William Tyndale

A Guest Blog by Kate Eaton

The copy of scripture read most commonly by Anne Boleyn and Kateryn Parr in Sandra Byrd’s Ladies in Waiting series, and by Sandra herself as she wrote the books, was William Tyndale’s translation. Tyndale played a central role in the English Reformation by being the first to translate the Scriptures from the original Hebrew and Greek into English and make them available to the common man. Born in Gloucester, England around 1494, Tyndale received his degrees from Oxford and was ordained a priest.

William Tyndale

Except for what has been recorded by British historian John Foxe in his ‘Book of Martyrs’, not much is known about William Tyndale as a young man. He is said to have developed a reputation at Oxford for enlightening fellow students privately as to the truth of Scriptures, which was not popular with the established Church at the time.

We know that after leaving Oxford, Tyndale spent time at Cambridge and then was hired by Sir John Walsh of Gloucestershire as a tutor for his children. One benefit of this humble occupation was the opportunity to discuss theology and philosophy with the religious scholars who regularly visited Sir Walsh’s estate. During that time, the young priest also began preaching publicly in Bristol and surrounding villages, often criticizing the more questionable practices of the Church.

[image error]

Anne Boleyn’s copy of Tyndale’s “Newe Testament.”

Early in his career as a priest, Tyndale embraced the mission of directly translating the Bible into English, but that first required the approval of a bishop. Refused permission by Bishop Tunstall in London, William Tyndale was forced to flee England and worked for a time with Martin Luther at Wittenburg, Germany.

An important early English theologian and philosopher, John Wycliffe, had already overseen the translation of the Vulgate, a fourth century Latin translation of the Bible, into English during the 14th century. Wycliffe’s early work to make the Scriptures available to the common man was to be a major influence on Tyndale. In 1526 as a young priest, Tyndale completed the first translation of the New Testament from the original Greek and Hebrew into common English language. Printed at Cologne, Germany, these New Testaments were smuggled into England over the next few years, enraging the Bishops as well as Henry VIII.

For the next ten years, Tyndale suffered deprivation, shipwreck, loss of his manuscripts, and the constant threat of arrest for heresy by order of King Henry VIII. During those years, many English men and women embraced Reform theology, thanks to the now easily-understood Scriptures, fueling a violent, chaotic era in Europe. During those terrible days, nobles and common men alike became involved in the struggle between traditional Christianity and the new Reform.

William Tyndale was able to complete a revision of his New Testament translation and also an English-language version of the first five books of the Old Testament by 1530. It was printed in large numbers, thanks to the newly-available printing press, and was smuggled into England and widely distributed by itinerant preachers. While working on further translations in Antwerp, Belgium, Tyndale was betrayed in 1535 by Henry Phillips, an Englishman. He was imprisoned for over a year, despite attempts by Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII’s Vicar General, to have him freed. In October 1536, William Tyndale was strangled and then burned at the stake for heresy near Brussels, Belgium, by order of Henry VIII. His associates Myles Coverdale and John Thomas completed his translation of the Old Testament soon after Tyndale’s death.

Ironically, although King Henry had ordered Tyndale’s death for the crime of heresy because he dared to translate the Scripture into everyman’s language, Henry later commissioned four English translations of the Bible!

After the publication of Tyndale’s translation of the Bible, the idea of the Scriptures in common language could not be denied. Both Roman Catholics and Protestants fueled the further availability of the Bible in a language even the uneducated could understand.

Three important versions followed – the Puritan’s ‘Geneva Bible’, the Anglican Bishops’ Bible and the Doway Catholic English Bible. James I of Scotland, in an attempt to bring peace among the religious factions of the day, commissioned in 1611 a new version with its roots in Tyndale’s translation. This version became known as the ‘King James Bible.’

Without the courage and perseverance of early translators of the Bible such as William Tyndale, the Scriptures might never have become available to the common people. Anne Boleyn’s velvet bound, 1534 copy of William Tyndale’s translation of the New Testament can be found today in the British Library.

Research Sources: TudorPlace.com.ar; Tyndale.org; Christian Assemblies International; Christianity Today; PBS.org