Main entry:

Luis, de Granada, 1504-1588, author.

Title & Author:

The singularities of London, 1578 = Les singularitez de Londres, noble, fameuse Cité, capital du Royaume d'Angleterre : ses antiquitez et premiers fondateurs / by L. Grenade ; edited by Derek Keene and Ian W. Archer ; with the assistance of Emma Pauncefort and Ann Saunders.

Publication:

London : London Topographical Society, 2014.
©2014

Description:

viii, 288 pages : illustrations (some color), maps, facsimiles ; 26 cm

Series:

Publication / London Topographical Society ; no. 175

Notes:
Orginal French manuscript is held as Manuscript Reg. lat. 672 in the Biblioteca apostolica vaticana.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 263-277) and index.
The manuscript and its provenance -- The Granados: The identity of the author and his family -- Genre and the author's sense of space -- A possible model for 'Les singularitez de Londres' -- The distinctiveness of the text -- Motives: The position of the stranger in Elizabethan London.
Text in English and French; Introduction and notes in English.

Summary:

"Addressing Les Singularitez to the lord mayor and alderman of London, L. Grenade wrote in praise of the city, focusing on its fine settings; its burgeoning international commerce; its shops, markets and food supplies; its major buildings and monuments; its charitable institutions; and its good governance. His lively overview is notable for its use of statistics and measurements. Although not always accurate in details, he provides otherwise unrecorded information concerning important sites, including the Royal Exchange. As a Protestant who identified himself as a Frenchman and had relatives in London, Grenade favoured the new religion in England and offered a distinctive view of London as a city of peace, an implicit comparison with Antwerp and Paris, both of which were well-known to his family and had recently experienced severe episodes of political and religious violence. His family appears to have been of Spanish origin, who as Protestants had settled in Antwerp, whence one branch of them had in the 1530s taken refuge in London, to which L. Grenade was later a periodic visitor. They served the English Crown - but also the Holy Roman Emperor, the French Crown, and the duchy of Lorraine - as horsemen, soldiers, traders and diplomatic agents. In praising London Grenade followed a traditional mode, to which he contributed a distinctive international perspective. He also innovated by drawing on recent popular publications concerning British history and was influenced by a well-known account of Paris. Moreover, in visualising the city and organising his material, he was among the first (if not the first) of European writers whose approach was shaped by the use of recent maps. For Grenade himself, the most important of the singularities of Londen was the kindness and charity of its citizens, who had welcomed and taken in the strangers and the refugees, acts that would stand them in good stead at the Last Judgement."-- Inside flap of dust jacket.

ISBN:

9780902087620
0902087622

Subject:

Biblioteca apostolica vaticana. Manuscript. Reg. lat. 672.
Travel
London (England) Description and travel Early works to 1800.
London (England) Maps Early works to 1800.
Londres (Angleterre) Descriptions et voyages Ouvrages avant 1800.
England London

Form/genre:

Early works
Maps
Cartes géographiques.

Added entries:

Keene, Derek, editor.
Archer, Ian W., editor.
Pauncefort, Emma, editor.
Saunders, Ann, 1930-2019, editor.
Luis, de Granada, 1504-1588. Singularitez de Londres, noble, fameuse cité capital du Royaume d'Angleterre.
Luis, de Granada, 1504-1588. Singularitez de Londres, noble, fameuse cité capital du Royaume d'Angleterre. English.
London Topographical Society, issuing body.
Biblioteca apostolica vaticana. Manuscript. Reg. lat. 672.
Publication (London Topographical Society) ; no. 175.

Holdings:

Location: Library main 286979
Call No.: BIB 227570
Status: Available