Monday, January 11, 2010

Kudrun goes Elizabethan

"Much Ado About Twelfth Night" -- an Elizabethan-themed event. (Nordskogen, January 9, 2010) What on earth can a 13th century persona do with such modern times? Nothing. I needed a sixteenth-century persona.

Enter Katherine Stackhouse of Giggleswick, who was able to describe the life and times of Roger Ascham, the Cambridge Greek scholar who is best known for a book on Archery. Toxophilus, though intentionally written in English for Englishmen, is a Socratic dialog on the virtues of archery. It is, perhaps, the geekiest sports book in existence.
He also wrote a book called The Scholemaster, which outlines a method and a curriculum for teaching Latin without recourse to beating and berating the student.
Ascham managed to serve all three of Henry VIII's children when they came to the throne; a remarkable accomplishment considering how many others lost their heads in the transitions. He was a worthy subject for a class.