Thomas Achelley, also Achlow or Atchelow (f. 1568–1595, d. before 1600) was an English poet and playwright of the

Elizabethan The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The Roman symbol of Britannia (a female per ...

era. Though little of his work survives, in his own time he had a considerable reputation.

Life and reputation

Nothing is known of Achelley's family. Several contemporaries grouped him with Oxford alumni, but he is not recorded by any school or university. On 6 March 1587, "Thomas Achelley of London, Gentleman", was surety along with James Peele for a £30 loan from Daniel Balgay, a London mercer, to

George Peele George Peele (baptised 25 July 1556 – buried 9 November 1596) was an English translator, poet, and dramatist, who is most noted for his supposed, but not universally accepted, collaboration with William Shakespeare on the play ''Titus Andronic ...

. Achelley wrote plays for the Queen’s Men, but none survive. In hi
''A Knight's Conjuring''
(1607), Thomas Dekker places the player John Bentley (1553–85) among a company of deceased playwrights, Thomas Watson,

Thomas Kyd Thomas Kyd (baptised 6 November 1558; buried 15 August 1594) was an English playwright, the author of ''The Spanish Tragedy'', and one of the most important figures in the development of Elizabethan drama. Although well known in his own time, ...

, and Achelley. Dekker writes that Bentley, one of the leading actors of the Queen’s Men, "had bene a Player, molded out of their pennes".

Thomas Nashe Thomas Nashe (also Nash; baptised 30 November 1567 – c. 1601) was an English Elizabethan playwright, poet, satirist and a significant pamphleteer. He is known for his novel '' The Unfortunate Traveller'', his pamphlets including '' Pierce P ...

mentions Achelley in his preface to Robert Greene’
''Menaphon''
(1589)
"To The Gentlemen Students Of Both Universities"
in company with

Mathew Roydon Mathew Roydon (sometimes spelled Matthew) (died 1622) was an English poet associated with the School of Night group of poets and writers. Life The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' identified him tentatively as the son of Owen Roydon who co ...

and George Peele as one of the most able men of London able to revive poetry, saying that he "hath more than once or twise manifested, his deepe witted schollership in places of credit". Achelley is compared with Italian poets by

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 ...

in his ''

Palladis Tamia ''Palladis Tamia: Wits Treasury; Being the Second Part of Wits Commonwealth'' is a 1598 commonplace book written by the minister Francis Meres. It is important in English literary history as the first critical account of the poems and early play ...

'': "As Italy had Dante, Boccace, Petrarch, Tasso, Celiano, and Ariosto; so England had Matthew Roydun, Thomas Atchelow, Thomas Watson, Thomas Kid, Robert Greene, and George Peele" (fol. 282). The preface of ''Bel-vedére, or the garden of the Muses'' (1600) lists him as one of a group of deceased contributors.

Extant works

* ''The key of knovvledge. Contayning sundry godly prayers and meditations, very necessary to occupy the mindes of well disposed persons'' (ca. 1572). London: William Seres. STC 85a. Dedicated to Lady Elizabeth Russell, the second daughter of

Francis Russell, 2nd Earl of Bedford Francis Russell, 2nd Earl of Bedford ( – 28 July 1585) of Chenies in Buckinghamshire and of Bedford House in Exeter, Devon, was an English nobleman, soldier, and politician. He was a godfather to the Devon-born sailor Sir Francis Drake. He ...

. A 17-year (1572–88) almanac with prayers and meditations. * "Cupidinis et Psychis nuptiae heroicó carmine donatae" ("The Wedding of Cupid and Psyche"), unpublished holographic Latin poem in 233 verses (27 pages) dated 1573, based on William Adlington's translation of ''

The Golden Ass The ''Metamorphoses'' of Apuleius, which Augustine of Hippo referred to as ''The Golden Ass'' (Latin: ''Asinus aureus''), is the only ancient Roman novel in Latin to survive in its entirety. The protagonist of the novel is Lucius. At the end of ...

''. Dedicated to

Alexander Nowell Alexander Nowell (13 February 1602), also known as Alexander Noel, was an Anglican priest and theologian who served as Dean of St Paul's during much of Elizabeth I's reign, and is now remembered for his catechisms, written in Latin. Early lif ...

, the Dean of St. Paul's from 1560 to 1602
MS Eng 1277

Houghton Library Houghton Library, on the south side of Harvard Yard adjacent to Widener Library, Lamont Library, and Loeb House, is Harvard University's primary repository for rare books and manuscripts. It is part of the Harvard College Library, the library s ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

. * ''A most lamentable and tragicall historie, conteyning the outragious and horrible tyrannie which a Spanishe gentlewoman named Violenta executed vpon her louer Didaco, because he espoused another beyng first betrothed vnto her''. Newly translated into English meter, by T.A. (1576) London: Thomas Butter. STC 1356.4. Printed by John Charlewood for Thomas Butter, and dedicated to

Sir Thomas Gresham Sir Thomas Gresham the Elder (; c. 151921 November 1579) was an English merchant and financier who acted on behalf of King Edward VI (1547–1553) and Edward's half-sisters, queens Mary I (1553–1558) and Elizabeth I (1558–1603). In 1565 Gr ...

. Not a translation, but a poem based on William Painter's prose story in his ''Palace of Pleasure'' (1566). * "To the author" in Thomas Watson'
''The Ekatompathia, or passionate centurie of love''
(1582). London: Gabriel Cawood. STC 25118a. Commendatory poem, 12 lines. * Robert Allott's ''Englands Parnassus'' (1600). London: Nicholas Ling, Cuthbert Burby, Thomas Hayes. STC 378-80. Allott attributes 13 fragments to Achelley, but two are by

Thomas Lodge Thomas Lodge (September 1625) was an English writer and medical practitioner whose life spanned the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods. Biography Early life Thomas Lodge was born about 1557 in West Ham, the second son of Sir Thomas Lodge ...

and one by

Thomas Churchyard Thomas Churchyard (c. 1523 – 1604) was an English author and soldier. He is chiefly remembered for a series of autobiographical or semi-autobiographical verse collections, including ''Churchyardes Chippes'' (1575); ''Churchyard's Choise'' (157 ...

. Two of the remaining ten may be variants from

Samuel Daniel Samuel Daniel (1562–1619) was an English poet, playwright and historian in the late-Elizabethan and early- Jacobean eras. He was an innovator in a wide range of literary genres. His best-known works are the sonnet cycle ''Delia'', the epic ...

and Thomas Kid. Those identified as Achelley's are 540, 547, 638, 833, 939, 1158, 1302, 1445, 1607, and 1786. * John Bodenham'
''Bel-vedére, or the garden of the Muses''
(1600). London: Hugh Astley. STC 3189. Though Achelley is listed as a contributor, none of the quotations is signed.Freeman 1970, p. 42.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Achelley, Thomas 16th-century English poets 16th-century English male writers English male poets