Francis Godwin
Francis Godwin (1562–1633) was an English historian, science fiction author, divine, Bishop of Llandaff and of Hereford.
Life
He was the son of Thomas Godwin, Bishop of Bath and Wells, born at Hannington, Northamptonshire. He was the great uncle of the writer Jonathan Swift. He was elected student of Christ Church, Oxford, in 1578, took his bachelor's degree in 1580, and that of master in 1583.
After holding two
Godwin died, after a lingering illness, in April 1633 in Whitbourne, Herefordshire.
Works
In 1616 Godwin published Rerum Anglicarum, Henrico VIII., Edwardo VI. et Maria regnantibus, Annales, which was afterwards translated and published by his son
Another work of Godwin's, Nuncius inanimatus, published In Utopia, originally printed in 1629 and again in 1657, seems to have been the prototype of John Wilkins's Mercury, or the Secret and Swift Messenger, which appeared in 1641. Another work was De praesulibus Angliae (1616).
References
- public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Godwin, Francis". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the