OWEN
,
RICHARD
(
fl.
1552
),
a
Welshman
who made a
translation
into
Welsh
of
De Institution Feminae Christianae
, one of the works of the famous
Spanish
thinker
and
educationist
,
Juan Luis
Vives
(b. in
Valencia
,
1492
). No particulars concerning the
translator
have been gathered as yet but he is included in this work as an example of the many
Welshmen
in the Tudor period who
took an interest in Spanish history and literature
.
Richard
Owen
's translation survives in
Pen. MS. 403
. The
translator
says in the opening words that he translated from the
Latin
of
Vives
— the original work was in
Latin
— and that the work was begun on the
fifth day of December 1552
.
Vives
dedicated the work to his countrywoman,
Katherine
of Aragon
,
wife of
Henry
VIII
. The work became very popular, about forty editions being recorded in the
16th cent.
; it was also translated into
Spanish
,
French
,
Italian
,
German
and
English
.
Bibliography:
-
The National Library of Wales Journal
, i, 152-3;
-
Bonilla
,
Luis Vives y la Filosofia del Renacimiento.
Memoria premiada por la Real Academia de Ciencias Morales y
Politicas
, Madrid, 1903
(Madrid,
1903
).
Author:
Sir William Llewelyn Davies, M.A., LL.D., F.S.A. (1887-1952),
Aberystwyth
