Richard Mulcaster

Richard Mulcaster

Richard Mulcaster (c. 1531, Cumberland – 15 April 1611, Essex), is known best for his headmasterships and pedagogic writings. He is often regarded as the founder of English Language lexicography.

Educational achievements

In 1561 he became the first headmaster of Merchant Taylors' School in London, where he wrote his two treatises on education, "Positions" (1581) and "Elementarie" (1582). Merchant Taylors' School was at that time the largest school in the country, and Mulcaster worked to establish a rigorous curriculum which was to set the standard for education in Latin, Greek and Hebrew. In 1596 he became High Master of St Paul's School.

Mulcaster was born into the gentry in Carlisle, and began his formal education at Eton College, from where he progressed to King's College, Cambridge. Throughout his time at Cambridge and later at Oxford, he met important scholars who were to influence his later thinking, including Sir John Cheke and John Caius.By the time he left Oxford, Mulcaster was known for his intellectual prowess in Latin, Greek and Hebrew, which he took to Merchant Taylors' School.

Richard Mulcaster's writings remain important in the study of humanist education and the sixteenth century.

Writings

Mulcaster’s most enduring work, the Elementarie was published in 1582. For the most part, it is a guide to good practice in teaching, particularly in the teaching of English. At a time when Latin still held the all of the prestige in education, Mulcaster made a convincing case for the huge potential of English to serve all of the functions that were at that time reserved for Latin, calling for it to be more widely used and, crucially, respected. The Elementarie is, in this respect, a call to national pride: ‘forenners and strangers do wonder at vs, both for the vncertaintie in our writing, and the inconstancie in our letters.’ Provoking a movement that was to lead, ultimately, to English being the language of learning in the English-speaking world, the Elementarie argues ‘I do not think that anie language, … is better able to utter all arguments, either with more pith, or greater planesse, than our English tung is.’ However, Mulcaster goes on to remind us of the need for the language to be codified and learnt, as Latin had thus far been: only ‘if the English utterer be as skillfull in the matter, which he is to utter’ can English rival Latin

Lexicography

To the end of establishing an English that could serve the complex needs of education, the 'Elementarie' ends with a list of 8000 ‘hard words’. Mulcaster does not define any of them, but attempts to lay down a standard spelling for them at a time when English had no universally-accepted spelling for any word. Besides making some movements toward spelling ‘rules’ for English (such as the role of the ‘final e’ in reflecting vowel length in such pairs as ‘bad’ and ‘bade’), the list represents a call for English to get its first dictionary, to gather ‘all the words which we use in our English tung…out of all professions, as well learned as not, into one dictionarie, and besides the right writing, which is incident to the Alphabete, [the lexicographer] wold open vnto us therein, both their naturall force, and their proper use.’ Over the following decades, the first dictionaries of English do indeed appear.

Football

Richard Mulcaster has been described as “the greatest sixteenth Century advocate of football” [ [http://www.footballnetwork.org/dev/historyoffootball/history8_18_3.asp}] Dead link|date=March 2008] . His unique contribution is not only naming "footeball" by its correct English name but also providing the earliest evidence of organised team football. Mulcaster confirms that his was a game closer to modern football by differentiating it from games involving other parts of the body, namely "the hand ball" and "the armeball". He referred to the many benefits of "footeball" in his personal publication of 1581 in English entitled ‘Positions Wherein Those Primitive Circumstances Be Examined, Which Are Necessarie for the Training up of Children’. [http://www.ucs.mun.ca/~wbarker/positions-txt.html ] He states that football had positive educational value and it promoted health and strength.

Mulcaster was one of the first advocates of the introduction of referees: “For if one stand by, which can judge of the play, and is judge over the parties, & hath authoritie to commande in the place, all those inconveniences have bene, I know, & wilbe I am sure very lightly redressed, nay they will never entermedle in the matter, neither shall there be complaint, where there is no cause.” cite web | url = http://www.footballnetwork.org/dev/historyoffootball/history8_18_3.asp | title = Richard Mulcaster | work = FootballNetwork | accessdate = 2007-07-21] Mulcaster's discussion on football was the first to refer to teams ("sides" and "parties"), positions ("standings"), the benefits of a referee ("judge over the parties") and a coach "(trayning maister)". Mulcaster describes a game for small teams that is organised under the auspices of a referee (and is therefore the first evidence that his game had evolved from disordered and violent "mob" football): "Some smaller number with such overlooking, sorted into sides and standings, not meeting with their bodies so boisterously to trie their strength: nor shouldring or shuffing one another so barbarously ... may use footeball for as much good to the body, by the chiefe use of the legges".

Notes


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать реферат

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Mulcaster — This name is of English locational origin from a place in Cumberland now called Muncaster but recorded as Mulcaster circa 1150 in the Pipe Rolls of that county and as Molecaster and Mulecaster in 1190 and 1236 respectively. The first element is… …   Surnames reference

  • Mulcaster, Richard — ▪ English educator born c. 1531, Cumberland, England died April 15, 1611, Stamford Rivers, Essex       English schoolmaster, many of whose pedagogical theories were not generally accepted until at least 250 years after his death.       He was… …   Universalium

  • Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood — This article is about the Independent school in Northwood, Hertfordshire. For the independent school in Crosby, Merseyside, see Merchant Taylors School, Crosby. Merchant Taylors School Motto Latin: Concordia parvae res crescunt ( Small things… …   Wikipedia

  • English public school football games — During the early modern era students, former students and teachers at English public schools developed many unique codes of football. The most well known of these is Rugby football. British public school football also influenced directly the… …   Wikipedia

  • Football — For other uses, see Football (disambiguation). Some of the many different games known as football. From top left to bottom right: Association football or soccer, Australian rules football, International rules football, rugby union, rugby league,… …   Wikipedia

  • education — /ej oo kay sheuhn/, n. 1. the act or process of imparting or acquiring general knowledge, developing the powers of reasoning and judgment, and generally of preparing oneself or others intellectually for mature life. 2. the act or process of… …   Universalium

  • History of English football — The History of English football is a long and detailed one, as it is not only the national sport but England was where the game was developed and codified. The modern global game of Football was first codified in 1863 in London. The impetus for… …   Wikipedia

  • Silent e — is a writing convention in English spelling. A silent letter e at the end of a word often signals a specific pronunciation of the preceding vowel letter, as in the difference between rid /ˈrɪd/ and ride /ˈraɪd/. This orthographic pattern followed …   Wikipedia

  • Timeline of association football — This page indexes the individual year in association football pages. Each year is annotated with one or more significant events as a reference point. NOTOC Pre 1870s 1870s 1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s… …   Wikipedia

  • dictionary — /dik sheuh ner ee/, n., pl. dictionaries. 1. a book containing a selection of the words of a language, usually arranged alphabetically, giving information about their meanings, pronunciations, etymologies, inflected forms, etc., expressed in… …   Universalium

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”