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SIR JOHN CHEKE (1514-1557)

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Originally appearing in Volume V06, Page 23 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SIR See also:JOHN See also:CHEKE (1514-1557)  , See also:English classical See also:scholar, was the son of See also:Peter See also:Cheke, See also:esquire-See also:bedell of See also:Cambridge University . He was educated at St See also:John's See also:College, Cambridge, where he became a See also:fellow in 1529 . While there he adopted the principles of the See also:Reformation . His learning gained him an See also:exhibition from the See also:king, and in 1540, on See also:Henry VIII.'s See also:foundation of the regius professorships, he was elected to the See also:chair of See also:Greek . Amongst his pupils at St John's were See also:Lord See also:Burghley, who married Cheke's See also:sister See also:Mary, and See also:Roger See also:Ascham, who in The School-See also:master gives Cheke the highest praise for scholarship and See also:character . Together with See also:Sir See also:Thomas See also:Smith, he introduced a new method of Greek See also:pronunciation very similar to that commonly used in See also:England in the 19th See also:century . It was strenuously opposed in the University, where the See also:continental method prevailed, and See also:Bishop See also:Gardiner, as See also:chancellor, issued a See also:decree against it (See also:June 1542); but Cheke ultimately triumphed . On the loth of See also:July 1554, he was chosen as See also:tutor to See also:Prince See also:Edward, and after his See also:pupil's See also:accession to the See also:throne he continued his instructions . Cheke took a fairly active See also:share in public See also:life; he sat, as member for Bletchingley, for the parliaments of 1547 and 1552-1553; he was made See also:provost of King's College, Cambridge(See also:April 1, 1548), was one of the commissioners for visiting that university as well as See also:Oxford and See also:Eton, and was appointed with seven divines to draw up a See also:body of See also:laws for the governance of the See also:church . On the See also:lath of See also:October 1551 he was knighted; in 1553 he was made one of the secretaries of See also:state, and sworn of the privy See also:council . His zeal for Protestantism induced him to follow the See also:duke of See also:Northumberland, and he filled the See also:office of secretary of state for See also:Lady Jane See also:Grey during her nine days' reign . In consequence Mary threw him into the See also:Tower (July 27, 1553), and confiscated his See also:wealth .

He was, however, released on the 13th of See also:

September 1554, and granted permission to travel abroad . He went first to See also:Basel, then visited See also:Italy, giving lectures in Greek at See also:Padua, and finally settled at See also:Strassburg, teaching Greek for his living . In the See also:spring of 1556 he visited See also:Brussels to see his wife; on his way back, between Brussels and See also:Antwerp, he and Sir Peter See also:Carew were treacherously seized (May 15) by See also:order of See also:Philip of See also:Spain, hurried over to England, and imprisoned in the Tower . Cheke was visited by two priests and by Dr John See also:Feckenham, See also:dean of St See also:Paul's, whom he had formerly tried to convert to Protestantism, and, terrified by a See also:threat of the stake, he gave way and was received into the Church of See also:Rome by See also:Cardinal See also:Pole, being cruelly forced to make two public recantations . Overcome with shame, he did not See also:long survive, but died in See also:London on the 13th of September 1557, carrying, as T . See also:Fuller says (Church See also:History), " See also:God's See also:pardon and all See also:good men's pity along with him." About 1547 Cheke married Mary, daughter of See also:Richard See also:Hill, sergeant of the See also:wine-cellar to Henry VIII., and by her he had three sons . The descendants of one of these, Henry, known only for his See also:translation of an See also:Italian morality See also:play Freewyl (Tragedio del Libero Arbitrio) by Nigri de See also:Bassano, settled at Pyrgo in See also:Essex . Thomas See also:Wilson, in the See also:epistle prefixed to his translation of the Olynthiacs of See also:Demosthenes (157o), has a long and most interesting eulogy of Cheke; and Thomas See also:Nash, in To the Gentlemen Students, prefixed to See also:Robert See also:Greene's Menaphon (1589), calls him " the See also:Exchequer of eloquence, Sir Ihon Cheke, a See also:man of men, super-naturally traded in all See also:tongues." Many of Cheke's See also:works are still in MS., some have been altogether lost . One of the most interesting from a See also:historical point of view is the Hurt of See also:Sedition how greueous it is to a Communewelth (1549), written on the occasion of See also:Ket's See also:rebellion, republished in 1569, 1576 and 1641, on the last occasion with a life of the author by See also:Gerard Langbaine . Others are D . Joannis Chrysostomi homiliae duae (1543), D . Joannis Chrysostomi de providentia Dei (1545), The See also:Gospel according to St See also:Matthew .

. . translated (c . 1550; ed . See also:

James See also:Goodwin, 1843), De obitu See also:Martini Buceri (1551), (See also:Leo VI.'s) de Apparalu bellico (Basel, 1554; but dedicated to Henry VIII., 1544), Carmen Heroicum, See also:aut epitaphium in Antonium Deneium (155,), De pronuntiatione Graecae . . . linguae (Basel, 1555) . He also translated several Greek works, and lectured admirably upon Demosthenes . His Life was written by John See also:Strype (1821); additions by J . See also:Gough See also:Nichols in Archaeologia (186o), xxxviii . 98, 127 .

End of Article: SIR JOHN CHEKE (1514-1557)
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Additional information and Comments

He cannot have become Edward's tutor in 1554 because Edward died in 1553! He became his tutor in 1544 when Edward was 6.
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