Christopher Watson (died 1581) was an English historian and translator.

Life

A native of

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county *Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in No ...

, Watson was educated at

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge founded by the House of Tudor, Tudor matriarch Lady Margaret Beaufort. In constitutional terms, the college is a charitable corpo ...

, where he proceeded B.A. in 1566. For some time he resided with Thomas Gawdy, then

recorder Recorder or The Recorder may refer to: Newspapers * ''Indianapolis Recorder'', a weekly newspaper * ''The Recorder'' (Massachusetts newspaper), a daily newspaper published in Greenfield, Massachusetts, US * ''The Recorder'' (Port Pirie), a news ...

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

, at his residence Gawdy Hall in

Harleston Harleston may refer to: Places * Harleston, Devon *Harleston, Norfolk *Harleston, Suffolk People with the surname *Bernard W. Harleston (born 1930), American college administrator * Edward Harleston (1794–1826), American planter and politician ...

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

. He commenced M.A. in 1569, and his name occurs in the list of the opponents of the new statutes of the university in 1572. Watson was ordained deacon at Norwich in 1574. It is supposed that he died before 12 June 1581, when the

Stationers' Company The Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers (until 1937 the Worshipful Company of Stationers), usually known as the Stationers' Company, is one of the livery companies of the City of London. The Stationers' Company was formed in ...

licensed to Henry Carre "a lamentation for the death of Mr. Christofer Watson, mynister". He has been tentatively identified with the Christopher Watson who was appointed rector of

Bircham Newton Bircham Newton is the smallest of the three villages that make up the civil parish of Bircham, in the west of the English county of Norfolk. The village is located about 1 km north of the larger village of Great Bircham, 20 km north- ...

, Norfolk, in 1573, and also resigned the rectory of Beechamwell in the same county before 1583.

Works

Watson published: * ''The Hystories of the most famous and worthy Cronographer Polybius: Discoursing of the warres betwixt the Romanes and Carthaginienses, a riche and goodly Worke, conteining holsome counsels and wonderfull devises against the incombrances of fickle Fortune. Englished by C. W. Whereunto is annexed an Abstracte, compendiously coarcted out of the life and worthy acts perpetrate by our puissant Prince King Henry the fift'', London, 1568, dedicated to Thomas Gawdy (who may be Thomas Gawdy of Weybread, not the recorder). Watson worked from the Latin version of

Polybius Polybius (; grc-gre, Πολύβιος, ; ) was a Greek historian of the Hellenistic period. He is noted for his work , which covered the period of 264–146 BC and the Punic Wars in detail. Polybius is important for his analysis of the mixed ...

Niccolò Perotti Niccolò Perotti, also Perotto or Nicolaus Perottus (1429 – 14 December 1480) was an Italian humanist and the author of one of the first modern Latin school grammars. Biography Born in Sassoferrato (near Fano), Marche, Perotti studied with Vitt ...

. The section on Henry V followed

Edward Hall Edward Hall ( – ) was an English lawyer and historian, best known for his ''The Union of the Two Noble and Illustre Families of Lancastre and Yorke''—commonly known as ''Hall's Chronicle''—first published in 1548. He was also sever ...

. It was during his Harleston period that Watson appears to have composed this translation. A licence was granted by the Stationers' Company to Thomas Hackett in 1565; but no copy of an impression bearing that date is known to exist. *''Catechisme'', London, 1579. A tract ''Briefe Principles of Religion for the Exercise of Youth: done by C. W.'' (London, 1581), has been assigned to Watson (in the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

Catalogue). He also made collections on the history of Durham, which are in the Cottonian manuscripts.

Notes

Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Watson, Christopher Year of birth missing 1581 deaths 16th-century Anglican deacons English translators English antiquarians Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge 16th-century Church of England clergy