Sir William Davenant, spelled D'Avenant, was an English poet and playwright.
12 Facts About William Davenant
2.
Mr William Davenant Shakespeare was wont to go into Warwickshire once a year, and did commonly in his journey lie at this house [the Crown] in Oxon, where he was exceedingly respected.
3.
William Davenant attended Lincoln College, Oxford, for a while in about 1620, but left before gaining any degree, becoming a page to the Duchess of Richmond.
4.
William Davenant's ruined nose was the subject of much ribald comment by his enemies.
5.
William Davenant was a supporter of King Charles I in the English Civil War.
6.
William Davenant is said to have been saved by the intervention of John Milton.
7.
William Davenant spent all of 1651 in the Tower of London, where he continued writing Gondibert.
8.
William Davenant found himself in legal trouble in 1659, when he was imprisoned for his part in Sir George Booth's uprising in Cheshire after the death of Cromwell.
9.
William Davenant was released the same year, and left once more for France.
10.
When Charles II was restored to the throne, William Davenant returned to England.
11.
William Davenant headed the Duke of York's Men and produced highly successful theatrical seasons at Lincoln's Inn Fields from 1660 until his death in 1668.
12.
William Davenant had returned to England sometime before the initial production of his adaptation of Shakespeare's The Tempest, written with John Dryden, who would be named the next Poet Laureate.