Emilia Lanier
Emilia Lanier / Emilia Lanyer | |
|---|---|
Portrait by Nicholas Hilliard, suggested to be Lanier | |
| Born | Aemilia Bassano 1569 |
| Died | 1645 (aged 75–76) London, England |
| Movement | English Renaissance |
| Spouse |
Alfonso Lanier (died 1613) |
| Parents |
|
Emilia Lanier (née Aemilia Bassano; 1569–1645) was an English writer and poet during the Elizabethan period. Her 1611 volume Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum (Hail, God, King of the Jews) has been seen as protofeminist. She has a strong claim to be one of the first commercially-published women poets writing in the English language.
Lanier was a contemporary of William Shakespeare, and attempts have been made to identify her with Shakespeare's "Dark Lady" or even with Shakespeare himself. These ideas have inspired several works of fiction with Lanier as a character.