Jeanette L. Patterson, Bible historiale . Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2022, 249 pp., 8 b/w ill.

Were medieval lay Christians forbidden by the Catholic Church to read the Bible in their mother tongue? Were vernacular Bibles a rarity? If vernacular Bibles flourished, as they did, who were the translators, and how were the ancient books of the Bible reworked to engage the lay man or woman of a time and culture far removed from the ancient world? Where the Church authorities approved of these Bibles, what were the agendas served?