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Welcome to The History of English Podcast, a podcast about the History of the English

Language.

This is Episode 125—the first English Bible.

In this episode, we're going to explore the events leading to the first version of

the Bible to be composed in the English Language.

This particular Bible is over two centuries older than the King James Bible.

It was composed at the direction of a medieval cleric and scholar named John Wycliffe.

The extent of Wycliffe's role in the translation remains a matter of some debate, but there's

no debate over the popularity of the translation.

The large number of surviving copies confirms its popularity, especially given that it was

composed prior to the printing press, and also given the fact that the church later cracked

down on it and declared it a heresy to possess it or even read from it.

So this time, we'll explore the events leading to this important piece of medieval literature,

and we'll also see how it impacted the English language.

But before we begin, let me remind you that the website for the podcast is historyofenglishpodcast.com,

and you can sign up to support the podcast and get bonus episodes and transcripts at patreon.com slash historyofenglish.

Also, in case you missed the announcement a couple of weeks ago, I will be attending a conference

in New York City on June 29 called the Intelligent Speech Conference.

It'll feature a lot of history podcasters like Mike Duncan and David Crowther and lots

of others.

There will be talks and panels and just a general opportunity to hang out with some of your favorite

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