Christopher Tye, was born in the City of Westminster, and commenced a Batchelor in Music at Cambridge in 1537. He took his Degree of Doctor there in 1545, and was admitted in the same Year, a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal. In 1548, he was also complimented with the last mentioned Degree, at Oxford. He was possessed of great Skill both in the theoretical and praxtical Branches of his Profession. The Acts of the Apostles were translated by him into English Verse, and adapted to Sounds: He published them in 1553, with a Dedication to King Edward the Sixth (from Cathedral Music, Volume 2 (William Boyce)).
Tye was at the very cutting edge of the Protestant reformation in England under Edward VI, and his aim was to supplant Latin settings with those in the vernacular (a musical parallel to the liturgy of Cranmer).