Thomas Elyot: Critical Editions of Four Works on Counsel: Doctrinal of Princes, Pasquill the Playne, Of that Knowlage Whiche Maketh a Wise Man, and The Defence of Women

420 Pages·2018·1.678 MB·English

by  Robert G. Sullivan, Arthur E. Walzer

ThomasElyot
CriticalEditionsofFourWorksonCounsel
International Studies in the
History of Rhetoric
Editors
LaurentPernot(ExecutiveEditor,Strasbourg,France)
CraigKallendorf(CollegeStation,u.s.a.)
AdvisoryBoard
BéBreij(Nijmegen,Netherlands)
RudongChen(Pekin,China)
ManfredKraus(Tübingen,Germany)
GabriellaMoretti(Trento,Italy)
LuisaAngelicaPuigLlano(MexicoCity,Mexico)
ChristineSutherland(Calgary,Canada)
volume9
Thetitlespublishedinthisseriesarelistedatbrill.com/rhet
Thomas Elyot
Critical Editions of Four Works
on Counsel
TheDoctrinalof Princes,PasquillthePlayne,Of That
KnowlageWhicheMakethaWiseMan,andThe
Defenceof GoodWomen
Editedby
RobertSullivan
ArthurE.Walzer
leiden | boston
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Names:Elyot,Thomas,Sir,1490?–1546,author.|Sullivan,Robert,1951-editor.|
Walzer,ArthurE.,1944-editor.
Title:ThomasElyot:CriticalEditionsofFourWorksonCounsel.TheDoctrinalof
Princes,PasquillthePlayne,OfThatKnowlageWhicheMakethaWiseMan,
andTheDefenceofGoodWomen/editedbyRobertSullivan,ArthurE.Walzer.
Description:Leiden;Boston:Brill,2018.|Series:Internationalstudiesinthe
historyofrhetoric;9|Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.|
Descriptionbasedonprintversionrecordandcipdataprovidedbypublisher;
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Contents
Acknowledgements vii
Introduction 1
1 ThomasElyot:LifeandWork 6
2 ElyotonRhetoricandCounsel 76
3 TheDoctrinalofPrinces:CriticalIntroduction 94
4 TheDoctrinalofPrinces:Text 134
5 PasquillthePlayne:CriticalIntroduction 155
6 PasquillthePlayne:Text 174
7 OfThatKnowlageWhicheMakethaWiseMan:Critical
Introduction 209
8 OfThatKnowlageWhicheMakethaWiseMan:Text
WiththeEditorialAssistanceofJuliaBecker 228
9 TheDefenceofGoodWoman:CriticalIntroduction 346
10 TheDefenceofGoodWoman:Text
WiththeEditorialAssistanceofEmilyGallik 362
Bibliography 391
IndexofSubjects 406

Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Laurent Pernot and Craig Kallendorf, editors for the
series,InternationalStudiesintheHistoryofRhetoric(ISHR),fortheirsupport
of this work. Laurent has been an especially loyal and supportive friend for
twentyyears.ThankingISHRmemberswhohaveservedasmodelscholarsand
friendswouldconstitutealisttoolongforthispage.Wemust,however,thank
PeterMacknotonlyforhisencouragementbutalsoforteachingusmuchabout
Renaissance rhetoric.We also thank Brill, Brill’s anonymous reviewer whose
perceptivecritiqueenabledustoimprovetheworkinrevision,ThalienColen-
brander,whosawtheworkefficientlythroughproductionandDanConnolly
whocreatedtheindex.
BobSullivan
Aprojectsuchasthisisnotaccomplishedwithoutthesupportofmanyfriends
and colleagues. I am indebted to my long-term colleagues in the Commu-
nication Studies department at Ithaca College, particularly Professors Bruce
Henderson and Laurie Arliss, who have done more than they know to sup-
portmywork.TheIthacaCollegeMedievalandRenaissanceColloquiumhas
beenaninspirationandhappyscholarlyhomeformanyyears.TheOfficeofthe
ProvostandtheDeanoftheSchoolofHumanitiesandScienceshaveprovided
crucialassistance.IwarmlyrememberthemanywelcomesIhavereceivedat
IthacaCollege’sLondonCentrefromtheCentre’sbrilliantdirector,BillSheas-
green,withoutwhichmyworkintheUKwouldhavebeenfarlessof aplea-
sure.
IowespecialthankstoProfessorRobertGaines,wholongagoimpressedon
methecentralityofscholarlyeditingtothehumanisticenterprise.
Idedicatethiswork,andallmywork,tomybelovedfamily.Mywife,Lisa
Stankus, is my dearest friend and best critic. My daughter, Ava Lee Sullivan,
andherhusband,SilasVanderSwaagh,givemehopeforthefuture.
ArtWalzer
I thank the University of Minnesota for providing financial support and for
surroundingmewithcolleagueswholovetotalkaboutideas.Fromthemanyat
Minnesota,IsingleoutRegentsProfessorTomClayton,mydissertationadvisor
viii acknowledgements
fortyyearsagoandgoodfriendeversince,who,asamentor,wastirelessinhis
effortstoimprovemyscholarshipandwriting,which,whatevertheirquality,
arebetterforhisefforts.
IdedicatethisworktomyBrooklynfamily—mygrandchildren,Caseyand
Delia,mydaughterEmma,herwifeMonica,andespeciallytomywife,Ginny,
who has shared everything with me for over fifty years and to whom I owe
everything.
Introduction
This volume provides the first modern scholarly editions of four works by
Thomas Elyot: Doctrinal of Princes (1533), Pasquill the Playne (1533), Of That
KnowlageWhicheMakethaWiseMan(1534),andTheDefenceofGoodWomen
(1540).1Theseworkshaveincommonapoliticalconcernwitheducatingand
counselingtheprinceandwiththemoralresponsibilitiesandrhetoricalchal-
lengesattendantonthoseroles.
AlastairFoxidentifiedThomasElyotas“perhapsthemostoutstandinghu-
manistof hisgeneration”;2andGregWalker,whohaswrittenthemostcom-
prehensivestudyofElyot’sworkstodate,praisedElyotas“probablythemost
prolific and influential scholar of his generation.”3While we choose to forgo
comparativejudgments,thereisnodoubtthatElyot,afriendof mostof the
importantEnglishhumanistsof histime,wasaconsummateexampleof the
type,enactingthehumanists’programbyhisscholarshipandpoliticalengage-
ment. Elyot no doubt saw himself as a second-generation English humanist,
as an heir to Colet, Grocyn, Lily, More (whom Elyot counted a friend) and
Linacre—thegenerationthatworkedinconcertwithErasmus.Indeed,inlight
ofhisachievementandhisowncharacterizationofit,itmaywellbethatElyot
aspiredtobecomeforhisgenerationamodestversioninEnglandofErasmus.4
1 ThetitlesofsomeofElyot’sworksvarywiththeedition.Forexample,thenameofthetitular
characterofPasquillthePlayneissometimesPasquillorPasquil,sometimesPasqylorPasqyll.
Inthe1540editionthatwechoseasourcopytextincreatingthecriticaledition,thetitleon
thetitlepagecontainingtheBertheletsillisPasqyilthePlayne,but,withinthemanuscript,
“Pasquill”isusedconsistently.Wehave,therefore,electedPasquillthePlayneasthetitleofour
criticaledition.OfthatKnowlage,whicheMakethaWiseMan.APlatonicDisputacionisthe
titlegivenonthesillforthe1534edition.That“knowledge”isspelled“knowlage”throughout
thateditionledustoreadintentintothechoice;indeed,allvariantsofthemodernword
“knowledge”(suchas“knowlege,”)arecorrectedwiththesecondeditiontoKnowlage.We
havethereforetitledourcriticaleditionaccordingly;inreferringtoKnowlageinthetextof
thisbookwehaveeliminatedthecommaandnormalizedcapitalization.(ThetitlesofThe
DoctrinalofPrincesandTheDefenceofGoodWomenarenotproblematic.)
2 AlistairFox,“SirThomasElyotandtheHumanistDilemma,”inReassessingtheHenrician
Age:Humanists,PoliticsandReform1500–1550,eds.AlistairFoxandJohnGuy(Oxford:Basil
Blackwell,1986),52.
3 GregWalker,WritingUnderTyranny:EnglishLiteratureandtheHenricianReformation(Ox-
ford:OxfordUniversityPress),128.
4 MadhuparnaMitra,“SirThomasElyotas‘AMakerofBokes’”(PhDdiss.,WashingtonUniver-
sity,St.Louis,1995),3.
© koninklijkebrillnv,leiden,2018 | doi:10.1163/9789
2 introduction
If ErasmushadmadeancientlearningaccessibleinGreekeditionsandLatin
translations, Elyot would attempt to make English a language that in preci-
sion, richness, and prestige was worthy of ancient learning—a mission that
hecarriedoutdirectlyinhistranslationsof Isocrates’ToNicoclesandoneof
Plutarch’s Moralia, which he titledTheEducationorBringingUpof Children;
andinhisLatin-EnglishdictionaryandBanketteofSapience.InspiredbyEras-
mus,he understoodhis workas scholar and writerasa public service, asan
expressionof apatrioticimpulse.5AlsolikeErasmus,Elyotalsosawscholar-
shipasavehicleforinfluencinggovernanceintheautocraticcontextinwhich
helivedandworked.TherewasnoplaceforthepassionateoratoryofaDemos-
thenes or Cicero in Early Modern England. But there was the possibility of
influence through counsel, and Elyot gained political experience when, as a
youngman,heservedasajuristinsouthwestEngland,worked,underCardi-
nalWolsey,ontheKing’sCouncil,and,mostsignificantly,when,in1531–1532,
herepresentedthegovernmentofHenryVIIItothecourtofCharlesV.Elyot’s
embassytoCharlesfailed.Feelingdisrespectedanddisillusioned,hewithdrew
fromthescrumof activeengagement;instead,hewouldcounselfromadis-
tance.
Workinginastrikingnumberofcivicgenres,Elyotproducedacorpusthat
takes on a coherence when viewed from the point of view of counsel. In
his BokenamedtheGouernour,hedescribedthecurriculumandeducational
principles no less for a counselor than for the governor of the title; through
histranslationintoEnglishofIsocrates’sadvicetoNicocles;throughhisthree
lively dialogues that probed and enacted a rhetoric of counsel; through his
fictionalbiographyof amodelmonarch;andthroughhisletterstoCromwell:
Elyotattemptedtoengagewiththepoliticsof histimeandplace.Indeed,we
seeElyot’ssignatureachievementashisanalysisofcounselundermonarchy—
hisarticulationofitssingularimportanceandhisreflectiononitsappropriate
rhetoric—aswellashisdoggedpracticeofcounselthroughhispublishedwork
andletters.Elyotsawhimself,then,asascholarandasanadviser,andwhileit
ispossibletodistinguishtheseroles,wethinkofthem(asElyothimselfdid)as
ofapiece.
Elyot’sintellectualidentificationwithcounselhasbeenrecognizedbyboth
historiansandliteraryscholars.Whilethecounselorhaslongbeenacknowl-
edged as a formative ideal in humanists’ treatises on education, in the last
5 CathyShrank,“SirThomasElyotandtheBondsofCommunity,”inTheOxfordHandbookof
TudorLiterature1485–1603,ed.MikePincombeandCathyShrank(Oxford:OxfordUniversity
Press,2009),155.