#thomas north

[uwmspeccoll]

Classic Profiles

This is a 1676 edition of The Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans, compared together by the 1st-century BCE Greek philosopher and historian Plutarch of Chaeronea, printed by the printer to the University of Cambridge John Hayes for the bookseller George Sawbridge. Originally written in Greek, Plutarch's Lives appeared in print for the first time as a Latin translation in 1470, and this English translation by Sir Thomas North was first published in 1579 from a French translation by James Amiot (Jacques Amyot). The text is a collection biographies of famous Greeks and Romans, including Alexander the Great, Pericles, Tiberius Gracchus, and Cicero. These figures left an indelible mark on history, their lives and achievements shaping the world as we know it.

Sir Thomas North (1535 – c. 1604) was an English translator and lawyer significantly contributing to English literature. His translation of Plutarch's Lives served as the primary source text for William Shakespeare's Roman plays, a testament to his work's enduring influence. This translation is regarded as one of the earliest examples of exceptional English prose. It was followed by another edition in 1595, which included updated biographies. A third edition of North's Plutarch was published in 1603, including even more translated Parallel Lives and a supplement of other biographies.

Jacques Amyot (1513-1593), a French scholar, writer, and translator, made substantial contributions to the field of translation and literature. His work on the translation of Plutarch's Lives (1559-1565) was instrumental in shaping the literary landscape of his time and laid the foundation for future translations and interpretations of Plutarch's work.

The first edition of this book was dedicated to Queen Elizabeth I. This dedication reflects the book's significance and provides a glimpse into the political and cultural landscape of the time, adding another layer of depth to the reader's understanding. Plutarch’s Lives helped shape the understanding of the classical Greek democracies and oligarchies of the Roman Republic and the role attributed to their founders—among them the legendary Lycurgus of Sparta and the Athenian lawgiver Solon.

-Melissa, Special Collections Classics Intern

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[burn-everything-here]

… Thomas looked at him as one looks at a stranger in the crowd. A stranger who reminds you of someone you have known from somewhere, from some-place in the past and when you see him you instinctively raise up your hand, open your mouth to call out person’s name – only to give up a second later in a realization that you might be mistaken, that he represents only an idea of someone you know. 

            —— “ when we became strangers? ”

[shakespearenews]

What’s In a Name? Tracing an Obsession with the Shakespeare Authorship Question

I turned the calf-bound cover of the book with a mix of anticipation and nervousness. Would this be the volume that finally gave me the evidence I was looking for? Or would it be yet another disapp…

I turned excitedly to the reigns of the various Henrys and the Richards to see if North had noted anything included in Shakespeare’s history plays, but was disappointed to find that he had written little on any of those pages. In fact, he seems to have almost exclusively marked the early chapters of the book on Britain’s Roman-era history. I sent the images to McCarthy telling him that I didn’t think there was much here. He wrote me however to say: “It’s all Cymbeline.”

Now, I’d never read Shakespeare’s Cymbeline (and for good reason, as it’s not one of his better plays). The play is set in Britain during Roman times, as Rome is fighting with Britain over the question of paying tribute. Eventually Rome invades the island and is repulsed by a force led by King Cymbeline’s sons Arviragus and Guiderius. None of it is real history; rather, it’s a conflation of a number of historical events from the chronicles.

But McCarthy began excitedly showing me that nearly every one of North’s notes referred to characters and events from the play. In some cases, the language itself was even the same, as when North and Shakespeare both write that Britain paid to Rome “yearly three thousand pounds.” North even writes the name of a British king Cassibelan as “Cassibulan,” a misspelling found nowhere else but Shakespeare’s First Folio.

[shakespearenews]

New evidence suggests Shakespeare may have stolen the plot of Cymbeline

Notes from a 1533 book put Sir Thomas North in the frame for one of the bard’s later plays

But Michael Dobson, director of the Shakespeare Institute, Stratford-upon-Avon, said that while the discovery of North’s annotations was “significant” in its own right, “I don’t think the evidence … comes anywhere near substantiating the claim that North was using Fabyan’s Chronicle as the basis for a play about Cymbeline.

“Nor does there seem to be any reason for thinking that Shakespeare would have needed to know about these annotations, or the otherwise completely undocumented and unknown play which North is here alleged to have composed out of them.”

He added that spelling evidence in the First Folio was “never strong” because it recorded the spelling of those who transcribed playhouse documents rather than that of Shakespeare. The main plot of Cymbeline came from Boccaccio’s Decameron, rather than Fabyan or other chroniclers, he said.

[shakespearenews]

Did Shakespeare Base His Masterpieces on Works by an Obscure Elizabethan Playwright?

The new book "North by Shakespeare" examines the link between the Bard of Avon and Sir Thomas North

The two passages are so strikingly similar that both McCarthy and Blanding believe the only explanation is that Shakespeare used North’s journal as his source material. They argue that countless other examples—so many, in fact, that they cannot be ignored—show the similarities between the two playwrights...

...One of the researchers’ most important clues comes from a private journal written by North in 1555. Detailing the writer’s tour of Rome the previous year, a 19th-century copy of the original was recently discovered by McCarthy and Schlueter in a library in California. In the diary, North describes statues by Renaissance artist Giulio Romano as “lifelike” and “extraordinary.” At the end of The Winter’s Tale, Shakespeare, who is not known to have traveled to Italy or studied sculptures from that period, includes similar references to the artwork and artist.

“[Scholars have] been trying to figure out how Shakespeare knew about the work of Giulio Romano, and there it is,” says McCarthy. “This has been a big Shakespeare mystery for many, many years.”

[burn-everything-here]

[gossipseeker]

Spotted: Thomas North and a mystery brunette. Sources tell us that the pair were seen about and out in LA. Anyone have the tea on who she is, and does Bella Cunningham know?

[gossipseeker]

Spotted: Thomas North and Arabella Cunningham were seen getting close and personal on the dance floor! Could we have a new couple in the making?