Richard Rowlands
Richard Verstegan (* 1548, † 1640 in Antwerpen) (also known as Richard Rowlands ) was a Dutch- English writer, editor, translator, antiquarian, Emblematiker, satirist and Catholic.
Life
His grandfather came from Gelderland (Netherlands). His father, Theodore Roland Verstegen came in 1500 as an immigrant to England and took the name Rowlands. The son of Richard studied under the surname Rowland at Christ Church College in Oxford English history and languages. He seems to have initially chosen the profession of a goldsmith in London not finish and moved up from the 1570s more and more on the printing, writing and publishing. In 1576 he published The Post of the World (from the Germans), the first English-speaking guide for the European continent. 1581 he printed a secret report by Stephen Vallenger about the execution of the Catholic priest Edmund Campion and had to flee discovery of his printing press in Smithfield to France. There he took his original family name again, and worked as a printer and engraver.
His first major publication was a representation of the atrocities against the apostates ( Catholics ) of his time ( Descriptiones cruautez quaedam Illius inhumanae et multiplicis persecutionis, quam in Anglia propter fidem sustinent Catholice Christiani or Briefve description of the diverse ..., Paris, 1583/84 ) with pictures of martyrs in England. The then British Ambassador to France Sir Edwin Stafford noted that the pictures showed an insult to Queen Elizabeth, and let the book confiscate and destroy. Verstegen was arrested in January 1584 with the danger of being shipped. He was released through the influence of Cardinal Allen and the papal nuncio and went in April 1584 to Rome to ask the Pope for personal support. After his initial refusal (15 May 1584), he later received until April 1585, a pension of Pope Gregory XIII. ( 1572-1585 ). After the death of Gregory Verstegen lived in Antwerp. From 1 February 1586 he received a pension from the King of Spain.
In Antwerp he published in several editions a work with pictures of martyrs in England, France and Holland, Theatrum Crudelitatum haereticorum nostri temporis ( 1587, 1588, 1592, 1604, and in French, Theatre de cruautez, 1587, 1588, 1592, 1607). He was at that time the liaison to Cardinal Allen in Rome to the Catholics in England and specifically to the Jesuits. He authored several political treatises and had two answers to the "Royal Proclamation " of 19 October 1591 ( A Declaration of great troubles pretended against the Realme ) Print: An advertisement written to a secretarie of my L. treasurers of Ingland ( 1592) and A Declaration of the True Causes of the Great Troubles ( 1592), which were answered by Francis Bacon. He was a main responsible for the drafting and publication of the letters A conference about the next succession to the crown of England, in the succession of the Spanish Infanta Isabella is advocated.
He also wrote poetic verses (eg Odes in imitation of the Penitential Psalms Seaven, 1601). His major work was A restitution of decayed Intelligence in Antiquities (Antwerp 1605 ). He was also Gazettier for Antwerp Nieuwe Tijdinghen ( 1620-1629 ). Probably translated and published many more works whose origins can no longer be pursuing.
He died in February or March 1640 and was buried on March 3, 1640 in Antwerp.