William Horman
Encyclopedia
William Horman was a headmaster at Eton
and Winchester
in the early Tudor
period of English
history.
He is best known for his Latin
grammar textbook the Vulgaria, which created controversy at the time due to its unconventional approach in first giving examples of translations of English writings on different topics, and later discussing the rules of grammar.
He asserted, probably following Quintilian
, that grammar cannot be perfect without music.
around 1440.
He was admitted as a pupil at Wykeham
's college
at Winchester
in 1468.
According to some accounts, he studied at the University of Cambridge
.
However, in 1477 he was elected a fellow of New College, Oxford
, in the same year that William Caxton
printed his first book in England.
He took a Masters of Arts degree, and in 1485 became the headmaster of Eton.
He left Eton in 1494, and became headmaster of Winchester
from 1495 to 1501.
At that time, the Winchester post was more prestigious and paid better.
Later, Horman returned to Eton as a fellow and vice-provost, where there is evidence that both Greek and Latin were taught.
He continued there until his death.
When he was almost eighty years old, in 1519 Horman published the Vulgaria, a Latin textbook.
He says in the introduction that he composed the book when a schoolmaster, "many years before".
In a contract dated 28 June 1519, he ordered Richard Pynson
to produce 800 whole and perfect copies of these Latin
texts, in 35 chapters.
The contract is notable as one of the earliest surviving agreements of this nature.
Horman became an antagonist in the Grammarians' War
, which erupted when Robert Whittington
attacked the new approach of teaching by example. Whittington at the time was England's leading author of textbooks, and preferred the traditional system of learning the precepts of grammar by rote before progressing to examples.
In some ways Horman was more traditional than Whittington, since he rejected the common vocabulary of Medieval Latin and idealized the "pure" Ciceronian form of Latin while Whittington was more pragmatic in his views.
Horman died in April 1535, when in his nineties, an extreme old age for the time.
The book was dedicated to William Atwater
, Bishop of Lincoln
.
The preface of the book included verses by William Lilye
and by Robert Aldrich, the master at Eton from 1515 to 1521.
The name Vulgaria is used in the Latin sense of "common things", in this case "everyday sayings". The book is a collection of English sentences followed by their Latin translations, covering subjects related to school, manners, upbringing, religion, natural history and many other subjects. The textbook is not radically different from previous Latin grammars, differing mainly in its arrangement by subject rather than by grammatical structure.
In this, it followed the principles laid out by Erasmus.
The Vulgaria draws from a variety of sources, for example including the saying "It does no good for all truth to be told nor all wrong imputed" derived from the Old English Durham Proverbs
.
Another example of a proverb to be translated is "Somtyme of a myshappe cometh a good turne".
The proverb "necessity is the mother of invention" appears, perhaps for the first time in English, translated as "Mater artium necessitas".
Other sayings included the advice not to "offereth a candell to the deuyll", to remember that "many a ragged colt proued to a good horse", "it is better a chylde unborne than untaught", "manners maketh man" and "one scabbed shepe marreth a hole flocke".
"That the whiche muste be wyll be" reflects the Italian "Que Sera, Sera".
The book gives practical advice. "At a soden shyfte leere [empty] barellis, tyed together, with boardis above, make passage over a streme".
He says that alleys in gardens, covered with vines, "do great pleasure with the shadow in parchynge heat, and clusters of grapis maketh a pleasant walkynge alley".
The Vulgaria is interesting in the light that it throws on the times.
For example, the book is the first to mention "ceruse", a mixture of white lead and vinegar used by wealthy women to whiten their skin.
The book defines blotting paper: "Blottynge papyr serveth to drye weete wryttynge, lest there be made blottis or blurris".
Children's rattles are first mentioned in the book.
He describes the use of wooden swords, or "wasters", used for training: "Let us pley at buckeler and at waster in feyre game".
The sentence "We wyll playe with a ball full of wynde" (which Horman translates as "lusui erit nobis follis pugillari spritu tumens") is one of the earliest references to the game of football being played at public schools.
He praised the value of sports in letting children find an outlet for their energy as a break from their studies: "There muste be a measure in gyuynge of remedies or sportynge to chyldren, leste they be wery of goynge to theyr boke if they haue none, or waxe slacke if they haue to many".
Horman's Antibossicon G. Hormani ad G. Lilium published in 1521 is a riposte to criticism of the Vulgaria.
It takes the form of a series of letters to Horman, and from him to William Lilye
, another grammarian who supported the new teaching approach.
Lilye also published an Antibossicum, and the two were published together as a pamphlet.
In his Apologeticon contra Rob. Whittingtoni Protova tis Angliæ incivilem indoctamque criminationem, he dissected some of Whittington's poetry and treated it to severe criticism.
Horman also translated several of the Greek classics and wrote various treatises on philosophy and science, but these have not survived.
Eton College
Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....
and Winchester
Winchester College
Winchester College is an independent school for boys in the British public school tradition, situated in Winchester, Hampshire, the former capital of England. It has existed in its present location for over 600 years and claims the longest unbroken history of any school in England...
in the early Tudor
Tudor dynasty
The Tudor dynasty or House of Tudor was a European royal house of Welsh origin that ruled the Kingdom of England and its realms, including the Lordship of Ireland, later the Kingdom of Ireland, from 1485 until 1603. Its first monarch was Henry Tudor, a descendant through his mother of a legitimised...
period of English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
history.
He is best known for his Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
grammar textbook the Vulgaria, which created controversy at the time due to its unconventional approach in first giving examples of translations of English writings on different topics, and later discussing the rules of grammar.
He asserted, probably following Quintilian
Quintilian
Marcus Fabius Quintilianus was a Roman rhetorician from Hispania, widely referred to in medieval schools of rhetoric and in Renaissance writing...
, that grammar cannot be perfect without music.
Life
Horman was born in SalisburySalisbury
Salisbury is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England and the only city in the county. It is the second largest settlement in the county...
around 1440.
He was admitted as a pupil at Wykeham
William of Wykeham
William of Wykeham was Bishop of Winchester, Chancellor of England, founder of Winchester College, New College, Oxford, New College School, Oxford, and builder of a large part of Windsor Castle.-Life:...
's college
Winchester College
Winchester College is an independent school for boys in the British public school tradition, situated in Winchester, Hampshire, the former capital of England. It has existed in its present location for over 600 years and claims the longest unbroken history of any school in England...
at Winchester
Winchester
Winchester is a historic cathedral city and former capital city of England. It is the county town of Hampshire, in South East England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government district, and is located at the western end of the South Downs, along the course of...
in 1468.
According to some accounts, he studied at the University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
.
However, in 1477 he was elected a fellow of New College, Oxford
New College, Oxford
New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.- Overview :The College's official name, College of St Mary, is the same as that of the older Oriel College; hence, it has been referred to as the "New College of St Mary", and is now almost always...
, in the same year that William Caxton
William Caxton
William Caxton was an English merchant, diplomat, writer and printer. As far as is known, he was the first English person to work as a printer and the first to introduce a printing press into England...
printed his first book in England.
He took a Masters of Arts degree, and in 1485 became the headmaster of Eton.
He left Eton in 1494, and became headmaster of Winchester
Winchester College
Winchester College is an independent school for boys in the British public school tradition, situated in Winchester, Hampshire, the former capital of England. It has existed in its present location for over 600 years and claims the longest unbroken history of any school in England...
from 1495 to 1501.
At that time, the Winchester post was more prestigious and paid better.
Later, Horman returned to Eton as a fellow and vice-provost, where there is evidence that both Greek and Latin were taught.
He continued there until his death.
When he was almost eighty years old, in 1519 Horman published the Vulgaria, a Latin textbook.
He says in the introduction that he composed the book when a schoolmaster, "many years before".
In a contract dated 28 June 1519, he ordered Richard Pynson
Richard Pynson
Richard Pynson was one of the first printers of English books. The 500 books he printed were influential in the standardisation of the English language...
to produce 800 whole and perfect copies of these Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
texts, in 35 chapters.
The contract is notable as one of the earliest surviving agreements of this nature.
Horman became an antagonist in the Grammarians' War
Grammarians' War
The Grammarians' War was a conflict between rival systems of teaching Latin. The two main antagonists were grammarians and schoolmasters William Horman and Robert Whittington. The War involved Latin primers called Vulgaria, which were thus named because they contained "vulgar" The Grammarians'...
, which erupted when Robert Whittington
Robert Whittington
Robert Whittington was an English grammarian. He was a pupil of the grammarian John Stanbridge....
attacked the new approach of teaching by example. Whittington at the time was England's leading author of textbooks, and preferred the traditional system of learning the precepts of grammar by rote before progressing to examples.
In some ways Horman was more traditional than Whittington, since he rejected the common vocabulary of Medieval Latin and idealized the "pure" Ciceronian form of Latin while Whittington was more pragmatic in his views.
Horman died in April 1535, when in his nineties, an extreme old age for the time.
Work
The Vulgaria is the more important of Horman's surviving works, a Latin textbook based on humanist principles published in 1519.The book was dedicated to William Atwater
William Atwater (bishop)
William Atwater was an English churchman, who became Bishop of Lincoln in 1514He was a Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford from 1480. He served as Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University, in the period from 1497 to 1502....
, Bishop of Lincoln
Bishop of Lincoln
The Bishop of Lincoln is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Lincoln in the Province of Canterbury.The present diocese covers the county of Lincolnshire and the unitary authority areas of North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire. The Bishop's seat is located in the Cathedral...
.
The preface of the book included verses by William Lilye
William Lilye
William Lily was an English classical grammarian and scholar. He was an author of the most widely used Latin grammar textbook in England and was the first headmaster of St Paul's School, London.-Life:...
and by Robert Aldrich, the master at Eton from 1515 to 1521.
The name Vulgaria is used in the Latin sense of "common things", in this case "everyday sayings". The book is a collection of English sentences followed by their Latin translations, covering subjects related to school, manners, upbringing, religion, natural history and many other subjects. The textbook is not radically different from previous Latin grammars, differing mainly in its arrangement by subject rather than by grammatical structure.
In this, it followed the principles laid out by Erasmus.
The Vulgaria draws from a variety of sources, for example including the saying "It does no good for all truth to be told nor all wrong imputed" derived from the Old English Durham Proverbs
The Durham Proverbs
The Durham Proverbs is a collection of 46 Mediæval proverbs from various sources. They were written down as a collection, in the eleventh century, on some pages of a manuscript that were originally left blank...
.
Another example of a proverb to be translated is "Somtyme of a myshappe cometh a good turne".
The proverb "necessity is the mother of invention" appears, perhaps for the first time in English, translated as "Mater artium necessitas".
Other sayings included the advice not to "offereth a candell to the deuyll", to remember that "many a ragged colt proued to a good horse", "it is better a chylde unborne than untaught", "manners maketh man" and "one scabbed shepe marreth a hole flocke".
"That the whiche muste be wyll be" reflects the Italian "Que Sera, Sera".
The book gives practical advice. "At a soden shyfte leere [empty] barellis, tyed together, with boardis above, make passage over a streme".
He says that alleys in gardens, covered with vines, "do great pleasure with the shadow in parchynge heat, and clusters of grapis maketh a pleasant walkynge alley".
The Vulgaria is interesting in the light that it throws on the times.
For example, the book is the first to mention "ceruse", a mixture of white lead and vinegar used by wealthy women to whiten their skin.
The book defines blotting paper: "Blottynge papyr serveth to drye weete wryttynge, lest there be made blottis or blurris".
Children's rattles are first mentioned in the book.
He describes the use of wooden swords, or "wasters", used for training: "Let us pley at buckeler and at waster in feyre game".
The sentence "We wyll playe with a ball full of wynde" (which Horman translates as "lusui erit nobis follis pugillari spritu tumens") is one of the earliest references to the game of football being played at public schools.
He praised the value of sports in letting children find an outlet for their energy as a break from their studies: "There muste be a measure in gyuynge of remedies or sportynge to chyldren, leste they be wery of goynge to theyr boke if they haue none, or waxe slacke if they haue to many".
Horman's Antibossicon G. Hormani ad G. Lilium published in 1521 is a riposte to criticism of the Vulgaria.
It takes the form of a series of letters to Horman, and from him to William Lilye
William Lilye
William Lily was an English classical grammarian and scholar. He was an author of the most widely used Latin grammar textbook in England and was the first headmaster of St Paul's School, London.-Life:...
, another grammarian who supported the new teaching approach.
Lilye also published an Antibossicum, and the two were published together as a pamphlet.
In his Apologeticon contra Rob. Whittingtoni Protova tis Angliæ incivilem indoctamque criminationem, he dissected some of Whittington's poetry and treated it to severe criticism.
Horman also translated several of the Greek classics and wrote various treatises on philosophy and science, but these have not survived.