Philip Sidney

Philip Sidney was an English courtier, poet, soldier and diplomat of the Elizabethan age. His literary works and death from wounds at Zutphen made him an emblem of Renaissance chivalry and Protestant military commitment.

For Historical Bookshelf, this entry is best treated as a historical or literary figure rather than a fictional character. It can support pages where novels refer to writers, playwrights, philosophers or scholars as part of a period’s intellectual background.

In S. J. Parris’s Heresy, Giordano Bruno travels with Philip Sidney to the university, officially as a visiting scholar but secretly on behalf of Francis Walsingham. In S. J. Parris’s Treachery, Giordano Bruno and Philip Sidney are drawn into the investigation before the murder can delay the voyage or reveal weakness to England’s enemies. Other novels featuring Philip Sidney include S. J. Parris’s Prophecy and Elizabeth Fremantle’s Watch the Lady.