p 232 (4 January)
...
It is agreed that in regard of the great infection and danger of the small pox in this towne the showe of the Chaos shall not be shewed in the towne./
...
The Chaos was a biblical play performed by a group of puppet players led by William Sands who toured the provinces, especially in the north and south-west. In 1623 the master of the revels, Henry Herbert, granted a licence to William Sands, with his son John Sands, Richard Luke, and nine other assistants to perform a play 'calld the Caos of the world' (David George, 'Anti-Catholic Plays, Puppet Shows, and Horse-Racing in Reformation Lancashire,' REED Newsletter 19.1 (1994), 16–19; N.W. Bawcutt, 'Sir Henry Herbert and William Sands the Puppeteer: Some Corrections,' REED Newsletter 20.1 (1995), 17–19). In 1630 they ran afoul of the constable of Beaminster in Dorset and were ordered to leave the area by the Dorset quarter sessions court (Rosalind Conklin Hays et al (eds), Dorset/Cornwall, REED (Toronto, 1999), 121–2). These are probably the puppet players John Oglander saw on the Isle of Wight in the same year.
Record title: Newport Convocation
Book
Repository: Isle of Wight Record Office and Archive
Shelfmark: NBC/45/16a
Repository location: Newport
The convocation book was effectively the minute book of Newport's council, recording its actions in a relatively rough form. Items of recurring interest were often copied into the more formal Ligger Book.
1609–59; English; paper; xiv + 708 + ii; 296mm x 197mm; original ink pagination; modern cardboard cover, marbled with red cloth corners and spine, title in gold on spine: 'Convocation Book 22nd Feby 1609 to 11th Sepr 1659' and at top of spine: '45/16A | 1609 to 1669.'