In July, 1199, Pope Innocent III issued a breve, occasioned by the
report that parts of the Bible were found in French translation in the
diocese of Metz. The breve praises in a general way the zeal for
Bible-study, but applies to all who are not officially appointed to
engage in such study the prohibition in Ex. 19, 12. 13, not to touch the
holy mountain of the Law.

During the reign of his successor, Honorius III, in 1220, laymen in
Germany were forbidden to read the Bible.

Under Gregory IX the same prohibition was issued, in 1229, to laymen in
Great Britain.

In the same year the crusades against the Albigenses were concluded, and
the Council of Toulouse issued a severe order, making it a grave offense
for a layman to possess a Bible.

In 1234, the Synod of Tarragona demanded the immediate surrender of all
translations of the Bible for the purpose of having them burned.

In 1246, the Synod of Baziers issued a prohibition forbidding laymen to
possess any theological books whatsoever, and even enjoining the clergy
from owning any theological books written in the vernacular.

Eleven years after Luther's death, in 1557, Pope Paul IV published the
Roman Index of Forbidden Books, and, with certain exceptions, prohibited
laymen from reading the Bible.

Not until the reign of King Edward VI was the "Act inhibiting the