William Tyndale

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William Tyndale

William Tyndale (sometimes spelled Tindall or Tyndall; ) (c. 1494 – 1536) was a 16th-century Protestant reformer and scholar who, influenced by the work of Desiderius Erasmus

Desiderius Erasmus

Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus was a Netherlands Renaissance humanist and Roman Catholic Church Christian theology. His scholarly name Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus comprises the following three elements: the Latin noun desiderium ; the Greek adjective ???s???? meaning "desired", and, in the form Erasmus, also the name of a St....
and Martin Luther

Martin Luther

Martin Luther was a Germans monk, theology, university professor, priest, father of Protestantism, and Protestant Reformers whose ideas started the Protestant Reformation and changed the course of Western culture....
, translated the Bible

Bible

The Bible is the central religious text of Judaism and Christianity. The exact Books of the Bible is dependent on the religious traditions of specific denominations....
into the Early Modern English

Early Modern English

Early Modern English is the stage of the English language used from about the end of the Middle English period to 1650. Thus, the first edition of the King James Bible and the works of William Shakespeare both belong to the late phase of Early Modern English, although the King James Bible intentionally keeps some archaisms that were not comm...
of his day. While a number of partial and complete Old English translations

Old English Bible translations

A number of Old English Bible translations were prepared in medieval England, Bible translation parts of the Bible into the Old_English .Many of these translations were in fact glosses, prepared and circulated in connection with the Latin Bible that was standard in Western Christianity at the time, for the purpose of assisting clerics whos...
had been made from the seventh century onward, and Middle English translations

Middle English Bible translations

Middle English Bible translations covers the age of Middle English - it was not a fertile time for Bible translations but saw the first major translation, Wyclif's Bible, from John Wyclif....
particularly during the 14th century, Tyndale's was the first English translation to draw directly from Hebrew and Greek texts, and the first to take advantage of the new medium of print

Printing press

A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a medium , thereby transferring an image. The mechanical systems involved were first assembled in Germany by the goldsmith Johannes Gutenberg around 1439, based on existing screw-presses used to press cloth, grapes etc., and possibly to print wood...
, which allowed for its wide distribution.

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Biography

Tyndale was born around 1494, possibly in one of the villages near Dursley

Dursley

Dursley is a market town in Gloucestershire, England. It is under the North East flank of Stinchcombe Hill , and about 6km South East of the River Severn....
, Gloucestershire

Gloucestershire

Gloucestershire is a Counties of England in South West England England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....
. Within his immediate family, the Tyndales were also known at that period as Hychyns (Hitchins), and it was as William Hychyns that Tyndale was educated at Magdalen College School, Oxford. Tyndale's family had migrated to Gloucestershire within living memory of his birth, quite probably as a result of the Wars of the Roses

Wars of the Roses

The Wars of the Roses were a series of dynastic civil wars fought in England between supporters of the Houses of House of Lancaster and House of York....
, and it is known that the family derived from Northumberland

Northumberland

Northumberland is a Counties of England in the North East England of England. The non-metropolitan counties of England of Northumberland borders Cumbria to the west, County Durham to the south and Tyne and Wear to the south east, as well as having a border with the Scottish Borders council area to the north, and nearly eighty miles of Nort...
but had more recently resided in East Anglia. Tyndale's uncle, Edward, was receiver to the lands of Lord Berkeley and it is this fact that provides evidence of the family's origin. Edward Tyndale is recorded in two genealogies as having been the brother of Sir William Tyndale, KB

Order of the Bath

The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a United Kingdom order of chivalry founded by George I of Great Britain on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the medieval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements....
, of Deane, Northumberland, and Hockwald, Norfolk

Norfolk

Norfolk is a low-lying Counties of England in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and with Suffolk to the south....
, who was knighted at the marriage of Arthur, Prince of Wales

Arthur, Prince of Wales

Arthur, Prince of Wales was the first son of King Henry VII of England and Elizabeth of York, and therefore, heir to the throne of England and Wales....
to Katherine of Aragon. Tyndale's family was therefore derived from Baron Adam de Tyndale, a tenant-in-chief

Tenant-in-chief

In Middle Ages and early modern European society a tenant-in-chief, sometimes vassal-in-chief, denotes the high nobility who held their lands as Leasehold estate directly from the monarch, as opposed to holding them from another nobleman or senior member of the clergy....
of Henry I

Henry I of England

Henry I was the fourth son of William I the Conqueror. He succeeded his elder brother William II of England as King of England in 1100 and defeated his eldest brother, Robert Curthose, to become Duke of Normandy in 1106....
(and whose family history is related in Tyndall

Tyndall

Tindale is the name of an English family taken from the land they held as tenants in chief of the Kings of England and Scotland in the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries: Tynedale, or the valley of the Tyne, in Northumberland....
).

Tyndale was admitted to the Degree of Bachelor of Arts

Bachelor of Arts

Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin language Artium Baccalaureus, is an Undergraduate education bachelor's degree awarded for either a course or a program in either the liberal arts, the sciences or both....
at Oxford University. In 1512, the same year he became a subdeacon

Subdeacon

Subdeacon is a title used in various branches of Christianity....
. He was made Master of Arts in July 1515, three months after he had been ordained into the priesthood. The MA degree allowed him to start studying theology

Theology

Theology is the study of the existence or attributes of a deity or gods, or more generally the study of religion or spirituality. It is sometimes contrasted with religious studies: theology is understood as the study of religion from an internal perspective , and religious studies as the study of religion from an external perspective....
, but the official course did not include the study of scripture. This horrified Tyndale, and he organised private groups for teaching and discussing the scriptures.

He was a gifted linguist (fluent in French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken around the world by around 80 million people as first language, by 190 million as second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired tongue, with significant speakers in 54 countries....
, Greek

Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
, Hebrew

Biblical Hebrew language

Biblical Hebrew, also called Classical Hebrew, is an archaic form of the Hebrew languages in which the Hebrew Bible and various Israelites inscriptions were written....
, German

German language

German is a West Germanic languages, thus related to and classified alongside English language and Dutch language. It is one of the world's world language and the most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union....
, Italian

Italian language

Italian is a Romance languages spoken by about 63 million people as a first language, primarily in Italy. In Switzerland, Italian is one of four Linguistic geography of Switzerlands....
, Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
, Spanish

Spanish language

Spanish or Castilian is a Romance languages that originated in northern Spain, and gradually spread in the Kingdom of Castile and evolved into the principal language of government and trade....
in addition to his native English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that originated in Anglo-Saxon England and has lingua franca status in many parts of the world as a result of the military, economic, scientific, political and cultural influence of the British Empire in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries and that of the United States from the mid 20th century onwa...
) and subsequently went to Cambridge

University of Cambridge

The University of Cambridge , located in Cambridge, England, is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation university in the Anglosphere....
(possibly studying under Erasmus

Desiderius Erasmus

Thomas Bilney

Thomas Bilney was an England martyr....
and John Frith

John Frith

For the Australian Rugby League player, see John Frith .John Frith was an England Protestant priest, writer, and martyr.Frith was an important contributor to the Christian debate on persecution and toleration in favour of the principle of Religious toleration....
at Cambridge.

Tyndale became chaplain in the house of Sir John Walsh at Little Sodbury

Little Sodbury

Little Sodbury is an England village in South Gloucestershire a little east of Chipping Sodbury.Little Sodbury Manor was the home of Sir John Walsh who employed William Tyndale as chaplain and tutor in about 1521; by tradition he began his translation of the Bible in his bedroom here....
in about 1521, and tutor to his children. His opinions involved him in controversy with his fellow clergymen, and around 1522, he was summoned before the Chancellor of the Diocese of Worcester

Anglican Diocese of Worcester

The Diocese of Worcester forms part of the Province of Canterbury in England.The diocese was founded in around 679 by Theodore of Tarsus.Covering an area of it has parishes in:...
on a charge of heresy

Heresy

Heresy is an introduced change to some system of belief, especially a religion, that conflicts with the previously established canon of that belief....
.

Soon afterwards, he determined to translate the Bible into English and was convinced that the way to God was through His word and that scripture should be available even to common people. Foxe

John Foxe

John Foxe , martyrologist, is remembered as the author of what is popularly known as Foxe's Book of Martyrs, an account of Christian martyrs throughout history but especially emphasizing the sufferings of English Protestants from the fourteenth century through the reign of Mary I of England....
describes an argument with a "learned" but "blasphemous" clergyman, who had asserted to Tyndale that, "We had better be without God's laws than the Pope's." In a swelling of emotion, Tyndale made his response: "I defy the Pope, and all his laws; and if God spares my life, I will cause the boy that drives the plow in England to know more of the Scriptures than the Pope himself!"

Tyndale left for London in 1523 to seek permission to translate the Bible into English and to request other help from the Church. In particular, he hoped for support from Bishop Cuthbert Tunstall

Cuthbert Tunstall

Cuthbert Tunstall was an England church leader, twice Bishop of Durham during the reigns of Henry VIII of England, Edward VI of England, Mary I of England and Elizabeth I of England....
, a well-known classicist whom Erasmus had praised after working with him on a Greek New Testament. However, the bishop did not regard Tyndale's scholarly credentials highly, was suspicious of his theology and, like many highly-placed churchmen, was uncomfortable with the idea of the Bible in the vernacular. The Church at this time did not deem that a new English translation of Scripture would be helpful. Tunstall told Tyndale he had no room for him in his household. Tyndale preached and studied "at his book" in London for some time, relying on the help of a cloth merchant, Humphrey Monmouth. He then left England under a pseudonym

Pseudonym

A pseudonym, , is a fictitious alternative to a person's legal name. In some cases, pseudonyms are adopted because it is part of a cultural or organizational tradition, as in the case of Religious names used by members of some religious orders and "cadre names" used by Communist party leaders such as Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin....
and landed at Hamburg

Hamburg

Hamburg is the second-largest city in Germany , and is the Largest cities of the European Union by population within city limits. The city is home to approximately 1.8 million people, while the Hamburg metropolitan area has more than 4.3 million inhabitants....
in 1524 with the work he had done so far on his translation of the New Testament. He completed his translation in 1525, with assistance from Observant friar

Franciscan

The term Franciscan is commonly used to refer to members of Catholic religious orders that follow a body of regulations known as "The rule of St....
William Roy.

In 1525, publication of his work by Peter Quentell in Cologne

Cologne

Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the German Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants....
was interrupted by anti-Lutheran influence, and it was not until 1526 that a full edition of the New Testament was produced by the printer Peter Schoeffer in Worms

Worms, Germany

Worms is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on the Rhine River. At the end of 2004, it had 85,829 inhabitants.Established by the Celts who called it Borbetomagus, Worms today remains embattled with the cities Trier and Cologne over title of "Oldest City in Germany"....
, an imperial free city then in the process of adopting Lutheranism. More copies were soon being printed in Antwerp

Antwerp

||-||-||-||}Antwerp is a city and municipality in Belgium and the capital of the Antwerp in Flanders, one of Belgium's three regions....
. The book was smuggled into England and Scotland

Scotland

conventional_long_name = ScotlandAlba|common_name= Scotland|image_flag = Flag of Scotland.svg|flag_width = 130px...
, and was condemned in October 1526 by Tunstall, who issued warnings to booksellers and had copies burned in public.

Following the publication of Tyndale's New Testament, Cardinal Wolsey

Thomas Cardinal Wolsey

Thomas Cardinal Wolsey , who was born in Ipswich, Suffolk, England, was an English statesman and a Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church.When Henry VIII became king of England in 1509, Wolsey became the King's almoner....
condemned Tyndale as a heretic and demanded his arrest.

Tyndale went into hiding, possibly for a time in Hamburg, and carried on working. He revised his New Testament and began translating the Old Testament

Old Testament

In Western Christianity, the Old Testament refers to the books that form the first of the two-part Christianity Bible Biblical canon. These works correspond to the Hebrew Bible , with some variations and additions....
and writing various treatises. In 1530, he wrote The Practyse of Prelates, opposing Henry VIII

Henry VIII of England

Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was also Lordship of Ireland and claimant to the Early Modern France. Henry was the second monarch of the House of Tudor, succeeding his father, Henry VII of England....
's divorce on the grounds that it was unscriptural and was a plot by Cardinal Wolsey to get Henry entangled in the papal courts. This resulted in the king's wrath being directed at him: he asked the emperor Charles V

Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor

Charles V was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I of Spain, of the Spanish realms from 1516 until his abdication in 1556....
to have Tyndale apprehended and returned to England.

Eventually, Tyndale was betrayed to the authorities. He was seized in Antwerp

Antwerp

||-||-||-||}Antwerp is a city and municipality in Belgium and the capital of the Antwerp in Flanders, one of Belgium's three regions....
in 1535, betrayed by Henry Phillips, and held in the castle of Vilvoorde

Vilvoorde

Brussels

Brussels , officially the Brussels Capital-Region, is the de facto capital city of the European Union and the largest urban area in Belgium....
.

He was tried on a charge of heresy in 1536 and condemned to death, despite Thomas Cromwell's intercession on his behalf. He "was strangled to death while tied at the stake, and then his dead body was burned". Foxe gives 6 October as the date of commemoration (left-hand date column), but gives no date of death (right-hand date column). The traditional date of commemoration is 6 October, but records of Tyndale's imprisonment suggest the date might have been some weeks earlier.

Tyndale's final words, spoken "at the stake with a fervent zeal, and a loud voice", were reported as "Lord! Open the King of England's eyes."

Printed works

Most well known for his translation of the Bible, Tyndale was an active writer and translator. Not only did Tyndale's works focus on the way in which religion should be carried out, but were also greatly keyed towards the political arena.

"They have ordained that no man shall look on the Scripture, until he be noselled in heathen learning eight or nine years and armed with false principles, with which he is clean shut out of the understanding of the Scripture."

In response to a critical John Bell

John Bell (Bishop of Worcester)

John Bell LL. D was Bishop of Worcester , who served during the reign of Henry VIII of England. ...
, Tyndale echoed this sentiment

"If God spare my life, ere many years I will cause a boy that driveth the plough shall know more of the Scripture than thou doest."

Year Printed	Name of Work	Place of Publication	Publisher
1525	The New Testament Translation (incomplete)	Cologne Cologne Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the German Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants....
1526*	The New Testament Translation (first full printed edition in English)	Worms
1526	A compendious introduccion, prologe or preface into the epistle of Paul to the Romans
1528	The parable of the wicked mammon	Antwerp Antwerp \|\|-\|\|-\|\|-\|\|}Antwerp is a city and municipality in Belgium and the capital of the Antwerp in Flanders, one of Belgium's three regions....
1528	The Obedience of a Christan Man (and how Christan rulers ought to govern...)	Antwerp Antwerp \|\|-\|\|-\|\|-\|\|}Antwerp is a city and municipality in Belgium and the capital of the Antwerp in Flanders, one of Belgium's three regions....	Merten de Keyser Merten de Keyser Merten de Keyser was a 16th-century French printer and publisher working manily in Antwerp, who produced the first complete French language and the first complete Coverdale Bible Bible translations as well as a number of works by English Protestant authors....
1530*	The five books of Moses [the Pentateuch] Translation (each book with individual title page)	Antwerp Antwerp \|\|-\|\|-\|\|-\|\|}Antwerp is a city and municipality in Belgium and the capital of the Antwerp in Flanders, one of Belgium's three regions....	Merten de Keyser Merten de Keyser Merten de Keyser was a 16th-century French printer and publisher working manily in Antwerp, who produced the first complete French language and the first complete Coverdale Bible Bible translations as well as a number of works by English Protestant authors....
1530	The practyse of prelates	Antwerp Antwerp \|\|-\|\|-\|\|-\|\|}Antwerp is a city and municipality in Belgium and the capital of the Antwerp in Flanders, one of Belgium's three regions....	Merten de Keyser Merten de Keyser Merten de Keyser was a 16th-century French printer and publisher working manily in Antwerp, who produced the first complete French language and the first complete Coverdale Bible Bible translations as well as a number of works by English Protestant authors....
1531	The exposition of the fyrste epistle of seynt Jhon with a prologge before it	Antwerp Antwerp \|\|-\|\|-\|\|-\|\|}Antwerp is a city and municipality in Belgium and the capital of the Antwerp in Flanders, one of Belgium's three regions....	Merten de Keyser Merten de Keyser Merten de Keyser was a 16th-century French printer and publisher working manily in Antwerp, who produced the first complete French language and the first complete Coverdale Bible Bible translations as well as a number of works by English Protestant authors....
1531?	The prophete Jonas Translation	Antwerp Antwerp \|\|-\|\|-\|\|-\|\|}Antwerp is a city and municipality in Belgium and the capital of the Antwerp in Flanders, one of Belgium's three regions....	Merten de Keyser Merten de Keyser Merten de Keyser was a 16th-century French printer and publisher working manily in Antwerp, who produced the first complete French language and the first complete Coverdale Bible Bible translations as well as a number of works by English Protestant authors....
1531	An answere vnto sir Thomas Mores dialoge
1533?	An exposicion vppon the. v. vi. vii. chapters of Mathew
1533	Enchiridion militis Christiani Translation
1534	The New Testament Translation (thoroughly revised, with a second foreword against George Joye George Joye George Joye was a 1500s Bible List of Bible translators who produced the first printed Bible translations of several books of the Old Testament into English language , as well as the first English Primer .... 's unauthorized changes in an edition of Tyndale's New Testament published earlier in the same year)	Antwerp Antwerp \|\|-\|\|-\|\|-\|\|}Antwerp is a city and municipality in Belgium and the capital of the Antwerp in Flanders, one of Belgium's three regions....	Merten de Keyser Merten de Keyser Merten de Keyser was a 16th-century French printer and publisher working manily in Antwerp, who produced the first complete French language and the first complete Coverdale Bible Bible translations as well as a number of works by English Protestant authors....
1535	The testament of master Wylliam Tracie esquier, expounded both by W. Tindall and J. Frith
1536?	A path way into the holy scripture
1537	The byble, which is all the holy scripture Translation (only in part Tyndale's)
1548?	A briefe declaration of the sacraments
1573	The whole workes of W. Tyndall, John Frith, and Doct. Barnes, edited by John Foxe
1848*	Doctrinal Treatises and Introductions to Different Portions of the Holy Scriptures
1849*	Expositions and Notes on Sundry Portions of the Holy Scriptures Together with the Practice of Prelates
1850*	An Answer to Sir Thomas More's Dialogue, The Supper of the Lord after the True Meaning of John VI. and I Cor. XI., and William Tracy's Testament Expounded
1964*	The Work of William Tyndale
1989**	Tyndale's New Testament
1992**	Tyndale's Old Testament
Forthcoming	The Independent Works of William Tyndale
*	These works were printed more than once, usually signifying a revision or reprint. However the 1525 edition was printed as an incomplete quarto and was then reprinted in 1526 as a complete octavo.
**	These works were reprints of Tyndale's earlier translations revised for modern-spelling.

Legacy

In translating the Bible, Tyndale introduced new words into the English language

English language

Jehovah
Jehovah

Jehovah, also Yehovah, is an English reading of , the most frequent form of the Tetragrammaton , the principal and personal name of God in the Hebrew Bible ....
(from a transliterated Hebrew
Hebrew language

Hebrew is a Semitic languages of the Afro-Asiatic languages. Modern Hebrew is spoken by more than seven million people in Israel and Classical Hebrew is used for prayer or study in Jews communities around the world....
construction in the Old Testament
Old Testament

In Western Christianity, the Old Testament refers to the books that form the first of the two-part Christianity Bible Biblical canon. These works correspond to the Hebrew Bible , with some variations and additions....
; composed from the Tetragrammaton
Tetragrammaton

Tetragrammaton The letters, properly read from right to left , are:|-! Hebrew !! Letter name !! Pronunciation|-valign=top| ?'...
YHWH.
Passover
Passover

Passover is a Jewish and Samaritan holy day and festival commemorating God sparing the Israelites when He killed the first born of Egypt, and is followed by the seven day Feast of the Unleavened Bread commemorating the Exodus from Ancient Egypt and the liberation of the Israelites from Judaism and slavery....
(as the name for the Jewish holiday, Pesach or Pesah),
Atonement
Atonement

The atonement is a doctrine found within both Christianity and Judaism. It describes how sin can be forgiven by God. In Judaism, Atonement is said to be the process of forgiving or pardoning a transgression....
(= at + onement), which goes beyond mere "reconciliation" to mean "to unite" or "to cover", which springs from the Hebrew kippur
Yom Kippur

Yom Kippur , also known in English as the Day of Atonement, is the most solemn and important of the Jewish holidays. Its central themes are Atonement in Judaism and Repentance in Judaism....
, the Old Testament version of kippur being the covering of doorposts with blood, or "Day of Atonement".
scapegoat
Scapegoat

The scapegoat was a goat that was driven off into the wilderness as part of the ceremonies of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, in Judaism during the times of the Temple in Jerusalem....
(the goat that bears the sins and iniquities of the people in Leviticus
Leviticus

Leviticus is third book of the Torah , the name given in Judaism to the first five books of the Hebrew Bible .Leviticus contains laws and priestly rituals, but in a wider sense is about the working out of Covenant set out in Genesis and Exodus - what is seen in the Torah as the consequences of entering into a special relationship with God...
, Chapter 16)

He also coined such familiar phrases as:

let there be light
the powers that be
my brother's keeper
the salt of the earth
a law unto themselves
filthy lucre
it came to pass
gave up the ghost
the signs of the times
the spirit is willing
live and move and have our being
fight the good fight

Some of the new words and phrases introduced by Tyndale did not sit well with the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church, using words like 'Overseer' rather than 'Bishop' and 'Elder' rather than 'Priest', and (very controversially), 'congregation' rather than 'Church' and 'love' rather than 'charity'. Tyndale contended (citing Erasmus) that the Greek New Testament did not support the traditional Roman Catholic readings.

Contention from Roman Catholics came from real or perceived errors in translation. Thomas More
Thomas More

Saint Thomas More was an English lawyer, author, and statesman who in his lifetime gained a reputation as a leading Renaissance humanist scholar, and occupied many public offices, including Lord Chancellor ....
commented that searching for errors in the Tyndale Bible was similar to searching for water in the sea, and charged Tyndale's translation of Obedience of a Christian Man with having about a thousand falsely translated errors. Bishop Cuthbert Tunstall
Cuthbert Tunstall

Cuthbert Tunstall was an England church leader, twice Bishop of Durham during the reigns of Henry VIII of England, Edward VI of England, Mary I of England and Elizabeth I of England....
of London declared that there were upwards of 2,000 errors in Tyndale's Bible. Tunstall in 1523 had denied Tyndale the permission required under the Constitutions of Oxford (1409), that were still in force, to translate the Bible into English.

In response to allegations of inaccuracies in his translation in the New Testament, Tyndale wrote that he never intentionally altered or misrepresented any of the Bible in his translation, and would never do so.

While translating, Tyndale followed Erasmus' (1522) Greek edition of the New Testament. In his Preface to his 1534 New Testament ("WT unto the Reader") he not only goes into some detail about the Greek tenses but also points out that there is often a Hebrew idiom underlying the Greek. The Tyndale Society adduces much further evidence to show that his translations were made directly from the original Hebrew and Greek sources he had at his disposal. For example, the Prolegomena in Mombert's William Tyndale's Five Books of Moses show that Tyndale's Pentateuch is a translation of the Hebrew original.

Of the first (1526) edition of Tyndale's New Testament, only three copies survive. The only complete copy is part of the Bible Collection of Württembergische Landesbibliothek
Württembergische Landesbibliothek

The W?rttembergische Landesbibliothek is a large library in Stuttgart, Germany, which traces its history back to the ducal public library of W?rttemberg, founded in 1765....
, Stuttgart. The copy of the British Library
British Library

The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. It is based in London and is one of the world's largest List of Research libraries, holding over 150 million items in all known languages and formats; books, journals, newspapers, magazines, Sound recording, patents, databases, maps, stamps, Printmaking, drawings and much mor...
is almost complete, lacking only the title page and list of contents. Another rarity of Tyndale's is the Pentateuch of which only nine remain.

Impact on the English Bible
The men who translated the Revised Standard Version
Revised Standard Version

The Revised Standard Version is an English language Bible translation of the Bible published in the mid-20th century. It traces its history all the way back to William Tyndale's New Testament translation of 1525 and the King James Version of 1611....
in the 1940s noted that Tyndale's translation inspired the great translations to follow, including the Great Bible
Great Bible

The Great Bible was the first authorized edition of the Bible in English, authorized by King Henry VIII of England to be read aloud in the church services of the Church of England....
of 1539, the Geneva Bible
Geneva Bible

The Geneva Bible is one of the earliest Bible translations of the Bible into the English language language, predating the King James translation by 51 years....
of 1560, the Bishops' Bible
Bishops' Bible

File:Bishops Bible Elizabeth I 1569.jpgThe Bishops' Bible was an English language Bible translations of the Bible produced under the authority of the established Church of England in 1568....
of 1568, the Douay-Rheims Bible of 1582–1609, and the King James Version of 1611, of which the RSV translators noted: "It [the KJV] kept felicitous phrases and apt expressions, from whatever source, which had stood the test of public usage. It owed most, especially in the New Testament, to Tyndale." Many scholars today believe that such is the case; Joan Bridgman makes the comment in the Contemporary Review that, "He [Tyndale] is the mainly unrecognised translator of the most influential book in the world. Although the Authorised King James Version is ostensibly the production of a learned committee of churchmen, it is mostly cribbed from Tyndale with some reworking of his translation."

Many of the great English versions since then have drawn inspiration from Tyndale, such as the Revised Standard Version, the New American Standard Bible
New American Standard Bible

The New American Standard Bible is an English language translation of the Bible.The New Testament was first published in 1963. The complete Bible was published in 1971....
, and the English Standard Version
English Standard Version

The is a revision of the 1971 edition of the Revised Standard Version. The first edition was published in 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers....
. Even the paraphrases like the Living Bible have been inspired by the same desire to make the Bible understandable to Tyndale's proverbial ploughboy.

George Steiner
George Steiner

Francis George Steiner , is an influential European-born United States literary critic, essayist, philosopher, novelist, Translation, and Education....
in his book on translation After Babel

After Babel

After Babel: Aspects of Language and Translation is a 1975 in literature linguistics book written by literary critic George Steiner. It was first published by Oxford University Press in the United Kingdom and deals with the "Tower of Babel problem" of multiple languages....
refers to "the influence of the genius of Tyndale, the greatest of English Bible translators..." [After Babel p.366]

Memorials
There is a memorial to Tyndale in Vilvoorde
Vilvoorde

Vilvoorde is a Belgium Municipalities in Belgium in the Flemish Region Provinces of Belgium of Flemish Brabant. The municipality comprises the city of Vilvoorde proper with its two outlying quarters of Konigslo and Houtem and the small town of Peutie....
, where he was executed. It was erected in 1913 by Friends of the Trinitarian Bible Society of London and the Belgian Bible Society. There is also a small William Tyndale Museum in the town, attached to the Protestant church.

A bronze statue by Sir Joseph Boehm
Joseph Boehm

Sir Joseph Edgar Boehm, Bart. was a sculpture, best known for the head of Victoria of the United Kingdom on coinage, and the statue of the Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington at Hyde Park Corner, born in Vienna, but educated in England....
commemorating the life and work of Tyndale was erected in Victoria Embankment Gardens on the Thames Embankment
Thames Embankment

The Thames Embankment is a major feat of 19th century civil engineering designed to reclaim marshy land next to the River Thames in central London....
, London
London

London is the capital of both England and the United Kingdom, and the most populous municipality in the European Union. An important settlement for two millennia, History of London goes back to its founding by the Roman Empire....
in 1884. It shows his right hand on an open Bible, which is itself resting on an early printing press.

The Tyndale Monument
Tyndale Monument

The Tyndale Monument is a tower built on a hill at North Nibley, Gloucestershire, England. It was built in honour of William Tyndale, a translator of the New Testament, who is believed to have been born at North Nibley....
, was erected in 1866 on a hill above his supposed birthplace, North Nibley
North Nibley

North Nibley is a village in Gloucestershire, England about 3 km northwest of Wotton-under-Edge. The village is commonly known as Nibley: the official name North Nibley distinguishes it from the village of Nibley, South Gloucestershire, just outside Yate, about 10 miles away in South Gloucestershire....
.

A number of colleges, schools and study centres have been named in his honour, including Tyndale House (Cambridge)
Tyndale House (Cambridge)

Tyndale House is an independent theological library dedicated to biblical studies in Cambridge, UK. Founded in 1944, it provides extensive bibliographical resources in support of research into the Old Testament, New Testament, and relevant historical backgrounds....
, Tyndale University College and Seminary
Tyndale University College and Seminary

Tyndale University College and Seminary is a liberal arts college and seminary located in Toronto, Ontario, Ontario, Canada.According to the Intercollegiate Studies Institute's Choosing the Right College Guide "Tyndale is now an accredited liberal arts college with a dynamic Great Books-based core curriculum called "the Shaping of the...
(Toronto), the Tyndale-Carey Graduate School affiliated to the Bible College of New Zealand
Bible College of New Zealand

Laidlaw College, formerly known as Bible College of New Zealand , is an evangelicalism Bible college in New Zealand. BCNZ offers tertiary courses in biblical studies, theology, history and pastoral studies....
, William Tyndale College
William Tyndale College

William Tyndale College, often simply Tyndale, was a nondenominational Christian college located in Farmington Hills, Michigan. Named after Protestant scholar William Tyndale, the college was founded as the Detroit Bible Institute in 1945, and became accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools in 1988....
(Farmington Hills, Michigan), and Tyndale Theological Seminary
Tyndale Theological Seminary

Tyndale Theological Seminary is a private, conservative Christian seminary and Bible college, with locations in Shreveport, Louisiana, and Fort Worth, Texas....
(Shreveport, Louisiana, and Fort Worth, Texas), as well as the independent Tyndale Theological Seminary in Badhoevedorp, near Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

An American Christian publishing house, also called Tyndale House
Tyndale House

Tyndale House is a publisher founded in 1962 by Kenneth N. Taylor, in order to publish his paraphrase of the Epistles, which he had composed while commuting to work at Moody Press in Chicago....
, was named after Tyndale.

Liturgical commemoration
By tradition Tyndale's death is commemorated on October 6. There are commemorations on this date in the church calendars of members of the Anglican Communion
Anglican Communion

The Anglican Communion is an international association of national Anglican churches. There is no single "Anglican Church" with universal juridical authority as each national or regional church has full autonomy....
, initially as one of the "days of optional devotion" in the American Book of Common Prayer (1979), and a "black-letter day" in the Church of England
Church of England

The Church of England is the State religion Christianity Ecclesia in England, the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the oldest among the communion's thirty-eight independent national and regional churches....
's Alternative Service Book. The Common Worship that came into use in the Church of England in 2000 provides a collect proper to 6 October, beginning with the words:

"Lord, give your people grace to hear and keep your word that, after the example of your servant William Tyndale, we may not only profess your gospel but also be ready to suffer and die for it, to the honour of your name; …"

See the List of Anglican Church Calendars

List of Anglican Church calendars

The Church of England uses a liturgical year that is in most respects identical to that of the Roman Catholic Church. While this is less true of the calendars contained within the Book of Common Prayer and the Alternative Service Book , it is particularly true since the Anglican Church adopted its new pattern of services and liturgies conta...
.

Tyndale is also honored in the Calendar of Saints
Calendar of Saints (Lutheran)

The Lutheran Calendar of Saints is a listing which details the primary annual festivals and events that are celebrated liturgically by the Lutheran Church....
of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is a mainline Protestantism List of Christian denominations headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Formed in 1988 by the merging of three churches and currently having about 4.70 million baptized members, it is the largest of all the Lutheranism denominations in the Religion in the United States and t...
as a translator and martyr the same day.

See also

Tyndale Bible
Tyndale Bible

The Tyndale Bible generally refers to the body of Bible translations by William Tyndale. Tyndale?s Bible is credited with being the first English translation to come directly from Hebrew and Greek texts....
Tyndale House
Tyndale House

Tyndale House is a publisher founded in 1962 by Kenneth N. Taylor, in order to publish his paraphrase of the Epistles, which he had composed while commuting to work at Moody Press in Chicago....

Further references

Adapted from J.I. Mombert, "," in Philip Schaff, Johann Jakob Herzog, et al, eds., The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1904, reprinted online by the . Additional references are available there.
David Daniell, William Tyndale, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004
William Tyndale, The New Testament, (Worms, 1526; Reprinted in original spelling and pagination by The British Library
British Library

The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. It is based in London and is one of the world's largest List of Research libraries, holding over 150 million items in all known languages and formats; books, journals, newspapers, magazines, Sound recording, patents, databases, maps, stamps, Printmaking, drawings and much mor...
, 2000 ISBN 07123-4664-3)
William Tyndale, The New Testament, (Antwerp, 1534; Reprinted in modern English spelling, complete with Prologues to the books and marginal notes, with the original Greek paragraphs, by Yale University Press, 1989 ISBN 0-300-04419-4)*Paul Arblaster, Gergely Juhász, Guido Latré (eds) Tyndale's Testament hardback ISBN 2-503-51411-1 Brepols 2002
Day, John T. "Sixteenth-Century British Nondramatic Writers" Dictionary of Literary Biography 1.132 1993 :296-311
Foxe, Acts and Monuments
Cahill, Elizabeth Kirkl "A bible for the plowboy", Commonweal 124.7: 1997
The Norton Anthology: English Literature. Ed. Julia Reidhead. New York: New York, Eighth Edition, 2006. 621.
Brian Moynahan, God's Bestseller: William Tyndale, Thomas More, and the Writing of the English Bible---A Story of Martyrdom and Betrayal St. Martin's Press, 2003
John Piper, Desiring God Ministries, "Why William Tyndale Lived and Died"
William Tyndale: A hero for the information age," The Economist, 2008 December 20, pp. 101-103. The online version corrects the name of Tyndale's Antwerp landlord as "Thomas Pointz" vice the "Henry Pointz" indicated in the print edition.

External links

, from Secrets of the Dead
a commercial film reviewed on IMDB