Folger Shakespeare Library
CELM

Nicholas Udall

c.1505–1556

Abbreviation

  • Juhász-Ormsby — Ágnes Juhász-Ormsby, The Books of Nicholas Udall, N&Q, 254 (December, 2009), 507-12.

Introduction

Autograph Manuscripts and Inscriptions

Only a few examples of Nicholas Udall's handwriting have hitherto come to light. The most important is the autograph English verse ascribed to Vdallus and some of the Latin verse in the presentation copy of the verses written by Udall and John Leland to celebrate the Coronation of Anne Boleyn (*UdN 1). The identity of Udall's handwriting here is confirmed by that in the single known letter by him, among the Cotton papers (*UdN 5).

Otherwise Udall's hand is to be found in ownership inscriptions and annotations in some of his recorded books, now widely scattered and not always traceable. The exempla given entries below (*UdN 6-20), which are principally listed in Juhász-Ormsby, are clearly a small fraction of the number of books which he is known to have owned. No doubt other examples will come to light in due course.

Manuscript Copies and Miscellanea

Early manuscript copies of two prose and dramatic works that have been attributed to Udall are extant (UdN 2-3), but, except for an extract from a printed source (UdN 4), there is no manuscript of his most celebrated play, Roister Doister.

Some miscellaneous items not given entries may be mentioned. An early nineteenth-century transcript of a printed exemplum of Thersites (published 1562?), a play that has also been attributed to Udall, is at Yale (Osborn MS d 68). Certain of the Loseley Papers (formerly at Loseley Park, Guildford) which relate to the Office of Revels and to performances arranged by Udall are now in the Folger (MSS L.b.23; L.b.26; L.b.302). An indenture between John Ryther and the money-lender Benjamin Gonson acknowledging that Ryther had handed over 66 bills, including one of Udall's of 5 February [1544/5], was described in Hofman & Freeman's sale catalogue No. 21 (1968), item 83, and is now at Princeton (RTC01, box 21, fl. 10).

A list of Udall's writings, including works no longer preserved or identified, is supplied in John Bale, Scriptorum illustrium Maioris Brytanniae catalogus (Basle, 1557), p. 717.

Verse

[Verses made at the Coronation of Queen Anne]

Verses made for the coronation procession of Queen Anne Boleyn, 31 May 1533. First published in John Nichols, The Progresses and Public Processions of Queen Elizabeth, I (London, 1788), i-xx.

*UdN 1
Autograph
Autograph fair copy of Udall's English and Latin verses, together with John Leland's autograph Latin verses (LeJ 8), on sixteen quarto leaves.

This is presumably the copy presented to the Queen herself.

1533

Edited from this MS in Nichols and in F.J. Furnivall, Leland's and Udall's Verses before the Coronation of Anne Boleyn, Ballads from Manuscripts, Ballad Society (London, 1870), I, 364-401. Facsimile of one page (Udall's hand in the upper half) in Alfred Fairbank and Berthold Wolpe, Renaissance Handwriting: An Anthology of Italic Scripts (London, 1960), Plate 23. Facsimile of f. 11v in IELM, I.ii (1980), Facsimile XXXII (p. 550). J.P. Collier's transcript of the MS (c.1850) is in the Folger, MS N. b. 48.

The British Library: Royal MSS (Royal MS 18 A. LXIV)
UdN 1.5

Copy, headed Copie of divers and sundry verses as well in Latin as in English, devised and made partely by John Leland and partly by Nicholas Udal, whereof sum were sette up and sum were spoken and pronounced to the ladie Anne, wif unto our soverain Lorde K. Henry VIII. as her grace rode from the Tower of London to her coronation at Westminster.

In: A folio volume of state papers and letters, 217 leaves.
Bodleian Library, Tanner Collection (MS Tanner 90 f. 89r et seq.) | Catalogue

Prose

An Answer to the articles of the commoners of Devonsheir and Cornewall

First published in Troubles connected with the Prayer Book of 1549, ed. Nicholas Pocock, Camden Society, NS 37 (London, 1884), 141-93. G. Scheurweghs attributes this work to Philip Nichol in On An Answer to the Articles of the Rebels of Cornwall and Devonshire, BMQ, 8 (1933), 24-5; but see John Bale, Scriptorum illustrium Maioris Brytanniae catalogus (Basle, 1557), p. 717; William Peery, Udall as Timeserver, Part II, N&Q, 194 (2 April 1949), 138-41; William L. Edgerton, Nicholas Udall (New York, 1965), pp. 52, 118.

UdN 2
Copy, in a professional secretary hand, with some deletions and alterations, headed (f. 3r) An answer to the articles of the comoners of Devonshere and Cornewall declaring to the same howe they haue ben sedused by Evell psons..., inscribed (f. 1r) in another hand An aunswer by Udall to ye comons of devonshire & Cornewall, on 40 folio leaves, in (remains of) a recycled 13th-century biblical text on vellum, bound with two other tracts (Royal MSS 18 B. XII-XIII) in modern half morocco.
c.1549

Later in the library of John, first Baron Lumley (c.1533-1609), collector.

Edited from this MS in the Camden Society edition (1884).

The British Library: Royal MSS (Royal MS 18 B. XI)

Dramatic Works

Respublica

First published (from this MS) in John Payne Collier, Illustrations of Old English Literature (London, 1866), Vol, I.

UdN 3
Copy of a play possibly by Udall, in a formal secretary hand, headed A merye enterlude entitled Respublica made in the yeare of oure Lorde .1553. and the first yeare of the moost psperous Reigne of or moste gracious Soveraigne Quene Marye the first, 28 folio leaves, in 19th-century morocco.
c.1553

Once owned by Sir Henry Spelman (1563/4-1641), historian and antiquary; by the Rev. Dr. Cox Macro (1683-1767), antiquary; and by Hudson Gurney (1775-1864), of Keswick Hall, Norfolk, banker and antiquary.

Edited by W.W. Greg, EETS 226 (London, 1952). Reproduced in facsimile in The Macro Plays, Tudor Facsimile Texts, Folio Series, No. 4 (1908). John Payne Collier's transcript of this MS is in the Folger, MS D. a. 40. E. V. Described in E.V. Unger and W.A. Jackson, The Carl H. Pforzheimer Library: English Literature 1475-1700, 3 vols (New York, 1940), II, 531-2, with facsimiles of the cover and first page as Plate XIX.

Roister Doister

First published [London, 1566?]; ed. W.W. Greg, Malone Society (Oxford, 1935).

UdN 4

Copy of Custance's letter (III, iv, 1074-1108, here beginning Sweete mistresse whereas I loue yow nothing at all), headed Theis words make twoe contrary senses according as yow distinguishe them, transcribed from the quotation in Thomas Wilson, Rule of Reason, 3rd edition (1553).

This MS not recorded in Greg.

In: A folio composite volume, chiefly of English and Latin verse, in various hands; vi + 186 leaves, in reversed calf.

Scribbling on f. iir including ffor mr William Rabey in New=market..., ffor my Louing ffriend in G John westhropp at mr Rogers Reringe house Bury in S[uffolk], ffor mr John fford at his house in Newmarket in the countey of cambridge; notes on f. iiiv-ivr, one Recd 22 July 1669, subscribed John Cooke and including, on f. vir, ffor mr John Cocke at his howse neere the white harte in Thetford.... Later owned, in the 1730s, by Charles Barlow, of Emmanuel College, Cambridge (his bookplate f. iiv).

Letters

Letter(s)
*UdN 5 Early-mid-16th century
Autograph

Autograph letter signed by Udall, to a patron (? Sir Thomas Wriothesley), undated.

Edited, with facsimile examples, in Greg, English Literary Autographs, Plate XXXII(a-b). Edited also in Original Letters of Eminent Literary Men, ed. Sir Henry Ellis, Camden Society 23 (London, 1843), pp. 1-7, and in Nicholas Udall's Roister Doister, ed. G. Scheurweghs, Materials for the Study of the Old English Drama, NS 16 (Louvain, 1939), pp. xxv-xxxii.

In: A folio composite volume of state papers and tracts, generally relating to voyages and naval matters, in various professional hands, 388 leaves (but see RaW 726), in modern half crushed morocco on cloth boards gilt.
The British Library: Cotton MSS (Cotton MS Titus B. VIII ff. 386r-8r) | Catalogue

Books and Manuscripts Inscribed or Annotated by Udall

Aesop. Aesopi Phrygis Fabellæ Græce et Latine, cum alijs opusculis, quorum index proxima refertur pagella (Basle, 1524)
*UdN 6
Autograph
Autograph inscription Sum Nicolai Vdalli. 1538 and annotations in Greek, bound with an uninscribed octavo edition of Euripides (1524).
1538

Donated in 1751 by John Reynolds (d.1758), Fellow of Eton College.

Juhász-Ormsby, No. 9.

Eton College (Fb 5.10)
Apuleius, Lucius Madaurensis. Apuleius cum commento Beroaldi, et figuris nouiter additis (Venice, 1510)
*UdN 7
Autograph
Autograph inscription Sum Nicolai Vdalli Magnes amoris modestia 1524 and annotations.
1524

Once owned by Thomas Cranmer (1489-1556), Archbishop of Canterbury; by Henry Fitzalan (1512-80), twelfth Earl of Arundel; by John, first Baron Lumley (c.1533-1609), collector; by Henry, Prince of Wales (1594-1612); and donated by George II in 1757.

Juhász-Ormsby, No. 1.

Camers, Johannes. Joannis Camertis Minoritani, Artium et sacræ theologiæ Doctoris (Vienna, 1520)
*UdN 8
Autograph
Autograph inscription Sum Nicolai Vdalli Magnes amoris modestia 1524.
1524

Owned in 1530 by William Cholwell, Fellow of Exeter College; in 1535 by John Dotyn, Fellow and Rector of Exeter College, and donated by him in 1561.

Juhász-Ormsby, No. 2.

Cicero, Marcus Tullius. Commentarii questionum Tusculanarum editi a Philippo Beroaldo (Paris, 1509)
d'Ailly, Pierre. Uberrimun Sphere mundi commentum intersertis etiam questionibus domini petri de aliaco Nuper magan cum diligentia castigatum (Paris, 1508)
*UdN 10
Autograph
Autograph inscription Sum Nicolai Vdalli. 1540 and annotations, bound with three other folio works.
1540

Other inscriptions of Thomas Lyfing and Petri frij, and by Fellows of Corpus Christi: Thomas Cole (1568); Charles Turnbull (1573); William Waterer (1576); in 1577 Sir Edwin Sandys (1561-1629), politician and colonial entrepreneur; John Seller (1568-81, or else his son, 1608); Edward Taylor; John Caius; and John Goldesbery.

Juhász-Ormsby, No. 10.

Erasmus, Desiderius. In Novum Testamentum annotationes (Basle, 1522)
*UdN 11
Autograph
A printed exemplum with the autograph inscription Sum Nicolai Vdalli. 1537.
1537

Also inscribed Sum Joanni brikyndensis.

Juhász-Ormsby, No. 7.

Fortunio, Giovanni Francesco. Regole grammaticali della volgar lingua (Venice, 1543)
*UdN 12
Autograph
Autograph ownership inscription (Sum Nicolai Udalli 1555), bound with an octavo exemplum.
1555?

Recorded in W.C. Hazlitt, A Roll of Honor (1908), his annotated exemplum in the British Library, Cup.410.g.343, opposite p. 245.

Untraced, miscellaneous ([Fortunio volume])
Froissart, Jean. Le Tiers Volume de froissart Des Cronique de France, dangleterre, descoce, despaigne, de bretaigne, de gascogne, de Flandres Et lieux circunouisins (Paris, 1513)
*UdN 13
Autograph
Autograph inscription Sum Nicolai Vdalli. 1544.
1544

Also inscribed in 1523 by John Fox (d.1530), of Corpus Christi College, Oxford.

Juhász-Ormsby, No. 11.

Latin Bible (Zürich, 1543)
*UdN 14
Autograph

Autograph owner inscription (Sum Nicolai Udalli, 1549) and annotations in a printed exemplum of Sacrosancta Testamenti Veteris et Novi è Sacra Hebræorum.

1549

Alan G. Thomas, sale catalogue No. 35 (1976), item 56.

Recorded in W.C. Hazlitt, A Roll of Honor (1908), his annotated exemplum in the British Library, Cup.410.g.343, opposite p. 245.

Untraced, miscellaneous ([Latin Bible])
Linacre, Thomas. De emendata structura Latini sermonis libri sex (London, 1524)
*UdN 15
Autograph
Autograph inscription Sum Nicolai Vdulli Magnes amoris modestia 1525, and annotations, a quarto in contemporary calf.
1525

Once owned by James Marble (fl. 1525-30s) and in 1537 by William Welden, both of Corpus Christi College, Oxford. Later owned by William Herbert (1718-95), bibliographer and print seller; by Sir John Saunders Sebright, seventh Baronet, MP (1767-1846), of Beechwood, Hertfordshire (his sale 6 April 1807); by Richard Heber (1774-1833), book collector; by Sir John Saunders Sebright, seventh Baronet, MP (1767-1846), of Beechwood, Hertfordshire; and in the Britwell Library of William Henry Miller, MP (1789-1848) and Samuel Christie Miller, MP (1810-89), at Burnham, Buckinghamshire. Britwell sale, 4 April 1927, lot 1139. Maggs's sale catalogue No. 493 (1927), item 591, with a facsimile of the title-page (Plate XLVI, facing p. 329).

Recorded in William L. Edgerton, Nicholas Udall (New York, 1965), pp. 31-2, 114. Juhász-Ormsby, No. 3.

Maius, Junianus. De priscorum proprietate verborum (Venice, 1490)
*UdN 16
Autograph
Autograph inscription Sum Nicolai Vdalli 1537
1537

Owned in 1527 by John Dobyns, scholar at Oxford.

Juhász-Ormsby, No. 8.

Pliny. C. Plinii Secundi Novocomensis epistolaru libri decem (Venice, 1508)
*UdN 17
Autograph
Autograph ownership inscription (Su Nicolai Vdalli: Magnes amoris modestia. 1524) in a printed exemplum.
1524

Also inscribed Edoardi P: i.e. ? the young Prince Edward, afterwards Edward VI. Sotheby's, 20 July 1989, lot 13, with a facsimile of the inscribed page in the sale catalogue.

Pliny. In Omnes C. Plinii Secundi Naturalis Historiæ Argutissimi Scriptoris libros, Stephani Aquaei Bituricensis vel Equestris Commentaria (Paris, 1530)
*UdN 18
Autograph
Autograph inscription Sum Nicolai Vdalli ex dono Guilielmi Hormani 1535.
1535

Given by William Horman (1457-1535), schoolmaster and grammarian. Also owned by one Richard (...ex dono Nicolai Imnor); by George Ruggle (1575-1621/2), Latin playwright, of Clare College.

Juhász-Ormsby, No. 5.

Psalterium, reliquaque sacrarum literarum Carmina et Precationes, cum argumentis, et brevi difficiliorum locorum declaratione. Sebastiano Castalione, interprete (Paris, 1513)
*UdN 19
Autograph
Autograph inscription Sum Nicolai Vdalli. 1550.
1550

Also inscribed Boughton June iith 1663 [? Boughton House, Northamptonshire, seat of the Montagu family]. Afterwards owned by Joseph Bromehead (1797); by John Blancket; and by John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946), Baron Keynes, economist, who donated it to Eton College in 1903.

Juhász-Ormsby, No. 12.

Eton College (Etoniana 1560)
Ptolemaius Alexandrinus, Claudius. De Geographia (Basle, 1533)
*UdN 20
Autograph
Autograph inscription in Greek, 1533.
1533

Once owned by John Denys (d.1609); by John Ashmore (fl.1621); in 1639 by Henry Jacob (c.1608-52), philologist, lecturer at Merton College, Oxford; and in 1716 by Thomas Hearne (1678-1735), Oxford antiquary.

Juhász-Ormsby, No. 4.

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