1483-1492 - Candlewick Street (City of London)
Poet Johannes Opicius was born in Northern Italy, but nothing is known about his birthplace or education. He is solely known by his poems. He was most probably related to Petrus Opicius who was active for at least three decades as a broker in the Anglo-Flemish trade. His presence in London was first recorded in June 1483 when he resided in Candlewick Street Ward (now: Cannon Street). Opicius’s five known poems, contained in an illuminated manuscript held in the Cotton collection at the British Library (BL), are both imitations of Classical examples and a glorification of Henry VII. The first poem deals with the 1492 invasion of France based accurate information about the overseas campaign of the English king and army.
