View source for Edward Dyer

{{Short description|English courtier and poet}}
{{about|the English poet|the US Marine Corps general|Edward C. Dyer|the British brewer| Edward Dyer (brewer)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2018}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2018}}
'''Sir Edward Dyer''' (October 1543&nbsp;– May 1607) was an [[English people|English]] [[courtier]] and [[poet]].

==Life==

The son of Sir Thomas Dyer, Kt., he was born at [[Sharpham]] Park, [[Glastonbury]], [[Somerset]].  He was educated, according to [[Anthony Wood (antiquary)|Anthony Wood]], either at [[Balliol College, Oxford]] or at Broadgates Hall (later [[Pembroke College, Oxford]]), and left after taking a degree.  After some time abroad, he appeared at [[Elizabeth I of England|Elizabeth I]]'s court. His first patron was [[Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester]], who seems to have thought of putting him forward as a rival to Sir [[Christopher Hatton]] for the queen's favour. He is mentioned by [[Gabriel Harvey]], along with Sir [[Philip Sidney]], as one of the ornaments of the court. Sidney, in his will, bequeathed his books equally between [[Fulke Greville, 1st Baron Brooke|Fulke Greville]] and Dyer. He was made steward of Woodstock in 1570.

He was employed by Elizabeth on a mission (1584) to the [[Low Countries]], and in 1589 was sent to [[Denmark]]. In a commission to inquire into manors unjustly alienated from the crown in the west country he did not altogether please the queen, but nevertheless received a grant of some forfeited lands in Somerset in 1588. He was returned the [[Member of Parliament]] for [[Somerset (UK Parliament constituency)|Somerset]] in 1589 and 1593.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1558-1603/member/dyer-edward-1543-1607|title=DYER, Edward (1543-1607), of Sharpham, Weston, Som., Leicester House, London and Winchester House, Southwark.|publisher= History of Parliament Online|access-date= 10 October 2016}}</ref>

He was knighted and made [[Chancellor of the Order of the Garter]] in 1596. [[William Oldys]] said of him that he "would not stoop to fawn," and some of his verses seem to show that he disliked the pressures of life at court. Under James I he lost the stewardship of Woodstock around 1604.

He died in 1607 and was buried in the [[chancel]] of [[Southwark Cathedral|St Saviour's]], [[Southwark]], on 11 May 1607 (21 May N.S.). Administration of his estate was granted to his sister Margaret.

==Works==
Wood says that many thought Dyer to be a [[Rosicrucian]], and that he was a firm believer in [[alchemy]], although it is doubtful that an organised Rosicrucian movement existed during Dyer's lifetime.<ref>[[Rosicrucianism]]</ref> He had a great reputation as a poet among his contemporaries, but very little of his work has survived. [[George Puttenham]], in the ''Arte of English Poesie'' speaks of "Maister Edward Dyar, for Elegie most sweete, solemne, and of high conceit." One of the poems once universally accepted as his is "My Mynde to me a kingdome is", which [[Steven W. May]] considers as possibly written by [[Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford]].<ref>May, Steven. "The Authorship of 'My Mind to Me a Kingdom Is'". ''RES'' New Series XXVI (1975) pp. 385-94.</ref>

Among the poems in ''England's Helicon'' (1600), signed S.E.D., and included in [[Alexander Balloch Grosart|Dr A.B. Grosart]]'s collection of Dyer's works (''Miscellanies of the Fuller Worthies Library'', vol. iv, 1876) is the charming pastoral "My Phillis hath the morninge sunne," but this comes from the ''Phillis'' of [[Thomas Lodge]]. Grosart also prints a prose tract entitled ''The Prayse of Nothing'' (1585). The ''Sixe [[idyll|Idillia]]'' from [[Theocritus]], reckoned by [[John Payne Collier]] among Dyer's works, were dedicated to, not written by, him.

In 1943 Alden Brooks proposed Sir Edward Dyer as a candidate in the [[Shakespearean authorship question]] in his book ''Will Shakspere and the Dyer’s Hand''.<ref>Alden Brooks - ''Will Shakspere and the Dyer's Hand''. New York, Scribner, 1943.</ref>

Further see: Ralph Sargant, ''At the Court of Queen Elizabeth: The Life and Lyrics of Edward Dyer''. OUP, 1935
Steven May, ''The Elizabethan Courtier Poets: Their Poems and Their Contexts''. University of Missouri Press, 1991.

==In media==

Episode 1 of the British TV series [[Help (2021 television film)|Help]] has Poll ([[Cathy Tyson]]) reciting Dyer's "My Mind to Me a Kingdom Is".<ref>Help, episode 1</ref>

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
* {{DNB|wstitle=Dyer, Edward |first=Arthur Henry|last=Bullen|authorlink=Arthur Henry Bullen|volume=16|page=283}}

==External links==
{{wikiquote}}
{{wikisource|works=or}}
* [http://www.poemhunter.com/i/ebooks/pdf/sir_edward_dyer_2004_9.pdf The poems of Sir Edward Dyer (PDF)]
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Sir Edward Dyer |sopt=t}}
* {{Librivox author |id=1014}}
* [https://youtube.com/watch?v=nW3eVGABilM My mind to me a kingdom is] sung by [[Emma Kirkby]], accompanied by [[Fretwork (music group)|Fretwork]], composed by [[William Byrd]], provided to YouTube by [[Harmonia Mundi]]
* [http://www.eng-poetry.ru/english/Poet.php?PoetId=153 Poems by Edward Dyer] at English Poetry

{{Chancellors of the Order of the Garter}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dyer, Edward}}
[[Category:1543 births]]
[[Category:1607 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Glastonbury]]
[[Category:English alchemists]]
[[Category:17th-century English poets]]
[[Category:17th-century English male writers]]
[[Category:16th-century English poets]]
[[Category:16th-century English male writers]]
[[Category:16th-century alchemists]]
[[Category:17th-century alchemists]]
[[Category:Shakespeare authorship question]]
[[Category:Chancellors of the Order of the Garter]]
[[Category:English male dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:English male poets]]
[[Category:English MPs 1589]]
[[Category:English MPs 1593]]