traveling throughout the Continent (1572–75). The
journey left ineffable impressions on him. For instance,
he witnessed the Massacre of St. Bartholomew’s Day, a
gory event resulting in the deaths of numerous Hugue-
nots (French Protestants), which strengthened his
Protestant resolve.
Sidney was greatly admired by his contemporaries
as both an author and a patron. His literary circle
included Greville, Thomas Drant, Edward Dyer, and
EDMUND SPENSER, who went so far as to dedicate The
SHEPHEARD’S CALENDER (1579) to him. Sidney’s own
works include Lady of May (1578), an entertaining
piece composed in honor of Queen ELIZABETH I; the
SONNET SEQUENCE entitled ASTROPHIL AND STELLA, which
is credited with establishing the genre’s popularity;
Arcadia, a PASTORAL prose ROMANCE, revised later into
the New Arcadia (1590); CERTAIN SONNETS (1598); and
the magisterial DEFENSE OF POESY (1595).
Though Sidney’s literary life seemed charmed, his
political and romantic entanglements were compli-
cated. In 1580, he was dismissed from court for pub-
licly opposing Queen Elizabeth’s proposed marriage to
the Catholic duke of Anjou. Soon afterward, in 1581,
his beloved Penelope Devereux, the daughter of the
earl of Essex, married Lord Rich, though she had sup-
posedly been engaged to Sidney in 1576. Two years
later, Sidney married Frances Walsingham, the daugh-
ter of Sir Francis Walsingham, and was knighted.
Four years later, in the Battle of Zutphen on Septem-
ber 22, 1586, Sidney was mortally wounded in the left
thigh. He succumbed to a gangrenous infection at the
age of 32 on October 17, 1586. Virtually the entire
country mourned Sidney’s death. His sister, MARY SID-
NEY HERBERT, COUNTESS OF PEMBROKE, became the cus-
todian of Sidney’s prolifi c writings and kept his
memory alive. Sidney retained his status even after
death, and he continues to be admired today.
See also QUATORZAIN; SIDNEIAN PSALMS; SHEPHEARDES
CALENDER, THE.
FURTHER READING
Duncan-Jones, Katherine. Sir Philip Sidney. Oxford and New
York: Oxford University Press, 1989.
Stewart, Alan. “Philip Sidney: A Double Life.” The New Cri-
terion 20 (2002): 28.
Christopher D. Lozensky
“SIEGE OF CALAIS, THE” LAURENCE MINOT
(1347?) The seventh in the collection of 11 political
poems attributed to Laurence Minot (fl. 1333–52)
describing a series of English victories against the Scots
and on the Continent. Minot concentrates on an epi-
sode of the HUNDRED YEARS’ WAR in which King Edward
III defeated the French, successfully besieging the port
of Calais (where he had arrived in September 1346)
and making it an English possession for the following
200 years.
Minot gives a fairly accurate, if patriotic, retelling of
events, presenting the siege as a retribution for the men
of Calais and their piracy on the channel. He mentions
how Edward had a wooden encampment built in order
to shelter his troops in the winter and rather sarcasti-
cally alludes to Philip VI and his son, John of France,
who vainly assembled a force to relieve Calais in April
1347; with equal hostility, he mentions the pope’s
attempt to arrive at a negotiation. In both cases, the
poet echoes popular English sentiments.
The second part of the poem is more moving. It
describes the plight of the people of Calais, forced by
starvation to eat their cats and dogs, and then to sur-
render to the English in August 1347. The last fi gure to
appear on the scene is John de Vienne, warden of Cal-
ais, who gives King Edward the keys of the city.
In the opening lines, Minot uses the word romance
to refer to the record of history, and the tone of the
poem maintains the balance between the sober
accounts of fact and the enchantment of oral retell-
ing. This is achieved through the sustained use of
ALLITERATION and other devices typical of oral poetry
such as the use of formulaic phrases, or the intercon-
nection between STANZAs. Also typical of this poet is
his focus on individual heroes or villains (King
Edward, the French king) as the true protagonists of
the action, elevating the narrative and giving it lyrical
overtones.
See also CHRONICLES; HUNDRED YEARS’ WAR.
FURTHER READING
Osberg, Richard H., ed. The Poems of Laurence Minot:
1333–1352. Kalamazoo, MI: Medieval Institute Publica-
tions, 1996.
Alessandra Petrina408 “SIEGE OF CALAIS, THE”