Antiquity made present in Reformation England : classical translation and the politics of counsel, 1530-1580 / Fred Schurink, University of Manchester.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Schurink, Fred, 1976- Author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Classical literature--Translations into English--History and criticism.

Classical literature.

Classical literature--Appreciation--England--History--16th century.

Literature and society--England--History--16th century.

Literature and society.

England--Intellectual life--16th century.

England.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xiv, 310 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge ; New York, NY : Cambridge University Press, 2026.

Summary:

In this interdisciplinary study, Fred Schurink provides a major reinterpretation of translations of the classics in the half-century following Henry VIII's break from Rome. He reveals how translators applied ancient Greek and Roman texts to many of the key social, political, and religious developments and debates of Tudor England. Drawing on the authority of the classics and the concept of counsel, translators presented themselves as instructors and advisers to members of the regime and contributed to the development of the public sphere as a space for debate and negotiation of political opinion. Here, Schurink expands the canon of English translations of the classics by directing attention to important but overlooked authors such as Plutarch, Demosthenes, and Frontinus as well as manuscript and Neo-Latin translations. By uncovering continuities between classical translations and the manuscript marginalia of humanist scholars, he brings the histories of translation and reading into dialogue with each other.

Contents:

Cover

Half-title

Title page

Imprints page

Dedication

Table of Contents

List of Figures

Preface and Acknowledgements

Note on the Text

List of Abbreviations

Introduction

Chapter 1 Counsel and Commonwealth: Translations of Plutarch's Moralia and Ancient Moral Philosophy

Court, Politics, and Philosophy: Thomas Wyatt's The quyete of mynde (1528)

The Restoration of the Commonwealth: Thomas Elyot's The educacion or bringinge up of children (1530)

Curing the Body Politic: John Hales's The preceptes . . . for the preservacion of good healthe (1544)

Religion and Counsel: John Cheke's 'Superstition' (1545 or 1546) and John Christopherson's 'Talkativeness' (reign of Edward VI)

Friends and Foes: Thomas Blundeville's Three [morall] treatises (1561)

Chapter 2 Praise and Precept: Ancient History and Biography in English Translation

'The walles of his denne of Rome tremble, beholdyng your cristall shielde of prudence': Anthony Cope's The historie of . . . Anniball and Scipio (1544) and Gabriel Harvey's Manuscript Marginalia to Livy

'How could one reproach a wicked ruler for his cruelty more safely, yet more severely?': Henry Parker, Lord Morley's Plutarchan Lives (c. 1522-1547)

'So many, and those so notable thinges': William Master's The lief of the most woorthie Capitaine Scipio Aphricanus the Elder (1555)

'To fight lyke men': Thomas North's The lives of the noble Grecians and Romanes (1579)

'From great minds, both great vertues and great vices do procede': William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar (c. 1599), Antony and Cleopatra (c. 1606), and Coriolanus (c. 1608)

Chapter 3 Protestantism and Propaganda: Frontinus's Stratagems and Ancient Military Manuals Translated and Annotated.

'Present occasion requireth martiall feates to be knowen': Richard Morison's The strategemes, sleyghtes, and policies of warre (1539)

'If Vegicius Frontinus were present, he could not have mended our proceedings': Morison's Frontinus and the War with France and Scotland, 1543-1545

'No such Antiquityes here, but may easely be hodiernised': Gabriel Harvey's Manuscript Marginalia to Morison's Frontinus (c. 1578-1590) and the Elizabethan Road to War

Chapter 4 Rhetoric and Republicanism: Demosthenes and Ancient Greek Oratory in Tudor England

Cheke, Christopherson, and the Power of Eloquence in Mid-Tudor England

'Every good subject according to the levell of his witte, should compare the time past with the time present': Thomas Wilson's Orations of Demosthenes (1570)

'The people's loss of liberty . . . rendered the orators silent': Nicholas Carr's Demosthenis orationes (1571)

John Osborne's Translations of Demosthenes and Aeschines (1582-1583) and the Elizabethan House of Commons

Epilogue

Bibliography

Index.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 23 Feb 2026).

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

1-009-64761-X

1-009-64760-1

1-009-64762-8

9781009647601

OCLC:

1570338317