Mary Basset
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Mary Basset ( – 20 March 1572; née Roper; also Clarke) was a translator of works into the English language. Basset is cited as the only woman during the reign of
Mary I Mary I (18 February 1516 – 17 November 1558), also known as Mary Tudor, was Queen of England and Ireland from July 1553 and Queen of Spain as the wife of King Philip II from January 1556 until her death in 1558. She made vigorous a ...
to have her work appear in print.


Biography

As the daughter of
Margaret Roper Margaret Roper (née More; 1505–1544) was an English writer and translator. Roper, the eldest daughter of Sir Thomas More, is considered to have been one of the most learned women in sixteenth-century England. She is celebrated for her filia ...
and
William Roper William Roper ( – 4 January 1578) was an English lawyer and member of Parliament. The son of a Kentish gentleman, he married Margaret, daughter of Sir Thomas More. He wrote a highly regarded biography of his father-in-law. Life William Roper ...
and the granddaughter of
Sir Thomas More Sir Thomas More (7 February 1478 – 6 July 1535), venerated in the Catholic Church as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, judge, social philosopher, author, statesman, theologian, and noted Renaissance humanist. He also served Henry V ...
, she had an outstanding education; her tutors included
John Christopherson John Christopherson (died December 1558) was learned Catholic priest, chaplain and confessor to Queen Mary I of England, Master of Trinity College, Cambridge (1553–1558), Dean of Norwich (1554–1557) and Bishop of Chichester (1557–1558)— ...
. She married first Stephen Clarke, but no children came of this union; after his death, she married James Basset, by June 1556. Between 1544 and 1553, Mary produced the first English translation of the ''
Ecclesiastical History Church history or ecclesiastical history as an academic discipline studies the history of Christianity and the way the Christian Church has developed since its inception. Henry Melvill Gwatkin defined church history as "the spiritual side of the ...
'' by
Eusebius Eusebius of Caesarea (30 May AD 339), also known as Eusebius Pamphilius, was a historian of Christianity, exegete, and Christian polemicist from the Roman province of Syria Palaestina. In about AD 314 he became the bishop of Caesarea Maritima. ...
, now surviving in a single manuscript in the
British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...
, Harley MS 1860, along with her translation of its first book into
Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
. Her work is based on the edition published by
Robert Estienne Robert I Estienne (; 15037 September 1559), known as ''Robertus Stephanus'' in Latin and sometimes referred to as ''Robert Stephens'', was a 16th-century printer in Paris. He was the proprietor of the Estienne print shop after the death of his f ...
in 1544; her learnedness is reflected in her comments on the text's inaccuracies. In 1560 Mary also translated More's ''De tristitia Christi'' into English.
Nicholas Harpsfield Nicholas Harpsfield, in latin sometimes Harspheldius,For example in Angelus à Sancto Francisco, ''Certamen seraphicum provinciae angliae pro sancta Dei Ecclesia'', reissue Quaracchi, 1885, p. 4online (1519–1575) was an English historian and a R ...
wrote that she had also translated the '' History of Socrates'',
Theodoretus Theodoret of Cyrus or Cyrrhus (; AD 393 –  458/466) was an influential theologian of the School of Antioch, biblical commentator, and Christian bishop of Cyrrhus (423–457). He played a pivotal role in several 5th-century Byzantine ...
,
Sozomenus Salamanes Hermias Sozomenos (; ; c. 400 – c. 450 AD), also known as Sozomen, was a Roman lawyer and historian of the Christian Church. Family and home Sozoman was born around 400 in Bethelia, a small town near Gaza, into a wealthy Christian ...
, and
Evagrius Evagrius or Euagrius may refer to: ;People: * Evagrius of Constantinople (fourth century), bishop of Constantinople (circa 370–380) * Evagrius of Antioch, bishop of Antioch (388-392) *Evagrius Ponticus (346–399), Christian mystic * (5th centur ...
, but no copies of these are known. Her translations are characterized by the same engagement in contemporary political and ideological debates as can be seen in More and Margaret Roper. Mary's will of 1566 is strongly
Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
, and mentions several objects that had belonged to More. She died at London on 20 March 1572, not yet 50.Mary Basset
at the Orlando Project, Cambridge University Press


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Basset, Mary 1520s births 1572 deaths 16th-century English translators 16th-century English women writers
Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a female given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religion * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also called the Blesse ...
Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a female given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religion * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also called the Blesse ...
Early modern women writers