Thomas North

Sir Thomas North (* 1523 in London, † 1601 ) was an English sea captain and translator.

Life

North came from a middle class family in London and studied at Peterhouse College, Cambridge. 1557 he worked at Lincoln 's Inn in 1574 and went to France. North served as a captain in the battle against the Spanish Armada ( 1588) and three years later knighted by Queen Elizabeth I.

"The Diall of Princes " ( 1557) is the translation of a work by the Spanish author Antonio de Guevara. Later he translated the " Moral Philosophy " of the Italian Anton Francesco Doni ( 1570) and a book of Oriental fables " Kalilah and Dimnah ". 1579 appeared in his translation of the " Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans " by Plutarch after the French version of Jacques Amyot. The book gave William Shakespeare later material for his classic historical dramas.