Sir Aston Cockayne, 1st Baronet (1608–1684) was, in his day, a well-known

Cavalier The term Cavalier () was first used by Roundheads as a term of abuse for the wealthier royalist supporters of King Charles I and his son Charles II of England during the English Civil War, the Interregnum, and the Restoration (1642 – ). It ...

and a minor literary figure, now best remembered as a friend of

Philip Massinger Philip Massinger (1583 – 17 March 1640) was an English dramatist. His finely plotted plays, including ''A New Way to Pay Old Debts'', ''The City Madam'', and '' The Roman Actor'', are noted for their satire and realism, and their politi ...

, John Fletcher,

Michael Drayton Michael Drayton (1563 – 23 December 1631) was an English poet who came to prominence in the Elizabethan era. He died on 23 December 1631 in London. Early life Drayton was born at Hartshill, near Nuneaton, Warwickshire, England. Almost nothin ...

Richard Brome Richard Brome ; (c. 1590? – 24 September 1652) was an English dramatist of the Caroline era. Life Virtually nothing is known about Brome's private life. Repeated allusions in contemporary works, like Ben Jonson's ''Bartholomew Fair'', ind ...

, Thomas Randolph, and other writers of his generation.

Biography

Aston Cockayne was the son of Thomas Cockayne and Ann, the daughter of

Sir John Stanhope Sir John Stanhope (1559 – 1611) was an English knight and landowner, and father of Philip Stanhope, 1st Earl of Chesterfield. Career John Stanhope was the son of Sir Thomas Stanhope (d. 1596) of Shelford Priory, Shelford Manor, Nottinghamshir ...

; Cockayne was born at

Ashbourne Hall Ashbourne Hall is a Manor house originally built by the Cockayne family in the 13th century in Ashbourne, Derbyshire. The present building is part of a largely demolished, Georgian-styled hall built in the 18th century. The Cockayne family T ...

in Derbyshire, and baptised on 20 December 1608. He was educated at

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...

, the University of Oxford, and at the

Inns of Court The Inns of Court in London are the professional associations for barristers in England and Wales. There are four Inns of Court – Gray's Inn, Lincoln's Inn, Inner Temple and Middle Temple. All barristers must belong to one of them. They have ...

. Like many other aristocrats of his time, he travelled through Europe in his youth, spending much of 1632 in France and Italy; like a few, he became fluent in their languages, and translated works of literature into English. Cockayne was a Roman Catholic, and like other Catholics in his country in his era, was active in resistance against the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

and the social order that supported it. On 10 January 1641

Charles I Charles I may refer to: Kings and emperors * Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings * Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily * Charles I of ...

elevated him to

baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

. During the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...

he took the Royalist side. He joined the future Charles II in exile for a time. For much of the

English Interregnum The Interregnum was the period between the execution of Charles I on 30 January 1649 and the arrival of his son Charles II in London on 29 May 1660 which marked the start of the Restoration. During the Interregnum, England was under various forms ...

he lived on his estate of Pooley Hall, at

Polesworth Polesworth is a large village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the North Warwickshire district of Warwickshire, England. Polesworth is situated close to the northern tip of Warwickshire, adjacent to the border with Staffordshire. It ...

in Warwickshire. Cockayne was a cousin of the poet

Charles Cotton Charles Cotton (28 April 1630 – 16 February 1687) was an English poet and writer, best known for translating the work of Michel de Montaigne from the French, for his contributions to ''The Compleat Angler'', and for the influential ''The Comp ...

(1630–87), and had connections with Cotton's circle, which included Izaak Walton (1598–1683). Cockayne held the lands and Lordships of the Manors of Pooley in Warwickshire, and of Ashbourne. But in his later years he suffered financially, due to gambling. He sold Ashbourne Hall to Sir William Boothby (see

Boothby baronets There have been two baronetcies created for persons with the surname Boothby, both in the Baronetage of England. One creation is extant as of 2022. The Boothby Baronetcy, of Broadlow Ash in the County of Derby, was created in the Baronetage of ...

), in 1671 to pay creditors, and the family subsequently lost his manor at Pooley Hall in Warwickshire. He died in poverty.

Works

Cockayne is the author of ''A Masque at Bretbie,'' which was performed on

Twelfth Night ''Twelfth Night'', or ''What You Will'' is a romantic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written around 1601–1602 as a Twelfth Night's entertainment for the close of the Christmas season. The play centres on the twins Vio ...

of the Christmas season in 1639, and of ''Small Poems of Divers Sorts'', published in 1658. He also wrote plays: ''The Obstinate Lady,'' a comedy (first printed 1657), and ''Trappolin Suppos'd a Prince,'' a

tragicomedy Tragicomedy is a literary genre that blends aspects of both tragedy, tragic and comedy, comic forms. Most often seen in drama, dramatic literature, the term can describe either a tragic play which contains enough comic elements to lighten the ov ...

(printed 1658); and ''The Tragedy of Ovid'' (or ''Ovid's Tragedy'') (printed 1662). All three were published in one volume by

Francis Kirkman Francis Kirkman (1632 – c. 1680) appears in many roles in the English literary world of the second half of the seventeenth century, as a publisher, bookseller, librarian, author and bibliographer. In each he is an enthusiast for popular litera ...

in 1669. His works and his surviving letters constitute still-useful sources of information on the social and cultural affairs of mid-17th-century England. Cockayne's ''Small Poems'' collection of 1658 included verses to

Humphrey Moseley Humphrey Moseley (died 31 January 1661) was a prominent London publisher and bookseller in the middle seventeenth century. Life Possibly a son of publisher Samuel Moseley, Humphrey Moseley became a "freeman" (a full member) of the Stationers C ...

, publisher of the 1647

Beaumont and Fletcher Beaumont and Fletcher were the English dramatists Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher, who collaborated in their writing during the reign of James I (1603–25). They became known as a team early in their association, so much so that their jo ...

folio. In that poem, Cockayne, a friend to both Massinger and Fletcher, noted that Massinger was part-author of many plays in the 1647

Beaumont and Fletcher folio The Beaumont and Fletcher folios are two large folio collections of the stage plays of John Fletcher and his collaborators. The first was issued in 1647, and the second in 1679. The two collections were important in preserving many works of En ...

—which eventually inspired a sweeping examination of the authorship problem in the canon of John Fletcher and his various collaborators.McGee, C.E., Magnusson, A. Lynne, eds., ''The Elizabethan Theatre XV: PART I: Collective Invention and Collaboration'', (Meany, Toronto, 2002); various articles. He dedicated his tragedy on

Ovid Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...

, to his cousin Charles Cotton.

Family

He married Mary Kniveton, daughter of Sir Gilbert Kniveton Baronet, High Sheriff of Derbyshire. Aston and Mary had 3 children: A son, who died in his father's lifetime, leaving no issue; and two daughters, Mary and Isabella, who were co-heiresses. Aston's titles and Lordships passed to main Cockayne family line; to Caleb Cockayne the male representative of the family proceeding from the sons of Sir Edward Cockayne, Sir Aston's grandfather.

Ancestry

Notes

References