I first came across Mulcaster when researching for a paper on the history of the English language. In 1582 he wrote “Our English tongue is of small reach – it stretcheth no further than this island of ours, nay not there over all”. There was a lot of truth in what he said. After all, at this time only 5 million spoke English and they were all on the British Isles.
In Mulcaster’s time, English was just becoming the main language of the British Isles. As a result of the Reformation, church services were now held in English, rather than Latin, and slowly but surely English became the universal language of Britain. Mulcaster was instrumental in the process and made a case for English the language of all people in England. In his most famous work, Elementarie he stated that there was no other language which was “better able to utter all arguments, either with more pith, or greater plainness than our English tongue”. He further identified the need for standardized spelling conventions and presented a plan to how it could be introduced.
In terms of the use of language, he turned out to be right. English became the most important language in the world. But it took almost 300 years. But Mulcaster did not only advocate for the English language, he also contributed to its vocabulary. Words such as schoolbook, friction, frown, mismatch, and misspelling are just some examples of the many terms he introduced to the English language.
Mulcaster, however, also has another claim to fame and that is promoting sports as part of the curriculum. In the process he introduced sporting words into English like discus and athletical. What is more, Mulcaster was a great advocate of the sport of football and helped to move the sport away from merely being a “rough multitude with a ball”. Instead, he promoted the introduction of referees, the idea of players having various positions and the concept of a coach. In Mulcaster’s estimation, these refinements to the game and its rules helped to prevent “so many bones from being broken” and help the game “assist both health and strength”.
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