Early Tudor Historiography, 1485-1548 Author(s): William Raleigh Trimble Reviewed work(s): Source: Journal of the History of Ideas,

Vol. 11, No. 1 (Jan., 1950), pp. 30-41 Published by: University of Pennsylvania Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2707450 . Accessed: 23/10/2012 05:07
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EARLY TUDOR HISTORIOGRAPHY, 1485-1548

BY WILIAM RALEIGH TRIMBLE

The patterns of historical writing which wereprominent under the early Tudors were at once a measureof the influence of cultural,patriotic, and religious currents within England on contemporaryhistoriography, and a testof the degreeto which theEnglish peopleabsorbedthemoreadvancedhistoriographical methods alreadydevelopedduring theItalian Renaissance. Taking as the basis for this studythe years 1485 to 1548fromthe accession of HenryVII to the publicationof Edward Hall's The Vnion of the two noble and illustrefameliesof Lancastreand Yorke-these patterns maybe developedfrom an analysis of the historieswritten duringthis period listed in Pollard and Redgrave's A Short-TitleCatalogue of Books Printed in ninetythreebooks mentioned whichcan be consideredas histories; of these,twenty six were printedin one editiononly,while theremaining sixtysevenincludetwo or moreeditionsof twenty two titles. Twenty nine of the total are translations fromother languages,chiefly Latin and French,and nineteen othersare apparently translations, though not so indicated. Seven books are in Latin.2 A selection of certainof these worksshowedthat the Renaissance tendency to writehistorymore critically was but slightly feltuntilthe thirddecade of the sixteenth century. During the
'A. W. Pollard, G. R. Redgrave and others, A Short-TitleCatalogue of Books Printed in England, Scotland, and Ireland . . . 1475-1640 (London, 1926). Since the publicationof the Short-TitleCatalogue the omissionof various works and the inclusionof ghost editionshave been reported. Though thereis an admittedneed for revision,the writerfeels that the numberand importance of the librarieswhose holdingswere catalogued and the care exercisedin preparingthe volume make any pattern of historiographicaltrends he establishes sufficiently valid, even though only tentative, that any errorsand omissionsin the Short-TitleCatalogue will not seriouslyalter them. 2 The writer was able to controlthe greaternumberof these books; this,however,leaves a possible marginof errorin acceptingthesefigures as whollyaccurate. The types of works consideredas historiesincluded translationsof classical, medieval, and contemporary histories,chronicles, religious polemics obviouslyintended to be considered as histories, accountsof individualmilitary campaigns,and lives of importantmen. 30

England, Scotland, and Ireland ...

1475-1640.1 In it there are

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years from 1485 up to the 1530's the two main types of histories published were chronicles and translations of non-English historians, ancient, medieval, and contemporary.3 The chronicles were invariably characterized by an uncritical attempt to record the historyof England fromthe beginningof creation to the date of writing,and without any sense of discriminationBiblical narratives and fictitiousevents were included.4 Thus, for example, the Cronycles of the londe of Englond, printed at Antwerp in 1493,5 and The Cronyclesof Englande, published at London in 1515,6 trace in detailed sequence the historyof Britain before and after Christ, giving names of kings and records of events for which there is no substantiation. Generally, even in the better writtenchronicles,it is not until the narrative reaches the early Middle Ages that some elementsof authentic history, other than the Biblical accounts, appear; and only when later centuries are treated is there any fair degree of reliability. The reason for this constantrepetitionof so many inaccuracies and mythslies in the fact that, centuryafter century, previous chroniclerswere followed as possessing authority,with little,if any, attempt to judge the accuracy of what was related. Since a strongreligious strain is the dominatingfactorthroughreferred out the chronicles,any historical motivationis but briefly to and little evident. As far as it existed, it mightbe summed up in the opening words of The Cronyclesof Englande: or of relygyon, of crysten to al creatures yt it is necessary In so moche to knowetheyrprynceor and machomytes fals relygyion, or gentyles to obey. Soo it is commodyous thatreygne upon themand them prynces of theyr to knowetheyrnoble actes and dedes,and the circumstaunce lyues.7
3A large part of the latter fifteenth and early sixteenth century books listed in the Short-Title Catalogue consisted of translations of such writers as Sallust, Froissart,and Boccaccio, the lives of famousmen of previous ages, and such events as the fall of Troy. 4 The chronicles invariablyincludedthe traditionalmythological account of the namingof Britain and the origin of its people as told in the stories of Albyne and her sistersand of Brute. 5 The writer in this and certain subsequent titles and names of cities has modernizedthe spelling to some extent. 6 It is stated in the prologue (fol. ai (r.)) that this chroniclewas originally writtenin 1483. Other editionswere printedin 1542, 1543, and 1544. 7 The Cronycles of Englande (London, 1515), fol. ai(r.). The writer has modernizedthe punctuationand certain of the words.

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as a measure both of the type of interest and It is significant of the cultural advancement of the early Tudor period, that several of the medieval chronicles,revised and brought up to date, went througha number of editions. Two which were very representative of this group were Ranulphus Higden's Polychronicon8 and The Chronicle of Jhon Hardyng.9 The former,in its original Latin version, treated up to the year 1357,10and the later editions were brought up to 1495 by the printer, Wynkyn de Worde,'" fromthe English translation made in 1387 by John Trevisa.'2 The purpose of this chronicle, according to de Worde in his preface, was moral: fromthe records of the past a man is able to learn what to do and what to avoid, and thus may profitto his own happiness by avoiding others' misfortunes. Histories, therefore, are more full of wisdom and better teachers than elderly The chronicler,interestinglyenough, in following the usual medieval method of gatheringfrom many writers,clearly formuof opinion necessarily lated this into the principle that differences creep into history after a lapse of time, and a chronicler should the truth of what he wrote, but not be considered as affirming only of what he had seen in other books.'4 JohnHarding, in writinghis Chronicle,accordingto the preface by the printer,Richard Grafton,used little discriminationin recording events before his time, though he worked diligently to present accurately the more recenthistoryof his own day.'5 Nevertheless,his narrative showed, the printerfurthercharged, that by patriotism,as instanced by he allowed himselfto be influenced his animositytowards the Scots, and his desire for their subjectionto the English,'6and by "popish" errors.'7 The printer,how8 Higden's Polychronicon was publishedin whole or in part in 1495, 1498, and 1527. The writerused the 1527 edition,which was printed at Southwark. 9 There were two editionsin 1543, both printedby Richard Graftonat London. 10 Polychronicon, fol. aaiii(r.). Higden died in 1364. "Ibid. 12 Leslie Stephen and Sidney Lee (eds.), Dictionary of National Biography (London, 1891), XXVI, 365. fol. aaii(r.). l13Polychronicon, 14 Ibid., fol. iiii(v.). 15 The Chronicleof Jhon Hiardyng,preface [no pagination]. John Harding in the fifteenth flourished century,dying about 1465. 'I Ibid. 17 Ibid. men.'3

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ever, refrained from altering the text, since he felt Englishmen " fromwhich would be glad to know " the blindnesse of those tymes theyhad now been freed by God.'8 Only the firstpart of the chronicle was writtenby Hardyng, and the various extantmanuscriptsshow that he revised it a number of times to please successive patrons.'9 It is in verse, while Grafton put his subsequent additions in prose, to maintain, he said, the " eloquence and greate grace " in which the original sources were written.20 But the printer presented no advance in as he adhered in his sections to the pattern of the historiography, medieval chronicles. In the years of the Tudor era before the decade of the 1530's two chroniclers,Robert Fabyan in The New Chronicles of England and France,21and JohnRastell in The Pastime of People or the Chroniclesof Divers Realms,22indicated, though only in a small way and in chronicles of minor importance,the beginnings of a trend towards a more critical and a more discriminatingtype of history. Robert Fabyan flourishedunder Henry VII and during the firstfew years of Henry VIII's reign. His intentionin writing his Chronicles was to harmonize discordant elements in previous he has been subhistories;23 but despite his evident erudition,24 jected to the criticism,very true of all chroniclers,that he lacked
18 Ibid. 19Leslie Stephen and Sidney Lee (eds.), Dictionary of National Biography (London, 1890), XXIV, 363. 20 Ibid., Grafton'sContinuation, fol. i(v.). 21 Between 1485 and 1548 four editionsof Fabyan's work were published: in 1516, 1533, and two in 1542. The writerused the volume edited by Sir Henry Ellis in 1811 at London, taken from the 1516 edition. A critical discussion of Fabyan's Chroniclesis contained in Wilhelm Busch, England under the Tudors, trans.Alice M. Todd (London, 1895), Vol. I, King Henry Vii., 402-15. On pages which,being a variation from the general 400-02 Busch treats the city chronicle, chroniclepattern only by includingspecial details concerningmunicipal activities in this paper. has not been given special treatment and institutions, in 1529. The writerused the edition 22 John Rastell published this chronicle publishedat London in 1811. 23 Sir Henry Ellis (ed.), The New Chronicles of England and France . . . by Robert Fabyan (London, 1811), xiii; Leslie Stephen (ed.), Dictionaryof National Biography (London, 1889), XVIII, 114. 24 Ellis, The New Chroniclesof England and France . . . by Robert Fabyan, xiii; Dictionary of National Biography, XVIII, 114.

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of Divers Realms, published in 1529.30 He declared, for instance, that the storyof Albynewas fictitious and improbable,lacking any proof in England or corroboration in histories written in other countries,where some of the scenes were laid; rather, it was a subject of ridicule among other peoples.3' The long-honored stories of Brute and of Arthur, the latter long held with great pride among Englishmen, were likewise rejected as unlikely of The value of Rastell's work lies precisely in the use of a discriminatingjudgment between what is certain and what is probable or improbable. Though his book is admittedly of less importance than those of his contemporaries, Vergil and Hall, nevertheless he too, typifiedthe development of a skeptical attitude towards accepting past authorities without probing more deeply to establish the validity of what they asserted.
25 Dictionaryof National Biography,
26

dentin JohnRastell's The Pastime of People or The Chronicles

a well-balanced sense of discretion in appraising the works of other writers,25 and that his value as an historian is chiefly when he concerned himself with his own times.28 His unreliability in citing authorities27 and his adherence to the general form of the medieval chronicle, including in his book unsubstantiated traditional events and mythologicalelements,detract fromthe purpose of his work as a history of England and France. On the other hand, he made some attempt to introduce critical judgments, as when he accused Robert Gaguin, whom he used as his source for French history,of partiality towards France;28 and he exhibited an attitude of doubt towards certain phenomena of a somewhat superstitiousnature.29 The Renaissance spirit of historical criticismis muchmore evi-

truth."2

Ibid.

XVIII, 114.
. . .

27 Ellis,

xiil-x1v.

The New Chroniclesof England and France

by Robert Fabyan,

28 Ibid., xvi-xvii. Fabyan's criticism of Gaguin on page 288 is an interesting example of his methodof analyzing the weak points in another chronicler. 29 Ibid., xvi. 30JohnRastell, an Oxfordgraduate,engaged duringhis career in law, politics, and printing.

Rastell (London, 1811), 4-5. 32 Ibid., 5-7, 106-107.

31 The Pastime of People, or The Chronicles of Divers Realms . . . by John

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During the decade of the 1530's and the 1540's English historiography assumed a somewhat different picture. Though chronicles continued to be written and the older ones to be reprinted, and thoughtranslations of non-Englishhistorical works continued to be published, the importance of these was diminished by the effectof religious change and political events on historians, who now frequentlyutilized the pen to defend what was taking place and to praise the leaders of England. This new trend was evidenced in various ways. Translations of classical writings were published with introductionscolored by a nationalistic purpose. Contemporaryand past events were rewrittenin the light of new conditions and with a strong patriotic flavor. But only in one case-that of Polydore Vergil-was a history of England produced with the sole intentionof presentingan absolutely objective study. The contrast between such a high degree of impartiality and the intrusionof emotion and bias into a narrative is seen in analyzing the respective histories of Vergil and of Edward Hall. The former,an Italian cleric who became naturalized in England, brought to the study of history the methods of evaluating facts already developed in Renaissance Italy. He began his history in 1505, completingit around 1533, the firstedition being published at Basle in 1534, and the second in 1546.33 Throughoutall of Vergil's work runs a judicious treatmentof facts more characteristicof the histories of later centuries. It begins with a careful descriptionof the geography and of the people of England, in which,in handlingthe disputed question of the early inhabitants of Britain, he showed his idea of what a history should be: What kindeof peoplewerethe first inhabitants of Brittaine, whether theithatwerebreddein the contrie or otherwise straungers, it was never knowne yetsufficientlie or determined; wherebie it commethe to passe that oflongeseasonauthors havenotagreed thereof; as towching which thinge, lesteI showlde ether overrashelie plighte mietrouthe in affirminge, or on the other side getteenviebie refutinge or falsifleinge, I thought good in
33Sidney Lee (ed.), Dictionaryof National Biography (London, 1899), LVIII, 250, 252. PolydoreVergil's English Historyis not includedin the Short-TitleCatalogue, which specificallyexcluded from its scope books about England, printed outsidethat country and in a foreigntongue. The writerused Volume I, edited by Sir Henry Ellis froman early translationof the Latin original,and published by the Camden Society.

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sentences beefore the thisplace to repete there in order, and to laye them maiestandeto the arbitrethatall things ieysof thereader, to theintent which are inmenn(as it is requisite thosethinggs showlde ment of other bie causean Historie is a fullrehersall and declaration ofthings certaine), don,nota gesseor divination.34 In line with this more painstaking attitude he rejected muchof the then currentlyaccepted history of Britain as false and rash, including the story of Brute35and the writings of Geoffreyof Monmouth,which contained the story of Arthur.36 He further placed the blame for perpetuating falsehoods concerningthe origins of the British people on Henry Huntingtonand the author of the Polychronicon.37 Yet, Vergil, too, had his defects,which the great German historian,Wilhelm Busch, pointed out, thoughthese were less in regard to actual facts, than as to his chronologyof events before his arrival in England.38 The greatest of the native English historians of this period, Edward Hall, wrote a much more restrictedwork, limited to the reigns of Henry IV to Henry VIII, in The Vnion of the two noble and illustre famelies of Lancastre and Yorke.39 The chief defect of the book is that Hall, except for the reign of Henry VIII, which is his own original treatment,so used Polydore Vergil's history, interspersed with data from other writers, as to constituteto a large degree a free, and in places a literal, English translation.40 The result was that Hall involved himselfin contradictions, and in misinterpretations of Vergil. His history to the death of Henry VII must on this account be viewed as a faulty authority.41 The philosophy governing this work, as it is expressed in the dedication to Edward VI,42 is in the medieval tradition,covering
34 Sir Henry Ellis (ed.), Polydore Vergil's English History, Vol. I., The Period prior to the Norman Conquest (London, 1846), 26. 35Ibid., 30-31. 36 Ibid., 29. 37

in 1542 and two in 1548. 40 Busch,England underthe Tudors,I, 399-400; CharlesWhibley (ed.), Henry VIII by Edward Hall (London, 1904), I, vii-ix. 41 Busch, England under the Tudors, I, 399. 42 Hall died in 1547, and Richard Grafton,the printer, completedthe preparation of the book for publication.

38 Buseh, England under the Tudors, I, 397-98. 39 There were threeeditionsof Hall's book duringthe years 1485-1548, one

Ibid.,31.

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history with a religious and ethical purposiveness: "Oblivion" had blotted out the knowledgeof the origin of the world until God inspired Moses to invent letters (which Mercurie likewise did in Egypt), successfullypreventingthe events of later days frombeing lost. In this way the fame of nations and of great men was preserved, and knowledge of the value of virtue and the evil of vice was spread throughthe medium of the writtenword.43 The immediate purpose of this book was to gather and compile data frombothEnglish and foreignsources on the reigns from Henry IV onward, since hitherto they had been defectively recorded.44 The printer,Richard Grafton,added that Hall in later life became less studious and less careful,completinghis book only up to the twenty-fourth year of Henry VIII, and leaving the rest of his materials in pamphlets and papers, which Graftoncollected and printed withoutany subsequent additions.45 Like his contemporariesHall also viewed history in the light of political and dynastic events; but he had a further,special interest,that of describingthe activities of the society of his day.46 This wealth of detail is his greatest contributionto history,and it is not obscured even by his excessive loyalty to Henry VIII. Taking the treatmentof this monarch as the index of Hall's abilities, it must be said that he showed a marked inclination so to handle materials as to present his own biases, and to picture history as he wished it to be seen, whichis a marked change fromthe chronicles of preceding generations with their slavish acceptance of past authorities. Throughoutthe 1540's a recurringpoint of attack for patriotic Englishmen was Polydore Vergil's rejection of the story of Arthur. The noted antiquarian, John Leland, wrote a defense, Assertio inclytissimiArturij Regis Britanniae," in which he cited evidence to prove that Arthur had lived and reigned. And his the Protestant bishop John Bale, in A brefe Chroncontemporary, ycle concernyngethe Examtinacyonand death of . . . Syr Johan
43 Edward Hall, The Vnion of the two noble and illustre fameliesof Lancastre and Yorke (London, 1548), dedication,fol. aaii(r.). 44Ibi,d. fol. aaii(v-)45 Ibid., Grafton'saddress to the reader [no pagination]. 46 Whibley,Henry VIII by Edward Hall, I, xii-xviii. 47 Leland's book was published at London in 1544. In 1582 a translation was publishedat London by Richard Robinson,entitled A learnedand trueAssertionof the originalLife, Actes,and death of . . . Arthure, King of great Brittaine.

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Oldecastell, thelordeCobham,48 a bitterreligious tractwritten as an historical narrative, said of Polydore Vergil: in Englandeof the Popes Polydorus Vergiliusa collectour somtyme PeterPens and afterwarde Archedeacon of Wellys, hathin thispoynt deformed his wrytynges oure Englyshe greatlye, polutynge chronycles most shamefullye withhis Romishe lyes and otherItalyshebeggerye.Battels hathhe described thereat largewithno smalldiscommendynges of some princeswhichwere godlye,but the preuyepackynge of Prelates,and craftye of the spiritualte conueyaunce hathhe in eueryplace almost full properly passedouer. He was to famylyar withtheBysshoppes and toke to mocheof theyrcounsellwhan he compyled the XXVI bokesof his Englyshe hystorye.And not greatly is the lande beholden unto himin thatworke, foranyelargeprayse of erudicyon thathe hathgeuenit there. A syngular bewtye is it to a Christen regyon, whantheyr auncyent monumentes are garnyshed amonge others, with mene offreshe lytterature which therein hath small remembraunce or non. Unlesseit be Gildas,Bedas, Alcuinas, Joannes Scotus, Aldemus, Neubergus, and one or twomore, non are in thatwholeworke mencyoned concernyng that,as though Englande had alwayesbenemostbarrenof menne lerned. This do I not wryte in dysprayse of his lernynge, (whichI knowe to be veryeexcellent) but for theabusethereof beynge a mostsyngular gyft of God.49 The purpose of Bale's book was to defend the life and activities of the early fifteenth century Lollard leader, Sir John Oldcastle, against what to him were untrue statements by Vergil, whomBale accused of having made numerouserrors in his work.50 The bishop attemptedto substantiate his statementsby mentioning the sources he used and by including explanatory marginal notes, but any critical analysis was marred by his extreme bias against opposing viewpoints. Two examples of books treating non-English subjects which were used to promotepatriotic and quasi-religious causes are Anthony Cope's The Historieof Two theMosteNoble Capitainesof
the Worlde, Anniball and Scivio.5" and Paolo Giovio's A Shorte
48 Bale's book was published in 1544, perhaps at Marburgor Antwerp, and there was anothereditionprobablyin 1548 (the editionin the Short-TitleCatalogue numbered1277 is a ghost). Bale's mostnotedwork is his Illustriummaioris Britanniae ScriptorumSummarium, whichwas firstpublised in 1548. As it belongs more to literarythan to political and social history,it is not treated in this paper. 49Bale, A brefe Chronycleconcernynge . . . Syr Johan Oldecastell,fol. 5(r., v.). The writerhas made certainmodernizations in the spelling and punctuation. 50 Ibid., fol. 5 (v.) -7(r.). 51 Published at London in 1544.

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Treatise upon the Turkes Chronicles.52 Like other sixteenthcentury writers Cope showed both medieval and contemporaryinfluences. He expressed his theoryof historyin termsof time,which, he said, dominates all things and consumes them in its process, eventually revealing even the most hidden facts.53 Patriotism, too, motivated him. Since England at that time was engaged in war, it was a meritorious service to reproduce the heroic stories writers,for the of Hannibal and Scipio, gathered from different inspiration they might provide, and for the lessons they could teach Englishmen fromthe experiences of others in the past.54 The translation of the book by the noted Italian historian, Bishop Giovio, had, according to the dedicatory epistle, a quasireligious motive,as a study of the treatmentof Christian peoples by the Turks would make otherChristiansdesire a Crusade against the infidels.55 It is much more likely,however, that the translator intendedto deepen English animosityagainst the French arising from the currentwar, as Francis I of France had had the aid of the Ottoman Turks in his fightagainst the Emperor Charles V. The volume has certain features in the method of presentation which are of special interest. The translator,in order to verify facts in the text,placed substantiatingnotes in the margins drawn from reputable historians, and supplied other explanatory data for difficult and strange words. And to simplifythe translation, enabling it to be more widely read, he deliberately used the familiar tongue ratherthan the more antiquated Chaucerian English or unfamiliar terms which would have demanded a knowledge of
Latin.56

An example of the growthof interestin contemporaryhistory and of the more limited subjects now being treated was William Patten's The Expedicion into Scotlade of the . . . Duke of Soomerit was based on notes set.57 Published in the form of a diary,58 the author had made while a member of Somerset's expedition,
52

Translatedfromthe Latin by Peter Ashtonand publishedat London in 1546. Cope, The Historie of Two the Moste Noble Capitaines of the Worlde,Anniball and Scipio, fol. aii(r., v.). 54Ibid., fol. aiii(r.). 55 Giovio,A Shorte Treatise upon the Turkes Chronicles, dedicatoryepistle [no pagination]. 56 Ibid., preface [no pagination]. 57 Published at London in 1548. 58 Patten, Expedicion into Scotldde,dedication, fol.+ ii(r.).
53

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with corrections and additions from notes taken by Sir William Cecil.59 Even more than the author's personal relationship to the subject, the widespread public interest in a victory over the Scots in theirhomeland had caused him to write the book.60 Into it he breathed a strong air of patriotism and of loyalty to the Tudors, their claim to the kingdom of Scotland being upheld as just,61and the religious changes of Henry VIII being fully accepted, as shown by Patten's strong anti-papalist attitude. Throughout,Patten showed that he had taken diligent care to present his subject according to a careful and accurate plan. In both the preface and the text of the narrative there are explanatory marginal notes, and his referencestaken from other writers give fairly specific informationas to the exact location of the source. In its general structure,therefore,Patten's work, like Vergil's, Hall's, and Bale's, marks a very distinctdeparture from the histories of a generation earlier.62
* *I *k

Though various aspects of Renaissance culture began to affect English intellectuallife early in the Tudor era, there was no perceptible stimulationof any widespread interest either in history or in improved methods of historiography. Before the decade of the 1530's the chronicle,whether written contemporarilyor revised and improvedfroma medieval original,was the sole type of historyproduced; and in the main its traditional structureof an uncriticalreliance on past authorities,withpartial exceptionshere and there in the works of a few chroniclers,remained constant. When a new and radically different kind of history appeared in the 1530's and 1540's, it was due not to the influence of Renaissance historians on the Continent,but rather to the forces of religious change, political and military events, and a growing nationalism,whichwere unifiedby the strong leadership and exalted conception of the monarchy. The more marked characteristics this new historiographyevinced were the limited scope of events treated in.comparisonwith the broad sweep of the medieval chronicle, the greater discrimination and the greater degree of bias with
Piiij (v.) -Pv(r.). -591Ibid.,Y
60

61 Ibid.

Ibid., preface [pagination is defective].

62 Patten detractedsomewhatfrom the value of his judgment by including a certain amount of superstitionconcerningdreams.

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which data were now handled, and the evident purpose of making historya mediumto defendthe policies of the crown and to glorify England's past. Polydore Vergil, an Italian by birth,and a product of the Italian Renaissance in his historical methods, alone stands as an exception, for his stated purpose was to create an impartial history. Yet he aroused not imitation but opposition. ina definite, therefore, By the middle of the sixteenthcentury, in Engdigenous pattern of historiographywas clearly evolving land-a matter of historical importancebecause fromit developed the leading features which distinguished many of the histories writtenin the Elizabethan and Stuart eras. Universityof Tennessee.