William Thynne (Editor)

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Title page of the 1532 printed edition of “The Dreame of Chaucer”, better known as “The Book of the Duchess”, published by William Thynne

William Thynne (around 1500 - August 10, 1546 ) was an English courtier . He is best known as the editor of the first major edition of Geoffrey Chaucer's works.

origin

The exact ancestry of William Thynne is unclear. He probably came from Shropshire , where his family was also known as Botfield , Boteville or Thynne alias Boteville . Presumably he attended a school in Oxford .

Service at the royal court

Perhaps Thynne was serving at the English royal court as early as 1518, and it is certain that in February 1524 he was the second head chef in King Henry VIII's kitchen . Before October 1526 he was promoted to the first chef master, for which he received an annual salary of £ 10. He was soon given other tasks. In July 1528 he was made bailiff of the Royal Park of Beaudley , and in July 1529 he became customs overseer for wool, hides and furs in the Port of London . In October 1529 he became administrator of the income from the royal property belonging to the Earldom of March and administrator of Gateley Park . Obviously Thynne was enjoying the king's favor. He was one of the courtiers who were granted an annual income of 100 marks in March 1532 . In May 1533 he served as an almsman on the occasion of the wedding of the king with Anne Boleyn , to which he was supposed to supervise the decoration of the celebration. Before April 1537, he was appointed chief overseer of the royal household, and before 1543 he became one of the two Masters of the Household . Before his death in 1546 he apparently held this office alone.

Thynne as editor

Thynne was demonstrably interested in literature during his time at the royal court. The poet John Skelton wrote most of his poem Colyn Cloute in Thynne's house in Erith , Kent . Thynne apparently collected manuscripts of works by Geoffrey Chaucer , some of which are now in Longleat , the later family seat of the Thynne family . Thynne studied Chaucer's works intensively. He compared different versions of his works, edited them and in 1532 commissioned the printer Thomas Godfray to compile an edition of Chaucer's works. In addition to the manuscripts in his possession, Thynne probably used a work published by Richard Pynson in 1526 with several works by Chaucer for his edition , but the edition of Thynne included works such as The Duchess's Book , The Legend of Good Women , Boece and The Treatise on the for the first time Astrolabe . The book was dedicated to Henry VIII. The dedication was probably written by Bryan Tuke , the king's secretary. Thynne also published volumes of poetry with works by John Lydgate , Thomas Hoccleve , Richard Roos and Robert Henryson . He probably commissioned Thomas Godfray to print the anti-Catholic work The Plowman's Tale around 1533 .

Family and offspring

Thynne was married to Anne, a daughter of courtier William Bond . With her he had a son:

Since his son was a minor when he died, Thynne's wife became his chief heir and executor. He was buried in All Hallows-by-the-Tower Church in London.

literature

  • JE Blodgett: Some printers' copy for William Thynne's 1532 edition of Chaucer . In: The Library, 6th ser., 1 (1979), pp. 97-113
  • JE Blodgett: William Thynne . In: Paul G. Ruggiers: Editing Chaucer: the great Tradition. Okla Pilgrim Books, Norman 1984. ISBN 0-937664-58-8 , pp. 35-52 and 255-259

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Thynne, William
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English court official and editor of the works of Geoffrey Chaucer
DATE OF BIRTH around 1500
DATE OF DEATH August 10, 1546