Two sixteenth-century English cousins, one an antiquarian and the other a churchman, were named
Laurence Nowell. Their biographies have been confused since the seventeenth century.
Antiquarian
Laurence (or
Lawrence)
Nowell (c. 1515 – c. 1571) was an antiquarian, a cartographer and a pioneering scholar of Anglo-Saxon language and literature.
Nowell attended King's School in Westminster from the early 1530s until 1549 before attending Christ Church, Oxford, where he received an MA in 1552. By 1562, he was living in the London house of his patron, Sir
William CecilWilliam Cecil may refer to:* Lord William Cecil , British royal courtier* William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley , English politician and advisor to Elizabeth I* William Cecil, 2nd Earl of Exeter , Knight of the Garter...
, where he collected and transcribed Anglo-Saxon documents and compiled the first Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, the
Vocabularium Saxonicum. During this time he became the friend and mentor of
William LambardeWilliam Lambarde was an antiquarian and writer on legal subjects.-Life:Lambarde was born in London. His father was a draper , an alderman and a sheriff of London. In 1556, he was admitted to Lincoln's Inn...
, another early scholar of Anglo-Saxon. In 1563, Nowell came into possession of the only extant manuscript of
BeowulfBeowulf is an Old English heroic epic poem of unknown authorship, dating as recorded in the Nowell Codex manuscript from between the 8th and the early 11th century, set in Denmark and Sweden...
. The manuscript is bound in what is still known as the
Nowell CodexCotton Vitellius A. xv is one of the four major Anglo-Saxon literature codices. It is most famous as the manuscript containing the unique copy of the epic poem Beowulf; in addition to this it contains a fragment of The Life of Saint Christopher, and the more complete texts Letters of Alexander to...
(
CottonThe Cotton or Cottonian library was the library compiled by Sir Robert Bruce Cotton , an antiquarian and bibliophile. Cotton's library included his collection of books, manuscripts, coins and medallions in his personal estate. The materials comprised the books and artifacts retrieved after the...
Vitellius A. xv).
Nowell devoted much effort in the 1560s to a large-scale atlas of Anglo-Saxon Britain, though he never completed the work. For Cecil, he made the first accurate cartographic survey of the East coast of Ireland, as well as a small, accurate pocket-sized map of Britain, which Cecil always carried with him.
In 1563, Nowell was made the tutor of Cecil's ward, Edward de Vere, the seventeenth Earl of Oxford. Nowell visited the Continent to study in 1568, and probably died there between 1570 and 1572. His books and manuscripts passed into the possession of
William LambardeWilliam Lambarde was an antiquarian and writer on legal subjects.-Life:Lambarde was born in London. His father was a draper , an alderman and a sheriff of London. In 1556, he was admitted to Lincoln's Inn...
.
Churchman
Laurence (or
Lawrence)
Nowell (died 1576) was a churchman and first cousin of Laurence Nowell the antiquarian. He entered Brasenose College, Oxford, in 1536 and received his MA in 1544. Having strong Protestant views, Nowell fled England when Mary took the throne, eventually joining his brother,
Alexander NowellAlexander Nowell was an English Puritan theologian and clergyman, who served as dean of St Paul's during much of Elizabeth I's reign....
, in Frankfort.
Nowell returned to England with the accession of
ElizabethElizabeth I was Queen of England and Queen of Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called the Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...
in 1558. That year he became Archdeacon of Derby. In March 1560, he became Dean of Lichfield. He died in 1576, and is believed to be buried at Weston, Derbyshire.
Biographical confusion
The biographies of the two Laurence Nowells have been confused and conflated since the seventeenth century. Both
William DugdaleSir William Dugdale was an English antiquary.-Life:He was born at Shustoke, near Coleshill, Warwickshire, of an old Lancashire family, and he was educated at King Henry VIII School, Coventry...
and
Anthony WoodAnthony Wood or Anthony à Wood was an English antiquary.-Early life:He was the fourth son of Thomas Wood , B.C.L. of Oxford, where Anthony was born...
made the mistake, and it persisted through the
Dictionary of National BiographyThe Dictionary of National Biography is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published from 1885...
and into the twentieth century. In the 1970s, however,
Retha WarnickeProfessor Retha Marvine Warnicke American historian and Professor of History at Arizona State University. Warnicke graduated with a B.A. from Indiana University, magna cum laude, in 1961. She then moved on to Harvard University, were she earned her M.A. and Ph.D. in 1963 and 1969, respectively...
's analysis of a 1571 court case made it clear that there were two different Laurence Nowells, and their biographies have since been disentangled.