William Tyndale
1494 CE–1536 CE · Gloucestershire
William Tyndale (c. 1494–1536) was an English scholar, Protestant reformer, and pioneering Bible translator whose rendering of the New Testament from the original Greek into English set the foundation for the English-language Bible tradition. Educated at Oxford and Cambridge, he served as a tutor in Gloucestershire before seeking official patronage for his translation work in London; refused by Bishop Tunstall, he fled England to pursue the project in Continental exile. His 1526 New Testament, printed in Worms, was smuggled into England and immediately condemned by ecclesiastical authorities; he later completed translations of the Pentateuch and portions of the Hebrew scriptures. Arrested in Antwerp through betrayal in 1535, he was tried for heresy and executed by strangulation and burning at Vilvoorde on 6 October 1536. Scholars estimate that approximately 90 percent of his New Testament translation passed, often verbatim, into the New Testament of the King James Version of 1611, making him the single most formative voice in English Bible literature.
Did you know?
The executed translator whose words still fill the English Bible
William Tyndale printed the first English New Testament translated directly from the Greek in 1526, and was executed for heresy in 1536. His phrasing endured: much of the wording of the 1611 King James Bible follows Tyndale — one common estimate puts its New Testament at roughly 83% his — and everyday English expressions such as “the powers that be,” “the salt of the earth,” and “a law unto themselves” trace to his translation.
How we know
Tyndale's English New Testament (from the Greek) printed 1526; executed 1536; the King James Version (1611) carried over an estimated ~83% of his New Testament wording.
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GloucestershireEngland
What they did here
Tyndale was born c. 1494 in the vale of Berkeley in Gloucestershire, the precise village uncertain but traditionally associated with North Nibley or Melksham Court near Stinchcombe.
About Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire, a county in southwestern England. The Bible translator William Tyndale was born in the county (c. 1494) in the Vale of Berkeley.
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