Background
Kynaston was born at Oteley Park, near Ellesmere, Shropshire, the eldest son of Sir Edward Kynaston and his wife Isabel Bagenall, daughter of Sir Nicholas Bagenall. His father was High Sheriff of Shropshire in 1599.
Kynaston was born at Oteley Park, near Ellesmere, Shropshire, the eldest son of Sir Edward Kynaston and his wife Isabel Bagenall, daughter of Sir Nicholas Bagenall. His father was High Sheriff of Shropshire in 1599.
He graduated Bachelor of Arts from Street Mary Hall on 14 June 1604 and Master of Arts
He is noted for his translation of Geoffrey Chaucer"s Troilus and Criseyde into Latin verse (as rime royal, Amorum Troili et Creseidae Libri Quinque, 1639). He also made a Latin translation of Henryson"s The Testament of Cresseid. On 11 December 1601 Kynaston matriculated at Oriel College, Oxford. at Oxford on 11 November 1611.
He was called to the bar at Lincoln"s Inn in 1611.
He was knighted by James I at Theobalds on 21 December 1618. He became esquire of the body to Charles I on the King"s accession in 1625.
At court Kynaston was the centre of a literary coterie. In 1635 he founded an academy of learning, called the Musæum Minervæ, for which he obtained a license under the great seal, a grant of arms, and a common seal.
Charles also contributed from the treasury.
On 27 February 1636 Prince Charles, the Duke of York, and others visited the museum, and a masque by Kynaston, entitled Corona Minervæ, was performed in their presence. In July of the same year Sir George Peckham bequeathed money to the institution. Shortly after this, Kynaston was preoccupied with a certain ‘hanging furnace,’ recommended by him to the lords of the admiralty for ships of war.
Kynaston died in 1642, and was buried at Oteley.
Its site was marked by Kynaston"s Alley, Bedfordbury. Kynaston married Margaret Lee, daughter of Sir Humphry Lee, 1st Baronet of Langley, in 1613.
In 1621 Kynaston was elected Member of Parliament for Shropshire.