A write up of our wonderful 'Great Bible Exhibition' and the scientific analysis carried out on the two stunning presentation copies for Henry VIII and Cromwell @hips-project.bsky.social @theul.bsky.social @qmul.bsky.social and National Library of Wales

Such a joy to spend time with these books!

On this day in 1509, Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon were married #tilldeathdouspart

HOW IT STARTED HOW IT ENDED

With Whitsunday approaching, here is a lovely depiction of Pentecost from Coverdale's 1538 English New Testament, with some lovely flames/Mohican haircuts on the heads of figures....

@theulspeccoll.bsky.social @theul.bsky.social

CUL, BSS.201.B38.7 (STC 2836), sig. R2r

On Ascension Day, here is one of my favourite illustrations from the series of English New Testaments printed by Richard Jugge in the 1550s, depicting some lovely dangling feet and Christ's sandals left behind on the ground...🦶🦶

@theulspeccoll.bsky.social @theul.bsky.social, BSS.201.B52.3, sig. L3v

Archbishop Parker died on this day 450 years ago. He was Elizabeth I's first archbishop of Canterbury, a dedicated collector of manuscripts, and wearer of a very fine moustache

@corpuscambridge.bsky.social @parkerlibcccc.bsky.social

I discuss his portraiture here
corpus.cam.ac.uk/articles/mat...

My exploration of the Bible-tastic debates between William Fulke and Gregory Martin has now been published in @historicaljnl.bsky.social volume 68:2

How did Elizabethan Protestants defend the coexistence of different translations of the Bible in English?

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

A happy St George’s Day to those celebrating!

Here is a detail of St George slaying the dragon from the latest acquisition of @parkerlibcccc.bsky.social / @corpuscambridge.bsky.social, so named the Parker Roundels (right)

This was a 40th birthday present from Matthew Parker to Elizabeth I in 1573

5. ONE DEATH: The resurrection and new life is foreshadowed in many types. My favourite is Moses striking the rock to produce water for his followers. Moses let forth the waters of life by force just once. Thereafter it was through intercession that the water of life was to flow.

4. THREE TIMES: God called to Samuel 3 times in the Old Testament before he recognized him. As the prophecy foretold, Peter was to deny Jesus three times. In turn, Jesus asks Peter three times if he loves him.

3. THREE DAYS: Jonah spent three days inside the belly of a fish. This has long been seen as the foreshadowing of Jesus spending three days in the tomb before his triumphant resurrection.

2. LAW AND GOSPEL: Lutherans had a special interest in typology. This painting shows Christ on the Cross foreshadowed by the Brazen Serpent. Luther’s ‘Passional' uses comparison, contrasting the humility of Jesus washing his disciples’ feet with the Pope demanding kings kiss his.

1. THE WOOD OF THE CROSS: Just as Jesus had to carry his own cross on the way to his crucifixion, Isaac had to carry the wood for his own sacrificial fire up the mountain. Isaac is not sacrificed in the end, but instead this is fulfilled in the New Testament sacrifice of Jesus.

How does the Old Testament foreshadow the New? How does the New Testament fulfil the Old?

Years of my bible delving @camhistory.bsky.social @theul.bsky.social @theulspeccoll.bsky.social distilled into 42 minutes!

Tune in next week but here is Lucas Cranach's The Law and the Gospel (1529) for now:

Though my beloved Bishops' Bible (1568) is often said to be the earliest image of Elizabeth on a Bible, the Rouen Bible actually claims that prize!

See our copy at @theulspeccoll.bsky.social BSS.201.B66

#ElizabethI #Bibles #Printing #BookHistory

Elizabeth I died #onthisday in 1603. Many images were produced of the Queen in her remarkable 45 year reign but this is one of the earliest printed images.

Taken from the Rouen Bible (1566), the costs were covered by Richard Carmarden. It is discussed in further detail in my forthcoming book...

Happy St Patrick's Day!🍀🍀🍀

I'm currently editing a chapter of my Bishops' Bible book which explores the calendars.

Although excluded from early Common Prayer calendars, the 1568 Bishops' Bible featured a fulsome calendar that did include Patrick. He had to share his moment with St Gertude...

Sandys (1561-1629) was Bishop of Worcester and London before becoming the Archbishop of York. Though remembered for being caught in bed with an innkeeper's wife, he was a stalwart of religious reform and, as Bastow shows, was a particular quarrelsome and fractious figure. Painted here with his wife: