Heroologia Anglica

Herωologia Anglica[2] (“English Heroology”, also known as Praise of English Heroes) is a series of short biographies written in Latin, with engravings made by Willem and Magdalena van de Passe, and the text written and published by Henry Holland of London. The book was published in Arnhem in 1620 in two volumes at the expense of Crispijn van de Passe (father of the painters) and the bookseller Jansson.

Notable portraits

This collection of portraits, accompanied by biographical and descriptive notes, includes people who lived during the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary, and Elizabeth, with an emphasis on reformers and opponents of the Papacy (except for Thomas More).

The Heroology holds the earliest published portraits of English historical figures including Martin Frobisher, John Hawkins and Francis Drake, and also includes a short accounts of Drake's voyages.[3] According to art historian A. M. Hind, it is the 'most trustworthy series of English portraits published up to that time'.[4][5]

The portrait of Francis Drake at page 106,[6] also known as the “Golden Knight” (Franciscus Drake Miles Auratus), by Crispijn de Passe includes the inscription:

Quem timuit saevis timuit Neptunus in undis / Et rediit toto victor ab Oceano, / Foedifragos pellens pelago prostravit Iberos / Drakius, huic tumulus aequoris unda fuit.

Whom even Neptune feared in the savage waves, / And he returned victorious from the entire ocean, / Driving the treacherous Iberians, struck down by the sea, into defeat; / For him, the wave of the sea became a tomb.

The inscription, and the epitaph at the end of his biography, alludes to Francis Drake's burial at sea.[7] It states that even a resurgence of the Catholic faith (“Religio Romana”) would not desecrate Drake’s grave, as he rests in the water (“in aqua”) safely beyond the reach of fire (“ab igne”) and of posterity (“posteritas”), as anyone buried in the ocean cannot be exhumed or burned.

List of all portraits

This list gives the Latin forms of the names and titles given in the text, with page numbers from the original edition's index, followed by their modern English equivalents.[8]

See also

References and notes

  1. ^ cf. Herωologia Anglica, p. 32 ff.
  2. ^ Thus the letter omega is written in the title: in bibliographies it is often "Heroologia" or "Herōologia".
  3. ^ Holland, Henry; Passe, Crispijn van de; Passe, Magdalena van de; Passe, Willem van de; Buchel, Arnold; Grotius, Hugo (1620). Herōologia Anglica, hoc est, Clarissimorum et doctissimorum aliq[uo]t Anglorum qui floruerunt ab anno Cristi M.D. usq[ue] ad presentem annum M.D.CXX vivae effigies, vitae, et elogia duobus tomis. Getty Research Institute. [Arnhem] : Impensis Crispini Passaei calcographus [sic] et Jansonij bibliopolae Arnhemiensis.
  4. ^ "Henry Holland | Herωologia Anglica, [Arnhem, 1620], nineteenth-century russia gilt | Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern | 2023". Sotheby's. Retrieved 2026-02-05.
  5. ^ Mayger Hind, Arthur. Engraving in England in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries. Vol. II. pp. 145–162.
  6. ^ "Franciscus Drake Miles Auratus, illustration from the 'Heroologia Anglica' (Arnhem, Crispijn de Passe, 1620)". FAMSF. Retrieved 2026-02-05.
  7. ^ Herωologia Anglica, p. 110 (Epitaphium)
  8. ^ Holland, Henry; Passe, Crispijn van de; Passe, Magdalena van de; Passe, Willem van de; Buchel, Arnold; Grotius, Hugo (1620). Herōologia Anglica, hoc est, Clarissimorum et doctissimorum aliq[uo]t Anglorum qui floruerunt ab anno Cristi M.D. usq[ue] ad presentem annum M.D.CXX vivae effigies, vitae, et elogia duobus tomis. Getty Research Institute. [Arnhem] : Impensis Crispini Passaei calcographus [sic] et Jansonij bibliopolae Arnhemiensis.

Edition

  • Henry Holland: Heroologia Anglica hoc est Clarissimorum et Doctissimorum. aliqout [sic] Anglorum, qui floruerunt ab anno Cristi. M.D. vsq[ue] ad Presentem Annum M.D.C.XX Viuæ Effigies, Vitæ et elogia: duobus tomis. Authore. H.H. Anglo-Britanno: Impensis Crispini Passæi Calcographi, et Jansonij Bibliopolæ Arnhemiensis. [Arnhem : Printed by Jan Jansson at the expenses of Crispijn van de Passe and Jan Jansson for Henry Holland, London, 1620], Arnhem, 1620 (2 vols.)

Bibliography

  • Egerton Brydges: Censura Literaria: containing titles, abstracts and opinions of old English books with original disquisitions, articles of biography, and other literary antiquities, Vol. 1. London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme 1805 (Art. XIX)
  • Arthur Mayger Hind: Engraving in England in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries. 3 vols. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1952-64
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