Thomas Hoby
From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.
Sir Thomas Hoby (1530 - 1566) was an English diplomat and translator.
He was born at Leominster and educated at the University of Cambridge. He translated Martin Bucer's Gratulation to the Church of England, and Baldassare Castiglione's Il cortegiano. The latter translation, The Courtyer of Count Baldessar Castilio, had great popularity and was one of the key books of the English Renaissance. It provided a philosophy of life for the Elizabethan gentleman. A reading of its pages fitted him for the full assimilation of the elaborate refinements of the new Renaissance society. It furnished his imagination with the symbol of a completely developed individual, an individual who united ethical theory with spontaneity and richness of character.
Hoby died in Paris while Ambassador to France.
This article incorporates text from: Cousin, John William (1910). A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature. London, J.M. Dent & sons; New York, E.P. Dutton.
