William D\' Avenant

Sir William D' Avenant (February 28th 1606 with Oxford - April 7th 1668 with London), sometimes also spelled Davenant in English, is a Poète and Dramaturge English, of which works are characteristic of the Littérature of the English Restoration.

Biography

He was the son of Jane Shepherd D' Avenant and John D' Avenant, the owner of the Crown Tavern (" inn of Couronne") and the mayor of the city. William had the privilege to have for godfather William Shakespeare, which frequently remained with the inn at the time of his ways between London and Stratford-upon-Avon. The rumor even claimed that William D' Avenant would have been the biological son of the great writer. This assumption, however, seems to draw its source from a remark allotted to Davenant by Samuel Butler: “ It seemed to him Of Endorsement that it wrote with the same spirit that Shakespeare had, and seemed satisfied to be called his/her son. ”

Davenant attended Lincoln College of Oxford during a certain time towards 1620, but left the institution before acquiring a diploma there.

Following the death of Ben Jonson in 1637, Of Endorsement was named Poète Prize winner in 1638. It supported then the king Charles Ier of England during the First revolution English. Declared guilty of high treason in 1641, a reversal of situation did it later finally adouber by the king two years, shortly after the Bataille of Gloucester. It was made knight in 1643. Davenant was then sent like emissary in France in 1645, and was made Catholique, then named treasurer of the colony of Virginia in 1649 by Charles II.

The following year, it was promoted lieutenant-governor of the Maryland, but was captured at sea, imprisoned and condemned to died by the mode of Oliver Cromwell. He was imprisoned during all the year 1651 in the Tour of London, which provides him the occasion to write its epopee, Gondibert . Released in 1652, it was amnestied only in 1654. One owes him then several plays, of which the Head office of Rhodos in 1656.

After having suffered from the Syphilis during nearly four decades, Of Endorsement died in London the April 7th 1668. It is buried in the Corner of the Poets to the Abbaye of Westminster, where its epitaph contains the words “ O rare Sir William Davenant ”. His/her son Charles Of Endorsement (1656-1714) had a name by several works of policy, poetry and economy.

Principal works

The Tragedy off Albovine (1629)
The Wits (1636)
The Unfortunate Lovers (1643)
The Platonick Lovers (1643)
Coils and Honor (1649) off
Gondibert (1650)
The Siege Rhodos (1656)

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