The King James Bible - deserved reputation?

Many claim that the 1611 'King James Bible' is the foundation of the modern English language and a lynchpin of our culture. Some are astonished that the 50 or so clerics who spent years preparing the so called ‘authorised version for King James I’ spoke so often with one voice - apparently miraculously. Of course they did. That voice (never acknowledged by them) was that of William Tyndale. Remarkably, nearly 90% of the version's New Testament came directly from him, writing some 75 years earlier.

Tyndale as Bible translator 

William Tyndale’s Bible translations are perhaps the best kept secret in English historical scholarship. Many have heard of Tyndale but few have knowingly read him. Yet no other Englishman - including Shakespeare - has reached so many. Tyndale believed in the Protestant mantra, ‘justification by faith’. His 1534 New Testament was his greatest achievement. And as vast numbers read it and used it as the basis for other written scholarship, it's probably the most influential text in world history. English is, after all, the global lingua franca. A ravishing solo effort, this book and its author deserve proper recognition.

Start of Tyndale's St John Gospel,1525 New Testament

Tyndale translated straight from the Greek (New Testament) and later Hebrew (Old). He bypassed the Latin (Vulgate) version used by the Church for hundreds of years, and through the printed word, made these works directly accessible to hundreds of thousands of ordinary people. The medieval church tried hard to stop this, fearing, rightly, that it would lose power if bishops and priests were circumvented. Tyndale further compounded this opposition by cutting away institutional props: ‘faith hope and charity’ became ‘faith hope and love’; Church was ‘congregation’; ‘do penance’ became ‘repent’.

Tyndale was originally from Gloucestershire and went on to study at Oxford. Based in London for a while, he found it an increasingly hostile environment for religious reformers. Forced overseas in 1524, Tyndale then plied his trade of writing and translation mainly in Hamburg, Worms and, later, Antwerp. He would never see his own country again, for despite Antwerp’s reputation for tolerance, Tyndale was eventually betrayed by the English agent, Phillips. Cromwell wrote to Charles V pleading for his life but Tyndale was finally executed by the imperial authority near Brussels in October 1536.

Power of Tyndale's English

Tyndale, a phenomenal linguist, found Greek and Hebrew texts lent themselves far more readily to English than to Latin. ‘Let there be light’ shows strength and simplicity. Tyndale preferred a strong direct English phrase, and short sentences, to the Latinate pattern of circumlocution and sub-clauses. We can admire phrases of lapidary beauty - ‘Ask, and it shall be given you; seek and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened to you’. (Matt. 7). Or perhaps ‘With God all things are possible’ (Matt.19). Or some of the lovely passages from John 1: ‘In the beginning was the word’; ‘in him was life, and the life was the light of men’; ‘And the word was made flesh, and dwelt among us’. We can see here the cadence and rhythm of the wonderful English language, the language of Tyndale.

We still use his phrases all the time: Am I my brother’s keeper?; salt of the earth; sign of the times; they made light of it; eat drink and be merry; the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak; in his right mind; the scales fell from his eyes; full of good works; a law unto themselves; the powers that be; filthy lucre; the patience of Job; fight the good fight; the twinkling of an eye; gave up the ghost.

William Tyndale memorial Vilvoorde, near Brussels

The flow and power of these English words comes straight off the page. Their influence is vast. "No Tyndale, no Shakespeare", as scholar David Daniell said. Yet the anniversary of the 1611 Bible passed with barely a mention of Tyndale. Media coverage suggested that his role might rather have obstructed the prepared narrative - or in other words they simply hadn't considered him. Some of Tyndale's strong phrases were used with admiration, though never attribution. 1611 was not the date of an ‘Authorised’ or ‘King James Version’ in a way we would understand (it was never signed off by the monarch). It was accepted for centuries though its full idolatry only began 150 years later in the 1760s. And as the committee producing it often reverted to Latinate prejudices the text has a reputation it does not merit.

Precursor to the Enlightenment

Tyndale surely deserves wider recognition. The European Reformation was politically crucial in shaping the modern world of today - a sine qua non of progress in learning and its application in philosophy, law, science and medicine. Tyndale was writing 150 years before the Enlightenment, but his work was a vital stepping stone to what we now take for granted.

Thousands of copies of Tyndale’s bible were smuggled into Britain. People read them. His tolerant, modest attitude shines through all his work. Some of the Protestant reformers were as self-righteously cruel and dogmatic as the most extreme Catholic diehards. But Tyndale’s approach was more relaxed - ‘democratic’ we might say. If someone could improve on his writing, fine. Justification by faith, not works, perhaps. But what works! Tyndale was eventually burned at the stake for this heresy.

Tyndale's achievement

The 16^th century began with a debate on the worthiness of ‘rough’ English. By the 1530s Tyndale had given English its first classic prose - with its flexibility, directness, nobility and rhythmic beauty. He showed just what English could do. Given its lucidity, suppleness and expressive range, it was clearly a language which could far out-reach Latin in stature.

Supposed William Tyndale from 1620 - likelier to be John Knox 

Despite some fine recent biographies, and Ian Mortimer's brilliant, memorable keynote address to the 2015 Oxford Tyndale Society Symposium, Tyndale has largely been denied his place in the 16^th century learning revival. The achievements were his role in breaking the suffocating power of the medieval church, and as father of the modern English language. Towering feats by any standard. 

And that’s why Tyndale is so important. A revolutionary, of course, and clearly a prophet without honour in his own land. But his effect on our culture is incalculable and his final legacy is with us today. Crucially he bridges the gulf between the religious and the secular, so that people of faith and of no faith can be equally grateful to him. Some achievement.

From 1520 - 'the king's evil counsellors'

Tudor monarch King Henry VIII has rightly been portrayed as narcissistic, cruel and vindictive. A tyrant, and especially in his last 10 years, a murderous monster. Allowing for the different attitudes of different times, this is largely true. But as so often when monarchs or other heads of state are involved, many people then (understandably) and even today (less so) prefer to blame ‘evil counsellors’ for the problems. It handily absolves the perpetrators of blame for their policies or actions, and preserves any fragile belief in the legitimacy and laws of the constitution. We should always avoid it.

Servants of the state

Cardinal Wolsey and especially Thomas Cromwell have suffered in public perception over the years. Wolsey as Lord Chancellor was effectively chief minister under Henry until his fall in late 1529. He had great capacity for work and organised the machinery of the state on both a secular and religious level. An administrative and political genius, he built a team of assistants and advisers to form the core of the Tudor government. He failed in the end to procure Henry his divorce from Catherine of Aragon. This was the reason for his downfall. 

Cardinal Wolsey

Cromwell had worked on smallish scale deals, and led an embassy to Rome for some merchants in Boston, Lincolnshire. Established in London as a legal and political fixer, in 1523 he obtained a seat in the House of Commons. He soon joined Wolsey. As an Italian speaker, lawyer and politician, with a foreign banking back story, his range of skills and experience was pretty useful. But his modest and unconventional background perhaps caused him to be a late developer - he was about 40 before joining the Cardinal’s council.

By 1529 Cromwell had become Wolsey’s chief adviser and secretary. He had a prime role in the dissolution of nearly 30 small monasteries in the 1520s, raising cash for Wolsey’s new King’s School, Ipswich and Cardinal College, Oxford. This experience proved useful 10 years later. Like his boss, he worked noticeably hard across several fields - political, commercial, legal, administrative and ecclesiastical.

Fate of upstarts

Cromwell has been painted as a rapacious, unprincipled and cynical thug. But he was clearly loyal to Wolsey after his fall, rather risky in the circumstances. He was loyal to Henry, too, despite everything. From the humblest origins, this son of a violent (possibly Irish) Putney publican had as a young man travelled extensively in Europe working in various jobs, including, maybe, as a mercenary in Italy. Extremely able, he learned several languages.

Cromwell had a wide circle of friends including notably the Imperial ambassador, Eustace Chapuys. While at times he could show a filthy temper he was usually kind and encouraging to those in what was effectively a large extended family living under his roof. His wife and daughters had died of the sweating sickness in 1529. But he promoted his son Greg, who joined the nobility in 1537 after marrying Jane Seymour’s sister, Elizabeth. He trained and encouraged his nephew Richard, too, another who was to prove a useful servant of the state. Finally, Cromwell evidently kept a good table at his residence at London’s Austin Friars.

Thomas Cromwell attributed to Hans Holbein the Younger

Until the recent Mantel novels and the Schofield and MacCulloch biographies Cromwell endured a bad press. Why? One reason is religion, which in a secular age we tend to underplay. He maintained a close friendship with Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer, and his reformist sympathies were evident from the correspondence between the two. In an age when religion was so important and just as Luther’s ideas had kick started Europe’s Reformation, the nascent Protestant tide and its supporters had an active and important fan in Cromwell.

This was all done under Henry’s nose, and probably without him being fully aware. These Protestant sympathies hardly endeared him to Catholics later on. Apart from his overtures to German Lutheran princes for a prospective alliance against France and Spain, he bravely kept contacts with the sort of radical Swiss reformers Henry would have hated. Very risky.

Monastic destruction

In the last five years of his life, when he had taken on the mantle of Wolsey’s former powers in the church as ‘Vice-Gerent in Spirituals’ and Vicar General, he drove the Dissolution of the Monasteries. This act of destruction is, from a modern standpoint, unforgivable, but we might recognise that the Church largely went along with it at the time. Monastic foundations had grown rich as landlords and rights holders so among the general public they were hardly the week’s good cause. Henry wanted the money for the state - including defence, to build up the navy’s south coast port and military facilities. Here Cromwell was acting as the royal servant. In fact most of those displaced from the monasteries were given pensions or re-employed in cathedrals, a point often lost in the usual narrative of ruined abbeys and persecuted monks.    

Henry VIII attributed to Hans Holbein the Younger 

Apart from upsetting Catholics, Cromwell was an upstart without breeding. After Wolsey, the Ipswich butcher’s son, this nobody from a Putney pub was just too much. Pedigree was vital in the culture of the age and his rise attracted a deal of snobbery. In fact English history is full of ‘low born’ characters who made their mark through sheer ability. It was just not easy for aristocrats with a born to rule mentality to accept. It made him enemies. Even more so after he arranged his son Greg's marriage to Queen Jane's sister.

There were of course some real negatives with Cromwell. Apart from his role in the Dissolution, his enthusiastic procurement of Henry’s divorce from Catherine and the accompanying legislation to make the king head of the church and break England’s residual ties with Rome, via the Acts of Supremacy and Succession, damn him in some eyes. Yet it was the basis of a successful Elizabethan state. On a secular level his self-enriching and aggrandisement were legion, if typical for the period. He held scores of offices, some pretty lucrative. He also acquired land, property and eventually a title, Earl of Essex.

Lacock Abbey converted to a Tudor mansion

Cromwell fell out early on with Anne Boleyn - rather uncharacteristic of him. She made her disdain for him pretty clear. Her destruction was inspired by the king and organised by Cromwell, once Henry’s mind was made up. It seems Cromwell had no real motive here other than carrying out the king’s will.

He failed over the Anne of Cleves affair of course, despite it seeming an obvious trap to avoid. But this appeared to have been settled amicably enough when he was suddenly stripped of power at a Council meeting in June 1540. He’d angered the catholic Duke of Norfolk in his general behaviour, and in particular the closing of one Norfolk priory that was still a Howard family cemetery. Attainted, not tried in court. Henry was easily persuaded that his chief minister was a heretic. He was found guilty of this with other trumped up charges, sentenced to death and in July, beheaded.

Cromwell's legacy

Within a few months Henry regretted his killing, accusing ministers of using ‘pretexts and false accusations’ against ‘the most faithful servant I ever had’. And indeed, the list of Cromwell’s achievements is impressive. In 10 years as head of the government he streamlined Crown finances - with a huge windfall from the Dissolution. Realising its potential he used Parliament to push social and economic reforms, including action against enclosures. He promoted religious reformers and had copies of the (largely Tyndale) Great Bible sent to every parish in England. In modernising the government he mainly removed the medieval features of central administration.

Cromwell should be seen as the key figure in the Tudor revolution. He continued Wolsey’s work in building the fabric and structure of the new English state, translating royal supremacy into parliamentary terms. He also trained young Protestants like Nicholas Bacon and William Cecil to become the statesmen who later steered Elizabethan Reformation England. “That is the measure of Cromwell’s greatness, and of the way he shaped the future of these islands”, according to Diarmaid MacCulloch, “a cool, self-contained idealist - the remaker of this realm”.