William Warner (1558?9 March 1609) was an English poet and lawyer.

Life

William Warner was born in London about 1558. In his later published work, ''Albion's England'', Warner describes his father accompanying explorer

Richard Chancellor Richard Chancellor (died 10 November 1556) was an English explorer and navigator; the first to penetrate to the White Sea and establish relations with the Tsardom of Russia. Life Chancellor, a native of Bristol, was brought up in the household ...

on a voyage to Russia in 1553 and dying on a voyage to

The Guianas The Guianas, sometimes called by the Spanish loan-word ''Guayanas'' (''Las Guayanas''), is a region in north-eastern South America which includes the following three territories: * French Guiana, an overseas department and region of France * ...

in 1557. The 17th century historian Anthony Wood states that Warner was educated at

Magdalen Hall, Oxford Hertford College ( ), previously known as Magdalen Hall, is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It is located on Catte Street in the centre of Oxford, directly opposite the main gate to the Bodleian Library. The colleg ...

, but there are no records to support this, or that he took a degree there. He practised in London as an attorney, and gained a great reputation among his contemporaries as a poet. He married Anne Dale in 1599 and their son William was born at Ware, Hertfordshire in 1604. Warner died suddenly at

Great Amwell Great Amwell is a village and civil parish in the East Hertfordshire district, in the county of Hertfordshire, England. It is southeast of Ware and about north of London. History On a hill above the church there are some traces of an Iron Age ...

in Hertfordshire on 9 March 1609.''Parish Registers of Great Amwell, Hertfordshire'', Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies (Hertford), "1608/1609: Mr. William Warner a man of good yeares and of honest reputation; by his profession an Attornye at the common plight: author of Albions England... dying suddanly in the night in his bedde without any former complaynt... on the 9th day of March .e. 9 March 1608/9 was buried the Saturday following and lyeth in the church..."

Works

His chief work is a long poem in fourteen-syllabled verse, entitled ''Albion's England'' (1586), and dedicated to

Henry Carey, 1st Baron Hunsdon Henry Carey, 1st Baron Hunsdon Knight of the Garter, KG Privy Council of England, PC (4 March 1526 – 23 July 1596), was an English nobleman and courtier. He was the patron of the Lord Chamberlain's Men, William Shakespeare's playing company. ...

. His history of his country begins with

Noah Noah ''Nukh''; am, ኖህ, ''Noḥ''; ar, نُوح '; grc, Νῶε ''Nôe'' () is the tenth and last of the pre-Flood patriarchs in the traditions of Abrahamic religions. His story appears in the Hebrew Bible (Book of Genesis, chapters 5– ...

, and is brought down to Warner's own time including the beheading of

Mary, Queen of Scots Mary, Queen of Scots (8 December 1542 – 8 February 1587), also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, was Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 until her forced abdication in 1567. The only surviving legitimate child of James V of Scot ...

. The chronicle is by no means continuous, and is varied by fictitious episodes, the best known of which is the idyll in the fourth book of the loves of Argentine, the daughter of the king of Deira, and the Danish prince, Curan. His book, with its patriotic subject, was very popular.

Francis Meres Francis Meres (1565/1566 – 29 January 1647) was an English churchman and author. His 1598 commonplace book includes the first critical account of poems and plays by Shakespeare. Career Francis Meres was born in 1565 at Kirton Meres in the par ...

ranked him with Spenser as the chief heroical poets of the day, and compared him with

Euripides Euripides (; grc, Εὐριπίδης, Eurīpídēs, ; ) was a tragedian Tragedy (from the grc-gre, τραγῳδία, ''tragōidia'', ''tragōidia'') is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful e ...

. His other works are ''Pan his Syrinx, or Pipe, Compact of Seven Reedes'' (1584), a collection of prose tales; and a translation of the ''Menæchmi'' of

Plautus Titus Maccius Plautus (; c. 254 – 184 BC), commonly known as Plautus, was a Roman playwright of the Old Latin period. His comedies are the earliest Latin literary works to have survived in their entirety. He wrote Palliata comoedia, the gen ...

(1595). ''Albion's England'' consisted originally of four "books," but the number was increased in successive issues, and a posthumous edition (1612) contains sixteen books. It was reprinted (1810) in

Alexander Chalmers Alexander Chalmers (29 March 1759 – 29 December 1834) was a Scottish writer. He was born in Aberdeen. Trained as a doctor, he gave up medicine for journalism, and was for some time editor of the ''Morning Herald''. Besides editions of the wo ...

's ''English Poets''.

References

Sources

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Warner, William 1550s births 1609 deaths Alumni of Magdalen Hall, Oxford 16th-century English poets 17th-century English poets 17th-century English male writers English male poets People from East Hertfordshire District