Introduction
In1578,theAnglo-Italianauthor,teacher,translator,andlexicographerJohn FloriowroteofEnglishthatitwas ‘alanguagethatwyldoyougoodinEngland, butpasseDover,itiswoorthnothing’.¹ThemostmobileofEnglishmen,Florio wenton,hadnousefortheirnativelanguagebeyondtheirownborders: ‘English marchantes,whentheyareoutofEngland,itlikeththemnot,andtheydoonot speakeit.’²Florio’sstatementhighlightsasimplefactthatismissingfromour understandingofthehistoryofearlymodernEngland.Forallthatthemodern popularimageoftheperiodisofaliterary-linguisticgoldenage,Englishinthe earlymodernperiodwasthelittle-knownandlittle-regardedlanguageofasmall islandoutontheedgeofEurope.Incomprehensionwasaconstantriskfor anglophonetravellersandtradersonthecontinentandfartherafield.Thisbasic featureofearlymodernlifehadpracticalconsequencesforanyEnglish-speaker whowishedtoventurepastDover,aswellasforthemanywhocravedthecultural capitalrepresentedbycompetenceinafashionablevernacularlikeItalianorFrench. FormanypeopleborninEnglandintheearlymodernperiod,amonoglotexistence wasnotanoption.TheseEnglish-speakershadtobecomelanguage-learners.
ThattheEnglishlearntforeignlanguagesshouldbenosurprise English archivesreveallanguage-learningasacrucialconcernforindividualsatmany levelsofthesocialscale.We findapennilesspriestscribblingdownthephraseshe usestobegforbreadinSpanish,andawealthytouristmakingnotesonbeggars’ criesinItalianandFrench.³AparliamentariandiplomattravelstoSwedenwitha trilingualmanuscriptphrasebookinhispocket,whileaRoyalistémigrépackshis saddlebagswithagrammaralongsidemapsandaprayerbookforhisjourney southwardsthroughFrancetoItaly.⁴ Alady-in-waitingattendshermistressata Saumurchurch,hopingtolearnsomeofthelocallanguage,andanEnglish scientistpensacritiqueofaParissermon. ⁵ Childrenandyoungadultsaresent
¹JohnFlorio, FlorioHis firsteFruiteswhichyeeldefamiliarspeech (London,1578),p.50.
²Ibid.
³FrDanielO’Bryen,letterfromOviedo,16November1641,ParliamentaryArchives:MainPapers HL/PO/JO/10/1/73,fol.87r.WilliamBromleymadenotesonbeggars’ words:WilliamBromley, RemarksmadeintravelsthroughFrance&Italy.WithmanyPublickInscriptions.Latelytakenbya PersonofQuality (London,1693),pp.12,73–4,195.
⁴ BulstrodeWhitelocke,manuscriptphrasebook,BritishLibrary,RP209;RichardSymonds,travel journal,BritishLibrary,HarleianMS943,fol.42r.
⁵ DeborahFowlertoHelenaSouthwell,10November1677,BritishLibrary,Add.MS46954B,fol. 198r;MartinLister, AJourneytoParisintheYear1698 (London,1698),p.174.
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abroadtolearnthelanguagesthatwillallowthemtoparticipateinEngland’ s burgeoningcontinentalandglobaltrade.⁶ AttheoarsofanorthAfricangalley, newlycapturedEnglishmenpickupthebasicsoftheMediterranean’spidgin linguafrancafrommoreseasonedcaptives,whilefromtheArcticCircletothe Americas,Englishexplorersandtraderscompilerudimentarywordlistsof unfamiliartongues. ⁷ CrossingtheChannelandthecontinentareservantsacquiringforeignlanguages,formallyandinformally,intheentouragesoftheirmasters; asoldierusinghis ‘sparedhoures’ towriteaFrenchgrammar;andimmigrantsto Englandteachingtheirnativetonguesandworkingtopickupthelanguageof theirnewhome. ⁸ Asspeakersofapracticallyunknown(andwhollyunprestigious) vernacular,theEnglishabroadhadtobecomelanguage-learners.
TheideaofEnglandasamonoglotnationisamodernone.⁹ Notonlydidits kingsandqueensruleoverspeakersofIrish,Welsh,Scots,Gaelic,andothers,but EnglanditselfwasalsoabuzzwithaveritableBabeloftongues French,Dutch, Spanish,Italian,German,Persian,Japanese,Algonquian,Arabic,OttomanTurkish,andmanymore spokenbythemigrants,refugees,exiles,slaves,andvisitors whofoundthemselvesinEngland’sports,cities,andtowns.¹⁰ InurbanenvironmentslikeNorwichandCanterbury,French-andDutch-speakingmigrantcommunitiesrubbedshoulderswiththeirEnglishcounterparts,whileattheRoyal ExchangeinLondonbuyersandsellerstalked ‘inseverallLanguages,And(likethe murmuringfallofWaters)intheHumofseverallbusinesses:insomuchthatthe
⁶ ThispracticeismentionedinRobertSouthwell’stravelnotebook,BritishLibrary,Add.MS58219, fol.4r;foranaccountbyayoungEnglishmanwhoexperiencedit,seeE.H.W.Meyerstein(ed.), AdventuresbySeaofEdwardCoxere (Oxford:Clarendon,1945),pp.3–4.
⁷ WilliamOkely, Ebenezer;or,ASmallMonumentofGreatMercy,AppearingintheMiraculous DeliveranceofWilliamOkely (1675),quotedinDanielJ.Vitkus(ed.), Piracy,Slavery,andRedemption: BarbaryCaptivityNarrativesfromEarlyModernEngland (NewYork:ColumbiaUniversityPress, 2001),p.48.SeealsoJohnGallagher, ‘Language-Learning,Orality,andMultilingualisminEarly ModernAnglophoneNarrativesofMediterraneanCaptivity’ , RenaissanceStudies (forthcoming, 2019).Forawordlistofthiskind,see ‘ThevoyageoftheforesaidM.StephenBurrough,An.1557. fromColmogrotoWardhouse,whichwassenttoseeketheBonaEsperanza,theBonaConfidentia,and thePhilipandMary,whichwerenotheardoftheyeerebefore’,inRichardHakluyt, Theprincipal navigations,voiages,traffiquesanddiscoveriesoftheEnglishnation (London,1598–1600),vol.1,p.293.
⁸ WhileresidentatSaumur,thegrandtouristPhilipPercevalwas ‘attthechargesofhavinghisman Thomastaughtthelanguage’:JeanGailhardtoRobertSouthwell,3January1677,BritishLibrary,Add. MS46953,fol.218r.ThesoldierisJohnWodroephe,authorof Thesparedhouresofasouldierinhis travels.OrTheTrueMarroweoftheFrenchTongue,whereinistruelytreated(byordre)theNinePartsof Speech.Together,withtworare,andexcellentBookesofDialogues... (Dordrecht,1623).Onimmigrant teachers,seeChapter1.
⁹ Onthelateemergenceoftheideaofthemonolingualnationstate,seeEricHobsbawm, ‘Language, Culture,andNationalIdentity’ , SocialResearch 63:4(1996),pp.1065–80.
¹
⁰ OnthelinguisticsituationinearlymodernBritainandIreland,seePaulaBlank, BrokenEnglish: DialectsandthePoliticsofLanguageinRenaissanceWritings (LondonandNewYork:Routledge, 1996);TonyCrowley, WarsofWords:ThePoliticsofLanguageinIreland1537–2004 (Oxford:Oxford UniversityPress,2005);FelicityHeal, ‘MediatingtheWord:LanguageandDialectsintheBritishand IrishReformations’ , JournalofEcclesiasticalHistory 56(2005),pp.261–86.
placeseemesBabell,(aConfusionofTongues.)’.¹¹Someartisanalworkplaces, likethemixedEnglish-Italianglassworksofsixteenth-andseventeenth-century London,wereasinternationalandmultilingualastheroyalcourts,wheremultilingualmusiciansrubbedshoulderswithvisitingdiplomats.¹²English-speakers lurkedinthecongregationsofthecity’sItalianandFrenchchurchesinorderto practisetheirforeignlanguages,whilecivilandecclesiasticalauthoritiesdealtwith thedisagreementsanddisordersofmultilingualpopulations.¹³Interpretersfound workattheOldBailey,andtherewasasysteminplacewherebynativespeakersof FrenchorDutchcouldopttobetriedbyamixedjuryofEnglish-speakersand speakersoftheirmothertongue.¹⁴ ItwasnotnecessarytoventurebeyondDover to findoneselfinBabel.
Historianshavebeenslowtoconsiderlanguage-learningandlinguisticcompetencefromahistoricalperspective.Thestudyofforeignlanguageshasreceived
¹¹PeterTrudgill, InvestigationsinSociohistoricalLinguistics:StoriesofColonisationandContact (Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress,2010),p.49;ChristopherJoby, ‘TrilingualisminEarly ModernNorwich’ , JournalofHistoricalSociolinguistics 2:2(2016),pp.211–234.Dekkerquotedin JuliaGasper, ‘TheLiteraryLegendofSirThomasGresham’,inAnnSaunders(ed.), TheRoyalExchange (London:LondonTopographicalSociety,1997),p.101.Foradetailedrecentexplorationofhowone foreignlanguagewasusedinearlymodernEngland,seeChristopherJoby, TheDutchLanguagein Britain(1550–1702):ASocialHistoryoftheUseofDutchinEarlyModernBritain (LeidenandBoston, MA:Brill,2015).
¹²Forlanguage-mixinginglassworks,seeJamesHowell, EpistolaeHo-Elianae:FamiliarLetters Domestic&Forren (London,1645),sectionI,p.5;formultilingualmusicians,seeJohnGallagher, ‘The ItalianLondonofJohnNorth:CulturalContactandLinguisticEncounterinEarlyModernEngland’ , RenaissanceQuarterly,70(2017),pp.88–131.FrenchatcourtisconsideredinKathleenLambley, The TeachingandCultivationoftheFrenchLanguageinEnglandduringTudorandStuartTimes (Manchester:ManchesterUniversityPress,1920);forItalian,seeR.C.Simonini, ItalianScholarship inRenaissanceEngland (ChapelHill,NC:TheUniversityofNorthCarolinaStudiesinComparative Literature,1952).ForFrenchattheHenriciancourt,seeGabrieleStein, JohnPalsgraveasRenaissance Linguist:APioneerinVernacularLanguageDescription (Oxford:OxfordUniversityPress,1997).For ItalianunderElizabeth,seeMichaelWyatt, TheItalianEncounterwithTudorEngland:ACultural PoliticsofTranslation (Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress,2005),pp.6,125,128.OnPrince Henry’scourt,see ‘HumanismandtheEducationofHenry,PrinceofWales’,inTimothyWilks(ed.), PrinceHenryRevived:ImageandExemplarityinEarlyModernEngland (Southampton:Paul Holberton,2007),pp.22–64.OnFrenchcultureatthecourtsofCharlesIandII,seeGesaStedman, CulturalExchangeinSeventeenth-CenturyFranceandEngland (Aldershot:Ashgate,2013),pp.32–107.
¹³RogerAschamcriticizedthoseEnglish-speakerswhoattendedtheItalianchurchinMercers’ Hall ‘tohearetheItaliantongenaturallyspoken,nottoheareGodsdoctrinetrewlypreached’:Roger Ascham, TheScholemaster (London,1570),fol.28v.ForEnglish-speakersattheFrenchchurchin theSavoy,seeE.S.deBeer(ed.), TheDiaryofJohnEvelyn,SelectedandIntroducedbyRoyStrong (London:Everyman,2006),p.766;RobertLathamandWilliamMatthews(eds.), TheDiaryofSamuel Pepys (London:G.BellandSons,1970),vol.3,p.207;TraveljournalofEdwardBrowne(France), BritishLibrary,SloaneMS1906,fol.37r.ThecongregationoftheItalianchurchinlatersixteenthcenturyLondonwasinternationalandmultilingual:seeO.BoersmaandA.J.Jelsma, Unityin Multiformity:TheMinutesoftheCoetusofLondon,1575andtheConsistoryMinutesoftheItalian ChurchofLondon,1570–91 (London:HuguenotSociety,1997).
¹⁴ See,forinstance,thetrialformurderofJohnMartyn,who ‘couldspeaknoEnglish,andtherefore hadanInterpreter,aslikewiseaJuryforthepurposebeinghalfEnglishandhalfFrench’ : OldBailey ProceedingsOnline (www.oldbaileyonline.org,version7.0,accessed23August2014),August1681,trial ofJohnMartyn(t16810831–3). Onthesetrials ‘demedietatelinguae’,seeMatthewLockwood, ‘“Love yethereforethestrangers”:ImmigrationandtheCriminalLawinEarlyModernEngland’ , Continuity andChange 29:3(2014),pp.349–71.
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onlypatchyattentionfromhistoriansofearlymodernEngland:whatremainsthe bestworkonthetopic,KathleenLambley’ s TheTeachingandCultivationofthe FrenchLanguageinEnglandduringTudorandStuartTimes,waspublished almostacenturyagoin1920.¹⁵ Historians,mostinfluentiallyPeterBurke,have arguedfortheimportanceofa ‘socialhistoryoflanguage’ andforhistorical approachestomultilingualismandtranslation,butthehistoryoflanguage(as writtenbyhistorians,ratherthanscholarsoflanguage)hasremainedarelatively niche field.¹⁶ Recentandforthcomingworkonlanguage-learning,multilingualism,andlinguisticecologies nottomentiontheappearanceoftransformative studiesinthehistoryofcommunication suggeststhatthisneglectmaybe witnessingareversal.¹⁷ Morebroadly,literaryscholarshavebeenquickerthan historianstoconsidertheimportanceofmultilingualism,translation,andcodeswitchingintheearlymodernperiod,andmuchofthebestworkonthelanguagelearningtextsofthesixteenthandseventeenthcenturieshascomefromliterary studies.¹⁸ TheliteraryculturesofearlymodernEnglandhavebeenportrayedas
¹⁵ OtheressentialworksincludeFrancesYates, JohnFlorio:ThelifeofanItalianinShakespeare’ s England (Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress,1934),andVivianSalmon, LanguageandSocietyin EarlyModernEngland:SelectedEssays,1981–1994 (AmsterdamandPhiladelphia,PA:Rodopi,1996).
¹⁶ Burke’scontributionsaretoonumeroustolisthere,butkeyworksincludePeterBurke, Languages andCommunitiesinEarlyModernEurope (Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress,2004);Peter Burke, TheArtofConversation (Cambridge:Polity,1993);PeterBurkeandRoyPorter(eds.), TheSocial HistoryofLanguage (Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress,1987);PeterBurkeandRoyPorter (eds.), Language,Self,andSociety:ASocialHistoryofLanguage (Cambridge:Polity,1991);PeterBurke andRoyPorter(eds.), LanguagesandJargons:ContributionstoaSocialHistoryofLanguage (Cambridge:Polity,1995);PeterBurkeandR.Po-ChiHsia(eds.), CulturalTranslationinEarly ModernEurope (Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress,2007).
¹
⁷ Onlanguage-learning,seeJean-AntoineCaravolas, LaDidactiquedeslangues:précisd’histoireI, 1450–1700 (Montreal:LesPressesdel’UniversitédeMontréal,1994);KonradSchröder(ed.), Fremdsprachenunterricht1500–1800 (Wiesbaden:Harrassowitz,1992);HelmutGlück, Deutschals FremdspracheinEuropavomMittelalterbiszurBarockzeit (Berlin:W.deGruyter,2002).InEngland, seeJasonLawrence, ‘WhothedeviltaughttheesomuchItalian?’ ItalianLanguageLearningandLiterary ImitationinEarlyModernEngland (ManchesterandNewYork:ManchesterUniversityPress,2005); Wyatt, ItalianEncounter;EmilieK.M.Murphy, ‘LanguageandPowerinanEnglishConventinExile, c.1621 c.1631’ , HistoricalJournal (forthcoming,earlyviewavailableathttps://doi.org/10.1017/ S0018246X17000437).EricDurstelerhassetoutsomeimportantquestionsforthinkinghistorically aboutlinguisticecologies:EricDursteler, ‘SpeakinginTongues:LanguageandCommunicationinthe EarlyModernMediterranean’ , Past&Present 217:1(2012),pp.47–77;oninterpretersandcommunicationacrosslanguages,seeE.NatalieRothman, ‘InterpretingDragomans:BoundariesandCrossings intheEarlyModernMediterranean’ , ComparativeStudiesinSocietyandHistory 51(2009), pp.771–800;formultilingualisminthecontextofslaveryandempire,seeNatalieZemonDavis, ‘CreoleLanguagesandtheirUses:TheExampleofColonialSuriname’ , Historical Research 82(2009), pp.268–84.Onlanguageandcommunication,seeFilippodeVivo, InformationandCommunicationin Venice:RethinkingEarlyModernPolitics (Oxford:OxfordUniversityPress,2007);Elizabeth Horodowich, LanguageandStatecraftinEarlyModernVenice (Cambridge:CambridgeUniversity Press,2008);John-PaulGhobrial, TheWhispersofCities:InformationFlowsinIstanbul,Paris,and LondonintheAgeofWilliamTrumbull (Oxford:OxfordUniversityPress,2013);Alejandra Dubcovsky, InformedPower:CommunicationintheEarlyAmericanSouth (Cambridge,MA: HarvardUniversityPress,2016).Foranewperspectiveonmultilingualismandmediation,seePaul Cohen, ‘TortureandTranslationintheMultilingualCourtroomsofEarlyModernFrance’ , Renaissance Quarterly 69(2016),pp.899–939.
¹⁸ See,forinstance,SusanE.Phillips, ‘Schoolmasters,Seduction,andSlavery:PolyglotDictionaries inPre-ModernEngland’ , MedievaliaetHumanistica 34(2008),pp.129–58;JulietFleming, ‘TheFrench
profoundlymultilingualandinternational,importingandadaptinglanguage, texts,andtechniquesfromcontinentalvernacularsaswellasclassicalantecedents.¹⁹ Theworkoflinguists,literaryscholars,andhistoriansworkingonthe medievalperiodoffermodelsforthinkingaboutamultilingualEngland:one differentincharacterfromtheearlymodernnation,butwherequestionsof language,power,andidentitywereaspotentastheywouldbeinthecenturies tocome.²⁰ Viewedthroughthepolyglotperspectivesofrecentwork,theimportanceofunderstandingearlymodernEnglishhistoryasmultilingualandcontingentonlanguage-learningandlinguisticmediationbecomesclear.
LearningLanguagesinEarlyModernEngland isabookaboutlanguagelearningasasetofpracticesthatwerecentraltotheEnglishencounterwiththe widerworld.Amidstdiscussionsoftranslationsandideasaboutlanguageinthe earlymodernperiod,theday-to-daypracticesandprocessesbywhichpeople learnttospeaktooneanotheracrosslanguagebarriershavebeenobscured.Thus, thefocushereisonlanguage-learningnotasasilent,scholarlyactivity,butasan endeavourthatwasoral,aural,andsociable:akindofeverydayworkthatmade communicationandconversationpossible.²¹Thiswasaperiodwhenconversation manuals,whichtaughtsociallyappropriatelanguagethroughsituationaldialogues,becameincreasinglypopularinEnglishprint.Inthehandsofearly modernlanguage-learners,theybecame ‘speakingbooks’,animatedbythevoices oftheirreadersandinpolyglotauralcontexts.Itwasaperiodwhenaprinted grammarofItaliancouldalsocontainadviceontheappropriategesturesto
Garden:AnIntroductiontoWomen’sFrench’ , ELH:EnglishLiteraryHistory 56(1989),pp.19–51; JohnConsidine, ‘NarrativeandPersuasioninEarlyModernEnglishDictionariesandPhrasebooks’ , ReviewofEnglishStudies 52(2001),pp.195–206;LisaH.Cooper, ‘UrbanUtterances:Merchants, Artisans,andtheAlphabetinCaxton’ s DialoguesinFrenchandEnglish’ , NewMedievalLiteratures 7 (2005),pp.127–62;ChristineCooper-Rompato, ‘TravelingTongues:Foreign-LanguagePhraseListsin WynkyndeWordeandWilliamWey’ , TheChaucerReview 46(2011),pp.223–36.
¹⁹ AnnColdiron, PrinterswithoutBorders:TranslationandTextualityintheRenaissance (Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress,2015).
²
⁰ Themedievalscholarshipistoorichtosurveyinfullhere,butsomeveryusefulworksinclude ArdisButterfield, TheFamiliarEnemy:Chaucer,Language,andNationintheHundredYearsWar (Oxford:OxfordUniversityPress,2009),JonathanHsy, TradingTongues:Merchants,Multilingualism, andMedievalLiterature (Columbus,OH:TheOhioStateUniversityPress,2013),JocelynWoganBrowne(ed.), LanguageandCultureinMedievalBritain:TheFrenchofEnglandc.1100 c.1500 (York: YorkMedievalPress,2009),D.A.Trotter(ed.), MultilingualisminLaterMedievalBritain (Cambridge: D.S.Brewer,2000).
²¹TheclassicandstillessentialworkonoralityinearlymodernEnglandisAdamFox, Oraland LiterateCultureinEngland1500–1700 (Oxford:Clarendon,2000).Onearlymodernoralitiesmore broadly,seetheessaysinElizabethHorodowich(ed.), SpeechandOralCultureinEarlyModernEurope andBeyond,specialissueof JournalofEarlyModernHistory 16(2012);VirginiaReinburg, French BooksofHours:MakinganArchiveofPrayer (Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress,2012);Tom CohenandLesleyTwomey(eds.), SpokenWordandSocialPractice:Orality(1400–1700)(Leiden:Brill, 2015);StefanoDall’Aglio,BrianRichardson,andMassimoRospocher(eds.), VoicesandTextsinEarly ModernItalianSociety (LondonandNewYork:Routledge,2017);AdamFoxandDanielWoolf(eds.), TheSpokenWord:OralCultureinBritain1500–1850 (ManchesterandNewYork:Manchester UniversityPress,2002).
accompanyeverydayphrases,andstudentsofDutchlearntthetranslationsof Englishinterjectionslike ‘Ohme’ (‘oghmy’), ‘Ha,ha,ha,he’ (‘Ha,ha,ha,he’),and ‘Woo,OGod!’ (‘Wee,oGodt!’),alongsidethelanguagenecessaryforabargainor anintroduction.²²Astoday,language-learnerstoiledovergrammarandsyntax, andkeptcarefullistsofvocabulary,buttheyalsoworkedtounderstandcodesof gestureandbehaviourthatanimatedforeignconversations.Theytookmultilingual notesonwhattheyheard,turningtraveldiariesintorecordsofjokesshared,ballads heard,andadvicereceived.Theyfrequentedteacherswhocouldinstructthemin the finestandmostfashionableaccentsandvarietiesofprestigelanguageslike ItalianandFrench.Thequestionoflanguage-learningbringstogetherthehistories ofreading,speaking,andhearing indeed,theeverydayexperiencesofearly modernmenandwomen alongsidethoseofeducationandcommunication.
Learningtospeakinanotherlanguageisasocialskill,whichiswhythisisalsoa bookabouttheideaoflinguisticcompetence:somethingearlymodernpeople thoughtandwroteaboutatgreatlength.Itwasunderstoodthattobeabletospeak andbeheardinaforeignlanguagerequiredfarmorethanagraspofgrammar, syntax,andvocabulary.Linguisticcompetencewassocial:itmeantbeingableto choosebetweenlanguages,registers,vocabularies,andtonesaccordingtoone’ s ownsocialsituation,occupation,andgender,andthoseofthecompany.Early modernpeopledisplayedakeenearforlanguageusedsuccessfullyandunsuccessfully.²³Returnedtravellersweremockedfortheiraffecteduseof ‘ oversea language’,andjudgedlittlebetterthanthosewhohadtravelledformonthsor yearsandcomehomewithlittlemorethanasmattering.²⁴ Grandtouristswere expectedtoworkdiligentlyontheirFrenchintheprovincesbeforebeingallowed toenterParisiansocietyas fluentspeakersandsocialperformers,whilewould-be merchantsweretestedontheirlinguisticabilitiesbeforetheywereemployed.²⁵
²²GiovanniTorriano, Dellalinguatoscana-romana (London,1657),p.231explainsthatthe expression ‘Zítto,whosht,notaword’ shouldbeaccompaniedby ‘Puttingtheforefingeracrossones mouth’.DutchinterjectionsaretaughtinJ.G.vanHeldoren, AnEnglishandNether-DutchDictionary/ EenEngelsenNederduitsWoortboek (Amsterdam,1675),pp.80–2.
²³On ‘failures’ inlanguageuse,seeCarlaMazzio, TheInarticulateRenaissance:LanguageTroublein anAgeofEloquence (Philadelphia,PA:UniversityofPennsylvaniaPress,2008).SeealsoHillaryTaylor, ‘“BrandedontheTongue”:RethinkingPlebeianInarticulacyinEarlyModernEngland’ , Radical HistoryReview 121(2015),pp.91–105.
²⁴ ThomasWilson, TheArteofRhetorique,fortheuseofallsucheasarestudiousofEloquence,sette forthinEnglish,byThomasWilson (London,1553),fol.86r.
²⁵ Oneinfluentialauthorofgrandtouradvicearguedthat ‘onemusthavelearnedtheLanguage, somecustomsoftheNation,andgottensomeexperiencebeforeheberipeforParis’:there, ‘[the] peopleofQualityhavenotthepatiencetohearaGentlemanunabletospeaktwowordstogetherof goodsense,butinotherTownsitisotherwise’:JeanGailhard, TheCompleatGentleman:orDirections FortheEducationofYouthAstotheirBreedingatHomeAndTravellingAbroad.InTwoTreatises (London,1678),pp.34–5.Fortradingcompaniestestingpotentialfactors’ languageskills,seeAlison Games, TheWebofEmpire:EnglishCosmopolitansinanAgeofExpansion1560–1660 (Oxford:Oxford UniversityPress,2008),pp.94–5;seealsoMeyerstein(ed.), AdventuresbySea,p.4fortheteenage EdwardCoxere,whoreturnedhomeafterelevenmonthsinFrancearound1647and ‘wasexaminedby aFrenchmerchantintheFrenchtongue,whogavemyfatheranaccountthatIspokeitaswellasif IhadbeenborninFrance’
Teacherswerejudgedontheircompetencetoteachandtheirknowledgeofa prestigeaccentandprestigevariety.²⁶ Butinspiteoftheimportancewithwhichit wasviewedbypeopleintheearlymodernperiod notonlybytheoristsand teachers,butbythosewhointeractedinpolyglotcontextsandjudgedthespeech ofothers linguisticcompetenceremainsaconceptwithoutahistory.²⁷ Learning LanguagesinEarlyModernEngland offersahistoryoflinguisticcompetencesina polyglotcontext,investigatingthemethodsbywhichtheywereacquired,used, tested,andjudged.
Inordertounderstandhowlinguisticcompetencewasimagined,acquired,and perceivedinthepast, LearningLanguages drawsonworkfromsociolinguistics andthesociologyandsocialhistoryoflanguage.Centraltothisunderstandingof thesocialnatureofhistoricallinguisticcompetencesistheideaof ‘communicative competence’ firstputforwardbyDellHymesinacritiqueofNoamChomsky. WhereChomsky’sworkoncompetencehadworkedfromtheideaof ‘anideal speaker-listenerinacompletelyhomogeneousspeech-community,whoknowsits languageperfectly ’,Hymesarguedfora ‘sociallyconstitutedlinguistics’ which wouldrecognizethat ‘communitiesmayholddifferingidealsofspeakingfor differentstatusesandrolesandsituations’.²⁸ Thereisnoone ‘idealspeaker’ , sinceindividualsmustconstantlymodifytheirspeechaccordingtovariablesof companyandcontext.²⁹ AsPierreBourdieuargued,theabilitytoformgrammaticalsentencesisonlythebeginningoflinguisticcompetence,since ‘[t]hecompetenceadequatetoproducesentencesthatarelikelytobeunderstoodmaybequite inadequatetoproducesentencesthatarelikelytobe listenedto,likelytobe recognizedas acceptable inallthesituationsinwhichthereisoccasionto speak’.Speakerswholackthe ‘legitimatecompetence’—theabilitytospeakina
²⁶ SeeChapter1.
²⁷ Foronerecentattempttotraceanearlymodernindividual’spolyglotexistence,seeChristopher Joby, TheMultilingualismofConstantijnHuygens(1596–1687) (Amsterdam:AmsterdamUniversity Press,2014).
²⁸ NoamChomsky, AspectsoftheTheoryofSyntax (Cambridge,MA:MITPress,1965),p.3;Dell Hymes, FoundationsinSociolinguistics:AnEthnographicApproach (Philadelphia,PA:Universityof PennsylvaniaPress,1974),pp.196–7,46.
²⁹ Thisisafundamentaltenetofsociolinguistics:forahistorian’sviewontherelevanceofthese conceptsinhistoricalresearch,seePeterBurke, ‘Introduction’,BurkeandPorter, SocialHistoryof Language,pp.1–17.Therearemanyhelpfulintroductionstosociolinguistics;twohelpfultextsare SuzanneRomaine, LanguageinSociety:AnIntroductiontoSociolinguistics (Oxford:OxfordUniversity Press,2000),andNikolasCouplandandAdamJaworski(eds.), Sociolinguistics:AReaderand Coursebook (Basingstoke:Palgrave,1997).Workinhistoricalsociolinguisticshasexploredthese questionsinrelationtothelanguagesofthepast:somekeyexamplesincludeSuzanneRomaine, Socio-HistoricalLinguistics:itsStatusAndMethodology (Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress, 1982)andTerttuNevalainenandHelenaRaumolin-Brunberg, HistoricalSociolinguistics:Language ChangeinTudorandStuartEngland (Harlow:Longman,2003),particularlytheintroduction,pp.1–15; NevalainenandRaumolin-Brunberg, SociolinguisticsandLanguageHistory:StudiesBasedonthe CorpusofEarlyEnglishCorrespondence (AmsterdamandAtlanta,GA:Rodopi,1996);WendyAyresBennett, SociolinguisticVariationinSeventeenth-CenturyFrance:MethodologyandCaseStudies (Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress,2004).
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register,tone,andvariety(whetherdialect,slang,orpolishedrhetoric)appropriatetothesituation are ‘condemnedtosilence’.³⁰
Earlymodernlanguage-learnersknewthatlinguisticcompetencemeantmore thanjusttheknowledgeofanabstractsystemofsigns.Sociallinguisticcompetencelies,asearlymodernauthorsonbehaviourandspeechunderstood,in decorum:theabilitytoproducespeechappropriatetoone’ssocialsituation.³¹ Earlymodernwritingsoncivility,politeness,andsociabilitysharemanyconcerns ofmodernworkonsociolinguisticsandthesocialhistoryoflanguage.³²Authors then,asnow,wereconcernedwiththesocialfunctionsofaccent,tone,and gesture;therelativeprestigeofdialects,varieties,andemergent ‘national’ or proto-nationalvernaculars;thewaysthatcertainwordsandvocabulariescould drawadmirationorcalumny.Learningalanguagewasawayoftrainingthebody: itwasnocoincidencethatprogrammesoflinguisticeducationoftenwenthandin handwithaneducationinbodilycomportment.WhenEuropeansencountered peopleswhoselanguageswereutterlystrangetothem,thebody’sroleincommunicationwasforegrounded:cross-culturalcommunicationswereperformedby hand.³³Historiesoflanguagewhichfocusonlyonwordsandnotonhowthey sounded,thebodiesthatproducedthem,andthespacesandcontextsinwhich theywerespokencanonlytellpartofthestory.Thesocialhistoryoflanguagelearningdrawsusintothequestionofwhogottospeak(andbeheard)intheearly modernworld.Byinvestigatingthewaysinwhichearlymodernspeakerslearnt, taught,andusedforeignlanguages,andthewaystheyrankedtheirabilitiesand thoseofothers, LearningLanguages makesthecaseforthinkingaboutlinguistic competenceasausefulandimportantcategoryofhistoricalanalysis.
Thishistoryoflanguage-learningmatters,too,becausequestionsoflanguage wereofrealimportanceinearlymodernEngland.Thiswasaperiodofintense linguisticconsciousness aconsciousnessperhapsjoltedbythefactthatthe Englishlanguagewasundergoinganunprecedentedlyrapidlexicalexpansion.³⁴ Debatesover ‘inkhornterms’ wereaboutmuchmorethanabstruseacademic terminologyinprint:theyrespondedtotheexperienceofhearingandexperiencing
³⁰ PierreBourdieu, LanguageandSymbolicPower,ed.JohnB.Thompson(Cambridge:Polity,1992), p.55.SeealsoPhilWithington, SocietyinEarlyModernEngland:TheVernacularOriginsofSome PowerfulIdeas (Cambridge:Polity,2010),pp.183–85.
³¹Ondecorum,seeJenniferRichards, RhetoricandCourtlinessinEarlyModernLiterature (Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress,2003),pp.24–6,66–85;Withington, SocietyinEarlyModern England,pp.169–201.
³²Onconductmanuals,seeAnnaBryson, FromCourtesytoCivility:ChangingCodesofConductin EarlyModernEngland (Oxford:Clarendon,1998).
³³Onthehistoryofgesture,seeJanBremmerandHermanRoodenburg(eds.), ACulturalHistoryof Gesture:FromAntiquitytothePresentDay (Cambridge:Polity,1991);MichaelJ.Braddick(ed.) The PoliticsofGesture:HistoricalPerspectives (Past&Present 203,supplement4,2009).
³⁴ TerttuNevalainen, ‘EarlyModernEnglishLexisandSemantics’,inRogerLass(ed.), The CambridgeHistoryoftheEnglishLanguage,vol.3:1476–1776 (Cambridge:CambridgeUniversity Press,2000),p.332.
languagecontactandlanguagechange.³⁵ Politicalcentralizationwenthandinhand withlinguisticstandardization,astheuseofEnglishbecamemorecommonin officialsettingsthroughoutBritainandIreland.³⁶ Englishauthorsofthesixteenth andseventeenthcenturieswereconsciousthattheAnglophoneworldwassmalland marginal,andthattheEnglishlanguagewasneedyandporous.EveninEngland, speakersofthe ‘ same ’ languagecouldsufferincomprehension;inmanyplaces throughoutthethreekingdoms,languagebarriersweremoreofarealitythan politicalborders.³⁷ Theycollected ‘hardwords’ anddialecttermsinanattemptto fixtheboundariesandwritethehistoryof ‘English’.³⁸ Theytoyedwithuniversal languageschemesinresponsetothedifficultiesofinternationalcommunicationata timewhenLatin’sroleasalearnedlinguafrancawasgraduallydiminishing.³⁹ England’scultureoftranslationtouchedworldsbeyondtheliterarycanon:news wastranslatedinmanuscript,inprint,andincoffee-houses;secretariessummarized andparaphraseddocumentsinLatinandawidevarietyofvernaculars;migrants andrefugeesbroughtskills,knowledge,andforeignterminologyfromcontinental Europe;andscientistsandscholarsparticipatedinmultilingualcommunication networksthatstretchedacrossEurope.⁴⁰ InearlymodernEngland,linguisticdifferencewaspartofthefabricofeverydaylife.
Questionsoflanguagebecameincreasinglyrelevant,too,asEngland’ soverseas relationshipsdevelopedinthisperiod.WiththeexpansionoftheEnglishMediterraneantrade,ItalianbecameanimportantlanguageforEnglishcommerce, fromtheItalianpeninsulatotheBarbaryStatesandtheOttomanEmpire.⁴¹Less
³⁵ SeeGallagher, ‘TheItalianLondonofJohnNorth’
³⁶ Crowley, WarsofWords,chapter1.
³⁷ WilliamCaxtonoffersananecdoteaboutadialect-basedmisunderstandinginWilliamCaxton, HerefynyssheththebokeyfEneydos (London,1490),sig.A1v.SeealsoBlank, BrokenEnglish;Crowley, WarsofWords;Heal, ‘MediatingtheWord’
³⁸ See,forinstance,RobertCawdrey, ATableAlphabeticall,conteyningandteachingthetruewriting, andunderstandingofhardusuallEnglishwordes,borrowedfromtheHebrew,Greeke,Latine,orFrench. &c.WiththeinterpretationthereofbyplaineEnglishwords,gatheredforthebenefit&helpeofLadies, Gentlewomen,oranyotherunskilfullpersons (London,1604);TerttuNevalainen, AnIntroductionto EarlyModernEnglish (Oxford:OxfordUniversityPress,2006),p.50.
³⁹ Onuniversallanguages,seeJamesKnowlson, UniversalLanguageSchemesinEnglandandFrance 1600–1800 (TorontoandBuffalo,NY:UniversityofTorontoPress,1975);RhodriLewis, Language, MindandNature:ArtificialLanguagesinEnglandfromBacontoLocke (Cambridge:Cambridge UniversityPress,2012).OnthecomplexrolesplayedbyLatininearlymodernEurope,seeJürgen Leonhardt, Latin:StoryofaWorldLanguage (Cambridge,MA:HarvardUniversityPress,2013),trans. KennethKronenberg,pp.122–244;andFrançoiseWaquet, Latin,ortheEmpireofaSign (London: Verso,2001),trans.JohnHowe, passim.
⁴⁰ Forthetranslationofnews,seeS.K.Barker, ‘“Neweslatelycome”:EuropeanNewsBooksin EnglishTranslation’,inS.K.BarkerandBrendaM.Hosington(eds.), RenaissanceCulturalCrossroads: Translation,PrintandCultureinBritain,1473–1640 (LeidenandBoston,MA:Brill,2013),pp.227–44; forcoffee-housetranslation,seethe1702advertisementforGrigsby’sinThreadneedleStreet,where ‘all ForeignNewsistakenin,andtranslatedintoEnglish,immediatelyafterthearrivalofanyMail’ : Flying PostorThePostMaster,issue1162(15October1702 17October1702).
⁴¹J.Cremona, ‘“Acciochéognunolepossaintendere”:TheUseofItalianasaLinguaFrancaonthe BarbaryCoastoftheSeventeenthCentury.EvidencefromtheEnglish’,in JournalofAnglo-ItalianStudies 5(1997),pp.52–69.ThiscontextsawtheemergenceoftextslikeGiovanniTorriano, TheItalianTutor,or
10
fortunateanglophoneslavesintheMediterraneanencounteredtheRomance pidginknownvariouslyas ‘Lingofrank’ , ‘Moresco’,and ‘thecommonlanguage’ , aswellasOttomanTurkishandArabic.⁴²InNorthAmerica,English-speakersat firstreliedonnativeinterpreters(bothwillingandforced)andlinguistslikeJohn EliotandRogerWilliamswhoworkedtounderstandboththegrammarandthe socialunderpinningsofNativeAmericanlanguagesfortheirownreasons. ⁴³In Muscovy,inPersia,alongthecoastofAfricaandinIndia,Englishtraders, soldiers,andexplorersencounteredlanguagesunknowntothem:travelwriting andtraders’ recordsshowtheplaceofincomprehensioninEnglishencounters withthewiderworld.⁴⁴ ChineseandArabicmadetheirappearanceinEnglish print,universitychairsin ‘oriental’ languageswereestablished,andmanuscripts wereamongthecargoofLevantCompanyshipsreturningfromtheOttoman Empire.⁴⁵ Theseexpansionsalltookplaceatthesametimeasthatgreatlingua francaofthemedievalperiod,Latin,wasundergoingaslowdeclineasalanguage ofspokencommunication:evenwhileFynesMorysoncouldmarvelathow ‘[t]he veryArtificersofPoloniacanspeakeLatin,butmostrudelyandfalsly’,Latin’ s everydayutilitywasincreasinglythreatenedbydivergentregionalpronunciations, theimpactoftheReformation,andthegrowingnumbersofnon-Latinatetravellers.⁴⁶ Closetohome,theFrenchstate’sburgeoningmilitarymightandcultural
anewandmostcompleatItalianGrammer.Containingaboveothersamostcompendiouswaytolearne theVerbs,andrulesofSyntax.TowhichisannexedadisplayofthemonasillableparticlesoftheLanguage, withtheEnglishtothem (London,1640),whichwasaddressed ‘TotheRightWorshipfullandnowmost flourishingCompanyofTurkeyMarchants’,forwhomknowledgeofItalianwasessential.
⁴²OntheMediterraneanlinguafranca,seeJocelyneDakhlia, Linguafranca:histoired’unelangue métisseenMéditerranée (Paris:ActesSud,2008);Dursteler, ‘SpeakinginTongues’,pp.67–74;Karla Mallette, ‘LinguaFranca’,inPeregrineHordenandSharonKinoshita(eds.), ACompanionto MediterraneanHistory (Chichester:WileyBlackwell,2014),pp.330–44;RachelSelbach, ‘Ona FamousLacuna:LinguaFrancatheMediterraneanTradePidgin?’,inEsther-MiriamWagner, BettinaBeinhoff,andBenOuthwaite(eds.), MerchantsofInnovation:TheLanguagesofTraders (Berlin:DeGruyterMouton,2017),pp.252–71;Gallagher, ‘Language-Learning,Orality,andMultilingualisminEarlyModernAnglophoneNarrativesofMediterraneanCaptivity’ ⁴³J.FrederickFausz, ‘MiddlemeninPeaceandWar:Virginia’sEarliestIndianInterpreters, 1608–1632’ , TheVirginiaMagazineofHistoryandBiography 95(1987),pp.41–64;JohnEliot, The IndianGrammarBegun:Or,anEssaytoBringtheIndianLanguageintoRules (Cambridge,1666); RogerWilliams, AKeyintotheLanguageofAmerica:or,AnhelptotheLanguageoftheNativesinthat partofAmerica,calledNew-England (London,1643).
⁴⁴ CollectionslikeRichardHakluyt’ s PrincipalNavigations andSamuelPurchas’ s Pilgrimes are treasurehousesofmaterialforthehistoryofgloballinguisticencountersintheearlymodernperiod, andhaveyettobestudiedcloselyassuchbyhistorians.
⁴⁵ G.J.Toomer, EasternWisedomeandLearning:TheStudyofArabicinSeventeenth-Century England (Oxford:Clarendon,1996);VivianSalmon, ‘ArabistsandLinguistsinSeventeenth-Century England’,inG.A.Russell(ed.), The ‘Arabick’ InterestoftheNaturalPhilosophersinSeventeenthCenturyEngland (Leiden:Brill,1994),pp.54–69;SimonMills, ‘Learning ArabicintheOverseas Factories:TheCaseoftheEnglish’,inJanLoop,AlastairHamilton,andCharlesBurnett(eds.), The TeachingandLearningofArabicinEarlyModernEurope (Leiden:Brill,2017),pp.272–93.
⁴⁶ FynesMoryson, AnItinerarywrittenbyFynesMorysonGent.FirstinthelatineTongue,andthen translatedByhimintoEnglish:containinghistenyeerestravellthroughthetwelvedominionsof Germany,Bohmerland,Sweitzerland,Netherland,Denmarke,Poland,Italy,Turky,France,England,
prestigeturneditintoalinguisticsuperpower,andFrenchintothelanguageofthe seventeenth-andeighteenth-centuryEuropeanelites.
The ‘questionsoflanguage’ debatedinearlymodernEnglandandEuropewere whereeverydayspeechmetbroadernarrativesofnation,reformation,political power,andsocialstratification.Inalandmarkvolumeofessaysonthesocial historyoflanguage,co-editedwithPeterBurke,RoyPorterwrotethat:
[l]anguageissointimatetolivingthatithaslongbeenoverlookedbyhistorians, ratherinthewaythatlittlehistoricalattentionhasbeenpaidtosuchotherhome truthsasthebody,itsgesturesandclothing,andtheeverydayobjectswithwhich peoplesurroundthemselves.
Likethehistoriesofthebody,ofclothing,andofmaterialobjects,thehistoryof languageandlinguisticencountersspeakstobroaderquestionsofcultural,social, andpoliticalchangeintheearlymodernperiod. ‘Questionsoflanguage’ addressed thegreatissuesofthetime,butallweregroundedintheeverydayexperiencesof speakingandhearing,ofteninmultilingualcontexts,andinaworldwhere ‘national’ and ‘standard’ languagesremained fluidanddebatable.Thesearethe questionsaddressedbythisbook.
LearningLanguagesinEarlyModernEngland isdividedintofourchapters. Chapter1considerslanguage-learninginthecontextofthecultureofextracurricularandextrainstitutionaleducationthatbecameincreasinglyimportantduring thisperiod.ItarguesthatearlymodernEnglanddidwitnessaneducational revolution,butthatitdidnothappensolely,orevenprimarily,inuniversities andgrammarschools.Instead,ittookplaceinprivatehomesandadhocschools, andatthecoffee-housesandbookstallswherenewsubjects,newgroupsof teachers,andnewkindsofteachingemergedandadaptedtoreflectnewconcerns andnewrelationshipsbetweenEngland,English,andthecontinent.Linguistic andpedagogicalauthoritywereupfordebateinanincreasinglycrowdedmarket. Bytracingthecareersoflanguageteachers,theirrelationshipswithstudents,and themarketforlanguage-teachinginearlymodernEngland,thischapterbuildsa pictureofathrivingandinnovativeeducationaleconomythatequippedEnglishspeakersfortheencounterwithothervernacularcultures.
Scotland,andIreland (London,1617),partIII,bookI,p.15.PeterBurke, ‘“HeuDomine,Adsunt Turcae”:ASketchforaSocialHistoryofPost-MedievalLatin’,inBurke, TheArtofConversation (Cambridge:Polity,1993),pp.34–65;Burke, ‘Latin:ALanguageinSearchofaCommunity’,inBurke, LanguagesandCommunitiesinEarlyModernEurope (Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress,2004), pp.43–60;JamesW.Binns, IntellectualCultureinElizabethanandJacobeanEngland:TheLatin WritingsoftheAge (Leeds:FrancisCairns,1990).OnGreekinearlymodernEngland,seeMischa Lazarus, ‘GreekLiteracyinSixteenth-CenturyEngland’ , RenaissanceStudies 29:3(2015),pp.433–58.
⁴⁷ RoyPorter, ‘Introduction’,inPeterBurkeandRoyPorter(eds.), Language,Self,andSociety: ASocialHistoryofLanguage (Cambridge:Polity,1991),p.1.
Chapter2considersanimportantbutunderappreciatedgenreofearlymodern print:themultilingualconversationmanual.Affordableandportable,these printedbookscontainedphrasesanddialoguesinEnglishandatleastoneforeign language(someeditionsofferedmaterialinuptoeightlanguages),oftenalongside informationongrammar,vocabulary,andpronunciation.Workingfromacorpus ofover300uniqueeditions,Chapter2chartsthechangingplaceofthesetextsin theearlymodernprintmarketfromtheirbeginningsinthelate fifteenthcentury totheearlyeighteenth.Ittracesthelanguagestheyoffered,whowrotethem,how muchtheycost,howmanywereprinted,andhowtheydevelopedasaphysical objectthatcouldbecarriedinthehandorstowedinapocketduringtravel.This chapteraskswhatthesetextsweremeanttodo,andhowtheirreadersreadthem, showinghowbyteachingskillsfromcorrectpronunciationtosocialinteraction, thesemanualsdemandedthattheirreadersreadinconversationwiththeoraland sociableworldbeyond.Therelationshipbetweenspeech,print,andsoundinthese manualswasuniquetothisgenreandoffersanewwayofunderstandingboth linguisticeducationandshiftingidealsoflinguisticcompetence.Theearlymodern conversationmanualoffersnewperspectivesonthehistoriesofreading,education,travel,thebook,andtheEnglishencounterwithcontinentalEuropeinthe earlymodernperiod.
Chapter3turnstothequestionoflinguisticcompetence,askingwhatitmeant tobeabletospeakanotherlanguageinearlymodernEngland.Linguisticcompetencewasmorecomplicatedthanasimplebinarybetween fluentandnot.Just ashistorianshavearguedfortheexistenceofmultipleliteraciesinearlymodern England,sotooweretheremultiplelinguisticcompetences,dependingonthe speaker’sstatus,age,gender,origin,occupation,andability.Learnersofdifferent languageshadtomasterdifferentwaysofexpressingsuperiorityordeferenceand ofmanagingritualsituationswherecompetentspeechandacceptablebehaviour overlapped.ImmigrantstoEnglandinthesixteenthandseventeenthcenturies hadtolearnanewvernacularwhileaccommodatingthemselvestonewrituals, fashions,andrulesofconversation:textsdirectedatthesenewarrivalsshow language-learningasaprocessofadaptationandassimilation.Readingthecorpus ofconversationmanualsalongsidebroaderdiscoursesofcivility,speech,and behaviour,thischapteruncoversthedynamicsofmultilingualspeechandsilence inanageofencounter.
Chapter4,the finalchapter,turnstotheexperiencesofEnglish-speakerswho didventurebeyondDover,inordertounderstandtheoralandauralpracticesthat weresocentraltoearlymodernlanguage-learning.Thestudyofvernacular languageswasaninescapableaspectofcontinentaltravel.Thiswasparticularly truefortheeducationaltravellerswhowenttothecontinentingrowingnumbers fromthelatterhalfofthesixteenthcenturyonwards.Thischapterusesarichset ofmanuscriptsourcematerials(includingtravellers’ polyglotdiaries,letters,and notebooks)toaddressandremedytheabsenceofactualeducationalpractices
frommosthistoriesofeducationaltravel.Itarguesthatlinguisticconcernshelped toshapeeverythingfromtheroutesthattravellersfollowedtothecompanythey keptandthenotestheywrote.Attentiontotheeverydaypedagogiesoflanguagelearningintravelilluminatestheoralandface-to-facerealitiesoftheEnglish encounterwithcontinentalculturesandlanguages,andshedsnewlighton England’splaceinearlymodernEurope.
Theideaofthemonoglotnation-stateisarecentone.Earlymodernstateswere commonlymultilingual:theirrulersandeliteswereincreasinglyconvincedofthe usefulnessofasharedlanguageinthisperiod,butculturalpressureandlegislative actionwouldtakecenturiestobringabout ‘nationallanguges’ aswethinkofthem today.Evenso,ourunderstandingofthehistoryofearlymodernEnglandis plaguedbymodernmonoglotassumptions.Ittakes,Ithink,agenuinemental efforttoimagineaworldwhereEnglish nowagloballinguafranca was practicallyuselessoutsidetheislandofBritain,andeveninmanyplaceswithinit. Narrativesofthe ‘triumphofEnglish’ donotreflectthesituationontheground:in theearlymodernperiod,Englishoftenprovedimpracticalandunprestigious.⁴⁸
Apolyglotperspectiveisnecessaryinordertoallowustoremarginalizetheearly modernhistoriesofEnglish(and,perhaps,ofEngland),andtounderstandhow ideasoflanguageandnationwereshapedthroughinternationalandmultilingual encounters,andintherushtotranslate,toadapt,toborrowandstealfromother vernacularcultures.Thepolyglotperspectiverevealstheimportanceofmultilingual competencestothepracticeofpolitics,trade,print,travel,sociability,religion, warfare,culturalproduction,andmigration.Italsoallowsustounderstandearly modernEnglandasamultilingualcountry,reliantatmanydifferentlevelson language-learning,linguisticmediation,andpolyglotconversation.
⁴⁸ RichardFosterJones, TheTriumphoftheEnglishLanguage:ASurveyofOpinionsConcerningthe VernacularfromtheIntroductionofPrintingtotheRestoration (London:OxfordUniversityPress, 1953).
