William Percy (writer) facts for kids

William Percy (1574–1648) was an English poet and writer of plays. He was the third son of Henry Percy, 8th Earl of Northumberland, and his wife Katharine Neville. His older brother, Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland, was a very important person in English culture and science during the late 1500s and early 1600s.

Early Life and Education

The exact year William Percy was born is not completely known. Some records suggest he was born in 1574. This is based on his entry at Oxford University, which says he was fifteen years old in June 1589. However, another record by Bishop Thomas Percy states he was born earlier, in 1570.

Percy went to Oxford University for his studies. There, he learned logic from a scholar named John Case. He also studied Italian and Latin. Even though he studied these subjects, he became very interested in the English literature of his time. He enjoyed the works of writers like Gabriel Harvey, Sidney, and Spenser.

Writing Poems and Plays

While at Oxford, William Percy was part of a group of writers. One of his friends was Barnabe Barnes, who dedicated his book of poems, Parthenophil and Parthenope (1593), to Percy.

A year later, in 1594, Percy published his own collection of poems called Sonnets to the Fairest Coelia. He said that he had to publish them because a friend had borrowed his writings and was going to print them without his permission. In the book's introduction, he called his poems "toys" and promised to share a more important poem later. He also included a poem for his friend Barnes.

William Percy was not considered a very skilled poet himself. However, he knew many talented writers. For example, Charles Fitzgeoffrey praised Percy's writing in his Latin poems, Affaniae. Other writers in his group included the Mychelbourne brothers: Edward, Lawrence, and Thomas. Later, Thomas Campion also wrote about Percy, praising his cleverness in his book Epigrammatum II (1619).

Percy also wrote plays, and six of them still exist today as manuscripts. One play, The Faery Pastoral, or, Forest of Elves, might have been written for King James I's visit to Syon House in 1603. Percy wrote most of his plays hoping they would be performed by professional acting groups in London.

His other plays include:

• Chaunge is no Robberye or The Bearing down of the Inne: A Comaedye (1601)
• Arabia sitiens, or, A Dreame of a Drye Yeare: a Tragaecomodye (1601)
• A Country Tragaedye in Vacunium (1602)
• The Aphrodysial, or, Sea Feast: a Marinall (1602)
• His last play, Necromantes, or, The Two Supposed Heds: a Comicall Invention (1632), was written "For Actors only."

Even though his plays are not famous for being great literature, Arabia sitiens (also known as Mahomet and His Heaven) is interesting. It helps us understand what people in England thought about Islam at that time.

Later Life and Death

Like his older brother Henry, William Percy faced difficulties and spent some time in prison, mostly due to financial problems. He eventually settled in Oxford.

According to a historian named Anthony Wood, Percy lived a quiet and sad life in Oxford. He passed away as an older bachelor in Pennyfarthingstreet. He was buried in the Cathedral of Christ Church on May 28, 1648.