In Search of...

William Tyndale

Hamburg, Wittenberg, Worms, Antwerp, Vilvorde ----

THE ENGLISH BIBLE was virtually born in exile, in the heart of continental Europe! One very important translation of this Book of Books into the English language did not take place on Shakespeare's 'sceptered isle', but elsewhere surrounded by those who spoke other languages.

But why did the real birth of the English Bible turn out to be a pan European effort? The answer lies in the fact that the man responsible for 80 to 90 percent of the revered King James (Authorised) Version was forced to cross the English Channel in order to continue his work of translating the Bible into English from the original Greek and Hebrew languages.

That man's name is William Tyndale. But why did Tyndale leave his homeland? What happened to him in Europe? Where did he go and how did he accomplish so much in just 12 years?

A Voyage of Discovery

To help answer these questions I embarked upon a brief odyssey in the steps of William Tyndale on the European continent. And on my quest for understanding, I discovered some interesting sidelights to the story of the English Bible.

But before beginning the journey, it is best to first consider the place of departure. The England Tyndale left was not the place we know today. Although we normally think of Britain as a bastion of democratic ideals, in 1524 Tyndale was forced to travel to the Continent to complete his work.

Tyndale's mission was to translate and print the Bible into common English. Yet Bishop Tunstall had quite simply refused him permission to do so. Continuing the very work which has given so much to English language and culture would have made him a criminal in his own country.

Centuries later, many of us possess a Bible that in its language is largely an inheritance from William Tyndale. Six out of ten English households have a Bible, and according to the Bible society the most popular by far is the King James Version. This in spite of so many accurate modern translations in up-to-date English.

So I set about finding out more of the story. First of all I asked myself this question: why would Tyndale go to Hamburg as his port of entry? I discovered the most logical answer stems from a long Hamburgian historical reputation as the most democratic and tolerant city in Europe. Tyndale left behind authorities intolerant of his work. He naturally would have looked for a place where these problems would not be so easily repeated.

Local literature attests to Hamburg's 'far-sightedness and openness to the world' coupled with its 'traditional tolerance'. Also its 'religious tolerance'¹ traceable back to the early 16th century ---- the general time of William Tyndale and the Protestant Reformation.

The 'Luther Connection'

Evidence indicates the next stop for Tyndale (and certainty myself) was Wittenberg. Here Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the church door. Again why would William Tyndale travel to Wittenberg and spend almost a whole year there? The most logical answer is Luther. He had preceded Tyndale by translating the Bible from the original languages into German. Both translators used Erasmus' Greek Testament. The Englishman clearly wanted some advice, and no doubt, sympathy and inspiration.

This probable collaboration seems to have borne fruit in the translation too. Careful comparison of Tyndale's and Luther's Bible clearly shows that the latter had considerable influence on the former. Take for example, the Greek word psuchikos. 'Luther wrote naturlich, and Tyndale natural. The phrase natural man has become a standard theological term, but it stems from Luther through Tyndale.' ²

Tyndale's Adventures in Cologne

In August or perhaps early autumn of 1525, Tyndale moved on to Cologne where he found lodgings perhaps in the shadow of the great Catholic Cathedral. It was here he began to print his New Testament. There was a profound difference, however, between Tyndale's journey and mine. The Germany Tyndale moved about in was not the unified state of today. Nor were human rights guaranteed.

Tyndale was constantly aware of the real possibility of British authorities provoking their continental counterparts into harassment and even persecution. Travelling was in part a security measure.

Indeed, the authorities soon raided the printer's building in Cologne. Tyndale received word just in time. It was a pattern repeated throughout his life. Until the end he was always one brief step ahead of those who sought to stop his work.

In the event, he escaped with some of the printed pages to Worms, a city in which Luther's reformation was apparently received with more tolerance. (Worms was in personality a southern Hamburg ---- a place of refuge for the beleaguered Tyndale.

In Worms Tyndale worked on what became known as his 'Worms edition' ---- his first complete New Testament published in 1526. In 1994 the British Library paid 1 million Sterling for the only surviving complete copy. One other survives at St Paul's Cathedral in London with 71 leaves (pages) missing. ³

At this point in Tyndale's story, the scene shifts to what is now Belgium. His main translation work of the Pentateuch ---- (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) was apparently accomplished in Antwerp. At that time Antwerp was in the infancy of its glory days as the first city in Europe and the center of European civilization, a golden age that unfortunately ended with the Inquisition. But that was a century after Tyndale's time.

As Tyndale grappled with the Hebrew language, he again found himself in an environment where his work could flourish.

Shipwrecked En Route to Hamburg

In 1529 William Tyndale determined to set sail for Hamburg with his translation of the first five books of the Bible in his possession. But like the apostle Paul so many centuries before him, Tyndale was shipwrecked somewhere en route. In a horrible twist of events, the precious English Pentateuch perished somewhere in the deep waters off Holland's coast. Hundreds, if not thousands, of hours work were lost. It must have been one of the most deeply dispiriting experiences of his life.

William Tyndale in England 1494 Born near the Welsh border in Gloucestershire (or 1495) 1512 Bachelor of Arts (Oxford) 1515 Master of Arts (Oxford) 1515 Possibly moved to Cambridge 1518 Richard Croke, who had occupied the Chair of Greek at Leipzig, returned to Cambridge and began to give lectures on Greek. Tyndale's competence in the Greek language may well owe much to Croke's lectures at Cambridge, although excellent Greek was also taught by Grocyn at Oxford from the turn of the century. 1521 Probable date for ordination to the priesthood 1522 Tyndale moved to Gloucestershire entering the household of Sir John Walsh. There he translated Erasmus's The Christian Soldiers Handbook (1502) from Latin into English. 1522 His preaching resulted in Tyndale's being summoned before the Chancellor of Gloucestershire (William of Malvern) to answer a charge of heresy which was not sustained. 1523 Tyndale moved to London and dwelt in the house of Humphrey Monmouth, a wealthy cloth merchant, for six months. 1524 During this period Tyndale 'understood... that at the last not only that there was no room in my Lord of London's Palace to translate the New Testament, but also there was no place to do it in all of England, as experience does now openly declare (Preface to Translation of Pentateuch, 1530). ****** 1524-1536 Experiences and travels on the European continent

But William Tyndale was resilient, resourceful and persistent. He 'retranslated' the Pentateuch in the home of Margaret Von Emmerson, perhaps with competent help of Miles Coverdale.

This particular incident demonstrates the simple commitment of Tyndale the man.

As The Cambridge History of the Bible expresses it: 'England was fortunate to have in William Tyndale a man who could do what was wanted, a man of sufficient scholarship to work from Hebrew and Greek, with genius to fashion a fitting English idiom and faith, and courage to persist whatever it cost him.' ⁴ Perhaps his faith and courage were the most decisive factors.

Sometime between 1534 and his martyrdom, Tyndale translated Joshua, Judges, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings and 1 and 2 Chronicles. The manuscripts of these unpublished works were given to his friend John Rogers who incorporated them into Matthew's Bible in 1537.

But the trail of William Tyndale comes to an end at Vilvorde, about six miles from Brussels. Like his Saviour Jesus Christ, Tyndale was betrayed by a close friend and associate. It led to ill health, suffering and finally execution at age 42.

The Site of Martyrdom

In a moving culmination of my own journey, I was able to visit the approximate site of his martyrdom. Although the castle where Tyndale was imprisoned in 1535 is no more, I did visit a disused Napoleonic prison site near there. Small 7 feet by 6 feet cells with no facilities and the interior ones without windows.

To have been incarcerated here must have been horrendous beyond imagination. Yet I learned that Tyndale occupied a cell that was dug under and next to the river, which was even worse than the prison site described above.

His letter to a European nobleman recalls to mind the conclusion of the apostle Paul's second epistle to Timothy. Tyndale's letter was originally written in Latin, most likely just before the winter of 1535-1536. It lay undetected and unread in the archives of the Council of Barbant for some 300 years.

Tyndale wrote: 'I believe Right Worshipful, that you are not unaware of what may have been determined concerning me. Wherefore I beg Your Lordship, and that by the Lord Jesus Christ, that I am to remain here through the winter, you will request the commissary to have kindness to send me, from the goods of mine...a warmer cap; for I suffer greatly from cold in the head, and am afflicted by a perpetual catarrh.... But most of all I beg and beseech your clemency to be urgent with the commissary, that he will kindly permit me to have the Hebrew Bible, Hebrew grammar, and Hebrew dictionary, that I may pass the time in that study.' ⁵

Tyndale's historic words are comparable to 2 Timothy 4:13.

Trying to imagine what William Tyndale went through in his dark, damp cell in the depths of the earth sent a chill through my spine. All too few people today appreciate the efforts of those who helped produce the Bible. The same Bible most of us read in relative comfort.

William Tyndale dedicated his life (and ultimately lost it) in the service of bringing the Bible to the English-speaking peoples in their common language. On the 6th October 1536 ---- a dark day in the history of humankind ---- he was tied to the stake, strangled and burnt. Thus ended the life of the man that even today some scholars think, in his mastery of English phrasing, rhythm and style, has never been equalled as an individual translator.

This is the stuff tears are made of. Yet it is also an inspiration to us all. The Bible is a book that inspired great sacrifice and endeavor. The least we who have benefited from such efforts can do is to read it with reverence for its ultimate Author ---- and greatfully apply its teachings to our lives.

Testimonials About Tyndale 'William Tyndale's Bible translations have been the best-kept secrets in English Bible history. Many people have never heard of Tyndale: very few have [knowingly] read him. Yet no other Englishman ---- not even Shakespeare ---- has reached so many... 'Astonishment is still voiced that the dignitaries who prepared the 1611 Authorised Version for King James spoke so often with one voice ---- apparently miraculously. Of course they did: the voice (never acknowledged by them) was Tyndale' (David Daniell, Tyndale's New Testament [with modern spelling], p.vii.) 'All writers stand upon the shoulders of their predecessors, using and developing their language as it has been handed down. William Tyndale is the ghost at the bottom of the pyramid of English language and literature....' 'Tyndale's words are the bedrock of English literature, and have left their mark on subsequent writers from Shakespeare and Bynyan to Kipling and modern novelists and journalists who try to write the common language of the man in the street' (Philip Howard, The Times, 29th April 1994). 'Tyndale, working in the white heat of potential martyrdom rises at times to poetic glow, transcending the style of the original Greek...' (quoted by F.F. Bruce, The Book, and the Parchments, p.213)

Footnotes: ¹The Bild Atlas,pp. 3, 14, 27; ² G.E. Duffield, The Work of William Tyndale, Courtenary Library of Reformation Classics, p. xxii; ³ S.L. Greendale, Cambridge History of the Bible, p.141; ⁴ British Library Press Information, 26th April 1994; ⁵ F.F. Bruce, The English Bible, pp. 51, 52.

Additional Bibliography: David Danielli, Tyndale's New Testament (&) Tyndale's Old Testament (modern spelling editions with introductions)
F.F. Bruce, The Books and the Parchments
J.F. Mozley, John Foxe and His Book
Fox[e]'s Book of Martyrs (The Life and Story of the True Servant and Martyr of God, William Tyndale, pp. 176-184).

by John Ross Schroeder