T H E  S I D N E Y  F A M I L Y

Sir William Sidney (1482 - 1554)

William was a courtier to King Henry VIII and tutor (and later steward) to his son Edward. In 1552 - one year before his death, aged just 26 - Edward VI granted Penshurst to Sir William Sidney. William, now aged 70, had little time to enjoy Penshurst though and his son, Henry, inherited the property on his death just two years later.

Sir Henry Sidney (1529 - 1586)

Henry had spent his early life at court as the companion of the the young prince Edward. Within two years of Penshurst being given to the Sidney family both his father and childhood friend - now King Edward VI - were dead. Edward contracted tuberculosis (although it is also rumoured that he was poisoned) and is said to have died in Henry's arms.

In 1553 Henry married Lady Mary Dudley, sister to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, Ambrose Dudley, Earl of Warwick and Lord Guildford Dudley. Guildford was married to the ill-fated Lady Jane Grey, grand-daughter to Henry VII who had been named by Edward VI (under pressure from John Dudley, the Duke of Northumberland - Henry Sidney's father-in law) as his successor.

Lady Jane reluctantly became queen but after only nine days the Lord Mayor of London announced that Henry VIII's eldest daughter, Mary, was rightfully Queen. Lady Jane Grey and many of her supporters - including her husband and father-in-law - were executed. Her brothers-in-law Ambrose and Robert were confined to the Tower of London but Henry Sidney and his wife escaped any implications.

During the realm of Elizabeth I Henry was appointed Lord President of Wales and later vice-treasurer of Ireland. He was also cup-bearer to the Queen.

In 1565 Henry became Lord Deputy of Ireland and began imposing English law and customs on the Irish. He faced several rebellions and managed to persuade several powerful clan chiefs to submit to Elizabeth's authority but resigned in 1571 resenting the Queens failure to support him.

Although restored as Lord Deputy of Ireland in 1575 his taxation policies were not popular and he was recalled in 1578. He served as president of the council of Wales and of the Marches.

Henry was made a garter knight in 1564 but had little financial reward for his services. He even turned down a baroncy feeling that he was unable to support the position. Despite this he added apartments and the King's tower to Penshurst.

Sir Philip Sidney (1554 - 1586)

"He cometh unto you with a tale which holdeth children from play, and old men from the chimney-corner." Philip Sidney

Philip was born at Penshurst on 30th November 1554. His godfather, after whom he was named, was Philip II of Spain, husband of Queen Mary I. At the age of 10 Philip attended Shrewsbury school where he met Fulke Greville who was to become his lifelong friend and biographer. He went to Christ Church college, Oxford in 1568 where he made many influential friends such as Walter Raleigh and Richard Hakluyt. He left in 1571 without gaining any qualifications - possibly due to an outbreak of the plague in Oxford.

Philip continued his education briefly at Cambridge and then by traveling for three years in Europe. He learnt Latin, French and Italian and became acquainted with many leading European statesmen. During his travels in France with Sir Francis Walsingham he witnessed the St. Bartholomew's day massacre in Paris on 24th August 1572 when thousands of protestants died under a Catholic monarchy. He also visited Germany, Austria (where he stayed with his tutor, Hubert Languet), Hungary, Italy, Poland and Holland before returning to England as somewhat of an expert on European affairs - both courtly and political.

In 1576 Philip succeeded his father, Henry Sidney, as Cupbearer to Queen Elizabeth - a purely ceremonial duty. Also in this year he traveled to Ireland to take part in the campaign with his Father, Henry, and Walter Devereaux the Earl of Essex. A year later, aged just 22, the Queen finally gave him a diplomatic mission. He was to travel to the German Emperor, Rudolf II and Louis VI, Prince of Orange to present Elizabeth's condolences on the death of their fathers. He was also to sound out their attitude to the formation of a Protestant alliance against (godfather) Philip's Catholic Spain.

At that time Spain controlled the Netherlands and much of the new world and posed a serious threat to Britain's security. Philip brought back an enthusiastic report of his mission but the queen was not convinced and sent other representatives who were much less optimistic than Philip. His first diplomatic mission was not quite the success he had hoped for.

Despite his failure to impress the Queen, Philip continued in politics and spent much time corresponding with, as well as entertaining, foreign visitors and diplomats. The French envoy Philippe de Mornay and Prince Casimir of the Palitinate visited him at Penshurst as well as chemists, scientists, artists, scholars and poets. Philip was able to discuss all of these subjects as well as politics, law, religion, history and military matters. He also supported - and was patron to - many poets including Edmund Spenser and Abraham Fraunce.

He also took an interest in the newly discovered Americas and knew many of those involved with the exploration of the new world - Martin Frobisher, Walter Raleigh and Richard Hakluyt - and he very nearly succeeded on accompanying Sir Francis Drake on his circumnavigation of the world in 1577. Hakluyt's first book, Divers voyages, touching the discoverie of America was dedicated to Philip - as were nearly 40 other works of the time. One piece of work that was dedicated to Philip was The School of Abuse (1579) a satirical prose written by Stephen Gosson (1554 - 1624) which was not to Philip's liking. He wrote his literary criticism An Apology for Poetrie supposedly in response; although many of the ideas had already been discussed within Philip's poetic circle of friends.

Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester was Philip's uncle and a favorite courtier of the Queen. She may well have married him had Elizabeth not found courting such a powerful and necessary political weapon and desperately needed to form an alliance against Spain. In 1578 Philip wrote a pastoral masque The Lady of May especially for the queen to gain his own favor and to promote his uncle who had commissioned the work. The play was presented to the Queen at Wanstead during a visit to the Earl of Leicester.

The film "Elizabeth" features part of a song from Arcadia spoken to the Queen by Robert Dudley. "My true-love hath my heart and I have his ..." There is no mention of Philip however.

In 1579 Philip wrote a letter to Queen Elizabeth opposing her intended marriage to the Catholic Henry, Duke of Anjou (Henry III of France). Although the Queen was reported to have wept when she read Philip's letter he was severely reprimanded by her - he was, after all, just a commoner. He also argued at court with Edward de Vere, Earl of Oxford (and rumored to be the real Shakespeare), who held opposing views at court to Philip's uncle, Leicester. Philip retired from court for a year and stayed with his sister, Lady Mary Sidney, wife of the 2nd Earl of Pembroke at her home at Wilton. During this time he wrote his first major work Arcadia for her amusement. The full title was The countess of Pembroke's Arcadia and was later known as the Old Arcadia when it was revised.

January 1581 saw Philip as Member of Parliament for Kent - a position he also held in 1584 - 85. His brother, Robert, also held this position from 1585. At about this time his aunt, the countess of Huntingdon, brought her Ward, Penelope Devereaux to court. She was the daughter of Walter Devereaux, Earl of Essex (with whom Philip had served in Ireland) and was to marry the young Lord Rich later that year. Philip soon fell deeply in love with her and during the following year he wrote another great work, the sonnet cycle Astrophil and Stella (Star and Star Lover) based on his experiences and feelings during this time from the first stirrings of passion to his acceptance of an impossible situation.

Fortune began to change for Philip's as he was restored to the Queen's favor in 1583. He was also knighted although not for any great act on his part. His friend Prince Casimir was to be installed as a Garter Knight but was unable to attend the ceremony. Philip was knighted so as to take part in the ceremony as his stand-in. Another ceremony later in the year saw him married to Frances Walsingham, the daughter of Sir Francis Walsingham, Secretary of State. The Queen opposed the match perhaps wanting the marriage to be more useful to her politically. Francis paid off 1500 pounds of Philip's debts and, to save money, the couple moved in with him.

Philip had several opportunities for influential marriages before this. The Earl of Essex was keen for him to marry his daughter, Penelope - a marriage that would have saved Philip much heartache later. The marriage would have also been a link between the two dominant (but opposing) forces at court - Essex and Leicester. Another proposed marriage was with the daughter of William of Orange, Marie of Nassau. This would have made him Lord of Holland (and helped his financial crisis) but would have drawn the Dudley family into the conflict with Spain. The Queen, no doubt, could not allow such a marriage.

Philip died, needlessly, in the service of his beloved Queen after being wounded at Zutphen in the Netherlands. He was serving under his Uncle, Robert Dudley in the war against Catholic Spain having eventually been permitted the chance to serve his Queen in a military campaign. Having lent his leg-armour to a friend who had none, he was hit in the thigh by a musket ball during an attack on a heavily guarded supply train. His wound was serious but he rode a mile back to his camp arriving weak from loss of blood. When he was offered water he saw another wounded soldier and passed the bottle to him first with the words; "Thy necessity is yet greater than mine". 

It was thought that his wound would heal and he was taken to Arnhem to recover but it festered and Philip suffered for a further 26 days before his death on 17th October. The court went into official mourning and his body was returned to England in a boat with black sails. Both Oxford and Cambridge universities issued memorial Latin volumes in his honour and English poets composed versus in his praise.  

Philip was extremely popular, both at court and with the public. He was seen as the epitome of the chivalrous, Elizabethan gentleman having modeled his life on the popular work of Balthasar Castiglione "The Courtier" (published in 1561 but probably known to Philip during his travels in Europe). His funeral at St. Pauls in February 1587 was unprecedented - the first commoner to be granted a state funeral, although the Queen did not attend. Nobody, perhaps, inspired such public grieving until the death of Nelson or the funerals of Sir Winston Churchill or Lady Diana Spencer - both descendants of the Sidney family. 

Much of the manner of Philip's death was embellished by his friend and biographer, Fulke Greville who, although not present, wrote the "official" account of the event some years later in what became known as "The life of the renowned Sir Philip Sidney". 

"Calmly and steadily he awaited the approach of death. His prayers were long and fervent; his bearing was indeed that of a Christian hero."

But not every account of Philip's death was as kind. According to John Aubrey writing 100 years after Philip Sidney's death,  Philip (on his deathbed) appears to have acted completely out of character when visited by his wife, Frances.

" ... he would not forbear his carnal knowledge of her, which cost him his life; upon which occasion there were some roguish verses made." 

Fulke Greville, not surprisingly, did not mention this episode.

None of Philip's works were published in his lifetime as he wrote for his own amusement and that of his friends and family. It was not seen as gentlemanly to make profit from such an amusement. Even on his deathbed Philip order the Arcadia manuscripts to be destroyed. Despite this much of his poetry was distributed in manuscript form and much of his works were widely know. His sister Mary, Countess of Pembroke, continued to support and patronize many of Philips literary friends after his death.

"They are never alone that are accompanied with noble thoughts." Philip Sidney

In 1590 Philip's widow, Frances, secretly married Robert Devereaux, 2nd Earl of Essex. Essex had served with Philip at Zutphen and may have (unsuccessfully) modeled his life on Philip's. He was executed after a revolt against the Queen in 1601. 

 To find out more about Sir Philip Sidney's works visit the OldArcadia and Luminarium web sites.

Elizabeth was the daughter of Sir Philip Sidney and Frances Walsingham (although some references say Philip died without issue). She married Roger Manners, 5th Earl of Rutland (1576 - 1612) but there were to be no children. Elizabeth died not long after her husband and it may be that she poisoned him (perhaps wanting a more productive relationship) and she was killed in revenge by his family or friends. Elizabeth was buried with her father, Philip, in London although there is a memorial to Roger and herself at Bottesford.

Information from Peter Zenner

Some reports say that Philip's wife, Frances, visited him on his deathbed at Arnhem and was heavily pregnant at the time. If this was true then this puts into doubt the date of Elizabeth's birth of 1584 - or raises the possibility of a second child.

"Facts can be used to embellish even the greatest works of fiction" Chris Sidney