Bartholomew Griffin (

fl. ''Floruit'' (; abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for "they flourished") denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indicatin ...

1596) 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 ...

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 w ...

. He is known for his ''Fidessa'' sequence of

sonnets A sonnet is a poetic form that originated in the poetry composed at the Court of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II in the Sicilian city of Palermo. The 13th-century poet and notary Giacomo da Lentini is credited with the sonnet's inventio ...

, published in 1596.

Works

In August 1572 the Queen made a progress to Warwick, spending several days at Kenilworth Castle as guest of the Earl of Leicester. At this time a portion of the entertainment for Elizabeth was the reading of some Latin verses composed by a “Mr. Griffin"D & C Ogburn (2003), ''The Star of England'', Coward-McCann, 1952 - this may have been Barthlomew Griffin. Griffin wrote a series of 62 sonnets entitled ''Fidessa, more chaste than kinde'', London, 1596. The dedication to

Sir William Essex, 1st Baronet Sir William Essex, 1st Baronet (c. 1575 – c. 1645), was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1597 and 1601. Essex was the son of Thomas Essex, of Bewcot, Berkshire, by Joan Harrison, daughter of Thomas Harrison.

Lambourn Lambourn is a village and civil parish in Berkshire, England. It lies just north of the M4 Motorway between Swindon and Newbury, and borders Wiltshire to the west and Oxfordshire to the north. After Newmarket it is the largest centre of ra ...

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Ber ...

is followed by an epistle to the gentlemen of 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 ...

, from which it might be inferred that Griffin himself belonged to an Inn, but no trace of him can be found in the registers. The third sonnet in ''Fidessa'', beginning ‘Venus and yong Adonis sitting by her,’ was reproduced in 1599 in ''

The Passionate Pilgrime ''The Passionate Pilgrim'' (1599) is an anthology of 20 poems collected and published by William Jaggard that were attributed to " W. Shakespeare" on the title page, only five of which are considered authentically Shakespearean. These are two ...

''.

References

;Attribution

External links

* * * 16th-century English poets 1602 deaths Year of birth unknown Place of birth missing Place of death missing 16th-century births English male poets {{England-poet-stub