Polydore Vergil

Polydore Vergil was an Italian humanist and cleric who spent much of his career in England. He became closely associated with the Tudor court and wrote the Anglica Historia , a major Latin history of England that helped shape early Tudor historical writing.

Polydore Vergil was an Italian-born humanist, cleric and historian whose Anglica Historia became an influential account of English history. Polydore Vergil also worked as Historian and Clergyman. Polydore Vergil was born in Urbino, Italy and died in Urbino, Duchy of Urbino.

Steven Veerapen’s Of Blood Descended places Polydore Vergil among the scholars and courtiers surrounding Cardinal Wolsey in 1522. The fictional Anthony Blanke investigates the murder of a scholar connected with Wolsey’s historical interests, bringing him into a world that includes Vergil alongside Henry VIII, Charles V and Anne Boleyn. Vergil’s presence gives the mystery a specifically humanist setting, where scholarship, access to powerful patrons and political intelligence overlap at the Tudor court.