#D. S. Gehring

[maximumphilosopheranchor]

Johannes Spithovius Monasteriensis

“He was the son of Englebert Spithoff of Münster, hence the sobriquet Monasteriensis. His date and place of birth are unknown, but his family had some connection with the Netherlands. His brothers lived in Amsterdam and he referred to Netherlanders as his countrymen, among them the London printer Reyner Wolfe, who came from Gelderland. Spithovius was initially a pupil of Philip Melanchthon at Wittenberg, but in 1542 he matriculated at the University of Copenhagen, where he proceeded as magister in 1544 and became Professor Paedigogicus in 1545. In 1549, however, he was dismissed from his chair for marrying a woman of dubious reputation. He did not return to Copenhagen until the autumn of 1554, when he was appointed Professor of Greek and, in 1557, Professor of Physic as well. He died in early middle age on 30 December 1563, possibly from the plague. During the nineteenth century, evidence began to emerge that Spithovius had spent the years 1549 to 1554 as one of the ‘flock of Hatfield’. The earliest published source is Princess Elizabeth’s only extant household disbursement book (covering Michaelmas 1551 to Michaelmas 1552). Spithovius is named in two entries: a payment for books on 18 May 1552 and a reward of £4 on 4 April. Agnes Strickland quoted the first entry in the biography of Elizabeth in the later editions of her Lives of the Queens of England, but without further comment. Spithovius is also mentioned in the exchange of letters between Dorothea of Denmark and Elizabeth I in 1559, which is calendared in the first volume of the Calendar of State Papers, Foreign Series, Elizabeth. The second and third volumes of the Calendar contain three letters from Spithovius to Cecil, written in 1560, in which he recalled his earlier service to the queen. Thanks to these references, some late nineteenth-century Danish historians noted that he had been in Elizabeth’s employ, but he has been completely overlooked in the extensive literature on her education. Spithovius wrote to Melanchthon from Copenhagen on 30 November 1554. This letter is both the only item of correspondence between them to survive and the fullest account of his English years. He informed Melanchthon that he had just been recalled to Denmark by Christian III, having served Elizabeth as tutor in Latin and Greek for five years. The princess was under great pressure from her sister to violate her conscience by participating in idolatry. Since she was familiar with Melanchthon’s works and admired him, Spithovius suggested that he send her a letter of consolation in her adversity. He concluded with his confidence that she would become the means for the restoration of the English Church. A few further details of Spithovius’ membership of Elizabeth’s household can be supplied. Thanks to his reference to his five years in her service, it can be suggested that he was the unidentified tutor recommended by Martin Bucer to Elizabeth’s chaplain Edmund Allen on 27 August 1549. Bernardino Ochino had recently proposed a tutor for her, who had not proved satisfactory, and in his stead, Bucer suggested a young man who had arrived in England ‘some weeks since’. This man had letters of recommendation to Archbishop Cranmer from Melanchthon and another ‘man of great learning’. Since Cranmer was unable to employ him, and Bucer doubted whether a university post could be found, he might well suit Elizabeth’s purpose. Spithovius replaced her best-known tutor, Roger Ascham, who left her service early in 1550 after trying to do so earlier. A single surviving letter from Spithovius to Ascham (25 December 1561), referring to their friendship and previous correspondence, suggests that, whatever the circumstances of his departure, Ascham did not regard Spithovius as a rival. In May 1560, Spithovius asked Cecil to remember him to his old friend ‘the Treasurer’ (of the Household), Sir Thomas Parry, who had been Elizabeth’s cofferer during the decade prior to her accession. Apart from his statement to Melanchthon that he had only recently arrived in Denmark and that it was at Christian III’s request, we know nothing of the circumstances of Spithovius’ departure from Elizabeth’s service. Mary’s proclamation of 17 February 1554 ordered all alien heretics to leave the realm, and any immunity that membership of Elizabeth’s household might have conferred would have been annulled by her imprisonment following Wyatt’s Rebellion. In April, Christian III appealed to Mary to release Miles Coverdale, and he may have recalled Spithovius at the same time.”

Adams, Simon and Gehring, D. S. (2013) 'Elizabeth I's former tutor reports on the Parliament of 1559 : Johannes Spithovius to the Chancellor of Denmark, 27 February 1559.', The English historical review., 128 (530).