Philip Sidney, the eldest
son of Sir Henry Sidney, Lord Deputy of Ireland, was born in Penshurst,
Kent, in 1554. He was educated at Shrewsbury
School and Christ Church, Oxford
and travelled abroad (1572-5) before working with his father in Ireland.
A supporter of the Protestant
cause, Sidney argued for helping the rebels against Spanish rule in
the Netherlands. He also advocated the colonization of the Americas.
Sidney represented Elizabeth I in
the Netherlands and became Governor of Flushing in 1585.
In 1586 Sidney took part
in an attack on a Spanish convoy transporting arms to Zurphen. Sidney
was shot in the thigh and died from the infection. A talented writer,
his work, published posthumously, included Arcadia
(1590), Astrophel and Stella
(1591) and A Defence of Poetry
(1595).
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