Quelltext der Seite Benutzer:Falten-Jura/William Strachey

{{Importartikel}}

{{Use British English|date=August 2010}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2018}}
{{Infobox person
| name        = William Strachey
| image       = 
| image_size  = 
| caption     = 
| birth_date  = 4 April 1572
| parents     = William Strachey, Mary Cooke
| spouse      = Frances Forster<br>Dorothy (surname unknown)
| children    = William Strachey<br>Edmund Strachey
| birth_place = 
| death_date  = buried 21 June 1621
| resting_place = [[St Giles' Church, Camberwell]] 
}}
'''William Strachey''' (4 April 1572 – buried 21 June 1621) was an English writer whose works are among the primary sources for the early history of the English colonisation of North America. He is best remembered today as the eye-witness reporter of the 1609 [[shipwreck]] on the uninhabited island of [[Bermuda]] of the colonial ship ''[[Sea Venture]]'', which was caught in a hurricane while sailing to Virginia. The survivors eventually reached Virginia after building two small ships during the ten months they spent on the island. His account of the incident and of the [[Colony of Virginia|Virginia colony]] is thought by most Shakespearean scholars to have been a source for Shakespeare's play ''[[The Tempest]]''.

==Family==
William Strachey, born 4 April 1572 in [[Saffron Walden]], [[Essex]], was the grandson of William Strachey (died 1587),<ref>{{Harvnb|Woodward|2009|pp=1–2}}.</ref> and the eldest son of William Strachey (died 1598) and Mary Cooke (died 1587),<ref name=Wood>{{Harvnb|Wood|2004}}.</ref> the daughter of Henry Cooke, [[Worshipful Company of Merchant Taylors|Merchant Taylor]] of London, by Anne Goodere, the daughter of Henry Goodere<ref>Henry Goodere was the brother of Thomas Goodere of Hadley; {{Harvnb|Fetherston|1877|p=67}}; {{Harvnb|Cass|1875|p=263}}.</ref> and Jane Greene.<ref>{{Harvnb|Fetherston|1877|p=67}};{{Harvnb|Woodward|2009|p=2}}; {{Harvnb|Hawley|1879|p=604}}.</ref> Strachey's maternal grandfather, Henry Cooke (died 1551), held [[Lesnes Abbey]] in [[Kent]]; he was succeeded by his son, Edmund Cooke (died 1619), while his younger son, Richard Cooke, has been identified as the author of ''Description de Tous les Provinces de France''.<ref>{{Harvnb|Hasted|1797|pp=253–4}}; {{Harvnb|Potter|2004|pp=10–11}}.</ref><ref name=Zacek>[http://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Strachey_William_1572-1621#start_entry Zacek, Natalie, ''William Strachey (1572–1621)'', Encyclopedia of Virginia] Retrieved 27 March 2013.</ref>

By his father's first marriage Strachey had three brothers and three sisters.<ref name=Zacek/> Strachey's mother died in 1587, and in August of that year Strachey's father married Elizabeth Brocket of [[Hertfordshire]], by whom he had five daughters.<ref name=Zacek/><ref name="Woodward 2009 3">{{Harvnb|Woodward|2009|p=3}}.</ref>

Strachey was brought up on an estate purchased by his grandfather in the 1560s.<ref name=Zacek/> In 1588, at the age of sixteen, he entered [[Emmanuel College, Cambridge]],<ref>{{acad|id=STRY587W|name=Strachey, William}}</ref> but did not take a degree.<ref name="Woodward 2009 2">{{Harvnb|Woodward|2009|p=2}}.</ref> In 1605 he was at [[Gray's Inn]], but there is no evidence that he made the law his profession.<ref name=Wood/><ref name="Woodward 2009 2"/> In 1602 he inherited his father's estate following a legal dispute with Elizabeth Brocket, his stepmother.<ref name=Wood/>

==Career==
[[File:Strachey Sejanus0001.jpg|thumb|230px|Strachey's sonnet, ''Upon Sejanus'', published in [[Ben Jonson]]'s ''[[Sejanus His Fall]]'' (1605)]]
Strachey wrote a sonnet, ''Upon [[Sejanus]]'',<ref>[http://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/_Upon_Sejanus_by_William_Strachey_1604 ''Upon Sejanus'', Encyclopedia Virginia] Retrieved 28 March 2013.</ref> which was published in the 1605 edition of the 1603 play ''[[Sejanus His Fall]]'' by [[Ben Jonson]].<ref name="Woodward 2009 3"/><ref>{{Harvnb|Jonson|1616}}</ref>

Strachey also kept a residence in London, where he regularly attended plays. He was a shareholder in the [[Children of the Revels]], a troupe of boy actors who performed 'in a converted room in the former [[Blackfriars, London|Blackfriars]] monastery',<ref name="Woodward 2009 3"/> as evidenced by his deposition in a lawsuit in 1606. According to Sisson:

<blockquote>In 1600 [[Richard Burbage]] leased to [Henry] Evans his Blackfriars property, and the Children of the Revels under [[Nathaniel Giles]], with Evans as landlord and partner, occupied the theatre for some years. Evans assigned his rights in the property and the company in two stages, first one-half in sixths to [Edward] Kirkham, [Thomas] Kendall and [William] Rastell, and subsequently the second half in sixths to [[John Marston (poet)|John Marston]], William Strachey, and his own wife. There were later complications. But in 1606 William Strachey had a one-sixth share in the [[Blackfriars Theatre]]. Strachey, there is no manner of doubt on the evidence and from the signature of his deposition, was the well-known voyager and writer whose account of the Bermuda voyage left its marks on Shakespeare’s ''Tempest''. He gave evidence in the suit as ‘William Strachey, of Crowhurst, Surrey, gentleman, aged 34’ on 4 July 1606.<ref>Sisson cites the lawsuit as P.R.O. C 24/327/22; {{Harvnb|Sisson|1956|pp=188–9}}; {{Harvnb|Munro|2005|p=202}}.</ref></blockquote>

Strachey became friends with the city's poets and playwrights, including [[Thomas Campion]],<ref name="Woodward 2009 3"/> [[John Donne]],<ref name="Woodward 2009 3"/> [[Ben Jonson]],<ref name="Woodward 2009 3"/> [[Hugh Holland]], [[John Marston (poet)|John Marston]], [[George Chapman]], and [[Matthew Roydon]], many of them members of the "Fraternity of Sireniacal Gentlemen" who met at the [[Mermaid Tavern]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Culliford|1965|p=50}}.</ref>

By 1605 Strachey was in precarious financial circumstances<ref name=Wood/> from which he spent the rest of his life trying to recover. In 1606 he used a family connection to obtain the position of secretary to [[Thomas Glover (diplomat)|Thomas Glover]], the English ambassador to [[Turkey]].<ref name="Woodward 2009 3"/> He travelled to [[Constantinople]], but quarrelled with the ambassador and was dismissed in March 1607<ref name=Wood/> and returned to England in June 1608.<ref>{{Harvnb|Woodward|2009|p=4}}.</ref> He then decided to mend his fortunes in the [[New World]], and in 1609 purchased two shares in the [[Virginia Company]]<ref name=Wood/> and sailed to [[Virginia]] on the ''[[Sea Venture]]'' with [[Thomas Gates (governor)|Sir Thomas Gates]] and [[George Somers|Sir George Somers]] in the summer of that year.

===Shipwreck of the ''Sea Venture''===
Strachey was a passenger aboard the [[flagship]] ''Sea Venture'' with the leaders of the expedition when the ship was blown off course by a [[hurricane]]. Leaking, and with its foundering imminent, the ship was run aground off the coast of [[Bermuda]], accidentally beginning England's colonisation of that Atlantic [[archipelago]]. The group was stranded on the island for almost a year, during which they constructed two small boats in which they eventually completed the voyage to Virginia.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Glover |first1=Lorri |title=Sea Venture |url=https://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Sea_Venture |website=encyclopediavirginia.org |publisher=Virginia Foundation for the Humanities |accessdate=15 July 2018 |language=en |date=6 December 2012}}</ref>

Strachey wrote an eloquent letter dated 15 July 1610, to an unnamed "Excellent Lady" in England about the ''Sea Venture'' disaster, including an account of the precarious state of the [[Jamestown, Virginia|Jamestown]] colony. Being critical of the management of the colony, it was suppressed by the Virginia Company. After the dissolution of the company it was published in 1625 by [[Samuel Purchas]] as [[True Reportory|"A true reportory of the wracke, and redemption of Sir THOMAS GATES Knight"]]. It is generally thought to be one of the sources for [[Shakespeare]]'s ''[[The Tempest]]'' because of certain verbal, plot and thematic similarities.<ref>Vaughan, Virginia Mason; Vaughan, Alden T. (1999). ''The Tempest''. The Arden Shakespeare, Third Series. The Arden Shakespeare, p. 287. {{ISBN|978-1-903436-08-0}}.</ref>

Strachey's writings are among the few first-hand descriptions of Virginia in the period. His glossary of words of the [[Powhatan]]<ref>{{Harvnb|Campbell|1860|p=106}}.</ref> is one of only two records of the language (the other being [[Captain John Smith|Captain John Smith's]]).<ref>{{cite book |last=Mithun |first=Marianne |date=2001 |title=The Languages of Native North America |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=332 |isbn=052129875X}}</ref>

===Later life and death===
Strachey remained at Jamestown for less than a year, but during that time he became the Secretary of the Colony after the drowning death of [[Matthew Scrivener]] in 1609. He returned to England probably in late 1611 and published a compilation of the colonial laws put in place by the governors.<ref name=stephen>{{DNB Cite|wstitle=Strachey, William}}</ref>

He then produced an extended manuscript about the Virginia colony, ''The Historie of Travaile Into Virginia Britannia'', dedicating the first version to [[Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland]], in 1612. The manuscript included his eyewitness account of life in early Virginia, but borrowed heavily from the earlier work of Richard Willes, [[James Rosier]], [[John Smith (explorer)|John Smith]], and others. Strachey produced two more versions during the next six years, dedicating one to [[Francis Bacon]] and the other to [[Allen Apsley (administrator)|Sir Allen Apsley]]. It too was critical of the Virginia Company management of the colony, and Strachey failed to find a patron to publish his work, which was finally first published in 1849 by the [[Hakluyt Society]].

Strachey died of unknown causes in June 1621. The parish register of [[St Giles' Church, Camberwell]], in [[Southwark]] records his burial on 21 June 1621. He died in poverty, leaving this verse:

:''Hark! Twas the trump of death that blew''
:''My hour has come. False world adieu'' 
:''Thy pleasures have betrayed me so'' 
:''That I to death untimely go.''

In 1996, Strachey's signet ring<ref>{{cite web |url=http://historicjamestowne.org/featured_find/featured_find.php?id=6 |title=Strachey Ring-Historic Jamestowne |publisher=Historicjamestowne.org |accessdate=25 December 2013 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131227010234/http://historicjamestowne.org/featured_find/featured_find.php?id=6 |archivedate=27 December 2013 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> was discovered in the ruins of [[Jamestown, Virginia|Jamestown]], identified by the family seal, an [[eagle]].

==Marriages and issue==
On 9 June 1595 Strachey married Frances Forster,<ref name=Wood/> 'the daughter of a prosperous [[Surrey]] family with political connections'.<ref name="Woodward 2009 2"/> Frances Forster was the daughter of William Forster and Elizabeth Draper (died 22 April 1605), widow of John Bowyer (died 10 October 1570) of [[Shepton Beauchamp]], [[Somerset]], and daughter of Robert Draper of [[Camberwell]], [[Surrey]], Page of the Jewels to [[Henry VIII of England|King Henry VIII]], by Elizabeth Fyfield.<ref>{{Harvnb|Lysons|1811|pp=59–60}}; {{Harvnb|Nichols|1825|p=586}}; {{Harvnb|Nichols|1865|pp=220–3}}; {{Harvnb|Blanch|1872|p=41}}.</ref><ref>[http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=43027 'Parishes: Camberwell', A History of the County of Surrey: Volume 4 (1912), pp. 24-36] Date accessed: 29 March 2013.</ref> Strachey lived in London while Frances remained at her father's estate in [[Crowhurst, Surrey]].<ref name="Woodward 2009 2"/> They had two children, William Strachey (died 1635), born nine months after the marriage in 1596, and Edmund Strachey, born in 1604.<ref name=Wood/> Frances died before 1615, and at some time before that date Strachey married a widow whose first name was Dorothy, by whom he does not appear to have had any issue.<ref name=Wood/>

Strachey's son, William, married three times, and died in 1635.<ref>{{Harvnb|Betham|1805|p=431}}.</ref>

==Works==
* ''A true reportory of the wracke, and redemption of Sir THOMAS GATES Knight''<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.virtualjamestown.org/TR%20original.doc |title=original-spelling |accessdate=25 December 2013}}</ref> and at Virtual Jamestown.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.virtualjamestown.org/TR%20modern.doc |title=modern-spelling |accessdate=25 December 2013}}</ref>
* ''For The Colony in Virginea Britannia. Lawes Divine, Morall and Martiall, &c.'' original-spelling version<ref>{{cite web |url=http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/jamestown-browse?id=J1056 |title=Personal Narratives from the Virtual Jamestown Project, 1575-1705 |publisher=Etext.lib.virginia.edu |accessdate=25 December 2013}}</ref> and modern-spelling version at Virtual Jamestown.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/jamestown-browsemod?id=J1056 |title=Personal Narratives from the Virtual Jamestown Project, 1575-1705 |publisher=Etext.lib.virginia.edu |accessdate=25 December 2013}}</ref>
*''The Historie of Travaile Into Virginia Britannia'' at [[Google Books]].<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fYYMAAAAIAAJ&printsec=titlepage |title=The Historie of Travaile Into Virginia Britinia - William Strachey - Google Boeken |via=[[Google Books]]|accessdate=25 December 2013}}</ref>
*"A Dictionary of Powhatan" at Google Books.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1bU6szgFsg0C |title=A Dictionary of Powhatan - Google Boeken |via=[[Google Books]]|accessdate=25 December 2013}}</ref>

== Einzelnachweise ==
<references />

==References==
*{{Cite book |last=Betham |first=William |year=1805 |title=The Baronetage of England |location=London |publisher=Warde and Betham |volume=V |page=431 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iPjUAAAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA431&lpg=RA1-PA431&dq=%22saffron+walden%22+%22strachey%22&sig=We2daaGTuhq06lhojtMWlgAVA5Q&ved=0CGIQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=%22saffron%20walden%22%20%22strachey%22 |accessdate=28 March 2013 |ref=harv}}
*{{Cite book |last=Blanch |first=William Harnet |year=1872 |title=The Parish of Camberwell |location=London |publisher=E.W. Allen |page=[https://archive.org/details/yeparishcamerwe00blangoog/page/n77 41] |url=https://archive.org/details/yeparishcamerwe00blangoog |accessdate=28 March 2013 |ref=harv}}
*{{Cite book |last=Campbell |first=Charles |year=1860 |title=History of the Colony and Ancient Dominion of Virginia |location=Philadelphia |publisher=J.B. Lippincott and Co. |url=https://archive.org/stream/historyofcolonya00camp#page/106/mode/2up |accessdate=27 March 2013 |ref=harv}}
*{{Cite journal |last=Cass |first=Frederick Charles |year=1875 |title=Notes on the Church and Parish of Monken Hadley |journal=Transactions of the London and Middlesex Archaeological Society |location=London |publisher=J.B. Nichols and Sons |volume=IV |pages=253–86 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qzYGAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA265 |accessdate=27 March 2013 |ref=harv}}
*{{Cite book |last=Culliford |first=S.G. |year=1965 |title=William Strachey, 1572-1621 |location=Charlottesville |publisher=University Press of Virginia |url=https://books.google.com/books/about/William_Strachey_1572_1621.html?id=aXPhpwAACAAJ |accessdate=28 March 2013 |ref=harv}}
*{{Cite book |editor-last=Fetherston |editor-first=John |year=1877 |title=The Visitation of the County of Warwick in the Year 1619 |location=London |publisher=Harleian Society |volume=XII |page=67 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hawKAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA67 |accessdate=27 March 2013 |ref=harv}}
*{{Cite book |last=Hasted |first=Edward |year=1797 |title=The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent |location=Canterbury |publisher=W. Bristow |edition=2nd |volume=II |pages=253–4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9S0tAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA254 |accessdate=28 March 2013 |ref=harv}}
*{{Cite book |last=Hawley |first=Thomas|year=1879 |title=The Visitations of Essex, Part II |location=London |publisher=Harleian Society |volume=XIV |page=604 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g6wKAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA604 |accessdate=27 March 2013 |ref=harv|display-authors=etal}}
*{{Cite book |last=Jonson |first=Ben |authorlink=Ben Jonson |year=1616 |title=The Workes of Ben Jonson |location=London |publisher=William Stansby |ref=harv}}
*{{Cite book |last=Lysons |first=Daniel |year=1811 |title=The Environs of London |location=London |publisher=T. Cadell and W. Davies |volume=I |edition=2nd |pages=59–60 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0SgGAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA60  |accessdate=29 March 2013 |ref=harv}}
*{{Cite book |last=Munro |first=Lucy |year=2005 |title=Children of the Queen’s Revels; A Jacobean Theatre Repertory |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=202 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PeSoXh6w0f8C&pg=PA202 |accessdate=28 March 2013 |ref=harv}}
*{{Cite book |last=Nichols |first=John, ed. |year=1825 |title=The Gentleman's Magazine |location=London |publisher=John Nichols and Son |volume=XCV |edition=2nd |pages=583–7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F_8RAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA586 |accessdate=29 March 2013 |ref=harv}}
*{{Cite book |last=Nichols |first=John Gough |authorlink=John Gough Nichols |year=1865 |title=Surrey Archaeological Collections |location=London |publisher=Lovell Reeve & Co. |volume=III |pages=223–6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rkIVAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA221  |accessdate=29 March 2013 |ref=harv}}
*{{Cite book |last=Potter |first=David, ed. |year=2004 |title=Foreign Intelligence and Information in Elizabethan England; Two English Treatises on the State of France, 1580-1584 |location=Cambridge |publisher=Royal Historical Society |page=11 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kxYb5CU8Gi4C&pg=PA11 |accessdate=27 March 2013 |ref=harv}}
*{{Cite book |last=Sisson |first=Charles Jasper |year=1956 |title=New Readings in Shakespeare |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |volume=I |pages=188–9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JgA9AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA188 |accessdate=28 March 2013 |ref=harv}}
*{{Cite ODNB |last=Wood |first=Betty |year=2004 |title=Strachey, William (1572–1621) |id=26623}}  {{DNBfirst|wstitle=Strachey, William}}
*{{Cite book |last=Woodward |first=Hobson |year=2009 |title=A Brave Vessel; The True Tale of the Castaways Who Rescued Jamestown |location=New York |publisher=Penguin Books |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RN3fULhPiAEC&pg=PT11 |accessdate=28 March 2013 |ref=harv}}

==External links==
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=William Strachey}}
*[http://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Strachey_William_1572-1621#start_entry Zacek, Natalie, ''William Strachey (1572–1621)'', Encyclopedia Virginia] Retrieved 27 March 2013
*[http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/SearchUI/Details?uri=D934888 Will of William Strachey of Walden, National Archives] Retrieved 27 March 2013
*[http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/SearchUI/Details?uri=D952752 Will of Henry Cooke, Merchant Taylor of London, National Archives] Retrieved 27 March 2013
*[http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/SearchUI/Details?uri=D951017 Will of Robert Draper, gentleman, of Camberwell, Surrey, National Archives] Retrieved 29 March 2013
*[http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/SearchUI/Details?uri=D962694 Will of Matthew Draper, gentleman, of Camberwell, Surrey, National Archives] Retrieved 29 March 2013
*[http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/SearchUI/Details?uri=D868765 Will of William Strachey, gentleman, of Saint Giles in the Fields, National Archives] Retrieved 29 March 2013
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20120602194809/http://www.kateemersonhistoricals.com/TudorWomenD.htm 'Elizabeth Draper (d. April 27, 1605)', ''A Who’s Who of Tudor Women: D''] Retrieved 29 March 2013

<nowiki>{{Authority control}}</nowiki>

{{DEFAULTSORT:Strachey, William}}
<nowiki>[[Category:1572 births]]
[[Category:1621 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Saffron Walden]]
[[Category:People of the Tudor period]]
[[Category:People of the Stuart period]]
[[Category:16th-century English writers]]
[[Category:16th-century male writers]]
[[Category:17th-century American writers]]
[[Category:17th-century male writers]]
[[Category:17th-century English writers]]
[[Category:Castaways]]
[[Category:Shipwreck survivors]]</nowiki>