1579 [27] Enters the service of the Earl of Leicester. Composition of The Faerie Queene already under way. 5 December: The Shepheardes Calender entered in Stationers' Register.
1580 [28] ?Marries Machabyas Chylde. Publication of The Shepheardes Calender and of correspondence with Gabriel Harvey. Appointed secretary to Lord Grey, Lord Deputy of Ireland. In ?August, to Dublin with Lord Grey. In November, apparently witnesses the siege and massacre at Smerwick, in Munster.
1581 (Publication of Tasso's Gerusalemme Liberata.)
1582 [30] Lord Grey recalled to London; end of Spenser's employment as his secretary. Spenser leases a house in Dublin, and a country residence: New Abbey at Kilcullen, 25 miles from Dublin. Birth of his son Sylvanus.
1583 [31] Appointed a Commissioner of Musters in County Kildare for a period of two years.
?1584 [32] Becomes deputy to the Clerk of the Council of Munster,
Lodowick Bryskett. ?Birth of daughter Katherine; ?death of
Machabyas Chylde.
1586 [34] Granted 3,028 acres at Kilcolman, 8 miles NNE of the town
of Mallow in County Cork; does not take up residence until 1588
or 1589. (Death of Sir Philip Sidney.)
1587 (Mary, Queen of Scots executed.)
1588 [36] Resigns his clerkship in the Court of Chancery. (Spanish Armada.)
1589 [37] Visited at Kilcolman by Raleigh. October or November: with Raleigh to England. Audience with the Queen. 1 December: the Faerie Queene entered in Stationers' Register.