he, God knoweth: whiche haue sene no more Latine then that onely which they read in theyr Portesses & Missalles: (whiche yet many of them can scarsely read) excepte it bee Albertus de secretis mulierum
This was a popular medieval manual on gynecology and obstetrics attributed (incorrectly) to Albertus Magnus.
The reference is to William Linwood's collection of the constitutions of the Archbishop's of Canterbury from Stephen Langton to Lindwood's contemporary Henry Chichele.
It folowed not long after this, that there was a sitting of the byshops Chauncellour appointed
The account of Tyndale's encounter with the bishop's chancellor (Matthew Parker, who gained notoriety for ordering the exhumation of William Tracy - Parker burned Tracy's body in addition to exhuming it, which was illegal without receipt of a writ from Chancery and without the burning being managed by secular officials. Richard Tracy, William's son, petitioned the king, asking that Parker be punished for this violation of the law. Ultimately Parker was fined £100. (See John T. Day, 'William Tracy's Posthumous Legal Problems' in William Tyndale and the Law, ed. John A. R. Dick and Anne Richardson [Kirksville, MO, 1994], pp. 110-11)) is based on Tyndale's preface to the Penteteuch; see William Tyndale, Doctrinal Treatises and Introductions to Different Portions of Holy Scriptures, ed. Henry Walter, Parker Society (Cambridge, 1848), pp. 394-5. However, it is probably derived from Foxe's Gloucestershire informant , as Foxe does not seem to have consulted Tyndale's introduction before compiling the 1563 edition where this account first appears.
[Back to Top]Then when the time came of his apperaunce before the Chauncellour, hee threatned hym greuously, reuilyng and ratyng hym as though he had bene a dogge, and layd to his charge many thynges,MarginaliaTyndall could not haue his accusers brought out. whereof no accuser yet could bee brought forth (as commonly their maner is, not to bryng foorth the accuser) notwithstandyng that the Priestes of þe countrey the same tyme were there present. And thus M. Tyndall after those examinations escapyng out of their handes, departed home and returned to his maister agayne.
[Back to Top]MarginaliaOne good olde doctour amongst many nought. There dwelt not farre of a certeine Doctour that hadde bene an old Chauncellour before to a Byshop, who hadd bene of olde familiar acquayntance with M. Tyndall and also fauored hym well. Vnto whom Maister Tyndall went and opened hys mynde vpon diuers questions of the Scripture: for to hym he durst bee bold to disclose his hart.MarginaliaThe Pope Antichrist. Vnto whom the Doctour sayd: doe you not know that the Pope is very Antichrist, whom the Scripture speaketh of But beware what you say: for if you shalbe perceiued to be of that opinion, it will cost you your lyfe: and sayd moreouer, I haue bene an officer of hys, But I haue gyuen it vp and defie hym and all his workes.
[Back to Top]It was not long after, but M. Tyndall happened to be in the company of a certaine Diuine recounted for a learned man, and in commoning and disputyng with him, he droue him to that issue,MarginaliaThe blasphemie of a blynd doctor. that the said great Doctour burst out into these blasphemous wordes, and sayd:MarginaliaThe Popes law preferred before Gods lawe. wee were better to be without Gods lawe then the Popes. M. Tyndall hearyng thys, full of godly zeale and not bearyng that blasphemous saying, replyed agayne and sayd: I defie the Pope and al hys lawes: and further added that if God spared him lyfe, ere many yeares he woulde cause a boy that driueth þe plough to know more of the Scripture, then he dyd.
[Back to Top]After this þe grudge of the Priestes increasing still more and more agaynst Tyndall, they neuer ceased barkyng and ratyng at him, and layd many sore thynges to his charge, saying that he was an hereticke in Sophistry, an hereticke in Logicke, and an hereticke in Diuinitie: and sayd moreouer to hym that he bare hymselfe bolde of the Gentlemen there in that countrey: but notwithstandyng, shortly hee shoulde be otherwise talked withall. To whom M. Tyndall aunsweryng agayne thus sayd: þt he was contented they should bryng him into any countrey in all Englād, giuyng hym x. l. a yere to lyue with, and byndyng hym to no more but to teach children and to preache.
[Back to Top]To be short, M. Tyndall beyng so molested and vexed in þe countrey by the Priestes, was constrayned to leaue that countrey and to seke an other place:MarginaliaTyndall departeth from M. Welche. and so commyng to M. Welche he desired hym of his good will, that hee myght departe from hym, saying on this wise to hym: Syr I perceaue I shall not be suffered to tarye long here in this coūtrey, neither shall you be hable though you woulde, to kepe me out of the handes of the spiritualtie, and also what displeasure might grow therby to you by kepyng me, God knoweth: for the which I shoulde be right sorye. So that in fine, M. Tyndall with the good will of his master, departed andMarginaliaTyndall cōmeth to London. eftsoones came vp to London, and there preached a while, accordyng as he had done in the countrey before, and speciallye about the towne of Bristowe, and also in the sayd towne, in the common place called Saint Austins Greene
The chronology is a bit confused here; if Tyndale preached in Bristol, it was almost certainly before he left for London.
This account of Tyndale seeking the patronage of Tunstall and being comes from Tyndale's preface to the Penteteuch: see William Tyndale, Doctrinal Treartises and Introductions to Different Portions of Holy Scriptures, ed. Henry Walter, Parker Society (Cambridge, 1848), pp. 395-6.
See 1570, p. 1134; 1576, p. 970 and 1583, p. 957.
MarginaliaThe causes mouing Tyndall to translate the scripture into the Englishe tounge. Whereupon he consydering in hys mynde, and partely also conferryng with Iohn Frith, thought with him selfe no way more to conduce therunto, then if the Scripture were turned into the vulgar speache, that the poore people might also reade and see the simple playen worde of God. For fyrst he wisely castyng in hys mynde, perceyued by experience, how that it was not possible to stablyshe the lay people in any truth, except the Scripture were so playnly layed before theyr eyes in theyr mother tongue, that they myght see the processe, order, and meanyng of the texte: For els what so euer truth should be taught them, these enemies of the truth woulde quenche it agayne, eyther wt apparant reasons of sophistry, and traditions of theyr owne makyng, founded without all grounde of scripture: eyther els iugglyng with the texte, expoundyng it in such a sense as impossible it were to gather of the texte, if the right processe, order, and meanyng therof were seene.
[Back to Top]MarginaliaHyding of Scripture the cause of mischiefe. Agayne, right wel he perceyued and considered this onely or most chiefly to be the cause of all mischiefe in the Church that the Scriptures of God were hydden from the peoples eyes: For so long the abominable doynges and Idolatries maynteyned by the Pharisaicall Clergye, could not be espyed, and therfore all theyr labour was with myght and mayne to kepe it downe so that eyther it shoulde not be read at all, or if it were, they would darken the right sense with the myste of theyre sophistrye, and so entangle them whiche rebuked or despised theyr abominations, with arguments of philosophy, and with worldly similitudes, and apparant reasons of naturall wisedom: and with wrestyng the scripture vnto theyr owne purpose, contrary vnto the processe, order, and meanyng of the texte, woulde so delude them in descantyng vpon it with allegories, and amaze them, expoūding it in many senses layed before the vnlearned laye people, that thoughe thou felte in thy harte, and were sure that all were false that they sayd yet couldest not thou solue theyr subtell rydels.
[Back to Top]For these and such other considerations, thys good man was moued (and no doubt styrred vp of God) to translate the Scripture in to his mother tongue, for the publicke vtilitie and profite of ā simple vulgar people of his countrey:MarginaliaThe new testament and the fiue bookes of Moyses translated with Tyndalles prologues. fyrst, settyng in hand with the new Testament, whiche hee fyrst translated about the yeare of our Lord. 1527. After þt he tooke in hand to translate the olde Testament, finishyng the fiue bookes of Moyses, with sondry most learned and godly prologues prefixed before euery one, most worthy to be reade and read agayne of all good Christians: as the like also he dyd vpon the new Testament.
[Back to Top]He wrote also diuers other workes vnder sundrye titles among the whiche is that most worthy monument of