Sleidanus, Johannes (1505–1556) German religious
historian
He was born at Schleiden, near Aachen, and having stud-
ied both law and the classics, in 1537 he entered the ser-
vice of France as secretary to Cardinal du Bellay. Between
1537 and 1544 he represented Francis I in several impor-
tant negotiations with the German Protestant powers. In
1544 he was appointed on the recommendation of Martin
BUCERas official historian of the Reformation and was
granted access to archive material in Saxony, Hesse, and
the Palatinate. His work De statu religionis et republicanae
Carolo V Caesare commentarii, which was published in
Strasbourg in 1555, was an immediate success and was
translated into many languages (first English edition,
1560). It remains the most valuable contemporary record
of Reformation times, largely on account of its extensive
assemblage of documents.
Sluter, Claus (c. 1350–1406) Netherlands sculptor
Possibly born at Haarlem, Sluter worked for PHILIP THE
BOLDof Burgundy on the Charterhouse (Chartreuse) of
Champmol on the outskirts of Dijon, where he was mas-
ter of the works from 1389. He worked first on the portal
of the church, but his masterpiece is the calvary
(1395–1404) there, of which the base, known as the Puits
de Moïse, survives. Fragments of the rest are preserved in
the Musée Archéologique, Dijon, including a magnificent
head of Christ. The imposing figures of the prophets on
the Puits de Moïse confirm Sluter’s position as one of the
great innovators in the history of sculpture; in their pow-
erful realism and characterization they represent a com-
plete break with the decorative formulae of earlier
northern European art. Sluter also executed the tomb of
Philip the Bold at Champmol (now in the Musée
Archéologique), notable particularly for the treatment of
the drapery of the mourning figures. In 1404 Sluter retired
to the Augustinian monastery at Dijon. His influence con-
tinued long after his lifetime and far beyond the bound-
aries of Burgundy.
Smith, John (1580–1631) English soldier of fortune and
colonial entrepreneur
Born in Lincolnshire, Smith was apprenticed to a mer-
chant (1595), but in 1597 enlisted for military service in
the Netherlands. He then traveled to Hungary to join the
Austrian army against the Ottomans (1601). His dramatic
adventures in this enterprise are narrated in his True Trav-
els (1630). In 1606 he went to the New World for the Vir-
ginia Company, establishing the colony at Jamestown,
Virginia (1606–08). His adventures continued: he was
captured by native Americans and apparently only saved
from death by the chief’s daughter, Pocohontas (1607).
Having returned to England (1609), he wrote a number of
works to promote colonization in the area he named “New
England, ” including A Map of Virginia (1612), A Descrip-
tion of New England (1616), and The Generall Historie of
Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles (1624). A
three-volume modern edition of his Complete Works,
edited by Philip L. Barbour, was published in 1986.
Further reading: Philip L. Barbour, The Three Worlds
of Captain John Smith (Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin
and London: Macmillan, 1964); ∼ Pocahontas and Her
World (Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin, 1970); J. A. Leo
Lemay, Did Pocahontas Save Captain John Smith? (Athens,
Ga: University of Georgia Press, 1992).Smith, Sir Thomas (1513–1577) English statesman,
lawyer, and scholar
The son of a wealthy landowner at Saffron Waldon, Smith
was educated at Cambridge. After a period of foreign
travel he returned to Cambridge in 1544 as regius profes-
sor of civil law. He also served from 1547 to 1554 as
provost of Eton and was first elected to parliament in- Later much of his time was spent at court, advising
Queen Elizabeth on a number of issues. From 1562 to
1566 he served as ambassador to France, negotiating at
the Peace of Troyes (1564) Elizabeth’s abandonment of her
claim to Calais. Smith’s most famous work, De republica
anglorum was published posthumously (1583); in it he de-
scribes the basis of the Tudor constitution.
Smythson, Robert (c. 1535–1614) English architect
The most original Elizabethan architect, Smythson was
the first English builder to create a convincing synthesis of
strong English traditions of domestic architecture, el-
ements of north European decoration, and the classical
forms spreading through Europe from Renaissance Italy.
The prosperity of Elizabethan England, combined with
the growth of humanist education, meant that Smythson’s
patrons almost certainly encouraged his confident adop-
tion of classical forms, the main sources being editions of
SERLIOand Jacques Androuet DUCERCEAU, and also (espe-
cially for decorative features such as strapwork) Flemish
pattern-books. Innovative features of his country houses
include a coherent use of classical orders and decoration;
a striving for symmetry and harmony in both plan and fa-
cade; a shift of emphasis from the courtyard to the facade;
and the use of extensive fenestration as an element of ex-
pressive design. His most important designs include Lon-
gleat, Wiltshire (from 1568; with Alan Maynard),
Wollaton Hall, Nottinghamshire (1580–88), and Hard-
wick New Hall, Derbyshire (1590–97). Smythson’s son
John (died 1634) was also an architect.
Further reading: Mark Girouard, Robert Smythson and
the Elizabethan Country House (New Haven, Conn: Yale
University Press, 1983).SSmmyytthhssoonn,, RRoobbeerrtt 4 44455