Thomas Cooper (bishop)

Thomas Cooper
Thomas Cooper
Bishop of Winchester
Diocese	Diocese of Winchester
In office	1584–1594
Predecessor	John Watson
Successor	William Wickham
Other post(s)	Dean of Christ Church (1567–1569); Dean of Gloucester (1569–1571); Bishop of Lincoln (1571–1584); Prelate of the Garter (April 1584–1594, ex officio as Bishop of Winchester)
Orders
Ordination	c. 1559
Consecration	1571
Personal details
Born	c. 1517; Oxford, Oxfordshire, England
Died	29 April 1594 (aged approximately 65–68); Winchester, Hampshire, England
Nationality	English
Denomination	Anglican
Residence	Buckden, Cambridgeshire (as Bishop of Lincoln)
Spouse	Amy (m. c. 1546)
Profession	lexicographer, theologian, writer
Alma mater	Magdalen College, Oxford

Thomas Cooper (or Couper; c. 1517 – 29 April 1594) was an English bishop, lexicographer, theologian, and writer.^[1]^[2]

Life

Cooper was born in Oxford, England, where he was educated at Magdalen College. He became Master of Magdalen College School and afterwards practised as a physician in Oxford.^[3]

Elizabeth I was greatly pleased with his Thesaurus, generally known as Cooper's Dictionary; and its author, who had been ordained about 1559, was made Dean of Christ Church, in 1567.^[3] Two years later, on 27 June 1569, he became Dean of Gloucester; he was elected Bishop of Lincoln on 4 February 1571, consecrated a bishop on 24 February 1571, then translated to Winchester on 12 March 1584.^[1]

Cooper was a stout controversialist; he defended the practice and precept of the Church of England against the Roman Catholics on the one hand and against the Martin Marprelate writings and the Puritans on the other. He took some part, the exact extent of which is disputed, in the persecution of religious recusants in his diocese, and died at Winchester on 29 April 1594.^[3]

Works

Cooper's literary career began in 1548, when he compiled, or rather edited, Bibliotheca Eliotae, a Latin dictionary by Sir Thomas Elyot. In 1549 he published a continuation of Thomas Lanquet's Chronicle of the World. This work, known as Cooper's Chronicle, covers the period from AD 17 to the time of its writing.^[3] Following Robert Crowley's 1559 altered and updated version of the Chronicle which Cooper denounced, he issued an expanded and updated version in 1560 and 1565 that removed or altered most but not all of Crowley's changes and additions. In 1565 appeared the first edition of his greatest work, Thesaurus Linguae Romanae et Britannicae, and this was followed by three other editions.^[3]

John Aubrey in "Brief lives", gave the following glimpse into the creation of this dictionary:

Dr. Edward Davenant told me that this learned man had a shrew to his wife, who was irreconcileably angrie with him for sitting-up late at night so, compileing his Dictionarie, (Thesaurus linguae Romanae et Britannicae, Londini, 1584; dedicated to Robert Dudley, earl of Leicester, and Chancellor of Oxford). When he had halfe-donne it, she had the opportunity to gett into his studie, tooke all his paines out in her lap, and threw it into the fire, and burnt it. Well, for all that, that good man had so great a zeale for the advancement of learning, that he began it again, and went through with it to that perfection that he hath left it to us, a most usefull worke.^[4]

William Shakespeare is believed to have used Cooper's Thesaurus in the creation of his many poems and plays. (Evidence of this comes from a close statistical inspection of Shakespeare's word usage.^[5])

Cooper's Admonition against Martin Marprelate was reprinted in 1847, and his Answer in Defence of the Truth against the Apology of Private Mass in 1850.^[3] (This latter work was answered by the Jesuit controversialist Fr. John Rastell in 1565.)

Styles and titles

c. 1517–1559: Thomas Cooper Esq.
1559–1567: The Reverend Thomas Cooper
1567–1571: The Very Reverend Thomas Cooper
1571–1594: The Right Reverend Thomas Cooper

References

^ ^a ^b ^c "Cooper, Thomas". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/6229. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
^ Thomas Cooper at the Encyclopædia Britannica
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Cooper, Thomas". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 7 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 81.
^ Aubrey, John. "Brief Lives"
^ "PRINTED 1584: THE DICTIONARY and THESAURUS THAT WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE USED". RareBookBuyer.com. Retrieved 21 March 2017.

External links

Pollux (Specify "Cooper, Thesaurus Linguae Romanae et brittanicae (experimental)")

Academic offices
Preceded by John Kennall	Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University 1567–1571	Succeeded by Lawrence Humphrey
Church of England titles
Preceded by Nicholas Bullingham	Bishop of Lincoln 1571–1584	Succeeded by William Wickham
Preceded by John Watson	Bishop of Winchester 1584–1594	Succeeded by William Wickham

[ODNB-1] "Cooper, Thomas". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/6229. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)

[2] Thomas Cooper at the Encyclopædia Britannica

[EB1911-3] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Cooper, Thomas". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 7 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 81.

[4] Aubrey, John. "Brief Lives"

[5] "PRINTED 1584: THE DICTIONARY and THESAURUS THAT WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE USED". RareBookBuyer.com. Retrieved 21 March 2017.

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v t e Bishops of Winchester
Early Medieval 634–1006	Birinus, Bishop of Dorchester Agilbert, Bishop of Dorchester Wine Leuthere Hædde Daniel Hunfrith Cyneheard Æthelheard Ecgbald Dudd Cyneberht Ealhmund Wigthegn Herefrith (disputed) Eadmund (disputed) Eadhun Helmstan Swithun Ealhferth Tunbeorht Denewulf Frithestan Beornstan/Byrnstan Ælfheah I Ælfsige I Beorhthelm Æthelwold I Ælfheah II	Arms of the Bishop of Winchester
High Medieval 1006–1304	Cenwulf Æthelwold II Ælfsige II Ælfwine Stigand Walkelin William Giffard Henry of Blois Richard of Ilchester Godfrey de Luci Richard Poore Peter des Roches Ralph Neville William de Raley Aymer de Valence Andrew of London William de Taunton John Gervais Nicholas of Ely Robert Burnell Richard de la More John of Pontoise
Late Medieval 1305–1501	Henry Woodlock John Sandale Rigaud of Assier John de Stratford Adam Orleton William Edington William of Wykeham Henry Beaufort William Waynflete Peter Courtenay Thomas Langton
Early Modern 1501–1820	Richard Foxe Thomas Wolsey Stephen Gardiner John Ponet Stephen Gardiner John White Robert Horne John Watson Thomas Cooper William Wickham William Day Thomas Bilson James Montague Lancelot Andrewes Richard Neile Walter Curle Episcopacy abolished (Commonwealth) Brian Duppa George Morley Peter Mews Jonathan Trelawny Charles Trimnell Richard Willis Benjamin Hoadly John Thomas Brownlow North
Late Modern 1820–current	George Pretyman Tomline Charles Sumner Samuel Wilberforce Harold Browne Anthony Thorold Randall Davidson Herbert Ryle Edward Talbot Theodore Woods Cyril Garbett Mervyn Haigh Alwyn Williams Falkner Allison John Taylor Colin James Michael Scott-Joynt Tim Dakin Philip Mounstephen

v t e Bishops of Lincoln
Leicester	Cuthwine Wilfrid Headda Aldwine Torhthelm Eadbeorht Unwona Wernbeorht Hræthhun Ealdred Ceobred see removed to Dorchester
Dorchester	Harlardus Wigmund Coenwulf Wynsige Æthelwold Oscytel united see: Leofwine Alnothus Æscwig Ælfhelm Eadnoth (I) Æthelric Eadnoth (II) Ulfus Normanus Wulfwig Remigius de Fécamp
High Medieval	Remigius de Fécamp Robert Bloet Alexander Robert de Chesney Geoffrey Plantagenet Walter de Coutances Hugh of Avalon William de Blois Hugh of Wells Robert Grosseteste Henry of Lexington Richard of Gravesend Oliver Sutton
Late Medieval	John Dalderby Anthony Bek Henry Burghersh Thomas Bek John Gynwell John Bokyngham Henry Beaufort Philip Repyngdon Richard Fleming William Grey William Alnwick Marmaduke Lumley John Chadworth Thomas Rotherham John Russell
Early modern	William Smyth Thomas Wolsey William Atwater John Longland Henry Holbeach John Taylor John White Thomas Watson Nicholas Bullingham Thomas Cooper William Wickham William Chaderton William Barlow Richard Neile George Montaigne John Williams Thomas Winniffe Episcopacy abolished (Commonwealth) Robert Sanderson Benjamin Lany William Fuller Thomas Barlow Thomas Tenison James Gardiner William Wake Edmund Gibson Richard Reynolds John Thomas John Green Thomas Thurlow
Late modern	George Pretyman (later Pretyman Tomline) George Pelham John Kaye John Jackson Christopher Wordsworth Edward King Edward Hicks William Swayne Nugent Hicks Aylmer Skelton Leslie Owen Maurice Harland Kenneth Riches Simon Phipps Bob Hardy John Saxbee Christopher Lowson Stephen Conway, Bishop of Ely (acting) David Court (acting) Stephen Conway

v t e Deans of Gloucester
Early modern	William Jennings John Man Thomas Cooper Lawrence Humphrey Anthony Rudd Griffith Lewis Thomas Moreton Richard Field William Laud Richard Senhouse Thomas Winniffe George Warburton Accepted Frewen William Brough Thomas Vyner Robert Frampton Thomas Marshall William Jane Knightly Chetwood John Waugh John Frankland Peter Allix Daniel Newcombe Josiah Tucker
Late modern	John Luxmoore John Plumptre Edward Rice Henry Law Edward Bickersteth Henry Montagu Butler Donald Spence Jones Henry Gee Harold Costley-White Seiriol Evans Gilbert Thurlow Kenneth Jennings Nicholas Bury Stephen Lake Andrew Zihni

v t e Dean of Christ Church, Oxford
Predecessors	John Hygdon* John Oliver* John London Richard Cox
Early modern	Richard Cox Richard Marshall George Carew Thomas Sampson Thomas Godwin Thomas Cooper John Piers Tobias Matthew William James Thomas Ravis John King William Goodwin Richard Corbet Brian Duppa Samuel Fell Edward Reynolds John Owen Edward Reynolds George Morley John Fell John Massey Henry Aldrich Francis Atterbury George Smalridge Hugh Boulter William Bradshaw John Conybeare David Gregory William Markham Lewis Bagot Cyril Jackson
Late modern	Charles Henry Hall Samuel Smith Thomas Gaisford Henry Liddell Francis Paget Thomas Strong Henry Julian White Alwyn Williams John Lowe Cuthbert Simpson Henry Chadwick Eric Heaton John Drury Christopher Lewis Martyn Percy Sarah Foot
* – Academic deans only; prior to the establishment of Christ Church Cathedral; ** – Cathedral deans at Osney.

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