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UDAL, NICHOLAS (1504—1556)

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Originally appearing in Volume V27, Page 556 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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UDAL, See also:NICHOLAS (1504—1556) , See also:English schoolmaster, translator and playwright, author of the earliest extant English See also:comedy, Roister Doister, came of the See also:family of Uvedale, who in the 14th See also:century became lords of Wykeham, Hants, by See also:marriage with the heiress of the Scures. The name was probably pronounced Oovedale, as it appears as Yevedale, Owdall, Woodall, with other variants. He latinized it as Udallus, and thence anglicized it as Udall. He is described as Owdall of the See also:parish of St See also:Cross, See also:Southampton, 12 years old at See also:Christmas 1516, when admitted a See also:scholar of See also:Winchester See also:College in 1517 (Win. See also:Seed. Reg.). He was therefore not 14 (as See also:Anthony See also:Wood says) but 161 years of See also:age when admitted a scholar of Corpus Christi College, See also:Oxford, in See also:June 1520; he is called Wodall as a lecturer at that college in 1526 to 1528 (T. See also:Fowler, Ii 1st. C. C. C.). With See also:John See also:Leland he produced " dites " (ditties) " and interludes" (B.M.

MS. ,8A lxiv.) at See also:

Anne See also:Boleyn's See also:coronation on the 31st of May 1533. Leland's contributions are all in Latin; those of " Udallus," which See also:form the See also:chief See also:part, are mostly in English, the speeches being each spoken by a " See also:child," at Cornhill beside Leadenhall," "at the Conducte in Cornhill " and " at the little Conducte in Cheepe." His Floures for Latine Spekynge, selected and gathered out of See also:Terence and the same translated into Englysshe, published by Bartlet (in aedibus Bertheleti), were dedicated " to my most sweet See also:flock of pupils, from the monastery of the monks of the See also:order of See also:Augustine," on the 28th of See also:February 1533—1534. There were no monks of that order, and whether See also:Austin Friars or Augustinian canons were meant is open to doubt. The See also:book was prefaced with laudatory Latin verses by Leland and by See also:Edmund See also:Jonson. The latter was a Winchester and Oxford contemporary of Udal's, in 1528 See also:lower See also:master (hostiarius) at See also:Eton, a See also:post which he See also:left to become master of the school of St Anthony's See also:Hospital, then the most flourishing school in See also:London. From the See also:dedication we may infer that Udal was See also:usher under Jonson and " the sweet flock "was at St Anthony's school next See also:door to Austin Friars. At Midsummer 1534 he became See also:head master of Eton (informator puerorum or Judi grammaticalis; Eton See also:Audit Book. 25—26 See also:Hen. VIII.). It has been suggested (See also:Die. Nat.

Biog.) that the Floures was dedicated to Eton boys in advance; but this is unlikely, as in those days See also:

schools never got their masters till the See also:place was vacant, or on the See also:verge of vacancy. At Eton Udal's See also:salary was £Io and £1 for See also:livery, with "See also:petty receipts " of 8s. 4d. for obits, 2s. 8d. for laundress, 2S. for candles for his chamber, and 23s. 4d. " for See also:ink, candles and other things given to the See also:grammar school by Dr Lupton, See also:provost." One of his school books, Commentaries on the Tusculan questions of See also:Cicero (ed, Berouldus, 1509), with the inscription " sum See also:Nicolai Udalli 1536," is in the See also:King's Library at the See also:British Museum. There was a yearly See also:play, 3S. being paid for the repair of the dresses of the players at Christmas, and Is. 4d. to a servant of the See also:dean of See also:Windsor for bringing his master's clothes for the players. A See also:payment for repair of the players' dresses recurs every See also:year. Udal has been credited (E. K. See also:Chambers, Mediaeval See also:Stage, ii.

144, 192) with producing a play at See also:

Braintree while See also:vicar there, recorded in the churchwardens' accounts for 1534 as " Placidas See also:alias See also:Sir Eustace." The play is actually called in the accounts (only extant in 17th-century extracts) " Placy Dacy alias St Ewastacy," and is the old play of Placidas, mentioned in the 9th century. Udal did not become vicar of Braintree till the 27th of See also:September 1537 (Newconrt's Repert. ii. 89). At Michaelmas he resigned the mastership of Eton to reside at Braintree, being called "See also:late schole-master wose roome nowe enjoyeth and occupieth Mr Tindall " in a See also:letter from the provost to See also:Thomas See also:Cromwell, then privy See also:seal, on the 7th See also:October 1537 (Lett. and Pa. Hen."VIII., 1537). He returned to Eton, however, or rather to Hedgeley, the school being removed there on See also:account of the See also:plague, at Midsummer 1537, being paid for the third and See also:fourth terms of the school year (Eton Audit Book, 29–30 Hen. VIIL). In October 1538 " Nicholas Uvedale, See also:professor of the liberal arts, informator and schoolmaster of Eton, " was licensed to hold the vicarage of Braintree, " with other benefices," without See also:personal See also:residence. The accounts of Cromwell for 1538 include " Woodall, the scholemaster of Eton, to playing before my See also:lord, £5." Presumably he brought a troupe of Eton boys with him. In that year he published a second edition of his Floures of Terence for the benefit of Eton boys. The often-questioned account of Thomas See also:Tusser (Five See also:Hundred Pointes of See also:Good Husbandrie) is typical of Eton at the See also:time, as Udal's predecessor See also:Cox is said in See also:Ascham's Scholemaster to have been " the best scholemaster and greatest beater of our time ":-- " From Powles I went to Aeton sent, To learn straightwaies the Latin phraise; Where fifty-three stripes given to me at once I had; For See also:fault but small or none at all It came to pass thus See also:beat I was;' See, Udall, see, the See also:mercie of thee to mee, poor lad." Udal's See also:rule of the See also:rod at Eton was brought to an abrupt conclusion by his being brought up before the privy See also:council on the 14th of See also:March 1540/1541 for being " counsail " with two of the boys, Thomas Cheney, a relation of the lord treasurer of the See also:household, and Thomas Hoorde, for stealing some See also:silver images and See also:chapel ornaments. He denied the See also:theft, but confessed to a much more scandalous offence with Cheney, and was sent to the See also:Marshalsea See also:prison.

He tried, but failed, to get restored to Eton. Attempts have been made to whitewash him. But his own See also:

confession, and an abject letter of repentance with promises of See also:amendment, addressed (probably) to Wriothesley, a See also:Hampshire See also:man and a family friend, cannot be got over. It shows that he was a See also:bad schoolmaster as well as an immoral one, since he pleads " myn honest chaunge from See also:vice to See also:vertue, from prodigalitee to frugall lyving, from See also:negligence of teachyng to assiduitee, from play to studie, from lightness to gravitee." In 1542-1543, after the See also:bursar of Eton had ridden up to London to the provost, Udal was paid " J3s. 4d. in full See also:satisfaction of his salary in arrears and other things due to him while he was teaching the See also:children "; but on the other See also:side of the account appears an See also:item of " 6os. received from Dr See also:Coxe for Udal's debts." So no See also:money passed to Udal. He seems to have maintained himself by translating into English, in 1542, See also:Erasmus's Apophthegms and other See also:works. In 1544 he published a new edition of the Floures of Terence. He seems to have taken a schoolmastership in See also:Northumberland or See also:Durham, as Leland in one of his Encomia speaks of him, probably at this time, as translated to the See also:Brigantes. He seems to have been made to resign his living at Braintree, a successor being appointed on the 14th of See also:December 1544. He purged himself, however, by composing the See also:Answer to (he Articles of the Commoners of See also:Devonshire and See also:Cornwall (See also:Pocock; Troubles of the See also:Prayer Book of 1549, Camd. See also:Soc., new See also:series, 37, 141, 193), when they See also:rose in See also:rebellion in the summer of 1549 against the First Prayer Book of See also:Edward VI. In 1551 he received a patent for See also:printing his See also:translation of See also:Peter See also:Martyr's two works on the See also:Eucharist 'and the See also:Great See also:Bible in English (Pat.

4 Edw. VI. pt. 5, M. 5, See also:

Shakespeare Soc. iii. See also:xxx.). He was rewarded by being made a See also:canon of Windsor on the 14th of December 1551. On the 5th of See also:January " after the See also:common reckoning 1552 " (i.e. 1551/2) he edited a translation of Erasmus's Paraphrases of the Gospels, him-self translating the first three, while that on St John was being translated by the princess See also:Mary, till she See also:fell sick and handed her See also:work over to Dr See also:Malet. The work was done at the See also:suggestion and expense of the See also:dowager See also:queen Katharine, in whose See also:charge Mary was. A translation by Udal of Geminus's Anatomie or Compendiosa See also:talus anatomiae delineatio, a huge See also:volume with gruesome plates, was published in 1553." Udal's See also:preface is dated the loth of See also:July 1552 " at Windesore. In June and September 1553 (Trevelyan Pap. Camd. Soc.

84, ii. 31, 33) " Mr Nicholas Uvedale " was paid at the See also:

rate of £13, 6s. 8d. a year as " scholemaster to Mr Edward See also:Courtney, 1 Tusser was a chorister of St See also:Paul's. " Sweete mistresse, where as I love you nothing at all, Regarding your substance and richnesse chiefe of all," and so on; whereas it was meant to read " Sweete mistresse, whereas I love you (nothing at all Regarding your substance and richnesse) chiefe of all, For your personage, beautie, demeanour and wit." The play was entered at Stationers' See also:Hall, when printed in 1566. Only one copy is known, which was given to Eton by an old Etonian, the Rev. Th. See also:Briggs, in 1818, who privately printed See also:thirty copies of it. As the See also:title-See also:page is gone the only See also:evidence of its authorship is See also:Wilson's See also:quotation. Wilson being an Etonian, it has been argued that his quotation was a See also:reminiscence of his Eton days, and that the play was written for and first per-formed by Eton boys. But the occurrence of the quotation first in the edition of 1554, and its See also:absence in the previous See also:editions of 1551 and 1552, coupled with the absence of anything in the play to suggest any connexion with a school, while the See also:scene is laid in London and among London citizens and is essentially a London play, furnish a strong See also:argument that Roister Doister first appeared in 1553, and therefore could not have been written at Eton or for Eton boys. Nor could it have been written at See also:Westminster School or for Westminster boys, as argued by Professor See also:Hales in Eng. Studien (1893) xviii.

408. For though Udal did become head master of Westminster, he only became so nearly two years after Wilson's quotation from Roister Doister appeared. He was at Winchester in the See also:

interval, for See also:Stephen See also:Gardiner, See also:bishop of Winchester and See also:chancellor, by will of the 8th of See also:November 1555 (P.C.C. 3 Noodes), gave 40 marks (£26, 135. 4d.) to " Nicholas Udale, my scholemaister. " In what sense he was Gardiner's schoolmaster it is hard to guess. He was not head master or usher of Winchester College; but he may have been master of the old See also:City Grammar or High School, to which the bishop appointed (A. F. Leach, His,. Winch. See also:Coll. 32, 48).

The schoolhouse had been leased out for 41 years in 1544 but it is possible Gardiner had revived the school or kept a school at his See also:

palace of Wolvesey. At Westminster " Mr Udale was admitted to be scholemaster 16 Dec. See also:anno 1555 " (See also:Chapter See also:Act-Book). The last act of the See also:secular canons, substituted by See also:Henry VIII. for the monks, was the See also:grant of a See also:lease on the 24th of September 1556. When the monks re-entered, on Mary's restoration, of the See also:abbey (Nov. 21, 1556), the school did not, as commonly alleged, cease, nor had Udal ceased to be master (Shakespeare Soc. iii. xxxiv.) when he died a See also:month later. The parish See also:register of St See also:Margaret's, Westminster, under " Burials in December A.D. 1556 " records " 11 die Katerine Woddall," " 23 die Nicholas beinge within the See also:Tower of London, by virtue of the King's See also:Majesty's See also:Warrant "—the See also:young See also:earl of See also:Devon, who had been in prison ever since he was twelve years old. Queen Mary on the 3rd of December 1554 issued a warrant on Udal's behalf reciting that he had " at soundrie seasons convenient heretofore shewed and myndeth hereafter to shewe his See also:diligence in setting forth Dialogues and Enterludes before us for our royal disporte and recreacion, " and directing " the maister and yeomen of the See also:office of the Revells " to deliver whatever Udal should think necessary for setting forth such devices, while the See also:exchequer was ordered to provide the money to buy them (Loseley See also:MSS. See also:Kempe 63, and Hist. MSS. See also:Corn. See also:Rep. vii.

612). One of these interludes was probably Roister Doister; for it was in January 1553, i.e. 1554, that Thomas Wilson, master of St Katharine's Hospital by the Tower, produced the third edition of The Rule of See also:

Reason, the first See also:text-book on See also:logic written in English,which contains, while the two earlier editions, published in 1551 and 1552 respectively, do not contain, a See also:long quotation from Roister Doister. It gives under the heading of " ambiguitie, " as " an example of such doubtful See also:writing whiche, by reason of poincting, maie have See also:double sense and contrarie meaning . . taken out of an intrelude made by Nicholas Udal," the letter which See also:Ralph Roister procured a scrivener to compose for him, asking See also:Christian See also:Constance, the heroine, to marry him. Roister's emissary read it 556 Yevedale," i.e. Udal. Katharine was perhaps a See also:sister or other relation, as See also:Elizabeth Udall was buried there on the 8th of July 1559. The abbey cellarer's accounts ending Michaelmas 1557 contain a payment " to Thomas Notte, usher of the boys, £6, See also:ros., and to the scholars (scolasticis vocatis le grammer childern), £63, 6s. 8d.," showing that the usher carried on the school after Udal's See also:death. Next year (1557-1558) the abbey See also:receiver accounted for £20 paid to John Passey, (the new) schoolmaster, to See also:Richard See also:Spenser, usher, £15, and f133, 6s. 8d. for 40 grammar boys.

So it is clear that the school never stopped. Udal therefore was master of Westminster for just over two years. He died at the age of 52. Roister Doister well deserves its fame as the first English comedy. It is infinitely See also:

superior to any of its predecessors in form and substance. It has sometimes been described as a See also:mere See also:adaptation of See also:Plautus's See also:Miles Gloriosus. Though the central See also:idea of the play—that of a braggart soldier (with an impecunious See also:parasite to flatter him) who thinks every woman he See also:sees falls in love with him and is finally shown to be an See also:arrant See also:coward—is undoubtedly taken from Plautus, yet the See also:plot and incidents, and above all the See also:dialogue, are absolutely See also:original, and infinitely superior to those of Plautus. Even the final incident, in which the See also:hero is routed, is made more humorous by the male slaves being represented by maid-servants with mops and pails. The play was printed by F. See also:Marshall in 1821; in Thomas See also:White's Old English Dramas (3 vols., 1830) ; by the Shakespeare Society, vol. iii., the introduction to which contains the fullest and most accurate account of his See also:life; in Edward See also:Arber's reprints in 1869; and See also:Dodsley's Old Plays (1894), vol. iii. (A. F.

End of Article: UDAL, NICHOLAS (1504—1556)

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