William Alexander

Noble

  • Born: c. 1567
  • Birthplace: Menstrie, Scotland
  • Died: 1640

Biography

Poet and dramatist William Alexander, first earl of Stirling, was born around 1567, in Menstrie, Scotland. His family was an ancient and powerful one. Alexander attended the University of Glasgow and later the University of Leyden in Holland, although he took degrees from neither school. Around 1597, he made a grand tour of Europe, including France, Italy, and Spain. He married Janet Erskine (her family lineage included the earls of Mar) in 1601. The couple bore eleven children.

It was Alexander’s own family connections that probably gave him access to King James VI of Scotland, and Alexander’s earliest writings suggest that he was interested in cultivating the king’s patronage. In 1603, at the death of Queen Elizabeth I, King James moved south to become James I of England. Much of his court moved with him, including William Alexander, who continued to write, including some work which was intended to gain the king’s attention, particularly a group of closet dramas, first published in 1603, intended in part to warn the king against the dangers of royal ambition. Alexander had previously published a variety of verse, including a number of sonnets. Scholars note that revisions of his dramas reveal Alexander’s intention to remove elements of Scottish dialect from his work.

Alexander was knighted in 1609 and became a member of the Scottish Privy Council in 1615. A few years later, James I granted him a North American territory which he named Nova Scotia; after that, Alexander seems to have ceased his literary work in favor of politics and encouraging settlement in his New World colony. King James and his successor, Charles I, attempted to help Alexander in this promotion by giving him authority to sell titles to raise funds for the colony.

In 1624, Alexander wrote a treatise urging would-be colonists to spread Christianity and civilization into the new land; nevertheless, the settlement was not successful, in part because of France’s rival claims to the land, which became a French territory in 1632. Despite the fact that his king continued to honor him, promoting him to the rank of earl in 1633, Alexander wrestled with increasing financial problems as a result of the failed colony. His public image was also damaged, a result of his promoting debased coinage and an attempt to require the Church of Scotland to use an English Bible.

Along with his dramas and sonnets, Alexander is also remembered as the author of most of the metrical psalms published under the name of James I, as well as of a continuation of Sir Philip Sidney’s prose romance Arcadia, and an epic poem, Doomes-Day (1614-1637), which influenced John Milton. Alexander died in 1640.