Background
William Tyndale was born circa 1494 in Gloucestershire.
William Tyndale was born circa 1494 in Gloucestershire.
He was educated at Oxford, where he earned a master of arts degree in 1515.
In 1534 he printed a revised edition of his New Testament, employing a dignified style which later formed the basis for the Authorized Version of the Bible in 1611.
Betrayed by a false friend, he was thrust into prison at Vilvorde, near Brussels, where he translated the first five books of the Old Testament.
He became a priest and, doubtless influenced among other things by the work of John Colet and Erasmus at Cambridge some years earlier, decided to produce an English translation of the Bible.
The work was resumed at Worms, and by April 1526 an octavo edition was being sold in London.
In November all available copies were burned at St. Paul's Cross.
Meanwhile throughout these years his work on the Old Testament had been proceeding.
In 1530 he published his translation of the Pentateuch.
As his New Testament had been pirated for various unsatisfactory editions, he published a revision in 1534, with a third, revised edition in 1535.
He was tried, condemned, and, on October 6, 1536, burned at the stake.
In the year following his death there appeared in England a new Bible with the king's approval which was said to be the work of one Thomas Matthew.
It was, however, a composite work edited by John Rogers and containing translations by him, by Miles Coverdale, and, for the greater part, by Tyndale.
This Matthew Bible was reedited by Coverdale and published in 1539.
It became known as the Great Bible.