Bowes was educated at Clare College, Cambridge, graduating BA in 1579–80 and MA in 1583.
The translation of the first part was published in 1586; it seemed to have met with immediate popularity, for a fifth edition was issued in 1614.
To both parts, Bowes prefixes a letter to the reader; in the longer of the two (prefixed to the second part), J. Payne Collier detects allusions to Marlowe, Greene and Nash.
He concludes by denouncing scurrilous romances about Arthur and Huon of Bordeaux.
There is an edition of the third part of the Academy, translated into English by R. Dolman and published in 1601.