William Tyndale, pioneer translator of the Bible, didn't just come up with some nice phrases. When no word existed in English for what he was trying to say, he was forced to come up with
whole new words in order to get the meaning across. Two examples are the invented-by-Tyndale word "
foreskynne" and the joining of a
Norman word with a
Saxon word to produce the previously unknown "
beautyfull."
Most sources record that he was burned at the stake in 1536, after being strangled to death, but there are those who claim he was already dead and buried before he was burned; the church was so mad at him that they dug up his bones and burned them, just to make a point.
Source: People of the Book: A new history of all King James's men by Guy Davenport. Harper's Monthly, May 2001