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presses in Spain (his first publication dates to 1490), producing chiefly liturgical books
and devotional works, but also Latin grammars and other pedagogical works. In 1511, he
was recruited by the powerful and influential Cardinal Francisco Ximénes de Cisneros
(1436-1517, impassioned reformer of the clergy, persecutor of Jews and confessor to
Queen Isabella 552 ) to work at the University he had founded in Alcalá. Brocar’s task was
to help produce the so-called Complutensian Polyglot Bible (Complutum being the Latin
name for Alcalá), a multilingual edition of the Bible with the Greek, Hebrew, Chaldean
and Latin texts arranged in parallel. 553 Cardinal Ximenes gathered a team of distinguished
linguists and theologians in hopes that “the hitherto dormant study of Holy Scripture may
now at last begin to revive,” as he put it in the preface to the work. 554 It was the first
polyglot edition to be printed (1513-1517), but Erasmus’ own Greek/Latin edition (1516)
beat the Cardinal’s to the market (which was not distributed until 1522). However,
Ximenes was careful not to modify the text of the Vulgate itself, limiting his editors to
choosing amongst variants in the Vulgate manuscripts, whereas Erasmus made numerous
changes to the Latin text, thus impiously suggesting that the Vulgate was incorrect.
Erasmus’ critics thought he was undermining the authority of the Church by his
552 On the Cardinal Ximénes, see John C. Olin, Catholic Reform: From Cardinal Ximenes to the Council of
Trent 1495-1563 (New York: Fordham University Press, 1990), 4-7; Henry Kamen, Spain 1469-1714: A
society of conflict (London: Longman, 1983), 45-48.
553 It was the first such edition to be printed, and with its multiple scripts on a single page, must have been a
difficult project for Brocar. On the Complutensian Polyglot, see Julián Martín Abad, "The Printing Press at
Alcalá de Henares: The Complutensian Polyglot Bible," in The Bible as Book: The First Printed Editions,
101-115 (London: The British Library, 1999); F. J. Norton, Printing in Spain 1501-1520 (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1966), 33-48; Séamus O'Connell, From Most Ancient Sources: The Nature
and Text-Critical Use of the Greek Old Testament Text of the Complutensian Polyglot Bible (Fribourg and
Göttingen: Academic Press Fribourg and Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2006); Oxford Encyclopedia of
Reformation, “Bible Translations”.
554 The preface to the Polyglot Bible is reprinted in Olin, Catholic Reform, 61-64. The passage cited is on p.
64. John C. Olin, Catholic Reform: From Cardinal Ximenes to the Council of Trent 1495-1563 (New York:
Fordham University Press, 1990).
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