Henry Wotton
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Sir Henry Wotton (born March 30, 1568 in Bocton Hall , † December 1639 ) was an English diplomat , poet and art connoisseur.
Life
Wotton studied at Oxford University , where he befriended John Donne , and traveled to Germany and Italy from 1589–1594 to get to know the language and people of both countries. In 1595 he supported Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex , but resigned from his service in 1600 shortly before his planned uprising was exposed. Wotton returned to Italy, where the Grand Duke Ferdinand I of Tuscany took him on a diplomatic mission to the Scottish King James VI. sent. When he became King of England as James I in 1603, he appointed Wotton as the English ambassador to Venice (1604). Wotton stayed there for twenty years. Shortly before his return he published “The Elements of Architecture” (1624), the first English treatise on the architectural theory of the High Renaissance. Wotton was a friend of John Milton , John Hales, and Isaac Walton . Of his poems, “You meaner beauties of the night” became famous for its elegance.
Quotes
Legatus est vir bonus peregre missus ad mentiendum Reipublicae causa
“ An ambassador is an honorable man who is sent abroad to lie for the good of his country. "
literature
- Logan Pearsall Smith : Life and Letters of Sir Henry Wotton . 2 Vols. Oxford, Clarendon Press 1907. Reprinted 1966. ISBN 1-176-53186-7
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Wotton, Henry |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Wotton, Sir Henry (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | English diplomat, poet and art connoisseur |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 30, 1568 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Bocton Hall |
| DATE OF DEATH | December 1639 |