The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-07.
Bodley, Sir Thomas
1545–1613, English scholar and diplomat, organizer of the Bodleian Library at Oxford Univ. He was a Greek scholar and teacher at Oxford, and in 1584 he was elected to Parliament. He spent 11 years (1585–96) abroad on diplomatic missions for Queen Elizabeth I. In 1598 his offer to restore Duke Humphrey’s library was accepted by Oxford, and he spent the rest of his life and most of his fortune on it.
