Anthony Cope (author)

Sir Anthony Cope (died 1551) was an English author.

Life

He was the second son of William Cope of Hanwell, Oxfordshire, cofferer to Henry VII, by his second wife Joan, daughter of John Spencer of Hodnell, Warwickshire. He was a member of Oriel College, Oxford, but does not appear to have graduated.

After leaving Oxford, he travelled in France, Germany, and Italy, visiting various universities, and became ‘an accomplished gentleman;’ according to Anthony Wood, his works were spoken of in an epigram by Baptista Mantuanus, now lost. At the age of twenty-six he succeeded to his father's estates, inheriting an old manor house near Banbury called Hardwick, and the mansion of Hanwell left incomplete by his father, which he finished, and which is described by John Leland as ‘a very pleasant and gallant house.’

In 1536 he had the grant of the dissolved Brooke Priory^[1] in Rutlandshire, which he afterwards sold, and bought more property in Oxfordshire. He was engaged in a dispute with the vicar of Banbury in 1540, and received the commendation of the council for his conduct. He was first vice-chamberlain, and then principal chamberlain to Catherine Parr, and was knighted by Edward VI on 24 November 1547, being appointed in the same year one of the royal visitors of Canterbury and other dioceses. In 1548 he served as sheriff of Oxfordshire and Berkshire. He died at Hanwell on 5 January 1551, and was buried in the chancel of the parish church.

Family

He married Jane, daughter of Matthew Crews, or Cruwys, of Pynne in Stoke English, Devonshire, and by her had a son Edward (who married Elizabeth, daughter of Walter Mohun of Wollaston, Northamptonshire, and had two sons, Anthony and Walter), and a daughter Anne, who married Kenelm Digby of Drystoke, Rutlandshire.

Works

He wrote:

• ‘The Historie of the two moste noble Capitaines in the Worlde, Anniball and Scipio … gathered and translated into Englishe out of T. Livius and other authorities’ (black letter), Thomas Berthelet, London, 1544, also 1561, 1568 with date of colophon 1548, 1590, with three stanzas prefixed by Berthelet, and dedicatory preface to the king, in which reference is made to ‘youre most famous subduynge of the Romayne monster Hydra.’
• ‘A Godly Meditacion upon XX. select and chosen Psalmes of the Prophet David … by Sir Anthony Cope, Knight’ (black letter), J. Day, 1547, reprinted with biographical preface and notes, 1848, by William H. Cope.

Among manuscripts at Bramshill were two ascribed to Cope—an abbreviated chronology and a commentary on the first two gospels dedicated to Edward VI.

References

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Cope, Anthony". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.