Sidney, Sir Philip

Sidney, Sir Philip (1554-86), poet, soldier, b. Penshurst, Kent, England.

Philip Sidney left Oxford University in 1572 and travelled in France, Germany and Italy.

Afterwards Queen Elizabeth I sent him abroad as an ambassador, first to the Emperor Rudolf in Prague and then to the Prince of Orange, and later knighted him.

Sidney wrote a great deal of poetry and became widely known as a poet of great skill.

He wanted to go with Sir Francis Drake on one of his voyages but instead Queen Elizabeth sent him with the Earl of Leicester to the Netherlands. Their task was to help the Netherlanders (Dutch) against the Spanish.

In a skirmish at Zutphen, Sidney was wounded in the leg. As he lay wounded, he passed a helmet of water to a dying soldier saying, 'Your need is greater than mine.' Three weeks later Sidney died from his wound.

See Sir Philip Sidney: The Major Works (Oxford World's Classics) ~ Catherine Bates