108 I \RI.Y KXC.I.IM! I'RIMKI) UIMI.KS. 



A few words on the history of John Rogers may be added. 

 Born near Birmingham about 1500, he was educated at Pembroke 

 Hall, Cambridge, where he took his B.A. degree in 1525. He 

 was made a junior canon of Christ's, then the Cardinal's College, 

 Oxford, and afterwards held the living of Holy Trinity, London, 

 from 1532-4, when he accepted the chaplaincy of the Company 

 of Merchant Adventurers at Antwerp. He married in 1536 or 

 1537 Adriana de Weyden, by whom he had eleven children. 

 Little is known of his movements after the publication of his 

 Bible, except that he went shortly afterwards to live at Witten- 

 burg, and returned to England about 1548. He was made 

 Rector of St. Margaret Moyses and Vicar of St. Sepulchre, both 

 in London, in 1550, and Prebend of St. Pancras in St. Paul's 

 Cathedral in 1551. On the i6th of August, 1553, shortly after 

 the accession of Mar}', he was summoned to trial and confined, 

 first in his house and afterwards in Newgate. He suffered 

 martyrdom on Feb. 4th, 1555. A full account of his trial, written 

 by himself, is preserved ; but for any further particulars I must 

 refer you elsewhere. 



In 1539 was printed in Paris and published "The Great 

 Bible," or " Crumwell's Bible," so called on account of its size, 

 and of the leading part taken in its publication by Sir Thomas 

 Crumwell, Henry VIII. 's Prime Minister. Coverdale was em- 

 ployed to edit Matthew's volume, and, shorn of its notes and 

 expressions, which were liable to give offence, it passed through 

 no less than seven editions in three years, the six last under Cran- 

 mer's superintendence, and called by his name. Four other Bibles 

 were also published in these three years, including Matthew's 

 in five volumes and three by Taverner, which were Matthew's 

 with slight alterations. But after 1541 comes an interlude, and 

 we meet with no more complete Bibles until 1549, when no less 

 than six appeared, including two Matthew's and three Cranmer's. 

 I have taken no notice of the editions of the New Testament 

 and other portions of Scripture which were published during 

 this period, but in every year since 1525 (except 1541, which pro- 

 duced three complete Bibles, and 1543, which was blank), one 



