Thomas Sackville
born 1536, Buckhurst, Sussex, Eng.
died April 19, 1608, London
English statesman, poet, and dramatist,
remembered largely for his share in two
achievements of significance in the development
of Elizabethan poetry and drama: the collection
A Myrrour for Magistrates (1563) and the tragedy
Gorboduc (1561).
Sackville settled in London in 1553. In 1558
he became a barrister and entered Parliament. He
began an extended visit to Italy c. 1563 and
returned upon his father’s death in 1566. The
next year he was created baron of Buckhurst. He
continued to serve the government, becoming a
member of the Privy Council in 1585; he conveyed
the death sentence to Mary, Queen of Scots, in
1586. He served on several diplomatic missions
to The Hague and became chancellor of the
University of Oxford (1591) and lord high
treasurer (1599; conferred for life in 1603). He
was created a knight and a baron in 1567 and
earl of Dorset in 1604. His house in Kent, Knole,
is one of the great buildings of the age.
Sackville’s “Induction,” the most famous part
of the Myrrour, describes the poet’s visit to
the infernal regions. Written with Thomas
Norton, The Tragedie of Gorboduc is the earliest
known English drama in blank verse.
