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

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. Edwardes began his studies at Corpus Christi College, Oxford 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 in 1561. He married Helene Griffith in 1563. After he died in 1566, he was succeeded by William Hunnis.

Works

Plays

In 1566, Edwardes' '' Palamon and Arcite'' was performed before Elizabeth I at Oxford 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 The Mulliner Book (British Library Add MS 30513) is a historically important musical commonplace book compiled probably between about 1545 and 1570, by Thomas Mulliner, about whom practically nothing is known, except that he figures in 1563 as '' ...

: "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