Richard Knolles (c. 1545 – July 1610) was an English historian and translator, known for his historical account of the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

, the first major description in the English language.

Life

A native of

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire ( ; abbreviated Northants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Leicestershire, Rutland and Lincolnshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshi ...

, Knolles was born in the 1540s, probably at

Cold Ashby Cold Ashby is a village and civil parish in West Northamptonshire in England. At the time of the 2001 census, the parish's population was 255 people, increasing to 278 at the 2011 census. The villages name means 'Ash-tree farm/settlement' or ' ...

. He was educated at

Lincoln College, Oxford Lincoln College (formally, The College of the Blessed Mary and All Saints, Lincoln) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom. Lincoln was founded in 1427 by Richard Flemin ...

, where he graduated with a BA in January 1565. Knolles then became a

fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

at Lincoln College, and obtained his MA there in July 1570. Some time after 1571, he left Oxford to become headmaster at a

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a Latin school, school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented Se ...

Sandwich, Kent Sandwich is a town and civil parish in the Dover District of Kent, south-east England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour and has a population of 4,985. Sandwich was one of the Cinque Ports and still has many original medieval build ...

, which was founded by Sir Roger Manwood in about 1563. After Manwood's death in 1592, his son, Sir Peter became Knolles' professional and literary patron and encouraged him to write. Knolles died in Sandwich in July 1610, and was buried in St Mary's church.

Works

In 1603, Knolles published his ''Generall Historie of the Turkes'', of which several editions subsequently appeared, among them Sir Paul Rycaut's edition (1700). Rycaut's edition includes his account of his time in

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

as secretary to the English ambassador. While the topic of the Turks was very popular during the period in which Knolles wrote, with an estimated 1,000 works about the Turks published in Europe between 1501 and 1550, Knolles' history was the first chronicle of the military and political aspects of the Ottoman Empire to be written in English. Previous histories had been available only in Latin and were thus not widely circulated. Knolles also published a composite translation of

Jean Bodin Jean Bodin (; ; – 1596) was a French jurist and political philosopher, member of the Parlement of Paris and professor of law in Toulouse. Bodin lived during the aftermath of the Protestant Reformation and wrote against the background of reli ...

's ''Les Six livres de la République'' in 1606, under the title ''The Six Bookes of a Commonweale''. It is based on both the French and Latin versions of Bodin's text and was dedicated to Sir Peter Manwood. He completed a translation from the Latin of

William Camden William Camden (2 May 1551 – 9 November 1623) was an English antiquarian, historian, topographer, and herald, best known as author of ''Britannia'', the first chorographical survey of the islands of Great Britain and Ireland that relates la ...

's ''Britannia'', which was said to be "much estemed" by Camden, but was never published. The manuscript survives in the

Bodleian Library The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1602 by Sir Thomas Bodley, it is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. With over 13 million printed items, it is the second-largest library in ...

, Oxford.

''The Generall Historie of the Turkes''

;Dates of editions *1603 – original edition *1610 *1621 – includes continuation by

Edward Grimeston Edward Grimeston (died 1640) was an English sergeant-at-arms and one of the most active translators of his day. Life He was sworn in as sergeant-at-arms to assist the Speaker in the Parliament of England on 17 March 1609/10.Clark, “Edward Grim ...

*1631 – includes continuation by

Sir Thomas Roe Sir Thomas Roe ( 1581 – 6 November 1644) was an English diplomat of the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods. Roe's voyages ranged from Central America to India; as ambassador, he represented England in the Mughal Empire, the Ottoman Emp ...

, English Ambassador in Constantinople *1638 *1687 *1700 – Sir Paul Rycaut edition *1701 – two-volume abridged edition by John Savage

Reputation

Knolles' work had considerable merits of style and of arrangement.

Samuel Johnson Samuel Johnson ( – 13 December 1784), often called Dr Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions as a poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, literary critic, sermonist, biographer, editor, and lexicographer. The ''Oxford ...

praised him as the best of English historians, saying that "in his history of the Turks nolleshas displayed all the excellencies that narration can admit." Johnson explained Knolles' limited reputation by pointing out that his history recounted "enterprizes and revolutions, of which none desire to be informed".

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Knolles, Richard 1540s births 1610 deaths 16th-century English writers 16th-century English male writers 17th-century English writers 17th-century English male writers Richard Knolles Alumni of Lincoln College, Oxford 16th-century English historians English male non-fiction writers 17th-century English historians Fellows of Lincoln College, Oxford People from Sandwich, Kent