Baldwin, William

(c. 1515-1563)

   A west-country poet who studied logic and philosophy at Oxford, then became a proofreader to Edward Whitchurch, the Protestant publisher from Camberwell, London. His A Treatise of Morall Phylosophie, Contayning the Sayinges of the Wyse, was published in 1547, and Canticles or Balades of Salomon, phraselyke declared in Englyshe Metres, in 1549. During the reigns of Edward VI (1547-1553) and Queen Mary (1553-1558) he was employed to prepare theatrical exhibitions for the court. In 1559 he superintended the publication of the Mirror for Magistrates (see also Niccols, Richard, and Ferrers, George), contributing four poems of his own: "The Story of Richard, Earl of Cambridge, being put to death at Southampton," "How Thomas Montague, Earl of Salisbury, in the midst of his glory was by chance slain by a Piece of Ordnance," "Story of William de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk, being punished for abusing his King and causing the Destruction of good Duke Humphrey," and "The Story of Jack Cade naming himself Mortimer, and his Rebelling against the King." In 1560 he published a poetical, "The Funeralles of King Edward the Sixt; wherein are declared the Causers and Causes of his Death."

   Sources: Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. English Poetry: Author Search. Chadwyck-Healey Ltd., 1995 (http://www.lib.utexas.edu:8080/search/epoetry/author.html). The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 6th edition. Margaret Drabble, ed. Oxford University Press, 2000.