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Josuah Sylvester

© National Portrait Gallery, London

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Josuah Sylvester

by Cornelis van Dalen, after Unknown artist
line engraving, published 1614-1615
9 1/2 in. x 6 3/8 in. (242 mm x 161 mm) paper size
Given by the daughter of compiler William Fleming MD, Mary Elizabeth Stopford (née Fleming), 1931
Reference Collection
NPG D27979

Sitterback to top

  • Josuah Sylvester (1563-1618), Poet and translator of Du Bartas. Sitter in 2 portraits.

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Subjects & Themesback to top

Events of 1614back to top

Current affairs

James I summons Parliament. The crown and Commons conflict principally over impositions, the royal prerogative of raising taxes, eventually leading to its opposition in the Lords led by Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton. James angrily dissolves Parliament, its ineffectiveness earning it the name, the 'Addled' Parliament.

Art and science

Hobson's Conduit is completed, bringing fresh water into Cambridge from springs near Great Shelford. Carrier Thomas Hobson is a benefactor of the project.
Sir Walter Ralegh, imprisoned in the Tower, finishes his History of the World. It is considered of one of the finest specimens of Elizabethan prose.

International

Diplomat Sir Thomas Roe, accepts the post as England's first ambassador to Mughal India.
Treaty of Xanten, signed between the Elector of Brandenburg and Count Palatine of Neuburg, ends hostilities over the territories of Cleves and Jülich. James I's diplomacy in concluding the treaty ultimately begins difficulties with the Dutch.


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