# Richard Edwardes > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Richard_Edwardes > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Richard_Edwardes.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Edwardes > Source revision: 1338014749 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) For other people with the same name, see [Richard Edwards (disambiguation)](/source/Richard_Edwards_(disambiguation)). 16th-century English writer **Richard Edwardes** (also **Edwards**, circa 1523 – 31 October 1566) was an English [poet](/source/Poet), [playwright](/source/Playwright), and composer; he was made a Gentleman of the [Chapel Royal](/source/Chapel_Royal), and was master of the singing boys. He was known for his comedies and interludes. ## Life Richard Edwardes was born around 1523 in [Somerset](/source/Somerset).[1] Edwardes began his studies at [Corpus Christi College, Oxford](/source/Corpus_Christi_College%2C_Oxford) in May 1540 and joined [Christ Church, Oxford](/source/Christ_Church%2C_Oxford) as it opened in 1546. He joined [Lincoln's Inn](/source/Lincoln's_Inn) but did not take up law as a career.[1] He joined the [Chapel Royal](/source/Chapel_Royal) by 1557 and was appointed [Master of the Children](/source/Master_of_the_Children) in 1561. He married Helene Griffith in 1563.[2] After he died in 1566, he was succeeded by [William Hunnis](/source/William_Hunnis).[3] ## Works ### Plays In 1566, Edwardes' *[Palamon and Arcite](/source/Palamon_and_Arcite_(Edwardes))* was performed before [Elizabeth I](/source/Elizabeth_I_of_England) at [Oxford](/source/Oxford) 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](/source/Damon_and_Pythias_(play))* (written in 1564, published in 1571), a comedy, is his only extant play.[1] ### 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. [Master] 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 around the year 1555 describe eight ladies in waiting to [Mary I of England](/source/Mary_I_of_England), and particularly praise the beauty of [Jane Dormer](/source/Jane_Dormer), "of lively hue", and Frances Bayneham, "as beautiful as nature can devise".[4] The ladies were named as Howard, [Dacres](/source/Magdalen_Dacre), Baynam, Arundel, Dormer, [Mansell](/source/Rice_Mansel), Margaret Cooke, and Bridges.[5] The verses are found in a [British Library](/source/British_Library) manuscript, (Cotton MS Titus A XIV), and were not included in the *Paradise*.[6][7] ### Music Edwardes was less well known as a composer, but several of his compositions survive, including three pieces in the [Mulliner Book](/source/Mulliner_Book): "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](/source/Richard_Day_(printer))'s Psalter of 1563.[3] ## References 1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-:0_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-:0_1-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-:0_1-2) [Bullen, Arthur Henry](/source/Arthur_Henry_Bullen) (1889). ["Edwards, Richard"](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Dictionary_of_National_Biography,_1885-1900/Edwards,_Richard). *[Dictionary of National Biography](/source/Dictionary_of_National_Biography)*. Vol. 17. p. 125. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-:1_2-0)** Hart, Kelly (1 June 2009). [*The Mistresses of Henry VIII*](https://archive.org/details/mistressesofhenr0000hart) (First ed.). The History Press. p. [23](https://archive.org/details/mistressesofhenr0000hart/page/23). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-7524-4835-0](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-7524-4835-0). 1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Grove_3-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Grove_3-1) [Husk, William Henry](/source/William_Henry_Husk) (1900). ["Edwards, Richard"](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/A_Dictionary_of_Music_and_Musicians/Edwards,_Richard). *[A Dictionary of Music and Musicians](/source/A_Dictionary_of_Music_and_Musicians)*. Vol. 1:16. p. 483. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** Ros King, *The Collected Works of Richard Edwards: Politics, Poetry and Performance in Sixteenth-Century England* (Manchester, 2001), pp. 19, 187–188: David Loades, *Mary Tudor* (Blackwell, 1989), p. 140: David Loades, *The Tudor Court* (Headstart, 1992), pp. 210–214. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** Gemma Allen, *The Cooke Sisters: Education, piety and politics in early modern England* (Manchester, 2013), p. 205: Ros King, *The Collected Works of Richard Edwards: Politics, Poetry and Performance in Sixteenth-Century England* (Manchester, 2001), pp. 231–232. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** Hannah Leah Crummé, "Jane Dormer's Recipe for Politics", [Nadine Akkerman](/source/Nadine_Akkerman) & Birgit Houben, *The Politics of Female Households: Ladies-in-waiting across Early Modern Europe* (Brill, 2014), p. 54. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** Thomas Park, *Nugae Antiquae*, 2 (London, 1804), 392–94 citing BL Cotton Titus A. xxiv. ## Sources - This article incorporates text from a publication now in the [public domain](/source/Public_domain): [Cousin, John William](/source/John_William_Cousin) (1910). "[Edwards, Richard](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/A_Short_Biographical_Dictionary_of_English_Literature/Edwards,_Richard)". *[A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature](/source/A_Short_Biographical_Dictionary_of_English_Literature)*. p. 128 – via [Wikisource](/source/Wikisource). - *Paradise of Dainty Devices* (linked below) ## External links Wikiquote has quotations related to ***[Richard Edwardes](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Special:Search/Richard_Edwardes)***. - [Literary Encyclopedia - *Damon and Pythias*](http://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=9014) - [*Damon and Pythias* online](http://www.elizabethanauthors.com/damon101.htm) dead link - [*Paradise of Dainty Devices* online](https://archive.org/details/paradiseofdainty027377mbp) Authority control databases International ISNI VIAF GND FAST National United States France BnF data Czech Republic Netherlands Israel Artists MusicBrainz Discography of American Historical Recordings People Trove Deutsche Biographie Other IdRef SNAC RISM Yale LUX --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Richard Edwardes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Edwardes) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Edwardes?action=history)). 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