Tending a Flickering Flame:

Miles Coverdale & John Rogers

While Tyndale was on the Continent, remarkable things were happening in England. Henry VIII broke away from the Roman Catholic Church that he had so zealously defended, and he set himself as the head of the newly formed Church of England. Tyndale’s colleagues, Miles Coverdale and John Rogers, enter the story during this period.

Coverdale produced the first printed version of the entire Bible in English in 1535. His Bible was a composite of Tyndale’s published works and secondary translations of two German versions (including Luther’s), the Vulgate, and another Latin version.

At the same time, John Rogers was compiling and editing the remainder of Tyndale’s translations, those portions that Tyndale was unable to publish before his imprisonment. Rogers published Tyndale’s complete translation in 1537 under the pseudonym Thomas Matthew. Ironically, Matthew’s Bible gained the approval of Henry VIII and free course on English soil just one year after Tyndale’s execution on the Continent.

William Tyndale’s final request had been granted.

The Execution of William Tyndale (1536)