Miles Coverdale produced the first complete printed English Bible in 1535 and later supervised the Great Bible.
Setting: English Reformation with Lutheran and Reformed exile connections.
Miles Coverdale produced the first complete printed English Bible in 1535 and later supervised the Great Bible. He drew on Tyndale and several German and Latin sources, then continued a long career through exile, episcopal office, and Puritan-leaning ministry. His prose, especially in the Psalms, exerted lasting influence through the Great Bible and the Book of Common Prayer.
The Research Center should distinguish Coverdale’s translation, revision, compilation, and editorial roles. Calling every portion a direct Hebrew or Greek translation would misstate his own account of his method.
Bibliological positions
Scripture should be publicly available in clear English; faithful translation may compare several versions while remaining answerable to the sense of the original text.
Qualifications and disputes
Coverdale openly used multiple secondary versions and Tyndale’s work. His 1535 Bible and later Great Bible work are distinct projects.
Questions remain about printing location, collaborators, and the precise sources used in individual books.
Sources
- Encyclopaedia Britannica — Miles Coverdale — Biographical orientation
- PRDL search — Miles Coverdale — Digital works catalogue
Principal works
- Biblia: The Bible, that is, the Holy Scripture of the Olde and New Testament (1535); legacy
WRK-0016; WRK+EDT; Blocked pending translation-work/edition decomposition
Historical person network
People, doctrines, texts, and reported interactions
Relationship labels distinguish contact, refutation, later reporting, accusation, textual agreement, compatibility, and causation. A connection does not silently inherit the force of another connection.
Interaction chart
No reviewed graph relationships are attached yet.
- Record
- PER-3015
- Status
- Preliminary
- Version
- 1.1-profile
- Review
- Level B — Editorial synthesis
- Editor
- Chris Thomas
- Reviewer
- Independent reviewer pending assignment
- First date
- 2026-07-22 · Exact Day
- Last revised
- 2026-07-22
Evidence and editorial controls
- Verification
- Recovered project data; bibliographic and source-level verification remains record-specific.
- Rights and access
- Original editorial synthesis; cited sources retain their stated rights.
- Known limitations
- Sourced orientation record. Education, dated offices, languages, confessional subscription, verified quotations, and independent review may remain incomplete.
Links from this record
No public outgoing links are recorded.
Records that cite or connect here
No public backlinks are recorded.
Corrections and evidence submissions
No correction submission is presently attached to this record. Submit evidence or read the correction policy.
Chris Thomas, “Miles Coverdale,” PER-3015, Confessional Bibliology Research Center, version 1.0-staging.
Revision history
- — Chris Thomas
- — Chris Thomas