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.
In the same place & time
Sages whose lives overlapped with William Tyndale’s in the same cities, drawn from their recorded journeys.
In the same tradition
The world in their lifetime
Thinkers, teachers, and rulers whose lives overlapped with William Tyndale’s — a glimpse of the wider world they lived in. Drawn purely from recorded birth and death years.
Christian world
- Pope Adrian VI· 1459 CE–1523 CE
- Desiderius Erasmus· 1466 CE–1536 CE
- Pope Paul III· 1468 CE–1549 CE
- Pope Leo X· 1475 CE–1521 CE
- Pope Paul IV· 1476 CE–1559 CE
- Pope Clement VII· 1478 CE–1534 CE
- Martin Luther· 1483 CE–1546 CE
- Huldrych Zwingli· 1484 CE–1531 CE
- Bartolomé de las Casas· 1484 CE–1566 CE
- Pope Julius III· 1487 CE–1555 CE
- Thomas Müntzer· 1489 CE–1525 CE
- Martin Bucer· 1491 CE–1551 CE
- Ignatius of Loyola· 1491 CE–1556 CE
- Menno Simons· 1496 CE–1561 CE
- Philip Melanchthon· 1497 CE–1560 CE
- Conrad Grebel· 1498 CE–1526 CE
- Pope Pius IV· 1499 CE–1565 CE
- Pope Marcellus II· 1501 CE–1555 CE
- Pope Gregory XIII· 1502 CE–1585 CE
- Pope St. Pius V· 1504 CE–1572 CE
- Heinrich Bullinger· 1504 CE–1575 CE
- Francis Xavier· 1506 CE–1552 CE
- John Calvin· 1509 CE–1564 CE
- John Knox· 1514 CE–1572 CE
Scientists
Hindu world
Luminaries & Explorers world
Jewish world
Buddhist world
Rulers world
- Sher Shah Suri· 1486 CE–1545 CE
- Huáscar· 1495 CE–1532 CE
- Henry VIII· 1491 CE–1547 CE
- Cuauhtémoc· 1495 CE–1525 CE
- Manco Inca Yupanqui· –1544 CE
- Afonso I of Kongo· –1543 CE
- Babur· 1483 CE–1530 CE
- Vasili III· 1479 CE–1533 CE
- Shah Ismail I· 1487 CE–1524 CE
- Sayri Túpac· –1561 CE
- Askia Muhammad I· –1538 CE
- Cacamatzin· 1483 CE–1520 CE
- Charles V (Holy Roman Emperor)· 1500 CE–1558 CE
- Krishnadevaraya· 1471 CE–1529 CE
Works
No works attributed in the corpus yet.