The Cholmeley branch of the Cholmley/Cholmeley family was resident at Brandsby Hall.
The payment to 'musitions on plowday' suggests that Cholmeley made a contribution to a customary event on Plow Monday (the first Monday after Epiphany), though whether or not this was the 'plough stot' entertainment or the accompanying sword dance as described in 1817 by Young, Whitby and Streoneshalh, vol 2, pp 881–2, is not certain; see the Introduction). The Dumb Knight, probably by Gervase Markham and Lewis Machin, was first published in 1608 (see the Introduction). Neither playwrights' name is printed on the title page of the 1608 printing; Machin's name is written by hand on the title pages of both the Bodleian and the British Library's copies (STC: 17398a; STC: 17399).
Record title: Richard
Cholmeley's Memorandum Book
Repository:
NYCRO
Shelfmark: ZQG XII 3/1
Repository location: Northallerton
On the Cholmeley family and their documents, see the Introduction. The memorandum book is not a formal account, as much of it is taken up with miscellaneous notes and there does not appear to be a formal accounting year.
1602–15 February 1622/3; English; paper; 138 leaves bound in 3 volumes: 1–14 and 126–138, 15–80, 81–125; 330mm x 225mm (mounts); modern foliation 1–138; originals in poor condition; mounted on modern archival paper and sewn in modern marbled paper boards covered in buff fabric, parchment cover (from a 15th-c. liturgical manuscript) slipped in separate folder along with several fragments.