HOBY, SIR THOMAS

born 1530 died July 13, 1566, Paris, France English diplomat and translator of Baldassare Castiglione's Il libro del cortegiano; his translation was entitled The Courtyer of Count Baldesser Castilio (1561). Educated at Cambridge and Strasbourg, Hoby traveled extensively on the European continent. By 1552 Hoby was at work on his translation of Il cortegiano. The influence of Hoby's translation in England was enormous, not only on the social pattern of life at court but on such writers as Shakespeare and Sir Philip Sidney. Hoby's other works include a translation of a Latin work on the Church of England and an autobiography. He was knighted by Elizabeth I in 1566 and sent to Paris as English ambassador. He died that same year.