Gowrie

Anon. (1604)

Historical Records

Letter: John Chamberlain

John Chamberlain to Ralph Winwood, 18 December 1604:

… the tragedie of Gowrie with all the action and actors hath ben twise represented by the Kings players, with exceding concourse of all sortes of people, but whether the matter or manner be not well handled, or that yt be thought unfit that prices should be plaide on the stage in theyre life time, I heare that some great counsaillors are much displeased with yt: and so is thought shalbe forbidden (Chamberlain, I.199).

Theatrical Provenance

The Chamberlain's players acquired the patronage of King James I in the spring of 1603; the patent is dated 19 May 1603. By December 1604, the company had served their royal patron for some eighteen months. For more than a year of that time, the public playhouses in London were closed due to plague. The King's players performed at the Wilton estate of Lord Pembroke in Mortlake on 2 December 1603, during a visit by King James; between 26 December and 19 February 1604 (Shrove Sunday), the players performed eight plays for the court. Chamberlain's letter does not make clear the venue of the two performances of "Gowrie," but the tenor of his report—mostly hearsay—implies public performances, not one at court. Presumably, then, "Gowrie" was performed at the Globe in late November or early December 1604.

Probable Genre(s)

History (Harbage?)

Possible Narrative and Dramatic Sources or Analogues

(under construction)

References to the Play

Information welcome.

Critical Commentary

(under construction)

For What It's Worth

The great oddity about this play is that the King's players put it on during their second year as servants of King James, yet it is rumored to have upset enough nobles enough to risk being taken down. Why put it up if it was a risk?

The Gowrie conspiracy, like so many luridly popular events, spawned jests, as in the following:

When Gowry (who attempted to kill King James) was had to the Tower, a friend of his told him, Ah, my Lord, I am sorry you had no more Wit. Tush, (quoth he) thou knowest not what thou sayst, when sawest thou a fool come hither?

Additional editions of John Chamberlain's letters include Sawyer, 1725; the "Gowrie" letter is in vol. 2, p. 41.

Works Cited

Anon. Poor Robin's Jests; or, the Compleat Jester. London, 1667.

Chamberlain, John. The Letters of John Chamberlain. ed. Norman Egbert McClure. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, v. 12, pts. 1 and 2; rpt. 2 vols. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1979.

Cowan, Samuel. The Gowrie Conspiracy and its Official Narrative. London: Sampson Lowe, Marston & Co., Ltd., 1902.

— — —. The Ruthven Family Papers. London: Simpkin, Markshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co., Ltd., 1912.

Davies, J. D. Blood of Kings: The Stuarts, the Ruthvens and the 'Gowrie Conspiracy'. Hersham, Surrey: Ian Allan, 2010.

Forde, Thomas. Virtus Rediviva: a Panegyrick on our Late King Charles the I .... London, 1661.

Foxe, John. Christs Victorie ouer Sathans Tyrannie. .... London, 1615.

Hacket, John. A Century of Sermons upon Several Remarkable Subjects .... London, 1675.

Hart, William. The Examinations, Arraignment & Conuiction of George Sprot ...'. London, 1608.

Holyday, Barten. A Sermon Preached at Pauls Crosse, August the 5. 1623. London, 1626.

Lang, Andrew. James VI and the Gowrie Mystery. New York: Longmans, 1902.

Sawyer, E. ed. Memorials of Affairs of State in the Reigns of Queen Elizabeth and King James I. 3 vols. London: 1725.

Site created and maintained by Roslyn L. Knutson, Professor Emerita, University of Arkansas at Little Rock; updated 18 February 2012.