William Tyndale Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ==Life== [[File: Portrait of William Tyndale.jpg|thumb|upright|Portrait of William Tyndale (1836)]] The Tyndale family also went by the name Hychyns (Hitchins), and it was as William Hychyns that Tyndale was enrolled at [[Magdalen Hall, Oxford]]. Tyndale's brother Edward was receiver to the lands of Lord Berkeley, as attested to in a letter by [[John Stokesley|Bishop Stokesley]] of London. {{sfn|Demaus|1886|p=21}} William Tyndale's niece Margaret Tyndale was married to Protestant martyr [[Rowland Taylor]], burnt during the [[List of Protestant martyrs of the English Reformation|Marian Persecutions]]. Tyndale may have been born around 1494{{efn|Tyndale's birth was about 1494 according to History of the Revised Version in 1881.}} in Melksham Court, [[Stinchcombe]], a village near [[Dursley]], Gloucestershire.{{sfn|Daniell|2011}} A conjecture is that Tyndale's family had moved to Gloucestershire at some point in the 15th century, probably as a result of the [[Wars of the Roses]]. The family may have originated from [[Northumberland]] via [[East Anglia]]. [[Tyndall|Tyndale]] is recorded in two Victorian genealogies<ref name=Nichol /><ref name=Burkes /> which claim he was the brother of Sir William Tyndale of Deane, Northumberland, and [[Hockwold cum Wilton|Hockwold]], [[Norfolk]], who was knighted at the marriage of [[Arthur, Prince of Wales]] to [[Catherine of Aragon]]. If this is true then Tyndale's family was thus descended from Baron Adam de Tyndale, a [[tenant-in-chief]] of [[Henry I of England|Henry I]]. ===At Oxford=== Tyndale began a Bachelor of Arts degree at Magdalen Hall (later [[Hertford College, Oxford|Hertford College]]) of Oxford University in 1506 and received his B.A. in 1512, the same year becoming a [[subdeacon]]. He was made [[Master of Arts (Oxbridge and Dublin)|Master of Arts]] in July 1515 and was held to be a man of virtuous disposition, leading an unblemished life.{{Sfn |Moynahan |2003 |p=11}} The M.A. allowed him to start studying [[theology]], but the official course did not include the systematic study of scripture. As Tyndale later complained:<ref>{{cite book |last=Tyndale |first=William |title=Expositions and Notes on Sundry Portions of the Holy Scriptures, Together with the Practice of Prelates |date=1849 |editor-first=Henry |editor-last=Walter |publisher= The [[Parker Society]] |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x1gJAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA291}}</ref> {{Blockquote |They have ordained that no man shall look on the Scripture until he is modeled 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.}} He was a gifted linguist and became fluent over the years in [[French language|French]], [[Greek language|Greek]], [[Biblical Hebrew language|Hebrew]], [[German language|German]], [[Italian language|Italian]], [[Latin]], and [[Spanish language|Spanish]], in addition to English.{{Sfn |Daniell |1994 |p=18}} Between 1517 and 1521, he went to the University of Cambridge. Erasmus had been the leading teacher of Greek there from August 1511 to January 1512, but not during Tyndale's time at the university.{{Sfn |Daniell |2001 |pp=49–50}} [[File:Cuthbert Tunstall (1474–1559), Bishop of Durham (Auckland Castle).jpg|thumb|Cuthbert Tunstall (1474–1559), Bishop of Durham]] Tyndale became chaplain at the home of Sir John Walsh at [[Little Sodbury]] in [[Gloucestershire]] and tutor to his children around 1521. His opinions proved controversial to fellow clergymen, and the next year he was summoned before John Bell, the Chancellor of the [[Anglican Diocese of Worcester|Diocese of Worcester]], although no formal charges were laid at the time.{{Sfn |Moynahan |2003 |p=28}} After the meeting with Bell and other church leaders, Tyndale, according to [[John Foxe]], had an argument with a "learned but blasphemous clergyman", who allegedly asserted: "We had better be without God's laws than the Pope's", to which Tyndale responded: "I defy the Pope and all his laws; and if God spares my life, ere many years, I will cause the boy that [[Plowboy trope|driveth the plow]] to know more of the Scriptures than thou dost!"{{sfn|Wansbrough|2017|p=126|loc = Ch.7 Tyndale}}{{sfn|Foxe|1926|loc=Ch. XII}} Tyndale left for London in 1523 to seek sponsorship and permission to translate the Bible into English. He asked to join the household of London Bishop [[Cuthbert Tunstall]], a well-known classicist who had worked with [[Erasmus]], his friend, on the second edition of his [[Novum Instrumentum omne#Second edition|Latin/Greek New Testament]]. The bishop, however, declined to extend his patronage, telling Tyndale that his household was already full with scholars.<ref>{{Citation |last=Tyndale |first=William |contribution=Preface |title=Five bokes of Moses |year=1530}}.</ref> Tyndale preached and studied "at his book" in London for some time, relying on the help of cloth merchant [[Humphrey Monmouth]]. During this time, he lectured widely, including at [[St Dunstan-in-the-West]] at [[Fleet Street]] in London. ===In Europe=== [[File: Tyndale Bible - Gospel of John.jpg|thumb|upright|left|The beginning of the [[Gospel of John]], from Tyndale's 1525 translation of the New Testament.]] Tyndale left England for continental Europe, perhaps at [[Hamburg]], in the spring of 1524, possibly traveling on to [[Wittenberg]]. There is an entry in the matriculation registers of the University of Wittenberg of the name "Guillelmus Daltici ex Anglia", and this has been taken to be a Latinisation of "William Tyndale from England".{{sfn|Samworth|2010}} He began translating the New Testament at this time, possibly in Wittenberg, completing it in 1525 with assistance from [[Franciscans|Observant Friar]] William Roy. [[File:Vertigo_Antwerpen_-1_entrance_room.jpg|thumb|upright|right|A former underground smuggler's cellar in Antwerp]] In 1525 the publication of the work by Peter Quentell in [[Cologne]] was interrupted by the impact of anti-[[Lutheranism]]. A full edition of the New Testament was produced in 1526 by printer [[Peter Schöffer the Younger]] in [[Worms, Germany|Worms]], a [[free imperial city]] then in the process of adopting Lutheranism.{{sfn|Cochlaeus|1549|p=134}} More copies were soon printed in [[Antwerp]]. It was smuggled from continental Europe into England and [[Kingdom of Scotland|Scotland]] by putting pages in between other legal books.{{citation needed|date=February 2024}} The [[Censorship of the Bible|translation was condemned]] in October 1526 by Bishop Tunstall, who issued warnings to booksellers, bought all the available copies, and had them burned in public.{{sfn|Ackroyd|1999|p=270}}<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.euppublishing.com/doi/abs/10.3366/more.2008.45.3.9|title='Them that furiously burn all truth': The Impact of Bible-Burning on William Tyndale's Understanding of his Translation Project and Identity|last=Pardue|first=Bradly C.|journal=Moreana |date=Feb 2017|issue=3 |pages=147–160 |doi=10.3366/more.2008.45.3.9 }}</ref> Marius notes that the "spectacle of the scriptures being put to the torch... provoked controversy even amongst the faithful."{{sfn|Ackroyd|1999|p=270}} [[Thomas Wolsey|Cardinal Wolsey]] condemned Tyndale as a heretic, first stated in open court in January 1529.{{Sfn |Moynahan |2003 |p=177}} From an entry in [[George Spalatin]]'s diary for 11 August 1526, Tyndale remained at Worms for about a year. It is not clear exactly when he moved to Antwerp. Here he stayed at the house of [[Thomas Poyntz (merchant)|Thomas Poyntz]]. The [[Colophon (publishing)|colophon]] to Tyndale's translation of [[Book of Genesis|Genesis]] and the title pages of several pamphlets from this time purported to have been printed by [[Hans Lufft]] at [[Marburg]], but this is a false address. Lufft, the printer of Luther's books, never had a printing press at Marburg.<ref>{{Citation |type=biography |language=de |contribution-url=https://sites.google.com/site/tyndaledeutsch/tyndale-biografie/antwerpen-hamburg-antwerpen |title=Tyndale |contribution=Antwerpen, Hamburg, Antwerpen |access-date=8 June 2013 |archive-date=17 October 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131017090230/https://sites.google.com/site/tyndaledeutsch/tyndale-biografie/antwerpen-hamburg-antwerpen |url-status=dead }}.</ref> Henry asked Emperor Charles V to have the writer apprehended and returned to England under the terms of the [[War of the League of Cognac|Treaty of Cambrai]]; however, the emperor responded that formal evidence was required before extradition.{{efn| "Henry claimed that Tyndale was spreading sedition, but the Emperor expressed his doubts and argued that he must examine the case and discover proof of the English King's assertion before delivering the wanted man." {{sfn|Bellamy|1979|p=89}} }} In 1531 he asked [[Stephen Vaughan (merchant)|Stephen Vaughan]] to persuade Tyndale to retract his heretical opinions and return to England. Vaughan tried to persuade Tyndale, and forwarded copies of his books, but this did not satisfy the king. Tyndale developed his case in ''An Answer unto Sir Thomas More's Dialogue''.{{sfn|Tyndale|1850|p=}} ====Opposition to Henry VIII's annulment==== [[File: Bust Of William Tyndale.jpg|thumb|upright|Sculpted Head of William Tyndale from [[St Dunstan-in-the-West]] Church, London]] In 1530, from exile, he wrote ''The Practice of Prelates'', opposing Henry VIII's desire to secure the [[annulment]] of his marriage to [[Catherine of Aragon]] in favour of [[Anne Boleyn]], on the grounds that it was unscriptural and that it was a plot by [[Thomas Wolsey|Cardinal Wolsey]] to get Henry entangled in the papal courts of [[Pope Clement VII]]. {{sfn|Bourgoin|1998}}{{efn|"...English kings on one side and the wicked popes and English bishops on the other. Cardinal Wolsey embodies the culmination of centuries of conspiracy, and Tyndale's hatred of Wolsey is so nearly boundless that it seems pathological."{{sfn|Marius|1999|p=388}} }} Historian Bruce Boehrer writes that for Tyndale the issue related to the perspicacity of literal scripture: "I suspect he (Tyndale) undercut the arguments of both Church and King because he found both to be based upon an objectionable premise: that the word of God should be subject to the final arbitrament of a single man."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Boehrer |first1=Bruce |title=Tyndale's "The Practyse of Prelates": Reformation Doctrine and the Royal Supremacy |journal=Renaissance and Reformation / Renaissance et Réforme |date=1986 |volume=10 |issue=3 |pages=257–276 |jstor=43444594 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43444594 |issn=0034-429X}}</ref> ====Betrayal and death==== Eventually, Tyndale was betrayed by Henry Phillips{{sfn|Edwards|1987}} to ducal authorities representing the [[Holy Roman Empire]].<ref>{{Citation |contribution=Tyndale |contribution-url=http://www.bible-researcher.com/tyndale4.html |title=Bible researcher}}</ref> He was seized in [[Antwerp]] in 1535, and held in the castle of Vilvoorde (Filford) near [[Brussels]].{{Sfn |Foxe |1570 |p=[http://www.hrionline.ac.uk/johnfoxe/main/8_1570_1228.jsp VIII.1228]}} [[File:Ioan Latomus Francf Dec Theol et Hist (BM 1871,1209.5616).jpg|thumb|Latomus]] Following the insurrections of the [[Albigensians]], the [[Lollards]], the [[Hussites]], the [[German Peasants' War]], the [[Münster rebellion|Münster Anabaptist rebellion]], etc., [[Heresy in Christianity#High Middle Ages (800–1299) and Late Middle Ages and the early Renaissance (1300–1520)|heresy]] was connected by states with [[sedition]] and possible [[regicide]]; it carried, at worst, the terrible death penalty of burning at the stake. The Church could usually protect someone accused of heresy from being charged by the [[secular arm|state]], if that person satisfied the appointed theologian Inquisitor, in a formal process, that they did not (now) hold heretical views. In Tyndale's case, he was held in prison for a year and a half: his Inquisitor, [[Latomus]] gave him the opportunity to write a book stating his views; Latomus wrote a book in response to convince him of his errors; Tyndale wrote two in reply; Latomus wrote two further books in response to Tyndale. Latomus' three books were subsequently published as one volume: in these it can be seen that the discussion on heresy revolves around the contents of three other books Tyndale had written on topics like justification by faith, free will, the denial of the soul, and so on. Latomus makes no mention of Bible translation; indeed, it seems that in prison, Tyndale was allowed to continue making translations from the Hebrew.<ref name=health>{{cite book | last =Juhász | first = Gergely |author2=Paul Arblaster | editor = Johan Leemans | title = More Than a Memory: The Discourse of Martyrdom and the Construction of Christian Identity in the History of Christianity | chapter = Can Translating the Bible Be Bad for Your Health?: William Tyndale and the Falsification of Memory | publisher = Peeters Publishers | year = 2005 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=mfZlsUVYClwC | isbn = 90-429-1688-5}}</ref> [[Thomas Cromwell]] was involved in some intercession or plans such as extradition.<ref name=Schofield>{{cite book |last1=Schofield |first1=John |title=The Rise and Fall of Thomas Cromwell: Henry VIII's Most Faithful Servant |date=2011 |publisher=The History Press |isbn=978-0-7524-7292-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x0Q7AwAAQBAJ |language=en}}</ref>{{rp|220}} [[File: Foxe's Book of Martyrs - Tyndale.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|Tyndale, before being strangled and burned at the stake in [[Vilvoorde]], cries out, "Lord, open the King of England's eyes". [[Woodcut]] from [[John Foxe|Foxe's]] ''[[Book of Martyrs]]'' (1563) which is the earliest source of the quote.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Rex |first1=Richard |title=The Religion of Henry Viii |journal=The Historical Journal |date=2014 |volume=57 |issue=1 |pages=1–32 |doi=10.1017/S0018246X13000368 |jstor=24528908 |s2cid=159664113 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24528908 |issn=0018-246X}}</ref>{{rp|32}}]] When Tyndale could not be convinced to abjure, he was handed over to the Brabantine [[secular arm]] and tried on charges of [[Lutheran]] heresy in 1536. The charges did not mention Bible translation, which was not illegal in the Netherlands.<ref name="health"/>{{rp|317,321}} He was found guilty by his own admission and condemned to be executed. Tyndale "was strangled to death{{efn|This was the custom in Flanders, a mercy. {{cite book |last1=Schofield |first1=John |title=The Rise and Fall of Thomas Cromwell: Henry VIII's Most Faithful Servant |date=2011 |publisher=The History Press |isbn=978-0-7524-7292-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x0Q7AwAAQBAJ |language=en}}{{rp|220}} }} while tied at the stake, and then his dead body was burned".{{sfn|Farris|2007|p=37}} His final words, spoken "at the stake with a fervent zeal, and a loud voice", were reported later as "Lord! Open the King of England's eyes."{{Sfn |Foxe |1570 |p=[http://www.hrionline.ac.uk/johnfoxe/main/8_1570_1229.jsp VIII. 1229]}}{{sfn|Daniell|2001|p=383}} The traditional date of commemoration is 6 October, but records of Tyndale's imprisonment suggest that the actual date of his execution was some weeks earlier.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tyndale.org/TSJ/25/arblaster.html|title=An Error of Dates?|last=Arblaster|first=Paul|year=2002|access-date=7 October 2007|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927021257/http://www.tyndale.org/TSJ/25/arblaster.html|archive-date=27 September 2007}}</ref> Foxe gives 6 October as the date of commemoration (left-hand date column), but gives no date of death (right-hand date column).{{Sfn |Foxe |1570 |p=[http://www.hrionline.ac.uk/johnfoxe/main/8_1570_1228.jsp VIII.1228]}} Biographer David Daniell states his date of death only as "one of the first days of October 1536".{{sfn|Daniell|2001|p=383}} ====Sequelae==== Within four years of Tyndale's death, a sequence of four [[Bible translations into English|English translations of the Bible]] were published in England at the king's behest, revising Tyndale's versions of the New Testament and Pentateuch with various objectionable features removed: [[Miles Coverdale]]'s, [[Matthew Bible|Thomas Matthew]]'s, [[Richard Taverner]]'s, and the [[Great Bible]].{{sfn|Hamlin|Jones|2010|p=336}} Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. 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