William Tyndale's English Translation of the New Testament

The Newe Testament yet Once Agayne Corrected by Willyam Tindale. [Antwerp?: s.n.], 1536. (Prothro B-451)

The publication of Martin Luther’s German translation of the New Testament in 1522 inspired William Tyndale (c. 1494–1536) to undertake a new English translation, based on ancient Greek sources, rather than on the traditional Latin. Refused permission to do so by the Bishop of London, Tyndale fled to Germany. His English New Testament was printed in Cologne in 1525, but the edition was thoroughly suppressed. In 1530, soon after he had completed his translation of the entire Bible, Tyndale published a condemnation of King Henry VIII’s divorce and criticized the policies of the royal Chancellor, Cardinal Thomas Wolsey. Tyndale was captured in Antwerp in 1536, convicted of heresy, and executed. This rare edition of the Tyndale New Testament was published in Antwerp in the year of the translator’s death.