George Turberville, or Turbervile (about 1540 – before 1597) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

poet.

Life

He was the second son of Henry Turberville of Winterborne Whitechurch,

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of , ...

, and nephew of James Turberville, Bishop of Exeter. The Turbervilles were an old Dorsetshire family, the inspiration for the d'Urbervilles of Thomas Hardy's novel, '' Tess of the d'Urbervilles''. Turberville became a scholar of

Winchester College Winchester College is a public school (fee-charging independent day and boarding school) in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was founded by William of Wykeham in 1382 and has existed in its present location ever since. It is the oldest of ...

in 1554, and in 1561 was made a fellow of New College, Oxford. In 1562 he began to study law in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, and gained a reputation, according to

Anthony à Wood Anthony Wood (17 December 1632 – 28 November 1695), who styled himself Anthony à Wood in his later writings, was an English antiquary. He was responsible for a celebrated ''Hist. and Antiq. of the Universitie of Oxon''. Early life Anthony W ...

, as a poet and man of affairs. He accompanied Thomas Randolph on a special mission to

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

to the court of Ivan the Terrible in 1568. Of his ''Poems describing the Places and Manners of the Country and People of Russia'' mentioned by Wood, only three metrical letters describing his adventures survive, and these were reprinted in ''Hakluyt's Voyages'' (1589). His ''Epitaphs, Epigrams, Songs and Sonnets'' appeared "newly corrected with additions" in 1567. In the same year he published translations of the ''Heroycall Epistles of

Ovid Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...

'', and of the ''Eglogs of Mantuan'' (Gianbattista Spagnuoli, also known as Mantuanus), and in 1568 ''A Plaine Path to Perfect Vertue from Dominicus Mancinus''. ''The Book of Falconry or Hawking'' and ''the Noble Art of Venerie'' (printed together in 1575) are sometimes both assigned to Turberville though the second of these is a translation by

George Gascoigne George Gascoigne (c. 15357 October 1577) was an English poet, soldier and unsuccessful courtier. He is considered the most important poet of the early Elizabethan era, following Sir Thomas Wyatt and Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey and leading t ...

from the French work ''La Venerie'' (1561) by Jacques du Fouilloux.Chass.utoronto.ca
/ref> The title page of his ''Tragical Tales'' (1587), which are translations from

Boccaccio Giovanni Boccaccio (, , ; 16 June 1313 – 21 December 1375) was an Italian writer, poet, correspondent of Petrarch, and an important Renaissance humanist. Born in the town of Certaldo, he became so well known as a writer that he was some ...

and

Bandello Matteo Bandello ( 1480 – 1562) was an Italian writer, soldier, monk, and, later, a Bishop mostly known for his novellas. His collection of 214 novellas made him the most popular short-story writer of his day. Biography Matteo Bandello wa ...

, says that the book was written at the time of the author's unstated troubles. Wood says he was living and in high esteem in 1594.

Notes

References

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Turberville, George 1540s births 1590s deaths 16th-century English poets People from Dorset Fellows of New College, Oxford English male poets

Life

See also

Notes

References