Jasper Heywood (1535 – 9 January 1598) was an English

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

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. He is known as the English translator of three Latin plays of Seneca, the '' Troas'' (1559), the '' Thyestes'' (1560) and '' Hercules Furens'' (1561).

Life

He was son of John Heywood, and became a fellow of

Merton College, Oxford Merton College (in full: The House or College of Scholars of Merton in the University of Oxford) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the 126 ...

, but was compelled to resign in 1558. In the same year he was elected a fellow of All Souls College, but, refusing to conform to the changes in religion at the beginning of the reign of

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, he gave up his fellowship and went to

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, where he was received into the

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. For seventeen years he was professor of moral theology and controversy in the Jesuit College at Dillingen, in present-day

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. In 1581 he was sent to

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as superior of the Jesuit mission, but his leniency in that position led to his recall. On his way back to the Continent, a violent storm drove him back to the English coast. He was arrested on the charge of being a

, but, although efforts were made to induce him to abjure his opinions, he remained firm. He was condemned to perpetual exile on pain of death, and died at

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on 9 January 1598. His nephew was the poet and preacher

John Donne John Donne ( ; 1571 or 1572 – 31 March 1631) was an English poet, scholar, soldier and secretary born into a recusant family, who later became a clergy, cleric in the Church of England. Under Royal Patronage, he was made Dean of St Paul's, D ...

Works

Heywood's verse translations of Seneca were supplemented by other plays contributed by Alexander Neville, Thomas Nuce, John Studley and Thomas Newton. Newton collected these translations in one volume, ''Seneca, his tenne tragedies translated into Englysh'' (1581). The importance of this work in the development of English drama can hardly be overestimated. He also wrote four poems published in 1576 in the Elizabethan collection known as ''The Paradise of Dainty Devices''.

References

* *Dr. J.W. Cunliffe, ''On the Influence of Seneca upon Elizabethan Tragedy'' (1893). * {{DEFAULTSORT:Heywood, Jasper 1535 births 1598 deaths Converts to Roman Catholicism English Catholic poets English classical scholars Fellows of All Souls College, Oxford Fellows of Merton College, Oxford 16th-century English educators 16th-century English Jesuits 16th-century English poets 16th-century English male writers English male poets 16th-century English scholars Poet priests

Life

Works

See also

References