Thomas Elyot (1490–1546)

Published in 1531 the year that Henry VIII banished Catherine of Aragon from court and installed Ann Boleyn in her chambers. He had been furiously working towards getting his first marriage annulled, but it would be a further two years before his marriage to Ann was recognised. Sir Thomas More had been appointed Chancellor after the fall of Cardinal Wolsey, but as a devout catholic he was increasingly feeling the pressure as Henry was moving to break decisively with the Pope and the Roman church.

The Boke named the Governour was a runaway literary success outselling Sir Thomas More's [Utopia]; they could not print copies fast enough as it went into three reprints each under the personal supervision of it's author. The books main function purported to be a programme and procedure on how to educate noble children to equip them to work for the Government, however it went on from that and developed into a lengthy treatise on how governors of the State should regulate their conduct to enable them to give the very best service to their country. It even claims to be the earliest treatise on moral philosophy in the English Language.

Sir Thmas Elyot nails his colours to the mast straight away, by saying there must be order in the world; he saw democracy as a many headed monster, which made it too easy for ruthless people to gain power. He took guidance from the bible in declaring there must be a monarch at the head of Government that has supreme authority, but he should seek good counsel from governors who should be selected from the ruling classes and be educated and trained in accordance with the advice in Elyot's boke. Elyot saw a long period of education before students should take their place in government. It should start by ensuring their nursemaids were clean and healthy gentlewomen and at the age of seven they should be encouraged to learn Latin. Every effort should be made to find the best tutor for their developing years and youths should not be taken out of education until 21 years old. He was very much against them being trained as lawyers from the ages of 13-15. He advocated an all round education but based on the classics.

It soon becomes clear that Elyot was a humanist as increasingly examples are taken from the Greek and Roman classics of the past. There are examples from the old testament of the bible, but these are heavily outweighed by references to ancient scholars and writers. Children should study rhetoric and the classical poets, Roman histories and Greek ethics and they should also study the arts, but not to develop craftsman's skills. They should of course be well trained in physical activities, he particularly recommends wrestling and they should learn to appreciate music and be able to dance well. His fairly lengthy avocation of dance leads him on to introduce the first of his moral virtues Prudence. The second book of the three defines the virtues needed for a governor and plunders the classical library to demonstrate those virtues. Concentrating on virtues rather than vices keeps the book firmly on the path of being a teaching manual rather than a sermon. The third book concentrates on moral philosophy with a long section on Justice before hitting on the main theme of experience leading to understanding.

Although Elyot is clearly a humanist this is not at the expense of his Christian belief. He stresses the importance of the history contained in both the old and new testaments, but emphasise the fact that learned Christian scholars never rejected or disproved the histories of the Greeks and Romans. Reading the ancients can only enhance knowledge and understanding, which are essential qualities for his governors.

This is a fascinating document for people with a deeper interest in the period. There are many and some fairly long examples which Elyot takes from the classics and so you may need an annotated version. I read it without, but online in the original English, but with a glossary. I also read the 1883 (edited from 1531) by Henry Herbert Stephen Croft which has an excellent biography of Sir Thomas Elyot. Not one for the casual reader but as an example of the thinking in the scholarly world in early Tudor England; it is essential and so 5 stars.… (meer)

Elyot is, first of all, a fine classicist. But before that, he recommends the exercise best for a leader, archery of course--what he calls, "shooting." He dissuades from bowling, "in bowling oftentimes too much [strength is used] whereby the sinews be too much strained." "In like wise football [soccer], wherein is nothing but beastly fury and extreme violence; whereof proceedeth hurt, and consequently rancour and malice tdo remain with them that be wounded..."
Elyot's paragraph review of Odysseus landing naked among the Phaeacians, yet so majestic the King wants his daughter to marry him: "without apparel or servant, yet such a wonderful majesty in his countenance and speech, that the king of the country, named Alcinous, in that extreme calamity, wished that Ulysses would take his daughter Nausicaa to wife." Wish I'd recalled this when I taught the Odyssey for many years.
He recommends Claudian's verses to Theodosius and Honorius be posted on the wall of a ruler's room,
including, "Thou shalt be deemed then worthy for to reign,/ When of thyself thou winnest the mastery."
He makes the point that monstrous emperors like Nero, Caligula, Domitian, Commodus, Heliogabulus all found ribalds to act as they themselves did. As an American in the 2010s, we may perceive our rulers, our legislatures, awash in money to buy their continued rule. But their greed itself creates more followers who also value the money over the electorates' needs.… (meer)