Henry VIII and Cromwell’s Bible Reunion – History

Five hundred years after they were separated by political planning and execution’s axe, the Bibles of Henry VIII and Thomas Cromwell were once again together. A unique, personalized copy of the Great Bible in 1539, the first authorized version of the English language, has been reunited as Treasure Exhibition at the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth.

These two matching Bibles were commissioned by Thomas Cromwell, who governed the right hand of Henry VIII, and were also a staunch supporter of the Reformation. They are printed on parchment paper and then paint black and white woodcut illustrations in vivid colors that look like old manuscripts.

Cromwell has these two copies of the speech to promote his idea of ​​spreading the copy of the Bible to the King himself throughout the field. The beautiful cover page depicts Henry’s distributing Bible to his people. Despite his breakup with Rome, Henry was used to Latin as a language of service and prayer, and as an anointed king and now head of the Church of England, he was not keen on democratizing the Bible.

Cromwell managed to convince the reluctant king, and in September 1538, Thomas Cromwell, the Lord Guardian of the Private Seal, issued a royal order that every church in England and Wales purchased a printed copy of the Great Bible and placed it “in a convenient place” among the parishioners. The first copy was released in April 1539. Just over a year later, Thomas Cromwell died and was executed on a long list of false reasons, including supporting various heresies.

All the Great Bibles published after July 1540 stripped his heraldic badge in a positive performance and made changes to the copy of the presentation. They are now at the National Library of Wales, another St. John’s College in Cambridge, and have recently conducted scientific analysis and research, part of the Hidden General Vision Research Project.

Using a range of scientific tools, from X-rays to microscopes and even DNA analysis, new light is emitted on books, revealing some unknown history and discovering discoveries about how to make and change over time.

The project revealed that Cromwell portrayed and pasted his portrait on the title page of a copy of St John, a move that has always been for centuries. The opening title page is further manipulated to get Henry’s support by changing the image of a greedy woman to resemble his lover, Jane Seymour. During the exhibition, other discoveries will be revealed. […]

Professor Eyal Poleg of Queen Mary University in London said: “These are two of the most important artifacts in the Tudor court. New technology has been unearthed for centuries of modification.

“We can now appreciate how Cromwell manipulates the emergence of the Bible when printing it, carefully driving the religious and political unrest at Henry’s Court.

“The ability to watch the Bible side by side with the Bible for the first time in nearly 500 years is a rare opportunity to witness this unique period.”