He was a priest who left the Augustinian monastery at Cambridge in 1528 to become an evangelical preacher and Bible translator. He spent seven years on the Continent, finishing in 1535 the first complete English translation of the Scriptures, the noble work that William Tyndale had begun. During the short reign of Edward VI, Coverdale was royal chaplain. However, he was imprisoned for two years under Mary, escaping through the intercession of the king of Denmark. From 1564 to 1566 he was rector of St. Magnus, London Bridge.