16th Century banned book is.....

For my 16th Century banned book, l found it harder to find books banned in the 1500’s.

I finally did manage to find an interesting article about William Tyndale.



Tyndale was a theologian and scholar and was the first person to translate and print the New Testament into the English language in 1525-1526. He also went on to translate much of the Old Testament from Hebrew into English. Interestingly enough, he was also the first person to take advantage of Gutenberg’s movable-type press for the purpose of printing the scriptures in the English language.



Besides translating the Bible, Tyndale also held and published views which were considered heretical, first by the Catholic Church, and later by the Church of England which was established by Henry VIII. He felt so threatened that he fled to Antwerp and had his translated bible smuggled into England and Scotland. King Henry VIII contacted Emperor Charles V and requested he locate and apprehend Tyndale.



William Tyndale was found and captured in Antwerp (Belgium) in 1535. In a ridiculously unfair trial the following year, he was tried for heresy and found guilty. He was imprisoned in the castle of Vilvoorden for over 500 days of horrible conditions. Tyndale was then strangled and burnt at the stake in the prison yard, Oct. 6, 1536. His last words were, "Lord, open the king of England's eyes." This prayer was answered three years later, in the publication of King Henry VIII’s 1539 English “Great Bible”.

Only one complete copy of this first edition is known to exist, and the British Museum paid $2 million for it in 1948.

Antwerp 2012, Wikipedia, viewed 25^th April 2012.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antwerp

Illuminations and Epiphanies 2012?, Banned books, viewed 25^th April 2012.
http://www.sanftleben.com/Banned%20Books/collection3.html

The History of the Bible in English 2008, Greatsite Marketing, viewed 25^th April 2012.
http://www.tyndale-bible.com/

The History of the Bible in English 2008, Greatsite Marketing, viewed 25^th April 2012.
http://www.tyndale-bible.com/tyndale-bible-history.html

http://www.greatsite.com/timeline-english-bible-history/william-tyndale.html

Banned in the 17th Century......

After goggling 'banned books from the 1600s’ for my 17^th Century blog, I came across a book that has been banned as recently as January this year in the state of Arizona in the United States.

It is William Shakespeare's The Tempest, which was written in 1610 or 1611.

The Tempest belongs to the genre of Elizabethan romantic plays and is the last stage piece by Shakespeare. It combines elements of tragedy, romantic comedy and questions that are not completely answered by the ends of the play.

The book is banned by the resolution “aimed at curbing resentment, government overthrow and ethnic distinction and separation in any district or charter school's curriculum”.

It is so serious that if the ruling is not followed, the district can face a multi-million dollar penalty. Superintendent of Public Instruction John Huppenthal was the first person to make this claim and has been instrumental to having this book banned in Arizona.

Why was it banned l hear you ask?? It was banned as part of an ousted Mexican-American ethnic studies program. The district's Mexican-American program apparently violated the A.R.S. § 15-112 which prohibits courses and classes that promote the overthrow of the United States government and promote resentment toward a race or class of people, which they say this book does. All textbooks that deal with Mexican-American history are banned as 60% of the district's student population is Mexican-American.
All copies of The Tempest will be cleared from all classrooms, boxed up and sent to the Textbook Depository for storage but this book is available to buy freely on the internet and no other state or country seems to have a problem with it.

The Tempest Study Guide 2012, eNotes, viewed 25^th April 2012.

http://www.enotes.com/tempest/

Golgowski, N 2012, Shakespeare work axed in Arizona schools as law bans 'ethnic studies' , Associated Newspapers Ltd, viewed 25^th April 2012.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2087667/Shakespeares-The-Tempest-banned-Arizona-schools-law-bans-ethnic-studies.html

http://www.google.com.au/imgres?hl=en&sa=X&biw=1440&bih=710&tbm=isch&prmd=imvnsb&tbnid=we8w2SRVctemtM:&imgrefurl=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tempest&docid=v1YmtebMnGLiTM&imgurl=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6a/William_Hamilton_Prospero_and_Ariel.jpg/220px-William_Hamilton_Prospero_and_Ariel.jpg&w=220&h=310&ei=wcC0T5feDK-8iAeYq-34Ag&zoom=1

15th Century banned book...

For this component of Research Skills, l have decided to do my six posts on banned books going back to the 15th Century as society has always wrestled with censorship.
Books have been burned, removed from public sale, and taken off the shelves of libraries and classrooms. In some instances, the author or printer of the work has been either outlawed or condemned to death.
Where are they now and is the book available? How did they affect the community? Why was the book banned?
My research process will mainly be via the Internet and l will try to speak to people in book stores, mainly second hand bookstores in order to see if they have come across any banned books and what the history of the book is.

For my first post, whilst searching on the Internet, l came across Dante's classic Divina Commedia (Divine Comedy) which l didn't even know was banned. This interested me immensely as l only recently bought all three books in the series, Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso. It was actually first printed in 1472 and was not banned in Italy which was where Dante was born (around 1265). It was however deemed offensive in Portugal and Spain. In 1581, the Portuguese authorities called in all copies for expurgation while the Spanish Index of 1612 eliminated three passages from the poem.
Even today, literally on the 9th April 2012, there was a article in The Telegraph, about Dante's books being removed from school curricula. It has been deemed "offensive and discriminatory" by Gherush 92, a human rights organisation, so even today, it seems Dante's books are still making an impact in some communities.



Squires, N 2012, Dante's Divine Comedy 'offensive and should be banned', Telegraph Media Group, viewed 9th April 2012.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturenews/9140869/Dantes-Divine-Comedy-offensive-and-should-be-banned.html

Cabinet 7: The Italians 2010, Special Collections, University of Otago Library, viewed 9th April 2012.
http://library.otago.ac.nz/exhibitions/bannedbooks/index.php