10 May, 1596 - Julian the Apostate

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

Henslowe writes: y^e 190 of maye 15956 ... m^r pd ... R at Julian apostata ... xxvj^s 

In modern English: 10^th May, 1596 ... Master paid ... Received at Julian Apostate ... 26 shillings

Julian depicted in Giovanni
Battista Cavalieri's Romanum
Imperatorum (1583)

Today, the Admiral's Men returned to Julian the Apostate, a lost play about the Roman emperor who tried to reverse the empire's adoption of Christianity.

This is only the second performance of Julian the Apostate, but things are not looking good, as the theatre is less than half full. It seems unlikely that this play will be a hit.

Today's entry also includes a note that Henslowe paid the license for the Rose to the Master of the Revels; you can read more about this in the entry for 8 November, 1596.

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)

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