John Palsgrave

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

John Palsgrave (c. 1485 – 1554) was a priest of

Henry VIII of England
's court. He is known as a tutor in the royal household, and as a textbook author.

Life

It is believed that John Palsgrave, who spelled his name in a variety of ways including Pagrave, was the eldest son of Henry Pagrave of North Barningham, in Norfolk.

After studying at

Sir Thomas More wrote to Erasmus
to recommend him to study law and classics there.

In 1518 he was instituted to the benefices in Asfordby in Leicestershire, Alderton and Holbrook in Suffolk, and Keyston, Huntingdonshire.[3]

In 1525, he was appointed tutor to Henry's illegitimate son

Archdeacon of Derby.[6] His past connections meant that Palsgrave was called in by the Duke of Suffolk to write a pamphlet derogatory of Wolsey's career, in 1529.[7]

He then continued private tutoring whilst working on his book. In 1533 he was ordained priest by

St Dunstan in the East. In 1545 he was presented to the living of Wadenhoe in Northamptonshire by Charles Blount, 5th Baron Mountjoy
, one of his former pupils.

Works

He composed L'esclarcissement de la langue francoyse (printed in 1530 in London and dedicated to Henry VIII). The book, written in English despite its French title, is said to be the first grammar of the French language. Its purpose was to help Englishmen who wanted to learn French. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the humblebee, a term that had been in use since 1450, was called a bumblebee for the first time in this book. The sentence was: I bomme, as a bombyll bee dothe.

He also translated

William Fullonius
's Latin play, The Comedy of Acolastus, which he published in 1540 and dedicated to the King. The first simile of the English phrase "as deaf as a post" appears to originate from Acolastus ("How deaf an ear I intended to give him ... he were as good to tell his tale to a post") and may be attributed to Palsgrave.

References

  • "Palsgrave, John" . Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
  • John Palsgrave: L'éclaircissement de la langue française (1530). Texte anglais original avec traduction et notes de Susan Baddeley,
    ISBN 2-7453-0851-3
    .
  • John Palsgrave as Renaissance Linguist: A Pioneer in Vernacular Language Description, Gabriele Stein, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1997,
    ISBN 0-19-823505-4
    .
  • Beverley A. Murphy, Bastard Prince: Henry VIII's Lost Son (2001)
  • John Palsgrave, 1485-1554, Palgrave Chronicle, 9, 2, Summer 2007 pp 16–20.

Notes

  1. ^ "Palsgrave, John (PLSV503J)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  2. ^ Contemporaries of Erasmus
  3. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
    , Oxford University Press, 2004, accessed 21 Nov 2011
  4. Sir Richard Wingfield
    .
  5. ^ Murphy, pp.73–74.
  6. ^ Murphy, pp.75–76.
  7. ^ Eric Ives, The Live and Death of Queen Anne Boleyn (2005), p. 117.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Palsgrave&oldid=1150198033"