Anthony Munday
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
EARNING A LIVING AS AN AUTHOR IN EARLY MODERN ENGLAND: THE CASE OF ANTHONY MUNDAY G. D. George A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY May 2006 Committee: James Forse, Advisor Gene Trantham Graduate Faculty Representative Ronald Shields Bradford Clark © 2006 G. D. George All Rights Reserved iii ABSTRACT James H. Forse, Advisor Anthony Munday (1560-1633) was one of Tudor/Stuart England’s most prolific writers. Over the course of a literary career that lasted for more than fifty years, Munday penned over eighty works, many published more than once. Scholars have over the years constructed a framework that describes Munday variously as author, playwright, "our best plotter," pamphleteer, uninspired literary hack, translator, historian, and spy. Beyond these labels, Munday has received little attention from the academic community. A re-examination of his life and place reveals that Munday serves as a case study of an early modern author who also exemplifies the rising middling classes of early modern England. That perspective is grounded on two things. First, and most obvious, is a return to the primary sources, what they say and do not say. Conclusions about Munday’s career must reflect the sources themselves, rather than speculation spun out from those sources. Further, Munday’s stages in life and career need to be examined in totality, rather than concentrating on specific jobs, genres, or works. Munday’s life lends itself to such an examination because the clear-cut chronological delineations that are evident in his life and are united by the constant thread of writing for commercial gain. It is in that totality that a true picture of the professional writer as a member of the upwardly mobile, middling classes can be seen. iv 0 Showes! Showes! Mighty Showes! The Eloquence of Masques! What need of prose Or Verse, or Sense t’express Immortall you? You are the Spectacles of State! Tis true Court Hieroglyphicks! and all Artes affoord In the mere perspective of an Inch board! Oh, to make Boardes to speake! There is a taske Painting and Carpentry are the Soule of Masque. Pack with your pedling Poetry to the Stage, This is the money-gett, Mechanick Age! -Ben Jonson An Expostulation with Inigo Jones How did it get so late so soon? It’s night before it’s afternoon. December is here before it’s June My goodness how the time has flewn. How did it get so late so soon? -Dr. Seuss v For my whole family, but most especially Mary, Lily, and Nicky. And to the memory of Kathy Ann Lepovetsky Requiescat in pace. vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I gratefully acknowledge the support and assistance that I have received from family, friends, mentors, and colleagues. Most especially: My wife, Mary Kristine Retort-George. My mother, Louise D. Leuenberger My father, J. L. George My step-mother, Lisa George My step-father, Ernest L. Leuenberger My Mother-in-law, Phyllis Retort My Father-in-law, Eugene Retort. Teachers and Artists that have influenced my work: Brad Clark, Ron Shields, Steve Boone, Jonathan Chambers, Vicky Patraka, Simon Morgan-Russell, Margaret McCubbin, Robert Levy, Vic Holliday, Robert Schweitzer. My graduate school colleagues and friends: Mike Coon, Theresa Durbin, Trese and Steve Kasperick-Postellon, Nancy Kennedy, Ray Manila, Gus Weltsek. Current and past students from whom I have learned so much. I also gratefully acknowledge the support of the following: At Bowling Green State University The Department of Theatre and Film The Center for Teaching and Learning Technology Keith Hofacker and the College of Musical Arts Jerome Library. At Pittsburg State University, Pittsburg, Kansas The Department of Communications, Pete Hamilton, Chair Ax Library. At Capital University in Columbus, Ohio The Department of Communication and Professors Bill Kennedy, Sharon Croft, and Dan Heaton. Blackmore Library. Law School Library. Jim Hart and the staff at The University of Cincinnati Law School Library. And finally, thank you to my mentor Professor James Forse For your encouragement, support, ideas, and proof-reading as well as for the occasional application of necessary horizontal force to my posterior. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................. III ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS........................................................................................................ VI TABLE OF CONTENTS ...........................................................................................................VII LIST OF TABLES........................................................................................................................ XI CHAPTER ONE -- INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................... 1 The Problem...................................................................................................................... 4 Thesis ............................................................................................................................... 12 Munday’s Place .............................................................................................................. 12 Review of Literature ...................................................................................................... 16 Primary Sources ................................................................................................... 16 Secondary Sources ................................................................................................ 21 CHAPTER TWO -- 1553-1579................................................................................................... 25 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 25 Munday’s Birth............................................................................................................... 25 Childhood (to 1570) ....................................................................................................... 30 Munday’s “Lost Years” (1571 – 1576) ......................................................................... 33 Apprenticeship (1576 – 1578) ....................................................................................... 34 Munday’s Place .............................................................................................................. 35 CHAPTER THREE -- THE POLITICAL MUNDAY, 1577 THROUGH 1612 .................... 37 Introduction - Munday through 1612 ......................................................................... 37 viii Primary Documentation ............................................................................................... 38 Autobiographical and Biographical Documentation ............................................ 39 Autobiographical and Biographical Documents................................................... 40 Alfield in Munday’s body of Campion Specific Literature ..................................... 41 The Rome Trip................................................................................................................ 45 Dating................................................................................................................... 45 Munday’s Departure ............................................................................................ 46 To the Continent................................................................................................... 49 “Our entrance to Rome was upon Candlemas even”........................................... 54 Munday’s Return to London................................................................................ 56 Munday and Nowell............................................................................................. 60 Munday At Home.......................................................................................................... 60 Munday and Allde................................................................................................ 62 Anthony Munday and the Earl of Oxford............................................................ 66 Munday and the Government: Her Majesty, Walsingham, and Topcliffe........... 70 Leases from the Crown.......................................................................................... 75 Munday and the Edmund Campion Affair ............................................................... 77 Munday and the Jesuits........................................................................................ 77 Edmund Campion................................................................................................. 78 The English Mission............................................................................................. 80 Munday and Campion.......................................................................................... 83 The Church of England ................................................................................................. 91 ix John Whitgift, Archbishop of Canterbury and Marprelate .................................. 92 Conclusions: Munday’s Place Through 1612............................................................. 93 CHAPTER FOUR -- WRITING FOR THE PROFESSIONAL THEATRE........................... 99 Introduction: Munday and the Stage ........................................................................