John Rastell (or Rastall) was both a man of his time and a pioneer. He was of his time in pursuing so many activities and interests, as a lawyer, printer, designer, theatre entrepreneur and Reformer; but he was also a man of vision, first or almost first in several fields: printing plays, printing music, building the first known playhouse and setting sail for the New World. Across the wide range of his activities there is evidence of a desire to reach out, educate and change an audience not hitherto reached by existing literary and dramatic practice, a desire fostered by his connections with the humanist ideals of the More circle.
There is no extant record of Rastell’s birth. The date of 1475 is deduced from his admission to the Coventry Guild of Corpus Christi in 1489, as young men were
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Citation: Dillon, Janette. "John Rastell". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 23 March 2005 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=3714, accessed 22 November 2024.]
