Philip Sidney: A Double Life [Hardcover]

Alan Stewart (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0312282877 | ISBN-13: 978-0312282875 | Publication Date: October 5, 2001 | Edition: First Edition

Among the gilded youth of Elizabethan England, none was more golden than Philip Sidney. Courtier, poet, soldier, diplomat-he was one of the most promising young men of his time. Son of Elizabeth I's deputy in Ireland, nephew and heir to her favorite, Leicester, he received an exemplary education. On leaving Oxford University he was tipped for high office-and was even a candidate to inherit the throne. But Philip soon found himself caught up in the intricate politics of Elizabeth's court and forced to become as Machiavellian as everyone around him if he was to achieve his ambitions.

Against a backdrop of Elizabethan intrigue and the battle between the Protestants and the Catholics for predominance in Europe, Alan Stewart tells the riveting story of Philip Sidney's struggle to succeed. Seeing that his continental allies had a greater sense of his importance than his English contemporaries, Philip turned his attention to Europe. He was made a French baron at seventeen, corresponded with leading foreign scholars, considered marriage proposals from two princesses and, in 1586, he cemented his fame by dying on the battlefront in the Low Countries at the tragically young age of thirty-one.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Once Sir Philip Sidney died of an infected thigh wound in 1586 at 31, myth-making forces went to work. We know Sidney now as a courtier-poet cut down in his prime in a useless skirmish in the Netherlands and for giving his water to a dying soldier on the battlefield an incident that never happened, says British historian Stewart (coauthor of Hostage to Fortune: The Troubled Life of Francis Bacon). This man, known as the "epitome of Elizabethan chivalry" and "quintessential Englishman," appears here as disappointingly less than his reputation. The subtitular "double life" alludes to the fact that the handsome, talented, well-born Sir Philip was belittled and neglected in England by status-sensitive, conspiracy-minded Queen Elizabeth, while on the continent his poetry and his statesmanship earned him acclaim. Except for the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre of 1572 in Paris, which he most likely witnessed, there was little drama in his life until the small war in which he was mortally wounded. Stewart furnishes a litany of Sidney's frustrations (his connections to noble families under royal suspicion injured his prospects), and examines his literary projects, which, but for the convoluted pastoral epic Arcadia, the lofty Defense of Poesie and the sonnet sequence Astrophil and Stella, remained unfinished. In Stewart's demythologized study, Sidney is the prisoner of his birthright. It is ironic that, because of his death, his less-talented younger brother Robert became Earl of Leicester and built a London mansion (which gave its name to Leicester Square), for which he is more widely remembered than his more accomplished older brother. Scrupulously researched but a bit sluggish in pace, this biography will appeal to fans of Elizabethan England. Illus.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

This Elizabethan court portrait depicts a promising scholar and politician, Sir Philip Sidney, whose handy relationships included being the son of Sir Henry, lord president of Wales and twice of Ireland; nephew and heir to both Robert, Earl of Leicester (Elizabeth's favorite) and his brother Earl of Warwick; and sister to Mary Herbert, Countess of Pembroke. Elizabeth's wariness of powerful subjects led to her underusing Sidney's diplomatic talents, but Sidney still left his mark. On a teenage trip abroad, during which his scholarship and family impressed continental Protestants, he developed diplomatic contacts, centered on arch-teacher and mentor Hubert Languet. He married the daughter of Sir Francis Walsingham, principal secretary of state. An ardent advocate of Protestant unity, Sidney got his chance for action against Spanish forces during Leicester's botched Dutch military governorship. Sidney died at 31 from wounds received in a heroic, futile skirmish in the Netherlands in 1586 and was subsequently lionized as a national hero and lost Protestant hope. Stewart (Renaissance studies, Birbeck Coll., London Univ.), who previously coauthored a book on Francis Bacon, has provided a well-executed text. While the book gets off to a slow start and gives too much away in the introduction, readers outside academe would otherwise be entertained by this portrait of an Elizabethan intriguer. Recommended for academic and larger public libraries. Nigel Tappin, MLS, Huntsville, Ont.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books; First Edition edition (October 5, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312282877
• ISBN-13: 978-0312282875
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,456,491 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A so-so rendering of a fascinating life, July 22, 2002

By A Customer

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This review is from: Philip Sidney: A Double Life (Hardcover)

Alan Stewart's book might not be great (and, indeed, Katherine Duncan-Jones's biography of Sidney is, in my opinion, much more engrossing and insightful), but it is not as hopelessly boring as a previous reviewer would have us think. According to the opinions expressed by that reviewer, it would seem that any life that is not well documented would not be worth writing a biography about. That is obviously not so, since lack of evidence has always added to a subject's historical fascination. This is especially true of everything Elizabethan. I believe that Philip Sidney was indeed an interesting character, not least because of his tolerance and compassion in a world where neither of these virtues was terribly commonplace. I also believe he was a gifted writer. He was also a member of a politically active family in a politically driven, factious age. Any of these elements alone justifies writing a biography about him. So there's no question of a "boring life" here. I think that the problem here is that Stewart gives a lot of facts, but little insight into what Sidney was really like. In regard to aspects of his emotional life, such as his real feelings for Penelope Rich and his wife Frances, this is probably due to lack of evidence. But, in regard to his more-than-documented public life, that can hardly be the case. I would have appreciated more interpretation together with the naked facts. Also, I think that the subject of Sidney as a writer was insufficiently addressed. Katherine Duncan-Jones's biography is much better at both these issues, and it is the book I would recommend to anyone interested in this remarkable man. Let me say, however, that all is not wrong: Stewart's attempt at depicting Elizabethan politics and power struggles is good enough. This is not what I'd call a gripping book, but it's not a bad one either. What is clear, though, is that in no way can any of its flaws be attributed to its subject. Philip Sidney was certainly a fascinating person in a weird, enthralling, fascinating age.

5 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Philip Sidney: A Boring Life (Until the end, when he dies), March 23, 2002

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"jbrown2" (Glens Falls, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Philip Sidney: A Double Life (Hardcover)

Admittedly I've never read another biography of Philip Sidney, but this one was a tough read. The author choose a tough topic, the often venerated, seldom understood Sir Philip Sidney courtier during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. I decided to read this book because it received a good review in the Atlantic Monthly which said Philip Sidney has been considered a true life embodiment of Castiglione's Perfect Courtier. From what I could tell this was because he died long before he was old enough to do anything unlike a perfect courtier.

The "Double Life" suggests the different ways Sidney was appreciated in England and on the continent. At home, Sidney was constantly being stifled by the whims and maneouvres of the Queen. (Elizabeth's actions are not well justified in Stewart's portrayal.) On the Continent, Sidney is venerated,befriended, and appreciated by Protestants and Catholics alike, for reasons that are not well explained in the text.

The biography also struggles to portray Sidney as a person. I could never get a handle on his personality because it seems that there is not enough documentation to determine what he was really like. Everytime his life got interesting or controversial, records or letters are absent. Thus his story, while fundamentally uninteresting is compounded with a series of anticlimaxes. The only event which was well documented was his death. This was particularly frustrating (after 310 pages) as the reader does not know whether to weep or to cheer.

The problem with Pillip Sidney: A Double Life was whether it should have been written in this format at all. The text is much more useful as an academic reference than as a "good read," yet it is packaged and written as if it were filled with intrigue, controversy, romance and interest. It is not, and probably could not be written so, due to scores of missing letters or other substantive evidence.

I gave the book two stars because it did convey a great deal of information, uninteresting or otherwise. It also did not seem to fail for any reason on its own merits of argument or fact.

I question whether this book should have been published. While I'm sure the author knows a great deal about Elizabethan England, he did not know that there simply isn't enough information about Philip Sidney to either get excited or to write an entire book about.

It seems that the reasons Pilip was regarded as the Perfect Courtier will forever remain a mystery. Vain attempts to explain this will not succeed until more information is discovered.