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UNIT IV. THE LIFE OF
PHILLIP SIDNEY
(1554-1586)
Detail of an oil painting, 1576;
in the Warwick Castle Collection
By courtesy of the trustees of the Warwick Castle
Resettlement, photograph, Courlauid institute of Art, London
Sidney came as close as anyone could to embodying the Renaissance
Man ideal Soldier, scholar, poet, critic, courtier and diplomat, he lived a life
of both thought and action, adept at not only the gentler pursuits of life, but
the hardier ones as well. He was fatally wounded in a battle in Holland -
instead of taking the water offered to him, however, he passed it to another
wounded man, saying, «Thy necessity is greater than mine.»
Ph. Sydney, the author of the first English sequence of sonnets, was born
on the 30
th
of November 1554; he belonged to a noble family being a son of
Sir Henry Sidney (a Knight by Edward VI), his mother Lady Mary Dudley,
daughter of the Duke of Nothumberland was from the ancient aristocratic
family, his Godfather was King Philip II of Spain. After Elizabeth I
succeeded to the throne, Sir Henry was appointed Lord President of Wales,
while his uncle, Robert Dudley, was created earl of Leicester and became the
Queen’s most trusted advisor. In keeping with such a family background, the
young Sidney was intended for a career as a statesman and soldier.
Philip Sydney got an excellent education entering in the age of 10 one of
the progressive schools of those times, Schrewsbury School headed by the
outstanding scholar Tomas Eshton where his classmate was Fulke Greville
(later a court official under Elizabeth) who became his lifelong friend and
was his early biographer. In this School Sidney was taught Latin, Greek,
French, he studied the essays by Cesar, Horatio, Virgil.
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In February 1568 he began a three year period of studies at Christ Church,
Oxford. There is a version that he studied at the Cambridge University from
1568 till 1571) but had to leave it because of plaque epidemy. In May 1572
Elizabeth arranged his travelling to the continent for studying foreign
languages. With the letter of recommendation to the French Ambassador he
went to France, then to Germany (where he met the great Tasso), to Hungary
and Poland. He mastered French, Latin, Italian, Spanish and the brilliant
career of a diplomat, statesman and military man was opened to him and he
knew it studying not only languages, but political, economical and religious
life of different countries. It is worthy of special mention that all the
statesmen, politicians, military men, nobility and gentry, all the persons he
associated with were protestants. Hewbert Langet, the French lawyer, who
influenced greatly the persona;lity of Sidney being his friend and advisor,
was protestant too. Sidney also gained firsthand knowledge of European
politics and became acquainted with many of Europe’s leading statesmen.
His first court appointment came in spring 1576, when he succeeded his
father as cupbearer to the Queen, a ceremonial position. Then, in February
1577, when he was only 22, he was sent as an ambassador to the German
emperor Rudolf II. He was to carry Queen Elizabeth condolences on the
death of Rudolf’s father. But along with his formal task, he also had secret
instructions to sound out the German Princes on their attitude toward the
formation of a Protestant Leaque – the chief political aim being to protect
England by associating it with other Protestant states in Europe that would
counterbalance the threatening power of Roman Catholic Spain.
Sidney apparently brought back enthusiastic reports on the possibilities of
forming such a leaque, but the cautious queen sent other emissaries to check
on his reports, and they returned with less optimistic accounts of the German
Princes reliability as allies. He did not receive another major official
appointment untill 8 years later.
He nevertheless continued to busy himself in the politics and diplomacy
of his country. In 1579 he wrote privately to the Queen advising her against a
proposal that she enter into a marriage with a Duke of Anjon, the Roman
Catholic heir to the French throne. Moreover, Sidney was a member of
Parliament for Kent in 1581 and 1584-85; besides he was among the few
Englishmen of this time with any interest in the newly discovered America,
he supported maritime explorations by the navigater Sir Martin Frobisher.
Later Sidney became interested in the project to establish the American
colony of Virginia; sent out by Walter Releigh, he intended to set out himself
in an expedition with Sir Francis Drake against the Spaniards.
Sidney had wide-ranging intellectual and artistic interests, discussed art
with the painter Nicholas Hilliard and chemistry – with the scientist John
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Dee, and he was a great patron of English scholars and men of letters. More
than 40 works by English and European Authors were dedicated to him –
works of divinity, ancient and modern history, geography, military affairs,
law, logic, medicine and poetry, it indicates the breadth of his interests.
Among many poets and prose writers who sought his patronage were
Edmund Spenser, Thomas Watson, Thomas Lodge.
Sidney was an excellent horseman and became renowned for his
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