in London, in response to the writings of Michael Servetus and Sebastian Castellio on the Trinity. After the failure of the Spanish Armada, Valera started to write several works himself, seemingly being patronized to do so. The earliest was The Two Treatises on the Pope and on the Mass (1588), the first original Spanish work to be printed in England, in which he criticized elements of the Roman Catholic practice of the Mass as paganistic, and argued that if the Spanish could better understand the Bible they would be able to challenge the claimed authority of the Papacy. Others works included A Treatise for the Purpose of Confirming in their Christian Faith the Captives of the Barbary Pirates (1594), which reflects his evangelistic work among seamen and prisoners, although it has been suggested that the captives represent Spanish Christians and the 'Barbary Pirates' the clergy of the Roman Catholic Church. Later in his life, in 1597, Valera translated Calvin's Institutes. Most famously, however, over a twenty-year period Valera amended Reina's 1569 translation of the Bible into the Spanish vernacular and travelled to Leiden in 1602 with a printer to present the first copy to Maurice of Nassau and the States General of the Netherlands, from where it was published. In response to these various works, Valera was listed in the Index Librorum Prohibitorum and called "el hereje español" ("the Spanish heretic") par excellence. Personal life In 1564, Valera married an Englishwoman, with whom he had one daughter, Judith, who married Thomas Kingsmill, the Regius Professor of Hebrew at the University of Oxford, and had issue. Quotations "Therefore, open your eyes, O Spaniards, and forsaking those who deceive you, obey Christ and His Word which alone is firm and unchangeable for ever. Establish and found your faith on the true foundation of the Prophets and Apostles and sole Head of His Church" Introduction to Valera's translation of Calvin's Institutes, 1597 "The reason for my motivation in making this edition, was the same that motivated Casiodoro de Reina, who had been motivated by that hallowed Person, the Lord Himself. He desired to proclaim the glory of God and to make a clear service to his nation. Therefore, he began to translate the Holy Bible (into Spanish)" Introduction to the Reina-Valera Bible, 1602 See also Bible translations References Bibliography External links Text of the Reina–Valera (1602) 1530s births 1600 deaths People from the