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This dissertation has been microfilmed exactly as received 67-6366 ST. ONGE, Henry Orion, 1927- THOMAS CHURCHYARD: A STUDY OF HIS PROSE AND POETRY. The Ohio State University, Ph.D., 1966 Language and Literature, general University Microfilms, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan © Copyright by Henry Orion St. Onge 1967 THOMAS CHURCHYARD: A STUDY OF HIS PROSE AND POETRY DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Henry Orion St. Onge, A.E., M.A. ******* The Ohio State University 1966 Approved by Adviser Department of English ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Although it is perhaps in the natural order of things that a doctoral candidate acknowledges the aid and guidance of his adviser, in my case I feel that the circumstances are somewhat out of the ordinary. Therefore, I wish to make a special acknowledgment of the great debt I owe to my adviser. Professor Ruth W. Hughey. The debt is due not only to her expenditure of scholarship but is owed as well to the demands I have made on her kindness and generosity and patience. I would like also to acknowledge the understanding treatment I received from the Executive Committee of the Graduate School of The Ohio State University. It goes without saying that I thank the professors of the English Department of The Ohio State University who have taught me and encouraged me. Finally, I must express my gratitude to the staffs of - the libraries at The Ohio State University, Cornell Univer­ sity, St. Lawrence University, and the State University of New York. 11 VITA November 22, 1927 Born— Woonsocket, Rhode Island 1952 . , . A.B., Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island 1952 -I953 • • • Instructor, St. Dunstan's College of Sacred Music, Providence, Rhode Island 1953-1955 • • • Graduate Assistant, Department of Eng­ lish, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1955 • • • M.A., The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1955-1952 . Assistant Instructor, Department of English, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1962-1963 • • • Instructor, Department of English, V/aimea College, Richmond, Nelson, New Zealand 1965-1966 . Assistant Professor, Department of English, State University College at Potsdam, New York FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field; English Literature Medieval Literature. Professors Morton Bloomfield, Robert M. Estrich, and Francis L. Utley Sixteenth Century Literature. Professor Ruth Hughey Seventeenth Century Literature. Professor Edwin Robbins 111 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS............................. ii VITA ......................... iii Chapter I. BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION AND HISTORICAL BACKGROUND ........................ I II. TRAGEDIES, SATIRES, & EPITAPHS ....... 112 III. CHURCHYARD'S SOCIAL COMMENTARY ....... 202 IV. CHURCHYARD'S S T Y L E .................. 275 V. ASSESSMENT.......................... 517 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................... 524 IV CHAPTER I BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION AND HISTORICAL BACKGROUND From a very close reading of Thomas Churchyard's works, perhaps more can he learned about him than about most other literary figures of the English Renaissance. The most useful and valuable of his works are two poems : "A Tragicall Discourse of the Vnhappy Mans Life," from The Firste Parte of Churchyardes Chippes (1575)^^ and "A Storie Translated out of Frenche," in Churchyardes Charge (1580). In addition to these poems. Churchyard's very personal dedications and epistles to his readers, as well as his first-hand reports of foreign military actions and important domestic events, provide a substantial body of information about the man. Yet putting the information together in an orderly fashion meets with certain diffi­ culties. For one thing, except on rare occasions Churchyard does not trouble himself with chronology. Indeed, he con­ sciously avoids such a practice. Relating the deeds of brave soldiers in his Choise, he says: "Though I write ^Sigs. Hl-I5^. ^Sigs. AI-B2^. not the fournies in right order, as one that writes a Chronicle maie dooe, yet the matter that I write shalhe so true, that it shalbe needlesse to shewe what season, the causes were put in practise, or make mention of due order of the date and tyme, of suche noble enterprises, for your common Chronicles can sufficiently satisfie you in those poinctes."^ Perhaps Churchyard can be forgiven for thinking that the names and deeds of illustrious Elizabethan warriors would be recorded in detail, but he certainly could not have thought that the minutiae of his own career would be treated likewise. Yet in both of his autobiographical poems, he seems to "write not the fournies in right order" nor "to shewe what season, the causes were put in prac­ tise." Actually, neither "A Tragicall Discourse" nor "A Storie Translated out of Frenche" is entirely autobio­ graphical. The former aims chiefly to illustrate how man is at the mercy of circumstance— usually in the form of back-biting courtiers and fickle friends. Yet the first half of "A Tragicall Discourse" is clearly autobiographi­ cal: Churchyard speaks in the first person; he names ^A generall rehearsall of warres (1580), sig. K2. This work is usually referred to as Churchyard's Choise. commanders he served under and places where he fought; moreover, paralleling the text is a marginal gloss supply­ ing names, dates, and places. The last half of the poem, however, is given over to generalized comments on life and are reflections of many of his own problems, such as the vicissitudes of time and the caprice of fortune. "A Storie Translated out of Frenche" refrains somewhat from the turgid moralizing of the last half of "A Tragicall Discourse," but its autobiographical element lacks parti­ cularity. Its setting is "Picardie"; no contemporary names, dates, or places are mentioned. But there can be no doubt that Churchyard is writing of himself. There is the unmistakable allusion to Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, An Erie of birth, a god of sprite, a Tullie for his tong, Me thinke of right the world should shake when half his praise were rong. Oh cursed are those crooked crafts, that his owne countrey wrought. To chop of sutche a chosen hed, as our tyme nere forthe brought. These lines alone would be proof enough that the poem is autobiographical, for elsewhere Churchyard speaks of his "A Storie," Charge, sig. A2. attendance upon Surrey.^ Furthermore, there is such close agreement in the details of the poem with "A Tragicall Discourse" and other clearly autobiographical statements that "A Storie Translated out of Frenche" must be accepted as a thinly disguised story of Churchyard's own life. Thus from Churchyard's own works, it is quite possible to sketch in the highlights of his career. In point of fact, almost everything that has been written on Church­ yard, except for a handful of items in public records and private correspondence which I shall also cite, stems from the two poems just described. Hence rather than rely on secondary information, and misinformation, found in bio­ graphical notices on Churchyard, I shall stay as close as possible to the words of the poet himself, using the remarks of others only as they shed light on the historical background of the era. The earliest account of Churchyard's life is a brief mention in Fuller's Worthies (1662), p. 9. Winstanley's Lives of the Poets (1687), pp. 61-63, paraphrases Fuller and adds a little more information taken from "A Tragicall Discourse." The first extended treatment may be found in ^Dedicatory epistle of Charge, sig. *2^; dedicatory epistle to The Fcrtvnate Farewel to the ...Earle of Essex (1599), sig. A2"^ Anth-ony â Wood's Athenae Oxonienses (1591)*^ Still the most complete biography is in George Chalmers' Church­ yard *s Chips Concerning Scotland (1817)» pp. 1-56. Henry Adnitt's "Thomas Churchyard"^ purports to be an original study but in fact is a rewrite of Chalmers; Adnitt's only real additions are a few letters and a fuller bibliography of Churchyard's writings. A.H. Bullen's Dictionary of National Biography account of Churchyard makes no mention of Adnitt's work. Useful as all these works are, however, they suffer in common the disease of unsubstantiated assertions, of uncritical acceptance of earlier remarks. The only recent works which discuss Churchyard at any length are Charles A. Rahter's "Critical Edition of Church- g yard's Challenge (1593)" and Merrill H. Goldwyn's "Thomas Churchyard's Chippes Concerning Scotland ; A Critical, Annotated Edition."^ Rahter's biographical sketch (pp. xix-xxxix) follows previous studies closely, but does provide new information relating to the waning years of Churchyard's life. Goldwyn's edition of the Chippes con- ^Athenae Oxonienses, ed. Philip Bliss (London, 1815- 1820), I (1815), cols. 727-7 3 4. ^Transactions of the Shropshire Archaeological and Natural History Society, III (I8S0 ), 1-68. Q Dissertation, University of Pennsylvania (1958). ^Dissertation, Columbia University (1961). tains biographical material and sees Churchyard's spell­ ing idiosyncrasies as a device to spell phonetically. In The Vorthines of Wales, one of his most remembered works, Thomas Churchyard identifies his birthplace: Can Wales be nam'de, and Shropshiere be forgote, The marshes must, make muster with the rest: Shall Sallop say, their countreyman doth dote. To treate of things, and write what thinks him best. Wo sure such fault, were dubble error plaine. If in thy pen, be any Poets vayne. Or gifts of grace, from Skyes did drop on thee. Than Shrewsebrie Towne, thereof first cause must bee. Both borne and bred, in that same Seate thou wast, (Of race right good, or els Records do lye) From whence to schools, where euer Churchyard past. To natiue Soyle, he ought to haue an eye, Speake well of all, and write what world may proue. Let nothing goe, beyond thy Countries loue: Wales once it was, and yet to mend thy tale. Make Wales the Parke, and plaine Shropshiere the pale.

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