English Fugitives, The

William Haughton (1600)


Historical Records

Payments

To playwrights in Philip Henslowe's diary


Fol. 68v (Greg, I. 120)

Lent vnto wm harton the 16 of aprell 1600 in }
earneste of a Boocke called the Ingleshe } xs
fegetives the some of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . }
                        W Haughton


Item receiued more of mr Henchelowe in }
earnest of ye englishe fugitiues on the 24th } 20s
of Aprill.      by me receiued . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . }
                         W Haughton



Theatrical Provenance


The Admiral's men, for whom Henslowe purchased "The English Fugitives" from William Haughton, were anticipating a move to the Fortune playhouse in April 1600, when this sale took place. The company were performing at their new playhouse by the fall of the year.

Probable Genre(s)


Topical Play? (Harbage)

Possible Narrative and Dramatic Sources or Analogues


Greg offers several suggestions on the subject and thus sources of "The English Fugitives" (II. 212, Item # 201):

•He suggests that it might be the similarly lost "Robin Hood's Pennyworths", perhaps thinking of Robin Hood's band as the fugitives; also he is looking for other partial payments to Haughton that might add up to the purchase of an entire play; there are such payments totalling £4 for the Robin Hood play in Dec-Jan 1600-1
•He offers a guess by John Payne Collier that the play might have been about the Duchess of Suffolk, a topic dramatized by Thomas Drue in 1624 for Palsgrave's men; Greg repeats Collier's further guess that Drue was working from an old script from Palgrave's stock, i.e., The English Fugitives.
• But he is enthusiastic only about two tracts published in 1595: "The Estate of English Fugitiues vnder the king of Spaine and his ministers," and "A Discourse of the Vsage of the English Fugitiues by the Spaniard." He suggests that the two texts, one of which is connected to Sir. L. Lewkenor, "might repay investigation" (II. 212, Item# 201).



References to the Play

None known.


Critical Commentary

Collier, having noted Haughton's autograph signature, guessed "that the play was on the story of the Duchess of Suffolk, afterwards dramatised by Drue, and printed in 1631." He added, without providing further identification, that "it was the subject of a well-known ballad" (p. 168, n.2).

Fleay, BCED, uncharacteristically, did not repeat Collier's suggestion or add one of his own (1.#9*, p. 273).

had nothing to offer on the content of "The English Fugitives," nor does Andrew Gurr in Shakespeare's Opposites. 





For What It's Worth


Works Cited



Site created and maintained by Roslyn L. Knutson, Professor Emerita, University of Arkansas at Little Rock; created 31 October 2009, updated 13 August 2012.