Richard Edwardes (also Edwards, 25 March 1525 – 31 October 1566) was an English

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 writte ...

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

, and composer; he was made a Gentleman of the

Chapel Royal The Chapel Royal is an establishment in the Royal Household serving the spiritual needs of the sovereign and the British Royal Family. Historically it was a body of priests and singers that travelled with the monarch. The term is now also applie ...

, and was master of the singing boys. He was known for his comedies and interludes. He was also rumoured to be an illegitimate son of

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...

Life

Richard Edwardes was born in 1525 in

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_ ...

. Edwardes began his studies at

Corpus Christi College, Oxford Corpus Christi College (formally, Corpus Christi College in the University of Oxford; informally abbreviated as Corpus or CCC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1517, it is the 12th ...

in May 1540 and joined

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church ( la, Ædes Christi, the temple or house, '' ædēs'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, the college is uniqu ...

as it opened in 1546. He joined

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. (The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn.) Lincoln ...

but did not take up law as a career. He joined the

by 1557 and was appointed

Master of the Children Master of the Children is a title awarded to an adult musician who is put in charge of the musical training, and in some cases the general education (which sometimes gets offered as a priceless perk to recruit the best singers) of choir boy (or si ...

in 1561. He married Helene Griffith in 1563. After he died in 1566, he was succeeded by

William Hunnis William Hunnis (died 6 June 1597) was an English Protestant poet, dramatist, and composer. Biography Hunnis was as early as 1549 in the service of William Herbert, afterwards Earl of Pembroke. His friend Thomas Newton, in a poem prefixed to ''T ...

Works

Plays

In 1566, Edwardes' ''

Palamon and Arcite Palamon and Arcite is part of ''Fables, Ancient and Modern'' written by John Dryden and published in 1700. Palamon and Arcite is a translation of The Knight's Tale from ''The Canterbury Tales'' by Geoffrey Chaucer. Although the plot line is iden ...

'' was performed before

Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen". El ...

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

when the stage fell — three people died and five were injured as a result. Despite the tragic accident, the show continued to play that night. ''The excellent Comedie of two the moste faithfullest Freendes,'' '' Damon and Pithias'' (written in 1564, published in 1571), a comedy, is his only extant play.

Poems

Ten of Edwardes' poems appear in the first edition of the ''Paradise of Dainty Devices,'' though publisher Henry Disle says the poems are "written for the most part by M.

aster Aster or ASTER may refer to: Biology * ''Aster'' (genus), a genus of flowering plants ** List of ''Aster'' synonyms, other genera formerly included in ''Aster'' and still called asters in English * Aster (cell biology), a cellular structure shap ...

Edwards." Edwardes possibly compiled the manuscript on which the ''Paradise of Dainty Devices'' is based.

Music

Edwardes was less well known as a composer, but several of his compositions survive, including three pieces in the Mulliner Book: "O the syllye man," ascribed to him by the book, and two anonymous pieces usually attributed to him, "In goinge to my naked bedde" and "When grypinge griefes." Other pieces include a song from ''Damon and Pithias,'' "Awake, ye woeful wights," and a setting of the Lord's Prayer in Richard Day's Psalter of 1563.

References

Sources

* *''Paradise of Dainty Devices'' (linked below)

External links

Literary Encyclopedia - ''Damon and Pythias''

dead link
''Paradise of Dainty Devices'' online
{{DEFAULTSORT:Edwardes, Richard 1525 births 1566 deaths 16th-century English composers 16th-century English dramatists and playwrights 16th-century English poets English male dramatists and playwrights English Renaissance dramatists Gentlemen of the Chapel Royal People of the Tudor period Masters of the Children of the Chapel Royal