William Tyndale (born between 1495 and 1536 in Gloucestershire, England) was

an English Protestant who made the first translation of the Bible into English, starting from the
Hebrew and Greek texts. That translation was the first to use Jehovah as the name of God,
preferred by the English Protestant reformers; it was the first Bible printed in the language
English and the first of the new English Bibles of the Protestant Reformation. It was considered a
direct challenge to the hegemony of both the Catholic Church and the laws of England that
they maintained the position of the Church. In 1530, Tyndale also wrote 'The Practyse of
Prelates opposing the annulment of Henry VIII's marriage because it contravened the
Scripts.

Reuchlin's Hebrew grammar was published in 1506. Tyndale worked in a time when the
Greek was available to the European academic community for the first time in centuries.
Erasmus of Rotterdam compiled and edited the Greek Scriptures. It was made possible by the capture of
Constantinople in 1453 at the hands of the Ottoman Turks; many Greeks escaped to
the West bringing with it the classical Greek texts that served to promote the
Renaissance.

A copy of The Obedience of a Christian Man

Tyndale fell into the hands of Henry VIII, and provided the king with the foundations to split
the Church of England from the Catholic Church (1534). In 1535, Tyndale was arrested and
imprisoned in the castle of Vilvoorde, on the outskirts of Brussels, for more than a year. In
1536, was found guilty of translating the Bible, which the Church of England at that time
did not want to, and executed by strangulation, and then his body was burned at the stake. His
The last sentence was that the eyes of the King of England be opened; this seemed to find its
compliance only two years later with the authorization of the Great Bible of Henry VIII. For
the Church of England, which was largely the work of Tyndale, was lacking sections
supplemented with translations by Miles Coverdale. The Tyndale Bible, as it is called
he/she continued to play a key role in the dissemination of the ideas of the Reformation in
the entire English-speaking world and, finally, in the British Empire.

In 1611, the 54 scholars who produced the King James Bible were inspired
significantly in Tyndale's. It is estimated that the New Testament in the King version
James proceeds with 83% of Tyndale and the Old Testament at 76%. His translated Bible
it was the first to be printed in English, and a model for later translations of the Bible to
English.

A BBC survey in 2002 ranked Tyndale 26th in the top 100.

Britons in history.
He studied at Oxford, the same university where John Wycliffe had been a little more than 120 years earlier.
years earlier. Possibly Tyndale's ideals were influenced by Wycliffe. In 1515 he
graduated as "master of arts" (bachelor's degree) from the University of Oxford and possibly his
complementary studies were completed at the University of Cambridge. After graduating, he
moved to Cambridge where he possibly met Erasmus of Rotterdam, who was
finishing his compilation of the Novum Instrumentum Omne (the New Testament in
Greek).1 Besides English as his native language, during his life Tyndale learned
francés, griego, hebreo, alemán, italiano, latn y español.

John Foxe, in his book Christian Martyrs, states that the study of this New Testament
transformed his life. Urging some priests about the importance of studying the Bible,
A priest said to him: 'It would be better to be without the law of God than without the law of the pope.' Frustrated
Tyndale replied: 'I defy the pope and all his laws; and if God permits me, one day I will do'
It is possible that the man who drives the plow in England knows more about Scripture than the pope.
same

Tyndale set out to translate the New Testament into the English of the common people. To do this, he
based on the Greek New Testament of Erasmus. Soon he realized that his project was not
possible in England at that time. In 1521, King Henry VIII had published a vigorous
treaty in which he defended the Catholic pope and attacked the Protestant Luther (only for
the question of the annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon King Henry VIII
would break with Rome in 1534, creating the new Church of England). Tyndale went to the bishop
from London, Cuthbert Tonstal, so that he would be allowed to work on the translation there.
episcopal palace. But the bishop told him that there was no room for such a thing in his palace. With
sadness Tyndale said: "I perceived that not only in the palace of the bishop of London, but in
throughout England there was no place to try to translate the Scriptures.

In 1521 he was ordained a Catholic priest, working as a tutor for the children of Sir John.
Walsh, until 1523.

Determined to carry out the translation of the Bible into English, he left England and moved to
Cologne, in the German Empire. He worked so diligently that in 1524 he presented his
manuscript of the New Testament to the printer in Cologne. In secret, they began to make the
plates to print the book. But a priest, Cochlaeus, heard a rumor that they were
for printing the New Testament. Cochlaeus warned the authorities who soon confiscated
the plates before they could print them. Tyndale collected the uncaptured plates and
He escaped to Worms and there in 1526 he managed to print 3000 copies of the New Testament.
Tyndale proceeded to send his books to England clandestinely, in boxes, barrels,
clothes packages, sacks of flour, and in as many ways as he could. In May 1526, they arrived the
first specimens to England. A few months later it was distributed in many areas.
Cochlaeus had warned the English clergy and when they realized that they were arriving the
books, they placed guards at all ports to confiscate them before they entered the country.
Many were discovered and burned in a solemn ceremony at St Paul's Cross in
London. But despite these measures, many ended up in the hands of the people. Upon seeing that it was not
they could prevent, Cuthbert Tonstal, the bishop of London, paid a merchant friend of Tyndale
to buy the rest of the books. These were destroyed but the money received for
The sales helped Tyndale continue printing. From 1527 to 1530, he was able to print.
18,000 copies. Nowadays, there is only evidence of the existence of two copies.

In the end, in May 1535, Tyndale was captured by his enemies who proceeded to imprison him.
in the castle of Vilvoorde, near Antwerp, Belgium. From there he wrote to the governor:

If I have to stay here during the winter, please do me the favor of asking the
prosecutor, if you would be so kind as to send me a list of my assets that you have in your possession,
hotter cap, because I suffer extremely and constantly from a cold, which worsens by
the conditions of this cell. Also a warmer coat, because the one I have is very
thin, also a piece of cloth to patch my leggings; my shirts are also
worn out.

On October 6, 1536, they took him out of his cell to execute him. They tied him to a stake.
First they strangled him and then burned his body.

Stage in England

In Tyndale's time, the (common) people did not have higher education, the studies
they were carried out in Latin (the language of the Church and of the Scriptures) and, regarding this last one, the
the matter was more delicate (the translation and reading of the Bible in language was prohibited
vernacular, unless there was permission from the episcopate) in accordance with the Constitutions of
Oxford.

There were precedents in the sense that, by daring to contravene this 'law', a large number
The Lollards ended up in the bonfire for reading and distributing the Bible of John Wycliffe (a version
English of the Vulgate).2

In addition, the winds that came from continental Europe (the reforming work of Luther)
they caused great unrest in the Catholic Church of England.
William Tyndale brought a letter of introduction to Bishop Tunstall (he knew that he was learned and had
supported by Erasmo). However, to his surprise, neither the cover letter nor the application
in writing for an interview, they had a response.

Tyndale was known for his criticisms against the ignorance and fanaticism of the ecclesiastics.
It was also known about a confrontation he had with a church hierarchy, he even had to
appear before the administrator of the diocese of Worcester for false accusations of
heresy. Possibly all of this led Bishop Cuthert Tunstall to refuse to receive
Tyndale.

It didn't take long for Tyndale to see the need to leave England if
he wanted to achieve his goal: 'to translate the New Testament into English. In 1521 he left the island.
to never return.

Stage in continental Europe

William Tyndale found refuge in Germany (the location is unknown, although indications point to
Hamburg). With the financial help of Monmouth, a merchant friend of his, he can afford
the printing of the Greek Scriptures, entrusting this work to Quentall, from Cologne. An enemy
called Dobneck - known by Cochlaeus - informed a friend about the matter,
King Henry VIII what Tyndale intended to do. Immediately, arrangements were made for
prohibit the printing of Quentall. Tyndale and his assistant William Roye escape to save the
life, resuming the printing work in Worms (Germany), where finally it
finalize and get the translation of the New Testament into English.

Once the entire text of the New Testament was translated and printed, he worked hard to introduce it into
England, what is obtained through smuggling goods from ships destined for
to the island. The shipments that were intercepted went straight to the bonfire (the agents
ecclesiastics were determined to prevent the entry of Tyndale's version). On February 11
In 1526, Cardinal Wolsey, accompanied by bishops and prebendaries, met near the
St. Paul's Cathedral in London, to see how books and publications were burned, among
they examples of the New Testament of Tyndale, in a clear challenge to everything that
he would oppose the Church. Tyndale made new editions of his version, which were
systematically confiscated and burned by the clergy.

Between 1526 and 1528 he went to Antwerp, staying at the home of his friend and benefactor.
Thomas Poyntz, where he was safe for a time from the intrigues of Cardinal Wolsey.
It wouldn't last long, as a certain Henry Phillips (English) managed to win Tyndale's trust and he
he betrayed in 1535 by informing the imperial power and was arrested and imprisoned in the castle of
Vilvoorde, where he was imprisoned for 16 months.

Execution of Tyndale.

It is believed that about 6000 copies of the first edition of the New were published.
Tyndale's Testament. Today, only two copies of this first edition remain.
Tyndale's translation: a complete one (although it lacks a cover) that is found in the Library
British; the other, which is missing 71 pages, is located in the library of the Cathedral of
Saint Paul (nobody knows how he got there).

The commission that judged William Tyndale was made up of three theologians from the University
Catholic University of Leuven, where the said Henry Phillips had studied.
betrayed), three Leuven canons and three bishops, in addition to other dignitaries.

He was condemned for heresy and was suspended from the Catholic priesthood. He was executed for
strangulation and then burned in public on October 6, 1536.

The New Testament of Tyndale

Tyndale Bible

The term 'Tyndale Bible' is not strictly correct, because Tyndale never published a
Complete Bible. The task was completed by Miles Coverdale, who supplemented the
Tyndale's translations with his own to produce the first complete printed Bible
into English in 1535. Before his execution, Tyndale had only finished translating the whole
New Testament and approximately half of the Old Testament. Of this last one, the
Pentateuch, Jonah, and a revised version of the book of Genesis were published during his lifetime.
His other works from the Old Testament were used for the first time in the creation of the 'Bible'.
from Mateo". And it also had a great influence on every important translation in English of the
Bible that followed.

What was special about Tyndale's version of the New Testament?

Unlike the Vulgate, Tyndale's version of the original Greek text displayed a language
accessible and clarifying in English.
He insisted on using 'congregation' and not 'church', in order to emphasize that he was referring to the 'faithful'.
and not to the 'temples'.

He translated the Greek word agape in chapter 13 of the First letter to the Corinthians as 'love'.
instead of 'charity'.

The term "priest" was also replaced by "elder" and "doing penance" by
repent

Tyndale's translation was a challenge during a time when fanaticism prevailed.

religious.

The legacy of his New Testament in English was such that it was predominant in the Bible of the
Bishops and the King James Bible.