of Scripture were likewise translated
into Anglo-Norman in the thirteenth century. Some of the
early fragments are still preserved in English libraries.

Three versions of the Psalter in English, from the early
years of the fourteenth century, still exist, one of which
was by Richard Rolle, the Yorkshire hermit, who also
translated the New Testament.

But so far as known, the first complete Bible in English was
the work of John Wycliffe, assisted by Nicholas de
Hereford--whom some would name first in this partnership,
though the product of their joint labors is known as
"Wycliffe's Bible."

John Wycliffe, the "Morning Star of the Reformation," was
born near Richmond, Yorkshire, about 1324. He became a
fellow, and later master of Balliol College, Oxford,
afterward held several rectorships--the last being that of
Lutterworth, upon which he entered in 1374. For opposing the
papacy and certain church doctrines and practices, he was
condemned by the university, and his followers--known as
Lollards--were persecuted. Something of his life in
connection with these matters is fitly dealt with by Smyth
in connection with his account of the famous translation.

After the early Anglo-Saxon versions comes a long pause in the history
of Bible translation. Amid the disturbance resulting from the Danish
invasion there was little time for thinking of translations and
manuscripts; and before the land had fully regained its quiet the fatal
battle of Hastings had been fought, and England lay helpless at the
Normans' feet. The higher Saxon clergy were replaced by the priests of
Normandy, who had little sympathy with the people over whom they came,
and the Saxon manuscripts were contemptuously flung aside as relics of a
rude barbarism. The contempt shown to the language of the defeated race
quite destroyed the impulse to English translation, and the Norman
clergy had no sympathy with the desire for spreading the knowledge of
the Scriptures among the people, so that for centuries those Scriptures
remained in England a "spring shut up, a fountain sealed."

Yet this time must not be considered altogether lost, for during those
centuries England was becoming fitted for an English Bible. The future
language of the nation was being formed; the Saxon and Norman French
were struggling side by side; gradually the old Saxon grew
unintelligible to the people; gradually the French became a foreign
tongu