William Tyndale’s Bible translations are perhaps the best kept secret in English historical scholarship. Many have heard of Tyndale but few have knowingly read him. Yet no other Englishman - including Shakespeare - has reached so many. Tyndale was the first to translate the Bible into modern English. Why was his work so important? His 1534 New Testament, widely read itself, was a linguistic lynchpin of our culture as it was later used for much other written scholarship. In fact, as the basis for today’s global lingua franca, it’s probably the most influential text in world history.
Tyndale's background
Tyndale was born around 1494 into a middle class
family based near Dursley in rural Gloucestershire. His ancestors had originated
in Northumberland. He went on to study for several years at Oxford and in 1517,
perhaps at Cambridge, though this is less certain. His MA in 1515 allowed him to read theology, though he complained the course did not include Scripture. A phenomenal
scholar and brilliant linguist, he found the time and energy to learn French,
German, Greek, Italian, Latin and Spanish - a list later topped up with
Hebrew. As Diarmaid MacCulloch nicely puts it, "He was a gourmet of language".
In 1521 he found a job as tutor to Sir John Walsh’s
family at the manor of Little Sodbury in Gloucestershire. It’s a lovely house
in the Cotswolds, and Tyndale’s duties there wouldn’t have been especially
onerous. He preached around the area, including at Bristol Green, and irritated
some local clergymen with his reformist opinions. Summoned before John Bell, Chancellor
of the Diocese of Worcester, and other church leaders, he argued his corner and
came up with a memorable quote. A colleague asserted “We had better be without
God’s laws than the Pope’s”. Tyndale (in today’s English) replied, “I defy the
Pope and all his laws - and if God spares my life, before long I’ll ensure the
ploughboy knows more of the Scriptures than you”. Chatting riskily to a
colleague on another occasion about the papacy, he was told “The Pope is the
Antichrist, but if you say so you’ll be killed”.
Tyndale developed an argumentative streak, and perhaps
for various reasons, found his life in Gloucestershire of private study and translation too limiting. In 1523, hoping to
paint on a bigger canvas, he moved to London and asked permission from
Bishop Cuthbert Tunstall to translate the Bible into English. Averse to the idea, the Bishop excused himself by saying he had no room for Tyndale in his household. Based in London for a while, he stayed with
Humphrey Monmouth, a cloth merchant sympathetic to reformist ideas. Under
Monmouth’s patronage he lectured widely in and around the city. He spent time
writing and, presumably, translating. But he found it an increasingly hostile
environment for religious reformers. In the spring of 1524 he left London for
Hamburg, possibly travelling on to the University at Wittenberg.
Politics of bible translation
It’s important to understand why bible translation was
such a hot button issue in the 1520s. In 1517 Luther’s 95 theses kicked
off the European Reformation. Among issues it opened up was access to
biblical texts. The Church used the Latin versions of the scriptures, which few
English people, including many clergy, could understand. But allowing people to
read the texts for themselves was risky. The medieval church tried hard to stop
this, fearing it would lose power if bishops and priests were sidelined. By
controlling communications, it controlled the narrative and thus in effect the
population. Penalties were severe for anyone in unlicensed possession of English
language scripture.
Yet by the time of Tyndale’s departure many examples
of vernacular Bibles were available on the Continent. The Germans had had
several, for 50 years or so, the latest being Luther’s in 1522. There’d been
Italian, French and Czech translations since the 1470s. So ideas from
vernacular Bibles would still have circulated internationally if Tyndale hadn’t
lived. But with history, causation and agency are complex issues. Popular
media coverage does neither history nor Tyndale any favours when it simplifies the
process to distortion.
Though not formally banished, and well treated by
Monmouth and his family, there’s no doubt Tyndale felt forced overseas in 1524,
if he was to follow his mission as a translator and writer. He was then able to
ply his trade, mainly in Worms, Hamburg and, later, Antwerp. He would never see
his own country again. His was a harum
scarum existence, losing a whole manuscript on a sea journey, moving his
home and base when a printer was raided, and coping with English ‘friends’ who
wanted credit for their assistance. He completed his first New Testament in
1526, then a revised version in 1534. This was his greatest achievement, a
ravishing solo effort. He also managed most of the Old Testament by 1535. This
period also saw a running, quite vituperative correspondence between him and
Thomas More.
Betrayal
Tyndale was eventually betrayed by the English agent, Henry
Phillips, who had inveigled his way into the translator's company. He was arrested by
armed guards near his home in Antwerp, imprisoned at Vilvoorde, now a suburb of Brussels,
and questioned extensively by leading clerics from Louvain. Heresy trials in
the area at the time were in the hands of special commissioners of the Holy
Roman Empire. It took months for the law to take its course before Tyndale was
condemned and delivered to the secular authorities for punishment.
It’s still not clear why the imperial authorities should have singled him out for special treatment, but the Phillips papers have not yet been properly scrutinised, let alone edited. Obviously they might throw some light on the subject. Some believe London’s Bishop Stokesley was driving things, but other figures such as Thomas More have also been suggested. We just don’t know. Tyndale believed in the Protestant mantra, ‘justification by faith’. He was technically prosecuted for heresy, but his translations were surely the real reason. The move was unusual as it undermined Antwerp’s progressive business culture, and its reputation for tolerance. Thomas Cromwell in fact wrote to Charles V pleading for Tyndale’s life but in October 1536 he was finally strangled and burned at the stake by the imperial authority at Vilvoorde.
The English language Bible
Within three years or so of his death every church in England had a copy of the English Great Bible, largely the work of William Tyndale. Some are astonished that the 50 or so clerics who spent years preparing 1611’s so called ‘authorised version for King James I’ spoke so often with one voice - apparently miraculously. Of course they did. That voice (never acknowledged by them) was that of William Tyndale. Remarkably, nearly 90% of the 1611 New Testament came directly from him, writing some 75 years earlier. His 1534 New Testament, of which only two copies survive, was his crowning achievement. A real challenge to the stultifying power of the medieval church, and the foundation of the modern English language. The book and its author deserve proper recognition.
Tyndale translated straight from the Greek (New
Testament) and later Hebrew (Old). He bypassed the Latin (Vulgate) version used
by the Church for hundreds of years, and through the printed word, made these
works directly accessible to hundreds of thousands of ordinary people. The Church
of course tried hard to stop this. Tyndale further compounded this opposition
by cutting away institutional props: ‘faith hope and charity’ became ‘faith
hope and love’; Church was ‘congregation’; ‘do penance’ became ‘repent’.
Tyndale found Greek and Hebrew texts lent themselves
far more readily to English than to Latin. ‘Let there be light’ shows strength
and simplicity. Tyndale preferred a strong direct English phrase, and short
sentences, to the Latinate pattern of circumlocution and sub-clauses. We can
admire phrases of lapidary beauty - ‘Ask, and it shall be given you; seek and
ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened to you’. (Matt. 7). Or perhaps
‘With God all things are possible’ (Matt. 19). Or some of the lovely passages
from John 1: ‘In the beginning was the word’; ‘in him was life, and the life
was the light of men’; ‘And the word was made flesh, and dwelt among us’. We
can see here the cadence and rhythm of the wonderful English language, the
language of Tyndale.
Tyndale's phrases today
We still use his phrases all the time: Am I my
brother’s keeper?; salt of the earth; sign of the times; they made light of it;
eat drink and be merry; the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak; in his
right mind; the scales fell from his eyes; full of good works; a law unto
themselves; the powers that be; filthy lucre; the patience of Job; fight the
good fight; the twinkling of an eye; gave up the ghost. The flow and power of
these English words comes straight off the page. Their influence is vast. ‘No
Tyndale, no Shakespeare’, as scholar David Daniell said.
Yet the 400th anniversary of the 1611 Bible passed with
barely a mention of Tyndale. Media coverage was extensive, but astonishingly ignorant,
and it was clear those involved had simply not properly considered the role of William Tyndale, 75 years before. Some of his strong phrases were used with admiration,
though never attribution. 1611 was not the date of an ‘Authorised’ or ‘King
James Version’ in a way we would understand (it was never signed off by the
monarch). It was accepted for centuries though its full 'national treasure' status only began 150
years later in the 1760s. And as the committee producing it often reverted to Latinate
prejudices the text has a reputation it does not merit.
Tyndale's English in context
But
Tyndale surely deserves to be better and more widely appreciated. The
European Reformation was politically crucial in shaping the modern, rational
world of today - a sine qua non of progress in learning and its
application in philosophy, law, science and medicine. Tyndale was writing 150
years before the Enlightenment, but his work was a vital stepping stone to what
we now take for granted. Historian Ian Mortimer writes, “no one has done as
much to educate the English speaking people, and to make them see that what
binds them together should be given priority over what separates them, and to
encourage them to act in a godly, benevolent and peaceful manner towards their
fellow human beings…What is truly astonishing about this achievement - and has been
ever since Friday 6 October 1536 - is that he died for it”.
Thousands
of copies of Tyndale’s Bible were smuggled into Britain. People read them. And
when the books were burnt, more were printed. His tolerant, modest attitude
shines through all his work. Some of the Protestant reformers were as
self-righteously cruel and dogmatic as the most extreme Catholic diehards. But
Tyndale’s approach was more relaxed - ‘democratic’ we might say. If someone
could improve on his writing, fine. Justification by faith, not works, perhaps.
But what works!
It may seem
a strange notion from today’s standpoint. But the 16th century began
with a debate on the worthiness of ‘rough’ English for literary purposes. That’s how many scholars saw it. By
the 1530s Tyndale had given English its first classic prose - with its
flexibility, directness, nobility and rhythmic beauty. He showed just what
English could do. Given its lucidity, suppleness and expressive range, it was
clearly a language which could far out-reach Latin in stature.
Tyndale's wider achievement
Mortimer, highlighting Tyndale’s wider reach beyond that of a Protestant martyr, picks five areas where he had a direct, or significant indirect, effect on the contemporary culture: the elevation of Scripture; the sense of responsible citizenship; increased literacy; standardisation of the English language; and the primacy of the vernacular. In the 1530s, the share of a rising number of titles printed in England in English rose from 47% to 76% of publications. Clearly Tyndale can’t be credited with all of this. But Mortimer points out that without an English Bible, and with England’s male literacy rate at 10%, “you would have seen barely a fraction of the scientific, astronomical and navigational discoveries which mark England out in the latter part of the sixteenth century. The publication of Holy Scripture in English underpinned the entire publishing industry, and thus the greater part of the intellectual life of the country”.
Tyndale’s death goes beyond martyrdom, for a martyr dies for his or her own
faith. Tyndale suffered and died as part of a collective quest for
understanding and greater fellowship among men. Many were martyred for religious or ideological reasons but Tyndale stands out as his motive was to improve the lives of his fellow men and women. Mortimer concludes “The person in the street today does not have the means to appreciate
quite how much of our way of life is due to the vision of this great man”.
Tyndale has been denied his place in the 16th century
learning revival. His key achievements were his role in breaking the
suffocating power of the medieval church, and as father of the modern English
language. Towering feats by any standard. And that’s why he is so important,
and among the truly great figures of British history. A revolutionary, sure,
and clearly a prophet without honour in his own land. But his effect on our
culture is incalculable and his final legacy is with us today. Crucially he
bridges the gulf between the religious and the secular, so people of faith and
of no faith can be equally grateful to him. Some achievement.
Acknowledgments.
The best biography is by David Daniell (1994), William Tyndale: A Biography, New Haven CT and London: Yale
University Press
A shorter, more recent text is Bryan Moynahan, (2003), William Tyndale: If God Spare My Life, London
Abacus
The Daniell book is comprehensive and detailed, and it would be hard to imagine it being bettered. A good shorter and more recent book is that of Bryan Moynahan.
I had the privilege of hearing live Ian Mortimer’s 2015 keynote lecture at Oxford. It’s easily the best explanation of Tyndale’s greatness and the breadth and depth of his contribution to our civilisation. A stunning unparalleled effort involving lots of work but clear and emphatic in its treatment. Quite brilliant.
