Henslowe writes: 22 | tt at henges ... | 00 | 06
In modern English: 22nd [June, 1597] ... total at Hengist ... 6 shillings
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| Hengist and Horsa arriving in Britain. From Richard Verstegan's A Resitution of Decayed Intelligence (1605) |
Today is one of those strange moments in the Diary when an unknown play appears, attracts a tiny audience, and is never seen again. The title is almost certainly a rendering of Hengist, the Saxon warlord who, in legend, began the Anglo-Saxon settlement of England. However, it may in fact be an alternative name for an existing play.
Henslowe does not mark the play as new, and this is its only appearance in the Diary. Perhaps it is an old one from the archives, but if so, its revival is a complete disaster, attracting only a tiny audience. Most scholars thus assume that it is simply another name for Vortigern, the play about the clashes between Hengist and the native Britons that the company has performed several times this year. The company last performed Vortigern back on April 2; perhaps Henslowe has forgotten the title following its break and the character of Hengist was more memorable than that of Vortigern.
Whatever the truth of the matter, neither Vortigern nor Hengist will appear in the Diary again. Ancient Britain seems not to be a draw for London's audience these days.
FURTHER READING
Hengist information
- Andrew Gurr, Shakespeare's Opposites: The Admiral's Company, 1594-1625 (Cambridge University Press, 2009), 223.
- Roslyn L. Knutson, "Vortigern", Lost Plays Database (2019), accessed June 2021.
- Martin Wiggins, British Drama, 1533-1642: A Catalogue, vol. 3 (Oxford University Press, 2013), entry 1048.
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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