Master of the Revels

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Thomas Killigrew, Master of the Revels from 1673–1677

The Master of the Revels was an office within the royal court in the Kingdom of England and later the Kingdom of Great Britain , which headed the "Office of the Revels" (also for short: "Revels Office"). The Master of the Revels was a position under Lord Chamberlain . Originally, the respective incumbent was responsible for the royal festivities, known as Revels , later he also took on the task of stage censorship before this function was directly subordinated to Lord Chamberlain in 1624. Nevertheless, Henry Herbert took over this by order of Lord Chamberlain until the English Civil War in 1642. After that, theatrical plays were completely prohibited. The office existed until the end of the 18th century, albeit with fewer rights.

Word origin

The now obsolete noun Revel stands for festivities of all kinds in English. Thomas Blount (1618–1679), an English lexicographer , wrote in his dictionary “Glossographia” from 1656 that the origin of the word “Revel” was the French word “reveiller” , which means "waking up from sleep". Blount further defines "Revels" as:

Delights of dance, masquerades, comedies, and the like, formerly held in royalty, the Inns of Court, or the homes of other great people; And so called because they are most commonly held at night, when people are usually asleep. There is also an official called The Master of the Revels, who has the authority and authority over these pastimes.

The Master of the Revels would be approximately well translated with the German word master of ceremonies , but then it does not apply, since the Master of the Revels had more far-reaching and nationally sovereign tasks .

History of office

In the 1347 records showing Edward III royal wardrobe expenses . on the occasion of the Christmas performances (" ludi "), there are purchases of tunicae and viseres (shirts and hats). During the reign of King Henry VII , payments for various festivities (“revels”) of the court are recorded. It became customary to appoint a special representative for the royal festivities, the "Master of the Revels".

The post of Master of the Revels has played an important role in the history of English theater. During the reign of Henry VII , the post became increasingly important as court shows, plays and masquerades increased . In order to support the increased demand for theater entertainment, the position of the cloakroom officer was set up below the Master of the Revels. The office was constantly expanded under Elizabeth I and divided into "Toyles", "Revels" and "Tents". Provided with a letters patent , John Farlyon took up his work as " Yeoman of the Revels" in 1534 , which was the beginning of an independent institution within the sphere of influence of Lord Chamberlain. Ten years later, Thomas Cawarden received a patent as a "Master of the Revels and Tents" and became head of an independent office. At that time, the office of Master of the Revels was only for the organization of royal entertainment. One of the basic duties of the Masters was to hire actors and theater companies to entertain the monarch and his court. The master also took care of public health affairs, making sure that the game companies did not perform during plague outbreaks and religious holidays, and that the theaters were closed during Lent . Each Master of the Revels kept an official record of all business transactions, including all purchases and preparations for all theater entertainment. After 1578 the license income for theater performances was also recorded here.

The office was in rotating locations, first in a house called the Warwick Inn (now Warwick Lane), the London Charterhouse, and then in Clerkenwell Abbey. After the dissolution of the English monasteries , many premises became vacant, which gradually took on various royal offices. Soon after Cawardens appointment, his authority moved to a closed Dominican monastery in the Blackfriars district in 1547 . Cawarden himself lived at Loseley Park near Guildford , where his official papers were also kept.

Censorship

Under his later successor, Tylney, the function of Master of the Revels was gradually expanded and the office was given the official authorization to control and censor drama throughout the country. This increase in theater control coincided with the appearance of permanent theaters in London. Each resident company and each traveling force had to submit their game manuscript to the Master of the Revels. Master read what was written and sometimes even attended rehearsals. Once a piece was approved, the master signed the last page of the manuscript. The licensed document that gave the censorship approval to the performance of a play was a very valuable document for the theater makers. On tours and at every theater performance, the ensembles also had to carry the licensed copy of the play manuscript with them. The Office of the Revels also charged a license fee for the approval of plays. For example, Tylney calculated B. seven schillings per play. Legal censorship gave power to punish playwrights, actors, and theater companies who published or performed subversive material. The master had the authority to imprison, torture, or even maim those associated with dissidents or unapproved theatrical material. In 1640, William Beeston was imprisoned for assisting the performance of a play without the approval and censorship of the Master of the Revels, Henry Herbert.

At the height of power as the owner of the Office of the Revels, the Master had licensing sovereignty across the country to approve and censor plays , as well as any publication or printing of theater material. He also had the authority to grant royal patents to new theater companies and to authorize the construction of their playhouses. The master could not only charge fees for the approval of eligible books and plays, but also annual payments from companies for the continued approval of their theaters. Under Tylney, the post of Master of the Revels gradually became a central censorship of the stage. From 1624 the Office of the Revels fell directly into the hands of Lord Chamberlain, which led to the Licensing Act 1737 . Every new or changed piece now had to be submitted to the Lord Chamberlain of the Household for review 14 days before performance , who could prohibit the performance if necessary. This rule was only abolished in 1968 in the "Theaters Act 1968".

With the outbreak of the English Civil War in 1642, all theater performances were banned. First performances were only permitted again in the restoration period from 1660.

The Revels Office

In 1608, Edmund Tilney, who was the master's in office at the time, wrote a memorandum on the physical facilities of the agency, which gives a clear picture of how it worked. He wrote that the office ...

"... consists of a cloakroom and several other [ie separate] rooms for artists (tailors, stickers, scenery builders, painters, wire-drawers to tension candelabra and parts of the stage] and carpenters) as well as suitable locations for Rehearsals and performances of plays and other performances ... "

Tilney also mentioned that the office also provides housing for the Master and his family, as well as housing for some of the other Office staff, if indicated on their positions' patent orders.

Scientific exploitation

For the study of Elizabethan theater , the Revels Office records provide one of the two crucial sources of reliable and specific information about the Tudor and Stuart dynasties (the other is the register of the Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers ). In the records, scientists can find facts, data, and other information not available anywhere else. A Folger Shakespeare Library catalog , based on most of the surviving papers by Thomas Cawarden, is available online. Other records can be viewed at The National Archives .

Chronology of current Masters of the Revels

  • Walter Halliday (1461-1483)
  • Sir Thomas Cawarden (1544–1559)
  • Sir Thomas Benger (1560–1572)
  • Sir Thomas Blagrave (1573–1579)
  • Sir Edmund Tilney (1579–1610), also written Tylney
  • Sir George Buck (1610-1622)
  • Sir John Astley (1622-1640)
  • Sir Henry Herbert (1640–1673, de facto from 1623)
  • Thomas Killigrew (1673–1677)
  • Charles Killigrew (1677-1725)
  • Francis Henry Lee (1725-1731)
  • Charles Henry Lee (1725-1744)
  • Solomon Dayrolles (1744–1786)

Master of the Revels in Ireland

  • John Ogilby (1637–1641) (first Master of the Revels in Ireland)
  • Joseph Ashbury (1682–?)
  • Edward Hopkins (1722-1736)

Web links

literature

  • Edmund K. Chambers: The Elizabethan Stage. Volume 1, Clarendon Press, Oxford 1923.
  • Janet Clare: Art Made Tongue-Tied by Authority: Elizabethan and Jacobean Dramatic Censorship. Manchester University Press, Manchester 1990.
  • Janet Clare: Greater Themes for Insurrection's Arguing ': Political Censorship of the Elizabethan and Jacobean Stage. In: The Review of English Studies. Volume 38, No. 150 1987, pp. 169-183.
  • Janet Clare: The Censorship of the Deposition Scene in Richard II. In: The Review of English Studies. Volume 41, 1990.
  • Peter Cunningham: Extracts from the accounts of revels at court. Malone Society, 1842.
  • Richard Dutton: Mastering the Revels: The Regulation and Censorship of English Renaissance Drama. University of Iowa Press, Iowa City 1991.
  • Albert Feuillerat: Documents Relating to the Office of the Revels. Louvain 1914.
  • Andrew Gurr: The Shakespearean Stage 1574-1642. Cambridge University Press, 2009.
  • Henry Herbert: The Dramatic Records of Sir Henry Herbert: Master of the Revels, 1623–1673. Volume 3. Yale University Press, 1917.
  • Historical Manuscripts Commission, 7th Report, Manuscripts of William More Molyneaux at Loseley Park. 1879, pp. 596-681.
  • Alfred John Kempe: The Loseley Manuscripts. John Murray, London 1836.
  • G. Harold Metz: The Master of the Revels and The Brooke of Sir Thomas Moore. In: Shakespeare Quarterly. Volume 33, No. 4 1982.
  • Sybil Rosenfeld: The Restoration Stage in Newspapers and Journal, 1660-1700. In: The Modern Language Review. 1935.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/articles/dance_em_dict.html Dances in early reference works, Blount, 1656.
  2. ↑ a b c s: en: 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica / Revels, Master of the
  3. ^ EK Chambers : Notes on the History of the Revels Office Under the Tudors. AH Bulls, London 1906.
  4. ↑ Arthur Kincaid: Buck (Buc), Sir George (bap. 1560, d. 1622). In: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press, 2004.
  5. ↑ Mark Eccles: Sir George Buc, Master of the Revels. In: Charles Jasper Sisson: Thomas Lodge and Other Elizabethans. Harvard University Press, Cambridge 1933, pp. 418-419.
  6. ↑ Original Theaters Act 1968
  7. ↑ September 1642: Order for Stage-plays to cease. British History Online
  8. ↑ Baker, p. 85.
  9. ^ FE Halliday: A Shakespeare Companion 1564–1964. Penguin, Baltimore 1964, p. 409; adapted to today's usage.