Richard Stanyhurst (or Stanihurst) (1547–1618) was an Anglo-Irish alchemist, translator, poet and historian, who was born in Dublin.
Life
His father, James Stanyhurst, was Recorder of Dublin, and Speaker of the Irish House of Commons in 1557, 1560 and 1568. His grandfather was Nicholas Stanihurst, Mayor of Dublin from 1542 to 1543. His mother was Anne Fitzsimon, daughter of Thomas Fitzsimon, who served as Recorder of Dublin. Richard was sent to Peter White's Kilkenny College after which, in 1563, he continued to University College, Oxford, where he took his degree five years later. At Oxford, he became intimate with Edmund Campion. After leaving the university he studied law at Furnival's Inn and Lincoln's Inn. He contributed in 1587 to Holinshed's Chronicles "a playne and perfecte description" of Ireland, and a History of Ireland during the reign of Henry VIII, which were severely criticized in Barnabe Rich's New Description of Ireland (1610) as a misrepresentation of Irish affairs written from the English standpoint. After the death of his wife, Janet Barnewall, daughter of Sir Christopher Barnewall (whom he praised warmly in his contribution to Holinshed), in 1579, Stanyhurst went to the Netherlands. After his second marriage, which took place before 1585, to Helen Copley, he became active in the Catholic cause.