{{short description|16th-century English politician}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2025}} {{Use British English|date=February 2018}} '''Sir Arthur Atye''' or '''Atey''' (died 1604) was an English academic and politician.<ref name="HoP">[http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1558-1603/member/atye-arthur-1604 historyofparliamentonline.org, ''Atye, Arthur (d. 1604), of London and Kilburn, Mdx.'']</ref>
==Life== Atye graduated B.A. at Christ Church, Oxford in 1560, and M.A. in 1564.<ref>{{cite book|author1=James M. Dutcher|author2=Anne Lake Prescott|title=Renaissance Historicisms: Essays in Honor of Arthur F. Kinney|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MmrO1dYlrqIC&pg=PA339|year=2008|publisher=Associated University Presse|isbn=978-0-87413-001-0|page=339 note 12}}</ref> A fellow of Merton College, Oxford, he became Principal of St Alban Hall in 1572.<ref>{{cite book|author=Anthony à Wood|title=The History and Antiquities of the Colleges and Halls in the University of Oxford|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-7U8AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA905|year=1796|publisher=At the Clarendon Press, Printed for the editor|page=905}}</ref> Between 1566 and 1568 he went with John Man on a diplomatic mission in Spain.<ref>Hannah Crummé, ''The Impact of Lord Burghley and the Earl of Leicester’s Spanish-Speaking Secretaries'', Yearbook of the Spanish and Portuguese Society for English Renaissance Studies Volume 21 (2011), pp. 1-48. [http://sederi.org/docs/yearbooks/21/21_1_crumme.pdf (PDF)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203050740/http://sederi.org/docs/yearbooks/21/21_1_crumme.pdf |date=3 December 2013 }} at p. 20.</ref> He was six times a Member of Parliament: for Liverpool in 1572 and 1584; for Fowey in 1589; for Shaftesbury in 1593; for Dunwich in 1597; and for Bere Alston (1604).<ref name="HoP"/>
He acted as secretary to Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester.<ref>{{cite book|author=H. R. Woudhuysen|title=Sir Philip Sidney and the Circulation of Manuscripts, 1558-1640|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sz-sdBEhAHcC&pg=PA267|date=23 May 1996|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-159102-0|page=267}}</ref> Later he worked for Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, and translated political works from Spanish.<ref>{{cite book|author=Alexandra Gajda|title=The Earl of Essex and Late Elizabethan Political Culture|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qCJsTZDIElYC&pg=PA80|date=15 March 2012|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-969968-1|pages=80–2}}</ref> He was knighted in 1603.<ref name="HoP"/>
Atye was also one of the trading group in Leicester's circle involved in commerce with Morocco, with Alexander Avenon and Richard Staper.<ref>{{cite ODNB|id=49969|title=Staper, Richard|first=Ian W.|last=Archer}}</ref> The merchant Benedict Barnham left money to Atye and his wife.<ref>{{cite ODNB|id=1488|title=Barnham, Benedict|first=Sarah|last=Bendall}}</ref>
Atye was residing at Kilburn when he died; he owned property in several other locations around London, including Harrow-on-the-Hill where he was buried. His eldest son and heir Robert was still a minor.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Summerson |first=John |date=1964 |title=The Book of Architecture of John Thorpe in Sir John Soane's Museum |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41829464 |journal=The Volume of the Walpole Society |volume=40 |pages=iii–133 |issn=0141-0016}}</ref>
==Family== Atye married first Anne Quarles, the widow of William Ricthorne, who died in 1583; there were no children of the marriage. He then married Judith, daughter of Walter Hungerford of Cadenham. Wiltshire. They had three or four sons, and a daughter.<ref name="HoP"/> His widow married Sir John Dormer.<ref>{{cite book|author=Philip Sidney|title=The Correspondence of Sir Philip Sidney|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hngIsH1gDRgC&pg=PR29|year=2012|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-955822-3|pages=xxix note 21}}</ref>
==Notes== {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Atye, Arthur}} Category:Year of birth missing Category:1604 deaths Category:Fellows of Merton College, Oxford Category:Principals of St Alban Hall, Oxford Category:English MPs 1572–1583 Category:English MPs 1584–1585 Category:English MPs 1589 Category:English MPs 1593 Category:English MPs 1597–1598 Category:English MPs 1604–1611 Category:Members of the Parliament of England (pre-1707) for Liverpool Category:Members of the Parliament of England (pre-1707) for Bere Alston Category:Members of the Parliament of England (pre-1707) for Shaftesbury