TYNDALE, WILLIAM (d. 1536), translator of the Bible, was born ‘on the borders of Wales,’ probably between 1490 and 1495. Tyndale's parentage is uncertain, but John Stokesley, bishop of London [q. v.], in a letter to Cromwell dated 26 Jan. 1532–3, states that he was the brother of Edward Tyndale, who, on 18 July 1519, was appointed general receiver of the lands in Gloucestershire, Somerset, and Warwickshire of Maurice, lord Berkeley (Letters and Papers of Henry VIII, iii. No. 405, vi. No. 82). Edward Tyndale had estates at Pull Court as well as the manor of Hurst in Slimbridge, and was closely connected with the Tyndale family of Stinchcombe in Gloucestershire. William Tyndale was known by the alias of William Huchyns. All the groups of the Tyndale family in Gloucestershire were accustomed to use both surnames, and had a tradition that they first adopted that of Huchyns to escape observation on emigrating from the north in the time of the wars of York and Lancaster. William and Edward Tyndale were probably younger brothers of Richard Tyndale of Melksham Court. Foxe also mentions another of William's brothers, John Tyndale, a merchant. A different William Tyndale of North Nibley, formerly identified with the translator, was alive in 1542.
Tyndale commenced to study at Oxford at the beginning of Easter term 1510 under the name of William Hychyns. According to Foxe, he was entered at Magdalen Hall. He supplicated for admission as B.A. on 13 May 1512, and was admitted on 4 July. In February 1512–13 he acted as a determiner; he was licensed for the degree of M.A. on 26 June 1515, and was created M.A. on 2 July (Register of the University of Oxford, Oxford Hist. Soc., i. 80, 121). Foxe relates that, besides improving himself ‘in knowledge of tongues and other liberal arts,’ he devoted especial attention to theology, and ‘read privily to certain students and fellows of Magdalen College some parcel of divinity, instructing them in the knowledge and truth of the scriptures.’ From Oxford Tyndale, shortly after obtaining his master's degree, removed to Cambridge, remaining there probably till the close of 1521. Both universities at the time of Tyndale's sojourn were strongly influenced by the spirit of the new learning. At Oxford John Colet [q. v.], in his lectures on the New Testament between 1497 and 1505, broke boldly with scholastic traditions and revolutionised the method of scriptural study. Cambridge enjoyed the benefit of the teachings of Erasmus, who was admitted Lady Margaret professor of divinity in 1511, and remained in England till the autumn of 1513. It is likely that the high reputation for theology and Greek that Cambridge had acquired under him attracted Tyndale thither.
Before the commencement of 1522 Tyndale, who by this time had probably taken priest's orders, accepted the post of tutor to the children of Sir John Walsh, lord of the manor of Old Sodbury in Gloucestershire. Walsh's wife, Anne, was the daughter of Sir Robert Poyntz of Iron-Acton in Gloucestershire, and sister of Sir Francis Poyntz [q. v.] As the eldest of Sir John Walsh's sons was barely five years old, Tyndale had ample leisure, and employed it preaching in the surrounding villages and at Bristol to the crowds that assembled on College Green. He found the Gloucestershire clergy less advanced in their opinions than the scholars of the universities, and was constantly involved in strenuous theological discussions. In support of his views he translated the ‘Enchiridion Militis Christiani’ of Erasmus, perhaps from the edition of 1518, which was prefaced by a vigorous diatribe against the vices of ecclesiastics. The manuscript was probably never printed. An English translation, published by Wynkyn de Worde in 1533, has been without probability identified with Tyndale's lost work. Startled by his opinions, and annoyed by the countenance he received from Sir John Walsh, the clergy, in the absence of the bishop, Julio de' Medici (afterwards Clement VII), accused him to William of Malvern [q. v.], the chancellor of the see. Malvern summoned him before him and rated him soundly for his proceedings, but, being satisfied as to his orthodoxy, allowed him to depart ‘neither branded as a heretic, nor trammelled by any oath of abjuration.’ The persecution which he encountered from the clergy strengthened Tyndale in the belief that the church was in a state of serious decline, and he resolved to provide an antidote by translating the New Testament into the vernacular. He openly expressed his determination to one of his opponents in the emphatic words, ‘If God spare my life, ere many years I will cause a boy that driveth the plough shall know more of the scripture than thou doest.’
Tyndale's increasing sympathy with the reformers rendered Gloucestershire no longer a secure haven, and he resolved to remove to London, where he hoped for assistance from the distinguished scholar Cuthbert Tunstall [q. v.], who had been installed bishop on 22 Oct. 1522. He arrived in London about July or August 1523, with a letter of introduction from Walsh to Sir Henry Guildford
