The Complete Works of Sir Thomas Wyatt the Elder Volume One: Prose

by Powell, Jason

• ISBN13: 9780199228607
• ISBN10: 0199228604
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2016-04-25
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Thomas Wyatt (1504?-42) may have written the first sonnet in English. His translation from Plutarch's Moralia was the first publication of a classical moral essay in English. He introduced continental forms such as ottava rima to the language, and his paraphrase of the Penitential Psalms sparked a century of popular psalm translations. Yet while decades of criticism have centered on a handful of his best-known poems, many others are poorly understood, in part because we lack an authoritative edition. This volume--the first in a planned two-volume collection of Wyatt's complete works--comprises scholarly editions of 35 letters or memoranda, Wyatt's Declaration from the Tower and his Defence speech against treason charges. It also includes the first scholarly edition of The Quyete of Mynde. Each text is extensively annotated, each letter has a prefacing headnote, and each grouping of texts is separately introduced. The recipient of one letter is identified here for the first time from new archival discoveries. Two letters of instruction from Henry VIII are included along with four appendices containing related documents. Biographical entries (totalling 17,000 words) identify and introduce 64 persons related to Wyatt's diplomatic service, including every known member of Wyatt's diplomatic household.

Author Biography

Jason Powell, Associate Professor of English, Saint Joseph's University

Jason Powell is Associate Professor of English at Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia. He co-edited Authority and Diplomacy from Dante to Shakespeare (Ashgate, 2013) with William T. Rossiter and has published widely on sixteenth century authors, including Wyatt, Sidney and Shakespeare. His essays have appeared in Huntington Library Quarterly, Sixteenth Century Journal, and Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America, among other venues.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations
Sigla
The Calendar
The Organization of Texts
Wyatt's Abbreviations
Editorial Principles
Relevant Dates
Part I: The Quyete of Mynde
Introduction
The Quyete of Mynde
Dedicated at Alington, 31 December 1527
Part II: Fatherly Letters
Introduction
Wyatt to his Son Thomas, Paris, 15 April 1537
Wyatt to His Son Thomas [Spain, Summer 1537?]
Part III: Diplomatic Correspondence
Introduction
(Instructions A) Henry VIII to Thomas Wyatt [England, 12 March 1537]
Wyatt to Viscount Lisle, Barbastro, 16 October 1537
Wyatt's Memorandum for Dudley [Barbastro?, on or just after 10 November 1537]
Wyatt to Viscount Lisle, Barcelona, 7 February 1538
Wyatt's Memorandum for Henry VIII [England, early June 1538?]
Wyatt to Cromwell, Hythe, 21 June 1538
Wyatt to Bonner, Valladolid, 22 September 1538
Wyatt to Henry VIII, Toledo [9 November 1538]
Wyatt's Memorandum for Hoby [Toledo, early December 1538]
Wyatt to Cromwell, Toledo, 2 January 1539
Wyatt to Bonner, Toledo, 23 February 1539
Wyatt to Bonner, Toledo, 3 March 1539
Wyatt to Cromwell, Toledo, [mid-March]-18 March 1539
(Instructions B) Henry VIII to Thomas Wyatt [England, 15 November 1539]
Wyatt to Henry VIII, Blois, 2 December 1539
Wyatt to Henry VIII, Blois, 16 December 1539
Wyatt and Tate to Henry VIII, Paris, 25 December 1539
Wyatt to Cromwell [Paris, 30? December 1539]
Wyatt to Henry VIII, Paris, 7 January 1540
Wyatt to Cromwell, Brussels, 22 January 1540
Wyatt to Henry VIII, Brussels, 3 February 1540
Wyatt to Cromwell, Brussels, 3 February 1540
Wyatt to Cromwell, Brussels, 10 February 1540
Wyatt to Cromwell, Brussels, 14 February 1540
Wyatt to Henry VIII, Brussels, 25 February 1540
Wyatt to Henry VIII, Ghent, 9 March 1540
Wyatt to Henry VIII, Ghent, 12 March 1540
Wyatt to Henry VIII, Ghent, 14 March 1540
Wyatt to Cromwell, Ghent, 21 March 1540
Wyatt to Cromwell, Ghent, 2 April 1540
Wyatt to Cromwell, Ghent, 5 April 1540
Wyatt to Cromwell, Ghent, 12 April 1540
Wyatt to Henry VIII, Ghent, 16 April 1540
Wyatt to [Cromwell] [England, between 26 May and 1 June 1540]
Part Four: Treason Trial Documents
Introduction
Wyatt's Declaration
[The Tower, Winter 1541]
Wyatt's Defence
[The Tower, Spring 1541?]
Additional Material
Coda
(Appendix A) Dudley's Memorandum
(Appendix B) Bonner's Accusations
(Appendix C) Hoby's Memorandum
(Appendix D) Wyatt's Reckoning
Endmatter
Descriptions
Works Cited
Biographies
Glossary
OED Antedatings