Editing William Tyndale (section)

== Background ==
Tyndale lived and worked during the era of [[Renaissance humanism]] and the revival of [[Biblical scholarship]], which were both aided by both the [[Global spread of the printing press|Gutenberg Revolution]] and the ensuing [[democratization of knowledge|democratisation of knowledge]]; for example, the publication of [[Johann Reuchlin]]'s Hebrew grammar in 1506. Notably, [[Novum Instrumentum omne|Erasmus compiled, edited, and published the Koine Greek scriptures]] of the [[New Testament]] in 1516. [[Luther Bible|Luther's translation of the Christian Bible into German]] appeared between 1517 and 1522.

Partial [[Old English Bible translations|Old English translations]] had been made from the 7th century onwards, and by the 14th Century contemporary vernacular translations were available in most other major [[European languages]].{{Sfn|Marshall|2017|p=117}} However the religious foment and violent rebellion of the [[Lollards]] resulted in heresy being treated as sedition under [[De heretico comburendo|English law]], which bore the [[Capital punishment in the United Kingdom#Before 1707|death penalty]].  Lollardy was associated by authorities with the possession and public readings of [[Wycliffe's Bible|Wycliffite Bibles]] in the newly emerged [[Middle English]]; manuscripts with Wycliffite material should be [[De heretico comburendo|destroyed]]; the possession of Wycliffite material could be used as [[Suppression of Heresy Act 1414|information in investigations and inquisitions]] though not used as a proof of heresy.

By the early 16th century, the Wycliffite translations were becoming less and less comprehensible as the English language changed from Middle English to [[Early Modern English]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ng |first1=Su Fang |title=Translation, Interpretation, and Heresy: The Wycliffite Bible, Tyndale's Bible, and the Contested Origin |journal=Studies in Philology |date=2001 |volume=98 |issue=3 |pages=315–338 |jstor=4174704 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4174704 |issn=0039-3738}}</ref>{{rp|320}}  [[Classical Greek|Classical]] and [[Koine Greek]] texts became widely available to the European scholarly community for the first time in centuries, as it welcomed Greek-speaking scholars, philosophers, intellectuals, and the manuscripts they carried to [[Catholic Europe]] as refugees following the [[fall of Constantinople]] in 1453.