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Who was Edmund Spenser? Poet. Date and Place of Birth: 1552/3, London, England. Family Background: Probably the son of a gentleman tradesman. His father may have been the John Spenser from Lancashire who moved to London and became a member of the Merchant Taylor's Company. Education: Merchant Taylor's School, London. Pembroke Hall College, Cambridge. Chronology: 1569: Contributes several sections to the English version of "A Theatre for Worldlings" edited by Jan van der Noodt. In particular he translated epigrams by Petrarch and four sonnet paraphrases. 1573: Receives his BA degree from Cambridge University. 1576: Receives his MA degree from Cambridge University. 1578: Is employed as a secretary to John Young the Bishop of Rochester, who was formerly Master of Pembroke College, Cambridge. 1579: Is employed by Robert Dudley, the Earl of Leicester and becomes part of the group called Areopagus, surrounding Sir Phillip Sidney. (5th December) Entry in the Stationer's Register for the publication of his work "The Shepherd's Calendar". 1580: First reference to "The Fairie Queene" is made in some letters to Gabriel Harvey a friend from Cambridge. He is appointed Secretary to Arthur, Lord Grey of Wilton, who is the Lord Deputy of Ireland. (August) Sets foot in Ireland with Grey and works as Clerk of the Privy Council at Dublin Castle. 1581: (9th March) Succeeds Lodowick Bryskett as Clerk in the Chancery for Faculties which pays him a regular sum of money whilst still being employed by Grey. (December) He leases the castle and manor house at Enniscorthy in County Wexford for a short while and then leases a dissolved monastery at New Ross in Wexford. He then takes a house in Dublin and New Abbey, County Kildare. 1583: Appointed as Commissioner of Musters for County Kildare. 1586: He is given Kilcolman Castle in Munster, which formed part of the lands confiscated from the Irish Earl Desmond, as a reward for putting down the rebellion of Trim. Is given the task of populating Munster with English people. 1589: Succeeds Bryskett as Clerk of the Council in Munster. (October) He returns to England with Sir Walter Raleigh to present "The Fairie Queene" to Queen Elizabeth the First. However the Queen has not forgotten his previous work "Mother Hubberd's Tale" which proposed her match to the Duc d'Alencon, which she did not like. 1590: Books 1 to 3 of "The Fairie Queene" are published by William Ponsonby in London. (9th December) Stationer's Register records his work "Complaints: Containing Sundery Small Poems of the World's Vanity. 1591: Returns to Ireland having been granted a life pension of £50 per year by the Queen. "Complaints and Daphniaida is published by William Ponsonby (December) Produces the dedicatory epistle to Raleigh "Colin Clout's Come Home Again". 1594: Appointed Queen's Justice for Cork. (19th November) "Amoretti and Epithalmion" is published. 1595: Publication of "Colins Clout's Come Home Again" and "A Pastoral Elegy on the Death of the Most Noble and Valorous Knight, Sir Philip Sydney". 1596: Revisits London. Publication of "The Fairie Queene" Books 4-6, and "Four Hymns". King James the Sixth of Scotland accuses Spenser of slandering his mother Mary Queen of Scots as the figure of Duessa in the "The Fairie Queene" . 1598: Named Sheriff Designate for County Cork. (April) Completes " A View of the Present State of Ireland", but it is not published until 1633. (October) The castle at Kilcolman is attacked and burned to the ground by the army of the Earl of Tyrone. Spenser fleas to Cork. 1598: Takes dispatches from Sir Thomas Norris, the Governor of Munster to London to give to the Privy Council. 1599: Back in Westminster. (1609): Full publication of "The Fairie Queene" including "Two Cantos of Mutability". Written Works: 1569: “The Visions of Bellay”. “The Visions of Petrarch”. 1579: “The Shepherd's Calendar”. 1580: “Three Letters and Two Other Letters Passed between Two University Men”. 1590: “The Faerie Queen”. (Books 1-3). “Muiopotmos, or the Fate of the Butterfly”. 1591: “Complaints”. “Daphnaida”. 1595: “Amoretti”. “Colin Clout's Come Home Again”. “Epithalamion”. 1596: “The Fairie Queen” (Books 1-3 Revised and Books 4-6). (1633): “A View of the Present State of Ireland”. Marriage: 1. To Machabyas Chylde at Westminster. 2.1594 to Elizabeth Boyle. Places of Interest: LONDON: Westminster Abbey. Date and Place of Death: 13th January 1599, London, Westminster Abbey, Westminster , London. His funeral was paid for by the Earl of Essex. Age at Death: 47. Site of Grave: Poet's Corner, Westminster Abbey, London