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• 1 media/William_Tyndale.jpg 2016-03-18T16:53:00-07:00 William Tyndale 28 1494-1536 plain 2016-03-21T11:12:27-07:00

  In 1526, the year Tyndale first released his New Testament, the Reformation was thriving elsewhere in Europe, but England was still ecclesiastically tied to Rome. Lutheranism (and the Reformation in general) was viewed by the authorities with the same skepticism that Lollardy, an English religious uprising led by John Wycliffe, had received more than a century earlier. In particular, both movements pushed for a Bible that the common people could read and understand, and both movements were also condemned as heresy. 

  The Lollard movement and its threat to English religious stability had led to heresy becoming a capitol offense in 1401 and the banning of English bibles seven years later. As such, the publication of Tyndale's bible was a bold event. Since the Continent was more welcoming to Protestant ideas, Tyndale printed his New Testament in Germany—first in the Catholic stronghold of Cologne, and then, after a threat of arrest, in the Protestant city of Worms.  Nevertheless, it made its way into England, and was immensely popular. 

  As stated in the title, Tyndale's bible was "faythfully translated oute of the Greeke," but its layout, foreword, and notes were greatly influenced by Luther's German New Testament. The resulting translation has been noted for its accuracy, but also for some striking changes from the Vulgate: instead of "church," Tyndale employed "congregation"; instead of "priest," he used "senior" or "elder"; and, perhaps most meaningful, instead of "charity," he chose the word "love." These former two changes reflected a move away from the Catholic church's terminology, while the latter change reflected Tyndale's reliance on historically English words over their Latinate alternatives. Through this syntax, Tyndale encouraged the English people, as the Lollards had before him, to embrace religious reform, no matter the law of the land. As he writes in his Obedience of a Christian Man: 

   

  Let it not make thee despair neither yet discourage thee O reader, that it is forbidden thee in pain of life and goods or that it is made breaking of the King's peace or treason unto His Highness to read the word of thy soul's health. But much rather be bold in the Lord and comfort thy soul.

  
  Henry VIII, the then-Catholic king, issued a proclamation in 1529 in response to "certain heretical and blasphemous books, lately made and prively sent in to this realm,"  ordering that all such books be handed over to the local bishop within fifteen days. Although Tyndale's name is absent from this particular proclamation, it is significant that it does mention "the malicious and wicked sects of Heretics and Lollards," as the Lutherans and the Lollards had both played a part in inspiring Tyndale's work.
  
  In 1534, Henry VIII removed England from the scope of the Catholic Church, due in some part to Anne Boleyn having given him a copy of Tyndale's Obedience of a Christian Man. However, in his later years, he returned to a more conservative orthodoxy and vernacular bibles were once again forbidden. This time, however, in his proclamation of 1543, he explicitly targets Tyndale's New Testament, stating in no uncertain terms: 

  "And therefore be it enacted, ordained, and established, by our said sovereign lord the king, the lords spiritual and temporal, and the commons in this present parliament assembled and by the authority of the same, that all manner of books of the Old and New Testament in English, being of the crafty, false, and untrue translation of Tyndale [...] shall be by authority of this present act clearly and utterly abolished, extinguished, and forbidden, to be kept or used in this realm, or elsewhere in any of the king's dominions."

  This condemnation was likely as much due to Tyndale's objection to Henry's divorce as it was his English bible translation, and he was executed in 1536 for treachery under the king's orders.
  
  Nevertheless, Tyndale's bible proved to be a tremendous legacy that extended long after his death. 
   
  Sources
  Henry Wansbrough. “Tyndale.” In The Bible in the Renaissance: Essays on Biblical Commentary and Translation in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries, 116–32. St Andrews Studies in Reformation History. Aldershot, Hants, UK : Burlington, USA: Ashgate, 2001.
  
  Vincent Strudwick. “English Fears of Social Disintegration and Modes of Control, 1533-1611.” In The Bible in the Renaissance: Essays on Biblical Commentary and Translation in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries, 133–49. St Andrews Studies in Reformation History. Aldershot, Hants, UK : Burlington, USA: Ashgate, 2001.
  
  Brennan, Gillian. “Patriotism, Language and Power: English Translations of the Bible, 1520-1580.” History Workshop, no. 27 (1989): 18–36.
  
   England and Wales. Sovereign (1509-1547 : Henry VIII).A Proclamation for Resysting and Withstandyng of Most Damynable Heresyes Sowen within This Realme, by the Disciples of Luther and Other Heretykes, Peruerters of Christes Relygion.Early English Books, 1475-1640 / 25:02. [London : Robert Pynson, 1529], 1529. Note: quotes from this source have been modernized for ease of reading.
  
   Tyndale, William. The Obedience of a Christian Man. London ; Penguin Books, 2000.
  
  England. Anno Tricesimo Quarto et Quinto Henrici Octaui Actes Made in the Session of This Present Parlyament Holden Vpon Prorogation at Westm[inster], the .XXII. Day of January, in The. XXXIIII. Yere of the Reign of Our Most Drad Soueraine Lorde Henry the Eyght, [...]. Early English Books, 1475-1640 / 58:02. Imprinted at London : In Fletestrete by Thomas Berthelet printer to the kynges hyghnes, the firste day of Iune, the yere of our Lorde. M. D. XLIII [1543] Cum priuilegio ad imprimendum solum., 1543. Note: quotes from this source have been modernized for ease of reading; emphasis is mine.
  
   “Universal Short Title Catalogue.” Accessed March 18, 2016. http://ustc.ac.uk.