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Sir Thomas Elyot was (and remains) Carlton's most famous resident. High resolution versions of the above portraits of Thomas Eliott and Lady Margaret Eliot by the artist Holbein are available from the Web Gallery of Art - they are recommended viewing as the artist is exceptional, even though these are chalk sketches. These were created in 1532-1533, and the originals are in the Royal collection at Windsor. Sir Thomas Elyot was an author, reluctant diplomat, and Member of Parliament for Cambridgeshire. He compiled the first Latin-English dictionary in 1538. Although he was probably not born in Carlton he moved to Carlton in 1530 when he was around 40 to concentrate on his writing, and when he died here in 1546 he was buried in a tomb in the Church. One of his books, "The Boke named The Governour", is readable free online here - you will need to read the associated glossary though! It appears that he spent much of his life trying unsuccessfully to avoid higher and higher offices and honours, each which paid him less and yet involved higher expenses! PedigreeThomas was the first son of Sir Richard Elyot (of Wiltshire and London) and his first wife Alice Delamere (daughter of Sir Thomas Delamere of Aldermaston, Berkshire). Alice was the widow of Sir Thomas Daubridgecourt and she already had several children. Her parents were Sir Thomas Delamere and Elizabeth Findern. In around 1510 he married Margaret Aborough daughter of John Aborough of of Downton, Wiltshire (or Margaret Barrow [ref 2]). He was knighted in 1530. His nephew (his sister Margery's son), George Puttenham (~1529-1591), was an English courtier, generally acknowledged as the author of the anonymous "The Arte of English Poesie (1589)", available online here. [Refs 10,11] His other sister Eleanor likely became a nun, and little is known of her, possibly she died young. Birth of ElyotIt is calculated that Thomas Elyot was been born around 1489-1490, but no record has yet been found of this event. No one seems to agree where he was born. It is assume that he was born in Wiltshire. However an internet
page listing the books in the library of Adam Winthrop (1548-1623)
transcribes Winthrop's own handwritten comment in the front of his copy of a book by
Alexander Severus, "Image of Government", translated from Greek to
English by Sir Thomas Eliot (London, 1540): The book currently resides with the New York Society Library [136]. So this Mr Bale certainly believed that he was born in Suffolk. Education of Thomas ElyotDue to his literary achievements both Cambridge and Oxford universities claim to have Elyot as an Alumnus. By his own account Thomas Elyot was 'continually trained in some daily affairs of the public weal ... almost from childhood'. His father, a prominent lawyer of west country stock, was appointed a justice of assize for the western circuit in 1506, and employed his son as clerk on the circuit from about 1510. Meanwhile, the humanistic studies which Elyot was to turn to such good use in later years were not neglected. He says himself 'that he was educated in his father's house and not instructed by another teacher from his twelfth year, but led by himself into liberal studies and both sorts of philosophy', a sufficient refutation of the claim made by both universities to have taught him. He also made some study of medicine, being instructed in the works of Galen and Hippocrates by 'a worshipful physician and one of the most renowned', apparently Thomas Linacre. This prodigious programme of self-education was to bear fruit in his writings, where his early reading is marshalled in a vast array of quotation and allusion. CarltonHis father Sir Richard Elyot died in 1522, leaving Thomas as heir and executor of a complicated estate, which included a library of French and Latin books and some fine manuscript primers. However, one manor, that of Long Combe, Oxfordshire, was bequeathed to Thomas Fynderne of Carlton, Cambridgeshire, a relative by marriage (nephew of his wife?) whose death the next year made Elyot heir to both Long Combe and the Carlton estates, although at the cost of four suits in Chancery which lasted for more than a year and cost him £100. He was to make his residence at Long Combe from 1522 until 1530, when he moved to Carlton. In 1528 he purchased the wardship of his cousin, Erasmus Pym, ancestor of the great Parliamentarian. Elyot QuotationsSo, these quotations aren't likely to be wildly useful, but if you need a quotation with a local connection, on the subjects of pheasants or temperance, then you're in luck: "Fesaunt excedeth all fowles in sweetnesse and holsomnesse, and is equall to
capon in nourishynge" - The Castle of Helth (ch. VIII)
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1490 | Thomas Elyot born (approximately 1489-1490) |
1510 | Thomas marries Margaret Aborough |
1511 | Accompanies his father on the western circuit as clerk to the assize (his father) a post he holds until 1528 |
1522 | His father, Sir Richard Elyot dies, leaving his Oxon. estates to Sir Thomas Fynderne of Carlton |
1523 | Sir Thomas Fynderne dies, leaving his estates in Carlton and Oxon. to Elyot |
1523 | Made Clerk of the Council (until 1530) arranged by Wolsey |
1530 | Elyot moves to Carlton. Is made a Knight. |
1531 | Writes "The Boke named the Governour", which was commended by King Henry VIII |
1531 | October: Henry VIII makes Elyot ambassador to the Emperor, Charles V, in order to secure divorce with Catherine. |
1532 | January: Recalled as ambassador, but stays abroad, visits Germany |
1532 | April: Attempts to capture Tyndale in the Netherlands, possibly half-heartedly. |
1532 | June: Returns to England, Henry VIII's opinion of him appeared diminished |
1532 | November: Appointed sheriff of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire |
1533 | Required to attend coronation of Anne Boleyn - his sympathies lay with Catherine |
1538 | The first Latin-English dictionary is published. |
1538 | Purchases from Thomas Cromwell a manor in Carleton adjoining his own for £790 |
1538 | Dissolution of the monasteries |
1539 | Writes the "The Castel of Helth" (possibly 1533?, published 1534) |
1539 | Sits in Parliament for the only recorded time. |
1540 | One of those appointed to receive Anne of Cleves to England |
1540 | Writes "The Defense of Good Women" |
1546 | Elyot dies, and is buried in a tomb in Carlton Church |
1. Victorian County History, A History of Cambridgeshire, Volume VI, pp 148-157
2. "The Life and Times of Sir Thomas Elyot" by Pearl Hogrefe, Iowa State University Press, 1967.
3. 1911 Edition Encyclopedia, Thomas Elyot page. This looks like it was OCRed badly...
10. Encyclopedia Britannica Online, George Puttenham page
11. University of Toronto English Library, George Puttenham page.