Giovanni Battista Castiglione

Who was Giovanni Battista Castiglione?

Giovanni Battista Castiglione was the Italian tutor of Princess Elizabeth I. It is speculated that he taught Prince Edward VI. A humanist reformer, he was imprisoned in the Tower of London in 1556 by Elizabeth's sister, Mary I. Later, he carried Elizabeth's letters when she herself was imprisoned in the Tower.

Castiglione was born at Gassino, near Torino, in the Piedmont, son of Captain Piero Castiglione, of Mantua; he served in the Army of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, at Landrecies & Boulogne. He was appointed to young Elizabeth's Court as Master of the Italian Tongue in Nov 1544; & when Elizabeth became Queen, he was made Groom of her Privy Chamber, which post he held until shortly before his death. He was granted by her the Manor of Benham Valence, in Berkshire; & he was buried in the nearby church of St Mary, Spene. He married in London in 1558, Margaret Allen, widow of Lazarus Allen, & the illegitimate daughter of expatriate Florentine Merchant Bartolomeo Compagni, and they had a large family.