Sir Thomas North | |
|---|---|
| Born | 28 May 1535 London |
| Died | 1604 (aged 68–69) London |
| Alma mater | Peterhouse, Cambridge |
| Occupations | Justice of the Peace, author and translator |
| Known for | TranslatingPlutarch's Lives into English |
| Parent(s) | Edward North, 1st Baron North, Alice Brockenden |
| Relatives | Roger North, 2nd Baron North (brother); Alice Arden inArden of Faversham (half-sister); Elizabeth North (daughter); Christina North, Mary North (sisters) |
Sir Thomas North (28 May 1535 – c. 1604) was anEnglish translator, military officer, lawyer, and justice of the peace. His translation into English ofPlutarch'sParallel Lives is notable for being the main source text used byWilliam Shakespeare for his Roman plays. He was the second son ofEdward North, the 1st Baron North, and brother toRoger North. He maintained a long literary career, spanning six decades, but likely faced financial difficulties later in life due to receiving little inheritance. It has recently been hypothesised that all of his published translations may have influenced the Shakespearean theatrical canon, and that he may himself have known William Shakespeare.[1]
Thomas North was born between 9 and 10 o'clock at night on Friday, 28 May 1535, in the parish ofSt Alban, Wood Street, in theCity of London. He was the second son of theEdward North, 1st Baron North.[2]
Thomas likely studied atPeterhouse, Cambridge.[3][4] In 1555, during the reign of the Catholic Queen Mary, he travelled in an embassy to Rome with Thomas Thirlby, Bishop of Ely (c. 1506-1570), Anthony Browne, Sir Edward Carne (c. 1500-1561), and Viscount Montague (1552-1592). Their mission was to reconcile England with the Pope, and North kept a journal of his travels.[5]
In 1557, Thomas becameMaster of the Revels atLincoln's Inn.[6] In 1560, North was praised byJasper Heywood in his translation of Seneca'sThyestes for his "stately style" and "goodly grace". Heywood then listed him with other well-known writers at theInns of Court,Thomas Sackville, 1st Earl of Dorset, andChristopher Yelverton.[7] North may have written plays forLeicester's Men and his brother's accounts include a payment that may indicate that he put on a play with this troupe at court in 1580.[8]
In 1574, Thomas accompanied his brother, Roger, 2ndLord North, on a diplomatic mission to the French court in Lyon. He served ascaptain of a band of footmen in Ireland in 1580, fought with theEarl of Leicester in the Low Countries in 1587, was appointed to defend the Isle of Ely in the year of theArmada, and wasknighted in France in October of 1591 by the Earl of Essex, just before the Siege of Rouen. He returned to Ireland to help quell Tyrone's Rebellion in 1596.[9]
His daughter, Elizabeth North, was posited as the inspiration for a character in Edmund Spenser'sThe Shepheardes Calender by Percy Long in 1905. This identification is based on the commonalities between this poem's "Rosalinde", and North's daughter who lived with her powerful uncle,Roger North, 2nd Baron North, at his estate ofKirtling Tower. As Long notes, Spenser admits the name Rosalinde was ananagram, and her name resolves to Elisa Nord: Elisa being a shortened version of Elizabeth, and Nord being French for North.[10]
His name is on the roll ofjustices of the peace forCambridge in 1592 and again in 1597. He was presented with a reward of £25 for his part in putting downEssex's Rebellion in 1601,[11] and received a small pension (£40 a year) fromQueen Elizabeth that same year.[3]
His first translation, ofGuevara'sReloj de Principes (commonly known asLibro áureo), was published in 1557. It is a compendium of moral counsels chiefly compiled from theMeditations ofMarcus Aurelius, under the title ofDiall of Princes. The English of this work is one of the earliest specimens of the ornate, copious and pointed style for which educated young Englishmen had acquired a taste in theirContinental travels and studies.[3]
North translated from a French copy of Guevara, but seems to have been well acquainted with the Spanish version. Marcus Aurelius had already been translated byJohn Bourchier, 2nd Baron Berners, but without reproducing the rhetorical artifices of the original. North's version, with its mannerisms and its constant use ofantithesis, set the fashion which was to culminate inJohn Lyly'sEuphues.[3]
Linguistic evidence suggests thatThe Dial of Princes is a possible source for some passages inTitus Andronicus by William Shakespeare. Other biographical and historical parallels have led to the suggestion that North may have been the author of the now-lost playTitus and Vespasian, written in 1562, and that this was in turn the source for Shakespeare's ownTitus Andronicus.[12] Phrases from North'sDial of Princes may also appear in Shakespeare’sHamlet.[13]
His next work wasThe Morall Philosophie of Doni (1570), a translation of anItalian language version of originally Indian fables,[3] popularly known asThe Fables of Bidpai which had come to Europe primarily through Arabic translations.
North published his translation of Plutarch in 1580, basing it on the French version byJacques Amyot. The first edition was dedicated toQueen Elizabeth, and was followed by another edition in 1595. A third edition of his Plutarch was published, in 1603, with more translated Parallel Lives, and a supplement of other translatedbiographies.[3]
North'sPlutarch was reprinted for theTudor Translations (1895), with an introduction byGeorge Wyndham.[3]
According to theEncyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, "[i]t is almost impossible to overestimate the influence of North's vigorous English on contemporary writers, and some critics have called him the first master of English prose".[3]
TheLives translation formed the source from whichShakespeare drew the materials for hisJulius Caesar,Coriolanus,Timon of Athens, andAntony and Cleopatra. It is in the last-named play that he follows theLives most closely, whole speeches being taken directly from North.[3] Some have hypothesized that North wrote plays later adapted by Shakespeare.[14][15][16]
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This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "North, Sir Thomas".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 19 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 759.| International | |
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