Clerke matriculated as a sizar of Trinity College, Cambridge, in June 1575, became a scholar of that house, and in 1578-9 proceeded Bachelor of Arts. He was soon afterward elected a fellow of his college, and in 1582 he commenced Master of Arts. There was a William Clerke, possibly the same, who was admitted to St. Paul's School on the recommendation of Mr. Malyne, and who received money 3 June 1579 and 20 February 1579–80, on going to Cambridge, from Robert Nowel's estate.
He is the supposed author of:
The dedication to Robert Devereux, earl of Essex, is signed 'W. C.' It is now attributed to William Covell. In this very curious and interesting work mention is made of our old English writers, 'sweet Shakespeare,' Harvey, Nash, and 'divine Spenser.' It has been said that this is the earliest known publication in which William Shakespeare's name is mentioned; but it occurs previously in the commendatory verses prefixed to "Willobie His Avisa," 1594.
Thomas Nashe was an Elizabethan playwright, poet, satirist and a significant pamphleteer. He is known for his novel The Unfortunate Traveller, his pamphlets including Pierce Penniless, and his numerous defences of the Church of England.
Anthony Munday was an English playwright and miscellaneous writer. He was baptized on 13 October 1560 in St Gregory by St Paul's, London, and was the son of Christopher Munday, a stationer, and Jane Munday. He was one of the chief predecessors of Shakespeare in English dramatic composition, and wrote plays about Robin Hood. He is believed to be the primary author of Sir Thomas More, on which he is believed to have collaborated with Henry Chettle, Thomas Heywood, William Shakespeare, and Thomas Dekker.
Thomas Lodge, the son of Lord Mayor of London, Thomas Lodge, was an English writer and author during the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods.
Thomas Cooper was an English bishop, lexicographer, theologian, and writer.
This article presents a possible chronological listing of the composition of the plays of William Shakespeare.
Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton, , was the only son of Henry Wriothesley, 2nd Earl of Southampton, and Mary Browne, daughter of Anthony Browne, 1st Viscount Montagu. Shakespeare's two narrative poems, Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece, were dedicated to Southampton, who is frequently identified as the Fair Youth of Shakespeare's Sonnets.
Henry Willobie is the ostensible author of a 1594 verse novella called Willobie His Avisa, a work that is of interest primarily because of its possible connection with William Shakespeare's life and writings.
William Painter was an English author and translator. As a clerk of the Ordnance in the Tower of London, he was accused of fraud aimed at amassing a personal fortune at public expense.
Matthew Hutton (1529–1606) was archbishop of York from 1595 to 1606.
Richard Field (1561–1624) was a printer and publisher in Elizabethan London, best known for his close association with the poems of William Shakespeare, with whom he grew up in Stratford-upon-Avon.
William Chaderton was an English academic and bishop. He also served as Lady Margaret's Professor of Divinity.
Thomas Creede was a printer of the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras, rated as "one of the best of his time." Based in London, he conducted his business under the sign of the Catherine Wheel in Thames Street from 1593 to 1600, and under the sign of the Eagle and Child in the Old Exchange from 1600 to 1617. Creede is best known for printing editions of works in English Renaissance drama, especially for ten editions of six Shakespearean plays and three works in the Shakespeare Apocrypha.
Robert Greene (1558–1592) was an English author popular in his day, and now best known for a posthumous pamphlet attributed to him, Greene's Groats-Worth of Witte, bought with a million of Repentance, widely believed to contain an attack on William Shakespeare. Robert Greene was a popular Elizabethan dramatist and pamphleteer known for his negative critiques of his colleagues. He is said to have been born in Norwich. He attended Cambridge where he received a BA in 1580, and an M.A. in 1583 before moving to London, where he arguably became the first professional author in England. Greene was prolific and published in many genres including romances, plays and autobiography.
William Ponsonby was a prominent London publisher of the Elizabethan era. Active in the 1577–1603 period, Ponsonby published the works of Edmund Spenser, Sir Philip Sidney, and other members of the Sidney circle; he has been called "the leading literary publisher of Elizabethan times."
Events from the 1590s in England.
Nicholas Bownde, Bownd or Bound was an English clergyman, known for his Christian Sabbatarian writings.
William Tooker was an English churchman and theological writer, who was archdeacon of Barnstaple and later dean of Lichfield.
Anthony Bacon (1558–1601) was a member of the powerful English Bacon family and was a spy during the Elizabethan era. He was Francis Bacon's brother.
Sir Rowland Lytton was an English lawyer and politician who sat in the House of Commons variously between 1586 and 1611.
Thomas Bell was an English Roman Catholic priest, and later an anti-Catholic writer.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : "Clerke, William". Dictionary of National Biography . London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.