author
Earl of Orrery Roger Boyle
1621–1679
A soldier, statesman, and playwright, he moved through the upheavals of the English Civil Wars, the Commonwealth, and the Restoration with unusual political skill. His life joined public power with literary ambition, leaving behind both political influence and a body of drama and prose.
1 Audiobook
Prefaces to Four Seventeenth-Century Romances Roger Boyle, Lord Broghill, preface to Parthenissa (1655) Sir George Mackenzie, "Apologie for romances," prefixed to Aretina, the serious romance (1660) Nathaniel Ingelo, preface to Bentivolio and Urania (1660) Robert Boyle, preface to Theodora and Didymus (1687)
by Earl of Orrery Roger Boyle, Nathaniel Ingelo, George Mackenzie
About the author
Born in Ireland in 1621 into the powerful Boyle family, he was the son of Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork. He was educated at Trinity College Dublin and first came to prominence as Lord Broghill before later becoming the 1st Earl of Orrery.
He built a remarkable career in war and politics during one of the most unsettled periods in British and Irish history. Active in the conflicts of the 1640s and 1650s, he worked closely with the Cromwellian regime, yet he also adapted successfully to the Restoration of Charles II in 1660, when he was rewarded with the earldom of Orrery.
Alongside his public career, he wrote plays and other prose works, and is often remembered as both a political operator and a literary figure. He died in 1679 at Castlemartyr in Ireland.