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John Palsgrave (c. 1485 – 1554) was a priest of
Henry VIII of England Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disag ...
'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 Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the N ...
. After studying at
Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Corpus Christi College (full name: "The College of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin Mary", often shortened to "Corpus"), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. From the late 14th century through to the early 19th century ...
, B.A. 1504, he travelled to France to study in Paris where he qualified as M.A. He became tutor to Princess Mary Tudor in 1513, receiving the sum on £6-13s-4d per annum. When she married
Louis XII of France Louis XII (27 June 14621 January 1515), was List of French monarchs, King of France from 1498 to 1515 and King of Naples from 1501 to 1504. The son of Charles, Duke of Orléans, and Maria of Cleves, he succeeded his 2nd cousin once removed and b ...
, he accompanied her to Paris, but by 1516 he had moved to Louvain;
Sir Thomas More Sir Thomas More (7 February 1478 – 6 July 1535), veneration, venerated in the Catholic Church as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, judge, social philosopher, author, statesman, and noted Renaissance humanist. He also served Henry VII ...
wrote to Erasmus to recommend him to study law and classics there. In 1518 he was instituted to the benefices in Asfordby in
Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...
, Alderton and Holbrook in
Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...
, and Keyston,
Huntingdonshire Huntingdonshire (; abbreviated Hunts) is a non-metropolitan district of Cambridgeshire and a historic county of England. The district council is based in Huntingdon. Other towns include St Ives, Godmanchester, St Neots and Ramsey. The pop ...
. In 1525, he was appointed tutor to Henry's illegitimate son Henry Fitzroy; the programme of studies was ambitious, following lines suggested by More,
Stephen Gardiner Stephen Gardiner (27 July 1483 – 12 November 1555) was an English Catholic bishop and politician during the English Reformation period who served as Lord Chancellor during the reign of Queen Mary I and King Philip. Early life Gardiner was b ...
and
Thomas Elyot Sir Thomas Elyot (c. 149626 March 1546) was an English diplomat and scholar. He is best known as one of the first proponents of the use of the English language for literary purposes. Early life Thomas was the child of Sir Richard Elyot's fir ...
, and including music, visual aids and the company of William Parr and the younger brothers of the boy's mother
Elizabeth Blount Elizabeth Blount (// – 1540), commonly known during her lifetime as Bessie Blount, was a mistress of Henry VIII of England. Early life Blount was the daughter of Sir John Blount and Catherine Pershall, of Kinlet, Bridgnorth, Shropshire. ...
. He was succeeded in the post by Richard Croke in 1526, for reasons that may include the hostility of
Thomas Wolsey Thomas Wolsey ( – 29 November 1530) was an English statesman and Catholic bishop. When Henry VIII became King of England in 1509, Wolsey became the king's almoner. Wolsey's affairs prospered and by 1514 he had become the controlling figure ...
, who had earlier refused to appoint Palsgrave as Archdeacon of Derby. 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.
Eric Ives Eric William Ives (12 July 1931 – 25 September 2012) was a British historian who was an expert on the Tudor period, and a university administrator. He was Emeritus Professor of English History at the University of Birmingham. Early life ...
, ''The Live and Death of Queen Anne Boleyn'' (2005), p. 117.
He then continued private tutoring whilst working on his book. In 1533 he was ordained priest by
Thomas Cranmer Thomas Cranmer (2 July 1489 – 21 March 1556) was a leader of the English Reformation and Archbishop of Canterbury during the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI and, for a short time, Mary I. He helped build the case for the annulment of Henry' ...
and instituted to the benefice of St Dunstan in the East. In 1545 he was presented to the living of Wadenhoe in
Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...
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 London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
and dedicated to Henry VIII). The book, written in
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...
despite its French title, is said to be the first
grammar In linguistics, the grammar of a natural language is its set of structural constraints on speakers' or writers' composition of clauses, phrases, and words. The term can also refer to the study of such constraints, a field that includes domain ...
of the
French language French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in ...
. 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 A bumblebee (or bumble bee, bumble-bee, or humble-bee) is any of over 250 species in the genus ''Bombus'', part of Apidae, one of the bee families. This genus is the only extant group in the tribe Bombini, though a few extinct related gener ...
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

* *''John Palsgrave: L'éclaircissement de la langue française (1530). Texte anglais original avec traduction et notes de Susan Baddeley'',
Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
, Honoré Champion 2003, . *''John Palsgrave as Renaissance Linguist: A Pioneer in Vernacular Language Description'', Gabriele Stein, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1997, . *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

{{DEFAULTSORT:Palsgrave, John 1480s births 1554 deaths 16th-century English Anglican priests English philologists 16th-century English writers 16th-century male writers 15th-century English people 16th-century English educators 16th-century Roman Catholics Alumni of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge University of Paris alumni Linguists of French English translators People from North Norfolk (district)