John Owen (epigrammatist)

John Owen ( Latinized John Audoenus; * um 1564 in Bettws Garmon on Snowdon, † 1622 in London) was a Welsh writer.

He studied at Winchester and at New College, Oxford, where he earned a Bachelor in 1590 for civil law. Around 1595 he became director of the King's School, Warwick. He was buried in Old St Paul 's Cathedral, London, not to be confused with Saint Paul's Cathedral.

John Owen was known by his Latin epigrams, which show a high level mind and spirit. They were translated into English, French, German and into Spanish.

He had started already in Winchester with the letter, strictly speaking, was the local education mainly from the writing of epigrams. The which he had written at the age of 16, were good enough to find at a ceremony use, as Queen Elizabeth I. Francis Drake a state visit to his ship at Deptford abstattete after it was returned from his circumnavigation. 1606 John Owen began to publish his epigrams. They were known almost overnight throughout Europe and brought him (despite his Welsh origin) nicknamed The British Martial one.