The manuscript and editorial tradition of William Thomas's The pilgrim/Il pellegrino inglese

grantor: University of TorontoThis thesis examines the manuscript and editorial tradition surrounding William Thomas's 'The Pilgrim'/'Il pellegrino inglese ', a spirited defence of Henry VIII and a virulent attack on the papacy. It is largely a philological study of this Renaissance text which has been variously described as an apology, a defence, a dialogue and 'un libello propagandistico'. The text has come down to us in five English manuscripts, two English editions published in London in 1774 and 1861, and an Italian edition, of which there are few bibliographic details, save its publication in 1552 in Venice. Of all Thomas's writings, which include the first English-Italian bilingual dictionary and the first practical English-language reference history to Italy, 'The Pilgrim' has been the most neglected. The discovery, in the early stages of my research, that there existed, contrary to the unanimous conclusions of previous commentators, an autograph manuscript among the extant English copies in the British Library, Additional 33383, provided me with the incentive to produce a definitive edition based on that manuscript. The research that followed involved a close examination of the Italian edition which, notwithstanding the significant stylistic differences in the translation, bears significant resemblance to the autograph manuscript. The thesis is divided into two parts. In the first, Chapter 1 includes a brief biography of Thomas and a review of his other writings. The purpose of this chapter is to acquaint the reader with the historical and thematic context in which these works were conceived. Chapter 2 introduces ' The Pilgrim', its manuscript and editorial history, and an exposition of the argument for the preeminence of the Additional manuscript as a base text for any editorial endeavors. This chapter is followed by a speculative discussion of the possible sources and traditions, English and Italian, which may have informed Thomas's treatise. It includes references to the works of John Wyclif, Francesco Negri, in addition to an analysis of the language of the Italian 'pasquinate'. The edition of 'The Pilgrim ', a diplomatic transcription of the Additional manuscript with variants and notes, makes up the second part of the thesis.Ph.D