f 28v
Coppie of a Warraunt vnder the handes of the lords
of the
priuie Counsell for players copied the 3d of Iuly
1593
Whereas it was thought meete that duringe the tyme of the infection and
Continuance of the sicknes in the Cittie of london there shoulde no plaies, or Enterludes be vsd for avoidinge of Assemblies, &
Concourse of people in anie vnsuall place appointted near the said Cittie And that
the bearers hereof Edward Allen, servaunt to the right honorable the lord high Admirall, William Kempe , Thomas Pope
Iohn heminges
Augustus Phillippes and George Brian beinge all one Companie, seruauntes to our verie good lorde the Lord Straunge are
restrained their exercise of plaienge within the said Cittie, and liberties
thereof Yet is not thereby ment but that they shall and maye in regard of the
seruice by them donne, and to be donn at the Courte, exercise their qualities of
playenge Comedies Tragedies and such like in anie other Citties
Townes, and Corporations where the infection is not, soe it be not within
seven miles of london, or of the Courte, that they maye bee in the better readines
hereafter for her maiestes seruice whensoeuer theie
shalbe therevnto called Theis therefore shalbe to Wyll and requier yow that theie
maie without your lett, or Contradiction vse theire said exercise,
at there most convenient tymes & places, The accustomed tymes of devine
seruice prayer excepted, ffrom the Courte at Croydon the vjth daie
of Maie 1593
(signed) Iohn Canterbury
(signed) Henry Derby
(signed) Essesx⸢Essex⸣
(signed) Charles Howard(signed) Hunisdon/
(signed) Thomas buckhurst (signed) Iohn wolley
To all maiars sheriffs Iustices of the Peace Bailiffes Constables, hedboroughes and all other hir Maiestes officers and louinge subiectes to whome it shall apertaineth to euerie of them/.
Lord Strange's men had been forced onto the road when the Rose and other London theatres were shut down due to plague early in 1593. It is likely that they visited Southampton around the third of July, presenting a copy of their warrant from the privy council, which the town had copied into Knaplocke's Book. The accounts in the Book of Fines for this year have been torn out, so unfortunately no reward to Strange's men at this time has survived. Henslowe's Diary indicated that their repertoire while at the Rose in late 1592 and January 1592/3 included The Jew of Malta, Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay, 'harey the vj' (which may or may not have been Shakespeare's), and 'Jeronymo,' no doubt Kyd's Spanish Tragedy (Lawrence Manley and Sally–Beth MacLean, Lord Strange's Men and Their Plays (New Haven, 2014), 258–64, 336–7).
Record title: Knaplocke's Book
Repository: Southampton City Archives
Shelfmark: SC2/6/5
Repository location: Southampton
Knaplocke's Book is the earliest of
the town's 'books of instruments,' which
are collections of copies of a range of civic documents, including
indentures, statutes, debts, acquittances, official letters, apprenticeships, and the like.
This manuscript gets its name from the fact that it was compiled by
Robert Knaplocke, mayor in 1575–6.
1576–86; English and some Latin; paper; i + 183 + i; 420mm x 290mm; modern pencil foliation; original tooled leather cover.