Nahum Tate and Nicholas Brady
1652–1715 · England · Baroque
Nahum Tate (1652-1715) was an English poet and hymnodist who served as Poet Laureate of England from 1692 until his death. In collaboration with Nicholas Brady, an Irish clergyman and poet, Tate created the New Version of the Psalms (1696), which became one of the most influential psalm versifications in English Protestant worship. Their metrical psalms were designed to replace the older Scottish psalter and provided accessible, singable verse adaptations of the biblical psalms for congregational use. The New Version remained widely used in Anglican churches for over two centuries and significantly shaped the development of English hymnody. Tate and Brady's work represented a crucial bridge between Reformation psalm singing traditions and the emerging English hymn movement of the 18th century.