Edmund Bolton

Edmund Bolton (or BouLTON) (1575?-1633?) was and English poet and historian.

Life
He was born by his own account in 1575. He was brought up a Roman Catholic, and was educated at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, afterwards residing in London at the Inner Temple. In 1600 he contributed to England's Helicon. He was a retainer of the duke of Buckingham, and through his influence he secured a small place at the court of James I. Bolton formulated a scheme for the establishment of an English academy, but the project fell through after the death of the king, who had regarded it favourably. He wrote a Life of King Henry II. for Speed's Chronicle, but his Catholic sympathies betrayed themselves in his treatment of Thomas Becket, and a life by Dr John Barcham was substituted (Wood, Ath. Oxon. ed. Bliss, iii. 36).

Bolton was still living in 1633, but the date of his death is unknown.

Writing
The most important of his numerous works are Hypercritica (1618?), a short critical treatise valuable for its notices of contemporary authors, reprinted in Joseph Haslewood's Ancient Critical Essays  (vol. ii., 1815); Nero Caesar, or Monarchic Depraved (1624), with special note of British affairs.

See also
 * List of British poets