Thomas Bedingfield (died 11 August 1613),
gentleman pensioner
His Majesty's Body Guard of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen at Arms is a bodyguard to the British Monarch. Until 17 March 1834, they were known as The Honourable Band of Gentlemen Pensioners.
Formation
The corps was formed as the Troop of Gen ...
to
Elizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen".
Eli ...
, 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 ...
translator. He was born probably at the family manor,
Oxburgh Hall
Oxburgh Hall is a moated country house in Oxborough, Norfolk, England. The hall was built for Sir Edmund Bedingfeld who obtained a licence to crenellate in 1482. The Bedingfelds gained the manor of Oxborough through marriage in the early 15th ...
in
King's Lynn,
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 ...
, the second son of Sir
Henry Bedingfield (d. 1583), and Katherine (d. 1581), the daughter of
Sir Roger Townshend. Sir Henry had served as the constable of the
Tower
A tower is a tall structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting structures.
Towers are specifi ...
during the time
Elizabeth
Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to:
People
* Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name)
* Elizabeth (biblical figure), mother of John the Baptist
Ships
* HMS ''Elizabeth'', several ships
* ''Elisabeth'' (sch ...
was imprisoned there and at
Woodstock Palace
Woodstock Palace was a royal residence in the English town of Woodstock, Oxfordshire.
Henry I of England built a hunting lodge here and in 1129 he built of walls to create the first enclosed park, where lions and leopards were kept. The lodge b ...
under
Queen Mary.
Works
In 1573, Bedingfield published ''Cardanus Comforte translated into English'', ostensibly at the command of the
Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford. This was an English version of the ''De Consolatione'' (1542) of
Girolamo Cardano
Gerolamo Cardano (; also Girolamo or Geronimo; french: link=no, Jérôme Cardan; la, Hieronymus Cardanus; 24 September 1501– 21 September 1576) was an Italian polymath, whose interests and proficiencies ranged through those of mathematician, ...
. It includes a dedication to Oxford dated 1 January 1571–2, in which Bedingfield claims that he had not sought publication but was making his work public only under compulsion by Oxford. This is followed by a letter to the translator and a verse to the reader, both written by the Earl of Oxford, and to these succeed addresses to the reader in prose and verse by
Thomas Churchyard
Thomas Churchyard (c. 1523 – 1604) was an English author and soldier. He is chiefly remembered for a series of autobiographical or semi-autobiographical verse collections, including ''Churchyardes Chippes'' (1575); ''Churchyard's Choise'' (157 ...
.
In 1584, at the request of Henry Macwilliam, another gentleman pensioner from Norfolk, Bedingfield published ''The Art of Riding'' a translation of part of Book II of Claudio Corte's ''Il cavallarizzo''. In the dedication Bedingfield makes the same claim of modesty toward publication as his did in ''Comforte''. In 1588 he translated
Niccolò Machiavelli
Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli ( , , ; 3 May 1469 – 21 June 1527), occasionally rendered in English as Nicholas Machiavel ( , ; see below), was an Italian diplomat, author, philosopher and historian who lived during the Renaissance. ...
's
Florentine Histories
''Florentine Histories'' ( it, Istorie fiorentine) is a historical account by Italian Renaissance political philosopher and writer Niccolò Machiavelli, first published posthumously in 1532.
Background
After the crisis of 1513, with arrests for ...
, which was published in 1595 with a dedication to
Sir Christopher Hatton
Sir Christopher Hatton KG (1540 – 20 November 1591) was an English politician, Lord Chancellor of England and a favourite of Elizabeth I of England. He was one of the judges who found Mary, Queen of Scots guilty of treason.
Early years
Sir ...
. In the prefatory "To the reader," Bedingfield makes similar disclaimers about publication and argues for absolute monarchy as the best form of government.
Death
Bedingfield died in London and was buried in
St James's Church, Clerkenwell
St James Church, Clerkenwell, is an Anglican parish church in Clerkenwell, London, England.
History Nunnery of St Mary: c. 1100–1539
The parish of St James, Clerkenwell, has had a long and sometimes lively history. The springs which giv ...
, where a monument was erected by his executor, John Skillicorn.
References
DNB references
These references are found in the DNB article referred to above.
External links
*Bedingfield's translation o
''Cardanus Comforte''(1573)
*Bedingfield's translation o
''Il cavallerizzo''(1584)
*Bedingfield's translation o
''The Florentine History''(1595)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bedingfield, Thomas,
Year of birth missing
1613 deaths
English translators
Honourable Corps of Gentlemen at Arms