Oldcastle, Sir John (Chamberlain's)
Historical Records
8 March 1599/1600: Letter from Rowland Whyte to Sir Robert Sidney
Whyte provides details of a dinner given by the Lord Chamberlain (George Carey) during the visit by Louis Verreyken, a diplomat in the service of Archduke Albert:
"vpon Thursday my Lord Chamberlain feasted hym, and made hym very great, and a delicate Dinner, and there in the After Noone his Plaiers acted, before Vereiken, Sir John Old Castell, to his great Contentment"
Theatrical Provenance
The dinner party described by Rowland Whyte was given by George Carey, who succeeded to the title of Lord Hunsdon when his father, Henry Carey, died on 22 July 1596. He also acquired patronage of his father's company, known as the Chamberlain's Men, even though he did not himself become Lord Chamberlain until 17 March 1597 on the death of Lord Cobham. George Carey lived in Blackfriars in London, and presumably he entertained Louis Verreyken there on 8 March. If the play performed was indeed a play about Sir John Oldcastle (and not the Falstaff character, see below), it belonged to the repertory of the Chamberlain's Men in their first year at the Globe, 1599-1600.
Probable Genre(s)
History
Possible Narrative and Dramatic Sources or Analogues
John Foxe's Book of Martyrs describes the execution of Sir John Oldcastle in Lincoln's Inn Fields in 1419 (Internet Archive). In October 1599, the Admiral's Men purchased a two-part play on the life of Oldcastle from Anthony Munday, Michael Drayton, Robert Wilson, and Richard Hathway. Presumably this play-pair was in production before March of 1600. The first part of the Admiral's play was printed in the same year, 1600.
References to the Play
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Critical Commentary
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For What It's Worth
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Works Cited
Foxe, John. Acts and Monuments (a.k.a., Foxe's Book of Martyrs). 1583 Internet Archive
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