Sir Edward Dyer (October 1543 – May 1607) was an
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
courtier
A courtier () is a person who attends the royal court of a monarch or other royalty. The earliest historical examples of courtiers were part of the retinues of rulers. Historically the court was the centre of government as well as the official ...
and
poet
A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wri ...
.
Life
The son of Sir Thomas Dyer, Kt., he was born at
Sharpham Park,
Glastonbury
Glastonbury (, ) is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low-lying Somerset Levels, south of Bristol. The town, which is in the Mendip district, had a population of 8,932 in the 2011 census. Glastonbur ...
,
Somerset
( en, All The People of Somerset)
, locator_map =
, coordinates =
, region = South West England
, established_date = Ancient
, established_by =
, preceded_by =
, origin =
, lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset
, lord_ ...
. He was educated, according to
Anthony Wood, either at
Balliol College, Oxford or at Broadgates Hall (later
Pembroke College, Oxford), and left after taking a degree. After some time abroad, he appeared at
Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is ...
's court. His first patron was
Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester
Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, (24 June 1532 – 4 September 1588) was an English statesman and the favourite of Elizabeth I from her accession until his death. He was a suitor for the queen's hand for many years.
Dudley's youth was ov ...
, who seems to have thought of putting him forward as a rival to Sir
Christopher Hatton
Sir Christopher Hatton KG (1540 – 20 November 1591) was an English politician, Lord Chancellor of England and a favourite of Elizabeth I of England. He was one of the judges who found Mary, Queen of Scots guilty of treason.
Early years
Sir ...
for the queen's favour. He is mentioned by
Gabriel Harvey
Gabriel Harvey (c. 1552/3 – 1631) was an English writer. Harvey was a notable scholar, whose reputation suffered from his quarrel with Thomas Nashe. Henry Morley, writing in the ''Fortnightly Review'' (March 1869), has argued that Harvey's Lati ...
, along with Sir
Philip Sidney
Philip, also Phillip, is a male given name, derived from the Greek (''Philippos'', lit. "horse-loving" or "fond of horses"), from a compound of (''philos'', "dear", "loved", "loving") and (''hippos'', "horse"). Prominent Philips who popularize ...
, as one of the ornaments of the court. Sidney, in his will, bequeathed his books equally between
Fulke Greville
Fulke Greville, 1st Baron Brooke, ''de jure'' 13th Baron Latimer and 5th Baron Willoughby de Broke KB PC (; 3 October 1554 – 30 September 1628), known before 1621 as Sir Fulke Greville, was an Elizabethan poet, dramatist, and statesman wh ...
and Dyer. He was made steward of Woodstock in 1570.
He was employed by Elizabeth on a mission (1584) to the
Low Countries
The term Low Countries, also known as the Low Lands ( nl, de Lage Landen, french: les Pays-Bas, lb, déi Niddereg Lännereien) and historically called the Netherlands ( nl, de Nederlanden), Flanders, or Belgica, is a coastal lowland region in N ...
, and in 1589 was sent to
Denmark
)
, song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast")
, song_type = National and royal anthem
, image_map = EU-Denmark.svg
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark
, establish ...
. In a commission to inquire into manors unjustly alienated from the crown in the west country he did not altogether please the queen, but nevertheless received a grant of some forfeited lands in Somerset in 1588. He was returned the
Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...
for
Somerset
( en, All The People of Somerset)
, locator_map =
, coordinates =
, region = South West England
, established_date = Ancient
, established_by =
, preceded_by =
, origin =
, lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset
, lord_ ...
in 1589 and 1593.
He was knighted and made
Chancellor of the Order of the Garter in 1596.
William Oldys
William Oldys (14 July 1696 – 15 April 1761) was an English antiquarian and bibliographer.
Life
He was probably born in London, the illegitimate son of Dr William Oldys (1636–1708), chancellor of Lincoln diocese. His father had held the ...
said of him that he "would not stoop to fawn," and some of his verses seem to show that he disliked the pressures of life at court. Under James I he lost the stewardship of Woodstock around 1604.
He died in 1607 and was buried in the
chancel
In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse.
Ov ...
of
St Saviour's,
Southwark, on 11 May 1607 (21 May N.S.). Administration of his estate was granted to his sister Margaret.
Works
Wood says that many thought Dyer to be a
Rosicrucian
Rosicrucianism is a spiritual and cultural movement that arose in Europe in the early 17th century after the publication of several texts purported to announce the existence of a hitherto unknown esoteric order to the world and made seeking it ...
, and that he was a firm believer in
alchemy
Alchemy (from Arabic: ''al-kīmiyā''; from Ancient Greek: χυμεία, ''khumeía'') is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practiced in China, India, the Muslim world, ...
, although it is doubtful that an organised Rosicrucian movement existed during Dyer's lifetime. He had a great reputation as a poet among his contemporaries, but very little of his work has survived.
George Puttenham, in the ''Arte of English Poesie'' speaks of "Maister Edward Dyar, for Elegie most sweete, solemne, and of high conceit." One of the poems once universally accepted as his is "My Mynde to me a kingdome is", which
Steven W. May considers as possibly written by
Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford.
Among the poems in ''England's Helicon'' (1600), signed S.E.D., and included in
Dr A.B. Grosart's collection of Dyer's works (''Miscellanies of the Fuller Worthies Library'', vol. iv, 1876) is the charming pastoral "My Phillis hath the morninge sunne," but this comes from the ''Phillis'' of
Thomas Lodge
Thomas Lodge (c. 1558September 1625) was an English writer and medical practitioner whose life spanned the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods.
Biography
Thomas Lodge was born about 1558 in West Ham, the second son of Sir Thomas Lodge, Lo ...
. Grosart also prints a prose tract entitled ''The Prayse of Nothing'' (1585). The ''Sixe
Idillia'' from
Theocritus
Theocritus (; grc-gre, Θεόκριτος, ''Theokritos''; born c. 300 BC, died after 260 BC) was a Greek poet from Sicily and the creator of Ancient Greek pastoral poetry.
Life
Little is known of Theocritus beyond what can be inferred from h ...
, reckoned by
John Payne Collier
John Payne Collier (11 January 1789, London – 17 September 1883, Maidenhead) was an English Shakespearean critic and forger.
Reporter and solicitor
His father, John Dyer Collier (1762–1825), was a successful journalist, and his connection ...
among Dyer's works, were dedicated to, not written by, him.
In 1943 Alden Brooks proposed Sir Edward Dyer as a candidate in the
Shakespearean authorship question
Image:ShakespeareCandidates1.jpg, alt=Portraits of Shakespeare and four proposed alternative authors, Oxford, Bacon, Derby, and Marlowe (clockwise from top left, Shakespeare centre) have each been proposed as the true author.
poly 1 1 105 1 ...
in his book ''Will Shakspere and the Dyer’s Hand''.
Further see: Ralph Sargant, ''At the Court of Queen Elizabeth: The Life and Lyrics of Edward Dyer''. OUP, 1935
Steven May, ''The Elizabethan Courtier Poets: Their Poems and Their Contexts''. University of Missouri Press, 1991.
In media
Episode 1 of the British TV series
Help
Help is a word meaning to give aid or signal distress.
Help may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
Films
* ''Help'' (2010 film), a Bollywood horror film
* ''Help'' (2021 theatrical film), a British psychological thriller film
* '' ...
has Poll (
Cathy Tyson
Catherine Tyson (born 12 June 1965) is an English actress. She won the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the film ''Mona Lisa'' (1986), which also earned her Best Supporting Actress no ...
) reciting Dyer's "My Mind to Me a Kingdom Is".
[Help, episode 1]
Notes
References
*
External links
The poems of Sir Edward Dyer (PDF)*
*
My mind to me a kingdom issung by , accompanied by , composed by , provided to YouTube by
Poems by Edward Dyerat English Poetry
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dyer, Edward
1543 births
1607 deaths
People from Glastonbury
English alchemists
17th-century English poets
17th-century male writers
16th-century English poets
16th-century alchemists
17th-century alchemists
Shakespeare authorship question
Chancellors of the Order of the Garter
English male dramatists and playwrights
English male poets
English MPs 1589
English MPs 1593