Nicholas Grimald

Nicholas Grimald
Marshalsea
Marshalsea.jpg

Notable prisoners
Sir Francis Barrington
Edmund Bonner · Henry Chettle
Richard Cox · Robert Culliford
Robert Daborne · John Dickens
Thomas Drury · John Eliot
John Gerard · Hannah Glasse
John Baptist Grano · Nicholas Grimald
Charlotte Hayes · William Herle
Denzil Holles · Ben Jonson
Thomas Malory · Philip Massinger ·
George Morland · Nicholas Owen
Sally Salisbury · John Selden
Richard Shelley · Ralph Sherwin
Nicholas Udall · Robert Wingfield
George Wither

Related articles
Marshalsea Court

Related prisons
Borough Compter · Clink
Fleet · King's Bench
Tower of London

Prison reformers
James Neild · John Howard
James Oglethorpe

Related categories
Marshalsea


This box: view · English poet, was born in Huntingdonshire, the son probably of Giovanni Baptista Grimaldi, who had been a clerk in the service of Empson and Dudley in the reign of Henry VII.

He was educated at Christ's College, Cambridge, where he took his B.A. degree in 1540.[1] He then removed to Oxford, becoming a probationer fellow of Merton College in 1541. In 1547 he was lecturing on rhetoric at Christ Church, and shortly afterwards became chaplain to Bishop Ridley, who, when he was in prison, desired Grimald to translate Laurentius Valla's book against the alleged Donation of Constantine, and the De gestis Basiliensis Concilii of Aeneas Sylvius (Pius II). His connection with Ridley brought him under suspicion, and he was imprisoned in the Marshalsea. It is said that he escaped the penalties of heresy by recanting his errors, and was despised accordingly by his Protestant contemporaries. Grimald contributed to the original edition (June 1557) of Songes and Sonettes (commonly known as Tottel's Miscellany), forty poems, only ten of which are retained in the second edition published in the next month.

He translated Cicero's De officiis as Marcus Tullius Ciceroes thre bokes of duties (1556); a Latin paraphrase of Virgil's Georgics (printed 1591) is attributed to him, but most of the works assigned to him by Bale are lost. Two Latin tragedies are extant; Archipropheta sive Johannes Baptista, printed at Cologne in 1548, probably performed at Oxford the year before, and Christus redivivus (Cologne, 1543), edited by JM Hart (for the Modern Language Association of America, 1886, separately issued 1899).

It cannot be determined whether Grimald was familiar with Buchanan's Baptistes (1543), or with Jacob Schoepper's Johannes decollatus vel Ectrachelistes (1546). Grimald provides a purely romantic motive for the catastrophe in the passionate attachment of Herodias to Herod Antipas, and constantly resorts to lyrical methods. As a poet Grimald is memorable as the earliest follower of Surrey in the production of blank verse. He writes sometimes simply enough, as in the lines on his own childhood addressed to his mother, but in general his style is more artificial, and his metaphors more studied than is the case with the other contributors to the Miscellany. His classical reading shows itself in the comparative terseness and smartness of his verses. His epitaph was written by Barnabe Googe in May 1562.

See C. H. Herford, Studies in the Literary Relations of England and Germany (pp. 113–119, 1886). A Catalogue of printed books ... by writers bearing the name of Grimaldi (ed. AB Grimaldi), printed 1883; and Edward Arber's reprint of Tottel's Miscellany.

See also

  • Canons of Elizabethan poetry

References

  1. ^ Grimalde, Nicholas in Venn, J. & J. A., Alumni Cantabrigienses, Cambridge University Press, 10 vols, 1922–1958.

External links


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Grimald, Nicholas — (1519 1562)    Born in Huntingdonshire, he attended both Cambridge and Oxford universities and became a lecturer in theology at Cambridge. He was licensed as a preacher in 1551 1552 and was chaplain to Nicholas Ridley, bishop of London. Ridley… …   British and Irish poets

  • Nicholas Owen (martyr) — For the other persons by this name, see Nicholas Owen Nicholas Gooden Owen Edward Oldcorne and Nicholas Owen engraving Born c.1550 Oxford, England …   Wikipedia

  • Nicholas Udall — For the former Mayor of Phoenix, Arizona, and Arizona Superior Court Judge, see Nick Udall. Nicholas Udall (1504 – 23 December 1556) was an English playwright, cleric, pederast and schoolmaster, the author of Ralph Roister Doister, generally… …   Wikipedia

  • Grimald, Nicholas — ▪ English scholar Grimald also spelled  Grimalde, Grimvald, or Grimoald   born 1519/20, Huntingdonshire, Eng. died c. 1559       English scholar and poet, best known as a contributor to Songes and Sonettes (1557), known as Tottel s Miscellany, an …   Universalium

  • English literature — Introduction       the body of written works produced in the English language by inhabitants of the British Isles (including Ireland) from the 7th century to the present day. The major literatures written in English outside the British Isles are… …   Universalium

  • Canons of Renaissance poetry — This article is about changing canons of Renaissance English poetry (i.e. in the 16th and early 17th century). While the canon has always been in some form of flux, it is only towards the late 20th century that concerted efforts were made to… …   Wikipedia

  • Английская поэзия — Семена и плоды английской поэзии (The Seeds and Fruits of English Poetry), 1845 …   Википедия

  • Charles Dickens — Dickens redirects here. For other uses, see Dickens (disambiguation). Charles Dickens …   Wikipedia

  • Thomas Malory — An Aubrey Beardsley illustration for Malory s Le Morte d Arthur, How Sir Bedivere Cast the Sword Excalibur into the Water (1894) Sir Thomas Malory (c. 1405 – 14 March 1471) was an English writer, the author or compiler of Le Morte d Arthur. The… …   Wikipedia

  • Marshalsea — The prison occupied two locations, the first c. 1329–1811, and the second 1811–1842. The image above is of the first Marshalsea in the 18th century …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”