Life As A Courtier Under James I
After the queen's death, Harington's fortunes faltered at the court of the new King, James I. He had stood surety for the debts of his cousin, Sir Griffin Markham, in the sum of £4000, when the latter had become involved in the Bye and Main Plots. Not able to meet his cousin's debts without selling his own lands, and unwilling to languish in gaol, he escaped custody in October 1603. However, James I had already recognised his loyalty and created him a Knight of the Bath and also granted him the properties forfeited upon Markham's exile.
Towards the end of his life, Sir John Harington became the tutor to Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales. He annotated for him a copy of Francis Godwin's De praesulibus Angliae. Harington's grandson, John Chetwind later published these annotations in 1653, under the title of A Briefe View of the State of the Church. While tutoring the Prince, he also translated Regimen Sanitatis Salerni (The School of Salernum), a medieval collection of health tips, from Italian to English verse, published in 1607 in London at the John Holme and John press (Ente Provinciale per il Turismo - Salerno, 1966).
Harington fell ill in May 1612 and died on 20 November 1612, at the age of 51, soon after Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales, who died on 6 November; he was buried in Kelston.
Read more about this topic: John Harington (writer)
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