Francis Meres (1565/1566 – 29 January 1647) was an English churchman and author. His 1598
commonplace book
Commonplace books (or commonplaces) are a way to compile knowledge, usually by writing information into books. They have been kept from antiquity, and were kept particularly during the Renaissance and in the nineteenth century. Such books are simi ...
includes the first critical account of poems and plays by Shakespeare.
Career
Francis Meres was born in 1565 at Kirton Meres in the parish of
Kirton, Lincolnshire
Kirton or Kirton in Holland is an English village and civil parish in the Borough of Boston, Lincolnshire. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 5,371.
History
The Domesday Book of 1086 terms the village ''Cherchetune' ...
. He was educated at
Pembroke College, Cambridge
Pembroke College (officially "The Master, Fellows and Scholars of the College or Hall of Valence-Mary") is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college is the third-oldest college of the university and has over 700 ...
, where he received a BA in 1587 and an MA in 1591. Two years later he was incorporated an MA of
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
. His relative, John Meres, was high sheriff of Lincolnshire in 1596, and apparently helped him in the early part of his career. In 1602 he became rector of
Wing, Rutland
Wing is a village and civil parish in the East Midlands county of Rutland, England. The population was 315 at the 2001 census and 314 at that of 2011. It features a fine church and a labyrinth made of turf. Rutland Water reservoir is nearby.
...
, where he also ran a school. Both his son Francis and his grandson Edward received their BA and MA from Cambridge and became rectors.
Meres is especially known for his '' Palladis Tamia, Wits Treasury'' (1598), a commonplace book that is important as a source on the Elizabethan poets, and more particularly as the first critical account of the poems and early plays of William Shakespeare. Its list of Shakespeare's plays contributed to establishing their
chronology
Chronology (from Latin ''chronologia'', from Ancient Greek , ''chrónos'', "time"; and , ''-logia'') is the science of arranging events in their order of occurrence in time. Consider, for example, the use of a timeline or sequence of even ...
.
The ''Palladis Tamia'' also contained moral and critical reflections borrowed from various sources, and embraced sections on books, on philosophy, on music and painting, and a "Comparative Discourse of our English poets with the Greeke, Latin, and Italian poets." This chapter enumerates the English poets from Chaucer to Meres's own day, and in each case a comparison with some classical author is instituted.
A sermon entitled ''Gods Arithmeticke'' (1597) and two translations from the Spanish of Luís de Granada entitled ''Granada's Devotion and The Sinners' Guide'' (1598) complete Meres's list of works.
Marriage and issue
Meres had a wife, Mary (1576/1577–1631), whose
maiden name
When a person (traditionally the wife in many cultures) assumes the family name of their spouse, in some countries that name replaces the person's previous surname, which in the case of the wife is called the maiden name ("birth name" is also use ...
is unknown. They had a son, Francis, born in 1607. In ''Shakespeare's Sonnets'' (1904),
Charlotte Stopes
Charlotte Brown Carmichael Stopes (née Carmichael; 5 February 1840 – 6 February 1929), also known as C. C. Stopes, was a British scholar, author, and campaigner for women's rights. She also published several books relating to the life and wor ...
stated that Meres was the brother-in-law of
John Florio
Giovanni Florio (1552–1625), known as John Florio, was an English linguist, poet, writer, translator, lexicographer, and royal language tutor at the Court of James I. He is recognised as the most important Renaissance humanist in England. ...
, but investigations by
George Greenwood
Sir Granville George Greenwood (3 January 1850 – 27 October 1928), usually known as George Greenwood or G. G. Greenwood, was a British lawyer, politician, cricketer, animal welfare reformer and energetic advocate of the Shakespeare authorsh ...
suggest Stopes erred in that.
Meres died in 1647 and was buried in the parish church of St Peter and St Paul at Wing, Rutland.
Notes
References
*Don C. Allen, "The Classical Scholarship of Francis Meres" PMLA, XLVIII: 1 (March 1933), 418–425. Francis Meres and Tamia Palladis, ''Wits Treasury''. Printed by P. Short for Cuthbert Burbie. 1598. Facsimile Reprint of the Church copy in the Henry E. Huntington Library. Introduction by Don C. Allen
*Gerald Eades Bentley, "