Charles Blount, 5th Baron Mountjoy

Charles Blount, fifth Baron Mountjoy (28 June 1516 – 10 October 1544) was an English courtier and patron of learning.

Charles Blount was born on 28 June 1516 in Tournai, where his father, William Blount, 4th Baron Mountjoy, was governor. Charles Blount's mother was William 's second wife, Alice, daughter of Henry Keble, Lord Mayor of London.

In 1522 Jan van der Cruyce, a graduate of the university at Leuven and a friend of Erasmus, travelled to England to become private tutor to Mountjoy's children. He remained in the household until 1527, when he returned to Leuven and was appointed a professor of Greek. Possibly on the recommendation of Erasmus, van der Cruyce was succeeded by Petrus Vulcanius of Bruges, also a graduate of Leuven, who remained in England until 1531. In 1531 Erasmus praised Blount for his fine written style, but after Vulcanius's departure realized that the credit should have gone to the preceptor rather than the student.

John Palsgrave, who composed L'esclarcissement de la langue francoyse (printed in 1530 and dedicated to Henry VIII) and was tutor to Henry Fitzroy, also gave tuition to the sons of several court noblemen, Blount among them. One of his fellow schoolmates in this group was Lord Thomas Howard, son of the second Duke of Norfolk, whose own tutor at Lambeth had been John Leland. Leland in turn praised Charles's skill in Latin and presented a book along with commendatory verses to him.

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