- John Skelton
John Skelton, also known as John Shelton (c. 1460 –
June 21 ,1529 ), Englishpoet , was born atDiss inNorfolk .Education
He is said to have been educated at Oxford. He certainly studied at Cambridge, and he is probably the "one Scheklton" mentioned by William Cole as taking his M.A. degree in 1484. In 1490,
William Caxton writes of him, in the preface to "The Boke of Eneydos compyled by Vyrgyle", in terms which prove that he had already won a reputation as a scholar. "But I pray mayster John Skelton," he says, "late created poete laureate in the unyversite of Oxenforde, to oversee and correct this sayd booke ... for him I know for suffycyent to expowne and englysshe every dyffyculte that is therin. For he hath late translated the epystlys of Tulle, and the boke of dyodorus siculus, and diverse other works ... in polysshed and ornate termes craftely ... suppose he hath drunken of Elycons well."The laureateship referred to was a degree in
rhetoric . In 1493 Skelton received the same honour at Cambridge, and also, it is said, atLeuven . He found a patron in the pious and learned countess of Richmond, Henry VII's mother, for whom he wrote "Of Mannes Lyfe the Peregrynacioun", a translation, now lost, ofGuillaume de Deguilleyule 's "Pèlerinage de la vie humaine". An elegy "Of the death of the noble prince Kynge Edwarde the forth," included in some of the editions of the "Mirror for Magistrates ", and another (1489) on the death ofHenry Percy , fourthearl of Northumberland , are among his earliest poems.Poet Laureate
In the last decade of the century he was appointed tutor to Prince Henry (afterwards Henry VIII). He wrote for his pupil a lost "Speculum principis", and Erasmus, in dedicating an ode to the prince in 1500, speaks of Skelton as "unum Britannicarum literarum lumen ac decus." In 1498 he was successively ordained sub-deacon, deacon and priest. He seems to have been imprisoned in 1502, but no reason is known for his disgrace. (It has been said that he offended Wolsey). Two years later he retired from regular attendance at court to become rector of
Diss , abenefice which he retained nominally until his death.Skelton frequently signed himself "regius orator" and poet-laureate, but there is no record of any emoluments paid in connection with these dignities, although the
Abbé du Resnel , author of "Recherches sur les poètes couronnez", asserts that he had seen a patent (1513-1514) in which Skelton was appointed poet-laureate to Henry VIII. As rector of Diss he caused great scandal among his parishioners, who thought him, saysAnthony Wood , more fit for the stage than for the pew or the pulpit. He was secretly married to a woman who lived in his house, and he had earned the hatred of the Dominican monks by his fiercesatire . Consequently he came under the formal censure ofRichard Nix , the bishop of thediocese , and appears to have been temporarily suspended. After his death a collection of farcical tales, no doubt chiefly, if not entirely, apocryphal, gathered round his name--"The Merie Tales of Skelton".During the rest of the century he figured in the popular imagination as an incorrigible practical joker. His sarcastic wit made him some enemies, among them Sir
Christopher Garnesche or Garneys,Alexander Barclay ,William Lilly and the French scholar,Robert Gaguin (c. 1425-1502). With Garneys he engaged in a regular "flyting," undertaken, he says, at the king's command, but Skelton's four poems read as if the abuse in them were dictated by genuine anger. Earlier in his career he had found a friend and patron in Cardinal Wolsey, and the dedication to the cardinal of his "Replycacion" is couched in the most flattering terms. But in 1522, when Wolsey in his capacity of legate dissolved convocation at St Paul's, Skelton put in circulation the couplet:"Gentle Paul, laie doune thy sweard
In "Colyn Cloute" he incidentally attacked Wolsey in a general satire on the clergy, "Speke, Parrot" and "Why come ye nat to Courte?" are direct and fierce invectives against the cardinal who is said to have more than once imprisoned the author. To avoid another arrest Skelton took sanctuary in
For Peter of Westminster hath shaven thy beard."Westminster Abbey . He was kindly received by the abbot,John Islip , who continued to protect him until his death. The inscription on his tomb in the neighbouring church of St Margaret's described him as "vales pierius".His Works
In his "Garlande of Laurell" Skelton gives a long list of his works, only a few of which are extant. The garland in question was worked for him in silks, gold and pearls by the ladies of the
countess of Surrey atSheriff Hutton Castle , where he was the guest of theduke of Norfolk . The composition includes complimentary verses to the various ladies concerned, and a good deal of information about himself. But it is as a satirist that Skelton merits attention. "The Bowge of Court" is directed against the vices and dangers of court life. He had already in his "Boke of the Thre Foles" drawn on Alexander Barclay's version of the "Narrenschijf " ofSebastian Brant , and this more elaborate and imaginative poem belongs to the same class. Skelton, falling into a dream atHarwich , sees a stately ship in the harbour called the "Bowge of Court", the owner of which is the "Dame Saunce Pere". Her merchandise is Favour; the helmsman Fortune; and the poet, who figures as Drede (modesty), finds on board F'avell (the flatterer), Suspect, Harvy Hafter (the clever thief), Dysdayne, Ryotte, Dyssymuler and Subtylte, who all explain themselves in turn, until at last Drede, who finds they are secretly his enemies, is about to save his life by jumping overboard, when he wakes with a start. Both of these poems are written in the seven-linedChaucerian stanza , but it is in an irregular metre of his own that his most characteristic work was accomplished."The Boke of Phyllyp Sparowe", the lament of Jane Scroop, a schoolgirl in the
Benedictine convent ofCarowe nearNorwich , for her dead bird, was no doubt inspired byCatullus . It is a poem of some 1,400 lines and takes many liberties with the formularies of the church. The digressions are considerable. We learn what a wide reading Jane had in the romances ofCharlemagne , of the Round Table, "The Four Sons of Aymon" and the "Trojan cycle". Skelton finds space to give an opinion ofGeoffrey Chaucer ,John Gower andJohn Lydgate . Whether we can equate this opinion, voiced by the character of Jane, with Skelton's own is contentious. It would appear that he seems fully to have realized Chaucer's value as a master of the English language. Gower's matter was, Jane tells us, "worth gold," but his English she regards as antiquated. The verse in which the poem is written, called from its inventor "Skeltonical," is here turned entirely to whimsical use. The lines are usually six-syllabled, but vary in length, and rhyme in groups of two, three, four and even more. It is not far removed from the oldalliterative English verse, and well fitted to be chanted by the minstrels who had sung the old ballads. For its comic admixture of Latin Skelton had abundant example in French andLow Latin macaronic verse. He makes frequent use of Latin and French words to carry out his exacting system of frequently recurring rhymes. This breathless, voluble measure was in Skelton's energetic hands an admirable vehicle forinvective , but it easily degenerated intodoggerel .By the end of the 16th century he was a "rude rayling rimer" (
Puttenham , "Arte of English Poesie"), and at the hands of Pope and Warton he fared even worse. His own criticism is a just one:"For though my ryme be ragged,
"Colyn Cloute" represents the average country man who gives his opinions on the state of the church. There is no more scathing indictment of the sins of the clergy before the
Tattered and jagged,
Rudely rayne beaten,
Rusty and moughte eaten,
It hath in it some pyth."Reformation . He exposes their greed, their ignorance, the ostentation of the bishops and the common practice ofsimony , but takes care to explain that his accusations do not include all and that he writes in defence of, not against, the church. He repeatedly hits at Wolsey even in this general satire, but not directly. "Speke, Parrot" has only been preserved in a fragmentary form, and is exceedingly obscure. It was apparently composed at different times, but in the latter part of the composition he openly attacks Wolsey. In "Why come ye not to Courte?" there is no attempt at disguise. The wonder is not that the author had to seek sanctuary, but that he had any opportunity of doing so. He rails at Wolsey's ostentation, at his almost royal authority, his overbearing manner to suitors high and low, and taunts him with his mean extraction. This scathing invective was not allowed to be printed in the cardinal's lifetime, but it was no doubt widely circulated in manuscript and by repetition. The charge of coarseness regularly brought against Skelton is based chiefly on "The Tunnynge of Elynoare Rummynge", a realistic description in the same metre of the drunken women who gathered at a well-known ale-house kept by Elynour Rummynge atLeatherhead , not far from the royal palace of Nonsuch."Skelton Laureate against the Scottes" is a fierce song of triumph celebrating the victory of Flodden. "Jemmy is ded And closed in led, That was theyr owne Kynge," says the poem; but there was an earlier version written before the news of James IV's death had reached
London . This, which is the earliest singly printed ballad in the language, was entitled "A Ballade of the Scottysshe Kynge", and was rescued in 1878 from the wooden covers of a copy of "Huon de Bordeaux ". "Howe the doutyDuke of Albany , lyke a cowarde knight" deals with the campaign of 1523, and contains apanegyric of Henry VIII. To this is attached an "envoi" to Wolsey, but it must surely have been misplaced, for both the satires on the cardinal are of earlier date.Skelton also wrote three plays, only one of which survives. "Magnificence" is one of the best examples of the
morality play . It deals with the same topic as his satires, the evils of ambition; its moral, "how suddenly worldly wealth doth decay," being a favourite one with him.Thomas Warton in his "History of English Poetry" described another piece "Nigramansir", printed byWynkyn de Worde in 1504, and dealing with simony and the love of money in the church; but no copy is known to exist, and some suspicion has been cast on Warton's statement.Illustration of the hold Skelton had on the public imagination is supplied from the stage. A play (1600) called "Scogan and Shelton", by
Richard Hathway andWilliam Rankins , is mentioned by Henslowe. InAnthony Munday 's "Downfall ofRobert, earl of Huntingdon ", Skelton acts the part ofFriar Tuck , andBen Jonson in his masque, "The Fortunate Isles", introduced Skogan and Skelton in like habits as they lived.Very few of Skelton's productions are dated, and their titles are here necessarily abbreviated. De Worde printed the "Bowge of Court" twice. "Divers Batettys and dyties salacious devysed by Master Shelton Laureat, and Shelton Laureate agaynste a comely Coystroune" have no date or printer's name, but are evidently from the press of
Richard Pynson , who also printed "Replycacion against certain yang scalers", dedicated to Wolsey. The "Garlande or Chapelet of Laurell" was printed byRichard Faukes (1523); "Magnificence, A goodly interlude", probably byJohn Rastell about 1533, reprinted (1821) for theRoxburghe Club . "Hereafter foloweth the Boke of Phyllyp Sparowe" was printed byRichard Kele (1550?),Robert Toy ,Antony Kitson (1560?),Abraham Veale (1570?),John Walley ,John Wyght (1560?). "Hereafter foloweth certaine bokes compyled by mayster Shelton ... including "Speke, Parrot," "Ware the Hawke," "Elynoure Rumpiynge" and others", was printed byRichard Lant (1550?), John King andThomas March (1565?), by John Day (1560). "Hereafter foloweth a title boke called Colyn Cloute and Hereafter ... why come ye nat to Courte?" were printed byRichard Kele (1550?) and in numerous subsequent editions. "Pithy, plesaunt and profitable workes of maister Shelton, Poete Laureate. Nowe collected and newly published" was printed in 1568, and reprinted in 1736. A scarce reprint of "Filnour Rummin" bySamuel Rand appeared in 1624.Five of Skelton's 'Tudor Portraits', including 'The Tunnying of Elynour Rummyng' were set to music by Vaughan Williams in or around 1935. Although he changed the text here and there to suit his music, the sentiments are well expressed. The other four poems are 'My pretty Bess','Epitaph of John Jayberd of Diss', 'Jane Scroop (her lament for Philip Sparrow)', and 'Jolly Rutterkin'. The music is rarely performed, although it is immensely funny, and captures the coarseness of Skelton in an inspired way.
See "The Poetical Works of John Shelton; with Notes and some account of the author and his writings", by the Rev. Alexander Dyce (2 vols., 1843). A selection of his works was edited by WH Williams (London, 1902). See also "Zur Charakteristik John Skeltons" by Dr Arthur Koelbing (Stuttgart, 1904); F Brie, "Skelton Studien" in "Englische Studien", vol. 38 (Heilbronn, 1877, etc.); A Rey, "Skelton's Satirical Poems..." (Berne, 1899); A Thummel, "Studien über John Skelton" (Leipzig-Reudnitz, 1905); G Saintsbury, "Hist. of Eng. Prosody" (vol. i, 1906); and A Kolbing in the "Cambridge History of English Literature" (vol. iii, 1909).
Family
John Skelton's lineage is difficult to prove. He was probably related to
Sir John Shelton and his children, who also came from Norfolk. Sir John's daughter,Mary Shelton , was a mistress of Henry VIII's during the reign of her cousin,Anne Boleyn . Mary Shelton was the main editor and contributor to theDevonshire MS , a collection of poems written by various members of the court.Margarey Wentworth , the celebrated beauty who became the mother of Henry VIII's third wife,Jane Seymour , was said to have inspired several of Skelton's verses.References
*1911
External links
* [http://www.poetsgraves.co.uk/skelton.htm Skelton's Grave]
* [http://www.literarynorfolk.co.uk/Poems/ware_the_hawk.htm Ware the Hawk]
* [http://www.literarynorfolk.co.uk/Poems/philip_sparrow.htm Philip Sparrow]
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