Rheims–Douay Bible

Timeline

1. 1568–1578Douay · DouayWilliam Allen founded Douay College to train English priests for mission work at home, and planned an English Bible based on the Vulgate as fixed by Trent, to counter the Geneva translation produced by Protestant exiles.
2. 1582Rheims · RheimsThe English New Testament completed by Gregory Martin was printed at Rheims. The translation hews closely to the Latin Vulgate, and its notes explicitly refute Protestant exegesis, becoming the standard English scripture of the underground Catholic community under Elizabeth I.
3. 1609–1610Douay · DouayAfter the college moved back to Douay, the two volumes of the Old Testament were published in succession, completing the English Catholic Bible. Owing to funding and censorship, the Old Testament appeared nearly thirty years after the New, but its format and annotation policy were continuous with it.
4. 1611–1750English Catholic reading circles · EnglandThe Latinized vocabulary of the Rheims New Testament was consulted by the translators of the 1611 King James Version. After Challoner's revision, this line of translation was used in English Catholic parishes for centuries, becoming an institutional text against the Protestant English Bible.