William Tyndale

From Philosopedia

Tyndale About to be Burned at the Stake

Tyndale, William (c. 1494 - 6 October1536)

Theists, not just atheists, were also burned as heretics. Tyndale (also, Tindal and Tindale) was the English biblical translator and a Protestant martyr.

After he translated the Scriptures into the vernacular (c. 1522), disputes with the clergy led him to move to Hamburg, where he visited Martin Luther, began printing the New Testament in Cologne, was interrupted by an injunction, had the edition completed at Worms, found the English bishops denounced and suppressed the work, and was forced to live in concealment because Cardinal Wolsey had ordered him seized in Worms. His work was suppressed in England (1526), but he continued translating the Scriptures and writing tracts which defended the English Reformation.

Tyndale became a follower of Ulrich Zwingli, irked Sir Thomas More for defending the Reformation, and by condemning the divorce of Henry VIII angered the king. In 1535 he was seized (1535) in Antwerp upon Cardinal Wolsey’s order and imprisoned at Vilvorde Castle. Tried, he was condemned for heresy, was tied to the stake, was strangled, and was then burned. His last words (supposedly) were, “Lord, open the king of England’s eyes.”

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