Fulke Greville, 1st Baron Brooke

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This article is about the Elizabethan author. For other people with similar names, see Fulke Greville (disambiguation).

Sir Fulke Greville, 1st Baron Brooke (October 3, 1554-September 30, 1628) was a minor Elizabethan poet, dramatist, and statesman.

Born at Beauchamp Court, Warwickshire, and educated at Shrewsbury School and Jesus College, Cambridge, he was a friend and contemporary of Sir Philip Sidney at Shrewsbury, enrolling on the same day. He was knighted in 1597. After a distinguished administrative career under Elizabeth I and James I (in the course of which he served successively as secretary to the Principality of Wales, Treasurer of the Navy, and Chancellor of the Exchequer), he was created Baron Brooke on 29 January 1620/1 with special remainder to the heirs of his cousin, whom he had adpoted, Robert Greville.

He was murdered by an old servant. His works, which were chiefly published after his death, consist of tragedies and sonnets, and poems on political and moral subjects, including Cælica (109 sonnets). He also wrote a Life of Sir P. Sidney. His style is grave and sententious. He is buried in the church at Warwick, and the inscription on his tomb, written by himself, is a compendious biography. It runs: "Fulke Greville, servant to Queen Elizabeth, counsellor to King James, friend to Sir Philip Sidney."

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Works

Towards the end of his life, his varied literary output was gathered together and published:

in 1633: two tragedies (Alaham and Mustapha); a sonnet cycle (Caelica); and a philosophical treatise in verse (A Treatie of Humane Learning)
in 1652: The Life of the Rennowned Sir Philip Sidney, a biography of his schoolfellow

His work was collected and reprinted by Dr Grosart, in 1870, in four volumes; a selection from this was later published in 1895 as The Friend of Sir Philip Sidney.

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References

This article incorporates public domain text from: Cousin, John William (1910). A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature. London, J.M. Dent & sons; New York, E.P. Dutton.
The above article refers to Fulke Greville III (1554-1628), son of Fulke Greville II (d. 1606), and grandson of Fulke Greville I (d. 1554), whose tomb is in St Nicholas Church, Alcester. This information was taken from the Alcester & District Local History Society website [1]

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