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The Historia Scholastica gave a resume of bible history mingled
with legends, secular history and medieval lore.
Bible Historiae - an extension of the Historia Scholastica which
became equally popular. Most of the early printed
editions for which the title Bible was used reproduce
in one form or another the text of the medieval B. Historiae.
Up to now there was no authentic translation of the
Bible available in print for French speaking people.
Jacques LeFevre d'Etaples (1450 - 1536)
- Martin Lempereus of Antwerp - brought out a
folio of the whole Bible in French in 1530.
26. FRENCH VERSIONS
After a general view of certain distinctive character-
istics of the French translations of the Bible, this article
offers a brief history of the French versions in the Mid-
dle Ages, in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries, and in
modern times.
General View. The history of the French Bible pre-
sents a complex picture. There have probably been con-
siderably more translations of the Bible in French than
in any other European language. The multiplicity of
translations was caused especially by the absence of a
normative version accepted by all or the vast majority
of the people, as certain versions were received in En-
gland and Germany. Conversely and again contrary to
the situation in England and Germany, because the text
of the Bible was never fixed in France, Biblical language
had relatively little influence on the language of that
country.
The principal reason for the absence of a standardized
French Bible was the unfavorable situation for such a
version in France of the 16th and 17th centuries, the
period when the first great vernacular versions of the
Bible were in full swing in western Europe. The bitter
opposition between Catholics and Protestants in France
hardened into mutual intolerance, which exploded into
endless religious wars. The government which was or-
dinarily associated with the Catholic cause, automati-
cally regarded the publishing of Bibles as a heretical
enterprise. Consequently, the principal I teach versions
of that period, the Bibles of Antwerp, Louvain, Geneva,
and Sacy, were printed outside France. Moreover, the
constant changes that the French language was then
undergoing did not allow a permanent translation, by this respect, the Bible of Sacy was the first version that
had a chance of being widely received, since its language
reflected French classicism. Unfortunately, however,
this Bible, which came from a Jansenistic group, was
looked upon as suspect, and the notes that accompanied
the text were not of a nature to lessen the suspicion.
About the same time, the Catholic hierarchy of France
entertained the notion of issuing an official Bible in
French; but the project came to nought, because it was
not regarded as a major concern.
In the Middle Ages. The history of the French ver-
sions of the Bible began c. 1100, when the Psalter was
translated into the Norman dialect. The first French
Bible was completed c. 1226. The first printed edition
appeared at Lyons c. 1477. For more than 4 centuries
the most popular presentation of the Bible was the Bible
historiale. This consisted in a paraphrase of the Historia
Scholastica of *Peter Comestor, to which was added the
French Biblical text. It was drawn up by Guyard des
Moulins c. 1200 and was subsequently revised many
times. The edition of J. M. Rely, which was printed
c. 1487, influenced the Bible version of Jacques Lefevre
d'Etaples and thus formed a bond between the medieval
and the modern period.
In the 16th, 17th, and 18th Centuries. An anonymous
NT that was published at Paris in 1523 inaugurated the
Bible Historiale - a French translation of the Bible with interpolated
passages from the Historia Ecclesiastica of P. Comestor of 1179 -
was written between 1291 and 1294 by Gayart Desmoulins Canon
of St. Pierre d'Aire in northern France.