --> 00:15:14,042
whom he dispatched
around England.

262
00:15:17,317 --> 00:15:21,651
Their purpose was to spread
the Word, literally, in English.

263
00:15:21,755 --> 00:15:23,746
It was like
a guerrilla campaign.

264
00:15:23,857 --> 00:15:26,883
They were determined to win
the battle for God.

265
00:15:29,596 --> 00:15:31,325
In the highways, byways,

266
00:15:31,431 --> 00:15:33,524
taverns, inns,
and village greens,

267
00:15:33,633 --> 00:15:35,692
they preached
against Church corruption

268
00:15:35,802 --> 00:15:38,669
and proclaimed
Wycliffe's anticlerical ideas.

269
00:15:38,772 --> 00:15:40,603
They read
from his English Bible,

270
00:15:40,707 --> 00:15:43,039
and they became known
as Lollards.

271
00:15:43,143 --> 00:15:46,010
The name might be derived
from "lolia," meaning "weeds,"

272
00:15:46,112 --> 00:15:50,276
or from "lollen"...
"to whisper, murmur, or hum."

273
00:15:52,986 --> 00:15:55,887
They were a secret
but influential movement

274
00:15:55,989 --> 00:15:58,457
and hated
by the Catholic establishment.

275
00:15:58,558 --> 00:16:00,992
They went straight to the source
of God's teaching

276
00:16:01,094 --> 00:16:02,857
and cut out the priests.

277
00:16:05,031 --> 00:16:08,057
"Blessed be poor men in spirit,

278
00:16:08,168 --> 00:16:11,228
for the kingdom of heaven
is theirs.

279
00:16:11,338 --> 00:16:15,968
Blessed be mild men, for they
shall wield the earth.

280
00:16:16,076 --> 00:16:19,978
Blessed be they that mourn,
for they shall be comforted.

281
00:16:20,080 --> 00:16:22,844
Blessed be they that hunger
and thirst rightwise,

282
00:16:22,949 --> 00:16:25,816
for they shall be fulfilled.

283
00:16:26,753 --> 00:16:28,983
Blessed be merciful men...

284
00:16:30,023 --> 00:16:31,923
...for they shall get mercy.

285
00:16:32,993 --> 00:16:36,087
Blessed be they
that be of clean heart...

286
00:16:37,130 --> 00:16:39,223
...for they shall see God.

287
00:16:41,001 --> 00:16:45,995
Blessed be they that suffer
persecution for rightfulness,

288
00:16:46,106 --> 00:16:48,939
for the kingdom of heaven
is theirs.

289
00:16:50,911 --> 00:16:53,971
So shine your light before men,

290
00:16:54,080 --> 00:16:55,445
that they see your good works

291
00:16:55,548 --> 00:16:59,985
and glorify your Father
that is in heaven."

292
00:17:03,523 --> 00:17:05,548
BRAGG: The Church
wasn't going to stand for this.

293
00:17:05,659 --> 00:17:07,286
It cut at its very authority.

294
00:17:07,861 --> 00:17:09,920
On this spot...
Blackfriars in London...

295
00:17:09,996 --> 00:17:12,191
on May 1 7, 1 382,

296
00:17:12,299 --> 00:17:14,790
a special synod
made up of eight bishops,

297
00:17:14,901 --> 00:17:18,667
various masters of theology,
doctors of canon and civil law,

298
00:17:18,772 --> 00:17:23,038
and 45 friars met to examine
Wycliffe's works.

299
00:17:23,143 --> 00:17:24,201
It was a show trial.

300
00:17:24,311 --> 00:17:26,302
Their conclusion
was preordained.

301
00:17:26,413 --> 00:17:29,007
And two days into their meeting,
they drafted a statement

302
00:17:29,115 --> 00:17:30,844
condemning
Wycliffe's pronouncements

303
00:17:30,951 --> 00:17:33,283
as outright heresies.

304
00:17:37,257 --> 00:17:40,988
The synod also condemned
Wycliffe's associates.

305
00:17:41,094 --> 00:17:42,994
It ordered
the arrest and prosecution

306
00:17:43,096 --> 00:17:44,996
of itinerant preachers
throughout the land.

307
00:17:45,098 --> 00:17:47,726
Eventually it secured
a parliamentary ban

308
00:17:47,834 --> 00:17:50,803
on all English-language Bibles.

309
00:17:53,006 --> 00:17:54,803
On the 30th of May that year,

310
00:17:54,908 --> 00:17:58,708
the synod instructed every
diocese to publish the verdict.

311
00:18:00,513 --> 00:18:01,912
Wycliffe became ill.

312
00:18:02,015 --> 00:18:05,974
The stress defeated him, and he
was paralysed by a stroke.

313
00:18:12,325 --> 00:18:14,816
Two years later, he died.

314
00:18:22,435 --> 00:18:25,165
Wycliffe's death didn't signal
the end of the movement,

315
00:18:25,271 --> 00:18:28,707
though afterwards Lollards were
at constant risk of their lives.

316
00:18:28,808 --> 00:18:30,105
They met in hidden places,

317
00:18:30,210 --> 00:18:31,837
especially in Hereford
and Monmouthshire.

318
00:18:31,945 --> 00:18:34,175
They managed to elude
the agents of the Church

319
00:18:34,280 --> 00:18:35,975
and keep their faith alive.

320
00:18:36,082 --> 00:18:37,379
One contemporary chronicler

321
00:18:37,484 --> 00:18:39,679
said that every second man
he met was a Lollard

322
00:18:39,786 --> 00:18:41,378
and they went all over England,

323
00:18:41,488 --> 00:18:44,389
luring great nobles and lords
to their fold.

324
00:18:44,491 --> 00:18:46,823
It's most unlikely
that they were that numerous,

325
00:18:46,926 --> 00:18:50,384
but nevertheless this was
a national political movement,

326
00:18:50,497 --> 00:18:54,126
and its cause
was the English language.

327
00:18:55,902 --> 00:18:59,133
MAN: In a somer sesun,
whon softe was the sonne,

328
00:18:59,239 --> 00:19:03,005
I schop me into a shroud,
as I a scheep were;

329
00:19:03,109 --> 00:19:05,942
Bote in a Mayes morwnynge
on Malverne hulles

330
00:19:06,046 --> 00:19:10,210
Me bifel a ferly, of fairie,
me-thoughte.

331
00:19:12,252 --> 00:19:14,015
BRAGG: This is
the West Midlands dialect

332
00:19:14,120 --> 00:19:16,680
of William Langland's
"Piers Plowman."

333
00:19:18,491 --> 00:19:22,860
It's a religious poem, the most
popular poem of its day.

334
00:19:26,399 --> 00:19:27,923
It's the first time we know of

335
00:19:28,034 --> 00:19:29,763
that the English language
was used

336
00:19:29,869 --> 00:19:32,963
to express a personal,
Christian, spiritual vision,

337
00:19:33,073 --> 00:19:35,041
and it's evidence
of a native tradition

338
00:19:35,141 --> 00:19:37,336
that's a real
and growing alternative

339
00:19:37,444 --> 00:19:39,935
to the established
religious culture.

340
00:19:41,581 --> 00:19:44,049
It came to Langland
in a series of dreams,

341
00:19:44,150 --> 00:19:46,641
the first
here on the Malvern Hills.

342
00:19:46,753 --> 00:19:48,846
It's written
in alliterative verse,

343
00:19:48,955 --> 00:19:52,447
itself a form which harks back
to the Old English of "Beowulf,"

344
00:19:52,559 --> 00:19:54,652
and it's an allegory
of the Christian life

345
00:19:54,761 --> 00:19:56,353
and of
the contemporary corruption

346
00:19:56,463 --> 00:19:58,556
of the Christian Church.

347
00:19:58,665 --> 00:20:02,999
MAN: And as I beheold into
the est an heigh to the sonne,

348
00:20:03,103 --> 00:20:07,164
I sauh a tour on a toft,
tryelyche i-maket;

349
00:20:07,273 --> 00:20:11,039
A deop dale bineothe,
a dungun ther-inne,

350
00:20:11,144 --> 00:20:14,341
With deop dich
and derk and dredful of sighte.

351
00:20:14,447 --> 00:20:18,543
A feir feld full of folk
fond I ther bitwene,

352
00:20:18,651 --> 00:20:22,485
Worchinge and wandringe
as the world asketh.

353
00:20:22,589 --> 00:20:26,320
Summe putten hem to the plough,
pleiden ful seldene,

354
00:20:26,426 --> 00:20:30,453
In settynge and in sowynge
swonken ful harde,

355
00:20:30,563 --> 00:20:34,431
I fond there freres,
all the foure ordres,

356
00:20:34,534 --> 00:20:37,628
Prechinge the peple for profyt
of heore wombes,

357
00:20:37,737 --> 00:20:40,865
Glosynge the Gospel
as hem good liketh,

358
00:20:40,974 --> 00:20:44,876
For the parisshe preest and
the pardoner parten the silver

359
00:20:44,978 --> 00:20:50,177
That the povere of the parisshe
sholde have if they ne were.

360
00:20:52,485 --> 00:20:54,146
BRAGG:
English here is being used

361
00:20:54,254 --> 00:20:55,983
to form
not just a literary language,

362
00:20:56,089 --> 00:20:59,252
but one which is an alternative
to the received authority

363
00:20:59,359 --> 00:21:01,919
passed down
either through French or Latin.

364
00:21:02,028 --> 00:21:05,191
This is plain speaking
for plain folk, it seems to say.

365
00:21:05,298 --> 00:21:06,697
This is real experience.

366
00:21:06,799 --> 00:21:07,823
This is the language

367
00:21:07,934 --> 00:21:10,368
of an individual relationship
with God.

368
00:21:10,470 --> 00:21:12,938
It prefigures books
like "Pilgrim's Progress"

369
00:21:13,039 --> 00:21:14,404
and "Paradise Lost."

370
00:21:14,507 --> 00:21:17,601
It would bestir the pilgrim
fathers and, in good time,

371
00:21:17,710 --> 00:21:21,339
become the Protestant language
of the English Reformation.

372
00:21:26,719 --> 00:21:28,983
But meanwhile,
the Church was not satisfied

373
00:21:29,088 --> 00:21:30,214
with Wycliffe's death.

374
00:21:30,323 --> 00:21:33,087
It continued to burn Bibles,
it burned people,

375
00:21:33,193 --> 00:21:36,629
and it ordered Wycliffe
to be posthumously burned.

376
00:21:36,729 --> 00:21:39,527
In 1 4 1 4
the most imposing Council

377
00:21:39,632 --> 00:21:41,361
ever called
by the Catholic Church

378
00:21:41,467 --> 00:21:43,367
condemned Wycliffe as a heretic

379
00:21:43,469 --> 00:21:47,371
and in the spring of 1 428
ordered his bones to be exhumed

380
00:21:47,473 --> 00:21:49,668
and removed
from consecrated ground.

381
00:21:49,776 --> 00:21:51,767
With the Primate of England
looking on,

382
00:21:51,878 --> 00:21:53,846
Wycliffe's remains
were disinterred

383
00:21:53,947 --> 00:21:57,383
and burned by a little bridge
that spanned the River Swift,

384
00:21:57,483 --> 00:21:59,417
a tributary of the Avon.

385
00:22:01,521 --> 00:22:04,581
His ashes were scattered
into the stream.

386
00:22:14,133 --> 00:22:17,193
So, officially,
the Bible remained in Latin,

387
00:22:17,303 --> 00:22:20,067
but there was a Lollard prophecy
of the time which ran,

388
00:22:20,173 --> 00:22:25,008
"The Avon to the Severn runs,
the Severn to the sea,

389
00:22:25,111 --> 00:22:27,602
and Wycliffe's dust
shall spread abroad,

390
00:22:27,714 --> 00:22:30,080
wide as the waters be."

391
00:22:32,151 --> 00:22:33,709
The prophecy was right.

392
00:22:33,820 --> 00:22:36,345
English would eventually
have its Bible.

393
00:22:36,456 --> 00:22:37,946
But the Church
would not give way

394
00:22:38,057 --> 00:22:39,354
before the new force of English

395
00:22:39,459 --> 00:22:42,622
until the state
had buckled first.

396
00:22:45,566 --> 00:22:47,056
The battle for an English Bible

397
00:22:47,168 --> 00:22:49,728
was a battle, literally,
for the soul of England.

398
00:22:49,837 --> 00:22:51,236
But before it could be won,

399
00:22:51,339 --> 00:22:52,897
the heart and mind
of the country

400
00:22:53,007 --> 00:22:54,531
had to be persuaded, too.

401
00:22:54,642 --> 00:23:00,171
And that process began here
in 1 4 1 7 in France, with Henry V.

402
00:23:12,994 --> 00:23:15,189
MAN: Right trusty
and well-beloved brother,

403
00:23:15,296 --> 00:23:19,289
right worshipful fathers in God
and trusty and well-beloved,

404
00:23:19,400 --> 00:23:21,834
for as much as we know well
your desire

405
00:23:21,936 --> 00:23:24,803
were to hear joyful tidings
of our good speed,

406
00:23:24,906 --> 00:23:30,435
we signify unto you that of our
labour has sent good conclusion.

407
00:23:31,913 --> 00:23:33,380
BRAGG:
In the early 1 5th century,

408
00:23:33,481 --> 00:23:35,540
Henry was campaigning
around northern France,

409
00:23:35,650 --> 00:23:37,584
winning French territory
and famous battles,

410
00:23:37,685 --> 00:23:39,744
especially at Agincourt.

411
00:23:39,854 --> 00:23:41,412
It seems a small thing,

412
00:23:41,522 --> 00:23:43,717
but it was of
quite extraordinary significance

413
00:23:43,825 --> 00:23:45,122
that, after his victory,

414
00:23:45,226 --> 00:23:48,525
Henry V broke with 350 years
of royal tradition

415
00:23:48,629 --> 00:23:50,893
and wrote his dispatches home
in English.

416
00:23:50,998 --> 00:23:52,590
This was an astute move.

417
00:23:52,700 --> 00:23:54,827
English kings
had begun to speak English

418
00:23:54,936 --> 00:23:57,803
under his father, Henry IV,
but all court documents

419
00:23:57,905 --> 00:23:59,566
had hitherto
been written in French,

420
00:23:59,674 --> 00:24:01,938
as they had been
since the Norman conquest.

421
00:24:02,043 --> 00:24:05,501
Henry's English letters are
deliberate pieces of propaganda,

422
00:24:05,613 --> 00:24:07,843
to be spread
throughout the land.

423
00:24:07,949 --> 00:24:10,679
Here's his letter
announcing peace.

424
00:24:11,853 --> 00:24:14,321
MAN: "Upon Monday,
the 20th day of May,

425
00:24:14,422 --> 00:24:16,720
we arrived in this town, Troyes,

426
00:24:16,824 --> 00:24:19,486
and the accord
of the peace perpetual

427
00:24:19,594 --> 00:24:22,085
was here sworn
by the Duke of Burgundy

428
00:24:22,196 --> 00:24:24,790
and semblably by us
in our own name.

429
00:24:24,899 --> 00:24:27,299
[Bells chiming]

430
00:24:28,636 --> 00:24:31,434
The letters forthwith sealed
under the great seal,

431
00:24:31,539 --> 00:24:32,836
copies of which we send

432
00:24:32,940 --> 00:24:35,170
to be proclaimed
in our City of London

433
00:24:35,276 --> 00:24:36,743
and through all our realm

434
00:24:36,844 --> 00:24:38,971
that our people may have
knowledge thereof

435
00:24:39,080 --> 00:24:41,105
for their consolation."

436
00:24:41,215 --> 00:24:46,050
Signed, "Henry, by the grace
of God, King of England."

437
00:24:49,190 --> 00:24:51,021
Henry's motives may have been

438
00:24:51,125 --> 00:24:53,184
the exploitation
of anti-French fervour,

439
00:24:53,294 --> 00:24:55,159
but once he returned
from the campaigns,

440
00:24:55,263 --> 00:24:56,992
he continued to write
in English.

441
00:24:57,098 --> 00:24:59,760
And in doing so,
he made the first major step

442
00:24:59,867 --> 00:25:01,027
towards the creation

443
00:25:01,135 --> 00:25:02,864
of an official,
standardised English

444
00:25:02,970 --> 00:25:04,528
that that everybody could read.

445
00:25:04,639 --> 00:25:06,800
The Houses of Parliament,
where I am now,

446
00:25:06,908 --> 00:25:09,103
are also called
the Palace of Westminster.

447
00:25:09,210 --> 00:25:11,110
That's a reminder
that on this site

448
00:25:11,212 --> 00:25:12,406
the kings of England once had

449
00:25:12,513 --> 00:25:14,242
their principal
London residence.

450
00:25:14,348 --> 00:25:17,044
This hall is all that survived
the Great Fire,

451
00:25:17,151 --> 00:25:20,086
and somewhere 'round here,
when the king was in residence,

452
00:25:20,188 --> 00:25:23,419
would have been the first circle
of his government.

453
00:25:27,261 --> 00:25:30,594
This was called
the Signet Office.

454
00:25:30,698 --> 00:25:33,189
It wrote personal letters
on behalf of the monarch,

455
00:25:33,301 --> 00:25:34,563
which carried the royal seal,

456
00:25:34,669 --> 00:25:36,762
and, in ways
familiar to us today,

457
00:25:36,871 --> 00:25:38,099
once Henry decreed

458
00:25:38,206 --> 00:25:40,037
that the Signet Office
should use English,

459
00:25:40,141 --> 00:25:42,541
it was inevitable
that the rest of the country

460
00:25:42,643 --> 00:25:45,111
would come to do the same.

461
00:25:45,213 --> 00:25:47,204
The problem was, which English?

462
00:25:47,315 --> 00:25:49,306
Across the country,
people still spoke

463
00:25:49,417 --> 00:25:51,044
a mass of different dialects

464
00:25:51,152 --> 00:25:53,347
and would have had trouble
understanding one another.

465
00:25:53,454 --> 00:25:57,049
For instance the word "stiene"
or "stane" in the north

466
00:25:57,158 --> 00:25:58,955
was "stone" in the south.

467
00:25:59,060 --> 00:26:01,085
The "-ing" participle,
as in "running,"

468
00:26:01,195 --> 00:26:04,596
was said as "-and" in the North,
"-end" in the East Midlands,

469
00:26:04,699 --> 00:26:06,132
and "-ind" in the West Midlands.

470
00:26:06,234 --> 00:26:08,361
So "running" could also be said

471
00:26:08,469 --> 00:26:11,802
as "runnand," "runnind,"
and "runnend."

472
00:26:11,906 --> 00:26:15,398
But that was nothing compared to
the variety of spellings in use.

473
00:26:15,509 --> 00:26:17,602
Because England had
traditionally used French

474
00:26:17,712 --> 00:26:19,339
or Latin
as its written languages,

475
00:26:19,447 --> 00:26:20,744
there had never been any need

476
00:26:20,848 --> 00:26:22,748
to agree on
a common linguistic standard

477
00:26:22,850 --> 00:26:25,114
or even how to spell
particular words.

478
00:26:25,219 --> 00:26:27,585
But now there was.

479
00:26:27,688 --> 00:26:29,713
Take the word "church,"
for instance...

480
00:26:29,824 --> 00:26:32,258
one of the most common
and important in the language.

481
00:26:32,360 --> 00:26:35,090
In the north of England,
it was commonly called a "kirk,"

482
00:26:35,196 --> 00:26:37,130
while the south used "church."

483
00:26:37,231 --> 00:26:39,563
However "kirk"
could be spelt...

484
00:26:50,378 --> 00:26:52,369
"Church" was variously...

485
00:27:10,364 --> 00:27:12,332
Fortunately, from the language's
point of view,

486
00:27:12,433 --> 00:27:13,957
there was a big engine of state

487
00:27:14,068 --> 00:27:15,865
that could deal with
this unruly tongue...

488
00:27:15,970 --> 00:27:17,494
it was the Chancellery,

489
00:27:17,605 --> 00:27:19,800
reduced to "Chancery,"
the civil service of the day...

490
00:27:19,907 --> 00:27:22,705
because it was crucial that
a document produced in London

491
00:27:22,810 --> 00:27:24,300
could be read in Carlisle.

492
00:27:24,412 --> 00:27:27,609
We needed
a common written language.

493
00:27:32,453 --> 00:27:35,320
This is
the Public Records Office,

494
00:27:35,423 --> 00:27:40,122
where the official documents
of the 1 5th century are kept.

495
00:27:43,264 --> 00:27:45,755
As Chancery began to use
the English language,

496
00:27:45,866 --> 00:27:47,629
it had to make
hundreds of decisions

497
00:27:47,735 --> 00:27:50,829
about which form of a word
and which spelling to adopt.

498
00:27:50,938 --> 00:27:52,997
We don't know
how those choices were made,

499
00:27:53,107 --> 00:27:55,075
but we do know that they stuck.

500
00:27:55,176 --> 00:27:58,077
Thousands of documents
were painstakingly written out

501
00:27:58,179 --> 00:28:00,477
and sent
all over the country.

502
00:28:01,716 --> 00:28:03,274
Many had legal status,

503
00:28:03,384 --> 00:28:07,047
so they had to be exact
and consistent.

504
00:28:07,922 --> 00:28:09,981
And under the influence
of Chancery,

505
00:28:10,091 --> 00:28:14,187
the language starts to look
more modern and more even.

506
00:28:15,529 --> 00:28:18,225
Words like "any," "but," "many,"

507
00:28:18,332 --> 00:28:21,324
"not," "such," "ought,"
and even "l"...

508
00:28:21,435 --> 00:28:23,995
previously "Iche"
had also been allowed...

509
00:28:24,105 --> 00:28:27,905
find their modern forms
at Chancery.

510
00:28:28,009 --> 00:28:30,034
"Lond" becomes "land."

511
00:28:30,144 --> 00:28:33,807
And "chirche," "kirk," and all
the others become "church."

512
00:28:35,316 --> 00:28:39,275
During the decade 1 469-1 4 79
alone, for instance,

513
00:28:39,387 --> 00:28:42,879
the modern word "shall"
starts as "xal," then "schal,"

514
00:28:42,990 --> 00:28:45,982
and finally settles
into its modern form, "shall."

515
00:28:46,927 --> 00:28:48,827
The word "rithe"
becomes "right."

516
00:28:48,929 --> 00:28:52,763
"Hath" and "doth"
become "has" and "does."

517
00:28:52,867 --> 00:28:55,631
By 1 500, under the influence
of Chancery,

518
00:28:55,736 --> 00:28:59,866
the language
is becoming recognisable to us.

519
00:29:01,475 --> 00:29:04,842
WOMAN: Is there anything else
in common with the plurals?

520
00:29:04,945 --> 00:29:07,004
Some end in "-s."
Some end in "-es."

521
00:29:07,114 --> 00:29:09,912
Some end in "-ies."

522
00:29:10,017 --> 00:29:11,678
Anyone know why?

523
00:29:15,222 --> 00:29:18,214
Is there a reason why they all
end in different endings?

524
00:29:18,325 --> 00:29:20,919
CHILD: Is it because it's
just the English language?

525
00:29:21,028 --> 00:29:22,962
"It's just
the English language."

526
00:29:23,064 --> 00:29:24,793
That's a very good answer.
Okay.

527
00:29:24,899 --> 00:29:27,629
But just because everyone
began to spell the same way,

528
00:29:27,735 --> 00:29:29,896
it didn't mean the language
became any more logical.

529
00:29:30,004 --> 00:29:31,801
Look at this.
"Why English is so hard.

530
00:29:31,906 --> 00:29:34,431
"We'll begin with a box,
and the plural is boxes.

531
00:29:34,542 --> 00:29:37,409
But the plural of ox is oxen,
not oxes.

532
00:29:37,511 --> 00:29:39,741
Then one fowl is goose,
but two are called geese.

533
00:29:39,847 --> 00:29:45,114
Yet the plural of moose
should never be meese.

534
00:29:45,219 --> 00:29:48,313
You may find a lone mouse
or a whole lot of mice.

535
00:29:48,422 --> 00:29:51,186
But the plural of house
is houses, not hice.

536
00:29:51,292 --> 00:29:52,418
If the plural of man...

537
00:29:52,526 --> 00:29:54,494
...is always called men,

538
00:29:54,595 --> 00:29:56,825
Why shouldn't the plural of pan
be called pen?"

539
00:29:56,931 --> 00:30:00,059
And it goes on and it goes on
and it goes on.

540
00:30:00,167 --> 00:30:02,032
WOMAN: What's the poet
trying to tell us?

541
00:30:02,136 --> 00:30:03,603
English is confusing.

542
00:30:03,704 --> 00:30:07,140
That English is confusing.
Hands up if you agree.

543
00:30:07,241 --> 00:30:09,004
Okay.
Hands down.

544
00:30:09,577 --> 00:30:11,374
Ask any foreigner...
in fact, ask any pupil...

545
00:30:11,445 --> 00:30:14,380
about mastering English spelling
and its inconsistencies,

546
00:30:14,482 --> 00:30:17,315
and they'll say, "What have
we done to deserve this?"

547
00:30:17,418 --> 00:30:20,444
A lot of it is just to do with
the mongrel nature of English,

548
00:30:20,554 --> 00:30:22,988
and a lot of it is to do
with accidents of usage

549
00:30:23,090 --> 00:30:24,580
from centuries ago.

550
00:30:24,692 --> 00:30:27,024
But some of it was deliberate!

551
00:30:27,128 --> 00:30:28,459
WOMAN: Hands up
if you think that English

552
00:30:28,562 --> 00:30:29,529
is so hard to learn.

553
00:30:29,630 --> 00:30:30,824
BRAGG:
Around the time English

554
00:30:30,931 --> 00:30:32,626
was being standardised
by Chancery,

555
00:30:32,733 --> 00:30:35,964
there was much debate about
the best way to spell things.

556
00:30:36,070 --> 00:30:38,504
Broadly, there were reformers
who wanted to spell words

557
00:30:38,606 --> 00:30:40,574
according to the way
they were pronounced

558
00:30:40,674 --> 00:30:42,505
and traditionalists
who wanted to spell them

559
00:30:42,610 --> 00:30:44,874
in one of the ways
they'd always been.

560
00:30:44,979 --> 00:30:46,913
When it's something
like "anchor,"

561
00:30:47,014 --> 00:30:51,314
you don't know
if it's an "h" or a "k."

562
00:30:51,418 --> 00:30:53,682
BRAGG:
The traditionalists won.

563
00:30:53,787 --> 00:30:55,880
It is confusing.
How are you going to know?

564
00:30:55,990 --> 00:30:58,584
Because a silent letter
is silent.

565
00:30:58,692 --> 00:31:01,252
They couldn't help tampering,
though.

566
00:31:01,362 --> 00:31:04,160
In a desire to make the roots
of the language more evident,

567
00:31:04,265 --> 00:31:06,597
words that had entered English
from French, for instance,

568
00:31:06,700 --> 00:31:08,031
were given a Latin look.

569
00:31:08,135 --> 00:31:11,730
The letter "b" was inserted
into "debt" and "doubt,"

570
00:31:11,839 --> 00:31:14,103
the letter "c" into "victuals."

571
00:31:14,208 --> 00:31:16,142
Words that were
thought to be of Greek origin

572
00:31:16,243 --> 00:31:18,074
sometimes had
their spelling adjusted,

573
00:31:18,179 --> 00:31:21,945
so that "throne" and "theatre"
acquired their "h."

574
00:31:22,049 --> 00:31:24,210
"Rhyme," on the other hand,
was given an "h"

575
00:31:24,318 --> 00:31:25,717
just because "rhythm" had one,

576
00:31:25,819 --> 00:31:28,014
even though
it's etymologically absurd.

577
00:31:28,122 --> 00:31:29,487
On a similar principle,

578
00:31:29,590 --> 00:31:32,889
an "l" was inserted in "could"
because it had become silent,

579
00:31:32,993 --> 00:31:34,961
but it was still present
in "should" and "would."

580
00:31:35,062 --> 00:31:37,860
The same with "h" in words like
"whole," "where," and "whelk."

581
00:31:37,965 --> 00:31:40,593
And like anybody who tries
to rationalise English,

582
00:31:40,701 --> 00:31:42,931
they really messed it up.

583
00:31:43,037 --> 00:31:45,301
You feel confused.
And who do you blame?

584
00:31:45,406 --> 00:31:46,896
- You.
- Me. Okay.

585
00:31:47,007 --> 00:31:47,974
Let's carry on.

586
00:31:48,075 --> 00:31:51,238
Let's have a look
at the second verse, okay?

587
00:31:51,345 --> 00:31:57,113
"The cow in a plural
may be cows or kine,

588
00:31:57,218 --> 00:32:02,679
but the plural of vow is vows,
not vine.

589
00:32:02,790 --> 00:32:08,626
And I speak of foot,
and you show me your feet,

590
00:32:08,729 --> 00:32:14,258
But I give you a boot,
would a pair be called beet?"

591
00:32:14,368 --> 00:32:16,700
Stay here to be on television,
I'd advise you to keep quiet.

592
00:32:16,804 --> 00:32:18,135
Okay? Right.

593
00:32:18,239 --> 00:32:19,831
MAN:
You can all stand there.

594
00:32:19,940 --> 00:32:21,498
They've got the point.
Let's go.

595
00:32:21,609 --> 00:32:24,510
Hi! [Laughs]

596
00:32:25,813 --> 00:32:27,041
As if to prove the folly

597
00:32:27,147 --> 00:32:29,138
of trying to bring reason
into the language,

598
00:32:29,250 --> 00:32:30,581
the English promptly decided

599
00:32:30,684 --> 00:32:32,743
to pronounce everything
differently anyway.

600
00:32:32,853 --> 00:32:35,151
Around this time,
and nobody really knows why,

601
00:32:35,256 --> 00:32:38,157
a sea change took place
in the way English sounds.

602
00:32:38,259 --> 00:32:40,727
This is called
the Great Vowel Shift,

603
00:32:40,828 --> 00:32:42,352
and it happened
comparatively quickly,

604
00:32:42,463 --> 00:32:44,328
we think
over a generation or two.

605
00:32:44,431 --> 00:32:46,456
Before it,
English was pronounced in a way

606
00:32:46,567 --> 00:32:47,966
that sounds foreign to us now.

607
00:32:48,068 --> 00:32:50,730
"Might" used to sound
rather like today's "meet,"

608
00:32:50,838 --> 00:32:53,272
which in turn was said
something like "mit."

609
00:32:53,374 --> 00:32:56,400
So the sentence
"I might go and buy some meat"

610
00:32:56,510 --> 00:33:00,970
once sounded like
"I meet goe and boy some mit."

611
00:33:01,081 --> 00:33:02,810
That was the Great Vowel Shift.

612
00:33:02,916 --> 00:33:06,374
It made 1 5th-century English
recognisable to the modern ear.

613
00:33:06,487 --> 00:33:08,580
But it didn't change
the spelling.

614
00:33:10,457 --> 00:33:12,789
What really gives all languages
their uniformity

615
00:33:12,893 --> 00:33:13,985
is, of course, writing,

616
00:33:14,094 --> 00:33:16,426
and what gives writing
its huge modern power

617
00:33:16,530 --> 00:33:18,998
is the invention and spread
of printing.

618
00:33:20,267 --> 00:33:22,667
Printing was invented
in Mainz, Germany,

619
00:33:22,770 --> 00:33:24,465
around 1 435.

620
00:33:24,571 --> 00:33:28,007
It's often regarded as the most
seismic technological change

621
00:33:28,108 --> 00:33:30,269
Western culture
has gone through.

622
00:33:30,377 --> 00:33:34,711
Printing marks the beginning
of the information age.

623
00:33:59,306 --> 00:34:02,434
It's extraordinary, looking at
this simple piece of technology,

624
00:34:02,543 --> 00:34:04,738
to think of what a revolution
it brought about.

625
00:34:04,845 --> 00:34:08,804
This isn't 1 5th century, but it
works in exactly the same way.

626
00:34:08,916 --> 00:34:10,383
And because this device

627
00:34:10,484 --> 00:34:13,749
made it easy to manufacture
books in large numbers,

628
00:34:13,854 --> 00:34:17,517
it became very hard indeed
to control the spread of ideas.

629
00:34:17,624 --> 00:34:19,819
And print favoured
the language of the people.

630
00:34:19,927 --> 00:34:23,158
English was "pressed"
into service.

631
00:34:25,399 --> 00:34:27,458
And although Latin
was still the language

632
00:34:27,568 --> 00:34:29,126
of religion and scholarship...

633
00:34:30,304 --> 00:34:32,772
...when Caxton introduced
printing to England,

634
00:34:32,873 --> 00:34:35,273
he got straight on
with making books in English.

635
00:34:35,376 --> 00:34:38,868
Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales" and
Malory's "Tales of King Arthur"

636
00:34:38,979 --> 00:34:40,640
were his best sellers.

637
00:34:43,517 --> 00:34:44,575
But English was still

638
00:34:44,685 --> 00:34:47,051
a fluid and regionally difficult
monster,

639
00:34:47,154 --> 00:34:50,089
and Caxton worried about how
to achieve a common standard

640
00:34:50,190 --> 00:34:53,387
that would be understood
and read by all.

641
00:34:54,395 --> 00:34:58,058
MAN: Certaynly it is harde
to playse every man

642
00:34:58,165 --> 00:35:01,931
by cause of dyversite
and chaunge of langage.

643
00:35:02,035 --> 00:35:03,502
For in these days,

644
00:35:03,604 --> 00:35:08,337
every man wyll utter his
commynycacyon in suche termes

645
00:35:08,442 --> 00:35:11,309
that fewe man
shall understonde theym.

646
00:35:11,412 --> 00:35:12,902
But in my judgemente,

647
00:35:13,013 --> 00:35:15,538
the comyn terms
that be dayli used

648
00:35:15,649 --> 00:35:17,674
ben lighter to be understonde

649
00:35:17,785 --> 00:35:20,845
than the olde
and auncyent englysshe.

650
00:35:21,789 --> 00:35:24,849
Caxton tells us
that he is translating Virgil

651
00:35:24,958 --> 00:35:26,186
from a French version,

652
00:35:26,293 --> 00:35:29,456
but he doesn't know which
English word to use for "eggs."

653
00:35:29,563 --> 00:35:32,054
He tells a story of some
merchants from Northumberland

654
00:35:32,166 --> 00:35:35,499
who are away from home and visit
a house in Kent to buy food.

655
00:35:35,602 --> 00:35:37,797
One asks the woman for "eggys."

656
00:35:37,905 --> 00:35:40,169
She tells him
she doesn't speak French.

657
00:35:40,274 --> 00:35:41,832
Another asks for the same thing

658
00:35:41,942 --> 00:35:44,001
with a different plural,
"eyren,"

659
00:35:44,111 --> 00:35:46,011
which means "eggs"
in the dialect of Kent,

660
00:35:46,113 --> 00:35:47,603
and he gets them.

661
00:35:47,714 --> 00:35:50,706
So which word should Caxton
choose for his translation?

662
00:35:50,818 --> 00:35:54,754
He settles for "eggys,"
and so now do we.

663
00:36:00,727 --> 00:36:03,389
So it's printers, as much
as teachers and writers,

664
00:36:03,497 --> 00:36:06,125
who decide on a lot of words
and their spellings.

665
00:36:06,233 --> 00:36:08,531
And although it was writers
like Chaucer and Wycliffe

666
00:36:08,635 --> 00:36:10,432
who had established
a dominant dialect,

667
00:36:10,537 --> 00:36:14,405
it was Caxton's publications
that consolidated the gains...

668
00:36:14,508 --> 00:36:16,806
gains which would
eventually be made permanent

669
00:36:16,910 --> 00:36:18,002
by the English Bible,

670
00:36:18,111 --> 00:36:19,976
which in Tudor times,
thanks to printing,

671
00:36:20,080 --> 00:36:22,548
reached everyone who could read.

672
00:36:22,649 --> 00:36:24,583
The scene was set
for the creation

673
00:36:24,685 --> 00:36:26,676
of probably
the most influential book

674
00:36:26,787 --> 00:36:28,618
there's ever been
in the history of language...

675
00:36:28,722 --> 00:36:31,190
English or any other.

676
00:36:48,845 --> 00:36:50,574
Early in the reign
of Henry Vlll,

677
00:36:50,680 --> 00:36:52,477
the new king
was still promising the pope

678
00:36:52,582 --> 00:36:54,812
to burn
any "untrue translations."

679
00:36:54,917 --> 00:36:56,544
He meant Wycliffe's Bible,

680
00:36:56,652 --> 00:36:59,450
relentlessly circulating
in hand-copied editions,

681
00:36:59,555 --> 00:37:01,819
and he set his Lord Chancellor,
Cardinal Wolsey,

682
00:37:01,924 --> 00:37:05,223
to hunt down and burn
all heretical books.

683
00:37:05,328 --> 00:37:07,421
On the 1 2th of May 1 52 1,

684
00:37:07,530 --> 00:37:10,499
a huge bonfire
of confiscated heretical works

685
00:37:10,600 --> 00:37:13,125
was made outside the original
St. Paul's Cathedral.

686
00:37:13,236 --> 00:37:17,172
It was said that the flames
burned for two days.

687
00:37:18,441 --> 00:37:19,965
That same year, a young man

688
00:37:20,076 --> 00:37:22,909
who was Oxford-educated
and an ordained priest

689
00:37:23,012 --> 00:37:25,071
became tutor
to a large household

690
00:37:25,181 --> 00:37:26,739
in Little Sodbury,
Gloucestershire,

691
00:37:26,849 --> 00:37:28,214
where he started to preach

692
00:37:28,317 --> 00:37:31,047
"in the common place
called St. Austin's Green"

693
00:37:31,154 --> 00:37:33,019
in front of the church.

694
00:37:36,459 --> 00:37:38,290
His name was William Tyndale,

695
00:37:38,394 --> 00:37:40,760
and his Bible was to bring about
a radical change

696
00:37:40,863 --> 00:37:44,697
both in the English language
and in English society.

697
00:37:46,569 --> 00:37:48,662
He's had more influence
on the way we speak

698
00:37:48,771 --> 00:37:50,466
than anyone except Shakespeare,

699
00:37:50,573 --> 00:37:52,871
and he had to leave the country
to do it.

700
00:37:56,779 --> 00:38:00,010
Tyndale was in the mould
of Wycliffe, 1 00 years on.

701
00:38:00,116 --> 00:38:02,812
To a cleric
who challenged him he answered,

702
00:38:02,919 --> 00:38:06,286
"Ere many years I will cause
a boy that driveth a plough

703
00:38:06,389 --> 00:38:09,620
to know more of the
Scriptures than thou dost."

704
00:38:11,394 --> 00:38:14,454
You may say he finished
Wycliffe's business.

705
00:38:16,399 --> 00:38:19,732
He believed passionately
in an English Bible.

706
00:38:23,840 --> 00:38:29,278
In 1 524, aged 29, Tyndale left
England never to return.

707
00:38:29,378 --> 00:38:31,471
He settled in Cologne
and began the work

708
00:38:31,581 --> 00:38:33,845
of translating the New Testament
into English...

709
00:38:33,950 --> 00:38:37,579
not from Latin, but from
the original Hebrew and Greek.

710
00:38:37,687 --> 00:38:41,885
By 1 526, 6,000 copies
had been printed abroad

711
00:38:41,991 --> 00:38:44,983
and were about to be smuggled
into England.

712
00:38:45,695 --> 00:38:47,754
Henry Vlll
and Cardinal Wolsey...

713
00:38:47,864 --> 00:38:49,422
whose spies had alerted them...

714
00:38:49,532 --> 00:38:51,932
were terrified
of this perceived threat,

715
00:38:52,034 --> 00:38:55,299
and the whole country
was put on alert.

716
00:38:55,404 --> 00:38:57,998
Naval ships patrolled
the coastal waters,

717
00:38:58,107 --> 00:39:00,007
boats were stopped and searched,

718
00:39:00,109 --> 00:39:02,509
and a great many of the Bibles
were intercepted.

719
00:39:02,612 --> 00:39:04,773
For the state,
this was a serious struggle.

720
00:39:04,881 --> 00:39:07,315
Latin was the language
not only of God,

721
00:39:07,416 --> 00:39:10,044
but the state's authority
rested on it, too.

722
00:39:10,153 --> 00:39:11,814
The enemy
had to be beaten off...

723
00:39:11,921 --> 00:39:14,788
an enemy that would eventually
give the English language

724
00:39:14,891 --> 00:39:17,883
so magnificently
to the English people.

725
00:39:17,994 --> 00:39:20,963
But first, tens and then
hundreds of these Bibles

726
00:39:21,063 --> 00:39:22,223
began to get through.

727
00:39:22,331 --> 00:39:24,162
The Bishop of London
tried another tack.

728
00:39:24,267 --> 00:39:26,667
He sought to buy
the entire print run

729
00:39:26,769 --> 00:39:28,430
through an intermediary.

730
00:39:30,473 --> 00:39:31,872
"O he will burn them,"

731
00:39:31,974 --> 00:39:33,999
Tyndale is supposed to have said
when he heard this.

732
00:39:34,110 --> 00:39:35,407
"Well, I am the gladder,

733
00:39:35,511 --> 00:39:37,536
for I shall get the money of him
for these books

734
00:39:37,647 --> 00:39:39,137
and the whole world
shall cry out

735
00:39:39,248 --> 00:39:41,443
upon the burning of God's Word."

736
00:39:42,251 --> 00:39:43,309
And that's what happened...

737
00:39:43,419 --> 00:39:45,751
the Bishop bought
and burnt his books,

738
00:39:45,855 --> 00:39:47,220
and Tyndale used the money

739
00:39:47,323 --> 00:39:50,349
to prepare and print a better
version... at Church expense.

740
00:39:50,459 --> 00:39:52,450
And this is what
the conflict was about...

741
00:39:52,562 --> 00:39:56,362
a Bible for the people
in their spoken language.

742
00:39:57,266 --> 00:40:00,030
MAN: "Blessed are
the poor in spirit,

743
00:40:00,136 --> 00:40:03,833
for theirs
is the kingdom of heaven.

744
00:40:03,940 --> 00:40:07,899
Blessed be they that mourn,
for they shall be comforted.

745
00:40:08,010 --> 00:40:11,537
Blessed are the meek, for they
shall inherit the earth.

746
00:40:11,647 --> 00:40:14,810
Blessed are they which hunger
and thirst for righteousness,

747
00:40:14,917 --> 00:40:16,544
for they shall be filled.

748
00:40:16,652 --> 00:40:20,281
Blessed are the merciful,
for they shall obtain mercy.

749
00:40:20,389 --> 00:40:24,826
Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they shall see God.

750
00:40:24,927 --> 00:40:26,986
Blessed are the peacemakers,

751
00:40:27,096 --> 00:40:30,532
for they shall be called
the children of God.

752
00:40:30,633 --> 00:40:33,864
Blessed are they
which suffer persecution

753
00:40:33,970 --> 00:40:35,801
for righteousness' sake,

754
00:40:35,905 --> 00:40:38,840
for theirs
is the kingdom of heaven.

755
00:40:38,941 --> 00:40:42,468
Ye are the salt of the earth."

756
00:40:42,578 --> 00:40:44,045
It's hard... it's impossible...

757
00:40:44,146 --> 00:40:46,808
to overpraise the quality
of Tyndale's writing.

758
00:40:46,916 --> 00:40:49,851
Its rhythmical beauty,
its simplicity of phrase,

759
00:40:49,952 --> 00:40:52,079
has penetrated deep
into the bedrock of English

760
00:40:52,188 --> 00:40:53,951
as we still know it today.

761
00:40:54,056 --> 00:40:57,958
Tyndale's work formed 85% of
the later King James Bible...

762
00:40:58,060 --> 00:40:59,322
the one we all know...

763
00:40:59,428 --> 00:41:01,589
and we all use
his phrases still...

764
00:41:01,697 --> 00:41:03,722
"scapegoat,"
"let there be light,"

765
00:41:03,833 --> 00:41:04,822
"the powers that be,"

766
00:41:04,934 --> 00:41:06,834
"my brother's keeper,"
"filthy lucre,"

767
00:41:06,936 --> 00:41:08,995
"fight the good fight,"
"sick unto death,"

768
00:41:09,105 --> 00:41:11,505
"flowing with milk and honey,"
"the apple of mine eye,"

769
00:41:11,607 --> 00:41:12,665
"a man after my own heart,"

770
00:41:12,775 --> 00:41:14,675
"the spirit is willing,
but the flesh is weak,"

771
00:41:14,777 --> 00:41:16,938
"sign of the times,"
"ye of little faith,"

772
00:41:17,046 --> 00:41:18,308
"eat, drink, and be merry,"

773
00:41:18,414 --> 00:41:22,009
"brokenhearted," "clear-eyed,"
and hundreds and hundreds more.

774
00:41:22,118 --> 00:41:24,382
Words like, "beautiful,"
"fisherman," "landlady,"

775
00:41:24,487 --> 00:41:26,887
"seashore," "stumbling block,"
"taskmaster," "two-edged,"

776
00:41:26,989 --> 00:41:28,149
"viper," "zealous,"

777
00:41:28,257 --> 00:41:30,088
and even "Jehovah"
and "Passover"

778
00:41:30,192 --> 00:41:32,251
come to us from Tyndale.

779
00:41:32,361 --> 00:41:34,420
By this stage
in the adventure of English,

780
00:41:34,530 --> 00:41:36,896
we are coming across words
that carry our ideas

781
00:41:36,999 --> 00:41:39,160
and emotions and feelings
even today,

782
00:41:39,268 --> 00:41:40,735
words that not only tell us

783
00:41:40,836 --> 00:41:42,497
about the external world
we live in,

784
00:41:42,605 --> 00:41:45,972
but about the inner nature
of our condition.

785
00:41:46,976 --> 00:41:49,945
"Then God said,
'Let there be light. '

786
00:41:50,046 --> 00:41:53,777
And God saw the light
and that it was good,

787
00:41:53,883 --> 00:41:56,147
and He divided the light
from the darkness,

788
00:41:56,252 --> 00:42:00,712
and called the light day
and the darkness night.

789
00:42:00,823 --> 00:42:07,353
And so of the evening and
morning was made the first day."

790
00:42:11,801 --> 00:42:13,894
BRAGG: Before long,
there were thousands of copies

791
00:42:14,003 --> 00:42:15,368
of Tyndale's Bible in England.

792
00:42:15,471 --> 00:42:16,904
In his happy phrase,

793
00:42:17,006 --> 00:42:19,736
"The noise of the new Bible
echoed throughout the country."

794
00:42:19,842 --> 00:42:22,436
Produced in a small,
pocket-sized edition

795
00:42:22,545 --> 00:42:23,876
that was easily concealed,

796
00:42:23,979 --> 00:42:26,174
it passed through the cities
and universities

797
00:42:26,282 --> 00:42:29,615
into the hands of
even the humblest men and women.

798
00:42:29,719 --> 00:42:32,517
The authorities...
especially Thomas More...

799
00:42:32,621 --> 00:42:33,781
still railed against him

800
00:42:33,889 --> 00:42:35,754
for "putting the fire
of scripture

801
00:42:35,858 --> 00:42:37,917
into the language
of ploughboys,"

802
00:42:38,027 --> 00:42:39,494
but the damage was done.

803
00:42:40,696 --> 00:42:44,598
The English had their
English Bible, legal or not.

804
00:42:47,870 --> 00:42:50,566
The hunt for Tyndale continued,
however.

805
00:42:50,673 --> 00:42:54,609
In 1 535, two hired assassins
entrapped him in Antwerp

806
00:42:54,710 --> 00:42:57,611
and smuggled him out of the city
to Vilvorde Castle,

807
00:42:57,713 --> 00:43:00,307
where he was imprisoned.

808
00:43:00,416 --> 00:43:04,045
In his last letter,
Tyndale asked that he might have

809
00:43:04,153 --> 00:43:08,089
"a warmer cap, for I suffer
greatly from the cold,

810
00:43:08,190 --> 00:43:11,387
a warmer coat also,
for what I have is very thin,

811
00:43:11,494 --> 00:43:14,895
a piece of cloth
with which to patch my leggings.

812
00:43:14,997 --> 00:43:17,727
And I ask to be allowed to have
a lamp in the evening,

813
00:43:17,833 --> 00:43:21,291
for it is wearisome
to sit alone in the dark.

814
00:43:21,404 --> 00:43:24,237
But most of all
I beg and beseech your clemency

815
00:43:24,340 --> 00:43:26,331
that the commissary
will kindly permit me

816
00:43:26,442 --> 00:43:29,377
to have my Hebrew Bible,
grammar, and dictionary,

817
00:43:29,478 --> 00:43:32,072
that I may continue
with my work."

818
00:43:49,331 --> 00:43:51,697
And continue his work he did.

819
00:43:51,801 --> 00:43:55,862
Phrases like "a prophet has
no honour in his own country,"

820
00:43:55,971 --> 00:43:58,565
"a stranger in a strange land,"

821
00:43:58,674 --> 00:44:00,835
"a law unto themselves,"

822
00:44:00,943 --> 00:44:03,241
"we live and move
and have our being,"

823
00:44:03,345 --> 00:44:08,180
and "let my people go"
all come from Tyndale's pen.

824
00:44:12,488 --> 00:44:16,356
In August 1 536, Tyndale was
found guilty of heresy

825
00:44:16,459 --> 00:44:18,188
by a court in the Netherlands.

826
00:44:19,028 --> 00:44:21,997
And on October the 6th,
he was strangled,

827
00:44:22,097 --> 00:44:23,962
then burned at the stake.

828
00:44:24,066 --> 00:44:29,003
His last words were, "Lord, open
the King of England's eyes!"

829
00:44:33,742 --> 00:44:37,143
In fact, events had already
opened the king's eyes.

830
00:44:37,246 --> 00:44:40,010
Henry Vlll had tried to divorce
Catherine of Aragon,

831
00:44:40,115 --> 00:44:42,310
and that had brought him into
confrontation with the pope.

832
00:44:42,418 --> 00:44:45,581
Now he too was opposed
to papal supremacy.

833
00:44:45,688 --> 00:44:47,519
Henry's mood had changed,

834
00:44:47,623 --> 00:44:50,319
and Scripture
was suddenly more important

835
00:44:50,426 --> 00:44:52,257
than Church authority.

836
00:44:54,663 --> 00:44:56,392
Thomas More had been executed

837
00:44:56,499 --> 00:44:59,832
for refusing to see things
the king's way,

838
00:44:59,935 --> 00:45:01,095
and his new advisors,

839
00:45:01,203 --> 00:45:03,262
Thomas Cromwell
and Thomas Cranmer,

840
00:45:03,372 --> 00:45:07,502
keen to keep their heads,
moved on ecclesiastical reform.

841
00:45:10,279 --> 00:45:13,112
And that reform came
with the split from Rome

842
00:45:13,215 --> 00:45:14,648
and the English Reformation.

843
00:45:14,750 --> 00:45:16,581
Now England needed
the Scriptures

844
00:45:16,685 --> 00:45:18,550
to be available
in its own tongue.

845
00:45:18,654 --> 00:45:21,885
English was to become at last
the language of power.

846
00:45:21,991 --> 00:45:24,858
Henry's change of mind
came too late to save Tyndale,

847
00:45:24,960 --> 00:45:27,724
even supposing he gave his fate
any thought at all.

848
00:45:27,830 --> 00:45:29,889
But by the time
of Tyndale's martyrdom,

849
00:45:29,999 --> 00:45:31,899
Henry had
already authorised this...

850
00:45:32,001 --> 00:45:33,263
Coverdale's Bible...

851
00:45:33,369 --> 00:45:34,734
which was translated
from the German

852
00:45:34,837 --> 00:45:36,828
and was the first legal Bible
in England.

853
00:45:36,939 --> 00:45:38,600
That was in 1 535.

854
00:45:38,707 --> 00:45:41,073
In 1 53 7, Matthew's Bible...

855
00:45:41,176 --> 00:45:43,167
an amalgam of Coverdale's
and Tyndale's...

856
00:45:43,279 --> 00:45:44,906
was allowed to be printed
in England.

857
00:45:45,014 --> 00:45:47,710
In 1 539, we have
the Great Bible,

858
00:45:47,816 --> 00:45:49,443
designed to be
the official version

859
00:45:49,552 --> 00:45:51,019
for newly Protestant England

860
00:45:51,120 --> 00:45:53,645
and to be placed in every
parish church in the land.

861
00:45:53,756 --> 00:45:55,690
After centuries of suppression,

862
00:45:55,791 --> 00:45:59,557
three Bibles are approved
and published inside six years.

863
00:45:59,662 --> 00:46:01,892
And it goes on...
the Geneva Bible,

864
00:46:01,997 --> 00:46:04,898
the Bishops' Bible,
the Rheims Bible.

865
00:46:05,000 --> 00:46:07,366
The English language
has suddenly flowered.

866
00:46:07,469 --> 00:46:10,063
It's already returned to the
palaces of court and state,

867
00:46:10,172 --> 00:46:11,833
like this one,
Lambeth Palace in London.

868
00:46:11,941 --> 00:46:13,568
It's again become the language

869
00:46:13,676 --> 00:46:15,803
of a vivid and vigourous
national literature,

870
00:46:15,911 --> 00:46:18,004
and now,
with the split from Rome,

871
00:46:18,113 --> 00:46:22,209
it's conquered the last and
highest bastion... the Church.

872
00:46:24,053 --> 00:46:26,078
It was the spirit
of Protestantism

873
00:46:26,188 --> 00:46:28,554
that the Bible be available
to everyone.

874
00:46:28,657 --> 00:46:31,217
In 1 530, Thomas More had ranted

875
00:46:31,327 --> 00:46:34,194
about the shame of it being read
by ploughboys.

876
00:46:34,296 --> 00:46:36,196
But The Great Bible of 1 540

877
00:46:36,298 --> 00:46:38,960
came with a preface
by More's successor, Cranmer,

878
00:46:39,068 --> 00:46:41,662
which commended it to all.

879
00:46:42,738 --> 00:46:45,263
MAN: "Here may men, women;
young, old;

880
00:46:45,374 --> 00:46:47,968
learned, unlearned;
rich, poor;

881
00:46:48,077 --> 00:46:50,204
priests, laymen;
lords, ladies;

882
00:46:50,312 --> 00:46:53,975
officers, tenants, and mean men;
virgins, wives;

883
00:46:54,083 --> 00:46:57,746
widows, lawyers, merchants,
artificers, husbands,

884
00:46:57,853 --> 00:46:59,047
and all manner of persons,

885
00:46:59,154 --> 00:47:01,645
of what estate or condition
soever they be,

886
00:47:01,757 --> 00:47:03,816
learn all things,

887
00:47:03,926 --> 00:47:06,952
what they ought to believe,
what they ought to do,

888
00:47:07,062 --> 00:47:10,031
as well as concerning
Almighty God

889
00:47:10,132 --> 00:47:13,226
as themselves and all others."

890
00:47:13,335 --> 00:47:16,168
And so we have come full circle.

891
00:47:16,271 --> 00:47:17,829
Where the mediaeval
Catholic Church

892
00:47:17,940 --> 00:47:20,875
kept the Bible from the people,
Henry's new Church set out

893
00:47:20,976 --> 00:47:23,501
to get the Bible
to as many as possible.

894
00:47:23,612 --> 00:47:25,512
It's had
an extraordinary influence

895
00:47:25,614 --> 00:47:27,013
on the spread of our language.

896
00:47:27,116 --> 00:47:28,845
By the end of the 1 6th century,

897
00:47:28,951 --> 00:47:31,146
there were
so many competing versions

898
00:47:31,253 --> 00:47:34,188
that King James I ordered
a standardised version,

899
00:47:34,289 --> 00:47:37,622
which we now know as
the King James Bible of 1 61 1.

900
00:47:37,726 --> 00:47:39,694
The writers drew on
all the previous versions,

901
00:47:39,795 --> 00:47:42,593
but mostly on Tyndale's.

902
00:47:42,698 --> 00:47:45,826
Interestingly, they made no
attempt to update the language,

903
00:47:45,934 --> 00:47:47,731
that was now 80 years old.

904
00:47:47,836 --> 00:47:49,861
So even though by 1 61 1

905
00:47:49,972 --> 00:47:52,338
English had undergone
further revolution,

906
00:47:52,441 --> 00:47:53,840
the King James translators

907
00:47:53,942 --> 00:47:56,467
would still use "ye"
sometimes for "you"...

908
00:47:56,578 --> 00:47:59,479
as in "Ye cannot serve God
and mammon"...

909
00:47:59,581 --> 00:48:02,516
even though nobody said "ye"
in common speech anymore.

910
00:48:02,618 --> 00:48:06,247
They used "thou" for "you,"
"gat" for "got,"

911
00:48:06,355 --> 00:48:08,289
"spake" for "spoke," and so on.

912
00:48:12,828 --> 00:48:14,659
In other words,
the King James version

913
00:48:14,763 --> 00:48:17,163
was deliberately archaic
even then,

914
00:48:17,266 --> 00:48:19,291
and that's part
of its extraordinary power.

915
00:48:19,401 --> 00:48:21,096
It was designed to feel

916
00:48:21,203 --> 00:48:23,171
as if it had the authority
and resonance

917
00:48:23,272 --> 00:48:24,864
of speech from the past.

918
00:48:24,973 --> 00:48:27,373
It was meant to sound
ancient, antique,

919
00:48:27,476 --> 00:48:29,876
like the very words of God.

920
00:48:40,088 --> 00:48:42,886
And above all,
the men who made this version

921
00:48:42,991 --> 00:48:45,960
listened to their final drafts
being read aloud,

922
00:48:46,061 --> 00:48:49,326
over and over again,
and altered them accordingly

923
00:48:49,431 --> 00:48:52,229
so that they had
the right rhythm and balance.

924
00:48:52,334 --> 00:48:55,030
This makes
the authorised English Bible

925
00:48:55,136 --> 00:48:57,627
par excellence
a preacher's Bible.

926
00:48:57,739 --> 00:49:01,573
It was written to be spoken,
to be heard, to be understood.

927
00:49:02,944 --> 00:49:06,141
It was written
to spread the Word.

928
00:49:06,247 --> 00:49:08,977
English at last
had God on its side.

929
00:49:09,084 --> 00:49:12,918
The language was authorised
by the Almighty himself.

930
00:49:13,688 --> 00:49:18,785
"In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God,

931
00:49:18,893 --> 00:49:21,293
and the Word was God.

932
00:49:21,396 --> 00:49:25,025
The same was in the beginning
with God.

933
00:49:25,133 --> 00:49:27,693
All things were made by Him,

934
00:49:27,802 --> 00:49:32,637
and without Him was not
anything made that was made.

935
00:49:32,741 --> 00:49:37,041
In Him was life, and the life
was the light of men.

936
00:49:37,145 --> 00:49:39,306
And the light shineth
in darkness,

937
00:49:39,414 --> 00:49:42,781
and the darkness
comprehended it not.

938
00:49:42,884 --> 00:49:47,321
And the Word was made flesh,
and dwelt among us."

939
00:49:47,422 --> 00:49:50,391
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