- John Trevisa
John Trevisa or John of Trevisa (1342 - 1402),
translator , was aCornishman , educated at Oxford, who became Vicar ofBerkeley, Gloucestershire , chaplain to the 4th Lord Berkeley, and Canon ofWestbury on Trym .He translated for his patron the "
Polychronicon " ofRanulf Higden , adding remarks of his own, and prefacing it with a "Dialogue on Translation between a Lord and a Clerk ". He likewise made various other translations, includingBartholomaeus Anglicus ' "On the Properties of Things" "(De Proprietatibus Rerum)", a medieval forerunner of the encyclopedia.A fellow of
Queen's College, Oxford from 1372-76 at the same time asJohn Wycliff andNicholas of Hereford , Trevisa may well have been one of the contributors to the Early Version ofWyclif's Bible . The preface to theKing James Version of 1611 singles him out as a translator amongst others at that time: "even in our King Richard the second's days, John Trevisa translated them [the Gospels] into English, and many English Bibles in written hand are yet to be seen that divers translated, as it is very probable, in that age". Subsequently he translated a number of books of the Bible into French for Lord Berkeley, including a version of the "Book of Revelation ", which his patron had written up onto the ceiling of the chapel atBerkeley Castle .Father of Mary Trevisa with wife, Amicia.
References
* David C. Fowler, "John Trevisa", Ashgate (1993) ISBN 0-86078-370-7
* David C. Fowler, "The life and times of John Trevisa, medieval scholar", Seattle: University of Washington press (1995) ISBN 0-295-97427-3External links
* [http://user.phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de/~holteir/companion/Navigation/Authors/Trevisa/trevisa.html John of Trevisa] , "Online Companion to Middle English Literature"
* [http://www.bartleby.com/212/0303.html John Trevisa] , "Cambridge History of English and American Literature" (1907-21) - see also the previous and following pages.
* David C. Fowler, [http://www.illinoismedieval.org/ems/VOL5/5ch1.html Piers Plowman: In Search of an Author] (1988) - article proposing that a revised edition ofPiers Plowman was by the hand of Trevisa.
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