William Maldon

William Maldon was a 16th-century English Protestant activist[1] who taught himself to read in order to directly access the Bible in English.[2] An autobiographical account on Maldon's self-taught literacy and his father's subsequent violent reaction, "A young man inhumanly persecuted by his Father for reading ye scripture, in K. Henries time", appeared in the Actes and Monuments (also known as Foxe's Book of Martyrs) by John Foxe.[3]

Biography

William Maldon was born in Chelmsford and lived in England during the reign of Henry VIII. Maldon, like many other Englishmen of the early 16th century, was illiterate. This was also a period in which the Bible was translated into English. One popular English edition of the Bible was the Tyndale Bible. Thomas More remarked that many illiterate persons were teaching themselves how to read English using William Tyndale's translation. Maldon was to be among these, and he would later publish an account regarding the conflict between those who desired access to a vernacular Bible and those opposed.[4]

According to his later testimony, while Maldon was growing up and prior to his learning to read, he would watch "poor men" preach on the New Testament. Maldon said that he would listen to these preachers every Sunday until he was taken away from them by his father, who would then take Maldon to attend Matins in Latin. After reading the Bible in English, Maldon confronted his mother and accused her of worshipping graven images, resulting in his father beating and whipping him. According to Maldon's account, he was saved by his mother and brother from his father's attempt to hang Maldon.[4][5]

Maldon's account, "A young man inhumanly persecuted by his Father for reading ye scripture, in K. Henries time", was published in John Foxe's late 16th-century Actes and Monuments (also known as Foxe's Book of Martyrs). In Foxe's book, the text is endorsed as "receaued of Mr. W. Maldon of Newyngton. With some misgivings this ingenuous document is printed exactly as it stands."[3] The prefacing paragraph to Maldon's writing is of particular note, indicating that Foxe solicited material for his book.[6] Tyndale historian David Daniell described Maldon's story as indicative that "the English Bible was made in blood."[7]

References
  1. Bragg, Melvyn (25 July 2002). "Readings from the Reformation". Voices of the Powerless. BBC. Archived from the original on 9 February 2013. Retrieved 6 August 2013.
  2. Johnson, Keith. "13.1 Translating the Bible". The History of Early English. Routledge. Archived from the original on 18 July 2023. Retrieved 18 July 2023.
  3. Pollard, Alfred W. (1911). Records of the English Bible: The Documents Relating to the Translation and Publication of the Bible in English, 1525—1611 (PDF). London: Oxford University Press. p. 268. Archived (PDF) from the original on 22 July 2023. Retrieved 22 July 2023.
  4. Norton, David (2000). A History of the English Bible as Literature (PDF). Cambridge University Press. pp. 10–11. Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 July 2023. Retrieved 18 July 2023.
  5. Westcott, Brooke Foss (1868). Wright, William Aldis (ed.). A General View of the History of the English Bible (1905 3rd revised ed.). London: Macmillan & Co., Limited. ISBN 9780876960370. Archived from the original on 21 August 2023. Retrieved 25 July 2023 – via Google Books.
  6. Nichols, John Gough (1859). Narratives of the Days of the Reformation chiefly from the Manuscripts of John Foxe (PDF). Camden Society. p. xvi.
  7. Daniell, David (April 2003). "A History of the English Bible as Literature by David Norton". The Journal of Theological Studies. Oxford University Press. 54 (1): 293. doi:10.1093/jts/54.1.289.
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