OWEN, RICHARD (fl. 1552), translator

A Welshman who made a translation into Welsh of De Institution Feminae Christianae, one of the works of the famous Spanish thinker and educationist, Juan Luis Vives (born in Valencia, 1492). No particulars concerning the translator have been gathered as yet but he is included in this work as an example of the many Welshmen in the Tudor period who took an interest in Spanish history and literature. Richard Owen's translation survives in Peniarth MS 403 . The translator says in the opening words that he translated from the Latin of Vives - the original work was in Latin - and that the work was begun on the fifth day of December 1552. Vives dedicated the work to his countrywoman, Katherine of Aragon, wife of Henry VIII. The work became very popular, about forty editions being recorded in the 16th century; it was also translated into Spanish, French, Italian, German and English.

Author

• Sir William Llewelyn Davies, (1887 - 1952)

Sources

• The National Library of Wales Journal, i, 152-3
• Bonilla, Luis Vives y la Filosofia del Renacimiento. Memoria premiada por la Real Academia de Ciencias Morales y Politicas (Madrid 1903) (Madrid, 1903)

Additional Links

• Wikidata: Q20734300

Published date: 1959

Article Copyright: http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-RUU/1.0/