William Tyndale

Setting: Early English Reformation with Lutheran and emerging Reformed connections.

William Tyndale was the chief formative translator of the English Bible before the Authorized Version. Educated at Oxford and associated with Cambridge reform circles, he left England when official permission for his translation could not be obtained. His New Testament appeared in 1526 and was repeatedly revised; he also translated the Pentateuch and other Old Testament portions before his arrest near Antwerp and execution in 1536.

Tyndale’s English phrasing passed through Coverdale, the Great Bible, Geneva, Bishops’, and Authorized Version traditions. His record should join linguistic skill, original-language work, doctrine, exile, printing history, and revision. It should also distinguish editions and avoid quoting a later spelling modernization as though it were the first printing.

Bibliological positions

The divine Word must be available in the common tongue and judges the church. Translation requires direct engagement with Hebrew and Greek, comparison, revision, and plain English capable of public and household use.

Qualifications and disputes

Tyndale revised his New Testament and worked within a network of printers and reformers. Not every rendering later found in the Authorized Version came directly from him, and not every book in the Matthew Bible was his translation.

The degree of direct dependence on Luther, the role of earlier English versions, and the precise authorship of some Old Testament portions require bibliographical care.

Sources

• Encyclopaedia Britannica — William Tyndale — Biographical orientation
• PRDL search — William Tyndale — Digital works catalogue

Principal works

• The New Testament (1526; revised 1534 and 1535); legacy WRK-0006; WRK+EDT; Blocked pending translation-work/edition decomposition
• The Whole Workes of W. Tyndall, Iohn Frith, and Doct. Barnes (1573); legacy WRK-0007; WRK; Ready after permanent-ID allocation and duplicate scan