f [1]
To the right honnorable my Lorde Haywarde Lorde highe Admirall of Englande and one of her maiesties moste honnorable previe Counsayle/
In moste hvmble manner Complayneth and sheweth vnto your good Lordeshipp, your
poore suppliantes and dayly Oratours Phillipp Henslo, and others the poore watermen on the bancke side/ whereas your good Lordship hathe derected
your warrant vnto hir maiesties Iustices, for the restraynte of a playe howse
beinge belonginge vnto the saide Phillipp Henslo <.> one of the groomes of her
maiesties Chamber So it is if it please your good Lordshipp, that wee
your saide poore watermen have had muche helpe and reliefe for vs oure
poore wives and Childeren by meanes of the resorte of suche people
as come vnto the said playe howse, It maye therefore please your good
Lordship for godes sake and in the waye of Charetie to respecte vs your
poore water<.> men, and to
give leave vnto the said Phillipp Henslo to have playinge in his saide howse duringe
suche tyme as others have according as it hathe byne accustomed/ And in
your honnors so doinge yow shall not onely doe a good and a Charitable dede
but also bynde vs all according to oure dewties, with oure poore wives and
Children dayly to praye for your honnor in mvche happynes longe to lyve
|
(signed) Isack Towell Edward X Robartes mark on of her Maiesties wattermen (signed) Thomes cox Thomas X Edmanson marke Edwarde X Adysson on of her Maiesties wattermen W T Ieames X Grainger Christoffer X topen marke |
(signed) William dorret master of her
Maiestes barge Gyllam X Rockett marke on of her Maiesties wattermen (signed) wylliam hodges quens man Thomas X Farmonger on of her Maiesties wattermen william X Tuchenner on of her Maiesties mean (signed) Iames Russell (signed) Henry Droaper (signed) Fardinando Blacke (signed) Parker Playne |
For an image of the original MS, see the Henslowe-Alleyn Digitisation Project, MS 1 Article 17.
Alan Nelson has identified sixteen of these watermen in Southwark parish records and the seventeenth in court of Exchequer documents. William 'Tuchenner,' or Tutchener, was buried in the parish church of St Saviour's, Southwark, on 6 January 1590/1, while James Grainger was buried at the end of the same year on 6 December 1591. The exact reason for the temporary restraint of playing, which seems to have been specific to the Rose, remains unclear. The letter to the Surrey JPs has not survived.
Record title: Petition to the Lord Admiral by the Watermen
Repository: Dulwich College
Shelfmark: MS I, box C
Repository location: Dulwich
This petition by the watermen to their patron
and representative on the Privy Council, Charles Howard, Lord Admiral, is likely
connected to the undated petition by Strange's Men, also in Dulwich
College. For many years, scholars considered these two petitions,
together with an undated Privy Council warrant allowing Strange's Men to resume performances
at the Rose, to have been associated
with the restraint of performances during the plague months of 1592
or 1593. However, in an as yet unpublished paper 'Philip Henslowe and
the Bankside Watermen: A Fresh Look at Three Familiar Documents,' Alan
H. Nelson has studied the seventeen signatures on the watermen's
petition, discovering from his local parish register research that two
of those signing were dead by 1591; see further 'History of the Playhouse'. Given the earliest of the two
death dates, in January 1590/1, the previous summer of 1590 becomes a
more plausible date.
For an abstract of the document and
details of its transcription history, see the related EMLoT event record.
c 1590; English; paper; bifolium; 305mm x 200mm; no original foliation; written on f [1] only, dirty, badly deteriorated and repaired; originally folded 3 times, no endorsement. Article 17 in Warner's Catalogue; foliated 25–6 in later pencil, formerly bound in MS I but now mounted separately on acid-free paper within modern board covers with other documents of the same size in fascicule 2, box C.