Richard Edwardes (also Edwards, circa 1523 – 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 (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...

, and composer; he was made a Gentleman of the

Chapel Royal A chapel royal is an establishment in the British and Canadian royal households serving the spiritual needs of the sovereign and the royal family. Historically, the chapel royal was a body of priests and singers that travelled with the monarc ...

, and was master of the singing boys. He was known for his comedies and interludes.

Life

Richard Edwardes was born around 1523 in

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

. 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 by Richard Fo ...

in May 1540 and joined

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church (, the temple or house, ''wikt:aedes, ædes'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by Henry V ...

as it opened in 1546. He joined

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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 ...

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 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 ide ...

'' was performed before

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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.

Verses on the court of Mary I

Verses by Edwardes describe eight ladies in waiting to

Mary I of England Mary I (18 February 1516 – 17 November 1558), also known as Mary Tudor, was Queen of England and Ireland from July 1553 and Queen of Spain as the wife of King Philip II from January 1556 until her death in 1558. She made vigorous ...

, and particularly praise the beauty of

Jane Dormer Jane Dormer, Duchess of Feria (6 January 1538 – 13 January 1612) was an English lady-in-waiting to Mary I who, after the Queen's death, married Gómez Suárez de Figueroa y Córdoba, 1st Duke of Feria and went to live in Spain, where she wo ...

, "of lively hue", and Frances Bayneham, "as beautiful as nature can devise". The ladies were named as Howard, Dacres, Baynam, Arundel, Dormer,

Mansell Mansell is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Clint Mansell (born 1963), British musician and composer * Chris Mansell (born 1953), Australian poet * Christian Mansell (born 2005), Australian racing driver * Francis Mansell (15 ...

, Cooke, and Bridges. The verses are found in a

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...

manuscript, (Cotton MS Titus A XIV), and were not included in the ''Paradise''.Thomas Park, ''Nugae Antiquae'', 2 (London, 1804), 392–94 citing BL Cotton Titus A. xxiv.

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 ''m ...

: "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 male writers 16th-century English poets English male poets English male dramatists and playwrights English Renaissance dramatists Gentlemen of the Chapel Royal Masters of the Children of the Chapel Royal