William Camden

"This is the first major modern analytical biography of Camden (1551-1623): his life, his career as educator, herald, antiquarian and author." "Camden's place in early modern British intellectual history is well-known. He is the author of two monuments to British, and Elizabethan, cultural identity, Britannia and Annales Britannia; he was a contemporary of Philip Sidney at school, was praised by Edmund Spenser, became mentor and teacher of Ben Jonson and Robert Cotton, and was a friend of British and international scholars such as John Selden and Jacques De Thou; and he was a major presence in the intellectual community of British and Continental scholars." "Camden's importance within the larger intellectual and cultural history of the English Renaissance, and his impact on his own and subsequent generations of writers in different fields, has not previously been closely examined. His two major works and his antiquarian activities have attracted the attention of historians and some literary scholars, but his other work has often been overlooked, as has his shaping influence on the institutions where he worked. As headmaster at Westminster he was an influential educator and member of the Westminster Chapter under the auspices of William Cecil; as Clarenceux King of Arms, he was a major presence in Tudor and Stuart court culture." "Although history has cast him as politically disengaged, Camden lived, worked, and wrote in a politically charged world. Wyman Herendeen locates Camden within this transformational period, and explores the influences which shaped his mind and work."--Jacket.