On October 6th, 1536......

Four hundred and seventy five years ago this day, an early Christian father was put to death. William Tyndale, known as the "Father of English Bibles". He wrote 90% of the King James Version and 75% of the Revised Version.
 Before the invention of the printing press, the Church had banned any unauthorized translation of the Bible into English in 1408. One hundred years before Tyndale, John Wycliffe, "The Morning Star" had translated the Bible into English...all handwritten.

After Tyndale had studied both at Cambridge and at Oxford in England, he became employed by the Sir John Walsh family a Sudbury Manor, as a tutor to the Walsh children.
 Walsh, known as a kind and generous man oftened invited Church clergy (priests) to his home. Tyndale, was amazed at these "table conversations" how Biblically ignorant the priests really were.
 At one sitting, Tyndale was quoted, " If God spare my life, ere many years pass, I will cause a boy who driveth a plough to know more of the Scriptures than you do."

Tyndale did go to a Bishop Tunstall of the Church to request permission of translating the Bible into English, but he was flatly denied.
 So, with the encouragement of others, Tyndale went to Europe, completing his translation of the New Testament, and smuggled them back to England.

It was 1524, and now Tyndale was in Germany, completing his New Testament translation in Hamburg. In Cologne, he located a printer that was able to print his work.
 However, word got out what Tyndale was doing, and the press was raided. Tyndale himself was able to escape with pages of his translation already printed. He then went to Worms and the New Testament was published. 6000 copies were made and sent to England.

Roman Catholics burned any of the translations they got a hold of, while Tyndale used the income from the Bibles to print new and improved editions.
 Actually, King Henry VIII offered Tyndale a safe return to England, to serve King Henry VIII as a writer and a scholar. Tyndale turned it down... not until the Bible would be legal to translate into English. The King's agents searched both England and Europe. Meanwhile, Tyndale began translating the Old Testament into English at Antwerp.

Tyndale was finally befriended, by a Henry Phillips. Pretending to be Tyndale's friend, a fellow Englishman, he told of Tyndale's whereabouts and he was captured by local authorities.
 Tyndale then spent one and a half years in prison, and eventually tried for heresy. His conviction was based on the fact Tyndale believed through Christ Jesus a person can be forgiven of all their sins, with His Mercy, thus believing the Gospel alone could save a person.

In August, 1536 Tyndale was officially condemned to die, and on October 6th, 1536 Tyndale was strangled and burned at the stake. His last prayer was, "Open the King's eyes."

 3 years later, Henry VIII required every parish in England to have an English Bible available to all parishioners...... 

Crew of the Mayflower

As the Mayflower voyage had launched on September 6th, 1620, I am gathering info on what when on during the voyage itself. Today I did a little research on the crew and how that came to be. The ongoing saga of the Mayflower...

The Captain or the Ship master was a Christopher Jones, who was about 50 years old when this voyage took place. He owned 25% of the Mayflower itself, and was a seasoned Captain.
 The Master Mates were the 2nd in command and they were John Clarke and Robert Coppin. Both of these had been to Virginia and the New England area on previous voyages. John Clarke himself had been captured by the Spanish in Virginia and had been imprisoned both in Havana, Cuba and Madrid, Spain for about 5 years. Their main responsibility as master mates was to guide the ship when approaching land and into safe harbor.
 The Cooper was John Alden on this voyage. His duties included building, repairing and maintaining the ship's barrels. The barrels contained the food and drink needed to make this voyage both for the crew and its passengers. John Alden was about 21 years old at this time and was a distant relative of Christopher Jones, the ship's Captain.
 The Ship Surgeon was Giles Heale. He was exempt from all duties except to care for the sick and injured crew members. Heale had just completed his apprenticeship in London as a Barber-surgeon, the Mayflower being his first Job in the "real" world.
 The Master-Gunner was responsible for the maintenance and readiness of the ship's guns and cannons.
 The Ship's Carpenter was responsible for any of the wooden and metal fixtures, also stopping leaks, and keeping the tools in good condition.
 The Boatswain was responsible for the sails and the rigging of the ship, and for setting anchor.
 4 Quartermasters were responsible for the cargo held on ship and for all the provisions needed during voyage, and for any fishing.
 The Cook was responsible for providing all the daily meals.
 The Swabber was responsible for keeping the deck well maintained and clean, and to make sure the maps were clean and in order.
 The Common Sailors performed all the daily laborious tasks of hoisting sails, day to day sailing chores, and assist in steering the ship at sea.
 The common sailors and crew lived on the top deck of the ship. The common sailors slept and ate at the forecastle of the ship, or at the very front of the ship itself. The men also used this area at the front to "relieve themselves", commonly referred to as the "head" of the ship, thus even today you hear the phrase, " I'm going to the head."
 Welcome to the Mayflower!