Who was Gabriel Harvey, and how did he know Edmund Spenser?

Gabriel Harvey (c. 1550–1630) was an English scholar, writer, and literary stylist known for his involvement in intense literary feuds and his ambition to introduce classical hexameter into English poetry.1

He and Edmund Spenser became intimate friends while both were at Pembroke Hall (now Pembroke College) at the University of Cambridge. Harvey, who was a fellow at the college, was a mentor-like figure to the younger Spenser, sharing a mutual enthusiasm for literature and the classics.12

Their close bond is well-documented; they exchanged elegantly styled letters, and Spenser famously celebrated their friendship in his 1579 work, The Shepheardes Calender. In this pastoral poem, Spenser represented himself as the character Colin Clout and Harvey as Hobbinol. Despite Harvey’s reputation among some contemporaries as a pedantic and argumentative figure, he remained a significant intellectual influence on Spenser during his formative years at Cambridge.12