John Colet

English religious scholar

• Born: January 1, 1467
• Birthplace: London, England
• Died: September 16, 1519
• Place of death: Sheen, Surrey, England

As the founder of St. Paul’s school and dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral, Colet wrote, preached, and led other Humanists in educational, social, and religious reform.

Early Life

Little is known of the early life of John Colet. That he was born in London to a privileged position, probably in 1466, is clear. His father, Sir Henry Colet, a respected member of the Mercers’ Company (an ancient guild of textile merchants of considerable prestige), was twice lord mayor of London. His mother, Christian Knevet, had important connections through marriage to some of the greatest families of England. John was the oldest of twenty-two children born of this union and the only one who reached maturity. No explanation of this astounding mortality exists. Contemporaries believed that the tragic family history may have accounted for the serious, almost austere, cast of Colet’s personality and his frequent statements of preference for the celibate life.

Colet probably attended St. Anthony’s Hospital, Threadneedle Street, for his early schooling. It was supported by the Mercers’ Guild and would have been a likely choice for a boy of his social class. It is thought that he went to Oxford in 1483 and enrolled in Magdalen College. His work there would have been shaped by the tradition of the liberal arts. The trivium grammar, rhetoric, and logic required two and a half years of effort. The quadrivium arithmetic, astronomy, geometry, and music, later broadened to include natural and moral philosophy, and metaphysics required another five and a quarter years. The curriculum led to a master of arts degree.

In 1493, Colet left England for an extended period of study on the Continent, a sojourn in France, and a longer period in Italy. The Italian Renaissance, with its emphasis on the arts and the revival of the classical languages and literature, was at its height. In Florence, the young Colet met and studied with Marsilio Ficino, who directed the Platonic Academy in Florence. Greek, Platonic, and Neoplatonic studies filled these years. Colet returned to England in the spring of 1496. In the fall of that year, Colet gained international prominence among the coterie of Humanists by a series of lectures on the Pauline epistles. Although he was not yet a deacon and had no credentials from theological courses, his use of Humanist scholarship established his reputation and began his distinguished career. At the same time, he determined on his vocation, becoming deacon in December of 1497 and ordained a priest on March 25, 1498.

Life’s Work

Colet remained at Oxford until 1504, where he completed his theological training. His theological and scriptural lectures were well attended and widely discussed. Yet no stipend was paid him. He received no academic honors or titles. He lived on the income from several ecclesiastical preferments he had held since his youth. A long-standing custom of support for young men to pursue educational goals, benefices, and church offices were sometimes heaped together to bring in considerable revenue. The practice led to widespread abuse, and Colet came to be highly critical of the practice. He resigned all his preferments but one (it was supported by family) when he was appointed dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral. The revenue he had saved was expended for charitable enterprises.

The Oxford years were also important to Colet for the study of patristic literature, his continued work in Greek, and the many important contacts made with other Humanists. Desiderius Erasmus, whom he met in 1498, may have been his most important friend. The relationship continued to Colet’s death, and Erasmus became Colet’s first biographer and publicist.

In 1504, Colet’s appointment as dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral began the most public and the most productive part of his life. His first effort was reform at St. Paul’s. He reviewed the discipline of the Chapter and Canons, those forty or so appointed to serve in various capacities at the cathedral. He cleared the nave of sleeping beggars and the ambulatories of businessmen plying their trade within the sacred precincts. He set the tone of dedication by the simplicity and the abstinence of his own life and household.

Colet also became a powerful and effective preacher, attacking abuses in the Church and speaking out on issues he considered immoral or menacing to the human condition. He preached against war before the young king Henry VIII on Good Friday in 1513, as that monarch was about to embark on an expedition to France. Yet Colet retained the king’s favor.

It was education, however, which was Colet’s greatest concern. In 1509, he founded a new St. Paul’s School, supported by his private fortune, which was to teach 153 boys in the tradition of the “new learning.” The curriculum was liberal and centered in sound training in the Latin and Greek languages. The hours were long and the demands many on the young scholars, their lives shaped by the dean’s love of neatness, order, and simplicity. Taught by the best masters available, they were to fill the professions and the Church with a new leadership.

Colet authored a new Latin grammar with William Lily, his first headmaster and a notable grammarian. Generations of English schoolboys used it. Nothing was overlooked in Colet’s plans for the school. While Colet knew many moments of satisfaction, his tenure as dean also brought problems. His denunciation of abuses in the Church incurred suspicion, and charges of heresy were brought against him. Exonerated, he continued as dean of the cathedral, admired by the circle of friends who shared his interests.

Late in his life, Colet seriously entertained the notion of retirement from the world to take up residence in a cloister. What caused him to change his plans is unknown. His last two years were also troubled by illness. In August of 1519, he made his will, disposing of his worldly goods by endowing boys who showed academic promise but were too poor to attend St. Paul’s without assistance. Helpless, shortly after these efforts, he lingered on until September 16, 1519. At his death, he was buried in a simple sepulcher on the south side of the choir. William Lily wrote his equally simple epitaph.

In the seventeenth century, old St. Paul’s was destroyed in the Great Fire of London, and the final resting place of Colet’s remains is unknown. A bust and several portraits have survived. Each of these depicts a serious, dignified face, sensitive and thoughtful, befitting one of the sixteenth century’s most important Christian Humanists.

Significance

Colet, perhaps the most neglected member of a distinguished group of English Humanists, became the subject of considerable scholarship in the nineteenth century. If one reads the correspondence of Erasmus, Thomas More, or the Flemish jurist Franciscus Cranevelt, the influence of Colet on his contemporaries is evident.

Part of a group, laypeople and clerics, who sought the improvement of society, Colet believed that good education informed by Christian principles could lead to a better world. Characteristic of his circle, he recognized that the world was changing. The Church, he believed, must provide leadership in such a world. It must offer help to the poor and advice and admonition to monarchs, help to outlaw and curtail war, and enhance moral values in every class. It should provide assistance in material ways so that rehabilitation of the disadvantaged could be achieved.

Colet’s sermons, tracts, and commentaries all manifest this optimistic view that with God’s help, human beings can promote these lofty goods. A grammarian and linguist, he sought the purest interpretation of Scripture, although he did not believe in literal interpretation. His criticism of popular religious practices has led to a modern debate as to his loyalty to the Church of Rome that he served. His death in 1519 precludes an answer as to what might have been his role had he lived into the period of the Reformation. A moderate, his works did not manifest viewpoints at odds with historic doctrines but called for reform within the Church. His service to his peers and endless search for improved conditions of life place him high in that distinguished group known as the Christian Humanists of the Northern Renaissance.

Bibliography

Adams, Robert P. The Better Part of Valor. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1962. The author’s stated purpose is to present the reader with a study of the men and ideas of the Renaissance period. Specifically deals with the thoughts and writings of Colet, More, Erasmus, and Juan Luis Viven on war and peace. Excellent source.

Colet, John. Letters to Radulphus on the Mosaic Account of Creation, Together with Other Treatises. Translated by J. H. Lupton. Reprint. Ridgewood, N.J.: Gregg Press, 1966. A short treatise on the Mosaic account of the Creation. Students or general readers will gain a sense of Colet’s explanation of biblical texts.

Harper-Bill, Christopher. “Dean Colet’s Convocation Sermon and the Pre-Reformation Church in England.” In The Impact of the English Reformation, 1500-1640, edited by Peter Marshall. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1997. Rereading of Colet’s 1512 reformist sermon in light of recent scholarship. Seeks to achieve a more accurate understanding of the popular English attitude toward the Church in the early sixteenth century, and to reexamine the nature of Colet’s criticisms. Includes bibliographic references and index.

Jayne, Sears. John Colet and Marsilio Ficino. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, 1961. A specialized study that ambitiously attempts to analyze the influence of the Italian scholar and philosopher on Colet’s work. It is useful to the general reader in establishing the general background of Colet’s work and lists a full bibliography of his works.

Lupton, Joseph Hirst. A Life of John Colet. London: George Bell and Sons, 1887. Reprint. New York: Burt Franklin, 1974. A sympathetic and searching biography by a nineteenth century headmaster of St. Paul’s School, one of Colet’s greatest admirers and scholars. Lupton discovered twenty-eight of Colet’s writings. The fullest and most satisfactory biography despite its date.

Marshall, Peter. Reformation England, 1480-1642. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. Study of English religious history from Colet’s time through the mid-seventeenth century. Includes bibliographic references and index.

Miles, Leland. John Colet and the Platonic Tradition. LaSalle, Ill.: Open Court, 1961. Examines the relationship of the Platonic tradition and the work of Colet, More, and Erasmus; a somewhat easier work on an intellectual problem.

Seebohm, Frederick. The Oxford Reformers: John Colet, Erasmus, and Thomas More. Reprint. New York: AMS Press, 1971. A work first written in 1867 and updated as a result of Lupton’s work and discoveries, it retains much that is useful by describing the “fellow-work” of Colet, Erasmus, and More. Especially good in placing the writers in the framework of their times.

Trapp, J. B. Erasmus, Colet, and More: The Early Tudor Humanists and Their Books. London: British Library, 1991. Detailed catalog and analysis of all books known to be written by, owned, read, printed, or referenced by Colet, More, and Erasmus. Shows not only the specific influences of the Humanists but also their general literary milieu as well. Includes illustrations and bibliographic references.