Modeled on Zürich : a fresh study of Miles Coverdale's 1535 Bible

In the preliminaries of his 1535 Bible, Miles Coverdale (1488–1569) openly declared his dependence on five sundry sources. The challenge of identifying all five has obscured the strong and unique relationship between Coverdale's text and the bibles produced at Zürich. Findings from a systematic study of the book of Ruth combine with observations on the Coverdale Bible as a whole, to provide irrefutable evidence that the 1534 Zürich Bible had a unique position among Coverdale's sources. Reading Coverdale alongside an informed selection of contemporary versions sheds fresh light on factors at work in the translator's decision process – including theological, political and social interests. The centrality of Zürich as a model prompts speculation about the relationship between English reformers and the Zürich church in the mid-1530s, with import also for Henry VIII's “Great Matter.”