volume 21, number 1 (1996) A Newsletter published by REED, University of Toronto, in association with McMaster University. Helen Ostovich, editor Records of Eaylv~ English Dran'ia Contents Patrons and travelling companies in Coventry Elza C . Tiner 1 Correction 38 Announcements 38 ELZA C. TINER Patrons and travelling companies in Coventry The following article provides an index of travelling companies keyed to the REED Coventry collection .' Patrons are listed alphabetically, according to the principal title under which their playing companies and entertainers appear, with cross-references to other titles, if they are also so named in the Records . If a patron's company appears under a title other than the usual or principal one, this other title is in parenthesis next to the description of the company. Companies named according to a patron's civil appointment are indexed under the name of that post as it appears in the Records ; for example, `Lord Chief Justice' and `Sheriff' Following the list of patrons the reader will find an index of companies identified in the Records by their places or origin? The biographical information supplied here has come entirely from printed sources, the chief of which are the following : Acts ofthe Privy Counci4 S .T. Bindoff (ed), The History ofParliament: The House of Commons 1509-1558, 3 vols (London, 1982); Cal- endar of Close Rolls; Calendar ofPatent Rolls (edited through 1582) ; Calendar ofState Papers; C.R. Cheney (ed), Handbook ofDates for Students ofEnglish History ; G.E.C., I The Complete Peerage.. .; The Dictionary ofNational Biography, James E. Doyle, The Official Baronage ofEngland Showing the Succession, Dignities, and Offices ofEvery Peer from 1066 to 1885, 3 vols (London, 1886); PW. Hasler (ed), The History ofParliament:• TheHouse of Commons 1558-1603, 3 vols (London, 1981) ; Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry viii, 21 vols and Addenda (London, 1864-1932) ; F Maurice Powicke and E .B. Fryde (eds), Handbook ofBritish Chronology, 2nd ed (London, 1961); Josiah C. Wedgwood and Anne D. Holt, History ofParliament: Biographies ofthe Members ofthe Commons House 1439-1509 (London, 1936) ; and Josiah C. Wedgwood, History ofParliament:• Register ofthe Ministers and ofthe Members ofBoth Houses 1439- 1509 (London, 1938) . All dates are given in accordance with the style in the sources used . The authorities sometimes disagree over the dates of birth, death, creation, succession, and office tenure . Where this evidence conflicts, the Calendar ofState Papers, Calendar ofPatent Rolls, and similar collections, such as the following, are preferred : J.H. Gleason, The Justices of the Peace in England. 1558 to 1640 (Oxford, 1969); List of Sheriffs for England and Wales from the Earliest Times to A.D. 1831, Public Record Office, Lists and Indexes, no 9 (London, 1898) ; and J.C. Sainty, `Lieutenants of Counties, 1585-1642,' Bulletin ofthe Institute ofHistorical Research, Special Supplement, no 8 (May, 1970) .3 Normally each patron entry is divided into four sections . The first lists relevant per- sonal data and titles of nobility with dates . Succession numbers are given only for the most important titles held by a person, as well as for those titles by which he or she is named in the Records. These numbers follow the absolute sequence given in The Com- plete Peeragerather than the relative ones that begin afresh with each new creation . Knight- hood dates are included only for minor gentry not possessing higher titles . Groups of patrons, such as the judges at the two assizes, whose musicians were paid in 1589-90, and the lords of council, whose trumpeters received rewards in 1614-15 and 1615- 16, are omitted from this list. The itinerant justices of assize and the privy council were large and varied groups, so it is impossible to pinpoint precisely who was present at the time. The second section lists appointments showing local connections and includes those known to have been used within tides of playing companies . Purely expeditionary mil- itary titles have been largely omitted, along with most minor Scottish and Irish landed titles. Minor civil commissions have been omitted, except for those in Coventry and its surrounding counties: Derbyshire, Gloucestershire, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, and Worcestershire. Readers desiring further information on these patrons in other regions are advised to consult the sources listed above. Where possible, the date of an appointment is taken from the date of a document assigning that position. If the appointment is stated in the document to be `for life,' then these words follow the appropriate title . If the original document has not been edited and a secondary source is used that states `until death,' then this form appears . If a patron held the post at the time of his death, the terminal date of his life is used as the termi- nal date of the commission or post. Otherwise both dates of appointment and termina- tion are given, if available . If the length of time an office is held is not known, then only 2 the date of appointment is given. Alternatively, if the only evidence comes from a source dated some time during the period of tenure, then the word 'by plus date appears . If only the date of termination is known, `until' is used . Finally, if no dates at all are avail- able, `nd' follows the title of the job . A `?' following a date indicates uncertainty regard- ing the dating of a document in the sources . Posts which may have been held by one of several patrons by the same name have not been included. For all minor commissions such as commissions of the peace OP), in which the dates of these commissions cover several years in sequence, the earliest and latest appointments in the sequence are given and separated by a dash. The third section, for which information is often incomplete or unavailable, contains the names and locations of the patron's principal seats and counties where he or she held lands or manors. Extensive property lists have been condensed and limited to the counties surrounding Coventry. The fourth section is an annotated index of the appearances of each patron's company or companies of entertainers in the Coventry Records . Companies are identified by occupation, eg, musician or bearward, as cited in the Records . Where it is unclear if the number of company members is one or more than one, a slash is used, as in the case of the trumpeters of the marquess of Buckingham and earl of Oxford in 1621-2, shown as 'trumpeter/s' for each patron . If the identification of a company's patron is uncertain, it is listed separately under the heading `Possibly' or `Probably .' If a patron has more than one type of company, the one which appears earliest in the Records is listed first, followed by the others arranged according to first mention in the Records. The majority of payments to travelling companies are recorded in the Coventry Chamberlains' Account Book i, and Chamberlains' and Wardens' Account Books ii and iii, plus occasional entries elsewhere ; for example 1) 1429, in Leet Book I ; 2) 1519, in the Holy Trinity Guild Accounts in Halliwell-Phillips, Folger Scrapbooks ; 3) 1570 (can- celled) in the Receipt Book; and 4) 1622, in the Payments Out Book .' The accounting year in all of these documents was based on the civic year, which began at the date of the election of the mayor. Until 1556, the civic year started at the feast of the Purifica- tion, 2 February; after 1556, it was shifted to All Saints' Day, 1 November .' In the Coventry volume, dates are converted to single modern years, but in this index, follow- ing REED's current editorial policy, dates have been presented to reflect the civic account- ing year. Thus, for a payment to the queen's bearward on 22 May, listed under 1595 in REED Coventry, the year is given as 1594-5 in this index . Similarly, for the earl of Derby's players, whose reward on `the 2 of decembr 93' is listed under 1594 in Coventry, the accounting year is 1593-4 . In one instance (1519), where the accounting year cannot be determined since the original records have disappeared, the year is cited as it appears in Halliwell-Phillips' scrapbook . Following the date are the page numbers in parenthesis where the citations occur. Note that not every citation in the Records is proof that a company performed on a given occasion . For example, the Receipt Book includes a cancelled payment to the players of Mr Smyth in 1569-70 . As the listing of these players in the Records is evidence that they were in the city at some point in 1569-70, whether or not they performed, they are included here . 3 The reader may also wish to consult the Index of the Coventry records for additional references to some of the patrons and to various unnamed companies and their members . Abbreviations acc acceded gov governor adm admiral JP justice of the peace b born jt joint (two or more) bapt baptized kt knighted bef before lieut lieutenant bet between m married br brother MP member of parliament capt captain nd no date comm commissioner NR North Riding cr created parl parliament custos rot custos rotulorum PC Privy Councillor d. died pres president da daughter succ succeeded eccles ecclesiastical summ summoned ER East Riding wit West Riding gen general NOTES 1 R W. Ingram (ed), Coventry, Records of Early English Drama (Toronto, 1981) . This index is part of an ongoing REEn project to compile a database and publish a master col- lection of patrons' biographies and company itineraries, directed by Sally-Beth MacLean, REED Executive Editor. I thank Alexandra F Johnston, Director, REED, Sally-Beth Mac- Lean, and J.