Richard Fanshawe - Definition and Overview

Sir Richard Fanshawe (1608 - 1666), diplomatist, translator, and poet, born at Ware Park, Herts, and educated at Cambridge, travelled on the Continent, and when the Civil War broke out sided with the King and was sent to Spain to obtain money for the cause. He acted as Latin Secretary to Charles II. when in Holland. After the Restoration he held various appointments, and was Ambassador to Portugal and Spain successively. He translated Guarini's Pastor Fido, Selected Parts of Horace, and The Lusiad of Camoens. His wife, nee Anne Harrison, wrote memoirs of her own life.

His English translation of the Lusiads, circulated from 1655 or earlier, was the first. He was a royalist in the English Civil War, and was captured at the Battle of Worcester.

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