Fulke Greville

Elizabethan poet, dramatist, and statesman Fulke Greville, first baron Brooke and de jure thirteenth baron Latimer and fifth baron Willoughby de Broke, sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1581 and 1621, when the Crown raised him to the peerage.

Greville, a capable administrator, served England under Elizabeth I and James I as, successively, Treasurer of the Navy, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and commissioner of the Treasury. For his services, the Crown in 1621 made him baron Brooke, peer of the realm.

Granted Warwick castle in 1604, Greville made numerous improvements. Sober poetry of this known biographer of Sir Philip Sidney presents dark, thoughtful, and distinctly Calvinist views on art, literature, beauty, and other philosophical matters.