CAMDEN, WILLIAM (1551-1623 ), English antiquary and historian, was born in London. His father, Sampson Camden, was a member of the company of painter-stainers. Young Camden received his early education at Christ's Hospital and St. Paul's school, and in 1566 went to Magdalen college, Oxford, probably as a servitor or chorister. He afterwards removed to Broadgates hall (Pembroke college), and later to Christ Church, where he was supported by his friend, Dr. Thomas Thornton, canon of Christ Church. In 1571 he went to London and devoted himself to antiquarian studies, for which he had already acquired a taste.
Camden spent some time in travelling in various parts of Eng land collecting materials for his Britannia, sive florentissiynoruna regnorum Angliac, Scotiae, Hiberniae et insularum ud jacentium ex intima antiquitate chorographica Descriptio, first published in 1586. He became second master of Westminster school in and succeeded Dr. Edward Grant as headmaster in During the vacations he travelled, and supervised the publication of three further editions of the Britannia. Although a layman he was granted the prebend of Ilfracombe in 1589, and in 1597 he resigned his position at Westminster on being made Clarenceux king-of-arms an appointment which caused some ill-feeling. The York herald, Ralph Brooke, led an attack on the genealogical accuracy of the Britannia, and accused its author of plagiarism. Camden replied to Brooke in an appendix to the fifth edition of the Britannia, published in 160o. Having brought out an en larged and improved edition of the Britannia-in 1607, he began to work on a history of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, which he had been urged to undertake by Lord Burghley in 1597. The first part of this history dealing with the reign down to 1588, was published in 1615 under the title Annales rerum Anglicarum et Hibernicarum regnante Elizabetha. Controversy at once arose over the author's treatment of Mary, Queen of Scots. It was asserted that Camden altered his original narrative in order to please James I., and, moreover, that the account which he is said to have given to his friend, the French historian, Jacques de Thou, differed substantially from his own. It seems doubtful if there is any truth in either of these charges. The second part of his work, finished in 1617, was published at Leyden in 1625 and in London in 1627. Selden spoke of the Annales and of Bacon's History of Henry VII. as the only two serious works on English history up to his day. In 1622 Camden founded the chair at Oxford known as the Camden professorship of ancient history, the first occupant of which was his friend, Degory Wheare. His later years were mainly spent at Chislehurst, where he had gone to live in 1609, and in spite of recurring illnesses he con tinued his antiquarian and historical studies. He died at Chisle hurst on Nov. 9, 16 23.
Camden, who refused a knighthood, was a man of enormous industry, and of a modest and friendly disposition. He had a large number of influential friends, among whom were Archbishop Ussher, Sir Robert Cotton, John Selden, the French jurist Brisson, and Isaac Casaubon. His correspondence was published in London in 1691 by Dr. Thomas Smith under the title Vita Gulielmi Cam deni et Illustrium virorum ad G. Camdenum Epistolae which , together with the notices in Bayle's Dictionary and in Wood's Athenae Oxonienses, is the chief authority for his biography. This volume contains Camden's Memorabilia de seipso ; his notes of the reign of James I. ; and other interesting matter. In 1838 the Camden Society was founded in his honour, and much valu able work has been done under its auspices.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.—The Britannia was first translated into English by Bibliography.—The Britannia was first translated into English by Philemon Holland, in 161o, probably under the author's direction, and other translations have subsequently appeared, the best of which is an edition edited by Richard Gough and published in 3 vols. in 1789, and in 4 vols. in 1806. The best edition of the Annales is by Thomas Hearne (1717) . The book was translated into French, and English translations appeared in 1635, 1675 and 1688. In addition to these works Camden compiled a Greek grammar, Institutio Graecae Gram matices Compendiaria, which became very popular, and he published an edition of the writings of Asser, Giraldus Cambrensis, Thomas Walsingham and others, under the title Anglica, Hibernica, Norman nica, Cambrica, a veteribus scripta, (1602 and 1603). He also drew up a list of the epitaphs in Westminster Abbey, which was issued as Reges, Reginae, Nobiles et alii in ecclesia collegiate Beati Petri West monasterii sepulti. This was enlarged and published again in 1603 and 16o6. In 16o5 he published his Remains concerning Britain, a book of collections from the Britannia, which quickly passed through seven editions; and he wrote an official account of the trial of the Gunpowder Plot conspirators as Actio in Henricum Garnetum, Socie tatis Jesuiticae in Anglia superiorem et caeteros.