George Lily

Last updated

George Lily (died 1559) was an English Roman Catholic priest, humanist scholar, biographer, topographer and cartographer.

Contents

Life

George Lily was born in London, the son of William Lily the grammarian, and his wife Agnes. He may have attended St Paul's School, where his father was High Master; and he may have become a commoner of Magdalen College, Oxford, in 1528. [1] He subsequently entered the service of Reginald Pole, and in the years that followed shared some of Pole's self-imposed exile in France and Italy. Pole awarded him, by 1535, a prebend in Wimborne Minster. Also by this date, however, he was studying at the University of Padua, under such scholars as Giovanni Battista Egnazio, Lazarus Buonamici, and Fausto da Longiano. In 1538–39 he was living in Rome; and he afterwards travelled with Pole to Viterbo. At some point before 1543 he was outlawed in England for treason, presumably on account of his connections with Pole, who was by now a Cardinal and unofficial leader of the English Catholic church in exile. [1]

Between 1549 and 1554 Lily served three terms as Pole's deputy as warden of the English Hospice in Rome. [1] In 1554 he followed Pole to Brussels; and in November 1555 the two returned to England, now again a Catholic realm under Queen Mary I. Pole was consecrated Archbishop of Canterbury in March 1556; while Lily became his domestic chaplain, and was also collated to the prebend of Kentish Town or Cantlers, in St. Paul's Cathedral, on 22 November 1556, and to the first prebend of Canterbury Cathedral probably on 10 March 1558. [1]

Lily died on 14 July 1559 in Canterbury. [1] He is thought to have been buried close to his father in the churchyard of St Paul's Cathedral. [2]

Works

Writings

Lily was a major contributor to the Descriptio Britanniae, Scotiae, Hyberniae et Orchadum, a chorography of the British Isles conceived by Paolo Giovio, Bishop of Nocera, which was published in Venice in 1548. As well as supplying information to Giovio for the geographical descriptions, Lily was the author of several self-contained historical appendices: "Virorum aliquot in Britannia qui nostro seculo eruditione & doctrina clari, memorabilesque fuerunt elogia", a collection of short biographies of English humanist scholars (including his own father, William), which was dedicated to Giovio; "Nova et Antiqua Locorum Nomina in Anglia et in Scotia", a table of ancient and modern place and tribal names; "A Bruto ... omnium in quos variante fortuna Britanniae imperium translatum brevis enumeratio", a discussion of the early history of Britain, in which Lily expressed scepticism about the legendary foundation of the realm by Brutus; "Lancastrii et Eboracensis de regno contentiones", an account of the Wars of the Roses; and "Regum Angliae genealogia", a genealogy of the Kings of England.

Lily has also been credited as author of "Catalogus sive Series Pontificorum et Caesarum Romanorum" (a catalogue of Roman Popes and Emperors), a "Life of John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester", and an account of the life of Thomas Cranmer ("De vita, moribus, et fine Thomae Cranmeri"); but the latter two of these attributions, at least, are no longer upheld. [2] [1]

Cartography

InsulaeBritannia 1559 .jpg

Almost certainly intended as a companion-piece to the Descriptio Britanniae, Lily drew the first map of the British Isles (at a reasonably detailed scale) to be printed. [3] [4] [5] It was engraved on two plates and published in Rome in 1546. The map is recognisably a relation of the 14th-century Gough Map, although the orientation has been reversed (West is at the top of the sheet), and many minor improvements have been made. The Scottish coastline, in particular, is considerably more accurate than that on the Gough Map, but Lily's sources for this are not known. The map was pirated on several occasions in Italy; and Lily and Pole appear to have carried the plates back to England with them, as they were reworked by the engraver Thomas Geminus for a London edition published in 1555.

It has also been suggested that Lily had a hand in the large-scale "Copperplate Map" of London, printed in about 1559. [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reginald Pole</span> Archbishop of Canterbury from 1556 to 1558

Reginald Pole was an English cardinal and the last Roman Catholic archbishop of Canterbury, holding the office from 1556 to 1558, during the Counter-Reformation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrea Palladio</span> 16th-century Italian Renaissance architect of the Republic of Venice

Andrea Palladio was an Italian Renaissance architect active in the Venetian Republic. Palladio, influenced by Roman and Greek architecture, primarily Vitruvius, is widely considered to be one of the most influential individuals in the history of architecture. While he designed churches and palaces, he was best known for country houses and villas. His teachings, summarized in the architectural treatise, The Four Books of Architecture, gained him wide recognition.

Thomas Thirlby, was the first and only bishop of Westminster (1540–50), and afterwards successively bishop of Norwich (1550–54) and bishop of Ely (1554–59). While he acquiesced in the Henrician schism, with its rejection in principle of the Roman papacy, he remained otherwise loyal to the doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church during the English Reformation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paolo Giovio</span> Italian prelate, physician and biographer (1483–1552)

Paolo Giovio was an Italian physician, historian, biographer, and prelate.

Thomas Slythurst was an English academic and Roman Catholic priest. He was the first President of Trinity College, Oxford. He lost his positions in 1559, on the accession of Elizabeth I of England, by his refusal to take the Oath of Supremacy. It has been said that he died in the Tower of London, but this is contested.

Henry Cole was a senior English Roman Catholic churchman and academic.

John White was a Headmaster and Warden of Winchester College during the English Reformation who, remaining staunchly Roman Catholic in duty to his mentor Stephen Gardiner, became Bishop of Lincoln and finally Bishop of Winchester during the reign of Queen Mary. For several years he led the college successfully through very difficult circumstances. A capable if somewhat scholastic composer of Latin verse, he embraced the rule of Philip and Mary enthusiastically and vigorously opposed the Reformation theology.

John Harpsfield (1516–1578) was an English Catholic controversialist and humanist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Young (Regius Professor)</span> English Catholic clergyman and academic (1514–1580)

John Young (1514–1580) was an English Catholic clergyman and academic. He was Master of Pembroke Hall, Cambridge, and was later imprisoned by Elizabeth I. He is not John Young (1534?–1605), Master of Pembroke Hall later in the century, and afterwards Bishop of Rochester.

William Chedsey (1510?–1574?) was an English Roman Catholic priest and academic, who became archdeacon of Middlesex in 1556 and President of Corpus Christi College, Oxford in 1558.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Justus Velsius</span> Dutch humanist, physician, and mathematician

Justus Velsius, Haganus, or Joost Welsens in Dutch, was a Dutch humanist, physician, and mathematician.

Thomas Langley was an English clergyman who rose to the position of canon of the 9th prebend of Winchester cathedral, which he held between 1559 and his death in 1581/82. In 1546, he translated parts of the De rerum inventoribus by Polydore Vergil, and in 1552 a treatise on the Sabbath written in Italian by Giulio da Milano. He also wrote Latin verses in 1559 for William Cunningham’s Cosmographical Glass.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Hovenden</span> English academic administrator

Robert Hovenden D.D. (1544–1614) was an English academic administrator at the University of Oxford.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Man (bishop)</span>

Henry Man was an English clergyman who served as the Bishop of Sodor and Man in the 16th century.

Anthony Hussey, Esquire, was an English merchant and lawyer who was President Judge of the High Court of Admiralty under Henry VIII, before becoming Principal Registrar to the Archbishops of Canterbury from early in the term of Archbishop Cranmer, through the restored Catholic primacy of Cardinal Pole, and into the first months of Archbishop Parker's incumbency, taking a formal part in the latter's consecration. The official registers of these leading figures of the English Reformation period were compiled by him. While sustaining this role, with that of Proctor of the Court of the Arches and other related ecclesiastical offices as a Notary public, he acted abroad as agent and factor for Nicholas Wotton.

Alban Langdale or Langdaile was an English Roman Catholic churchman and author.

John Pory (1502/03–1570) was an English churchman and academic, Master of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.

Ralph Jackson was an English 16th-century clergyman who served as Master of the Savoy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Darell (clergyman)</span> English Anglican clergyman and antiquarian

William Darell or Darrell was an English Anglican clergyman and antiquarian.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Mayer 2008.
  2. 1 2 Cooper 1892.
  3. ↑ Lynam 1934.
  4. ↑ Shirley, R.W. (1991). Early Printed Maps of the British Isles, 1477–1650 (2nd ed.). East Grinstead: Antique Atlas. pp. 20–22. ISBN   0951491423.
  5. ↑ Delano-Smith, Catherine; Kain, Roger J.P. (1999). English Maps: a history. London: British Library. pp. 52–3, 61–3. ISBN   0712346090.
  6. ↑ Barber, Peter (2001). "The Copperplate Map in context". In Saunders, Ann; Schofield, John (eds.). Tudor London: a map and a view. London Topographical Society Publication. Vol. 159. London: London Topographical Society. pp. 16–32 (22–3). ISBN   0902087452.
Attribution

Wikisource-logo.svg This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Cooper, Thompson (1893). "Lily, George". In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography . Vol. 33. London: Smith, Elder & Co.

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.