Thomas Cooper

Life Cooper was born in Oxford, England, where he was educated at Magdalen College. He became Master of Magdalen College School and afterwards practised as a physician in Oxford.

Elizabeth I was greatly pleased with his Thesaurus, generally known as Cooper's Dictionary; and its author, who had been ordained about 1559, was made Dean of Christ Church, in 1567.

Cooper was a stout controversialist; he defended the practice and precept of the Church of England against the Roman Catholics on the one hand and against the Martin Marprelate writings and the Puritans on the other. He took some part, the exact extent of which is disputed, in the persecution of religious recusants in his diocese, and died at Winchester on 29 April 1594.

William Shakespeare is believed to have used Cooper's Thesaurus in the creation of his many poems and plays. (Evidence of this comes from a close statistical inspection of Shakespeare's word usage. )

Cooper's Admonition against Martin Marprelate was reprinted in 1847, and his Answer in Defence of the Truth against the Apology of Private Mass in 1850. (This latter work was answered by the Jesuit controversialist Fr. John Rastell in 1565.)

Styles and titles –1559: Thomas Cooper Esq. 1559–1567: The Reverend Thomas Cooper 1567–1571: The Very Reverend Thomas Cooper 1571–1594: The Right Reverend Thomas Cooper