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PolyglotGift

Page history last edited by PBworks 17 years ago

Why was the Polyglot presented to St Peter‘s?

 

The London Polyglot Bible was translated into many languages - but not English. So why was it brought to Yateley in the first place, and subsequently presented to St Peter‘s ?

 

Published in 1654-57, in 6 huge volumes, it was one of the most important, and costly works of theological scholarly of its age. It would not have been used for worship since successive Acts of Uniformity from 1549-1662 required all churches and places of worship to use the revised liturgy in English. A copy of the Polyglot Bible would nevertheless have been valued by any incumbent of a parish church. And significantly for Yateley, perhaps, copies of the London Polyglot Bible were shipped by English trading companies to their factors overseas. From 1663-64 Sir Richard Ryves was a member of the governing Committee of the East India Company. Perhaps it was then that he acquired this Bible.

 

A second possible explanation of how the Polyglot came to be in Yateley is that it was owned by one of the scholars who helped translate the Polyglot into its nine languages. The London Polyglot was edited by Brian Walton (1600?-1661) former bishop of Chester, assisted by many scholars, one of whom was Nathaniel Ball (1623-1681). The first husband of Mrs Sarah Cocks see The Crystal Cup Mystery was John Ball, of Hilfield, Yateley, a gentleman as important as Sir Richard Ryves in Yateley. The coincidence of this family name is tantalizing, but as yet we have failed to find any direct link between John Ball and Nathaniel Ball, the Polyglot Bible contributor.

 

It is most unlikely that John Helyer presented the Polyglot to St Peter‘s, since in 1675 when James Swayne recorded the gift, John Helyer was only 11 years old. He married Christian Ryves in 1701.

 

Currently it seems most likely that the Polyglot came to Yateley as one of Sir Richard Ryves‘ possessions, and was presented to St Peter‘s by his widow, Lady Joyce, in his memory.

 

Unfortunately the Yateley Polyglot Bible did not survive the burning down of St Peter's by an arsonist in 1979. Individual scorched pages were salvaged and sold as individual pages to help finance the rebuilding of the church - something we are sure Lady Joyce and Mrs Sarah Ball would have approved.

 

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