Thomas Churchyard: Difference between revisions

▲In 1550 Churchyard went to Ireland to serve the [[Lord Lieutenant of Ireland|lord deputy of Ireland]], [[Anthony St Leger (Lord Deputy of Ireland)|Sir Anthony St Leger]], who had been sent to pacify the country. Here Churchyard enriched himself at the expense, it is to be feared, of the unhappy Irish; but in 1552 he was in England again, trying vainly to secure a fortune by marriage with a rich widow. After this failure he departed once more to the wars to the [[Siege of Metz (1552)]], and "trailed a pike" in the emperor's army, until he joined the forces under [[William Grey, 13th Baron Grey de Wilton]], with whom he says he served eight years. Grey was in charge of the fortress of [[Guînes]], which was besieged by the [[Francis, Duke of Guise|duke of Guise]] in 1558.

▲Churchyard arranged the terms of surrender, and was sent with his chief to Paris as a prisoner. He was not released at the [[Peace of Cateau Cambrésis]] for lack of money to pay his ransom, but he was finally set free on giving his bond for the amount, an engagement which he repudiated as soon as he was safely in England. He is not to be identified with the "T.C." who wrote for the ''[[Mirror for Magistrates]]'' (ed. 1559), "How the Lord Mowbray ... was banished ... and after died miserablie in exile," which is the work of [[Thomas Chaloner (statesman)|Thomas Chaloner]], but "Shore's Wife," his most popular poem, appeared in the 1563 edition of the same work, and to that of 1587 he contributed the "Tragedie of [[Thomas Wolsey]]." These are plain compositions in the seven-lined Chaucerian [[stanza]].

▲Repeated petitions to the queen for assistance produced at first fair words, and then no answer at all. He therefore returned to active service under Lord Grey, who was in command of an English army sent in 1560 to help the Scottish rebels at the [[Siege of Leith]], and in 1564 he served in Ireland under [[Sir Henry Sidney]]. The religious disturbances in the [[Netherlands]] attracted him to [[Antwerp (city)|Antwerp]], where, as the agent of [[William I of Orange|William of Orange]], he allowed the insurgents to place him at their head, and was able to save much property from destruction. This action made him so hated by the mob that he had to fly for his life in the disguise of a priest. In the next year he was sent by the [[Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford|earl of Oxford]] to serve definitely under the prince of Orange. After a year's service he obtained leave to return to England, and after many adventures and narrow escapes in a journey through hostile territory he embarked for [[Guernsey]], and thence for England. His patron, Lord Oxford, disowned him, and the poet, whose health was failing, retired to [[Bath, England|Bath]]. He appears to have made a very unhappy marriage at this time, and returned to the [[Low Countries]]. Falling into the hands of the Spaniards he was recognized as having had a hand in the Antwerp disturbance, and was under sentence to be executed as a spy when he was saved by the intervention of a noble lady. This experience did not deter him from joining in the defence of [[Zutphen]] in 1572, but this was his last campaign, and the troubles of the remaining years of his life were chiefly domestic.

▲Churchyard was employed to devise a [[procession|pageant]] for [[Elizabeth I of England|the queen]]'s reception at [[Bristol]] in 1574, and again at [[Norwich]] in 1578. He had published in 1575 ''The Firste parte of Churchyarde's Chippes'', the modest title which he gives to his works. No second part appeared, but there was a much enlarged edition in 1578. A passage in ''Churchyarde's Choise'' (1579) gave offence to Elizabeth, and the author fled to [[Scotland]], where he remained for three years. He was only restored to favour about 1584, and in 1593 he received a small pension from the queen.

▲On Good Friday 8 April 1580, Churchyard (then age 60) published a short account of the earthquake which struck London and much of England only two days earlier. The pamphlet, ''A Warning to the Wyse, a Feare to the Fond, a Bridle to the Lewde, and a Glasse to the Good; written of the late Earthquake chanced in London and other places, 6 April 1580, for the Glory of God and benefit of men, that warely can walk, and wisely judge. Set forth in verse and prose, by Thomas Churchyard, gentleman'' provides the earliest accounts of the [[1580 Dover Straits earthquake]].<ref>Churchyard's ''A Warning to the Wyse'' is dealt with in '''Hakluyt's Promise: An Elizabethan's Obsession for an English America''', by Peter C. Mancall (Yale University Press: 2007) pp.64–67</ref>