William Tyndale was an English scholar who became a leading figure in Protestant reform in the years leading up to his execution. He is well known for his translation of the Bible into English. He was influenced by the work of Desiderius Erasmus, who made the Greek New Testament available in Europe, and by Martin Luther.
KEY FACTS ABOUT WILLIAM TYNDALE
Born 1494, died October 6, 1536
The first person to translate the Bible into English
Condemned as an heretic and burned at the stake
A SHORT BIOGRAPHY
In the history of England there has been no more contentious issue that that of religion and its role in the state and the life of individuals
. From the Christianization of Britain in the 7th century until the formation of the Anglican Church by Henry VIII in 1538, the country was entirely Catholic. The struggle between Catholics and Anglicans lasted from 1538 until the restoration of the Monarchy in 1660, with the bloody Civil War hardening the lines between those who broadly accepted the traditional teaching of the Church (minus the authority of the Pope in the case of Anglicans) and those who sought deeper reform.
A key issue was access to the Scriptures by ordinary people. For historic reasons the Bible was written in Hebrew and Greek and these languages were only understood by a small educated elite, chiefly in the priesthood. So all biblical knowledge passed through the filter of the Church and dissidents became increasingly frustrated with this. With the development of Protestantism in Germany by Marin Luther at the beginning of the 16th century, pressure for direct vernacular access to the Scriptures grew.
Tyndale had been born around 1492 in Gloucestershire to a family that seem to have been at the lower end of the nobility and the upper end of the gentry. William’s brother had, for example, been knighted and the family was probably descended from a Baron.
Tyndale had attended Oxford from 1506 to 1515, graduating with a Master of Arts. Although this qualified him to go on to study theology, Tyndale was unhappy that much of that study was of the Ancients such as Aristotle and Plato rather than direct Bible study. Since the Church had taken on the task of controlling all knowledge, this study was designed to continue the propagation of ‘correct’ views in Astronomy, Natural History and so on, but Tyndale considered it inappropriate and irrelevant.
He spent 1517 to 1521 at Cambridge University, becoming a gifted linguist and fluent in in French, German, Italian, Spanish, Latin, Greek and Hebrew, as well as English.
He became private chaplain to a Sir John Walsh, but quickly found himself in trouble with the Church for pressing the supremacy of the Biblical text over Papal edicts and for wishing to make it possible for, in his words, the boy that driveth the plough, to be able to directly learn Christianity from the Bible.
In 1523 he went to London to argue his case for an English-language version of the Bible, but could find no support. So rejected, he headed for Germany where he expected to meet a warmer reception. There he immediately began to translate the New Testament into English, completing the work by 1525.
These were turbulent times and it was a year later before he was able to find a printer, in the city of Worms, a free-city adopting Lutheranism and therefore free of Catholic interference. Copies of his translation were smuggled into England where they were quickly condemned, booksellers warned not to sell them and copies publicly burned. By 1529 Tyndale had been publicly declared an heretic by no less a figure than Cardinal Wolsey, a close religious adviser to the Royal Court and instrumental in forming the Church of England a few years later. Tyndale held several other heretical views, including not praying to saints and the mortality of the soul, which must have strengthened the case against him.
Tyndale moved to Antwerp and began work on translation of the Old Testament. When he heard of Henry VIII’s intention to divorce Catherine of Aragon and marry Anne Boleyn with the support of Cardinal Wolsey, he wrote a tract – The Practyse of Prelates– condemning the King’s decision as a violation of scripture.
Not known for a calm temperament, Henry VIII was furious and attempted to have Emperor Charles V, who had jurisdiction in Antwerp, extradite Tyndale back to England for trial. The Emperor declined. However this respite was to be short-lived as a plot was developed – by whom we do not know, to ingratiate a man called Henry Phillips into Tyndale’s confidence. Phillips seems to have been in need of money for gambling debts so his motive seems clear. He was able to lure Tyndale out of his safe location and in May, 1535 he was seized by soldiers of the Emperor, imprisoned and a trial for heresy planned.
Execution of Tyndale
Tyndale had been transferred to the Castle of Vilvorde in present-day Belgium, which was the main prison for the area. Finally in August 1536 his trial began. He was found guilty and executed. The official date of his execution is October 6, 1536 but there is some dispute that it may have been some weeks earlier. He was strangled with a noose – which was actually considered an act of mercy – and then burned at the stake.
Ironically, four years later Henry VIII published versions of the Bible in English, including his Great Bible, which was to be read aloud in the newly-formed churches of the Church of England. These translations followed those of Tyndale closely. Of course the King had not forgiven Tyndale, merely done what was expedient to create the new church he needed to sanction his divorce and re-marriage.
HIS LEGACY
Tyndale’s New Testament formed the basis of numerous future translations, the most famous being the King James Version of 1611 which owes much to Tyndale for phrases it used.
Such everyday expressions as: a moment in time; in the twinkling of an eye; eat, drink and be merry; let there be light; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak; signs of the times; the powers that be, and many others widely used, were all first coined by Tyndale.
Tyndale is considered a martyr by Protestants and it was the reading of the Bible in English perhaps more than anything else that produced the multitude of Puritan sects that led to the English Civil War and the settlement of America.
SITES TO VISIT
In Vilvoorde, Belgium there is a memorial and a small museum to Tyndale.
There is a statue of Tyndale in the Victoria Embankment Gardens in London and another in Millennium Square, Bristol.
There is a stained-glass window in the chapel of Hertford College, Oxford.
There is a monument on a hill above above North Nibley, Gloucestershire, where Tyndale is reputed to have been born.
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