William Tyndale, a key figure in the Reformation, was executed in 1536 for heresy after translating the New Testament into English, making the scriptures accessible to the common people. His work was seen as a direct challenge to the Catholic Church's authority, which restricted biblical translations. Tyndale's martyrdom not only solidified his legacy as a pioneer of English Protestantism but also fueled the demand for religious reform and the eventual proliferation of English translations of the Bible.

Tyndale's vernacular prose—much of it absorbed unchanged into the King James Bible—is the single greatest stylistic influence on English religious poetry; his martyrdom made Bible translation a literary and political flashpoint, inspiring later poets like John Milton to explore themes of faith and redemption.