p 143 (10 May)
...
His maiestie being this day present in Councell & takeing into consideracion how dangerous it mought be in theise tymes of infeccion to suffer ye vsuall Assemblyes and confluence of people at Bearebaiteings & the lyke sportes haue thought fitt and ordered that the Master of the Beare Garden, & his deputies should be hereby straightly charged & Comaunded to forbeare all Beare baiteings, & other sports vsed there vntill further order./
p 144
...
His maiestie being this day present in Councell
& takeing into Consideracion how dangerous it mought be in theise tymes
of Infeccion to suffer the vsuall Assemblies of and Confluence
of people at Playhouses Showes & other Spectacles haue thought fitt and ordered,
that the Lord
Chamberlaine of his maiestes Househould should be
hereby prayed & required to cause all Stage Playes,
Enterludees Showes & Spectacles whatsoeuer, to be forth
with suppressed vntill further order./
...
ordered ye 10. Immediately above this order on p 144 is another, similarly phrased, directed to the Queen's players.
The privy councillors listed as present at the meeting (p 143) were Thomas Coventry (1578–1640), first Baron Coventry, lord keeper of the Great Seal, 1625–40; Edward Conway (c 1594–1655), second Viscount Conway, lord president of the privy council, 1628–31; Henry Montagu (c 1564–1642), first earl of Manchester, lord privy seal, 1628–42; Thomas Howard (1585–1646), earl of Arundel, earl marshal, 1621–46; Theophilus Howard (1584–1640), earl of Suffolk; William Cecil (1591–1668), sixteenth earl of Salisbury; John Egerton (1579–1649), first earl of Bridgwater; Sir Thomas Jermyn (c 1573–1644/5), vice-chamberlain of the Household; Sir John Coke (1563–1644), secretary of state.
For an abstract of this record and details of its transcription in other printed sources, see the related EMLoT event.
Record title: Privy Council Orders regarding Plague
Repository:
TNA
Shelfmark: PC 2/46
Repository location: London
The privy council here orders the suspension of all bearbaiting and other sports as well as plays, shows, and spectacles because of rising plague concerns. In the now lost office book of Sir Henry Herbert, master of the Revels, Herbert notes that at this time the number of plague dead had increased to four (probably an error for forty-one) within the city and fifty-four in all. Warrants were received from the lord chamberlain for the suppression of plays and these were served on the 'four' playing companies on 12 May 1636. On 23 February 1636/7 the number of deaths had decreased to forty-four, and so the players were at liberty to perform again from the next day. However, the number of deaths rose in the summer and so the players had to cease again until the 2 October; see Malone, The Plays and Poems of William Shakespeare, vol 3, p 239. The privy council's order below for the suppression of plays, p 144, was therefore reiterated on 1 March 1636/7 and included rope dancing; see TNA: PC2/47, p 220.
1 March 1635/6–27 November 1636; English; paper; ii + 293 + viii; 423mm x 286mm; ink pagination 1–475 (over earlier incomplete foliation, 1–235), unpaginated contemporary alphabetical index 24 leaves, list of presidents on 2 unnumbered leaves, later subject index 29 leaves (1 blank leaf, then 26 paginated in pencil 1–52, and finally 2 blank leaves); bound in worn maroon leather over boards, tooled, title on spine in gilt lettering, 'COUNCIL|REGISTER|1 MAR. 1635 | TO | 27 NOV. 1636' with torn and illegible paper labels top and bottom.
The National Archives (UK), ref. LR 2/190