Fletcher, Giles (c. 1588–1623)

English poet. His chief work is Christ's Victory and Triumph, in Heaven, in Earth, Over and After Death 1610, a baroque poem in the epic style, divided into four cantos. The poem owes much to Spenser and in turn influenced Milton. Fletcher also contributed to the poetic tribute Sorrow's Joy on the death of Elizabeth I, and wrote The Reward of the Faithful 1623. He was a cousin of the dramatist John Fletcher.

He was born in London, the son of the poet Giles Fletcher, and was educated at Westminster School and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he became reader in Greek. He took holy orders and became vicar of Alderton, Suffolk.

Fletcher, Giles (1546–1611)

English lawyer, diplomat, and writer. He was sent on a diplomatic mission to Russia in 1588, where, despite a hostile reception from the tsar, he secured important concessions for English merchants. His frank and colourful account of Russia in The Russe Commonwealth (1591) was suppressed on publication on account of the English traders' fears that it would antagonize the Russians.

Born in Watford and educated at Eton and Cambridge, Fletcher gained his doctorate in law in 1581. From 1587 to 1605 he was Remembrancer of the City of London. A diplomatic mission to Scotland in 1586 was followed by one to Germany and then his trip to Russia. He also wrote a cycle of sonnets entitled Licia (1593) and a quantity of Latin verse. He was the father of the poets Giles Fletcher the Younger and Phineas Fletcher.