Editing Nicholas Udall (section)

==Biography==
Udall was born in [[Hampshire]] and educated at [[Winchester College]],<ref>C. Dilke, ''Dr. Moberly's Mint-mark'', Heinemann, 1965</ref> then at [[Corpus Christi College, Oxford]], where he held a scholarship. In 1524 he was elected a probationer fellow and probably took his B.A.<ref name=LE/> He was tutored under the guidance of [[Thomas Cromwell]], who mentions him in a letter to John Creke of 17 August 1523 as 'Maister Woodall'.

In 1527/1528, Udall was in trouble with his college for having or reading heretical books, but he was allowed to remain in college.<ref name=LE/> In 1533 he was a [[schoolmaster]] at a [[grammar school]] in [[City of London|London]]. 

In 1534 Udall took the degree of M.A. and was appointed headmaster of [[Eton College]].<ref name=LE/> He appears in Cromwell's accounts for 1535 as 'Nicholas Woodall Master of Eton'. He taught [[Latin]] at Eton and was headmaster there until 1541, when he was forced to leave after being convicted of offences against his pupils under the [[Buggery Act 1533]].<ref name=LE>Nicoletta Caputo,  [http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=4498 "Nicholas Udall"], ''[[The Literary Encyclopedia]]'' online edition, Vol. 1.2.1.03: English Writing and Culture: Renaissance (1485-1625), accessed 18 December 2024.</ref><ref name="tudorplace.com.ar"/><ref name=fathom>{{cite web |url=http://www.fathom.com/feature/121749/index.html |first=Retha M. |last=Warnicke |author-link=Retha Warnicke |title=Sex and the Tudors |year=2002 |access-date=2007-05-23 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070607152022/http://www.fathom.com/feature/121749/index.html |archive-date=7 June 2007 |df=dmy-all }}</ref>  The felony of [[buggery]], like all other felonies, carried a sentence of [[capital punishment]] by [[hanging]], but Udall wrote an impassioned plea to his old friends from Cromwell's household [[Thomas Wriothesley, 1st Earl of Southampton|Thomas Wriothesley]] and [[Sir Ralph Sadler]], then joint [[Secretary of State (England)|king's Secretaries]], and his sentence was commuted to imprisonment for just under a year, which he served in the [[Marshalsea]]. The boys in question were not prosecuted. A former pupil, the poet [[Thomas Tusser]], later claimed that Udall had flogged him without cause.<ref name="tudorplace.com.ar"/>

An adherent of the [[Protestant Reformation|Reformed]] [[Church of England]], Udall flourished under [[Edward VI of England|Edward VI]] and survived into the reign of the Roman Catholic [[Mary I of England|Mary I]]. In 1547, he became Vicar of [[Braintree, Essex|Braintree]], in 1551 of [[Calborne]], [[Isle of Wight]], and in 1554 returned to teaching as headmaster of [[Westminster School]].

Udall died in 1556 and was buried in the churchyard of [[St Margaret's, Westminster]].  No monumental inscription can now be traced.