English poet best known for the lively Barnabees Journal (written in Latin rhymed verse under the pseudonym Corymbaeus, 1638; Eng. trans. 1638), containing amusing topographical information and unflagging gaiety.

After education at the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, Brathwaite went to London to practice law but instead wrote plays and pastoral poetry of little merit. He later retired to Westmorland as a country gentleman, writing The English Gentleman (1630) and The English Gentlewoman (1631), books on social conduct that are of interest to the social historian.