Thomas Cooper (bishop)
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Thomas Cooper (or Couper; 29 April 1594) was an English bishop,
lexicographer Lexicography is the study of lexicons and the art of compiling dictionaries. It is divided into two separate academic disciplines: * Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionary, dictionaries. * The ...
, theologian, and writer.


Life

Cooper was born in
Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...
, England, where he was educated at
Magdalen College Magdalen College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by Bishop of Winchester William of Waynflete. It is one of the wealthiest Oxford colleges, as of 2022, and one of the strongest academically, se ...
. He became Master of Magdalen College School and afterwards practised as a physician in Oxford.
Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. She was the last and longest reigning monarch of the House of Tudo ...
was greatly pleased with his ''Thesaurus'', generally known as ''Cooper's Dictionary''; and its author, who had been ordained about 1559, was made Dean of Christ Church, in 1567. Two years later, on 27 June 1569, he became
Dean of Gloucester The Dean of Gloucester is the head (''primus inter pares'': first among equals) and chair of the chapter of canons - the ruling body of Gloucester Cathedral - and senior priest of the Diocese of Gloucester. The dean and chapter are based at Glouce ...
; he was elected
Bishop of Lincoln The Bishop of Lincoln is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary (diocesan bishop) of the Church of England Diocese of Lincoln in the Province of Canterbury. The present diocese covers the county of Lincolnshire and the unitary authority areas of Nort ...
on 4 February 1571, consecrated a bishop on 24 February 1571, then translated to
Winchester Winchester (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs N ...
on 12 March 1584. Cooper was a stout
controversialist Polemic ( , ) is contentious rhetoric intended to support a specific position by forthright claims and to undermine the opposing position. The practice of such argumentation is called polemics, which are seen in arguments on controversial to ...
; he defended the practice and precept of the
Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...
against the
Roman Catholics The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
on the one hand and against the
Martin Marprelate Martin Marprelate (sometimes printed as Martin Mar-prelate and Marre–Martin) was the name used by the anonymous author or authors of the seven Marprelate tracts that circulated illegally in England in the years 1588 and 1589. Their principal ...
writings and the
Puritans The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to rid the Church of England of what they considered to be Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should b ...
on the other. He took some part, the exact extent of which is disputed, in the persecution of religious
recusant Recusancy (from ) was the state of those who remained loyal to the Catholic Church and refused to attend Church of England services after the English Reformation. The 1558 Recusancy Acts passed in the reign of Elizabeth I, and temporarily repea ...
s in his diocese, and died at
Winchester Winchester (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs N ...
on 29 April 1594.


Works

Cooper's literary career began in 1548, when he compiled, or rather edited, ''Bibliotheca Eliotae'', a Latin dictionary by Sir Thomas Elyot. In 1549 he published a continuation of Thomas Lanquet's ''Chronicle of the World''. This work, known as ''Cooper's Chronicle'', covers the period from AD 17 to the time of its writing. Following Robert Crowley's 1559 altered and updated version of the Chronicle which Cooper denounced, he issued an expanded and updated version in 1560 and 1565 that removed or altered most but not all of Crowley's changes and additions. In 1565 appeared the first edition of his greatest work, ''Thesaurus Linguae Romanae et Britannicae'', and this was followed by three other editions.
John Aubrey John Aubrey (12 March 1626 – 7 June 1697) was an English antiquary, natural philosopher and writer. He was a pioneer archaeologist, who recorded (often for the first time) numerous megalithic and other field monuments in southern England ...
in ''"Brief lives"'', gave the following glimpse into the creation of this
dictionary A dictionary is a listing of lexemes from the lexicon of one or more specific languages, often arranged Alphabetical order, alphabetically (or by Semitic root, consonantal root for Semitic languages or radical-and-stroke sorting, radical an ...
:
''Dr. Edward Davenant told me that this learned man had a shrew to his wife, who was irreconcileably angrie with him for sitting-up late at night so, compileing his Dictionarie, (Thesaurus linguae Romanae et Britannicae, Londini, 1584; dedicated to Robert Dudley, earl of Leicester, and Chancellor of Oxford). When he had halfe-donne it, she had the opportunity to gett into his studie, tooke all his paines out in her lap, and threw it into the fire, and burnt it. Well, for all that, that good man had so great a zeale for the advancement of learning, that he began it again, and went through with it to that perfection that he hath left it to us, a most usefull worke.''
William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
is believed to have used Cooper's ''Thesaurus'' in the creation of his many poems and plays. (Evidence of this comes from a close statistical inspection of Shakespeare's word usage.) Cooper's ''Admonition against Martin Marprelate'' was reprinted in 1847, and his ''Answer in Defence of the Truth against the Apology of Private Mass'' in 1850. (This latter work was answered by the Jesuit controversialist Fr.
John Rastell John Rastell (or Rastall) (c. 1475 – 1536) was an English printer, author, member of parliament, and barrister. Life Born in Coventry, he is vaguely reported by Anthony à Wood to have been "educated for a time in grammaticals and philosophi ...
in 1565.)


Styles and titles

*–1559: Thomas Cooper Esq. *1559–1567: ''
The Reverend The Reverend (abbreviated as The Revd, The Rev'd or The Rev) is an honorific style (form of address), style given to certain (primarily Western Christian, Western) Christian clergy and Christian minister, ministers. There are sometimes differen ...
'' Thomas Cooper *1567–1571: ''
The Very Reverend The Very Reverend (abbreviated as The Very Revd or The Very Rev) is an honorific style (form of address), style given to certain (primarily Western Christian, Western) Christian clergy and Christian minister, ministers. The definite article "t ...
'' Thomas Cooper *1571–1594: ''
The Right Reverend The Right Reverend (abbreviated as The Rt Revd or The Rt Rev) is an honorific style (form of address), style given to certain (primarily Western Christian, Western) Christian ministers and members of clergy. It is a variant of the more common st ...
'' Thomas Cooper


References


External links


Pollux
(Specify "Cooper, Thesaurus Linguae Romanae et brittanicae (experimental)") {{DEFAULTSORT:Cooper, Thomas 1510s births 1594 deaths Clergy from Oxford People educated at Magdalen College School, Oxford Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford Bishops of Lincoln Bishops of Winchester Deans of Christ Church, Oxford Deans of Gloucester 16th-century Church of England bishops 16th-century English writers 16th-century English male writers English theologians English lexicographers 16th-century English medical doctors Schoolteachers from Oxfordshire Vice-chancellors of the University of Oxford 16th-century English educators 16th-century Anglican theologians Year of birth uncertain