On this day in Tudor history, 11th June 1576, seventy-year-old humanist and educator Sir Anthony Cooke of Gidea Hall in Essex died.
Cooke, who served in Henry VIII's bodyguard and privy chamber, is more known for his role in education. He educated his daughters, who included Mildred Cecil, Anne Bacon, Catherine Killigrew and Elizabeth Hoby, to a high standard, teaching them Latin and Greek, and probably also modern languages and Hebrew. They were all noted for their scholarship.
Although Anthony Cooke doesn't appear in the records as a formal royal tutor, it does appear that he was involved in the young king’s education, possibly in an advisory or guiding role.
Cooke was buried at Romford, and his effigy can be seen at St Edward's Church there.
Image: The Cooke Memorial at the Church of St Edward the Confessor, Romford. Arms of Cooke of Giddea Hall, Essex: Or, a chevron compony gules and azure between three cinquefoils of the second. Crest — A unicorn's head or, between two wings endorsed azure )Burke's General Armory, 1884. Photo credit: CassantioCommons, Wikimedia Commons.
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