Wikipedia
This text was copied from Wikipedia on 11 December 2024 at 5:10AM.
Argenis is a book by John Barclay. It is a work of historical allegory which tells the story of the religious conflict in France under Henry III of France and Henry IV of France, and also touches on more contemporary English events, such as the Overbury scandal. The tendency is royalist, anti-aristocratic; it is told from the angle of a king who reduces the landed aristocrats' power in the interest of the "country", the interest of which is identified with that of the king.
Jennifer Morrish describes Argenis as one of "the two most influential Neo-Latin novels", along with Thomas More's Utopia.[1]
Some editions
- 1621 - Paris, Nicolas Buon (Latin)
- 1622 - London, Eliot's Court Press (Latin)
- 1623 - Frankfurt, Danielis & Davidis Aubriorum & Clementis Schleichij (Latin)
- 1625 - London, G. Purslowe for Henry Seile (First English edition)
- 1626 - Johann Barclaÿens Argenis Deutsch gemacht durch Martin Opitzen. Breslau. (First German edition)
- 1627 - Leiden, Elzevir (First printing by Elzevir)
- 1629 - Venice, G. Salis, ad instantia di P. Frambotti (Italian translation by Francesco Pona)
- 1630 - Elzevir (Second printing by Elzevir)
- 1630 - Elzevir (Third printing by Elzevir)
- 1636 - London, Syne of the Tygres Head (Second English edition)
- 1644 - Amsterdam, J. Janssonius (Second German edition)
- 1697 - Warszawa, Drukarnia OO. Pijarów, (Polish translation by Wacław Potocki)
- 1995 - New York, (Fourth printing by Argenis Jimenez)(English edition)
Originally published in Latin in 1621, King James asked for it to be translated into English. The first such translation was undertaken by Ben Jonson, but his version was lost in a fire which also destroyed many of his other works. Later translations were made by Kingsmill Long (1625), and Robert Le Gruys (1628). Clara Reeve translated it as The Phoenix (1772).[2]
References
- ^ Morrish, Jennifer (2014). "Neo-Latin fiction". In Kallendorf, Craig (ed.). Brill's Encyclopaedia of the Neo-Latin World. Leiden: Brill. doi:10.1163/9789004271296_enlo_B9789004271012_0025.
- ^ Price, Fiona (2016). Revolutions in Taste, 1773–1818: Women Writers and the Aesthetics of Romanticism. Routledge.
- The Cambridge Companion to Writing of the English Revolution - Neil Howard Keeble (2001)
External links
- Argenis - Edited and translated by Mark Riley & Dorothy Pritchard Huber (2004)
- Argenis - Latin text online at Intratext
- Argenida - Scans of a Polish poetic translation by Wacław Potocki, Warszawa 1697
- Argenis in Latin - 2nd edition. Paris, Nicolas Buon, 1622.
- First German edition Barclay, John (Übers. Martin Opitz): Johann Barclaÿens Argenis Deutsch gemacht durch Martin Opitzen. Breslau, 1626.
5 Annotations
First Reading
Michael Robinson • Link
Purchased Friday 24 August 1660
" ... Hence into Paul's Churchyard and bought Barkley's Argenis in Latin, and so home and to bed. ..."
http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…
Second Reading
Terry Foreman • Link
John Barclay: Argenis
This popular Renaissance Latin novel is an historical allegory which tells the story of the religious conflict in France under Henry III of France and Henry IV of France, and also touches on more contemporary English events...The tendency is royalist, anti-aristocratic; it is told from the angle of a king who reduces the landed aristocrats' power in the interest of the "country", the interest of which is identified with that of the king. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arge…
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The text from the Internet Archive:
John Barclay his Argenis (1628) --- Trans. by Le Grys, Robert, Sir, d. 1635 and May, Thomas, 1595-1650.
http://archive.org/details/iohnba…
Terry Foreman • Link
An epitome of the history of faire Argenis and Polyarchus, extracted out of the Latin, and put in French, by that great and famous writer, M. N. Coeffeteau Bishop of Marseilles. And translated out of the French into English by a yong gentlevvoman. Dedicated to the Lady Anne Wentvvorth
Coeffeteau, Nicolas, 1574-1623., Man, Judith., Barclay, John, 1582-1621. Argenis.
London: Printed by E. G[riffin] for Henry Seile at the Tygers head in Fleetstreet, 1640.
Early English Books Online [full text]
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/…
Bill • Link
John Barclay (1582-1621), author of the admirable and once popular romance "Argenis." It is not to the credit of the readers of the present day that the book is now almost forgotten.
---Wheatley, 1893.
Third Reading
San Diego Sarah • Link
Our Wiki entry reads:
'"Argenis" is a book by John Barclay. It is a work of historical allegory which tells the story of the religious conflict in France under Henry III of France and Henry IV of France, and also touches on more contemporary English events, such as the Overbury scandal. The tendency is royalist, anti-aristocratic; it is told from the angle of a king who reduces the landed aristocrats' power in the interest of the "country", the interest of which is identified with that of the king.
'Jennifer Morrish describes "Argenis" as one of "the two most influential Neo-Latin novels", along with Thomas More's "Utopia".'
What were the 'contemporary English events, such as the Overbury scandal'?
'In the autumn of 1615 the Earl and Countess of Somerset were detained on suspicion of having murdered Sir Thomas Overbury.
'The arrest of these leading court figures created a sensation. The young and beautiful Countess of Somerset had already achieved notoriety when she divorced her first husband in controversial circumstances. The Earl of Somerset was one of the richest and most powerful men in the kingdom, having risen to prominence as the male 'favourite' of James I.
'In a vivid, enthralling narrative, Anne Somerset unravels these extraordinary events. It is, at once, a story rich in passion, intrigue and corruption and a murder mystery -- for, despite the guilty verdicts, there is much about Overbury's death that remains enigmatic. The Overbury murder case profoundly damaged the monarchy, and constituted the greatest court scandal in English history.'
Unnatural Murder: Poison in the Court of James I: The Overbury Murder
By Anne Somerset
SKU: 9781474618731
https://shop.nationalarchives.gov…