Sir Henry Savile

Sir Henry Savile (30 November 1549 – 19 February 1622) was an English scholar, Warden of Merton College, Oxford, and Provost of Eton. He was a Member of the Parliament of England for Bossiney in 1589 and Dunwich in 1593.

He was the son of Henry Savile of Bradley, near Halifax in Yorkshire, England, a member of an old county family, the Saviles of Methley, and of his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Robert Ramsden.

He was educated at Brasenose College, Oxford, where he matriculated in 1561. He became a fellow of Merton in 1565. He established a reputation as a Greek scholar and mathematician by voluntary lectures on the Almagest, and in 1575 became junior proctor. In 1578 he travelled on the continent of Europe, where he collected manuscripts and is said to have been employed by Queen Elizabeth as her resident in the Low Countries. On his return he was named Greek tutor to the Queen.

In 1583, Lord Burghley appointed Savile, with John Chamber and Thomas Digges, to sit on a commission to consider whether England should adopt the Gregorian calendar, as proposed by John Dee. In 1585 he was established as Warden of Merton by a vigorous exercise of the interest of Burghley and Secretary Walsingham. He proved a successful and autocratic head of house, generally unpopular with fellows and undergraduates, but under him the college flourished. His translation of four books of the Histories of Tacitus, with the learned Commentary on Roman Warfare (1591), enhanced his reputation. He also sat in Parliament as the member for Bossiney in 1589 and for Dunwich in 1593.

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