Nicholas Grimald

Nicholas Grimald (or Grimoald) (1519–1562) was an English poet and dramatist.

Nicholas Grimald was born to a modest yeoman family of farmers in 1519-20. His parents are unknown, despite the popular belief that his father was Giovanni Baptista Grimaldi. The poem A funeral song, upon the death of Annes his moother, accounts for his mother's death. Grimald's mother has been speculated to be Agnes Gyrmbold, who dies in 1555. The poem mentions his hardworking father, but focuses upon the fondness that he had for his mother. Grimald saw his parents love and devotion for each other and expressed that in the poem. He was the only boy out of many girls.

Maps found of Huntingdonshire in the 16th century do not show a place that could be Brownshold. What was found was an estate named Leighton Bromswold. This is the closest match to how Grimald describes his home in the poem A funeral song, upon the death of Annes his moother.

The Grimald family was seen to be living in Leighton Bromswold for close to four hundred years. Their last name had gone through variations as shown by legal documents kept by the town. Variations include: Grymbaud, Grymbold, Grymbolde, Grimbold, Grimald, Grimbald, and Grymbalde.

There has been no evidence of Grimald ever being married or having children. Some of his contributed verses in Tottle's Songes and Sonnettes refer to two women Grimald my have admired, Carie Day and Mistress Damascene Awdley. These verses show a debate on if marriage has the desired result that is wanted.

Grimald's connection to Nicholas Ridley, bishop of London, brought him under suspicion, and he was imprisoned in the Marshalsea. It is said that he escaped the penalties of heresy by recanting his errors, and was despised accordingly by his Protestant contemporaries.

The exact date, cause, and location of his death are unknown. Barnabe Googe, in his Eglogs, Epythaphes, and Sonettes(1563), included An Epytaphes on the Death of Nicholas Grimaold, which was written before Googe's departure abroad in 1562.

When Nicholas Grimald was fifteen years old, he started showing signs of poetic talent. His mother, who placed an emphasis on education, sent him to continue his education at Cambridge. This separation was hard for Grimald's mother, as he was the only boy in the family.

In 1539-40, Grimald graduated from Christ's College with a B.A.. Grimald traveled to Oxford a year later, when the prebendary of Leighton Bromswold Gilbert Smith, a family friend, was impressed by his work. In his first few years in Oxford, Grimald attended Brasenose College. When Grimald was unable to continue his school work because he lacked his books, his first drama was written. Grimald received encouragement from the Matthew Smith, the president of the school, along with other teachers and students who were eager to participate in the arts. The play was the Latin resurrection play Christus Redivivus. Grimald dedicated his work to Smith. It was written in 1541, but was published two years later in Germany in 1543.

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