The Huguenots; their settlements, churches, & industries in England and Ireland

Front matter

a oN

HE HUGUENOTS

Works by the same Author.

Preface

The geographical position of Britain has, from the earliest times, rendered it a country of refuge. Fronting Europe, yet separated from it by a deep sea-moat, the proscribed of other lands have by turns sought the protection of the island fortress, and made it their home. To the country of the Britons the Saxons brought their industry, the Northmen their energy, and the Flemings and French their skill and spirit of liberty ; and out of the whole has come the English nation.

The early industry of England was almost entirely pastoral. Down to a comparatively recent period, it was a great grazing country, and its principal staple was wool. The English people being as yet unskilled in the arts of manufacture, the wool was bought up by foreign merchants, and exported abroad in large quantities, principally to Flanders and France, there to be manufactured into cloth, and partly returned in that form for sale in the English markets.

vi

PRE FA CE.

The English kings, desirous of encouraging home industry, held out repeated inducements to foreign artizans to come over and settle in the country for the purpose of instructing their subjects in the industrial arts. This policy was pursued during many successive reigns, more particularly in that of Edward III. ; and, by the middle of the fourteenth century, large numbers of Flemish artizans, driven out of the Low Countries by the tyranny of the trades-unions as well as by civil war, embraced the offers held out to them, settled in various parts of England, and laid the foundations of English skilled industry."*

But by far the most important migrations of skilled foreigners out of Europe were occasioned by the religious persecutions which prevailed in Flanders and France for a considerable period after the Eeformation. Two great waves of foreign population then flowed over from the Continent into England — probably the largest in point of numbers which have occurred since the date of the Saxon settlement. The first took place in the latter half of the sixteenth century, and consisted partly of French, but principally of Flemish Protestants ; the second, towards the end of the seven-

* See Appendix, for account of the "Early Settlement of Foreign Artizans in England."

PREFACE.

vii teenth century, consisted almost entirely of French Huguenots.

The second of these emigrations, consequent on the religious persecutions which followed the Kevocation of the Edict of Nantes by Louis XIV., was of extraordinary magnitude. According to Sismondi, the loss which it occasioned to France was not far short of a million of persons, and those her best and most industrious subjects. Although the circumstances connected with this remarkable exodus, as well as the events which flowed from them, exercised an important influence on the political as well as industrial history of Northern Europe, they have as yet, viewed in this connection, received but slight notice at the hands of the historian.

It is the object of the following book more particularly to give an account of the causes which led to this last great migration of foreign Protestants from France into England, and to describe its effects upon English industry as well as English history. The author merely offers the book as a contribution to the subject, which seems to him to be one well worthy of further investigation.

London, July 1867.

Chapter I. Invention Of Printing Rise Of The Huguenots

Invention of Printing — Dearness of MS. Books — Power conferred on Educated Men by Printing — Coster, Gutenburg, Schoeffer — The first printed Bible — Faust of Mainz — Diffusion of Printing — Spread of printed Bibles — Opposed by the Priests — Effects of reading the Bible — Luther's Translation— Bibles printed at Antwerp — Eager Demand for the Scriptures — Ecclesiastical Abuses assaiied — The Reformation at Meaux — Jacques Lefevre — Eesistance of the Sorbonne — Burning of Bibles and Printers — Eise of the Huguenots ..... Pages 1-23

CHAPTEE II.

EPISODE IN THE LIFE OF BERNARD PALISSY.

The Life of Palissy illustrative of his Epoch — His Birth and Education — Travels through France, Germany, and Flanders — The prevailing Excitement— Palissy joins " The Eeligion" — Life at Saintes — His pursuit of the Secret of the Enamel — His Sufferings — Calvin at Saintonge — Palissy begins a Reformed Church at Saintes — The early Gospellers— Phil ebert Plamelin — Progress of "The Religion" — The Persecutions at Saintes — Palissy employed by the Duke of Montmorency — Imprisoned at Bordeaux— Liberated and made Royal Potter — Dies for his Religion in the Bastile ........ 24-48

CHAPTEE III

PERSECUTIONS OF THE REFORMED IN FRANCE AND FLANDERS.

Huguenot Men of Genius — Spread of " The Religion" — Charles IX. and Catherine de Medicis — A National Council held — The Chancellor de l'Hopital — Catherine's Letter to the Pope — Outbreak of Persecution —

X

CONTENTS.

Massacre of Vassy — The Duke of Guise : Triumph of his Policy — Massacres throughout France — Civil War — The Iconoclasts — Treaty of Peace — Council of Trent — Catherine de Medicis and the Duke of Alva — Ignatius Loyola — Persecutions in Flanders — Philip II. of Spain — Devastation of the Low Countries and Flight of the Protestants — Marriage of Henry of Navarre and Margaret of France — Attempted Assassination of Admiral Coligny — Massacre of Saint Bartholomew — Rejoicings at Rome — Death of Charles IX. — Flight of Huguenots — Renewed Civil War — Accession of Henry IV.— The Edict of Nantes . . . Pages 49-76

CHAPTER IV.

RELATIONS OF ENGLAND WITH FRANCE AND SPAIN.

England at the Accession of Elizabeth — The Pope denies the Queen's Legitimacy— Plots against her Life — The English Asylum granted to the Foreign Protestants a cause of Offence abroad — Demands that the Fugitives be expelled the Kingdom — The Pope denounces the Refugees — Bishop Jewel's Defence of them — French and Spanish Plots against Elizabeth—Mary Queen of Scots — The Pope's Bull against Elizabeth — The Bishop of Ross and Ridolfi — Conference at Madrid — The Plots defeated — News of the Massacre of Saint Bartholomew arrive in England — Reception of the French Ambassador by Elizabeth — Execution of the Queen of Scots — Continued Flight of the Refugees from Flanders — Defeat of the Sacred Armada — The Reigns of Philip II. and Elizabeth contrasted . . . . . . . . 77-94

CHAPTER V.

SETTLEMENTS AND INDUSTRIES OF THE PROTESTANT REFUGEES

IN BRITAIN.

Early English Industry — The Woollen-manufacture — Extensive Immigrations of Flemish Protestant Artizans— Landings at Sandwich, Rye, and Dover — Their Settlement at Sandwich — Cloth-making and Gardening introduced The Flemings in London — Their Industries — Dyeworks at Bow — Native Jealousy — The Flemish Merchants — Numbers of the Immigrants — Settlement at Norwich — Protected by Queen Elizabeth — Establishment of the Cloth-manufacture — Flemish Lace-makers — Workers in Iron and Steel — Fishing Settlement at Yarmouth — Drainers of the Fen-lands— Settlements in Ireland — -Flemings in Scotland — Reactionary Policy of Charles I. summarily checked ...... 95-130

CONTENTS.

XI

CHAPTER VI.

EARLY WALLOON AND FRENCH CHURCHES IN ENGLAND.

Desire of the Eefugees for Freedom of Worship — The first Walloon and French. Churches in London— Dutch Church in Austin Friars — French Church in Threadneeclle Street — Churches at Sandwich, Eye, Norwich — "God's House" at Southampton — Register of their Church — Their Fasts and Thanksgivings — Walloon Church at Canterbury — Memorial of the Eefugees— The Undercroft in Canterbury Cathedral — The Lady Chapel — Occupation of the Undercroft by the Walloons — The French Church still in Canterbury Cathedral .... Pages 131-150

CHAPTER VII.

RENEWAL OF THE PERSECUTIONS IN FRANCE — REVOCATION OF THE EDICT OF NANTES.

Assassination of Henry IV. —Marie de Medicis — Eenewal of Civil War in France — Cardinal Richelieu — Siege of Eochelle — The Huguenots suppressed as a Political Body — Edict of Pardon — Loyalty of the Huguenots — Their Industry — Their Manufactures — Their Integrity as Merchants — Colbert — Absolutism of Louis XIV. — His Ambition — His Extravagance — His Enmity to the Huguenots — The Persecution renewed — Emigration prohibited — Cruel Edicts of Louis — His Amours and " Conversion"— M,adame de Maintenon — Attempt to purchase Huguenot Consciences— Abduction of Protestant Children — The Dragonnades — Wholesale Conversions — The Protestant Churches destroyed — Incident at Saintonge— Dragonnades in Beam — Louis XIV. revokes the Edict of Nantes, and marries Madame de Maintenon . . . . . . 151-182

CHAPTER VIII.

RENEWED FLIGHT OF THE HUGUENOTS FROM FRANCE.

Rejoicings at Rome on the Revocation of the Edict — Bossuet's and Massillon's praises of Louis XIV.- — Consequences of the Revocation — The Military Jacquerie — -Demolition of Protestant Churches — Employment of the Huguenots proscribed — Pursued beyond Death — M. de Chenevix — Conversion or Flight — Escape of Literary and Scientific Men — Schomberg, Ruvigny, Duquesne — The Banished Pastors — Historical Significance of the Exodus — General Flight of the Huguenots — Closing of the Frontier — Capture and Punishment of the Detected — Flight in Disguise — Flight of xii

CONTENTS.

"Women — Jean Marteilhe of Bergerac — The Captured condemned to the Galleys — Louis de Marolles — John Huber — The Flight by Sea — Count de Marance — The Lord of Castelfranc — The Misses Raboteau — Case of a French Gentlewoman Refugee — Fumigation of Ships' Holds — Numbers of the Fugitives from France — A Death-blow given to French Industry ...... Pages 183-207

CHAPTER IX.

THE HUGUENOTS AND THE ENGLISH REVOLUTION OF 1688.

The Countries of the Refuge — The Asylum of Geneva — The Huguenots in Switzerland ; in Brandenburg and Germany — Holland " The Great Ark of the Fugitives " — Eminent Refugees in the Low Countries — Their Hospitable Reception by the Dutch — Refugee Soldiers and Sailors — William, Prince of Orange : His Relation to the English Throne — The Stuart Kings and the Protestant Refugees — Accession of James II. : Compared with Louis XIV.— Attempts to suppress Protestantism — Popular Reaction — "William of Orange invited over to England — French Huguenot Officers and Soldiers in the Dutch Army — Marshal Schomberg . 208-235

CHAPTER X.

DUMONT DE BOSTAQUET — HIS ESCAPE FROM FRANCE INTO HOLLAND.

Dumont de Bostaquet, a Protestant Gentleman of Normandy : His Church at Lindeboeuf demolished — Dragonnades in Normandy — Scenes at Rouen — Soldiers quartered in Protestant Families — De Bostaquet promises Abjuration— His Family pretend to abjure — They meditate Flight from France — Attempted Escape — Journey to the Sea-coast — Attacked by the Coast-guard— De Bostaquet wounded — His Flight through Picardy, and Sufferings—Refuge in Holland ..... 236-253

CHAPTER XI.

DE BOSTAQUET IN ENGLAND THE IRISH CAMPAIGNS OF 1689-90.

Expedition of William of Orange to England — The Flotilla sets sail — Voyage along the English Coast — Landing at Torbay — Advance to Exeter and London — Revolution of 1688 — The Exiles in London — The Marquis de Ruvigny at Greenwich— De Bostaquet's Family in England — Huguenot Regiments sent into Ireland — The Irish Campaign of 1689 —

CONTENTS.

Xlll

Losses of the Army at Dimdalk — Landing of James IT. in Ireland with a French Army — Huguenot Eegiments recruited in Switzerland — William III. takes the Field in Person— Campaign of 1690 — Battle of the Boyne —Death of Marshal Schomherg . . Pages 254-268

CHAPTER XII

HUGUENOT OFFICERS IN THE BRITISH SERVICE.

Hemy, Second Marquis de Ruvigny, distinguishes himself at the Battle of Aughrim, and is created Earl of Galway — War in Savoy — Earl of Galway placed in Command — Appointed Lord Justice in Ireland — Founding of Portarlington — Earl of Galway takes Command of the Army in Spain — Bravery of the Huguenot Soldiers — Jean Cavalier, the Camisard Leader — The War of the Blouses — Cavalier enters the Service of William III. — His Desperate Yalour at the Battle of Almanza in Spam — Made Governor of Jersey and Major-General — Rapin-Thoyras, the Soldier-Historian — John de Bodt, the Engineer — Field-Marshal Lord Ligonier — The Huguenot Sailors— The Admirals Gambier .... 269-286

CHAPTER XIII.

HUGUENOT SETTLERS IN ENGLAND — MEN OF SCIENCE AND LEARNING.

The Huguenots Refugees for Liberty — The Emigration a Protest against Intellectual and Religious Tyranny — Eminent Eefugees — Solomon de Caus — Denis Papin, his Scientific Eminence — Dr. Desaguliers — Abraham De Moivre — Refugee Literati — Refugee Pastors : Abbadie ; Saurin ; Allix ; Pineton, his Escape from France — Refugee Graduates of Oxford — The Du Moulins — James Capell — Claude de la Mothe — Armand du Bourdieu ........ 287-312

CHAPTER XIV.

HUGUENOT SETTLEMENTS IN ENGLAND — MEN OF INDUSTRY.

Flight of the Manufacturing Class from France — Districts from which they chiefly came — Money brought by them into England — Measures taken for the relief of the Destitute — French Relief Committee — The Huguenots self-helping and helpful of each other — Their Benefit Societies — Their settlements in Spitalfields and other parts of London — Introduce new Branches of Industry from France — Establishment of the Silk-manufacxiv

CONTENTS.

ture — Silk Stocking Trade — Glass-works — Paper-mills — The De Portal Family— Henry de Portal, the Paper-maker — Manufactures at Canterbury, Norwich, and Ipswich — Lace-making — Eefugee Industry in Scotland ....... Pages 313-339

CHAPTER XV.

THE HUGUENOT CHURCHES IN ENGLAND.

Large number of Eefugee Churches in London — French Church of Threadneedle Street — Church of the Savoy — Swallow Street Church, Piccadilly — French Churches in Spitalfields — Churches in Suburban Districts — The Malthouse Church, Canterbury — "God's House," Southampton — French Churches at Bristol, Plymouth, Stonehouse, Dartmouth, and Exeter — Church at Thorpe-le-Soken, Essex — Gradual Decadence of the Churches — Sermon of the Eev. M. Bourdillon — Founding of the French Hospital — Governors and Directors of the Institution . . 340-356

CHAPTER XVI.

HUGUENOT SETTLEMENTS IN IRELAND.

Attempts to establish the Linen-trade in Ireland by Eefugees — The Duke of Ormond — Efforts of William III. to promote Irish Industry — Eefugee Colony at Dublin — Settlement at Lisburn, near Belfast — Louis Crommelin appointed "Overseer of Royal Linen Manufactory of Ireland" — His Labours crowned with Success — Peter Goyer — Settlements at Kilkenny and Cork — Life and Adventures of James Fontaine in England and Ireland — Settlement at Youghal — Eefugee Colony at "Waterford — The French Town of Portaiiington : its Inhabitants and their Descendants . 357-388

CHAPTER XVII.

DESCENDANTS OF THE REFUGEES.

The Descendants of the Eefugee Flemings and French still recognisable in England — Changes of Xame by the Flemings — TheDes Bouveries Family — Hugessens — Houblons — Eminent Descendants of Flemish Eefugees — The Grote Family — Changes of French Names — Names still preserved — Hie Queen's Descent from a Huguenot — The Trench Family — Peers descended from Huguenots — Peerages of Taunton, Eversley, and Eomilly — The Lefevres — Family of Eomilly — Baronets descended from Huguenots — Members of Parliament — Eminent Scholars : Archdeacon Jortin, Maturin,

CONTENTS.

xv

Dutens, Rev. William Romaine — Eminent Lawyers descended from Refugees — Eminent Literary Men of the same Origin — The Handloom-weavers of Spitalfields — The Dollonds — Lewis Paul, Inventor of Spinning by Rollers — Migration from Spitalfields — The last Persecutions in France — The Descendants of the Huguenot Refugees become British... Pages 389-432

Effects of the Persecutions in Flanders and France — Suppression of Protestantism and Liberty — Disappearance of Great Men in France after the Revocation — Triumph of the Jesuits- — Aggrandisement of the Church — Hunger and Emptiness of the People — Extinction of Religion — The Church assailed by Voltaire — Persecution of the Clergy — The Reign of Terror — Flight of the Nobles and Clergy from France into Germany and England — The Dragonnades of the Huguenots repeated in the Noyades of the Royalists — Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette the Victims of Louis XIV. — Relation of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes to the French Revolution— Conclusion ...... 433-448

CHAPTER XVIII.

CONCLUSION THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.

Appendix

I. Early Settlement of Foreign Artizans in England II. Registers of French Protestant Churches in England III. Huguenot Refugees and their Descendants .

451-466

466-495

496-521

I NDEX

523-530

THE HUGUENOTS.

CHAPTER I.

INVENTION OF PRINTING — RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS.

Of all inventions, probably none has exercised a greater influence upon modern civilisation than that of printing. While it has been the mother and preserver of many other inventions which have changed the face of society, it has also afforded facilities for the intercourse of mind with mind — of living men with each other, as well as with the thinkers of past generations — which have evoked an extraordinary degree of mental activity, and exercised a powerful influence on the development of modern history.

Although letters were diligently cultivated long before the invention of printing, and many valuable books existed in manuscript, and seminaries of learning flourished in all civilised countries, knowledge was for the most part confined to a comparatively small number of persons. The manuscripts which contained the treasured thoughts of the ancient poets, scholars, and men of science, were so scarce and dear that

B

INVENTION OF PRINTING.

Chap. I

they were frequently sold for double or treble their weight in gold. In some cases they were considered so precious that they were conveyed by deed like landed estate. In the thirteenth century a manuscript copy of the Romance of the Rose was sold at Paris for over £33 sterling. A copy of the Bible cost from £40 to £60 for the writing only, for it took an expert copyist about ten months' labour to make one.* Such being the case, it will be obvious that books were then for the most part the luxury of the rich, and comparatively inaccessible to the great body of the people.

Even the most advanced minds could exercise but little influence on their age. They were able to address themselves to only a very limited number of then fellow-men, and in most cases their influence died with them. The results of study, investigation, and experience remaining unrecorded, knowledge was

* It is difficult to form an accurate idea of the relative value of money to commodities in the thirteenth century, compared with present prices ; but it may he mentioned that in 1445 (according to Fleetwood's Chronicon Pretiosum, 1707) the price of wheat was 4s. 6d. the quarter, and oats 2s. ; bullocks and heifers sold for 5s., and sheep for 2s. 5Ad. each. In 1460 a gallon of ale sold for a penny, which was also the ordinary day's wage of labourers and servants, in addition to meat and drink. As late as 1558, a good sheep sold for 2s. lOd. In 1414 the ordinary salary of chaplains was five or six marks a-year (the mark being equal to 13s. 4d.), and of resident parish-priests eight marks ; so that for about £5 : 10s. a-year a single man was expected to live cleanly and decently. These prices multiplied by about twelve would give something approaching their equivalent in modern money. It is true, manuscripts were in many cases sold at fancy prices, as books are now. But copying had become a regular branch of business : at Milan, in the fourteenth century, about fifty persons earned their living by it. The ordinary charge for making a copy of the Bible was 80 Bologna livres, or equal to 53 gold florins .

CHAP. I.

POWER OF PRINTING.

for the most part transmitted orally, and often inaccurately. Thus many arts and inventions discovered by individuals became lost to the race, and a point of social stagnation was arrived at, beyond which further progress seemed improbable.

This state of things was entirely changed by the introduction of printing. It gave a new birth to letters ; it enabled books to be perpetually renovated and multiplied at a comparatively moderate cost, and to diffuse the light which they contained over a much larger number of minds. It gave a greatly increased power to the individual and to society, by facilitating the intercourse of educated men of all countries with each other. Active thinkers were no longer restricted by the limits of their town or parish, or even of their nation or epoch ; and the knowledge that their printed words would have an effect where their spoken words did not reach, could not fail to stimulate the highest order of minds into action. The permanency of invention and discovery was thus secured; the most advanced point of one generation became the starting-point of the next ; and the results of the labours of one age were carried forward into all the ages that succeeded.'*

The invention of printing, like most others,

* See Babbage, Ninth Bridge- be magnified, which, as ships, pass water Treatise, 52-6. Lord Bacon through the vast seas of time, and observes : "If the invention of ships make ages so distant to participate of was thought so noble, which carrieth the wisdom, illuminations, and lunches and commodities from place to ventions, the one of the other." place, how much more are letters to

INVENTION OF PRINTING.

CHAP. I.

struggled slowly and obscurely into life. The wooden blocks or tablets of Laurence Coster were superseded by separate types of the same material. Gutenberg of Mentz next employed large types cut in metal, from which the impressions wrere taken. And, finally, Gutenberg's associate Schceffer cut the characters in a matrix, after wrhich the types were cast, and thus completed the art as it now remains.

It is a remarkable circumstance, that the first book which Gutenberg undertook to print with his cut metal types was a folio edition of the Bible in the Latin Vulgate, consisting of 641 leaves. When the immense labour involved in carrying out such a work is considered — the cutting by hand, with imperfect tools, of each separate type required for the setting of a folio page, and the difficulties to be overcome with respect to vellum, paper, ink, and presswork — one cannot but feel astonished at the boldness of the undertaking ; nor can it be matter of surprise that the execution of the work occupied Gutenberg and his associates a period of from seven to eight years*

* The first Bible ininted by Gutenberg is known as the Mazarin Bible, from a copy of it having been found in Cardinal Mazarin's library at Paris about the middle of last century. Johnson, in his Typographic (p. 17), says : "It was printed with large cut metal types, and published in 1450." Others give the date of publication as five years later, in 1455. Mr. Hallani inclines to think that it was printed with cast-metal types ; but there is reason to believe that the casting of the types by a matrix was invented at a subsequent period. Mr. Hallam says : "It is a very striking circumstance that the high-minded inventors of this great art tried at the very outset so bold a flight as the printing an entire Bible, and executed it with astonishing success. It was Minerva leaping

CHAP. I.

GUTENBERG AND SCHCEFFER.

We do not, however, suppose that Gutenberg and his associates were induced to execute this first printed Bible through any more lofty motive than that of earning a considerable sum of money by the enterprise. They were, doubtless, tempted to undertake it by the immense prices for which manuscript copies of the Bible then sold ; and they merely sought to produce, by one set of operations, a number of duplicates in imitation of the written character, which they hoped to be able to sell at the manuscript prices. But, as neither Gutenberg nor Schoeffer were rich men, and as the work involved great labour and expense while in progress, they found it necessary to invite some capitalist to join them ; and hence their communication of the secret to John Faust, the wealthy goldsmith of Mentz, who agreed to join them in their venture, and supply them with the necessary means for carrying out the undertaking.

The first edition of the printed Bible having been disposed of, without the secret having transpired, Faust and Schoeffer brought out a second edition in 1462, which they again offered for sale at the on earth iu her divine strength and were cast in a matrix. We may see radiant armour, ready at the moment in imagination this venerable and of her nativity to subdue and destroy splendid volume leading up the her enemies. The Mazarin Bible is crowded myriads of its followers, and printed, some copies on vellum, some imploring, as it were, a blessing on on paper of choice quality, with the new art, by dedicating its firststrong, black, and tolerably hand- fruits to the service of Heaven." — some characters, but with some want Literary History, edition 1864, pp. of uniformity, which has led, perhaps 156-7. unreasonably, to doubt whether they

INVENTION OF PRINTING.

chap. r.

manuscript prices. Faust carried a number of copies to Paris to dispose of, and sold several of them for 500 or 600 crowns, the price then paid for manuscript Bibles. But great was the astonishment of the Parisian copyists when Faust, anxious to dispose of the remainder, lowered his price to 60 and then to 30 crowns ! The copies sold having been compared with each other, were found to be exactly uniform ! It was immediately inferred that these Bibles must be produced by magic, as such an extraordinary uniformity was considered entirely beyond the reach of human contrivance. Information was forthwith given to the police against Faust as a magician. His lodgings were searched, when a number of Bibles were found there complete. The red ink, with which they were embellished, was supposed to be his blood. It was seriously believed that he was in league with the devil ; and he was carried off to prison, from which he was only delivered upon making a full revelation of the secret.4"

Several other books, of less importance, were printed by Gutenberg and Schceffer at Mentz : two editions of the Psalter, a Catholicon, a Codex Psalmorum, and an edition of Cicero's Offices ; but they were printed in such small numbers, and were sold at such high prices, that, like the manuscripts which they superseded, they were only purchasable by kings,

* Sucli is supposed to be the origin of the tradition of " The Devil and Dr. Faustus." It is believed that Faust died of the plague at Paris in 1466.

CHAP. I.

PRINTING OF THE BIBLE.

nobles, collegiate bodies, and rich ecclesiastical establishments. It was only after the lapse of many years, when the manufacture of paper had become improved, and Schceffer had invented his method of cutting the characters in a matrix, and casting the type in quantity, that books could be printed in such forms as to be accessible to the great body of the people.

In the meanwhile, the printing establishments of Gutenberg and Schceffer were for a time broken up by the sack and plunder of Mentz by the Archbishop Adolphus in 1462, when, their workmen becoming dispersed, and being no longer bound to secrecy, they shortly after carried with them the invention of the new art into nearly every country in Europe.

Wherever the printers set up their trade, they usually began by issuing an edition of the Latin Bible. There was no author class in those days to supply " copy " enough to keep their presses going. Accordingly, they fell back upon the ancient authors, issuing editions of Livy, Horace, Sallust, Cicero, and portions of Aristotle, with occasional devotional manuals ; but their favourite book, most probably because it was the one most in demand, was the Bible. Only twenty-four books were published in Germany during the ten years that followed the sack of Mentz ; but of these five were Latin and two were German Bibles. Translators were at the same time busily engaged upon it in different countries, and year by year the Bible became more accessible. Thus an Italian version appeared in 1471, a Bohemian in

CHAP. I.

1475, a Dutch in 1477, a French in 1477, and a Spanish (Valencian) in 1478.""

The Bible, however, continued a comparatively scarce and dear book : bein^ little known to the clergy generally, and still less to the people. By many of the former it was regarded with suspicion, and even with hostility. At length, the number of editions of the Bible which were published in Germany, as if heralding the approach of the coming Beformation, seriously alarmed the church; and in 1486 the Archbishop of Mentz placed the printers of that city, which had been the cradle of the printing-press, under strict censorship. Twenty- five years later, Pope Alexander YI. issued a bull prohibiting the printers of Cologne, Mentz, Treves, and Magdeburg, from publishing any books without the express licence of their archbishops. Although these measures were directed against the printing of religious works generally, they were more particularly directed against the publication of the Scriptures in the vulgar tongue.f

* Lord Spencer's famous library contains twenty editions of the Bible in Latin, printed between the appearance of the Mazarin Bible in 1450-5 and the year 14S0 inclusive. It also contains nine editions of the German Bible printed before the year 1495. — See Edwailds on Libraries, p. 430.

t Hallam — Literary History, ed. 1864, i. 254. No translation of the Bible was permitted to appear in England during the fifteenth century ; and the reading of Wycliffe's translation was prohibited under penalty of excommunication and death. Tyndale's translation of the New Testament was first printed at Antwerp.