Counter-Reformation was very great, many of its pupils
becoming missionaries and teachers in northern Europe
and the Far East.
Gregory XIII (1502–1585) Pope (1572–85)
Gregory was born Ugo Buoncompagni in Bologna, Italy.
He studied law at Bologna University before being ap-
pointed judge of the Capitol in Rome (1539). In 1558 he
was appointed bishop of Viesti and cardinal priest of San
Sisto in 1564. He was elected pope in 1572. Although Gre-
gory has become notorious for celebrating the massacre of
the Huguenots on St. Bartholomew’s Day (1572; see MAS-
SACRE OF ST. BARTHOLOMEW) he was one of the great popes
of the COUNTER-REFORMATION. Despite his many achieve-
ments in bringing about reforms within the Catholic
Church he is chiefly remembered for the CALENDARreform
(1578) that resulted in the institution of the Gregorian
calendar (1582).
Gresham, Sir Thomas (1519–1579) English merchant
and financier
Gresham was born in London, of which his father, Sir
Richard Gresham (c. 1485–1549), was lord mayor in
- After attending Caius College, Cambridge, Gresham
was apprenticed to his uncle and in 1543 became a mem-
ber of the Mercers’ Company. He then became the
Antwerp agent for Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary, and Eliz-
abeth until war compelled his return to England in 1567.
He was an acute financier and his name is (wrongly) as-
sociated with the formulation of the economic law that
“bad money drives out good.” In 1565 he proposed the
building of the Royal Exchange and under his will he
made provision for the rents from the Exchange to be used
to found a college in London at which seven chairs were
to be endowed (in astronomy, divinity, geometry, law,
music, physic, and rhetoric). The early Gresham profes-
sors of astronomy and geometry, such as Henry BRIGGS,
were particularly significant in establishing a practical sci-
entific tradition in London, although the fact that the lec-
tures were in Latin meant that Gresham’s intended
audience of ordinary practitioners of skills, such as navi-
gation, were excluded.
Greville, Fulke (1554–1628) English statesman, courtier,
and writer
The son of a Warwickshire landowner, Greville entered
Shrewsbury School (1564) where he became friends with
Philip SIDNEY, whose biography he later wrote. Greville
went on to Cambridge (1568) and then accompanied Sid-
ney to court (1577) and on journeys abroad, although
Queen Elizabeth, with whom Greville was a great favorite,
thwarted his more ambitious travel plans. In 1583 Greville
entertained Giordano BRUNOat his London home; among
his friends and protégés were Edmund SPENSER, Francis
BACON, William CAMDEN, and Samuel DANIEL. He first be-
came MP for Warwickshire in the 1590s and was granted
several official posts, such as secretary for Wales (1583)
and treasurer of the navy (1598). James I continued Eliz-
abeth’s generous patronage of Greville, creating him Baron
Brooke in 1621. Greville was stabbed to death by a dis-
gruntled servant.
Most of Greville’s literary works appeared posthu-
mously (1633) in a volume that included his long verse
tracts on humane learning, fame and honor, and war, his
Senecan tragedy Mustapha (unauthorized first edition,
1609), and his collection of songs and sonnets entitled
Caelica. His biography of Sidney appeared in 1652.Grévin, Jacques (1538–1570) French playwright, poet,
and physician
Grévin was born at Clermont-en-Beauvaisis and studied
medicine at the university of Paris. He was a friend of RON-
SARDand sympathetic to the latter’s promotion of classical
standards in French literature. La Trésorière, based on an
earlier lost comedy called La Maubertine, was first per-
formed at the college of Beauvais in 1558. His tragedy
Jules César (1560) was based on a Latin play by Marc-
Antoine MURET. Grévin’s poetry, published in Olimpe
(1560), is reminiscent of Ronsard, but about this time
Grévin was converted to Protestantism and their friend-
ship was broken off. Grévin became physician to Margaret
of Savoy in 1561 and moved to her court at Turin, where
he died. His Théâtre (1562) contains Les Ébahis (The
dumbfounded), his most important, but also his most in-
decent, play.Grey, Lady Jane (Lady Jane Dudley) (1538–1554)
Queen of England for nine days
Daughter of the duke of Suffolk, she had a strict Protestant
upbringing, living in Catherine PARR’s household until- Her remaining education was conducted by human-
ist tutors at home. She knew French, Latin, Italian, He-
brew, and Greek and corresponded with leading European
theologians. In 1553, to advance the political machina-
tions of her father and the duke of Northumberland, she
was compelled to marry Northumberland’s son, Lord
Guildford Dudley, as Northumberland, during his regency,
had induced the boy king EDWARD VIto make Lady Jane
his heir (she was a great niece of Henry VII). After Ed-
ward’s death, she was proclaimed queen (July 10, 1553).
But the legitimate successor, Henry VIII’s Catholic daugh-
ter MARY I, entered London nine days later, and Northum-
berland’s forces were routed. Seeing Lady Jane as a
dangerous focus for Protestant opposition, Mary had her
imprisoned and arraigned for treason. During the six
months she was kept in the Tower of London before her
execution, Lady Jane wrote poetry, letters, and prayers
that are testimonies to her courage and piety.
Grien, Hans Baldung See BALDUNG GRIEN, HANSGGrriieenn,, HHaannss BBaalldduunngg 2 22233