Tuesday, November 3, 2026 · 天火 · tianmu.org
Devotion and Instruction
Sixteenth-century devotional and instructional prose, from spiritual practice to education, archery, and disciplined conduct.
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Texts
A Godly Medytacyon of the Christen Sowle — Margarete, Queen of NavarreThe 1548 printing of the Lady Elizabeth’s English version of a meditation compiled in French by Margarete, Queen of Navarre, with John Bale’s dedicatory epistle on true nobility, a Conclusion that passes through the noble women of Britain, and a verse version of the thirteenth Psalm headed “touched afore of my lady Elizabeth,” in the original spelling with the book’s marginal notes.The Imitation of ChristThe most widely read Christian devotional work after the Bible, in its first English translation by William Atkinson (1517), printed by Richard Pynson for Lady Margaret Beaufort.The ScholemasterRoger Ascham's treatise on the education of young gentlemen — a defence of gentle teaching, a celebration of the English language, and a portrait of the Elizabethan court. The most influential Tudor text on pedagogy.ToxophilusRoger Ascham's dialogue on archery and the virtues of recreation — the first book about sport in the English language, and a Platonic debate on whether study or pastime better serves the Commonwealth.