ABSTRACT
Philip Sidney was born at his family’s Kent estate of Penshurst on 30 November 1554, the first of seven children of Sir Henry Sidney and his wife, Mary Dudley Sidne. In January 1579 Johann Casimir decided to appeal in person to Elizabeth. The queen commissioned Sidney to meet him as he disembarked, and Sidney accompanied the retinue—which included Languet—as Casimir was wined and dined in London and at court. In May 1581 Sidney received a letter from Dom Antonio, the pretender to the Portuguese throne, then in Tunis, asking him to join his campaign. Sidney was chosen by the queen to escort Antonio to his ship, and then to chase after him to Gravesend with a last-minute message. In spring 1583 Sidney spent time with the Polish Prince Olbracht Laski, who was visiting England: the two men witnessed Giordano Bruno’s controversial disputation with the rector of Lincoln College, Oxford in May 1583, and visited John Dee on 15 June.
