CHAPTER 8:
THE BANKSIDE PLAYHOUSES AND BEAR GARDENS
The situation of the various Bear Gardens and playhouses in Southwark has been worked out by C. L. Kingsford in his article "Paris Garden
and the Bear-baiting" in Archaeologia, Vol. 70, by W. W. Braines in The Site
of the Globe Playhouse, and by E. K. Chambers in The Elizabethan Stage, but
for the sake of completeness, and because one or two pieces of new evidence
have emerged in the course of the preparation of this volume, a short account
of the Bear Gardens and of the Playhouses is included here.
1. The Bear Gardens And The Hope Theatre
The first specific reference that has been found to bear-baiting on
Bankside is in an order of Henry VIII dated 13th April, 1546, to the Mayor
and Sheriffs of London, to proclaim the abolition of the Stews on Bankside
and of bear-baiting "in that row or in any place on that side London
bridge." (ref. 4) Notwithstanding this proclamation Thomas Fluddie, Yeoman of
His Majesty's Bears, was granted a licence in September, 1546, to "make
pastime" with the king's bears "at the accustomed place at London, called
the Stewes." (ref. 4) The Stews were roughly coincident with the thoroughfare
known as Bankside, but they did not extend into Paris Garden Manor. The
records quoted below show that from 1550 onward the Bear Gardens were
in the liberty of the Clink, i.e. near the site of the Stews, and it is difficult
to account for the fact that literary allusions to bear-baiting nearly always link
it with Paris Garden. Robert Crowley in 1550 speaks—
"Of Bearbaytynge.
What follye is thys, to kepe wyth daunger,
A greate mastyfe dogge and a foule ouglye beare;
And to thys onelye ende, to se them two fyght,
Wyth terrible tearynge, a full ouglye syght.
And yet me thynke those men be mooste foles of all,
Whose store of money is but verye smale,
And yet euerye Sondaye they will surelye spende
One penye or two, the bearwardes lyuyng to mende.
At Paryse Garden eche Sundaye, a man shall not fayle
To fynde two or three hundredes, for the bearwardes vaile." (ref. 139)
In a preface to a sermon preached by John Bradford before Edward VI
Thomas Sampson refers to God's judgment on "certayne Gentlemen upon
the Sabboth day, going in a whirry to Paris garden to the Beare bayting" who
were drowned, (ref. 140) and from 1559 onwards references become fairly frequent.
An extensive search of the records has revealed no evidence of bearbaiting taking place within Paris Garden Manor, but it is possible that bears
were baited in the gaming establishment run by William Baseley at the manor
house of Paris Garden (see p. 96) though no written evidence of this has
been found. It is likely that the association of "Paris Garden" with the Bear
Gardens is a simple transference of name through its use in colloquial speech.
Men had grown accustomed to crossing the river to Paris Garden Stairs to
take their pleasure in Paris Garden. Later they used the same route but
turned east instead of west, and they probably continued to speak of "going
to Paris Garden." (fn. a) In support of this theory it may be noted that in the Token
Books for the years 1613–18 the heading "Paris Garden" is inserted before
the name of "Mr. Jacob of the beare garden" and "Mr. Edward Allen," in
the part of the books relating to the area between Rose Alley and Mosses
Alley, i.e. near the site of the alley now known as Bear Gardens. This provides an explanation for the references in the Dulwich College manuscripts to
Edward Alleyn and Philip Henslowe at Paris Garden, and is probably the result
of the linking of the name Paris Garden with bear-baiting in popular parlance.
In the year 1620 a dispute arose between the Crown and the Bishop
of Winchester as to the ownership of the ground in the neighbourhood of
the Bear Gardens. The evidence (ref. 142) runs into many pages and is frequently
contradictory, but it clearly shows that the bear-baiting rings had been moved
several times and that the "Bear Gardens" had by that date become a generic
term covering the sheds and kennels in which the bears, bulls and dogs were
kept, as well as the actual rings and the adjoining houses, most of which were
occupied by persons having some connection with the Bear Gardens.
Apart from one statement about baiting near Mason's Stairs (fn. b) which
cannot be confirmed from other sources, all the witnesses agreed that the
Bear Gardens were either on part of the Bishop of Winchester's land leased
in 1540 to William Payne and formerly known as the Barge, Bell and Cock,
or on the King's land leased in 1552 to Henry Polsted and formerly known
as the Unicorn and the Rose (see Plate 59). The deeds of the Polsted property
have been traced back to the 14th century (fn. c) but the first reference to a Bear
Garden occurs in the lease of 1552 which included "a capital curtilage called
le Beare yarde with le Berehouse and a garden" held by John Allen at a rent
of £8 a year. (ref. 145) As noted above the first literary allusion to bear-baiting on
Bankside occurs in 1550 and the inference is that it had been recently introduced at that time. It seems certain that either William Payne, who died in
1575, (ref. 146) or his son John, built a bear-baiting ring on the land leased from the
Bishop of Winchester and that both this ring and the older one farther south
were in use for a time. Stow, describing Bankside in 1598, says: "there be
the two Beare-gardens, the old and new places wherein be kept Beares,
Bulles, and other beastes, to be bayted. As also Mastiues in seuerall kenels
are there nourished to bait them. These Beares … are … bayted in
plottes of grounde, scaffolded about for the beholders to stand safe." (ref. 26) A
conventionalised view of two rings (one marked "The bolle bayting" and
the other "The Bearebayting") and of the dogs ready to leap from their
kennels can be seen in the part of the Agas map [date c. 1560] reproduced
here, but it is possible that the more easterly of these represents an unrecorded
ring on the site of the Rose Theatre. In 1583 "the old and underpropped
scaffolds round about the beare garden … overcharged with people fell
suddenlie downe, whereby to the number of eight persons men and women
were slaine, and manie other sore hurt and brused." (ref. 147)
Figure 36:
Part of the "Agas" map view showing the bull and bear baiting rings
Morgan Pope, goldsmith, obtained an exemplification of the grant of
the mastership of the Game of Bears in 1585, (ref. 148) and in 1586 he was paying
tithes for the Bear Garden. (ref. 16) Thomas Burnaby bought a lease of the Bear
Garden on the Bishop of Winchester's property in 1590 and promptly let it
to Richard Reve for a yearly rent of £120 under the description of, (ref. 149) "All
that Tenemente whearein one John Napton deceased did latelie inhabyte
… on the Banke syde … Togeather Wth the Beare garden and the
Scaffoldes houses game and dogges and all other thinges thereunto apperteyninge … excepting such fees as shal be … payable to the maister
of the said game." (fn. a) The schedule of stock included three bulls, nine bears, a
horse and an ape.
In 1592 Edward Alleyn, who later founded Dulwich College and
who was already a well-known actor, married Joan Woodward, stepdaughter
of Philip Henslowe, manager of the Rose Playhouse, (ref. 90) and the two men
began a profitable business connection. In 1594 Alleyn bought Burnaby's
interest in the Bear Garden for £200, (ref. 151) and in 1596 Henslowe acquired a
lease of part of the Polsted property. Henslowe and Alleyn tried to get the
office of Master of the Royal Game of Bulls and Bears on the death of Ralph
Bowes in 1598, but had to be content with the deputyship under John
Dorrington. They were, however, more successful in 1604 when they
obtained a grant from James I of the "Office of Cheefe Master, Overseer and
Ruler of our beares, Bulls and mastiffe dogges." (ref. 151) Having thus consolidated
their position Alleyn and Henslowe started to develop their property. In
1606 they contracted with Peter Streete, carpenter, for £65, to pull down
"so much of the tymber or carpenters worke of the foreside of the messuage
… called the beare garden, next the river of Thames … as conteyneth
in lengthe from outside to outside fyftye and sixe foote … and in bredth
from outside to outside sixeteene foote" … and to rebuild the same with
"good new sufficient and sounde tymber of oke." (ref. 79) From the detailed
specification it appears that it was the entrance gate and outbuildings of the
Bear Garden which were rebuilt at this time, (ref. 152) but in 1613 the baiting
place itself was demolished and Gilbert Katherens, carpenter, undertook for
the sum of £360 to build (ref. 79) "one other game place or plaiehouse fitt and
convenient in all thinges bothe for players to plaie in and for the game of
Beares and bulls to be bayted in the same, and also a fitt and convenient tyre
house and a stage to be carryed or taken awaie and to stand uppon tressels"
the whole to be "of suche large compasse, fforme, widenes and height
as the plaie housse called the Swan in the libertie of Parris garden." The
new theatre, the Hope, was slightly more substantial than the Rose, as part
of it was of brick, the brickwork being put in by a sub-contractor, John
Browne, bricklayer, at a cost of £80. (ref. 79) The contract with Katherens was
made in August and it is probable that Henslowe seized the opportunity
given him by the destruction of the Globe Playhouse by fire on 29th June,
1613, to establish another playhouse on Bankside. Philip Henslowe and
Jacob Meade, waterman, raised a company of players under the leadership of
Nathan Field, and in 1614 they acted Ben Jonson's Bartholomew Fair at the
Hope.
Alleyn
In the time of Elizabeth bear-baiting had been a sport for Sunday
afternoons, but the Sunday performances were stopped early in the reign of
James I. After the building of the Hope it was used for bear and bull-baiting
on Mondays, and for plays during the rest of the week. Plays began at 3 p.m.,
and the players seem to have been paid by receiving a share of the takings. (fn. a) (ref. 153)
Among the witnesses called during the dispute of 1620 was John
Browne (aged 29), who was presumably the bricklayer employed on the
Hope. He stated that "there was a sinke or open gutter for the use . . .
of the beare garden on the West side of the old beare garden running southward which is now stopped vpp and that the old dogg Kennells were more
westward beyond the same and that the now new playhouse is in part built
vppon the said sinke and where the old dogg Kennell stood." He also stated
that Henslowe started to lay the foundation of the playhouse on part of the
old Bear Garden but that on Edward Alleyn's persuasion he moved it southward a few feet so that it should be wholly on the king's land. (ref. 142) It would
appear, therefore, that the Hope stood just south of the Bishop of Winchester's ground on the site marked on the plan on Plate 59. (fn. b) It was pulled
down during the Civil War.
A pothouse and glasshouse had been built on the site by 1671 when
John Squibb, the then owner of the Polsted property, leased this portion of
it to William Lillingston and others. (ref. 155) More glasshouses, i.e. glass-blowing
workshops, were erected there by John Bowles at the end of the 17th century.
In 1776 a smith's shop and foundry had replaced the glasshouses. The site
is now occupied by the premises of Beck & Pollitzer.
In 1662 James Davies, who had held the office of "Master of . . .
[the] Games of Beares, Bulls, etc.," under Charles I petitioned that it might
be restored to him, and stated that he and his father had laid out £2,000 in
rebuilding the Bear Gardens on Bankside. (ref. 156) They were successful in their
application and there are a number of allusions to bear-baiting on Bankside
in the diaries of Evelyn and Pepys. The last reference that has been found is
in an advertisement published in The Loyal Protestant for 1682.
The Bear Gardens of Charles II's reign were south of Henslowe's.
The site is marked on the map of Morden and Lea (1682) and on the map
in the 1755 edition of Strype's Stow. It seems probable that the small square
into which the narrow alley now known as Bear Gardens opens, about twenty
yards north of Maid Lane, marks approximately the site of the last bearbaiting ring. (fn. a)
2. The Rose Playhouse
The property between the site of Southwark Bridge Road and the
narrow thoroughfare known as Rose Alley was granted in 1552 to the parish
of St. Mildred, Bread Street by Thomasyn Symonds "widowe of Rauf
Symondes, late citizene and fysshemonger of London." It was then known
as the Little Rose to distinguish it from the messuage known as the Rose
which adjoined it on the west. Philip Henslowe acquired a lease of the
Little Rose in 1585 (ref. 79) and two years later entered into partnership with John
Cholmley, grocer, for the erection of a playhouse thereon. Cholmley undertook to pay £816 towards the cost and was to have in return half the receipts
and a small tenement at the south end of the ground near Maid Lane and
Rose Alley "to keepe victualinge in, or to putt to any other vse." (ref. 79) The
Rose Playhouse was built by 12th April, 1588, when "Phillip Finchley
Morgane Pope & John Napton" were ordered by the Sewer Commissioners
"to clense and skower & to lope the willowes yt hang over the common
sewer to the great annoysaunce of the same cont' x pole more or les lyeing
against ther grownd at ye new plaie house." (ref. 129) Further work was carried out
at the Rose in 1592 when the expenses are entered in Henslowe's Diary.
They include a number of payments to John Griggs, carpenter, the contractor mentioned in the 1587 agreement. (fn. b) The accounts indicate that the
building was of wood and plaster with a thatched roof over the galleries. It
had a flagstaff on which a flag was displayed as a signal for the commencement
of performances. References to the Rose as "in Maid Lane" in the Sewer
Commission minutes indicate that it was built well back from the river
bank.
The Rose Theatre was the first of the four playhouses, the Rose, the
Hope, the Swan and the Globe, built near the river bank in Southwark circa
1600. Whether Shakespeare ever acted at the Rose is a matter for conjecture.
We know that Lord Strange's men, Lord Pembroke's men and the men of
"my Lord Admiral" were among the companies which performed there
between 1593 and 1598. From a note in Henslowe's Diary it appears that
Ben Jonson contemplated buying a share in the playhouse but that the
arrangement fell through. Gabriel Spenser, the actor, whom Ben Jonson
killed in a duel in 1598, was acting at the Rose in that year and received a
share in the takings of the galleries in April, May and June.
After the opening of the Globe Playhouse in 1599 the Rose declined in
popularity. The Earl of Worcester's company performed there in 1602–3 (ref. 154)
but no reference has been found to plays there after that date. Henslowe's
lease of the ground expired in 1605 and he declined the offer of a renewal at
an increased rent (£20 instead of £7 and the lessee to spend 100 marks on
building), saying that he would rather pull down the playhouse. (ref. 151) The last
reference to the Rose Playhouse that has been found occurs in the Sewer
Commission minutes for 25th April, 1606, "It is Ordered that Edward Box
of Bredstreete in London shall … pyle boorde & fill up fyve poles . . .
of the bancke against the sewar by the Late Playhouse in Maidelane called
the Rose."
The land comprised in the Little Rose has, apart from two small
portions granted to the Commissioners of the Bishop of Winchester's Liberty
and to the Southwark Bridge Company in 1812 and 1815 respectively,
remained the property of the parish of St. Mildred, Bread Street, until
the present day. (fn. a) It consists of Nos. 25 and 27 Bankside, Nos. 2, 4, 6
and 8 Southwark Bridge Road, and warehouses in Rose Alley and Park
Street. (ref. 56)
3. The Swan Playhouse
The Swan Playhouse, in Paris Garden, was built by Francis Langley,
who had bought the manor of Paris Garden in 1589. Langley, like Henslowe,
was a speculator, who hoped to make money out of the growing demand for
entertainment. He was described in 1589 as a "citizen and draper," and he
held the office of alnager and searcher of cloth in the City of London. The
exact date of the erection of the Swan has not been ascertained but it was
after November, 1594, when the Lord Mayor addressed a letter to the Lord
Treasurer asking him to prevent Langley from carrying out his project of
erecting a new theatre on Bankside. (ref. 148) If John de Witt, who made the sketch
of the Swan Playhouse, frequently reproduced in books on the Elizabethan
stage, journeyed to England in 1596 as is generally supposed, the playhouse
must have been erected in 1595–6. It was certainly in existence before
April, 1598, when there is an order in the minute book of St. Saviour's
Parish, that the wardens should "speake to Mr. Langlye & Mr.
Henslowe & Jacob Meade for Monie for the pore, in Regarde of theire
plaies." (ref. 16)
The Swan is shown as the "olde playe house" on the copyholders'
plan of the Manor of Old Paris Garden, dated 1627 (see Plate 65). It stood
to the south of Upper Ground about 400 feet from the river bank and a little
to the west of the lane which afterwards became Green Walk and is now
Hopton Street. An exterior view of the playhouse is given on Visscher's
map, but it is placed much too close to the river. As stated on p. 69 the
Swan formed the model for the Hope Playhouse. Part of the particulars
specified for the latter are (ref. 154) —
"Two stearecasses without and adioyninge to the saide Playe
house … of such largnes and height as the stearecasses of the saide
playehouse called the Swan. . . .
"… Heavens all over the saide stage, to be borne or
carryed without any postes or supporters to be fixed or sett vppon
the saide stage, and all gutters of leade needfull for the carryage of
all suche raine water as shall fall vppon the same. . . .
"… two Boxes in the lowermost storie fitt and decent for
gentlemen to sitt in, particions betwne the Rommes as they are at
the saide Plaie house called the Swan; … turned cullumes vppon
and over the stage; … the principalls and fore fronte of the saide
Plaie house of good … oken tymber, and no furr tymber to be
putt … in the lower most, or midell stories, except the vpright
postes on the backparte of the saide stories … the inner principall
postes of the first storie to be twelve footes in height and tenn ynches
square, the inner principall postes in the midell storie to be eight
ynches square, the inner most postes in the vpper storie to be seaven
ynches square. . . . Also the brest sommers in the lower moste
storie to be nyne ynches depe, and seaven ynches in thicknes . . .
a good, sure, and sufficient foundacion of brickes for the saide Play
house … xiij teene ynches at the leaste above the grounde."
The roof of the playhouse was to be covered with tiles.
After the death of Francis Langley in 1601 references to plays or
other entertainments at the Swan become scanty. The last payment made to
the overseers of the poor in respect of it was in 1620–1 and the last notice
of it which has been found is in a tract called Holland's Leaguer (1632) where
it is described as a famous fortress "now fallen to decay, and like a dying
Swanne, hanging downe her head, seemed to sing her ownne dierge."
4. The Globe Playhouse
The Globe Playhouse, the Glory of the Bank, was the third and the
most famous of the four Bankside playhouses. Many of Shakespeare's plays,
including the four great tragedies, were written for and first publicly performed upon its stage, and this, combined with the high standard of acting
of Burbage's players, has given it a distinction to which no other theatre has
since attained.
On 28th December, 1598, Cuthbert and Richard Burbage, Peter
Street and others, pulled down The Theatre, Shoreditch, and transported
"all the wood and timber therof unto the Banckside in the parishe of St.
Marye Overyes, and there erected a newe playehowse with the sayd timber
and woode." (ref. 154) The playhouse was erected on a piece of ground in Maid
Lane granted to the Burbages by Nicholas Brend for a period commencing
at Christmas, 1598, though the lease was dated 21st February, 1598/9. If
the allusion to "this wooden O" in Henry V contains, as is usually supposed,
a reference to the Globe, the playhouse was in existence by May or June,
1599, but the reference may possibly be to the Curtain Theatre. In any
case the Globe was opened before the end of that year, for the production
in 1599 of Ben Jonson's Every Man out of his Humour took place there, (fn. a) and
the contract for the erection of the Fortune, dated 8th January, 1599/1600,
refers to "the late erected plaiehowse on the Banck … called the Globe." (ref. 158)
The Globe was burnt down on 29th June, 1613, during a performance
of All is True (or Henry VIII). On 8th July John Chamberlaine wrote to
Sir Ralph Winwood, (ref. 159) "the burning of the Globe, or Playhouse on the Bankside, on St. Peter's Day … fell out by a Peale of Chambers (that I know
not upon what Occasion were to be used in the Play), the Tamplin or Stopple
of one of them lighting in the Thatch that covered the House, burn'd it down
to the Ground in less than two Hours, with a Dwelling-house adjoyning, and
it was a great Marvaile and fair Grace of God, that the People had so little
Harm, having but two narrow Doors to get out." The playhouse was at once
rebuilt. It was open again by 30th June, 1614, when John Chamberlaine
wrote to Alice Carleton that he had called upon her sister Williams, and
found her "gone to the New Globe, to a play." (ref. 160) Probably as a prevention
against fire the new theatre was tiled instead of thatched.
Among the parish papers of St. Saviour's is a return of buildings
made to the Earl Marshall in 1634/5. It refers to "The Globe Playhouse,
nere Maidelane, built by the Company of Players, with timber, aboute 20
yeares past, vppon an old foundacion, worth 20 li per Annum, being the
Inheritance of Sr Mathewe Brand kt. One house thereto adjoyninge, built
aboute the same tyme with tymber in the possession of William Millet, gent',
also of the Inheritance of Sr Mathew Brand kt., worth 4 (ref. 11) per Annum." The
playhouse was pulled down in 1644 and tenements were erected on the site.
William Shakespeare was connected with the Globe as a shareholder
and as a player. The lease of the Globe site was for a term of thirty-one years
and it conveyed the property in two equal moieties, the one to the Burbages
and the other to William Shakespeare, Augustine Phillips, Thomas Pope,
John Heminges and William Kempe. Shakespeare retained his share at least
until 1612.
From 1598 until the end of Elizabeth's reign the stage at the Globe
seems to have been occupied solely by the Lord Chamberlain's Company of
which Shakespeare had been a member since its inception in 1594. (ref. 154) There
seems no doubt that Shakespeare trod the boards there on a number of
occasions. James I took the Lord Chamberlain's players under his own protection and by patent dated 19th May, 1603, licensed "Lawrence Fletcher,
William Shakespeare, Richard Burbage, Augustyne Phillippes, John Heninges, Henrie Condell, William Sly, Robert Armyn, Richard Cowly, and the
rest of theire Assosiates freely to vse and exercise the Arte and faculty of
playinge Comedies, Tragedies, histories, Enterludes, moralls, pastoralls,
Stage plaies aswell for the recreation of our lovinge Subjectes, as for our
Solace and pleasure . . . when the infection of the plague shall decrease
. . . as well within theire nowe vsual howse called the Globe within our
County of Surrey, as alsoe within anie towne halls or Moute halls or other
conveniente places within the liberties and freedome of anie other Cittie,
vniversitie, towne or Boroughe . . . within our said Realmes." Probably
on account of the incidence of the plague in London, the company travelled
in the provinces in 1602–3. During the winter of 1603–4 it gave eight plays
at Court; one of these, Ben Jonson's Sejanus, was the last performance in
which Shakespeare is known to have taken part.
The exact site of the Globe has been the subject of much controversy.
In 1920–24 W. W. Braines carried out an exhaustive examination of
the available evidence and came to the conclusion that the Globe stood on the
south side of Maid Lane (now Park Street) at or near the place where it is
crossed by Southwark Bridge Road (see Plate 59). (ref. 158) Further research carried
out in connection with this volume and the evidence of the 1618 map of
Southwark which has recently come to light at the City Guildhall (see Plate 1
and page 133) have confirmed his conclusions. (fn. a) For a detailed history of the
site and an analysis of the evidence on which it is based the reader is referred
to Mr. Braines's book. The position chosen by the Shakespeare Reading
Society for the erection of a commemorative plaque (on the wall of the
Anchor Brewery next to No. 25 Park Street) is about 20 feet too far east.
5. Shakespeare in Southwark
There is no doubt that Shakespeare acted in Southwark but his
residence there is another matter. The mass of Shakespearian bibliography
grows year by year but the proven facts about his life are few. There is in existence a considerable body of parochial, manorial and other records relating to
Southwark for the period during which Shakespeare could have been in London,
and, in preparation for this volume, every effort has been made to locate and
search these records. In particular the token books, vestry minute books and
other records of St. Saviour's parish and the court rolls of the manor of Paris
Garden have been thoroughly examined. No fresh evidence has been found to
confirm the oft-repeated statement that Shakespeare lived in Southwark.
The reasons usually cited to support this statement are as follows—
Shakespeare
1. The probability that Shakespeare as an actor at the Globe would have
chosen to live near the playhouse.
Some, but not many, of his fellow actors are shown by the token
books, etc., to have lived near Bankside; the rest presumably came across
the river by boat or by London Bridge as most of the playgoers did.
The token books, which list the names of residents eligible to take
Communion, are extant for the Clink Liberty of St. Saviour's Parish for each
year from 1596 to 1610 with the exception of 1601 and 1603. Of the eight
actors appointed with Shakespeare to be "King's Men" in the Letters Patent
of 1603, three, Lawrence Fletcher (1604–10), Augustine Phillips (1593–1604), and William Sly (1593–97), are shown in the token books as living
in the neighbourhood of Bankside at the dates indicated in brackets. Edward
Juby, Martin Slater and Alexander Cook, who are all known to have been
actors, also occur in the token books while Edmund Shakespeare is shown in
Hunts Rents, Maid Lane, in 1607, the year of his death. The name of
William Shakespeare does not occur.
2. The statements of Edmund Malone and J. Payne Collier.
Malone, in 1796, (ref. 164) wrote: "From a paper now before me, which
formerly belonged to Edward Alleyn, the player, our poet appears to have
lived in Southwark, near the Bear Garden, in 1596. Another curious document in my possession, which will be produced in the History of his Life,
affords the strongest presumptive evidence that he continued to reside in
Southwark to the year 1608." Unfortunately Malone's Life of Shakespeare,
in his edition of the plays published in 1821, (ref. 153) does not contain this document
and, unless the 1596 paper is that mentioned below as being printed by
Collier, neither of these documents are now extant among the Alleyn manuscripts at Dulwich College, nor have they been traced elsewhere.
In 1841 in his Memoirs of Edward Alleyn Collier (ref. 165) quoted Malone's
statement and, while making no comment about the 1596 reference, printed
a document dated 1609 which he thought might be the second one referred
to by Malone who could have mistaken the year. Two copies of the 1609
document, which is a list of inhabitants of the Clink Liberty assessed for
Poor Rate, are still extant at Dulwich. The first is a contemporary document,
but the line "Mr. Shakespeare —Vid" is undoubtedly a later insertion, "the
ink being of a different colour and the letters betraying the forger by their
studied tremulous imitation of the original hand." (ref. 79) The second copy is "an
unquestionable forgery from beginning to end."
Among the Dulwich manuscripts is a paper headed "Inhabitants of
Southerk as have complaned this [ ] Jully 1596," which includes the name
"Mr. Shaksper." Collier printed this paper as genuine in 1844 (ref. 166) and James
Halliwell-Phillipps writing four years later (ref. 167) accepted it as the paper referred
to by Malone, though he thought that the latter might have had other papers
"detailing more particularly the object of complaint." The extant paper has
since "been justly condemned as a forgery." (ref. 79)
3. The evidence of the subsidy and pipe rolls.
In 1596/7 and 1597/8 William Shakespeare of the parish of St. Helen,
Bishopsgate, was assessed to pay contributions to the lay subsidy of 5s. and
13s. 4d. respectively, but defaulted. In the Pipe Roll for 1597/8 is a note
referring to the heading "Res[iduum] Sussex" in the following roll. There
the amount of 13s. 4d. is again entered against the name "Willms Shakspeare" but a marginal note is added "on[eratur] Ep[iscop]o Winton[ensi]."
In the next roll Shakespeare's name does not occur but the bishop of Winchester accounts for a sum of money "of the issues of divers persons" which
had been referred to him by the Sheriff of Surrey and Sussex. If these issues
(including Shakespeare's) are picked out of the preceding roll and added
together they amount to within a few pence of the sum rendered by the
bishop and it can therefore be assumed that the latter collected Shakespeare's
debt. (ref. 168)
On the ground that the bishop of Winchester was the owner of the
Clink Liberty in Southwark this set of entries has been accepted as an
indication that Shakespeare moved from St. Helen's, Bishopsgate, to Southwark in 1596/7. This deduction implies two assumptions; that the William
Shakespeare of the subsidy roll is the William Shakespeare of the Globe and
that the bishop of Winchester collected debts from him because he had come
to live in the Clink Liberty. We may perhaps accept the first assumption
since the name is uncommon, though no other evidence is forthcoming of a
connection with St. Helen's parish. The second assumption, though plausible, is by no means certain. The collection of tax may have been made by
the bishop as a matter of convenience because Shakespeare was part owner
of the Globe in the Clink, or, since the bishop owned many other properties,
because of a residence elsewhere.
An impartial review of the existing evidence for Shakespeare's residence in Southwark can only lead to the verdict "not proven." In this as in
so many ways Shakespeare the man remains a mystery.