High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Robert Cawdrey (ca. 1538- after 1604) produced one of the first dictionaries of the English language, the Table Alphabeticall, in 1604. Robert Cawdrey did not go to college, but became a school teacher in Oakham, Rutland, in 1563. In 1565, Cawdrey was ordained as a deacon, and 22 October 1571 he was made rector of South Luffenham. However, Cawdrey was sympathetic to Puritan teachings, and got in trouble with the Church authorities. In 1576 he was chastised for not reading the approved texts in his sermons, and in 1578 he performed a marriage even though he was not authorized to do so, and was briefly suspended. His suspension lasted only a few months but, in 1586, he was again in trouble for violating the rules and was called before his bishop, Richard Howland. He had powerful friends who tried to defend him, but he lost his rectory and had to return to teaching to support himself. With the assistance of his son Thomas Cawdrey (1575-1640), who was a school teacher in London, Robert Cawdrey decided to create an instructional text; the Table Alphabeticall, which appeared in 1604 when Cawdrey was living in Coventry.