Cosmopolitan Islanders and Paths Not Crossed: Philip Sidney and Robert Beale (with Hubert Languet in the Middle)

Abstract: This article investigates the commonalities and differences between the poet courtier, Philip Sidney, and an Elizabethan administrator and diplomatic representative of the second rank, Robert Beale. The two shared many of the same experiences abroad in Germany and France, were both connected to some of the same power brokers in the Elizabethan regime, and their mutual mentor and friend, Hubert Languet, tried to forge a special bond between them. Additionally, they agreed in many respects regarding the Protestant cause. Yet they never seem to have become friends or worked together. In fact, Beale resented people like Sidney because they came from very different backgrounds and lived completely different lives regarding access and privilege. Thus the social conservatism of the age is reflected in the fact that the two paths of Sidney and Beale need not have resulted in close personal friendship.