Robert Sidney, Henry Neville, and Henry Savile

Topic: Robert Sidney, Henry Neville, and Henry Savile

Overview

This packet is now the shared travel-and-companionship packet for Robert Sidney, Henry Neville, and Henry Savile. Its job is narrower than robert sidney: it preserves the direct continental company evidence, the tutor-companion framing around Savile, and the importance of Robert Sidney as the figure through whom the Neville/Savile continental witness cluster is most clearly documented.

1. Verified Sourced Facts

A. Continental travel and companionship

• Robert Shephard and Noel J. Kinnamon write of Robert Sidney’s continental tour that Sir Henry Sidney was glad Robert had:

“fallen into consort and fellowship with Sir Harry Neville’s son and heir, and one Master Savile”

• The same article identifies Master Savile as:

“Henry—later Sir Henry Savile”

• The same article states that in his 28 October 1580 letter Sir Henry Sidney:

“strongly implied that Robert and Henry Neville the younger had met each other”

• The same article quotes Sir Henry Sidney as writing:

“There can be no greater love than of long time hath been, and yet is, between Sir Harry Neville and me, and so will continue till our lives end.”

• The same article states that Philip Sidney sent greetings to:

“Master Neville, Master Savile, and honest Harry Whyte”

• Image-batch source controls: the uploaded photographs from Roger Kuin's edition of The Correspondence of Sir Philip Sidney, volume II, supply a local visual witness for Philip Sidney's 18 October 1580 letter to Robert Sidney at Leicester House. Kuin identifies the underlying witness as CKS Penshurst Papers, U 1475 C 7/8. The visible text has Philip recommending that Robert remain with M[r] Sauell and noting possible "good exercises" with M[r] Neuell.

• Kuin's apparatus identifies the people behind those names as Henry Savile and Henry Neville of Billingbear. The note says Neville had been Savile's student and was accompanying him on the continental journey. This strengthens the Savile-as-tutor/student lane, while still leaving the underlying Penshurst manuscript as the next best source-control target.

• Feingold / Merton geometry source controls: Feingold supplies a separate Merton educational trace for the tutor/student lane. His p. 107 notice says Savile's missing-books inventory indicates Henry Neville was studying geometry and that Savile made over a copy of Euclid to Christopher Dale, apparently Neville's tutor, for Neville's instruction. Dedicated packet: henry neville euclid savile merton geometry.

• Jan Waszink independently reconstructs Savile’s continental tour and states:

“His travel companions included Robert Sidney (Philip’s brother), the astronomer George Carew and one of his own pupils, the future obnoxious diplomat Henry Neville.”

Taken together with the Sidney-family letters, this gives strong support not just for companionship but for the older description of Savile as Neville’s tutor on the continent.

• Mark Greengrass's ODNB entry for Henry Neville separately states that Henry Savile was Neville's tutor and that Neville and Savile went on a continental tour in 1578, spending at least part of the journey with Philip Sidney and visiting Padua, Venice, and Prague.
• Source-control caution: Shephard and Kinnamon explicitly note that the ODNB article on Henry Neville "erroneously states that he traveled with Philip rather than Robert Sidney." The packet should therefore treat Greengrass as useful for the Savile-as-tutor claim and itinerary summary, but should prefer the Sidney correspondence article for identifying the Sidney companion as Robert Sidney.

• Duncan integration note: Duncan chapter 2 supports the same education-and-travel arc: Merton, Savile as probable tutor, continental apprenticeship, and the Robert Sidney/Savile/Neville companionship. Duncan is useful here as an older synthesis and source-finding guide, especially for older Neville MSS and HMC references. It should not override the direct Sidney-family correspondence or the newer Dudith/Hagecius and ONB witnesses now isolated in this project.

• Robert B. Todd places Henry Savile in September 1580 at Nuremberg in company with George Carew, Henry Neville, and Robert Sidney. This gives the shared travel packet a second direct continental setting beyond the more general Waszink reconstruction.

• Waszink further places that company on the continent in:
• Paris
• Altdorf
• Breslau
• Prague
• Vienna
• Padua
• Venice
• Rome

• The 1581 Hagecius / Hajek comet book supplies a direct printed witness from this same Central European scholarly environment. Andreas Dudith's preliminary letter to Hagecius asks Hagecius to greet Robert Sidney and Henry Neville, while the surrounding passages identify Henry Savile as an English scholar of mathematics and languages connected with Dudith, Hagecius, and Paul Wittich.

• Hagecius's own text says Savile visited while Hagecius was writing about the comet and discussed the work with him. This makes Savile's mathematical/astronomical scholarly context concrete and places Sidney and Neville beside that network through Dudith's salutation.

• Source-control position: direct ONB images for Robert Sidney to Hugo Blotius, Paris, 13 Dec. 1581, have been located and inspected. The letter thanks Blotius for earlier hospitality and asks him to send copies of Venetian ambassadorial relations gathered in a large book. This strengthens Robert Sidney as a documented source-acquisition actor in the Blotius/Vienna network. It does not visibly name Henry Neville or Henry Savile, so it should not be cited as direct Neville evidence.

• Source-control position: direct ONB images for Henry Savile to Hugo Blotius, London, 12 Mar. 1588, have been located and inspected. This letter does name Sidney and Neuillius/Nevillius together: Savile says they greet Blotius and his household and love them very much. This is a stronger direct ONB bridge for the Sidney/Neville/Savile/Blotius relationship than the Robert Sidney letter, but it still remains a Savile-authored witness rather than a Henry Neville-authored witness.

• The safe synthesis is: Robert Sidney's 1581 letter proves Sidney used Blotius for Venetian diplomatic source acquisition; Henry Savile's 1588 letter proves Savile expected Blotius to recognize Sidney and Neville as mutual contacts; together they strengthen the Blotius/Vienna network around the shared continental company without proving that Neville himself requested a specific copied text from Blotius.

B. Why Robert Sidney matters inside this shared packet

• Robert Sidney is the named figure through whom the Neville/Savile companionship evidence is preserved. The packet therefore keeps its center on him as the documentary anchor of the continental-travel cluster.

• Robert Sidney's separate literary and Tacitean importance is now tracked in robert sidney, so this shared packet no longer has to double as the main Robert Sidney packet.

1A. Structured Quoted Source Passages

1. The Sidney Family Correspondence Gives the Core Companionship Claim

• Source: Robert Shephard and Noel J. Kinnamon, "The Sidney Family Correspondence during Robert Sidney's Continental Tour, 1579-1581."
• Quoted anchors:

"consort and fellowship"

"Master Savile"

• What it proves: the Robert Sidney/Savile/Neville companionship is rooted in Sidney-family correspondence, not merely later reconstruction.
• Limits: the packet should prefer this source for identifying Robert Sidney as the companion, especially where ODNB wording is less precise.

2. Kuin's Philip Sidney Letter Images Strengthen the Tutor/Exercise Lane

• Source: Roger Kuin edition image batch, Philip Sidney to Robert Sidney, Leicester House, 18 Oct. 1580, CKS Penshurst Papers, U 1475 C 7/8.
• Quoted anchors:

"M[r] Sauell"

"M[r] Neuell"

• What it proves: the image witnesses batch provides a visual printed-edition witness for Philip's references to Savile and Neville in Robert's continental setting.
• Limits: this is still printed-edition/image-batch control; the Penshurst manuscript remains the next best source-control target.

3. Hagecius/Dudith Adds a Printed Central European Scholarly Witness

• Source: Hagecius, Apodixis Physica et Mathematica de Cometis (1581), and the dedicated Hagecius packet.
• Quoted anchors:

"Dn. Robertum Sidnaeum"

"Dn. Henricum Neuellum"

• What it proves: Sidney and Neville are named together in the Central European scholarly network around Dudith, Hagecius, and Savile.
• Limits: this supports company/network context; it does not by itself prove literary collaboration.

4. Blotius Separates Source Acquisition from Direct Neville Request

• Source: Robert Sidney to Blotius, 13 Dec. 1581; Henry Savile to Blotius, 12 Mar. 1588.
• Quoted anchors:

"Petit relationes legatorum Venetor."

"Sidneus et Neuillius"

• What it proves: Sidney used Blotius for diplomatic source acquisition, and Savile later names Sidney and Neville as mutual Blotius contacts.
• Limits: neither item is a Henry Neville-authored request for books; keep the source-acquisition and direct-Neville claims separate.

2. Ken Feinstein Twitter and Blog Information

• The key Feinstein use of this cluster is still as a bridge into the wider Sidney/Herbert/Neville network.

• The stronger Robert Sidney tweet-layer items that go beyond travel itself, including the 1615 death-letter image witness, are now preserved centrally in robert sidney rather than duplicated in full here.

3. Quoted Source Text

Shephard and Kinnamon

• “fallen into consort and fellowship with Sir Harry Neville’s son and heir, and one Master Savile”
• “Henry—later Sir Henry Savile”
• “strongly implied that Robert and Henry Neville the younger had met each other”
• “There can be no greater love than of long time hath been, and yet is, between Sir Harry Neville and me”
• “Master Neville, Master Savile, and honest Harry Whyte”

Kuin / Philip Sidney Letter Image Batch

• “Sidney to Robert Sidney, Leicester House, 18 October 1580”
• “CKS Penshurst Papers, U 1475 C 7/8”
• “M[r] Sauell”
• “M[r] Neuell”

Waszink

• “His travel companions included ... Henry Neville.”
• “His tutor was Henry Saville”
• “They both went on a continental tour in 1578”

Hagecius / Dudith

• “Dn. Robertum Sidnaeum, ac Dn. Henricum Neuellum”
• “Philosophiae, Mathematicarum”
• “cum de hoc cometa commentarer”

Robert Sidney to Hugo Blotius

• “relations des Ambassadeurs de venise”
• “en un grand Liure”
• “Petit relationes legatorum Venetor.”

Henry Savile to Hugo Blotius

• “Sidneus et Neuillius/Nevillius te, tuosq[ue] omnes salutant et amant plurimum”
• “Londini. XII. Martii 1588.”

4. Citations

• Shephard, Robert, and Noel J. Kinnamon. “The Sidney Family Correspondence during Robert Sidney’s Continental Tour, 1579-1581.” document witnesses: sidney_family_correspondence.pdf.
• Sidney_Family_Correspondence_Continental_Tour_1579.pdf, canonical local copy of the same article.
• Kuin, Roger, ed. The Correspondence of Sir Philip Sidney. Vol. II. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012, pp. 1005-1010. image witnesses batch and notes: SIDNEY IMAGE BATCH INDEX AND NOTES.
• Waszink, Jan. “Henry Savile’s Tacitus and the English role on the Continent: Leicester, Hotman, Lipsius.” document witnesses: Waszink_Savile_Tacitus_Continental_2016.pdf.
• Greengrass, Mark. “Neville, Sir Henry (1561/2–1615).” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Staged PDF: Greengrass-HenryNeville-ODNB-2014.pdf.
• Todd, Robert B. “Henry and Thomas Savile in Italy.” Bibliothèque d'Humanisme et Renaissance, vol. 58, no. 2, 1996, pp. 439-444. Staged PDF: Todd-HenryAndThomasSavileInItaly-1996.pdf.
• Hagecius ab Hayck, Thaddaeus. Apodixis Physica et Mathematica de Cometis. 1581. document witnesses: Hagecius_Apodixis_Physica_Mathematica_Cometis_1581.pdf. Dedicated packet: hagecius apodixis 1581 sidney neville savile.
• Robert Sidney to Hugo Blotius, Paris, 13 Dec. 1581, Austrian National Library / ONB object 10035311, Cod. 9737z14-18, III, ff. 210r-211v. Local source note: ROBERT SIDNEY TO HUGO BLOTIUS 1581 SOURCE NOTE.
• Henry Savile to Hugo Blotius, London, 12 Mar. 1588, Austrian National Library / ONB object 10001CD3, Cod. 9737z14-18, IV, ff. 22-23. Local source note: HENRY SAVILE TO HUGO BLOTIUS 1588 NEVILLIUS SOURCE NOTE. PDF packet: HENRY_SAVILE_TO_BLOTIUS_1588_NEVILLE_LETTER_PACKET.pdf.
• Paola Molino, “Usi e abusi di una biblioteca imperiale: il caso della hinterlassene Bibliothek di Vienna fra corte e Respublica literaria. (1575-1608),” Erebea 2 (2012): 127-158. Local copy: Molino_Bibliotheca_Generis_Humani_Erebea_2012.pdf.
• hugo blotius vienna library source acquisition, controlling packet for the Blotius/Vienna Library source-acquisition lane.
• robert sidney, the dedicated Robert Sidney packet for poetry, Tacitus, and the 1615 death-letter witness.
• henry savile
• Duncan, Owen Lowe, Jr. The Political Career of Sir Henry Neville: An Elizabethan Gentleman at the Court of James I. Ph.D. dissertation, The Ohio State University, 1974, chapter 2. Local transcription: DUNCAN OL 1974 7424317 combined. Local mining dossier: DUNCAN DISSERTATION MINING DOSSIER 2026 06 09.

5. Notes on Access

• The strongest result remains simple and valuable: Savile and Neville appear together in direct Sidney-family travel evidence, and Waszink’s reconstruction independently supports that broader continental setting.
• The 2026-05-10 Kuin image batch adds a local visual witness to the Philip Sidney letter and its editorial apparatus. Use it as a strong printed-edition witness, not as a substitute for checking the underlying Penshurst manuscript.
• The Waszink and Greengrass wording matters because it makes the tutor relation explicit where the Sidney letters mainly make the companionship relation explicit.
• The Sidney correspondence PDF is the cleaner witness for the Robert Sidney point. Greengrass is a strong ODNB source, but its "Philip Sidney" wording should be cited only with the Shephard/Kinnamon correction attached.
• Todd is especially useful because it gives a concrete 1580 Nuremberg setting for Savile, Neville, Robert Sidney, and George Carew.
• Hagecius is especially useful because it gives a printed 1581 Central European witness rather than only a modern reconstruction: Dudith names Sidney and Neville in a closing salutation and Hagecius directly describes Savile's participation in the comet discussion.
• The Sidney-to-Blotius letter is useful as source-culture evidence: Robert Sidney used the Vienna library network to request Venetian diplomatic relations. It must be kept separate from direct Neville evidence unless ONB MS 9737z17 fol. 22 or another witness supplies a Neville link.
• The Savile-to-Blotius 1588 letter is more directly relevant to the shared company evidence because it names Sidney and Neville together. It still should be stated with precision: it is Savile reporting Sidney/Neville greetings to Blotius, not Neville writing to Blotius.
• Duncan source position: cite Duncan only after the direct Sidney/Savile/Blotius lanes when making the shared-company claim. His dissertation can help identify missing archival controls and interpret the apprenticeship pattern.
• This packet is intentionally narrower now. Robert Sidney’s poetry, Tacitus annotations, and post-1615 death-letter witness are all kept in robert sidney so the shared packet can stay focused on the travel-and-company evidence.
• The earlier four-generation downstream summary was too broad for the core evidence here and remains out of the main packet body.

Additional Fact-Source Notes

• The ODNB/Greengrass Philip Sidney wording should stay corrected by the Sidney correspondence evidence: the continental companion is Robert Sidney in this packet's core lane.
• The Savile-to-Blotius 1588 letter is the cleanest direct bridge naming Sidney and Neville together, but state it precisely as Savile's report, not Neville's own request.
• Robert's Tacitus annotations, poetry, and 1615 death-letter witness belong in the separate Robert Sidney packet; this one should stay focused on shared travel, company, and source-acquisition evidence.