Wycliffite Bible — Early Version

The Early Version of the Wycliffite Bible is the first complete translation of the Bible into English, produced in the late fourteenth century within the circle of followers associated with the Oxford theologian John Wyclif. Its scope is the complete Bible, translated from Latin, with the Latin Vulgate serving as its base text; it is classed as a fresh translation, taking the Vulgate as both its predecessor and its base translation. In approach it is literal and Latinate, and its most distinctive feature is that its syntax often follows the Latin closely, which makes the Early Version relatively stiff. A subsequent, more idiomatic revision, known as the Later Version, circulated alongside it. Produced and copied by hand before the age of printing, the Wycliffite Bible was linked with the Lollard movement and met with official opposition, yet it survives in a substantial number of manuscripts and stands at the beginning of the English biblical tradition.