William Camden

Topic: William Camden

Source-Control Position

• EarlyPrint controls confirm Camden's 1605 Remaines of a greater worke as A17848, printed by George Eld for Simon Waterson. This witness contains a Shakespeare surname hit in the names/surnames section, not the later Carew/Shakespeare/Marlowe comparison claimed in the tweet layer.
• The packet remains a source map, but the 1614 Carew essay, Camden's poets list, Henry Savile correspondence, and Katharine Killigrew epitaph catalogue entry are now directly controlled. The Camden/Cuffe claim remains a lead.
• A scoped BRO sweep for Camden found no direct BRO transcription hit.

EEBO/TCP Source Notes

• Local TCP A17848 has two different Shakespeare controls that should not be conflated.
• First, the surnames section includes Shake-Speare among action/object surnames such as Long-sword, Broad-speare, Fortescu, Breake-speare, Shotbolt, and Wagstaffe. This is a surname-etymology example, not a literary notice.
• Second, the poetics section names William Shakespeare in a list of "pregnant witts" that also includes Sidney, Spenser, Samuel Daniel, Hugh Holland, Ben Jonson, Thomas Campion, Michael Drayton, George Chapman, and John Marston. This is a real Camden-side literary notice in the 1605 text.
• The 1605 local text does not verify the later Carew/Shakespeare/Marlowe comparison claim. A 1614 or later Remaines witness still needs extraction for that specific lead.

1614 Remaines: Two Different Shakespeare Notices

The complete 1614 edition and direct Folger images now resolve the old lead. Two notices must remain distinct.

A. Richard Carew's essay, printed p. 44

Camden published Carew's The excellencie of the English tongue in the second edition. Carew asks readers to match English writers with classical models:

"Will you reade Virgill? take the Earle of Surrey, Catullus? Shakespheare and Barlowes fragment, Ouid? Daniell, Lucan? Spencer, Martial? Sir Iohn Dauies and others"

The direct image is Camden_Remaines_1614_Folger_G2v-G3r_pp44-45.jpg. Shakespeare Documented controls the copy as Folger STC 4522 copy 2, sig. G2v, p. 44, and explains that Barlowes fragment refers to Christopher Marlowe and Hero and Leander.

This is a Carew judgment published by Camden, not a Camden-authored comparison.

B. Camden's poets list, printed p. 324

Camden's separate poetry section says that if he came to his own time he could present a world of material from:

"Sir Philip Sidney, Edm. Spencer, Samuel Daniel, Hugh Holland, Ben. Iohnson, Thomas Campion, Mich. Drayton, George Chapman, Iohn Marston, William Shakespeare, and other most pregnant wits of these our times"

The direct image is Camden_Remaines_1614_Folger_Ss2v-Ss3r_pp324-325.jpg.

This passage already existed in the 1605 edition; the 1614 page now supplies a high-quality, direct visual control.

Henry Savile and Camden: Direct Correspondence

The 1691 printed correspondence volume confirms a close intellectual friendship and shows Savile advising Camden on institutional foundations.

• On 12 February [1618], Savile protests Camden's wish not to be named in a preface:

"would you have no testimony to the world extant in any of our writings, that we lived in one time, as kind friends together"

• On 25 October 1621, Savile offers help with Camden's planned Oxford history lecture:

"I have trod the path before you, and know the rubbs in such a business to my great pains and charge"

• On 3 November 1621, Savile describes what he had transferred for his mathematical readers:

"all the Mathematical Books, which I had gathered in so many years and Countreys, Greek and Latin, printed and manuscripts, even to the very raw Notes"

These letters document Camden–Savile friendship and shared concern for learned institutional legacy. They do not by themselves connect Camden to Henry Neville.

Katharine Killigrew Epitaph

The British Library catalogue for Add MS 36294 directly lists at fol. 43v a Latin Epitaph on Katharine Killigrew, wife of Sir Henry Killigrew, by William Camden. The catalogue resolves existence, authorship attribution, language, subject, and location; the epitaph's text remains an open transcription task.

1. Verified Sourced Facts

• EarlyPrint metadata for A17848 identifies Camden's Remaines of a greater worke (1605) and lists George Eld / Simon Waterson as the printer-publisher imprint.
• A local full-text extraction of A17848 finds Shake-Speare in the surname/name section and William Shakespeare in the poetics section's list of contemporary writers.
• A17848 has a Richard Carew emblem-device entry, but it is not the later Carew/Shakespeare/Marlowe comparison claim preserved in the tweet layer.
• The local wiki page lists as available resources:

“Correspondence: Letters involving Thomas Savile, John Savile, George Carleton, and Henry Savile”

• The same page lists:

“Published Works: "Remaines of a Greater Work"”

• The same page lists:

“Manuscript Materials: An epitaph for Katharine Killigrew (wife of Sir Henry Killigrew) composed by Camden”

• The same page lists:

“Archives: Letters to Robert Cotton housed in the British Library”

2. Ken Feinstein Twitter and Blog Information

• A local tweet file preserves the claim that Camden was close to the Savile brothers, close with Henry Cuffe, and that Carew's essay in Camden's 1614 Remaines lists Shakespeare. This is preserved as a lead, not as a verified fact, until the direct 1614 witness and correspondence records are checked.

3. Quoted Source Text

William Camden wiki page

• “Correspondence: Letters involving Thomas Savile, John Savile, George Carleton, and Henry Savile”
• “Published Works: "Remaines of a Greater Work"”
• “Manuscript Materials: An epitaph for Katharine Killigrew (wife of Sir Henry Killigrew) composed by Camden”
• “Archives: Letters to Robert Cotton housed in the British Library”

Local TCP A17848

• "Breake-speare, Shake-Speare, Shotbolt, Wagstaffe"
• "William Shakespeare, & other most pregnant witts of these our times"
• "Master Richard Carew of Anthony"

4. Citations

• “William Camden.” Henry Neville Research Wiki, 16 Aug. 2020, http://nevilleresearch.com/index.php?title=William_Camden.
• Camden, William. Remaines of a greater worke. London, printed by George Eld for Simon Waterson, 1605. TCP A17848; EarlyPrint metadata: A17848 header.
• Feinstein, Ken. Tweet thread on Camden/Carew/Shakespeare, 9 July 2020; local preservation: twitter William Camden.
• Camden, William. Remaines, concerning Britaine. London: John Legatt for Simon Waterson, 1614. Complete local scan: Camden_Remaines_1614_Google_IA.pdf. Internet Archive.
• Shakespeare Documented. “Remaines of a greater worke: Camden praises Shakespeare and includes Carew's ‘The excellencie of the English tongue’.” DOI 10.37078/711.
• Shakespeare Documented. “The excellencie of the English tongue: Richard Carew compares Shakespeare and Marlowe to Catullus.” BL Cotton Julius F XI, fol. 267r-v. DOI 10.37078/586.
• Camden, William. Gulielmi Camdeni ... epistolae. London, 1691. Complete local scan: Camden_Epistolae_1691_IA.pdf. Internet Archive.
• British Library. Add MS 36294, fol. 43v, Camden epitaph on Katharine Killigrew. Catalogue record.

5. Notes on Access

• The wiki page links the following public resources:
• Letters (Thomas Savile, John Savile, George Carleton)
• Letter from Henry Savile, page 218
• Letter from Henry Savile, page 312
• *Remaines of a Greater Work*
• British Library search record for Camden epitaph on Katharine Killigrew
• British Library Cotton manuscript page
• The Richard Carew packet carries the direct Carew / France material that sits adjacent to this Camden topic.
• The 1605 and 1614 Shakespeare notices, Savile correspondence, and Katharine Killigrew epitaph catalogue location are now source-controlled. The epitaph text and direct Camden/Cuffe evidence remain open.