thumb|A page from the luxury [[illuminated manuscript Wenceslas Bible, a German translation of the 1390s.]]
Bible translations in the Middle Ages were rare. In Western Europe, the Latin Vulgate, itself originally a translation into the vernacular, was the standard text of the Bible, and full or partial translations into a vernacular language were uncommon until the Late Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period.

Translation into Latin

No books of the Bible were originally written in Latin. The Old Testament was written in Hebrew and Aramaic and the New Testament in Greek. The Septuagint, still used in the Greek Orthodox church, is a Jewish translation of the Old Testament into Koine Greek completed in the 1st century BC in Alexandria for Jews who spoke Greek as their normal language.

The whole Christian Bible was therefore available in popular Greek by about 100 AD, but so were numerous apocryphal Gospels; deciding the Biblical canon by rejecting some of these took another two centuries or so, with some differences between churches remaining to the present day. In addition the Septuagint included some books not in the Hebrew Bible which the church accepted.

The Bible was translated into various languages in late antiquity; the most important of these translations are those in the Syriac dialect of Aramaic (including the Peshitta and the Diatessaron gospel harmony), the Ge'ez language of Ethiopia, and, in Western Europe, Latin. The earliest Latin translations are collectively known as the Vetus Latina, but in the fifth century, Jerome re-translated the Hebrew and Greek texts into the normal vernacular Latin of his day, in a version known as the Vulgate (Biblia vulgata) (meaning "common version", in the sense of "popular"). Jerome's translation gradually replaced most of the older Latin texts, and also gradually ceased to be a vernacular version as the Latin language developed and divided. The earliest surviving complete manuscript of the entire Latin Bible is the Codex Amiatinus, produced in eighth century England at the double monastery of Wearmouth-Jarrow. By the end of late antiquity the Bible was therefore available and used in all the major written langauges spoken by Christians.

Early medieval vernacular translations

thumb|French [[Historical Bible|Bible historiale of c.1350. Above the red text, Peter Comestor's commentary, below it the text of Genesis.]]

During the Migration Period Christianity spread to various peoples who had not been part of the old Roman Empire, and whose languages had as yet no written form, or only a very simple one, like runes. Typically the Church was the first to attempt to capture these languages in written form, and Bible translations are often the oldest surviving texts in these newly written-down languages. Meanwhile Latin was evolving into new distinct regional forms, the early versions of the Romance languages, for which new translations eventually became necessary. However the Vulgate remained the authoritative text, used universally in the West for scholarship and the liturgy, matching its continued use for other purposes such as religious literature and most secular books and documents. At this period anyone who could read at all could probably read Latin, even in Anglo-Saxon England, where writing in the vernacular (Old English) was most common.

The earliest translation into a vernacular European language other than Latin or Greek was the Gothic Bible, by Ulfilas, an Arian who translated from the Greek.

From the Latin, there are some fragmentary Old English Bible translations, notably a lost translation of the Gospel of John into Old English by the Venerable Bede, which he is said to have completed shortly before his death around the year 735. An Old High German version of the gospel of Matthew dates to 748. The translation into Old Church Slavonic by Cyril and Methodius dates to the late 9th century though whether Cyril had to invent the Glagolitic alphabet for the purpose remains controversial.
Alfred the Great had a number of passages of the Bible circulated in the vernacular about 900. These included passages from the Ten Commandments and the Pentateuch, which he prefixed to a code of laws he promulgated around this time. In approximately 990, a full and freestanding version of the four Gospels in idiomatic Old English appeared, in the West Saxon dialect; these are called the Wessex Gospels.

Throughout the Middle Ages, Bible stories were always known in the vernacular through prose and poetic adaptations, usually greatly shortened and freely reworked, especially to include typological comparisons between Old and New Testaments. Some parts of the Bible stories were paraphrased in verse by Anglo-Saxon poets, e.g. Genesis and Exodus. Among the most popular compilations were the many varying versions of the Bible moralisée, Biblia pauperum and Speculum Humanae Salvationis. These were increasingly in the vernacular, and often illustrated. 15th century blockbook versions could be relatively cheap, and appear in the prosperous Netherlands to have included among their target market parish priests who would use them for instruction.

Historians also used the Bible as a source and some of their works were later translated into a vernacular language: for example Peter Comestor's popular commentaries were added to a complete French translation, the Bible Historiale, in 1294--initially only portions of the biblical texts, but later copies increasing added more until the whole Bible was included. Bibles were sometimes also translated for personal use, but never for mass instruction of people who did not know Latin. In 1079, Duke Vratislaus II of Bohemia asked Pope Gregory VII for permission to use Old Church Slavonic translations of the liturgy, to which Gregory did not consent.

Innocent III and vernacular translations

In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries demand for vernacular translations came from groups outside the Roman Catholic Church such as the Waldensians, Paterines, and Cathars. This was probably related to the increased urbanization of the twelfth-century, as well as increased literacy among educated urban populations.

A well-known group of letters from Pope Innocent III to the diocese of Metz, where the Waldensians were active, is sometimes taken as evidence that Bible translations were forbidden by the church, especially since Innocent's first letter was later incorporated into canon law.

Margaret Deanesly's study of this matter in 1920 was influential and her conclusions were taken for granted by later historians, but Leonard Boyle disagreed with her interpretation. Boyle showed that Innocent was not particularly concerned with the translations, but rather with their use by unauthorized and uneducated preachers. "There is not in fact the slightest hint that Innocent ever spoke in any way, hypothetically or not, of suppressing the translations." The thirteenth-century chronicler Alberic of Trois Fontaines does say that translations were burned in Metz in 1200, and Deanesly understood this to mean it was ordered by Innocent in his letters from the previous year, but Boyle pointed out that nowhere in the letters did Innocent actually prohibit the translations.

Later translations

thumb|left|Typical Gothic pen flourishes in an unillustrated working copy of the Gospel of John in English (starts at initial), translated by John Wycliffe, late 14th century. This copy contained selections only.
As the Cambridge History of the Bible says, translations were relatively rare because "the vernacular appeared simply and totally inadequate. Its use, it would seem, could end only in a complete enfeeblement of meaning and a general abasement of values. Not until a vernacular is seen to possess relevance and resources, and, above all, has acquired a significant cultural prestige, can we look for acceptable and successful translation." The cost of producing such a large work in manuscript was also a factor; the three copies of the Vulgate produced in 7th century Northumbria, of which the Codex Amiatinus is the only survivor, are estimated to have required the skins of 1,600 calves.

In the thirteenth century vernacular languages began to gain this prestige. Pope Gregory IX prohibited translations in 1229 at a synod in Toulouse, and Innocent III's letter was incorporated into Gregory's Decretals. Nevertheless, the Waldensians continued to preach using their own translations, spreading into Spain and Italy, as well as the Holy Roman Empire, where other religious communities also began to produce translations. Deanesly thought that Bible translations were easier to produce in Germany, where the decentralized nature of the Empire allowed for greater religious freedom. However, these translations were seized and burned by inquisitors whenever they were found. Altogether there are 13 medieval German translations before the Luther Bible.

The first French translation dates from the thirteenth century, as does the first Catalan Bible, and the Spanish Biblia Alfonsina. The first translation of the whole Bible into Czech, based on the Latin Vulgate, was done in 1360. Some fragments of the Bible were probably translated into Lithuanian when that country was converted to Christianity in the 14th century. The most notable Middle English Bible translation, Wyclif's Bible (1383), based on the Vulgate, was banned by the Oxford Synod of 1407-08, and was associated with the movement of the Lollards, often accused of heresy. A Hungarian Hussite Bible appeared in the mid 15th century (only fragments remain), and the Malermi Bible was an Italian translation printed in 1471. In 1478, there was a Catalan translation in the dialect of Valencia. The Welsh Bible and the Alba Bible, a Jewish translation into Castilian, date from the 15th century.