CRITICISM

Cespedes, Frank V. “The Final Book of Polydore Vergil's ‘Anglica Historia’: ‘Persecution and the Art of the Writing.’” Medieval and Renaissance Studies 10 (1979): 375-96.

Argues that Vergil's section on Henry VIII is full of careful irony.

Copenhaver, Brian P. “The Historiography of Discovery in the Renaissance: The Source and Composition of Polydore Vergil's De Inventoribus Rerum, I-III.” Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 41 (1978): 192-214.

Argues that Vergil's De inventoribus rerum is remarkable for its scope and use of diverse historical sources.

Ellis, Henry. Preface to Three Books of Polydore Vergil's English History, Comprising the Reigns of Henry VI, Edward IV, and Richard III, edited by Sir Henry Ellis, pp. i-xxx. 1844. Reprint. Westport, Conn.: AMS Press, 1968.

Provides a biographical sketch of Vergil's life and a discussion of his most important writings.

Ferguson, John. “Notes on the Work of Polydore Vergil: ‘De Inventorius Rerum.’” Isis 17, no. 1 (January 1932): 375-96.

Offers a broad overview of Vergil's life and writing, drawing special attention to De inventoribus rerum.

Hammond, William. Introduction to Polydori Vergilii de Rerum Inventoribus, translated by John Langley, pp. v-xvi. 1868. Reprint. New York: Burt Franklin, 1971.

Early general survey of Vergil's life and literary output.

Hays, Denys. Introduction to The Anglica Historia of Polydore Vergil, a.d. 1485-1537, edited with a translation by Denys Hays, pp. ix-xlii. London: Offices of the Royal Historical Society, 1950.

Describes variations in the multiple editions of the Anglica historia, and discusses the influence of the work on Tudor and subsequent historiography.

———. Polydore Vergil: Renaissance Historian and Man of Letters. Oxford, Eng.: Clarendon Press, 1952, 218 p.

One of the earliest comprehensive studies of Vergil's major and lesser-known writings.

Kaufman, Peter Iver. “Polydore Vergil and the Strange Disappearance of Christopher Urswick.” The Sixteenth Century Journal 17, no. 1 (spring 1986): 69-85.

Explores the reason that later editions of Anglica historia do not mention Christopher Urswick, an Englishman who conspired to overthrow Richard III.

Koebna, Richard. “The Imperial Crown of the Realm: Henry VIII, Constantine the Great, and Polydore Vergil.” Bulletin of the Institute for Historical Research 26, no. 73 (May 1953): 29-52.

Argues that the concept of England as an empire was largely the result of Vergil's Anglica historia.

Additional coverage of Vergil's life and career is contained in the following sources published by Thomson Gale: Dictionary of Literary Biography, Vol. 132; and Literature Resource Center.