Life

He studied at the school of St Paul’s Cathedral in London, and at a young age entered the household of John Colet

John Colet

John Colet was an English churchman and educational pioneer.Colet was an English scholar, Renaissance humanist, theologian, and Dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral, London. Colet wanted people to see the scripture as their guide through life. Furthermore, he wanted to restore theology and rejuvenate...

. He learned classics from William Lilye

William Lilye

William Lily was an English classical grammarian and scholar. He was an author of the most widely used Latin grammar textbook in England and was the first headmaster of St Paul's School, London.-Life:...

, and then went to Pembroke Hall, Cambridge.

In Cambridge Lupset worked closely with Desiderius Erasmus

Desiderius Erasmus

Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus , known as Erasmus of Rotterdam, was a Dutch Renaissance humanist, Catholic priest, and a theologian....

, on New Testament

New Testament

The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....

 and patristic texts. He may then have travelled to Italy with Richard Pace

Richard Pace

Richard Pace was an English diplomat of the Tudor period. He was educated at Winchester College under Thomas Langton, and later at Padua, at Bologna, and probably at the University of Oxford...

. From 1519 he was supported by Cardinal Wolsey at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge

Corpus Christi College, Cambridge

Corpus Christi College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. It is notable as the only college founded by Cambridge townspeople: it was established in 1352 by the Guilds of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin Mary...

, as a reader in humanities, as successor to John Clement

John Clement (physician)

John Clement was an English Roman Catholic physician and humanist. He was tutor to Thomas More's children, and became President of the College of Physicians.-Life:...

. He then was given church livings and lectured in Greek. He was tutor to Thomas Wynter

Thomas Wynter

Thomas Wynter or Winter was the supposed illegitimate son of Thomas Wolsey by his mistress, Joan Larke. Wolsey was archbishop of York, English cardinal, candidate for the papacy and chief minister of Henry VIII of England. The evidence of the kinship of Wynter and Wolsey is disputed...

, Wolsey's son.

Works

A friend of Thomas More

Thomas More

Sir Thomas More , also known by Catholics as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, social philosopher, author, statesman and noted Renaissance humanist. He was an important councillor to Henry VIII of England and, for three years toward the end of his life, Lord Chancellor...

, Erasmus, Thomas Linacre

Thomas Linacre

Thomas Linacre was a humanist scholar and physician, after whom Linacre College, Oxford and Linacre House The King's School, Canterbury are named....

, Budaeus, Reginald Pole, and John Leland, he did editorial work and saw books through the press for them. He was the supervisor of Linacre's editions of Galen

Galen

Aelius Galenus or Claudius Galenus , better known as Galen of Pergamon , was a prominent Roman physician, surgeon and philosopher...

's treatises, and of the second edition of More's Utopia

Utopia (book)

Utopia is a work of fiction by Thomas More published in 1516...

. His own works, mainly letters, translation and moral treatises, were collected for publication in 1545.

A dialogue between Reginald Pole and Thomas Lupset is an imagined work of political theory by Thomas Starkey

Thomas Starkey

Thomas Starkey was an English political theorist and humanist.Starkey attended the University of Oxford and gained an MA at Magdalen College in 1521. After this, Starkey stayed in Padua until around 1526...

. It is set at Bisham Abbey

Bisham Abbey

Bisham Abbey is a Grade I listed manor house at Bisham in the English county of Berkshire. The name is taken from the now lost monastery which once stood alongside. Bisham Abbey was previously named Bisham Priory, and was the traditional resting place of many Earls of Salisbury...

, and may be based on an actual visit of Lupset to Pole there in 1529. It is in the tradition of Utopia, and of Thomas Elyot

Thomas Elyot

Sir Thomas Elyot was an English diplomat and scholar.-Early Life:Thomas was the child of Sir Richard Elyot's first marriage with Alice De la Mare, but neither the date nor place of his birth is accurately known...

's almost contemporary The Boke named the Governour.

Further reading

• John Archer Gee (1928), The Life and Works of Thomas Lupset: With a Critical Text of the Original Treatises and the Letters
• Robert W. Haynes, “Thomas Lupset’s A Treatise of Charitie: Dialogue as Charity in Action,” Renaissance Papers 1990, 19-26.