Francis Godwin

Francis Godwin (1562–1633) was an English historian, science fiction author, divine, Bishop of Llandaff and of Hereford.

Bishop Godwin

Life

He was the son of Thomas Godwin, Bishop of Bath and Wells, born at Hannington, Northamptonshire. He was the great uncle of the writer Jonathan Swift. He was elected student of Christ Church, Oxford, in 1578, took his bachelor's degree in 1580, and that of master in 1583.

After holding two Somerset livings he was in 1587 appointed subdean of Exeter. In 1590 he accompanied William Camden on an antiquarian tour through Wales. He was created bachelor of divinity in 1593, and doctor in 1595. In 1601 he published his Catalogue of the Bishops of England since the first planting of the Christian Religion in this Island, a work which procured him in the same year the diocese of Llandaff. A second edition appeared in 1615, and in 1616 he published an edition in Latin with a dedication to King James, who in the following year conferred upon him the bishopric of Hereford. The work was republished, with a continuation by William Richardson, in 1743.

Godwin died, after a lingering illness, in April 1633 in Whitbourne, Herefordshire.

Works

In 1616 Godwin published Rerum Anglicarum, Henrico VIII., Edwardo VI. et Maria regnantibus, Annales, which was afterwards translated and published by his son Morgan under the title Annales of England (1630). He is also the author of a somewhat remarkable story, published posthumously in 1638, and entitled The Man in the Moone, or a Discourse of a Voyage thither, by Domingo Gonsales, written apparently some time in the 1620s. (On the date of composition, see John Anthony Butler's edition of The Man in the Moon [Dovehouse, 1995], pp. 14–15.) In this production Godwin not only declares himself a believer in the Copernican system, but adopts so far the principles of the law of gravitation as to suppose that weight decreases with distance from the Earth. The work, which displays considerable fancy and wit, influenced John Wilkins' The discovery of a world in the Moone. Both works were translated into French, and were imitated in several important particulars by Cyrano de Bergerac, from whom (if not from Godwin directly) Jonathan Swift obtained valuable hints in writing of Gulliver's voyage to Laputa.

Another work of Godwin's, Nuncius inanimatus, published In Utopia, originally printed in 1629 and again in 1657, seems to have been the prototype of John Wilkins's Mercury, or the Secret and Swift Messenger, which appeared in 1641. Another work was De praesulibus Angliae (1616).

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References

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Godwin, Francis". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

External links

The Encyclopedia of Astrobiology, Astronomy and Space Flight
Concept of Weightlessness
Works by or about Francis Godwin at Internet Archive
Works by Francis Godwin at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)

Church of England titles
Preceded by William Morgan	Bishop of Llandaff 1601–1618	Succeeded by George Carleton
Preceded by Robert Bennet	Bishop of Hereford 1617–1634	Succeeded by William Juxon

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Bishops of Llandaff
High Medieval	Joseph Herewald Urban Uhtred Nicholas ap Gwrgant William de Saltmarsh Henry de Abergavenny William de Goldcliff Elias de Radnor William de Christchurch William de Burgh John de la Ware William de Radnor William de Braose Philip de Staunton
Late Medieval	John de Monmouth Alexander de Monmouth John de Egglescliffe John Paschal Rodger Cradock Thomas Rushhook William Bottlesham Edmund Bromfeld Robert Tideman of Winchcombe Andrew Barret John Burghill Thomas Peverel John de la Zouche John Wells Nicholas Ashby John Hunden John Smith John Marshall John Ingleby
Early modern	Miles Salley George de Athequa Robert Holgate Anthony Kitchin Hugh Jones William Blethyn Gervase Babington William Morgan Francis Godwin George Carleton Theophilus Feild William Murray Morgan Owen Hugh Lloyd Francis Davies William Lloyd William Beaw John Tyler Robert Clavering John Harris Matthias Mawson John Gilbert Edward Cresset Richard Newcome John Ewer Jonathan Shipley Hon Shute Barrington Richard Watson Herbert Marsh William Van Mildert Charles Sumner Edward Copleston Alfred Ollivant Richard Lewis Joshua Pritchard Hughes
Church in Wales	Joshua Pritchard Hughes Timothy Rees John Morgan (Archbishop of Wales) Glyn Simon (Archbishop of Wales) Eryl Thomas John Poole-Hughes Roy Davies Barry Morgan (Archbishop of Wales) June Osborne

Bishops of Hereford
Early Medieval	Putta Tyrhtel Torhthere Walhstod Cuthbert of Canterbury Podda Acca Headda Aldberht Esne Ceolmund Utel Wulfheard Beonna Eadwulf Cuthwulf Mucel Deorlaf Cynemund Edgar Tidhelm Wulfhelm Ælfric Athulf
High Medieval	Æthelstan Leofgar Ealdred Walter of Lorraine Robert de Losinga Gerard Roger Reynelm Geoffrey de Clive Richard de Capella Robert de Bethune Gilbert Foliot Robert of Melun Robert Foliot William de Vere Giles de Braose Hugh de Mapenor Hugh Foliot Ralph de Maidstone Michael Peter of Aigueblanche John de Breton Thomas de Cantilupe Richard Swinefield
Late Medieval	Adam Orleton Thomas Charleton John Trilleck Lewis de Charleton William Courtenay John Gilbert Thomas Trevenant Robert Mascall Edmund Lacey Thomas Polton Thomas Spofford Richard Beauchamp Reginald Boulers John Stanberry Thomas Mylling Edmund Audley
Early modern	Adriano Castellesi Richard Mayew Charles Booth Edward Foxe Edmund Bonner John Skypp John Harley Robert Parfew Thomas Reynolds John Scory Herbert Westfaling Robert Bennet Francis Godwin William Juxon Godfrey Goodman Augustine Lindsell Matthew Wren Theophilus Feild George Coke Nicholas Monck Herbert Croft Gilbert Ironside Humphrey Humphreys Philip Bisse Benjamin Hoadly Henry Egerton Lord James Beauclerk John Harley John Butler
Late modern	Folliott Cornewall John Luxmoore George Huntingford Edward Grey Thomas Musgrave Renn Hampden James Atlay John Percival Hensley Henson Linton Smith Charles Lisle Carr Richard Parsons Tom Longworth Mark Hodson John Eastaugh John Oliver Anthony Priddis Alistair Magowan (acting) Richard Frith Alistair Magowan (acting) Richard Jackson