George Sandys
George Sandys (/sændz/ "sands"; 2 March 1578[1] – March 1644) was an English traveller, colonist, poet, and translator.[2] He was known for his translations of Ovid's Metamorphoses and the Passion of Jesus, as well as his travel narratives of the Eastern Mediterranean region, which formed a substantial contribution to geography and ethnology.
Life
He was born in
Sandys also took great interest in the earliest English colonization in America. In April 1621 he became colonial treasurer of the
When Virginia became a crown colony, Sandys was created a member of council in August 1624; he was reappointed to this post in 1626 and 1628. In 1631, he unsuccessfully applied for the secretaryship to the new special commission for the better plantation of Virginia; soon after this, he returned to England for good.[6][5]
In 1621, he had already published an English translation, written in basic heroic couplets, of part of
His verse was praised by
Travel and travel writing
On his travels through Europe and the Middle East, he first visited France; from north Italy he passed by way of Venice to Constantinople, and thence to Egypt, Mount Sinai, Palestine, Cyprus, Sicily, Naples, and Rome. His narrative, was dedicated to Charles, Prince of Wales[8] and formed a substantial contribution to geography and ethnology. Sandys' travel narrative appeared as The Relation of a Journey begun an. Dom. 1610, in four books.[4][5] This remained a standard account of the Eastern Mediterranean, twice mentioned, for instance, by the English naval chaplain Henry Teonge in his diary of a voyage in 1675.[citation needed]
The writing of The Relation series was influenced by Sandys’ background, as he followed the footsteps of his eldest brother who had previously visited and written about Turkey and the Ottoman Empire.[9] This work contributed to the debates concerning religious tolerance in the early 17th century: Sandys shows that contrary to beliefs of many Western Europeans, multiple religions did not automatically cause social unrest, as exemplified in his descriptions of the Ottoman Empire.[10] Sandys also appears to have been one of the first non-Jewish travelers to refute the belief that Jews "naturally emit an unsavoury odour".[11] The book was well-received in his time, becoming a standard account of the Eastern Mediterranean, although Sandys has later been critiqued for his attitude towards women in his writing by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu.[12]
The seventh edition of The Relation of a Journey begun an. Dom. 1610, in four books combined the four books into a single volume, printed for John Williams junior at The Crown in Little Britain in London, 1673.[4] This compilation volume included Sandys’ travels to all above mentioned locations, the first book containing a history of the state of the Turkish Empire, describing their laws, government, policy, military, justice system and commerce.[4] The first book also included Sandys’ description of the Mohammedan religion (Islam), a description of Constantinople and the manner of living of its sultan, and a study of Greece and Greek religion and customs.[4] The second book of The Relation of a Journey focused on Egypt and the surrounding area. Sandys gives an account of Egyptian antiquity and culture, as well as his voyage on the Nile river. The second book also includes descriptions of Armenia, Cairo, Rhodes, and a brief history of Alexandria, in decline during the time of Sandys’ visitation. His is the last mention of the tomb of Alexander the Great, although it is likely a mere repetition of the description given by Leo Africanus the earlier century.[13] The third book of the series is a description of Palestine, the Holy Land and the Jewish and Christians living there at the time. In the fourth and final volume of the series present in the compilation Sandys Travels, Sandys discusses Italy and describes the islands near it: Cyprus, Crete, Malta, Sicily and the Aeolian Islands.[4] The final volume also includes Sandys’ account of cities and other places of note he visited, amongst which Venice, where his journey began, and Rome. The compilation of these four works, Sandys Travels, includes fifty maps and images.[4]
Theology
Sandys adopted English Arminian theological views that were reflected in his writings. He included anti-calvinist commentaries in his Paraphrase upon the Psalms" (1636).[14] He later translated Christus Patiens (1639) a theological and political drama of Arminian theologian Hugo Grotius.[15]
Family
His brother
Family tree of Edwin Sandys, Archbishop of York | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Disambiguation pages: Edwin Sandys · Henry Sandys · Miles Sandys · Samuel Sandys |
See also
- Lawrence Washington (1602–1653)
Notes and references
Citations
- ^ a b Sandys, George, in: Encyclopædia Britannica online.
- ^ Ellison 2002, p. 251.
- doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/24651. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^ a b c d e f g Sandys, G. (1673 [1615]). Sandys Travels. London: R. and W. Leybourn.
- ^ a b c d e Chisholm 1911.
- ^ Books, John J. Burns Library of Rare; College, Special Collections at Boston (15 October 2014). "George Sandys, the Ethnographer: A Man Before His Time". John J. Burns Library's Blog. Retrieved 28 February 2019.
- ^ "George Sandys – George Sandys Poems – Poem Hunter". www.poemhunter.com. Retrieved 28 February 2019.
- ISBN 978-0-297-85864-5.
- ^ Ellison, 2002, p. 66
- ^ Ellison, 2002, p. 77
- ^ Ellison, 2002, p. 80
- ^ Montagu, M. W. (1763). Turkish Embassy Letters. United Kingdom: Becket and De Hondt.
- ISBN 9780465006212. Retrieved 7 March 2022.
- ^ Ellison 2002, p. 182. The marginal notes of the Geneva Bible had read strict predestinarianism into the Psalms, but Sandys would have none of this. Instead he included unmistakably anti-calvinist sentiments in one of his psalms.
- ^ Ellison 2002, p. 182, .. Later in his career Sandys would search out the origins of true Arminianism in the Low Countries, translating a play by one of Arminius' strongest supporters, Hugo Grotiues: as we shall see, the theology remains distinctively Arminian [...]
Sources
- Ellison, James (2002). George Sandys: Travel, Colonialism, and Tolerance in the Seventeenth Century. Cambridge, UK: D.S. Brewer.
Extra sources
- public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Sandys, George". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 24 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 144. This work in turn cites:
- Sandys' works as quoted above.
- Rev. Richard Hooper's edition, with memoir, of The Poetical Works of George Sandys.
- Alexander Brown's Genesis of the United States, pp. 546, 989, 992, 994–995, 1032, 1063.
- Rogers, M.A.(1974). "Books from the Library of George Sandys." The Book Collector 23 no 3 (autumn):361-370.
- Lee, Sidney (1897). . In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 50. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the - The American Cyclopædia.
External links
- George Sandys at the Database of Classical Scholars
- Free scores by George Sandys at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)