Nicholas Udall
Encyclopedia
Nicholas Udall was an English
playwright, cleric, pederast and schoolmaster, the author of Ralph Roister Doister
, generally regarded as the first comedy
written in the English language
.
and educated at Winchester College
and Corpus Christi College, Oxford
. He was tutored under the guidance of Thomas Cromwell, who mentions him in a letter to John Creke of 17 August 1523 as 'Maister Woodall' and he appears again in Cromwell's accounts for 1535 as 'Nicholas Woodall Master of Eton'.
After graduation from Oxford, he taught at a London grammar school in 1533. He taught Latin
at Eton College
, of which he was headmaster from about 1534 until 1541, when he was forced to leave after being convicted of offences under the Buggery Act 1533
. The felony of buggery, like all other felonies, carried a sentence of capital punishment by hanging, but Udall wrote an impassioned plea to his old friends from Cromwell's household Thomas Wriothesley
and Sir Ralph Sadler; then joint principal secretaries of state
and his sentence was reduced to just under a year in the Marshalsea
prison. That the pupils in question were not also prosecuted suggests that they were under what was then taken as of the "age of discretion", i.e., 14 years or older. A former pupil, the poet Thomas Tusser
, later claimed Udall flogged him without cause.
A Protestant, he flourished under Edward VI
and survived into the reign of the Roman Catholic Mary I
. In 1547, he became Vicar of Braintree
, in 1551 of Calborne, Isle of Wight
and in 1554 headmaster of Westminster School
.
, published in 1548 as The first tome or volume of the Paraphrase of Erasmus vpon the newe testamente
. Other works he translated were Pietro Martire
's Discourse on the Eucharist and Thomas Gemini's Anatomia. His most famous work, the play Ralph Roister Doister
, was probably presented to Queen Mary
as an entertainment around 1553, but not published until 1566.
With John Leland, he wrote a number of songs to celebrate the coronation of Anne Boleyn
on the 31st of May 1533, using his Latinized name "Udallus".
Likewise, he is the author of a Latin textbook utilizing material from his comedy as well as works by the Roman poet Terence
.
's trilogy of historical novels, The Fifth Queen
, the character Magister Nicholas Udal is a decidedly heterosexual profligate, who serves as Latin tutor to Mary I of England
and Henry VIII's "fifth queen," Katharine Howard. He defends himself of charges that he was "thrown out of his mastership at Eton for his foul living" by claiming that he, a Protestant, "was undone by Papist lies."
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
playwright, cleric, pederast and schoolmaster, the author of Ralph Roister Doister
Ralph Roister Doister
Ralph Roister Doister is a comic play by Nicholas Udall, generally regarded as the first comedy to be written in the English language.The date of its composition is disputed, but the balance of opinion suggests that it was written in about 1553, when Udall was a teacher in London, and was intended...
, generally regarded as the first comedy
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
written in the English language
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
.
Biography
Udall was born in HampshireHampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
and educated at Winchester College
Winchester College
Winchester College is an independent school for boys in the British public school tradition, situated in Winchester, Hampshire, the former capital of England. It has existed in its present location for over 600 years and claims the longest unbroken history of any school in England...
and Corpus Christi College, Oxford
Corpus Christi College, Oxford
Corpus Christi College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom...
. He was tutored under the guidance of Thomas Cromwell, who mentions him in a letter to John Creke of 17 August 1523 as 'Maister Woodall' and he appears again in Cromwell's accounts for 1535 as 'Nicholas Woodall Master of Eton'.
After graduation from Oxford, he taught at a London grammar school in 1533. He taught Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
at Eton College
Eton College
Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....
, of which he was headmaster from about 1534 until 1541, when he was forced to leave after being convicted of offences under the Buggery Act 1533
Buggery Act 1533
The Buggery Act 1533, formally An Acte for the punysshement of the vice of Buggerie , was an Act of the Parliament of England that was passed during the reign of Henry VIII...
. The felony of buggery, like all other felonies, carried a sentence of capital punishment by hanging, but Udall wrote an impassioned plea to his old friends from Cromwell's household Thomas Wriothesley
Thomas Wriothesley, 1st Earl of Southampton
Thomas Wriothesley, 1st Earl of Southampton, KG , known as The Lord Wriothesley between 1544 and 1547, was a politician of the Tudor period born in London to William Wrythe and Agnes Drayton....
and Sir Ralph Sadler; then joint principal secretaries of state
Secretary of State (England)
In the Kingdom of England, the title of Secretary of State came into being near the end of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I , the usual title before that having been King's Clerk, King's Secretary, or Principal Secretary....
and his sentence was reduced to just under a year in the Marshalsea
Marshalsea
The Marshalsea was a prison on the south bank of the River Thames in Southwark, now part of London. From the 14th century until it closed in 1842, it housed men under court martial for crimes at sea, including those accused of "unnatural crimes", political figures and intellectuals accused of...
prison. That the pupils in question were not also prosecuted suggests that they were under what was then taken as of the "age of discretion", i.e., 14 years or older. A former pupil, the poet Thomas Tusser
Thomas Tusser
Thomas Tusser was an English poet and farmer, best known for his instructional poem Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry, published in 1557. It contains the lines...
, later claimed Udall flogged him without cause.
A Protestant, he flourished under Edward VI
Edward VI of England
Edward VI was the King of England and Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death. He was crowned on 20 February at the age of nine. The son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour, Edward was the third monarch of the Tudor dynasty and England's first monarch who was raised as a Protestant...
and survived into the reign of the Roman Catholic Mary I
Mary I of England
Mary I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from July 1553 until her death.She was the only surviving child born of the ill-fated marriage of Henry VIII and his first wife Catherine of Aragon. Her younger half-brother, Edward VI, succeeded Henry in 1547...
. In 1547, he became Vicar of Braintree
Braintree, Essex
Braintree is a town of about 42,000 people and the principal settlement of the Braintree district of Essex in the East of England. It is northeast of Chelmsford and west of Colchester on the River Blackwater, A120 road and a branch of the Great Eastern Main Line.Braintree has grown contiguous...
, in 1551 of Calborne, Isle of Wight
Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight is a county and the largest island of England, located in the English Channel, on average about 2–4 miles off the south coast of the county of Hampshire, separated from the mainland by a strait called the Solent...
and in 1554 headmaster of Westminster School
Westminster School
The Royal College of St. Peter in Westminster, almost always known as Westminster School, is one of Britain's leading independent schools, with the highest Oxford and Cambridge acceptance rate of any secondary school or college in Britain...
.
Works
He translated part of the Apophthegms by Erasmus, and assisted in the English version of his Paraphrases of ErasmusParaphrases of Erasmus
The Paraphrases were Latin Biblical paraphrases, rewritings of the Gospels by Desiderius Erasmus. They were composed between 1517 and 1524 and occasionally revised by Erasmus during the remaining years of his life....
, published in 1548 as The first tome or volume of the Paraphrase of Erasmus vpon the newe testamente
The first tome or volume of the Paraphrase of Erasmus vpon the newe testamente
The First tome or volume of the Paraphrase of Erasmus vpon the newe testamente edited by Nicholas Udall, first published in January 1548 by Edward Whitchurch, is the first volume of a book combining an English translation of the New Testament interleaved with an English translation of Desiderius...
. Other works he translated were Pietro Martire
Pietro Martire Vermigli
Peter Martyr Vermigli , sometimes simply Peter Martyr, was an Italian theologian of the Reformation period.-Life:...
's Discourse on the Eucharist and Thomas Gemini's Anatomia. His most famous work, the play Ralph Roister Doister
Ralph Roister Doister
Ralph Roister Doister is a comic play by Nicholas Udall, generally regarded as the first comedy to be written in the English language.The date of its composition is disputed, but the balance of opinion suggests that it was written in about 1553, when Udall was a teacher in London, and was intended...
, was probably presented to Queen Mary
Mary I of England
Mary I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from July 1553 until her death.She was the only surviving child born of the ill-fated marriage of Henry VIII and his first wife Catherine of Aragon. Her younger half-brother, Edward VI, succeeded Henry in 1547...
as an entertainment around 1553, but not published until 1566.
With John Leland, he wrote a number of songs to celebrate the coronation of Anne Boleyn
Anne Boleyn
Anne Boleyn ;c.1501/1507 – 19 May 1536) was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536 as the second wife of Henry VIII of England and Marquess of Pembroke in her own right. Henry's marriage to Anne, and her subsequent execution, made her a key figure in the political and religious upheaval that was the...
on the 31st of May 1533, using his Latinized name "Udallus".
Likewise, he is the author of a Latin textbook utilizing material from his comedy as well as works by the Roman poet Terence
Terence
Publius Terentius Afer , better known in English as Terence, was a playwright of the Roman Republic, of North African descent. His comedies were performed for the first time around 170–160 BC. Terentius Lucanus, a Roman senator, brought Terence to Rome as a slave, educated him and later on,...
.
Literary character based on him
In Ford Madox FordFord Madox Ford
Ford Madox Ford was an English novelist, poet, critic and editor whose journals, The English Review and The Transatlantic Review, were instrumental in the development of early 20th-century English literature...
's trilogy of historical novels, The Fifth Queen
The Fifth Queen
The Fifth Queen trilogy is a series of connected historical novels by English novelist Ford Madox Ford. It consists of three novels, The Fifth Queen; And How She Came to Court , Privy Seal and The Fifth Queen Crowned , which present a highly fictionalized account of Katharine Howard's arrival at...
, the character Magister Nicholas Udal is a decidedly heterosexual profligate, who serves as Latin tutor to Mary I of England
Mary I of England
Mary I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from July 1553 until her death.She was the only surviving child born of the ill-fated marriage of Henry VIII and his first wife Catherine of Aragon. Her younger half-brother, Edward VI, succeeded Henry in 1547...
and Henry VIII's "fifth queen," Katharine Howard. He defends himself of charges that he was "thrown out of his mastership at Eton for his foul living" by claiming that he, a Protestant, "was undone by Papist lies."