William Tyndale (c. 1492-1536), English theologian and biblical scholar. Tyndale was born near Dursley in Gloucestershire and was educated at Magdalene College School, Oxford. Tyndale's was the first English translation to draw directly from Hebrew and Greek texts, and the first to take advantage of the new medium of print. This allowed for its wide distribution. It was pronounced heretical in England, so his Bibles were smuggled into the country in bales of cloth. Those discovered owning them were punished. At first only the books were destroyed, but soon heretics were burned too - including Tyndale himself in 1536. This engraving first was published in Heroologia Anglica by Henry Holland, printed at Arnhem in 1620.