[Bishop] William Bedell

Life
1571-1642 [Bishop Bedell; older var. Bedel]; schol. Emmanuel College, 1585, MA 1592; fell, 1593; ord. 1597, BD, 1599 [DD, 1602]; appointed to church of St Mary’s, Bury St Edmund’s, 1602-07; chaplain to Sir Henry Wotton, Venice, 1607-10; rector Horningsheath, 1616; 5th provost of TCD, 1627; introduced Irish language to syllabus and to college prayers; appt. bishop of Kilmore and Ardagh, Co. Longford, with encouragement of Archbishop Ussher, 1629; issued Aibigtir .i. Theaguisg Cheudtosugheadh an Chríostaidhe [The A.B.C. or the Institution of a Christian] (1631), a catechism containing Bible extracts in Irish; at Church of Ireland synod called by Lord-Lieutenant Wentworth in 1634, he proposed translation of the entire Bible into Irish to complement Uilleam Ó Domhnaill’s translation of the New Testament (1602); employed Muircheartach Ó Cionga (Murtagh King), commended to him by Primate Ussher, and Séamus Ó Nógla (James Nangle), as assistant to the former, to make a translation based on King James Bible (1611); reviewed and corrected their work with reference to Hebrew original of manuscript given him in Venice, and a version in Italian; resigned see of Ardagh, 1633; translation completed in 1640; sent to Holland for font (‘stamps’) but overtaken by the Rebellion of 1641; sheltered fugitives from the rebels; imprisoned in Loughoughter; transferred to keeping of an tAthair Donnchadha Ó Sioradáin [Dennis Sheridan] at Dromlor, where many refugees shared the accommodation; died there from fever, presumably contracted in prison, 7 Feb.; manuscripts from his house rescued by Ó Sioradáin through friendship with its current occupant, Bishop Eoghan Mac Suibhne; Bedell honoured by the military guard at his funeral, eliciting the graveside Ó Síoradáin’s celebrated encomium (‘sit mea anima cum Bedello!’); his translation brought to publication by Archbishop Narcissus Marsh with Andrew Sall and Paul Higgins (both Jesuits and scholars), published by Robert Everingham, London 1685, together with a republication of Daniel’s New Testament (1681), assisted financially by Robert Boyle, who had an Irish font based on "Louvain A" specially designed and cut by the typefounder Moxon; the resultant book known as ‘Bedell’s Bible’; there was an early life by Bishop Burnet (1685). DNB DIB FDA OCIL

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Works
Biblical translations, The A B C. Or, the Institution of a Christian [containing the Creed, Lord’s Prayer, Scripture texts in English & Irish Dublin: Company of Stationers 1631), 13pp., 8o.; Leabhuir na Seintiomna [...] The Books of the Old Testament translated into Irish by the care and diligence of Doctor William Bedel, late Bishop of Kilmore [assisted by Murtagh King and Dennis Sheridan], &c. (London 1685), 1142pp., 4o. [Wing B2711]; An da chead leabhar do Mhaoise [...] Genesis agus Exodus, ar na ttarruing [...] chum Gáoilge tré chúram [...] Uilliam Bhedel (Dublin: G. & J. Grierson & M. Keene 1827), 189pp., 12o.; Psalms in Irish ([London:] Hanna & Neale 1912), xv, 201pp., 8o.

Miscellaneous, The Copies of Certaine Letters which have Passed betweene Spaine and England in Matter of Religion, concerning the generall motives to the Romane obedience betweene J. W. and W. Bedell [with a dedication by W. Bedell] (London: W. Stansby for W. Barret and R. Milbourne 1624), 4o.; The Free Schoole of Warre, or, a treatise, whether it be lawfull to beare armes for the seruice of a Prince that is of a diuers religion [by Pietro Sarpi, trans. by William Bedell (‘W.B.’)]. London: John Bill: 1625), 4o.; Interdicti Veneti Historia, de motu Italiae sub initia Pontificatus Pauli V. commentarius [...] Recens ex Italico conversus (Cambridge 1626), 4o.; [Bedell,] A Protestant Memorial; or, the Shepherd’s tale of the Pouder-plott. A poem in Spenser’s style [...] published from an original manuscript, found among the papers of [...] Dr. Dillingham (London: J. Roberts 1713), x, 30pp., 8o.; An Examination of Certaine Motives to Recusancie (Cambridge: printers to the Vniversitie; London: R. Daniel 1628), 61pp., 8o.; also To the Right Honourable the Lords Justices and Council. The humble Remonstrance of the Gentry, and Commonality, of the county of Cavan, &c. [n.d.]; On the Efficiency of Grace [n.d.]; The Life and Death of Desiderius Erasmus [with a portrait.] [n.d.]

Posthumous, [Edward Hudson, ed.,] Some Original Letters of Bishop Bedell, concerning the steps taken toward a reformation of religion at Venice, upon occasion of the quarrel between that State and Pope Paul V (Dublin: George Faulkner 1742), 80pp., 8o.; A Letter to Mr. James Waddesworth, in reply to several letters from him upon the principal points of controversy between Papists and Protestants [...]. To which is added, the Prospectus of the Christian Institute, and an address which was delivered at its formation (London: Howell & Stewart 1827), viii, 134pp., 8o.. 8o.

Note also the MS copy, ‘All the canonical bookes of the Old Testament, translated, out of Hebrew, into the Irish tongue, by the procurement of Doctor Bedell, bishop of Kilmore; his originall copy’ [c.1630], held in Marsh’s Library.

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Criticism
[Nicholas Bernard,] A Sermon preached at Christ-Church Dublyn, before the Lord Deputie, and the Parliament of Ireland [... &c.]. Anno 1634 [with] A Character of Bishop Bedell, &c. [q.d.]; Edmund Borlase, ‘Dr Bedell, Bishop of Kilmore his Information of the Papists[’] Insolence’, appended to Execrable Rebellion (MDCLXXX [1680]); [Bishop] Gilbert Burnet, Life of Bedell (London 1685); Do. as [Bishop Gilbert,] The Life of William Bedell, D.D., Lord Bishop of Killmore in Ireland [...] To which are subjoyned certain letters [… &c.] . 2 vols. (London: John Southby 1685; London: Richard Chiswell 1692), 8o [Pt. I 487pp.], and Do., as The Life of William Bedell, D.D., Bishop of Kilmore in Ireland [...] with additions [3rd edn.] (Dublin: R. Gunne 1736), 8o. 423pp., and Do. [another edn.] (Dublin: William Williamson 1758). 8o.; J. N. M. Mason, Life of W. Bedell DD Lord Bishop of Kilmore (1843); W. W. Wilkins, ed., Memoir of the Life and Episcopate of Dr. William Bedell, Lord Bishop of Kilmore [...] printed for the first time, with illustrative notes, from the original MS. in the Harleian Collection, British Museum [q.d.]; Speculum Episcoporum; or, the Apostolick Bishop: being a brief account of the life and death of [...] Dr. William Bedell London: Wertheim, Macintosh & Hunt 1862), xii, 244pp., 8o.; Life of Bishop Bedell [...] ed. by John E. B. Mayor (Cambridge UP 1871). 130pp. 8o.; [William Bedell, Jnr.,] A True Relation of the Life and Death of [...] William Bedell, Lord Bishop of Kilmore in Ireland, ed. & amplified with genealogical and historical chapters, by Thomas Wharton Jones (London: 1872), xvii, 268pp., 4o.; Richard Evans, Bishop Bedell’s Irish Bible and Archbishop O’Donnell’s New Testament, 1681-85: Brief Historical Sketches of Both Works, with Biographical Notices of Each Author (Dublin: Peter Roe [1885]; 1906), 24pp., 4o.; Evelyn Shirley Shuckburgh, ed., Two Biographies of William Bedell, Bishop of Kilmore [viz., lives by William Bedell, d.1670, and Alexander Clogie, d.1698], with a Selection of his Letters and an Unpublished Treatise (Cambridge UP 1902), xx, 410pp.; Richard Evans, Bedell’s Irish Bible and Archbishop. O’Donnell’s Irish Testament ([1906]); William Bedell. His Life and Times. (Dublin: APCK 1951), 126pp.; Deasun Breathnach, The Best of the English: A short account of the life and work of the Bishop of Kilmore, William Bedell, and the Irish version of the Old Testament for which he was Responsible (Baile Átha Cliath: Clódhanna Teo 1971), 23pp.; Gordon Rupp, A Commemorative Lecture at Emmanuel College Cambridge (Cambridge UP 1972), 14pp.; Joseph Th. Leerssen, Mere Irish & Fíor Ghael: Studies In The Idea Of Irish Nationality (Amsterdam; Benjamin Blom 1986), pp.329-30; Norman Vance, Irish Literature: A Social History (Oxford: Basil Blackwell 1990), p.29.

See also Irish Book Lover, Vol. 4, and Nicholas Williams, I bPrionta i Leabhar (1986).

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Notes
Seamus Deane, gen. ed., Field Day Anthology of Irish Writing (Derry: Field Day 1991), Vol. 2, methions that George Moore cites Bedell’s Bible as an excellent version, the Irish being as good as the English, in Hail and Farewell, retaling a conversation with AE and an Irish enthusiast who says, ‘Isn’t it read in the class?’, to which the answer: ‘[No], you see, it was done by a Protestant’) [FDA2 543]. Note also, Bedell is cited by Aodh de Blacam in ‘The Other Hidden Ireland’ (from Studies, XXIII, No. 91, (Sept. 1934): ‘Bishop Bedell wanted Irish-speaking clergy and Irish prayers for existing congregations, whereas the Anglicisation party (which prevailed) wished to spread the English language’ [FDA2 1014].

Roy Foster, Modern Ireland (London: Allen Lane 1988), give bio-details: he became Provost of TCD on Ussher’s recommendation; in 1641, ‘spoke tellingly of the outrages against English settlers ... but gave no credence to notions of a massacre.’ ( p.121) Note also remarks: Bedell’s Irish Bible was financed by Robert Boyle, the scientist [1627-91] (Foster, p.106).

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British Library holds [1] A Letter to Mr. James Waddesworth, in reply to several letters from him upon the principal points of controversy between Papists and Protestants [...] . To which is added, the Prospectus of the Christian Institute, and an address which was delivered at its formation. viii, 134pp., 16. Howell & Stewart: London, 1827. 8o.; [2] A Protestant Memorial: or, the Shepherd’s tale of the Pouder-plott. A poem in Spenser’s style [...] . Published from an original manuscript, found among the papers of [...] . Dr. Dillingham, etc.x, 30pp. J. Roberts: London, 1713. 8o.; [3] A Sermon, preached at Christ-Church Dublyn, before the Lord Deputie, and the Parliament of Ireland [...] . Anno 1634.-A Character of Bishop Bedell, etc. [By Nicholas Bernard.] [4] A True Relation of the Life and Death of [...] . William Bedell, Lord Bishop of Kilmore in Ireland. [By William Bedell the younger.] Edited [...] . and amplified with genealogical and historical chapters compiled [...] . by [...] Thomas Wharton Jones.xvii, 268pp. [London,] 1872. 4o.; [5] An Examination of Certaine Motives to Recusansie.[Cambridge;] London, 1628. 8o.; [6] An Examination of Certaine Motives to Recusancie.61pp. Printed by the Printers to the Vniversitie of Cambridge; sold by R. Daniel: London, 1628. 8o.; [7] On the Efficiency of Grace [4907.d.29] .; [8] Some Original Letters of Bishop Bedell, concerning the steps taken toward a reformation of religion at Venice, upon occasion of the quarrel between that State and Pope Paul V. [Edited by Edward Hudson.] . 80pp. George Faulkner: Dublin, 1742. 8o.; [9] The Life and Death of Desiderius Erasmus. [with a portrait.] [n.d.] [10] To the Right Honourable the Lords Justices and Council. The humble Remonstrance of the Gentry, and Commonality, of the county of Cavan, etc.; [11] Two Biographies of William Bedell, Bishop of Kilmore [by his son William Bedell and Alexander Clogy respectively.] With a selection of his letters and an unpublished treatise. Edited with notes and index by E. S. Shuckburgh.xx, 410pp. University Press: Cambridge, 1902. 8o.; [12] Life of Bishop Bedell [...] Now first edited by John E. B. Mayor.130pp. University Press: Cambridge, 1871. 8o.; [13] An da chead leabhar do Mhaoise [...] Genesis agus Exodus, ar na ttarruing [...] chum Gáoilge tré chúram [...] Uilliam Bhedel.189pp. G. & J. Grierson & M. Keene: Dublin, 1827. 12o.; [14] Bishop Bedell’s Irish Bible and Archbishop O’Donnell’s New Testament, 1681-5: brief historical sketches of both works, with biographical notices of each author, etc.24pp. Peter Roe: Dublin, [1885.] 4o.; [15] Leabhuir na Seintiomna[...] The Books of the Old Testament translated into Irish by the care and diligence of Doctor William Bedel, late Bishop of Kilmore [assisted by Murtagh King and Dennis Sheridan] , etc. 1142pp. London, 1685. 4o.; [16] Bible, Psalms in Irish. xv, 201pp. Hanna & Neale: 1912. 8o.; [17] The best of the English. A short account of the life and work of the Bishop of Kilmore, William Bedell, and the Irish version of the Old Testament for which he was responsible.Baile Átha Cliath: Clódhanna Teo, 1971. 23pp. 22 cm.; [18] La Vie de Guilme Bedell eveque de Kilmore en Irlande. Traduite [...] par L. D. M. [i.e. Louis Dumesnil.] . 240pp. P. Savouret: Amsterdam, 1687. 12o.; [19] The Life of Bishop Bedell [...] Abridged from Burnet [1835?] 12o.; [20] Do.; [21] The Life of William Bedell, D.D., Bishop of Kilmore in Ireland [...] The second edition, with additions. The third edition, with additions. 423pp. R. Gunne: Dublin, 1736. 8o. 423pp. William Williamson: Dublin, 1758. 8o.; [22] The life of William Bedell, D.D. Bishop of Kilmore in Ireland [by Gilbert Burnet.] The Life of William Bedell, D.D., Lord Bishop of Killmore in Ireland [...] To which are subjoyned certain letters, etc. MS. notes. London: printed for John Southby, 1685. 2 pt.: 487pp. 8o.Richard Chiswell: London, 1692. 8o.; [23] The A B C. Or, the Institution of a Christian. [Containing the Creed, Lord’s Prayer, Scripture texts, etc. published by William Bedell, Bishop of Kilmore and Ardagh.] Eng. & Irish. 13pp. Printed by the Company of Stationers: Dublin, 1631. 8o.; [24] Memoir of the Life and Episcopate of Dr. William Bedell, Lord Bishop of Kilmore [...] Printed for the first time, with illustrative notes, from the original MS. in the Harleian Collection, British Museum. [Edited by W. W. Wilkins.] Do. [another edition] Speculum Episcoporum; or, the Apostolick Bishop: being a brief account of the life and death of [...] Dr. William Bedell.xii, 244pp. Wertheim, Macintosh & Hunt: London, 1862. 8o.; [25] William Bedell. His life and times. [With a portrait.] . 126pp. [Association for Promoting Christian Knowledge: Dublin, 1951] 8o.; [26] Lives of eminent Christians. Volume I. Archbishop Usher, Dr. Hammond, Bishop Wilson, John Evelyn. Published under the direction of the [...] Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. Do., Second edition revised. Published under the direction of the Committee of General Literature and Education, appointed by the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge.London, 1833. 8o.4 vol. London, 1834-43. 8o.; [27] Note on the Birth and Parentage of William Bedell, Bishop of Kilmore. (From the Herald and Genealogist, vol. v.) Note on the Birth and Parentage of William Bedell, etc.3pp. [1870.] 8o.[London, 1870.] 8o.; [28] The Life of William Bedell, Bishop of Kilmore.London, 1843. 8o.; [29] William Bedell: a lecture [...] delivered [...] March the 13th, 1863, etc.; [30] Interdicti Veneti Historia, de motu Italiae sub initia Pontificatus Pauli V. commentarius [...] Recens ex Italico conversus [by W. Bedell, Bishop of Kilmore] .Cantabrigiae, 1626. 4o.; [31] The Free Schoole of Warre, or, a treatise, whether it be lawfull to beare armes for the seruice of a Prince that is of a diuers religion. [By Pietro Sarpi. Translated by W. B., i.e. William Bedell, Bishop of Kilmore and Ardagh.] . John Bill: London, 1625. 4o.; [32] The copies of certaine letters which have passed betweene Spaine and England in matter of Religion, concerning the generall motives to the Romane obedience. Betweene J. W. and W. Bedell. [With a dedication by W. Bedell.] W. Stansby for W. Barret and R. Milbourne: London, 1624. 4o.

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De Burca Catalogue, 44 (1997), lists works, with William O’Domhnuill, An Biobla Naomhtha, iona bhfuil Leabhair na Seintiomna. Ar na ttarruing [sic] as an Eabhra go Goidheilg tre churam agus dhuthrachd an Doctuir, William Bedel, Roimhe so Easbug Chille móire a Neirinn: agus, Na Tiomna Nuaidhe, ar na ttabhairt go ffrinneach as Greigis go Goidheilg, re William O Domhnuill. London, R. Ebheringtham, 1690), 12mo. 1,68pp.; published by Robert Kirk, Minister at Aberfoyle, Perthshire, Scotland; called to London to superintend printing at Everinghams, of the Irish Bible and New Testament into Roman letters, 1689; made numerous corrections and added Gaelic vocabulary 6pp., published with additions ‘by the learned Mr. Ed. Lhuyd’ in Bishop Nicholson’s Historical Library (London 1702); Prof. Maclean informs us in his Highland Libraries that out of an edition of 2,000 copies printed, by the year 1698, one thousand seven hundred and seventy Bibles were distnbuted in the Highlands; only three copies known when T. W. Lister had use of E. R. McDix’s copy (as appeared in the former’s thanks in the preface to Best’s Bibliography of Irish Philology and of Printed Irish Literature; de Burca remarks that no copy has been offered for sale for 50 years. [See De Burca 44, 1997; £2,250]. Also, Editio Princeps: Leabhuir na Seintiomna ar na ttarruing go Gaidhlig tre churam agus dhuthracht an Doctuir Uilliam Bedel [...] The Books of the Old Testament translated into Irish by the care and diligence of Doctor William Bedel, Late Bishop of Kilmore in Ireland, for the publick good of that Nation (Printed at London, Anno Dom. 1685). [£950.00; last leaf in superior facsimile.]

De Burca, Rare Books Cat. [No. 17], lists copy of Kilmore, an unpublished play about the burial of Bedell by Padraic Colum, in which Colonel Malmorr O’Reilly of the Catholic forces organises a guard of honour at the funeral. De Burca gives this account of Bedell (1571-1642): ‘[…] an Englishman, [he] was educated at Cambridge where he took holy orders. The Provostship of Trinity College, Dublin became vacant in 1627 and the Fellows, with the advice of Archbishop Ussher, invited William to accept the post. He was a man revered not only by the English but by the native Irish as well. In 1629, he was consecrated Bishop of Kilmore, where he witnessed great hardship among the peasantry. He immediately won the hearts of the people for his kindness and generosity to them, and even went to the extent of learning their native language. Goldwin Smith, writing of the Civil War of 1641, wrote ‘In Ireland, against the dark clouds of the storm, one rainbow appeared. Bishop Bedel had won the love of his neighbours. He and his family were not only spared by the rebels, but treated with loving-kindness’. Lecky wrote of him, ‘In that rebellion one Englishman was exempt from the hostility that attached to his race [...] and when he died he was borne to the grave with all the honours the rebel army could afford’. O’Reilly of Breifne was heard to utter ‘Requiescat in Pace Ultimus Anglorum’. (De Burca Catalogue 44, 1997; p.2-3.

Hyland Catalogue, No. 219 lists [Gilbert] Burnet, Life of Bedell, DD, Bishop of Kilmore in Ireland (London 1685), 2, 37, (260pp.); strange copy, no sign of the Waddesworth Letters, ending on unnumbered [&c.].

Belfast Central Public Library holds Life of W. Bedell DD Lord Bishop of Kilmore, by J. N. M. Mason (1843); also life by Mason and Gamble.

University of Ulster, Central Library & Morris Collection hold Bible-Irish-Bedell (1827), ed. James M’Guige, 2 biogs.; ed. E. K. Shuckburgh, Cambridge UP (1902); Bedell and Irish Version OT, Deasun Breathnach (Dublin 1971), pamphlet; Evelyn Shirley Shuckburgh, Two Biographies of William Bedell, Bishop of Kilmore (Cambridge UP 1902), 410pp.

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Daniel O’Connell (Memoir, 1828) cites the biography by Bishop Burnet, viz, Life of William Bedell, Bishop of Kilmore in Ireland (1685); also cited in also cited in Rupp [supra].

John Mitchel mentions him with others of the Church of Ireland whose ‘stories are twined with our history, their dust is Irish earth, and their memories are Ireland’s for ever.’ (Life of Aodh ONeill, 1845, Pref. p.xi.)

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Princess Grace Irish Library (Monaco)