William Tyndale
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"William Tyndale" was an English scholar who became a leading figure in Protestant reform in the years leading up to his execution. He is well known for his translation of the Bible into English language/English. He was influenced by the work of Desiderius Erasmus, who made the Greek language/Greek New Testament available in Europe, and by Martin Luther.. While a Old English Bible translations/number of partial and incomplete translations had been made from the seventh century onward, the spread of Wycliffe's Bible resulted in a death sentence for any unlicensed possession of Scripture in English—even though translations in all other major European languages had been accomplished and made available. Tyndale's translation was the first English Bible to draw directly from Hebrew and Ancient Greek/Greek texts, the first English one to take advantage of the printing press, and first of the new English Bibles of the Reformation. It was taken to be a direct challenge to the hegemony of both the Roman Catholic Church and the laws of Kingdom of England/England to maintain the church's position. In 1530, Tyndale also wrote The Practyse of Prelates, opposing Henry VIII's divorce from Catherine of Aragon on the grounds that it contravened Scripture.

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My overcoat is worn out; my shirts also are worn out. And I ask to be allowed to have a lamp in the evening; it is indeed wearisome sitting alone in the dark.

To scatter Roman darkness by this lightThe loss of land and life I'll reckon slight.

If God spare my life, ere many years I will cause a boy who drives the plough to know more of the scriptures than you do.

Oh Lord, open the King of England's eyes!