DYER, SIR EDWARD (d. 1607), English courtier and poet, son of Sir Thomas Dyer, Kt., was born at Sharpham Park, Somersetshire. He was educated, according to Anthony a Wood, either at Balliol college or at Broadgates hall, Oxford. He left the university without taking a degree, and after some time spent abroad appeared at Queen Elizabeth's Court. His first patron was the earl of Leicester, and he is mentioned by Gabriel Harvey with Sidney as one of the ornaments of the Court. Sidney in his will desired that his books should be divided between Fulke Greville (Lord Brooke) and Dyer. He was employed by Elizabeth on a mission (1584) to the Low Countries, and in 1589 was sent to Denmark. He was knighted and made chancellor of the order of the Garter in Wood says that many esteemed him to be a Rosicrucian, and that he was a firm believer in alchemy. He had a great reputation as a poet among his contemporaries, but very little of his work has survived. Puttenham in the Arte of English Poesie speaks of "Maister Edward Dyar, for Elegie most sweete, solempne, and of high conceit." One of the poems universally accepted as his is "My Mynde to me a kingdome is." See the collection of his works by A. B. Grosart, Fuller Worthies Library (vol. iv., 1876).