Anthony Copley facts for kids
Anthony Copley (born 1567, died 1609) was an English writer and a Catholic. He lived during the time of Queen Elizabeth I. He is mostly remembered for his long poem from 1596 called A Fig for Fortune. This poem was an allegorical story that spoke against choosing to die, and it was written in a style similar to a famous poem called The Faerie Queene. Some people think his work was like the play Hamlet.
The Life of Anthony Copley
Anthony Copley was the third son of a man named Sir Thomas Copley. When his father went to live abroad, Anthony stayed in England. But in 1582, while he was studying at Furnival's Inn, he joined his parents in Rouen, a city in France.
He stayed in Rouen for two years. After that, he went to the English College, Rome for another two years. He received money from Pope Gregory XIII to help him study there. Then, he traveled to the Low Countries (which are now Belgium and the Netherlands). There, he received more money from Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma. He then worked for Philip II of Spain until just before 1590.
In 1590, Anthony Copley came back to England without permission. He was arrested and sent to the Tower of London. He asked for forgiveness and gave information about other English Catholics who were living outside England. He lived as a married man in Roffey, Horsham. In 1592, a letter described him as a "bravo," meaning a daring or sometimes troublesome person. The government often suspected him, and he was put in prison several times during Queen Elizabeth's rule. Despite this, his writings always showed strong loyalty to the Queen.
When James I of England became king, Copley was involved in a secret plan called the Bye Plot. This plan aimed to put Lady Arabella Stuart on the throne instead of King James. Copley and the others involved were put on trial and sentenced to death. However, Copley was pardoned, meaning he was forgiven and not executed. This happened on August 18, 1604, after he told the authorities everything he knew about the plot. In 1606 or 1607, he was a guest at the English College in Rome again. The last known record of him shows him as a pilgrim in Jerusalem in 1609.
Anthony Copley's Writings
In 1595, Anthony Copley published a book called ‘Wits, Fittes, and Fancies fronted and entermedled with Presidentes of Honour and Wisdom; also Loves Owle, an idle conceited dialogue between Love and an olde Man.’ The first part of this book was a collection of jokes, stories, and wise sayings. Many of these were taken from a Spanish book. This part was printed again in 1614 with more additions, but without the ‘Love's Owle’ section.
His most famous work, ‘A Fig for Fortune,’ came out in 1596. This was a long poem written in stanzas of six lines each. It was later reprinted by the Spenser Society in 1883.
Towards the end of Queen Elizabeth's reign, Copley took part in discussions between different groups of Catholic priests, the Jesuits and the secular priests. He wrote two pamphlets supporting the secular priests. These were called ‘An Answere to a Letter of a Jesuited Gentleman, by his Cosin, Maister A. C., concerning the Appeale, State, Jesuits,’ from 1601. The next year, in 1602, he published ‘Another Letter of Mr. A. C. to his Disjesuited Kinsman concerning the Appeale, State, Jesuits. Also a third Letter of his Apologeticall for himself against the calumnies contained against him in a certain Jesuiticall libell intituled A manifestation of folly and bad spirit.’ In this second pamphlet, he mentioned that he would soon publish ‘my forthcoming Manifestation of the Jesuit's Commonwealth,’ but it seems this book was never actually published.
