Milton, John

The English poet John Milton was born in London as the son of a wealthy Catholic burgher. He attended Christ's College, Cambridge, between 1625 and 1632 and continued to study independently for another six years. On his travels around Europe he visited France and also Italy where he met Galileo Galilei, who was then still unknown in England. Back in London he worked for a while as a private schoolmaster, and in 1642 he married a very young girl who returned to her parents only a few weeks after the wedding; she did not return until three years later. Because of his dislike of monarchy and his support for political and religious freedom, he turned to writing republican pamphlets in favour of the Commonwealth, and in 1649 Oliver Cromwell appointed him Secretary of Foreign Tongues in the newly formed Rump Parliament.