The Histories of Alexander Neville (1544-1614): A New Translation of Kett's Rebellion and The City of Norwich PDF
Preview The Histories of Alexander Neville (1544-1614): A New Translation of Kett's Rebellion and The City of Norwich
ALEXANDER NEVILLE (1544 –1614) was an English humanist, IT n gh author, poet and translator. His skill as a Latinist brought him to re id the attention of Matthew Parker, Elizabeth I’s first Archbishop of WH The Histories of Canterbury, who appointed him one of his secretaries. this book ais presents Neville’s Latin texts of De furoribus Norfolciensium Ketto ltoto nr Duce and Norvicus (1575) and Ad Walliae proceres apologia (1576) alongside modern , Cie English translations. Neville’s account of Kett’s Rebellion is one of the earliest and ls ALEXANDER iv o most important sources on the ‘Commotion tyme’ of 1549, when England was rocked e W f by a series of uprisings triggered by socio-economic conditions and the impacts of A i l religious change. one of the first published urban histories, The City of Norwich offers kiL NEVILLE n a unique perspective on the development of tudor historiography and demonstrates s -E J Neville’s skill in weaving his source materials into a polished expression of national onX and civic pride. At the same time, its account of the city’s bishops honours the life es aA (1544 –1614) and work of Neville’s patron, Archbishop Parker, who was himself a Norwich man. n dN the Reply to the Welsh Nobility challenges the accusations of libel that followed the P hD publication of De furoribus and is a small masterpiece of Ciceronian forensic oratory. i l Drawing on the editors’ combined expertise in Renaissance Latin, early modern ipE A NEW tRANsLAtIoN of W history and translation studies, these texts and translations are prefaced by a wide- R il Kett’s Rebellion and The City of Norwich ranging introductory section that examines what is known of Neville’s life, his so N n texts’ origins and literary contexts, their significance in the development of tudor ( eE historiography and the ways in which they reflect contemporary politico-religious d sV ) concerns. the translators’ preface discusses the role of translations in the appreciation I of historical sources, using recent developments in translation theory. together, these L three texts reveal much about the uses of rhetoric and historiography in legitimating L the actions of tudor governing elites, affirming national identity and promoting the E Elizabethan Religious settlement. ( 1 5 INGRID WALtoN was formerly Head of Library and Information services at the 4 4 John Innes Centre, Norwich, where she also oversaw management of the John Innes – foundation’s archival and rare book collections. 1 6 CLIVE WILKINs-JoNEs is a fellow of the Royal Historical socety and an Honorary 14 Research fellow in the school of History at the University of East Anglia. ) PHILIP WILsoN is an Honorary Research fellow in the school of Politics, Philosophy, Language and Communication studies at the University of East Anglia, where he teaches literature and philosophy. Cover Illustration: Alexander Neville and the Neville Tomb, Canterbury Cathedral. From John Dart, The History and Antiquities of the Cathedral Church of Canterbury (1726). By kind permission of the Dean and Chapter of Norwich Cathedral. EDItED by Ingrid Walton, Clive Wilkins-Jones and Philip Wilson KettsFINAL240x170.indd 1 7/01/2019 2:44 pm The Histories of Alexander Neville (1544–1614) 2341 (Boydell - Alexander Neville - part 1).indd 1 18/12/2018 11:30 am 2341 (Boydell - Alexander Neville - part 1).indd 2 18/12/2018 11:30 am The Histories of AlexAnder neville (1544 –1614) A neW TrAnSlATiOn OF Kett’s Rebellion and The City of Norwich EDITED BY Ingrid Walton, Clive Wilkins-Jones and Philip Wilson THE BOYDELL PRESS 2341 (Boydell - Alexander Neville - part 1).indd 3 18/12/2018 11:30 am Editorial Matter and Translations © Ingrid Walton, Clive Wilkins-Jones and Philip Wilson 2019 All Rights Reserved. Except as permitted under current legislation no part of this work may be photocopied, stored in a retrieval system, published, performed in public, adapted, broadcast, transmitted, recorded or reproduced in any form or by any means, without the prior permission of the copyright owner First published 2019 The Boydell Press, Woodbridge ISBN 978 1 78327 332 4 The Boydell Press is an imprint of Boydell & Brewer Ltd PO Box 9, Woodbridge, Suffolk IP12 3DF, UK and of Boydell & Brewer Inc. 668 Mt Hope Avenue, Rochester, NY 14620–2731, USA website: www.boydellandbrewer.com A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library The publisher has no responsibility for the continued existence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this book, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate This publication is printed on acid-free paper Designed and typeset by BBR Design, Sheffield 2341 (Boydell - Alexander Neville - part 1).indd 4 18/12/2018 11:30 am CONTENTS List of Illustrations vi Notes on the Editors vii Preface viii Acknowledgements x Notes on the Texts xi Notes on Transcription xiv List of Abbreviations xv INTRODUCTION Neville’s Life xvii Neville as Historian xxii Neville in Translation xxxiii DE FURORIBUS NORFOLCIENSIUM KETTO DUCE: KETT’S REBELLION (Text and Translation) 1 NORVICUS: THE CITY OF NORWICH (Text and Translation) 161 NOMINA PRAETORUM: THE MAYORS AND SHERIFFS (Text and Translation) 339 APPENDIX Ad Walliae proceres apologia: A Reply to the Welsh Nobility (Text and Translation) 367 Bibliography 383 Index 390 2341 (Boydell - Alexander Neville - part 1).indd 5 18/12/2018 11:30 am ILLUSTRATIONS Photographs are our own, unless credited otherwise. 1. Title page, De furoribus Norfolciensium Ketto duce and Norvicus (1575) By kind permission of the Dean and Chapter of Norwich Cathedral li 2. Pages 132–3 of De furoribus, STC 18478a.5 (1575) By kind permission of the Dean and Chapter of Norwich Cathedral. Photograph: Jeremy Warren, 2017 lii 3. Braun and Hogenberg’s Prospect of Norwich (1581) Image courtesy of Norfolk County Council Library and Information Service liii 4. Archbishop Matthew Parker. Frontispiece to John Strype, Life and Acts of Matthew Parker (London, 1711) By kind permission of Norfolk County Council Library and Information Service liv The editors and publisher are grateful to all the institutions and persons listed for permission to reproduce the materials in which they hold copyright. Every effort has been made to trace the copyright holders; apologies are offered for any omission, and the publisher will be pleased to add any necessary acknowledgement in subsequent editions. 2341 (Boydell - Alexander Neville - part 1).indd 6 18/12/2018 11:30 am NOTES ON THE EDITORS Ingrid Walton was educated at St Hilda’s College, Oxford, where she read Classics, and at City University, London. She was latterly Head of Library and Information Services at the John Innes Centre, Norwich, where she also oversaw management of the John Innes Foundation’s archival and rare book collections. She has made English translations of the anonymous Scala Philosophorum (2012) and of selections from the Virga Aurea of James Bonaventure Hepburn (2015), both for Adam McLean’s Hermetic Sourceworks Series (Glasgow). A Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, Clive Wilkins-Jones was educated at Aberystwyth University and the University of East Anglia. He has a PhD from UEA (2001), where he is an Honorary Research Fellow in the School of History. His book, The Minutes, Donation Book and Catalogue of Norwich City Library, founded in 1608, was published by Norfolk Record Society in 2008. His edited transcript of Sir Hamon L’Estrange’s ‘Observations’ on Sir Thomas Browne’s Pseudodoxia epidemica appeared in Studies in Philology in 2017. Philip Wilson teaches literature and philosophy at the University of East Anglia. He was educated at Keble College, Oxford, and at UEA, where he took an MA and a PhD in Translation Studies. Publications include: The Luther Breviary, transl. with John Gledhill (Wartburg, 2007); Literary Translation: Re-drawing the Boundaries, ed. with Jean Boase- Beier and Antoinette Fawcett (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014); The Bright Rose: German Verse 800–1280, transl. and ed. (Arc, 2015); Translation after Wittgenstein (Routledge, 2015). He has recently edited The Routledge Handbook of Translation and Philosophy (with Piers Rawling). A translation of Simone Weil’s Venice Saved (with Silvia Panizza) is forthcoming from Bloomsbury. 2341 (Boydell - Alexander Neville - part 1).indd 7 18/12/2018 11:30 am PREFACE This project originated with Clive Wilkins-Jones and evolved into an interdisciplinary collaboration. Its focus is the humanist intellectual, author and translator Alexander Neville (1544–1614). As long ago as 1942, the literary scholar C. T. Prouty, in his biography of Neville’s friend the poet George Gascoigne, called for a study of Neville himself.1 More recently, David Womersley has called for further studies of individual historiographical works from the Tudor period.2 In response, we are presenting Latin transcriptions and modern English translations of the histories that Alexander Neville wrote for his patron and employer, Matthew Parker (1504–75), Queen Elizabeth I’s first Archbishop of Canterbury, which were published in 1575. Neville’s account of Kett’s Rebellion, De furoribus Norfolciensium Ketto duce, is the earliest printed account of the East Anglian commotion time of 1549. As such, it has tended to be viewed historiographically rather than from a literary perspective. There are two existing translations, and a third was begun by Frederic Russell but not completed.3 The earliest translation, from 1584 by Thomas Corbold, rector of Holkham in Norfolk, remains in manuscript.4 Richard Woods, rector of Frettenham, near Norwich, made another translation about ten years later, which he published in 1615.5 This version held a monopoly for some 400 years, almost supplanting Neville’s Latin.6 No translation is definitive, however, and the ability to compare different renderings can prompt new insights. Moreover, the English of Shakespeare’s day brings difficulties of its own to the twenty-first-century reader. A modern English translation alongside Neville’s original text therefore seemed to us both desirable and somewhat overdue. 1 Charles T. Prouty, George Gascoigne: Elizabethan Courtier, Soldier and Poet (New York, 1942), p. 33 n. 38. 2 David Womersley, ‘Against the Teleology of Technique’, in The Uses of History in Early Modern England, ed. Paulina Kewes (San Marino, CA, 2006), p. 104. 3 See Frederick Russell, Kett’s Rebellion in Norfolk (London, 1859), p. vii. 4 Bodleian Library, Tanner MS 421 (microfilm). 5 See the side note, sig. A.3: ‘This was translated twenty yeares since’. A second edition appeared in 1623. 6 For example, see Andy Wood, The 1549 Rebellions and the Making of Early Modern England (Cambridge, 2007), p. 216, where Neville’s preface is attributed to Woods. 2341 (Boydell - Alexander Neville - part 1).indd 8 18/12/2018 11:30 am PREFACE ix Norvicus has been largely ignored and never translated. Ostensibly a historiola [short history] of Norwich, it is equally – perhaps primarily – a rhetorical tour de force that serves to showcase Neville’s considerable linguistic talents: an elaborate confection that plays with different forms and genres, aimed at a cultured domestic and European audience. As well as celebrating the life and work of Matthew Parker, it is intended to affirm English national identity and the Elizabethan Religious Settlement. After Neville’s account of rebellion and civic trauma, Norwich is presented as an exemplar of urban virtue, just as Parker’s life and work is portrayed as an exemplar of true Christian and humanist virtues. We have purposely included the prefatory material that accompanies both texts. To our knowledge, none of it has been translated previously, and, indeed, such material is easily overlooked. Both Corbold and Woods omit all the prefatory verses and letters, and Corbold even omits Neville’s short preface. Yet, as James Binns points out, such ‘liminary works’ can offer useful insights and raise interesting questions.7 For completeness’ sake, we have appended Neville’s pamphlet Ad Walliae Proceres apologia [A Reply to the Welsh Nobility], written in 1576 as a rebuttal of accusations that he had insulted the Welsh mercenaries in his De furoribus. It is a small masterpiece of Ciceronian forensic oratory that employs bravado and wit to ride out a diplomatic blunder. Transcription enables us to present the Norwich histories in their entirety, and frees Neville’s Latin from the restrictions of the rare-book room and from secondary media of varying legibility. Boydell & Brewer’s decision to publish the work as an e-book, in addition to print, opens the text yet further, so that those scholars who lack Latin will be able to pursue metatextual and intertextual questions that previously could not be readily addressed, and those who have Latin will be able to study Neville’s work more conveniently. Although this volume is not intended as a critical edition, we have sought to remedy errors that disrupt the sense of the original, and we have noted any significant revisions that were made to De furoribus in 1582. For our translations, we have followed the text of the 1575 first edition (STC 18478). All translations are our own. We hope that this bilingual edition will provide both a resource and a stimulus for students and researchers in the fields of Tudor historiography and literature, while also drawing attention to some of the finer points of translation itself, both practical and theoretical. By theorising the translation of Neville’s writings into contemporary English, we also hope to promote further work both on Neo-Latin texts and in the field of trans- lation studies. Last, but by no means least, we hope that the general reader and those interested in local history will enjoy engaging with Neville’s work. 7 James Binns, Intellectual Culture in Elizabethan and Jacobean England (Leeds, 1990), pp. 165ff. 2341 (Boydell - Alexander Neville - part 1).indd 9 18/12/2018 11:30 am
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