Tilney, Charles

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Charles Tilney, 1561-1586, was the son of Philip Tilney, who was a cousin of Edmund Tilney, Master of the Revels from 1579 to 1603 (officially), though he continued to license documents into 1607 (he died in 1610). Charles Tilney is notable in two ways: he was part of the Babington Plot and executed with its ring leaders; and he was named by George Buc as the author of a lost play, "Estrild," for which Buc claimed to have written dumb shows. Charles Tilney was executed on 21 September 1586. That date serves as the terminus ad quo for the lost play. Tilney is not known to have written any other drama.

For further information, see "Locrine and the Babington Plot" by Benjamin Griffin in Notes and Queries, 44.1 (1997): 37-40. Griffin refers scholars additionally to Mary Queen of Scots and the Babington Plot by John Hungerford Pollen SJ, Edinburgh: Publications of the Scottish History Society, 1922.

For further information on the Tilney family connection, see "Edmund Tilney" by Richard Dutton in the OxDNB.

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Title	Year	Auspices
Estrild	1585	Unknown