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The first translations that lead to the modern English Bible began in the early 1300s with the most prominent being St. Jerome's Latin Vulgate. This translation came after 20 years of living and study in Palestine and was the first full Bible translation. This is significant because it was the first successful translation that led to the modern English Bible.
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Many early translations of the Bible took place at the start of the Renaissance Era, which started in Florence, Italy, in the year 1325.
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Around this time a man named John Wycliffe, along with a few associates, was the first to translate the Latin Vulgate Bible into a newly developed English language. This translation was rejected and even banned at this time. This is significant because it was the first attempt to translate the Bible into the English language.
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To add some context, around the time that the first English Bible translations were taking place, Chaucer was just beginning his work on the Canterbury Tales.
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At this point in time, 1439, officials from the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches agree to reunify the two branches. The Russians, however, are in disagreement and break off to form a church independent from the Vatican the Russian Orthodox Church.
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In the mid 15th Century, the printing press was created in Germany. The first book to be mass produced on this new invention was the Gutenberg Bible, a Latin version of the Bible. The ability to mass produce, however, led to the Bible being translated into many different languages, including English, and spread throughout Europe. This was significant because it made the Bible more common in all languages and made it available to a wider audience.
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In this year, the French capture the last English stronghold in the English Channel, Bordeaux. This marks the end of the Hundred Years War and is seen as a French victory.
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Also around this time period, Christopher Columbus set out on his voyage in which he would discover the Americas. In roughly October of 1492, it is believed that Columbus uncovered his first discoveries.
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In this year, 1503, Leonardo da Vinci would complete two of his most famous works, the most prominent being the Mona Lisa. He also very nearly completed David, a sculpture to be revealed the next year.
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In 1525, an English scholar named William Tyndale translated the New Testament and Pentateuch from the Greek and Hebrew version. He did this in order to bring God to ordinary people. In the end, however, he was strangled in public and his body burned, accused of being a heretic. This is significant because this mass produced version of the Bible brought the word of God to common Englishmen.
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In 1535, a man named Miles Coverdale picked up where Tyndale left off, revising the rest of the Old Testament. This led to the creation of the first complete English Bible. In 1939, the large print version became known as the Great Bible. This is significant because this was the first complete version of the Bible officially translated to the English language.
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In this year, the Spanish established the first European town in what is now considered North America. The first temporary English colony, North Carolina, does not come for 22 more years, established in 1587. The first permanent English colony, Jamestown, Virginia, does not come until 1606.
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This year was a big advancement for astronomy and Galileo Galilei. Galileo first discovered the moons around Jupiter through his telescope in this year and later proved the Copernican system, a theory in which the planets circle the sun, to be correct.
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One of the final translations of the Bible still used by many today is the King James Version, otherwise known as the Authorized Version. Proposed in 1604 by Puritan Dr. John Reynolds, this version was completed and made official by King James in 1611. This is significant because this is a version still in very wide use today.
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It was in during this year that the death of William Shakespeare, the famous playwright, author, and actor, occurred.
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Thank you for reading this and I hope you have a good day.
