Wilton Circle
The Wilton Circle were an influential group of 16th-century English poets, led by Mary Sidney. They were based at Wilton House, Wiltshire, which was run by the half-brother of Walter Raleigh. Sidney turned Wilton into a "paradise for poets", and the circle included Edmund Spenser, Michael Drayton, Sir John Davies, Abraham Fraunce, and Samuel Daniel.
They are described as "the most important and influential literary circle in English history"{{cite web | url=http://www.shakespeareanauthorshiptrust.org.uk/pages/candidates/sidney.htm | work=The Shakespearean Authorship Trust | title=Mary Sidney Herbert | accessdate=3 June 2010}} and Mary Sidney has been called a "patroness of the muses".{{cite book |last1=Hannay |first1=Margaret P. |title=Philip's Phoenix: Mary Sidney, Countess of Pembroke |date=1990 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=0-19-505779-1 |pages=106–142}}
See also
Areopagus, a similar group centered around Mary's brother, Philip Sidney