William Tyndale (c. 1494 - 1536-09-06) was a 16th-century religious reformer and scholar who translated the Bible into the Early Modern English of his day. The Church of England had forbidden the Bible to be translated into the common tongue. Because of his translation and teachings he was branded a heretic and spent many years in hiding. He was finally betrayed and given over to the authorities. He was tried for heresy and treason and convicted. On 6 September 1536, he was killed by strangulation and then burned at the stake. Much of Tyndale's work eventually found its way to the King James Version (or Authorised Version) of the Bible, published in 1611, which, though the work of 54 independent scholars, is based primarily on Tyndale's translations.
A clergyman hopelessly entrenched in Roman Catholic dogma once taunted Tyndale with the statement, “We are better to be without God’s laws than the Pope’s”. Tyndale was infuriated by such heresies, and he replied, “I defy the Pope and all his laws. If God spare my life ere many years, I will cause the boy that drives the plow to know more of the scriptures than you!”
His last words were, "Lord, open the king of England's eyes."
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