Background
Barnabe Barnes was born at Stonegrave, Yorkshire, about 1569. The third son of Dr Richard Barnes, bishop of Durham.
Barnabe Barnes was born at Stonegrave, Yorkshire, about 1569. The third son of Dr Richard Barnes, bishop of Durham.
In 1586 Barnabe Barnes was entered at Brasenose College, Oxford, where Giovanni Florio was his servitor.
In 1591 Barnabe Barnes went to France with the earl of Essex, who was then serving against the prince of Parma. On his return he published Parthenophil and Parthenophe, Sonnettes, Madrigals, Elegies and Odes.
Parthenophil was possibly printed for private circulation, and the copy in the duke of Devonshire's library is believed to be unique. This partisanship is sufficient to account for the abuse of Thomas Nashe, who accused him, apparently on no proof at all, of stealing a nobleman's chain at Windsor, and of other things.
Barnes's second work, A Divine Centurie of Spirituall Sonnetts, appeared in 1595.
He also wrote two plays:- The Divil's Charter (1607), a tragedy dealing with the life of Pope Alexander VI, which was played before the king; and The Battle of Evesham (or Hexham).
In 1606 he dedicated to King James Offices enabling privat Persons for the speciall service of all good Princes and Policies, a prose treatise containing, among other things, descriptions of Queen Elizabeth and of the earl of Essex.