Richard Robinson
Richard Robinson was an English author born around 1554 or 1555, known primarily through a singular autobiographical document titled "Eupolemia, Archippus, and Panoplia." This document, which includes a plea for patronage directed at Queen Elizabeth, also provides a comprehensive bibliographical record of his works and financial earnings from them—an unusual feature for that time. Robinson attended Magnus Grammar School in Newark-on-Trent and later became an apprentice to the influential merchant William Allen. His writing career began in 1576, and he is credited with twenty published works, mostly translations from Latin and French, including a notable version of the "Gesta Romanorum," which influenced William Shakespeare's writing.
Robinson's oeuvre also includes an intriguing account of an archery society reminiscent of King Arthur's round table. Despite his early successes, his fortunes declined after 1590, leading him to struggle as a copyist. He recorded personal details in his writings, including a marriage and the loss of a child. Robinson likely passed away in late 1603, leaving behind a modest legacy primarily preserved through his own documentation.
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Subject Terms
Richard Robinson
Nonfiction Writer
- Born: c. 1554
- Died: 1603
Biography
Richard Robinson was born in 1554 or 1555. No information survives relating to his family, and virtually everything that is known about him is derived from autobiographical comments in a single document, known as Eupolemia, Archippus, and Panoplia, which takes the form of a plea for patronage addressed to the monarch (unnamed, but obviously Queen Elizabeth). It also includes a complete bibliographical record of his books and the income he received for them—a rare item for its time. He is one of 187 contemporary authors listed in Raphael Holinshed’s Chronicle, which drew material from some of his translations.
Robinson relates that he attended Magnus Grammar School in Newark-on-Trent from the ages of seven to fourteen. He then went to London as the apprentice of William Allen, an influential merchant who served as Master of the Leathersellers Company, in 1558-1559. Robinson apparently traveled abroad on business; he was aboard a ship arrested by the Spanish in 1569. He became a member of the Leathersellers Company in 1570. He appears to have begun working as a writer in 1576. Of the twenty books listed in his bibliography, only one has been lost—Robinson’s Ruby: An Historicall Fiction—and it has been possible to identify twenty-three manuscripts in his hand, including an early copy of Sir Philip Sidney’s Old Arcadia.
Most of Robinson’s works were translations from Latin or French, including a version of the Gesta Romanorum (1577) from which William Shakespeare borrowed some peripheral material in The Merchant of Venice. The most curious is an account of an ancient order, an archery society active in the 1580’s, whose organization rituals echoed King Arthur’s legendary round table. His later writings were devotional. He records that he was married, and that he had a child who died (who was obviously not the actor named Richard Robinson who performed in Shakespeare’s plays in a later period). He fell on hard times after 1590, when he was scraping together a living as a copyist—hence his plea for support, which presumably fell on deaf ears, although it now assures what meager fame he retains. He appears to have died late in 1603.