Robin Goodfellow

Anon. (1603)

Historical Records

Correspondence

In a letter dated 15 January 1604, Dudley Carleton (1st Viscount Dorchester), a politician whose career was on the upswing in 1603-4, gave his friend, John Chamberlain, the following information: "On New Year's night we had a play of Robin Goodfellow" (Lee 53).

Declared Accounts of the Treasurer of the Chamber

Item 115b:

To Iohn Hemynges one of his ma^ties players vpon the Councelles warr^t dated Hamptoncoute xviij^ou die Ianuary 1603 for his paynes and expences of himselfe and the rest of his Company in p^resenting sixe interludes or playes before the kinges ma^ty and the prince viz one one S^t Stephins Day at night St Iohnes Day at night Innocentes Day and Newyers day at night before the kinges ma^tie … and for two playes before the prince on the xxx^th of December and the firste of Ianuary 1603 .... (Cook 38)

Theatrical Provenance

"Robin Goodfellow" was performed at court on 1 January 1604 by the King's Men for their patron and his heir, James I and Prince Henry. Carleton provides the play title (Lee 53), and the Chamber Accounts provide the date (the date cannot be 1 January 1605, for the Revels Accounts document that the Children of the Revels/Queen's Chapel performed George Chapman's All Fools on New Year's 1605). Although the court had recessed from London to Hampton Court for the winter of 1603-4, the performance of Robin Goodfellow would have been their first opportunity to entertain their new patron during the traditional holiday period at Christmastide.

Probable Genre(s)

Comedy (Harbage)

Possible Narrative and Dramatic Sources or Analogues

Two sources of stories about Robin Goodfellow were published in 1628, but according to John Payne Collier the "matter" of Robin was well known long before. He cites as evidence

Internet Archive Internet Archive

References to the Play

Any revival of A Midsummer Night's Dream after January 1604 would have alluded to Robin Goodfellow in its five instances of calling Puck by that name: 2.1.osd, 34; 3.2.355; 4.1.180; 5/1/438. Unfortunately, no revivals of the play are on record.

? a reference to Robin in Wily Beguiled

Critical Commentary

Chambers popularized the identification of "Robin Goodfellow" with A Midsummer Night's Dream, apparently on the basis of Puck/Robin as a memorable character from Shakespeare's play (1.362).

Knutson discusses "Robin Goodfellow" as a repertorial mate with The Merry Devil of Edmonton, which was apparently new early in 1603 and which enjoyed a long stage history (it was revived in 1612-3, 1638-9, and 1661-2). She suggests that it would have captured the same spirit of madcap matchmaker as in the play about the merry devil, Peter Fabell (113-4).

For What It's Worth

Biographies of Dudley Carleton (Oxford DNB) and John Chamberlain (Oxford DNB) provide insight into their credibility as witnesses of activities at court.

Someone wanted there to be a play in the repertory of Worcester's Men. Two entries in Henslowe's Diary were doctored to insert the words "Robin hoodfellowe" on 7 September 1602, where Henslowe left a blank, and "Robin goodfellowe" in a similar blank in an entry for 9 September. In both cases, the forger drew through the word "tragedie" in the entries and inserted "playe" (Foakes 216). Since Malone did not see these entries but Collier did (Mad Pranks, vii Internet Archive, he is vulnerable to this count of this forgery along with his many others.

There was a tune called "Robin Goodfellow" to which at least one ballad, "The Downfall of Dancing," was sung. EBBA

Works Cited

Chambers, E. K. William Shakespeare: A Study of Facts and Problems. 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1930.

Collier, John Payne (ed.) The Mad Pranks and Merry Jests or Robin Goodfellow. London: Percy Society, 1841. Internet Archive

Cook, David and F. P. Wilson. Dramatic Records in the Declared Accounts of the Treasurer of the Chamber 1558-1642. Malone Society Collections, 1961 (1962).

Hindley, Charles (ed.) The Roxburghe Ballads. vol 2, p. 387. Internet Archive

Knutson, Roslyn Lander. The Repertory of Shakespeare's Company, 1594-1613. Fayetteville, AR: University of Arkansas Press, 1991.

Lee, Maurice, Jr. (ed.) Dudley Carleton to John Chamberlain, 1603-1624. New Brunswick, N. J.: Rutgers University Press.

Site created and maintained by Roslyn L. Knutson, Professor Emerita, University of Arkansas at Little Rock; updated 10 February 2010.