Scholarship
Parker's historical research was exemplified in his De antiquitate Britannieæ ecclesiae, and his editions of Asser, Matthew Paris (1571), Thomas Walsingham, and the compiler known as Matthew of Westminster (1571). De antiquitate Britannieæ ecclesiæ was probably printed at Lambeth in 1572, where the archbishop is said to have had an establishment of printers, engravers, and illuminators.
Parker gave the English people the “Bishops' Bible,” which was undertaken at his request, prepared under his supervision, and published at his expense in 1572. Much of his time and labor from 1563 to 1568 was given to this work. He had also the principal share in drawing up the Book of Common Prayer, for which his skill in ancient liturgies peculiarly fitted him. His liturgical skill was also shown in his version of the psalter. It was under his presidency that the Thirty-nine Articles were finally reviewed and subscribed by the clergy (1562).
Parker published in 1567 an old Saxon Homily on the Sacrament, by Ælfric of Saint Albans. He published A Testimonie of Antiquitie Showing the Ancient Fayth in the Church of England Touching the Sacrament of the Body and Bloude of the Lord to prove that transubstantiation was not the doctrine of the ancient English Church. Parker collaborated with his secretary John Joscelyn in his manuscript studies. He also founded the Society of Antiquaries, and was its first president.
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