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One of William Tyndale’s bitterest opponents, and one of the best-known men in 16th-century England—for his power, his intellect and his religious convictions. His was the central character in the prize-winning play and movie, A Man for All Seasons. A devout and intelligent Roman Catholic layman, he was appointed to the post of Lord Chancellor, then was commissioned by the king and the church to refute William Tyndale’s arguments and to discredit his character. He wrote nine books against Tyndale, filling more than 1,000 pages with arguments and invective against the reformer, and always defending the ultimate authority of the pope and the Roman Catholic Church (see “The Pen-and-Ink Wars,”).

Ironically, though More had many people executed because they denied the pope’s authority, his immovable commitment to that authority eventually led to his own death. When King Henry insisted on getting a divorce contrary to papal proclamations, then went on to declare that the pope no longer had authority in England, More told the king that he disagreed and would have to resign his post. Henry could not tolerate the public humiliation of having his closest advisor visibly questioning his wisdom, so he had More executed on trumped-up charges.

The bishop of London to whom Tyndale went in 1524, seeking patronage for his work of translating the New Testament into English. As far as the church hierarchy went, Tunstall was a shrewd choice on Tyndale’s part. Tunstall was a learned man, a language scholar of some ability himself, and he had declared his affection for some of Erasmus’s reform oriented ideas.

But Tyndale’s request came at a time when things done in the name of reform were creating havoc in Europe: violent riots; overthrows of local authorities; attacks on clergymen …. So Tunstall was leery of anything that smacked of “Lutheranism,” and it was Luther’s common-language German version of the New Testament that figured prominently in the sources of the havoc. No matter how intelligent or concerned for scholarship he was, he was at that time unready to support any New Testament translation work, and so sent the young translator looking elsewhere for patronage. Later, he can be seen burning Tyndale’s testaments and other pro-reform literature. Apparently politics had won out.

This French-trained English beauty was indirectly a friend to William Tyndale, though unfortunately for both her and Tyndale, she was not enough of a friend to her husband the king. This lady-in-waiting probably first came to Henry’s attention about 1527, after his repeated attempts to conceive and raise up a healthy son with Catherine had aged her and frustrated him. So while he pursued getting a divorce from Catherine, he was also pursuing the affections of Anne. She teased him, but would not give herself to him until he had the divorce and married her. This done, she became queen. During her brief reign as queen (1533–36), she managed to lay hands on an ornate copy of Tyndale’s 1534 edition of the English New Testament, as well as a copy of his “heretical” The Obedience of a Christian Man that she showed to Henry.

The king loved it, and for a time wanted Tyndale to be his court propagandist. But in the meantime, Anne was unable, like Catherine before her, to produce a healthy male heir. Plus, her prima donna attitude alienated many in the court, and some of them told the king of her sexual philandering with other men. Already disappointed in her, the incensed Henry had her quickly executed and the marriage declared void. Anyway, he had already set his eye upon Jane Seymour, and with Anne out of the way she soon became Henry’s third wife.

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