"The central focus of this book concerns vernacular Bibles in various regions of (late) medieval and early modern Europe, as well as the religious and cultural circumstances in which these books found their origin. The volume includes articles that demonstrate how vernacular Bibles were liable to censorship measures, viz. Francesca Tasca's contribution on Peter Valdes of Lyons, and Gigliola Fragnito's on post-Tridentine Catholic Europe. Other essays, in contrast, inspired by a social-historical approach, emphasize that laypeople in the late Middle Ages and Early Modern Era found ways to read the Bible and other religious works 'anyway' and that they were hardly hindered by bans instituted by ecclesiastical or secular governments."--