William Bathe (2 April 1564 – 17 June 1614) was an Anglo-Irish Jesuit priest, musician and writer.
Life
Born in Dublin, Bathe lived at Drumcondra Castle, County Dublin, a member of a leading Anglo-Irish family. He was the eldest surviving son of John Bathe, Chancellor of the Exchequer of Ireland, and his first wife Eleanor Preston, daughter of Jenico Preston, 3rd Viscount Gormanston and Lady Catherine Fitzgerald; his paternal grandfather was James Bathe, Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer, whose second wife, William's grandmother, was Eleanor Burnell of Balgriffin His brother John Bathe was an Irish representative at the Royal Court in Madrid in the early 1600s. When William's father died in 1586 the family were among the biggest landowners in Dublin, although their wealth and influence notably declined in the next generation.
Bathe was trained as a musician and linguist at Oxford, where he wrote A Briefe Introductione to the True Art of Musicke (1584), which was revised as A Briefe Introduction to the Skill of Song (c.1596) – the first printed treatise on music in the English language. Following a long-standing family tradition, he also studied law at the Inns of Court in London. For a time he enjoyed the favor of Queen Elizabeth I, to whom he presented a harp of his own design.