5 February, 1597 - Vortigern

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

Henslowe writes: 5 | tt at valteger ... | 01 | 09 

In modern English: 5 [February, 1597] ... Received at Vortigern ... £1 and 9 shillings [i.e. 29 shillings]

Vortigern in his burning
castle. From a 14th-century
manuscript of Peter of
Langtoft's Chronicle of
England.  

Today, the Admiral's Men chose to perform Vortigern, their play about the legendary British king whose actions brought about the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons in Britain. You can read more about this play in the entry for 4th December, 1596. 

The company has again waited a fortnight to revive Vortigern, and the Rose is half full, a marked improvement over the last few performances.

What's next?

There will be no blog entry tomorrow as 6 February was a Sunday in 1597 and the players did not perform. Henslowe's Diary ... as a Blog! will thus return on the 7th for the final week before the Lenten break. 

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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