L'Éclaircissement de la langue française (1530)

John Palsgrave: Traduction et notes de Susan Baddeley. Paris, Champion. 2003. 775 pp. Hb €118.00. Published in 1530 after some eighteen years of preparation, Palsgrave's L'Éclaircissement (or, in the original text, Lesclarcissement) represents the first systematic attempt to compose a grammar of French. It is a monumental work of over 1000 pages intended for English people wishing to acquire a more detailed knowledge of the French language than could be obtained from the few cursory works then available. Palsgrave himself was a Londoner, born in the early 1480s. He gained a bachelor's degree at Cambridge in 1504 before moving to Paris where he became a Maître-ès-Arts. Returning to England, he evidently soon came to the notice of the highest circles as an expert in French and an excellent teacher of the language. In 1513, he was already serving as tutor in French to Henry VIII's sister, Mary, and in 1525 became tutor to Henry's illegitimate son, Henry Fitzroy, who was to become the Duke of Richmond

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