Everything about Richard Hakluyt totally explained
Richard Hakluyt (or /ˈhækəlwɪt/) (c. 1552 or 1553 –
23 November 1616) was an English writer. He is principally remembered for his efforts in promoting and supporting the settlement of
North America by the
English through his works, notably
Divers Voyages Touching the Discoverie of America (1582) and
The Principal Navigations, Voiages, Traffiques and Discoueries of the English Nation (1598–1600).
Educated at
Westminster School and
Christ Church, Oxford, between 1583 and 1588 Hakluyt was
chaplain and
secretary to Sir
Edward Stafford, English
ambassador at the
French court. An
ordained priest, Hakluyt held important positions at
Bristol Cathedral and
Westminster Abbey and was personal chaplain to
Sir Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, principal
Secretary of State to
Elizabeth I and
James I. He was the chief promoter of a petition to James I for
letters patent to colonize
Virginia, which were granted in 1606.
Family, early life and education
The Hakluyts were of
Welsh extraction, rather than
Dutch as is often wrongly suggested; according to
antiquary John Leland the family took its name from the forest of Cluyd in
Radnorshire. They appear to have settled in
Herefordshire in
England around the 13th century. The family established itself at Yatton, two miles (3.2 km) southeast of
Leominster, and must have ranked amongst the principal landowners of the county. A person named Hugo Hakelute, who may have been an ancestor or relative of Richard Hakluyt, was elected
Member of Parliament for the
borough of Yatton in 1304 or 1305, and between the 14th and 16th centuries five individuals
surnamed "de Hackluit" or "Hackluit" were
Sheriffs of Herefordshire. A man named Walter Hakelut was
knighted in the 34th year of
Edward I (1305), and in 1349 Thomas Hakeluyt was
chancellor of the
diocese of Hereford. Records also show that a Thomas Hakeluytt was in the
wardship of
Henry VIII (reigned 1509–1547) and
Edward VI (reigned 1547–1553). or in or near
London around 1553.
While a Queen's Scholar at
Westminster School, Hakluyt visited his guardian whose conversation, illustrated by "certain bookes of cosmographie, an universall mappe, and the Bible", made Hakluyt resolve to "prosecute that knowledge, and kind of literature". Entering
Christ Church, Oxford, in 1570 with financial support from the Skinners' Company, by
French navigator Jacques Cartier, which was a description of his second voyage to
Canada in 1535–1536. However, this seems to be an error as the
British Library's copy of this work indicates it was translated from an Italian version into English by
John Florio. If that's correct, then Hakluyt's first publication was one that he wrote himself,
Divers Voyages Touching the Discoverie of America and the Ilands Adjacent unto the Same, Made First of all by our Englishmen and Afterwards by the Frenchmen and Britons (1582).
Hakluyt's
Voyages brought him to the notice of
Lord Howard of Effingham, and Sir
Edward Stafford, Lord Howard's brother-in-law. At the age of 30, being acquainted with "the chiefest captaines at sea, the greatest merchants, and the best mariners of our nation", to which he was admitted in 1585 or 1586 and held with other preferments till his death.
Hakluyt's other works during his time in Paris consisted mainly of
translations and compilations, with his own
dedications and
prefaces. These latter writings, together with a few letters, are the only extant material out of which a
biography of him can be framed. Hakluyt interested himself in the publication of the
manuscript journal of
René de Laudonnière, the
Histoire Notable de la Florida in Paris in 1586. The attention that the book excited in Paris encouraged Hakluyt to prepare an English translation and publish it in London under the title
A Notable Historie Containing Foure Voyages Made by Certayne French Captaynes unto Florida (1587). The same year, his edition of
Peter Martyr d'Anghiera's
De Orbe Nouo Decades Octo saw the light at Paris. This work contains an exceedingly-rare
copperplate map dedicated to Hakluyt and signed F.G. (supposed to be Francis Gualle); it's the first on which the name "Virginia" appears.
On
20 April 1590 Hakluyt was instituted to the
rectory of Wetheringsett-cum-Brockford,
Suffolk, by Lady Stafford, who was Countess of Sheffield in her own right. He held this position until his death, and resided in Wetheringsett through the 1590s and frequently thereafter. his name occurs as an adviser to the
East India Company, in which capacity he supplied them with maps and informed them as to markets.
Later life
In the late 1590s Hakluyt became the client and personal chaplain of
Sir Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, Lord Burghley's son, who was to be Hakluyt's most fruitful patron. Hakluyt dedicated to Cecil the second (1599) and third volumes (1600) of the expanded edition of
Principal Navigations and also his edition of Galvão's
Discoveries (1601). Cecil, who was the principal
Secretary of State to Elizabeth I and
James I, rewarded him by installing him as
prebendary of
Westminster Abbey on
4 May 1602. In the following year, he was elected
archdeacon of the Abbey.
Hakluyt was married twice, once in or about 1594
In 1591, Hakluyt inherited family property upon the death of his elder brother Thomas; a year later, upon the death of his youngest brother Edmund, he inherited another property which derived from his uncle. In 1612 Hakluyt became a charter member of the North-west Passage Company. by an error in the abbey register his burial is recorded under the year 1626. Others, consisting chiefly of notes gathered from contemporary authors, are preserved at the
University of Oxford.
Hakluyt is principally remembered for his efforts in promoting and supporting the settlement of North America by the English through his writings. These works were a fertile source of material for
William Shakespeare John Pory made his version of
Leo Africanus's
A Geographical Historie of Africa (1600), and P. Erondelle translated
Marc Lescarbot's
Nova Francia (1609).
The
Hakluyt Society was founded in 1846 for printing rare and unpublished accounts of voyages and travels, and continues to publish volumes each year.
Works
Authored
- Quarto. Reprint:
- Reprints:
- Folio. Reprint:
- 3 vols.; folio. Reprints:
Edited and translated
[] It seems likely that this work wasn't by Hakluyt: see "At the English Embassy in Paris" above.
Quarto.
Octavo.
Quarto. Reprint:
Quarto.Further Information
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