Today in 1554 Philip Sidney was born. He was a poet, writer, scholar, courtier, and soldier. He is most famous for his poetry, like The Countess of Pembroke’s Arcadia, and was a fixture, with his sister Mary, in the Elizabethan literary circles. He also supported scholars like the Italian mathematician and astronomer Giordano Bruno, who dedicated two books to Philip. Philip is also famous for his death. He was in the army in Zutphen defending the Protestants in the Low Countries against the Catholic Spanish, and he was injured when he was shot in the thigh. He died when his leg became gangrenous, 26 days later, at the age of 31.
As he lay dying, Sidney composed a song to be sung by his deathbed. According to the story, while lying wounded he gave his water to another wounded soldier, saying, “Thy necessity is yet greater than mine”. This became possibly the most famous story about Sir Phillip. It also inspired evolutionary biologist John Maynard Smith to formulate a problem in signaling theory which is known as the Sir Philip Sidney game, and it deals with the behavior of animals when begging for food from their parents.
That’s your Tudor Minute for today. Remember you can dive deeper into life in 16th-century England through the Renaissance English History Podcast at englandcast.com.
Suggested link:
Episode 083: Mary Sidney
From the shop:
Lots of Christmas gift ideas for your Tudor loved ones over at The Tudor Fair!
Featuring: Elizabeth I Signature Table Runner
Note: All products are made on-demand and can take a few weeks to ship.
Want more Tudor in your life? Join the Tudor Learning Circle - the only social network devoted solely to Tudor History. Sign up free at TudorLearningCircle.com! And why not Tudorfy your YouTube algorithm by getting exclusive videos and content on Heather's YouTube channel!
Heather Teysko is the creator, writer, and producer of The Renaissance English History Podcast, one of the longest running indie history podcasts, going since 2009. She's been writing about history online for over 25 years, since her first site on Colonial American history became number one in history on Yahoo in 1998. She writes books, created the original Tudor Planner (a yearly diary filled with Tudor history) and in 2019 created the world's first Tudorcon (you can "attend" online this year!). She has been passionate about Tudor England since she first read Alison Weir's The Six Wives of Henry VIII 20 years ago, and subsequently moved to London after college to spend her time immersed in Tudor history.