The New Testament was first published in 1522 and the complete Bible, containing the Old and New Testaments and Apocrypha, in 1534. This project absorbed Luther’s later years. Thanks to the recently invented printing press, the result was widely disseminated and contributed significantly to the development of today’s modern High German language.
Luther was born in Eisleben in 1483 and was baptised a Roman Catholic. He studied at the University of Erfurt, later describing it as ‘a beerhouse and a whorehouse’, even though the discipline was such that he was made to get up every day at 4.00am. He was awarded a BA and MA from…
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Wycliffe died of natural causes at the age of 64. After his death, Wycliffe was declared a heretic by the Roman Catholic Church in 1415,…
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Laymen began preaching Wycliffe's ideas in English. They were derided as mumblers ('Lollards') by opponents.
At Oxford, Wycliffe published 12 Theses for debate, criticising the Roman Catholic teaching of transubstantiation. The first thesis included: "The consecrated host which we see…
