Today in 1544 Queen Katherine Parr published a book. Psalms or Prayers was a translation of Bishop Fisher’s Latin Psalms, published around 1525. She went on to publish Prayers or Meditations in 1545 and The Lamentation of a Sinner in 1548.
According to the introduction from the University of Chicago Press, which published the psalms in 2011, “Undertaking to translate any work entails careful, sustained attention to many specifics of theme, tone, and expression. Parr’s responsiveness to Fisher’s spirituality is widely demonstrated in the sensitivity with which she handles her source, and it is especially salient in “Psalms or Prayers,” where key religious issues of her day come to the fore. Judged by any standard and viewed from any angle, it demonstrates a profound familiarity with the Bible in Latin and English—and preeminently with the Psalms.”
That’s your Tudor Minute for today. Remember you can dive deeper into life in 16th century England through the Renaissance English History Podcast at englandcast.com where we have an episode on Katherine Parr.
Suggested links:
Episode 093: Tudor Times on Katherine Parr
Episode 62: Printing from Caxton to Shakespeare
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Heather Teysko is the creator, writer, and producer of The Renaissance English History Podcast, one of the longest running indie history podcasts, going since 2009. She's been writing about history online for over 25 years, since her first site on Colonial American history became number one in history on Yahoo in 1998. She writes books, created the original Tudor Planner (a yearly diary filled with Tudor history) and in 2019 created the world's first Tudorcon (you can "attend" online this year!). She has been passionate about Tudor England since she first read Alison Weir's The Six Wives of Henry VIII 20 years ago, and subsequently moved to London after college to spend her time immersed in Tudor history.