them (Gieseler, Chitrchllist. iii, 409). In the north of France also we have some clear traces of vernacular copies of the Scriptures. A translation of the four books of Kings in the dialect of the north of France {langue d' Oil) lias been published (Paris, 1841, 4to) by M. Leroux de Lincj', who attributes it to the 12tli cen- tury. ]M. Reuss has examined and described in the Revue di Strasbourg (iv, 1 sq.), a Codex preserved in the library of that city, which contains in the same dialect, somewhat varied, the Pentateuch, Joshua, and Judges, with tlie Glossa ordinaria et interlinenris [see Gloss], and the rest of the historical books of the U. T., with the Psalter without the gloss. As re- spects the translation said to have been executed, cir. 1250, for Louis IX, that of Du Vignier (cir. 1340), that of De Sy (1350), and that of Yaudetar (1372), we can say notliing more than that tradition asserts that such did once exist.
Of translations of parts of Scripture, chiefly the Psalters, into the more modern French, a large num- ber exist in MS., of whicli a copious list is given bj' Le Long in his Lihliotheca Sacra. About the \er,r 1380 a translation was undertaken by command of Charles V of France, by Raoul de Prailles, of which more than one copy exists. Le Long gives a description of a Codex containing it, with some extracts, by way of specimen, of the language ; and there is another MS. of it in the British JIuseum, of whicli a full description is given in the Eihliotheca Lansdoicniuna, p. 284 sq. The version in these codices does not go bcjond Prov- erbs.
II. Emerging from these obscurer regions of in- quiry, we come to those versions which have been printed, and of which it is possible to give a certain account.
1. That of Guiars des Moulins, an ecclesiastic of Picardy. Taking as his basis the Historia Scholastica of Peter Comestor, a digest of the Bible History with glosses, he frcelj' translated this ; adding a sketch of the histoiy of Jol), the Proverbs, and probably the oth- er l)ooks ascribed to Solomon ; substituting for Ccmes- tor's history of the Maccabees a translation of this from the Vulgate, and in general conforming the -whole more closel}' to the text of the Vulgate tlian Comestor had done. The Psalms, Projihets, and Epistles -were not in the work as at first issued, and it is uncertain whether the Acts were not also omitted : all these, how- ever, were added in later copies. IMany JISS. of this work exist, the moft important of -which is at Jena. An edition of this Bible, as completed by dilferent haiids, was issued from the press by order of Chailes VIII, about the year 1487, edited by the king's con- fessor, J. de Rely, and printed by Vcrard, Paris, 2 vols, fol. Twelve editions of this, some at Paris and some at Lyons, appeared between 1487 and 1545. This is called Zrt Grande Bible, to distinguish it from a work entitled La Bible jjonr Its simjiks gens, Avhich is a sum- mary of the history of the 0. T., and of which several undated editions have been examined. Previous to the edition of 1847, an edition of the N. T., of the same translation as that found in the completed works of Guiars, but not by Guiars himself, was printed at Ly- ons by Barth. Buyer, f(d., and edited by two Augustin- ian monks, Julien Macho and Peter Farget : it is un- dated, l)ut is referred to the year 1478, and justly cliiims to be the Editio Princeps of the French Scriptures.
2. In tlic year 1523 appeared at Paris, from the press of Simon de Colines, an anonymous translation of tlie N. T., which was often reprinted, and to which, in 1525, was added the Psalter, and in 1528 the rest of the O. T. (together 7 vols. 8vo), the last portion being issued at Antwerp, in consequence of attempts on the part of the French clergy to prevent its appearance. Tradition ascribes tliis version to Jacques le Fe-vre d"Etaples, who had licfore this distinguished himself l)y a Latin translation of Paul's epistles, and by exeget- ical works on the Gospels and Epistles ; and there is no
FRENCH VERSIONS
663
FRERET
reason to question the justice of the ascription. This version is made from the Vulgate, with flight varia- tions in the N. T., where the author follows the Greek. The complete work appeared in one vol. fol., at Ant- werp, in 1530, and again from the same types in 1;jS'2. It was placed in the papal Index in 1546; but in 1550 it was reissued at Louvain in fol., edited by two priests, Nicolas de Leuze, and Franz van Larben, who correct- ed the style, and struck out all that savored of what the}' deemed heresj'. Of this corrected version many editions have been issued.
3. The first French Protestant version was pre- pared by Pierre Robert Olivetan, a relation of Calvin, and was printed at Serricres, near Neufchatel, in Switz- erland, in 1535, fol. Of this edition very few copies remain. It was reprinted at Geneva in 1540, at Ly- ons in 1541, and, witli a few emendations from the pen of Calvin, again at Geneva in 1545. In 1551 a thor- ouglily revised edition, with the addition of some of the apocryphal books by Beza, and a new translation of the Psalms by Bndo, was issued at Geneva. It has often been reprinted since. An edition for the use of the Vaudois, and for which they subscribed 1500 gold- en crowns, was printed at Neufchatel in 1556. This translation was made for the O. T. from the Latin ver- sion of Santes Pagninus, and for the N. T. after the versions of Lefovre and Erasmus. In its first form it •was very imperfect, and even after the revisal of Cal- vin, and the emendations of subsequent editors, it re- mained behind the requirements of an authorized ver- sion.