Background
Dyer, the son of Sir Thomas Dyer, Kt. , was born at Sharpham Park, Glastonbury, Somerset.
Dyer, the son of Sir Thomas Dyer, Kt. , was born at Sharpham Park, Glastonbury, Somerset.
Dyer was educated, according to Anthony Wood, either at Balliol College or at Broadgates Hall, Oxford.
He left the university without taking a degree.
After some time spent abroad Dyer appeared at Queen Elizabeth’s court. His first patron was the earl of Leicester, who seems to have thought of putting him forward as a rival to Sir Christopher Hatton in the queen’s favour.
He is mentioned by Gabriel Harvey with Sidney as one of the ornaments of the court. Sidney in his will desired that his books should be divided between Fulke Greville (Lord Brooke) and Dyer. He was employed by Elizabeth on a mission (1584) to the Low Countries, and in 1589 was sent to Denmark. In a commission to inquire into manors unjustly alienated from the crown in the west country he did not altogether please the queen, but he received a grant of some forfeited lands in Somerset in 1588.
He was knighted and made chancellor of the order of the Garter in 1596. William Oldys says of him that he “would not stoop to fawn, ” and some of his verses seem to show that the exigencies of life at court oppressed him. He died in 1607.