29 April, 1597 - Uther Pendragon

Here's what the Admiral's Men performed at the Rose playhouse on this day, 424 years ago...

Henslowe writes: 29 | ne | tt at vterpendragon ... | 02 | 14

In modern English: 29^th [April, 1597] ... new ... total at Uther Pendragon ... £2 and 14 shillings [i.e. 54 shillings]

Today, the Admiral's Men introduced a new play! Like so much of their repertory, Uther Pendragon is lost, but this time its title clearly indicates its subject matter: the legend of the father of King Arthur. No doubt Merlin the magician appeared in this play, since Henslowe's 1598 inventory of costumes lists a "Merlin gown and cape".

Uther Pendragon from a 1255
manuscript copy of Matthew
Paris's Epitome of Chronicles 

There must be a connection with another play that the Admiral's Men were performing until recently, Vortigern. As we have seen, that play was about the eponymous Briton warlord who killed and usurped King Constantius, forcing his brothers, Aurelius and Uther, to flee. So it seems likely that Uther Pendragon was a sequel about their return. 

The legends of Uther

In the legends of British history, the brothers Aurelius and Uther return to Britain to reclaim the throne following Vortigern's death; as the eldest, Aurelius is crowned. The author of Uther Pendragon could have found the story in many sources, but the most famous is Geoffrey of Monmouth's History of the Kings of Britain (1136).

Geoffrey tells many tales about Uther. In one of them (perhaps a little difficult to stage), he helps Merlin to bring stones from Ireland to build Stonehenge. Another is about his accession to the throne: Uther sees a comet in the shape of a dragon and Merlin regards this as a sign of his glorious future; sure enough, he wins a battle and thus takes on the name 'Pendragon'. Aurelius is then assassinated and Uther becomes King. 

Uther Pendragon and Merlin, from British
Library manuscript Royal 20 A II
(early 14th century)

Another famous legend concerns Uther and Igerna (better known today as Igraine), the wife of Gorlois, Duke of Cornwall. Uther falls in love with her at a feast. Gorlois keeps Igerna within the fortress of Tintagel, but Uther secures the magical aid of Merlin, who enables him to assume the appearance of Gorlois, enter the castle and have sex with her. Subsequently, Gorlois is killed and Uther marries her; their son is Arthur. Merlin takes the baby away, and he is raised away from the court.

The end of Uther's story is spectacular too. Civil war breaks out in Britain and, despite being ill, Uther has himself carried on a litter to lead his troops to victory at Verulam (St Albans), after which he dies.

Uther in Elizabethan London

These stories were popular in Elizabethan England. In his study of Arthurian drama, Paul Whitfield White notes that Shakespeare's First Part of Henry VI (staged at the Rose a few years ago) includes a reference to "that stout Pendragon", who "in his litter sick, / Came to the field and vanquishèd his foes" (Act 3, scene 5).

George Clifford in tilting attire;
portrait by Nicholas Hilliard (c.1590)

What is more, thousands of Londoners would have seen Uther and Merlin during the annual Accession Day tilts (jousting competitions) in November. White explains that the Queen's official champion, George Clifford, Earl of Cumberland, would arrive dressed as Uther Pendragon, an allusion to his family seat at Pendragon Castle in Cumbria and to his family crest of the red dragon. A stage castle was erected in the tiltyard and an actor playing Merlin recited a prophecy about a red and a white dragon (which we learned about in the entry on Vortigern); Merlin's vision of the future was then staged as Arthur and his knights emerged from the castle. Perhaps the play was in part a tribute to Clifford,  who had a link to the Admiral's Men: a brilliant naval officer, he had fought the Spanish alongside the company's patron, the Lord Admiral Charles Howard. 

The play

We don't know which of these legends appeared in Uther Pendragon. However, it's possible to glimpse what it might have been like by looking at a later play, William Rowley's The Birth of Merlin (1622). The play is primarily about Uther's older brother Aurelius and his manipulation by a wicked Saxon princess, but it does depict Uther going to fight Vortigern and the comet that prophesies his triumph:

Blazing star appears. 

UTHER. Look, Edol:

Still this fiery exalation shoots

His frightful horrors on th'amazed world;

See, in the beam that's 'bout his flaming ring,

A dragons head appears, from out whose mouth

Two flaming flakes of fire stretch east and west.

EDOL. And see, from forth the body of the star

Seven smaller blazing streams directly point

On this affrighted kingdom.

The Birth of Merlin ends with Uther ascending the throne and Merlin creating a spectacular vision of the life and death of his future son, King Arthur:

Merlin strikes. Hoeboys. Enter a king in armour, his shield quartered with thirteen crowns. At the other door enter divers princes who present their crowns to him at his feet, and do him homage; then enters Death and strikes him; he, growing sick, crowns Constantine. Exeunt.

Perhaps today's play had similar kinds of theatrical spectacle. 

Whatever happened in the play of Uther Pendragon, today's box office is very encouraging. The last two premieres have been disappointing, but this one has drawn a much bigger crowd, almost filling the Rose. Things may be returning to the way they used to be.

FURTHER READING

Uther Pendragon information

• Andrew Gurr, Shakespeare's Opposites: The Admiral's Company, 1594-1625 (Cambridge University Press, 2009), 228.
• Martin Wiggins, British Drama, 1533-1642: A Catalogue, vol. 3 (Oxford University Press, 2013), entry 1070.
• Paul Whitfield White, "The Admiral's Lost Arthurian Plays," in Lost Plays in Shakespeare's England, edited by David McInnis and Matthew Steggle (Palgrave, 2014), 153-5.
• Roslyn L. Knutson, "Uther Pendragon", Lost Plays Database (2019), accessed April, 2021.

Henslowe links

• Transcript of this page of the Diary (from W.W. Greg's 1904 edition)
• Facsimile of this page of the Diary (from the Henslowe-Alleyn Digitisation Project)

Comments?

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