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volume 20, number 1 (1995)

A Newsletter published by RBBD, University of Toronto, in association with McMaster University. Helen Ostovich, editor

Records ofEar(,7~ EngIisI Drama

Contents

Un-civil rites and playing sites: some early modem entertainment records from Kingston-upon-Hull Patricia Badir 1 Minstrels and minstrelsy: household retainers or instrumentalists? Abigail Ann Young 11 Sir Henry Herbert and William Sands the puppeteer : some corrections N.W. Bawcutt 17 News from JoAnna Dutka 19 Report on the Joint Conference John J. McGavin 21 Corrigenda 23 In Memoriam: David Parry 24

PATRICIA BADIR

Un-civil rites and playing sites: some early modern entertainment records from Kingston-Upon-Hull

The Bench Books and Chamberlains' Accounts of the Medieval and Early Modern magistrates of Kingston-upon-Hull are preserved in remarkable condition and in full sequence in the city record office (xuRo) . However, unlike the records of which are replete with evidence of local dramatic activity, Hull's accounts are disappointingly unforthcoming for the years leading up to 1642. The few fragments of information that the records do preserve may, nonetheless, be of some interest to those particularly con- cerned with the development and implementation of anti-theatrical censorship as a func- tion of religious reform in the provinces in the latter half of the sixteenth century. While 1

Medieval guild records and chamberlains' accounts make note of the Noah play exten- sively surveyed by Anna J. Mill and contain some evidence of civic waits and travelling players, I will be, in this instance, directing attention to the performance-related entries in the Bench Books which cover the years 1445-1650 . 1 Some of the following records have been noted by early Hull historians George Hadley, John Tickell and J J. Shehan, but none have been transcribed in detail? The Bench Books, which contain the minutes of council meetings covering common- place subjects such as the appointment of preachers, street cleaning and provisions for the poor hold no sixteenth-century entries related to pageantry or guild drama . What evidence there is of theatrical enterprise is largely a catalogue of prohibition . The follow- ing entry dates from 1554 (KHRo: BRB 1 f 230v) :

Kyngston Super bull Tempore Willelmi Knolles maioris

In the Counsell howse chambre there the Thirsday the xxiijt' day of Septembre in the xxvij yere of the Reigne of King harry the viijdt It is ordeynyd and decreed by the hole advyse assent and consent of the Said Maire and his brethern aldermen that no maire herafter for the tyme beyng shall gif any reward or rewardes to any Mynstrell playere Iogelar beyrward or any othere Such lyke person wherwith the Comentie of this town in any wyse myght be chargied but that he only Shall gif all such reward or rewardes, at his proper costes and expenses not chargyng the goodes of the Comen chambre with the Same in theire or his accomptes

The tenor of this ordinance seems to suggest that dramatic entertainment itself was not prohibited, but that it was considered to be of no benefit to the `Commonalty' as in other towns where corporation funds were diverted towards entertainment for the pur- poses of enhancing the prestige of corporate and guild structures, for courting patrons, and for encouraging the development of a sense of community or of civic consciousness . In Hull any evidence of specifically theatrical activity would, as a consequence of this legislation, have been registered in household accounts which do not survive . After 1554, records concerned with players are exclusively prohibitive . City ordinances set forth `to the glory of god and the well orderinge of this comonwelth' order that `none within this town doe singe any filthy, vayne, dishonest or Rybawlde iestes or songes' (xHxo : BRB 2 f 67v, 1566) and by 1572 the liberty of going a-mumming was restricted as follows (xHxo: BRB 2 f 87v) :

the libertie of Whereas of Laite by sinister perswasions of some Lewde and ill disposed goin ge a persons some prentizes in the to n „be intized to becomme mommers mnmma taiken a a and diseplaiers hereb ma ense e diuers mischeifes and inconveniences . ffor Redresse hereof t s ordered and agreed b the said master maior and aldermen the thirde da of Ianuar in the ere afforesaid. That from hence „fourthe no person[s] or persons ithin this to ne shall goe a momminge or disguised in an maskinge apparell but suche onl as shalbe thereto licensed b master maior for the time beinge . And that suche

2 person or persons as no e have or hereafter shall have an momminge or maskinge apparell ithin the to n shall b no means vse Lende or Lette for mummer an suche apparell vpon peine of imprisonment & to pa such fine as to e said master maior & aldermen shalbe tho ght convenient/

While Cro n injunctions stipulated that actors could step be ond their social degree for the purposes of entertainment and therefore should be e empted from statutes on dress, Hull ordinances specificall prohibit dressing-up under an circumstances .3 B the end of the centur, the corporation's tolerance of pla s performed b travel- ling pla ers had reached its end . The Puritan loathing of practices hich cluttered the to nscape ith an intrusive bodil festivit as clearl manifested in late si teenth- centur attitudes to itinerant entertainers, licensed or not . The follo ing order is from 1599 (KHRo : BRB 2 f 325) 4 :

The vijth of September .1599.

Pla ers Wheareas hearetofore & et their are resorte to the to n of Kingston vpon Hull divers Idle & le de persons pla ers, or setters oute of pla es or enterludes ithin this to ne, to ith pla es man of thinhabitantes heare haue gon & ben present at, & spent theire t mes & also their monie in hearinge such fi volous & va ne e ercises to the evill e ample of man ffor reformacion hereof And b cause the pla ers are for the most part straingers, and therefore not soe convenientlie restre ned frome pla inge, as thinhabitantes of this to ne frome hearinge, and for that the vse there- of is thought to be ver vngodlie & icked: It is therefore ordered and agreed b the maior & Aldermen of Kingston vpon Hull in the presence of mr Iohn Graves maior. mr Thurscros mr Richardson mr L ster mr [Cooke] Chapman mr Cooke mr Burnsell & mr Arm nge: That noe Burgesse or inhabitant ithin the to n of Kingston vpon hull neither man nor oman shall at an tme hereafter resort toe or be present at or hen anie pla e or enterlude is pla inge or sho ed in an place ithin Kingston vpon hull vpon pa ne that euerie such person [being] offendinge therein to forfeict for euerie t me & offence the some of ij s . vj d. to the Maior & Burgesses of Kingston vpon hull, And also that the o ner of euerie ho se or place here such pla es or enterludes are pla ed or harde shall for euerie offence or t me forfeict s. to the vse aforesaide/.

Such an understanding of the potential of popular dramatic activit to occup public space, to cause disruption, and ultimatel to subvert accepted versions of social place lurks behind much of the iconoclastic sentiment of the Reformation period . The con- siderable challenges sustained b the church and state upon the ph sical topograph and conceptual geograph of the inhabitants of the countr ere place-forming strate- gies hich effectivel assigned social positions and modes of behaviour to individuals

3 and groups, allo ing them to conceive of themselves as the Protestant subjects of the sovereign and citizens of the common ealth.5 Ho ever, because it is difficult to establish a theatrical tradition against hich a ne Protestant iconoclasm ould have instated itself, I think that it is more likel that dra- matic entertainments never figured prominentl in a to n hose distinction as con- ceived of in terms of its strategic location and its martial fortifications.6 As the above-cited entr reveals, Hull magistrates ere e tremist in their interpretation of censorship acts and injunctions for religious reform . Puritan zeal rendered a pla a particularl un-civilgathering. Dramatic representation and, perhaps more pertinentl , communal gathering ere understood as occupations of public space hich inserted into abstract conceptualizations of the cit an indeterminac or a material point of con- tact ith urban dailiness hich threatened to undermine a social order that prescribed for ever citizen a place ithin corporate space . Thus atching a pla as rendered as un holesome as active participation in the pla itself. The restrictions placed upon theatrical activit participate in the same logic as other Bench Book orders against scolds, rumour-mongers, blasphemers, fornicators, adulter- ers, the riotous, the idle and all other malefactors acting `to the great provocacion or kindlinge of godes raithe against is to n' ( nno: BRB 2 f 50r, 1563). These `he no s offendors & insensible persons' hose presence threatened the unit and coherence of the sequestered to n are diagnosed as infectious in plague-related rhetorical tropes designed to naturalize prescriptive and punitive measures . The `Learned zealo s and godl preachers of the moste sacred and hol orde of god' set out to preach in open and commons spaces `against the blaspheminge of the moste hol na me rof god'.' Drunkenness, prostitution and an infinit of `other abhormi1nable and detestable s nnes enorm ties and offences' ere attributed to both `the great noomber of aile ho ses' and `the vnreasonable and e cessive stronge aile b aile bre eres their bre ed' (KHRo: BRB 2 f 117v, 1574). Alehouses, tippling-houses and taverns, among them the George Inn in High Street, the half-timbered King's Head, also in High Street, the White Horse in the market-place and the obliquel described `South End' ere especiall targeted as the loci of carnal perversit ithin an other ise sober and integrated communit .? As do invectives against pla -going, these orders reflect decisions made at the municipal level ithout interference from or recourse to e ternal bodies of authorit such as the cro n or the Council of the North . Instead the appeal to a sense of Christian obligation in the citizens of Hull and call for an aggressive purging of recreational pla from civic spaces. While certainl vocalizing much of the same sentiment present in cro n legislation on dramatic entertainments, these prohibitions derive their strength from the tropes of Puritan representational practices hich ere aptl suited to a to n deriving its sense of distinction from its fortified geograph and carceral topograph . The strict regulation of trade and trade routes ould have helped to enforce, at least in principle, prohibitions against foreigners including pla ers.8 Ho ever, the degree to hich legislation as successful at arding off performances b the pla ers of the Queen or of illustrious nobles remains uncertain .9 There are no records noting pa ment for not pla ing as are found in York, though the follo ing record from the earl seventeenth-

4 centur Bench Book tells of pla ers arriving before the ma or bearing a licence from the Master of Revels (iumo: BRB 3 p 204, 1629):

Note the said da in the Afternoons came to master Maiores ho se one ith a l cence as from the master of the Revills for Stage pla es or Interludes, Stage Pla ers but he ho brought or she ed the same l cence as not one of those ho not allo ed ere speciall named in the l cense, Therefore & for other considerations to pla master Maior ould grant him noc libertie to pla here, There as in master Maiors Compan at the same time mr Roper, mr fferries, & mr Watkinson aldermen, ho neither thought it convenient, the should pla /

Clearl the pla er ho presented the licence as not one of those named b it and, for this reason, the ma or and the aldermen decided not to let the compan perform. The suggestion is, ho ever, that hen licences ere presented and ere in order, pla ing as allo ed to proceed, though perhaps ith reluctance. Some interest in the presentational displa of civic integrit is made manifest in to n ordinances concerned ith the dress of Hull magistrates at ceremonial and commemo- rative events. As in York and Beverle , the ma or and his brethren, b order of the to n charter, ere to appear dressed according to degree at all events of civic importance . The follo ing is from the charter of 1440 :

[ hosoever] shall be Ma or of the to n aforesaid and the Escheator of us or our heirs there, that he, ithin the to n aforesaid, and the libert and precinct there- of, so long as he shall remain in such offices, shall have a s ord carried erect before him in our name and that of our said heirs outside the presence of us and our heirs aforesaid, ithout hindrance or impediment hatsoever: And that the ma or of the to n aforesaid, and the rest of the Aldermen of the same to n for ever, for the time being, shall be at libert to make use of robes, capes, and tunics, of one suit and one liver, together ith furs and fringes suitable to those capes, in the same manner and form as the Ma or and Aldermen in our Cit of use.l°

In compliance ith this and ith the vigorous state legislation on formal apparel, the corporations o n statutes demonstrate a genuine concern for the apparel of magistrates upon all occasions of public ceremon . The ma or and aldermen ere ordered, on oath da , to `put on their Scarlett go nes in the forenoone/ and so goe to the Church as vpon other hol daies And after dinnere of the same dale at one of the Clocke in thafter noone / the said maior & Aldermen in their said skarlet go nes / to passe to the Guild hall / and then and there before them and others of the Burgesses to be assembled' (iHRo: BRB 2 f 314, 1598) . Before Whitsunda , ever of the to n as further required to `bu provide and have for his ife one Scarlett goo ne red made vpon pa ne to forfitt to the vse of the maior and burgesses of Kingeston vpon Hull the somme of iij li. vj s . viij d. to be Levied of the goodes and chades of the partie offendinge and at their said

5 ifes shall ears the sa me vpon daies accustomed vpon peine to forfitt for ever da ei offends contrar this order iij s. iiij d.' ( KHRo : BRB 2 f 109v, 1573) .11 At least one official ait as kept in the emplo of the corporation. He as provided ith a liver, a silver chain, and a pension and his duties included attendance at annual perambulations and at the ma or's banquets . Ver little can be discerned from the account rolls of the official functions of the aits, though the Bench Books record the odd frag- mentar detail such as Thomas Baitson's surrender of his place to William Boume in 1597 (KHRo: BRB 2 f 310v, 1597) . The follo ing note concerns Henr Luter's 1575 release from the office of to n ait (KHRo : BRB 2 f 141r) : one of e Item the same da and ears Henr Luter one of the to ns aites for anes dis- his disobedience in e time in hiche his ho se as infected ith the pleaseth & an other plaig and for his misdeameanor and Le de oordes vttered in the plaiced presence of master maior as b the saime master maior and his brethren thaldermen ith one full assent and consent dispaired of and ffrom his said office and in his plaice as appointed for at office one Henr Storie and e coller of the coller of Silver belongings to henr Store one of e ares eieth size o nces & three quartrenst Silver belonginge to at office as taken ffrom e said henr Luter and delivered to the said Stone to vse duringe at tme at he shall en oie at office hiche coller doithe ea Sine o nces and thre quartrens

If nothing else, this anecdote reveals ho administrative authorit relied upon public emplo ees to embellish civic distinction ith appropriate behaviour. Musical perfor- mance, hen deplo ed in service of public order, as therefore acceptable to the sensi- bilities of Hull magistrates . Whether represented in admonitor terms or conceived ithin the ell-orchestrated displa of social order, the imagining of Hull's distinction in the terms of a garrison of the godl apparentl relied upon the articulation of chaos for the tenor of regulator orders to be heeded. Thus, the ver presence of such a bod of castigator and cere- monial legislation ould appear to be testament to the e istence of public sites of gathering and displa ith none of the stabilit of Bench Book configurations of `proper place'. Court officials and representatives, clerg men, patrons, civic magistrates, frater- nities and guilds, sailors and merchants, as ell as foreigners, omen, children, the poor - all ould have made use of the churches, market places, and buildings of this to n, hich as more a permeable port than an impenetrable fortress . Indeed public space ould have been the locus of a fluid diversit and spontaneit that cannot be reduced to the aspirations of Bench Book prohibitions . Intriguing for the contradictions that the pose in this respect are the documents pertaining to the George Inn . While travelling pla ers ere being seriousl scrutinized b the mid-1550s, an endorsement on the reverse side of an indenture for the propert surrounding the George Inn, dated 1556, stipulates the follo ing (KHRO: BRN 36d) :

6 prov ded al e s and it is further agre d bet ene the se ed part ez that it shalbe la full to the se ed Ma or and Burgesses and all the other persons dur nge the ere/ ithin ritten at their libert e and pleasure to vse suche games and pla es ithin the Butcrofft ithin ritten as the hertofore have b n accustomed to have / and vse, an th nges conta ned in these present Indentures to the contrar not ithstand ng12

The tone of the endorsement appears routine and does not seem to suggest that these activities ere being restored as part of the Marian reaction . A lease later than the 1556 indenture suggests that the tenure of the mansion house, then the George Inn on the High Street, included a space that had for some time been reserved for games and pla s ( ao: BRB 2 f 312) :

Matthe A lease then sealed to matthe Bro nell and mar his ife of one mes- Bro nells suage/ Inne or mansion house no the George in e high street/ ith Lease/ one garden therevnto adio ning ith thappurrenances no in their tenure/ the dose called the Butcroft/ reserving libertie as formerl for games & plaies therin/ and to digg soddes there for the buttes/ and also Reserving one great Chamber on the east part of the foresaid house/ no vsed for la ing of Cloth/ called the cloth hall/ ith free egres and Regres to and from the same from time to time, eilding earl viij lid for j eares from martinmas last past, at penticost and martinmas ith reentre for non pa ment after a month Ideliuered/ lessees to Repair/ & so to leave the same/ And the maior and t o Aldermen ith t o orke- men/ carpenters and tilers/ t ice in the eare to vie / And the said matthe and mar to Repair ithin one halfe ere after arning. And the [said] maior and burgesses to enio the Cloth hall vt supra/ ithout molestation dated. the ih of Iune last

B the issue of this 1598 lease to Matthe and Mar Bro nell, ho ever, the Butcroft is clearl described as having been `formerl ' used for such entertainment purposes . Neither the nature of these games or pla s nor ho long the ere suffered before 1598 is recorded . I ould h pothesize that the ere some form of entertainment bet een game and pla , perhaps devised in accordance ith ritual festivit as ere Ma games. Less evocative, but more likel , is the possibilit that the space as literall a designated area for archer and perhaps other sports.13 Whatever its specific use, it remains pecu- liar that a to n so prohibitive of merr making of an sort ould articulate and define a space intended primaril for recreational pla . T o radical interpretative models present themselves for consideration here : first of all the `game place could be read as a place for licensed carnival, a sanctioned and enclosed area for a popular and collective letting-off of steam hich inevitabl contributed to a larger sense of order, alternativel , it can be seen as a site of resistance, as an appropriated space for the collective displa of popular ill upon an other ise regimented topograph .

7 I feel neither reading is appropriate . The routine nature of the indenture, as ell as the lack of reference to the `game place' in the Bench Books seems to suggest that there as no formal structure to events held therein as in instances else here of bishop pageants, prohibited in 1541, or mock trials. More importantl , the inhabitants of Hull do not appear to have had either the desire or the inclination to band together to resist prescribed modes of behaviour. Measures associated ith religious reform ere accepted ith out- standing consensus.14 Such as the confidence in Hull's conformit, the Archdeacon of the East Riding as able to rite the follo ing to Crom ell as earl as 1535 :

I have been in Hull, both at the Charter House and the parish church . At the former, I found the prior and brethren conformable to the King's pleasure . At the church there as great presence of spiritual persons - the ma or, his brethem, and all the temporalt . I find all men ell inclined . I suppose there is not a more quiet jurisdiction than m archdeaconr. I think there is no count that requires less setting for ard in these causes than the East Riding of .15

Moreover, the earl demise of the Noah pla (c. 1536) suggests that ritual practices ere not clung to ith the vehemence demonstrated in neighbouring York .16 Given the apparent acceptance of iconoclastic polic , it therefore seems imprudent to see the George Inn endorsement and supporting MSS as evidence of strategic control measures or plebeian resistance. I find it more provocative to vie the material as suggestive that, regardless of the designs of the Bench, established order is al a s affected b the hetero- geneit of the location in question, though perhaps not significantl transformed b it. Despite the over helming propensit of its inhabitants to accept rigorousl Protestant practices, Hull, like an cit, as a space of multiple and various tactical trajectories determined ith some degree of independence b its inhabitants of hom onl the smallest traces, like the George Inn endorsement, remain readable . Such documents become most evocative hen seen as participating, along ith oligarchic strategies of control, in the topographic comple it of urban space. Regardless of representation - corporate, state or other - cit space remained a surface upon hich individuals made decisions and took up action, not independentl of forces of containment, but not holl fi ed b them either.

NOTES

1 Anna J. Mill, `The Hull Noah Pla ', Modern Language Revie 33 (1938): 489-505 . The records of the Noah pla are from the Trinit Guild Acounts in KHRO . Also relevant is Ia3Ro : BRE 5, a volume containing the ordinances of the trade guilds . These are inven- toried in L Stan ell, Calendar ofAncient Deeds, Letters Misc. Old Documents etc. in the Archives ofthe Corporation ofKingston-upon-Hull (Hull: Guildhall, 1951) and most are reprinted in J . M. Lambert, T o Thousand Years of Gild Life • or an Outline ofthe Histor and Development ofthe Gild S stem from Earl Times [etc.] in Hull (London and Hull, 1891). There is record of earl musical activit in the Hull Chamberlains' rentals and

8 accounts . For e amples of ages paid to aits bet een 1500 and 1600 see Inmo : BRF 2/2, 3, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 461, 463, 464 . For Medieval e amples of pa ments to travelling pla ers see KHRo: BRF 2/348 (from Cottingham, 1424/25), tamo: BRF 2/356 (from Cottingham and , 1439/40), KHRo: BRF 2/259 (from Cottingham, 1442/43), KHRo : BRF 2/361 (from Cottingham, 1444/45), KHRo : BRF 2/380 (from Cottingham, 1445/46) . Other relevant records from KHRO include the Sheriff Tourn and Quarter Sessions Book (Iumo : CQA 1, t. Henr VI-Philip and Mar). 2 George Hadle , A Ne and Complete Hi tor ofthe To n and Count ofthe To n of Kingston-upon-Hull (Hull, 1788); John Tickell, The Histor ofthe To n and Count of Kingston-upon-Hull from its Foundation [etc.] (Hull, 1796) ; J.J. Shehan, General and Concise Histor and Description ofthe To n and Port ofKingston-upon Hull(London and Beverle , 1866) . The mss considered ill be the Siteenth-centur Bench Books entitled 3a, 4 and 5 on the covers of the bound volumes and recorded as KHRo: BRB 1-3 in the Corporation archives. 3 For e amples see Statutes ofthe Realm (London: Record Commission, 1810-22) III, 30, 3 Hen.vmII, c.9; III, 432, 24 Henr viii, c.13. 4 Shehan misreads this document as indicative of a permanent theatre structure in Hull hich he concludes to have been located in Whitefriargate, 523 . There are no e tant mss to substantiate this h pothesis . 5 For discussion on the topographical, social, and cultural changes effected b the propo- nents of the Reformation upon the people of Hull see Clare Cross, `Parochial Structure and the Dissemination of Protestantism in Si teenth Centur : a Tale of T o Cities', Studies in Church Histor : the Church in To n and Countr side, ed. D. Baker (O ford: Basil Black ell, 1979), 269-78, Victoria Histories ofthe Counties ofEngland:• Histor ofYorkshire, East Riding. The Cit ofKingston-UponHulg ed. K Allison (London: Institute of Historical Research, our, 1969), 90-8, Tickell 209-10, Hadle 89. 6 Earl maps sho that Hull o ed its distinction not to the prominence of its or the e pansiveness of its market-place but rather to its internal econom of space, the impenetrabilit of its fortifications, and its pro imit to nautical trade routes. It as surrounded to the north and est b stone alls and to the south and east b the Rivers and Hull. On the east side of the further fortification insulated the to n. See Victoria Histories 70-80, Rosemar Horro , The Changing Plan ofHull 1290-1650 (Hull: Hull Cit Council,1978), A Plan ofHull(after the re-fortification of 1541) IIL Cotton . August I . Vol. I, 83, John Speed's map of Hull, The Theatre ofthe Empire ofGreat Britain (London, 1611) . 7 Both KHRo : BRB 2 ff 141v and 171 make mention of the `South End' as the place to hich the idle resort during service times . Horro 's surve does not reveal evidence that there as a conglomeration of alehouses or places of recreation in this area. Contem- porar maps are equall as unforthcoming, unless the space referred to is e tramural. 8 On legislation against foreigners see Charters and Letters Patent Granted to Kingston-upon- HulL ed. J.R. Bo le (Hull : Corporation of Kingston-upon-Hull, 1905) 64-5 ; Victoria Histories 128 and KHRO : BRB 2 f 50, 1563 . 9 Siteenth-centur chamberlains' accounts (tamo : BRF/2/395-466) record e penses, fees, and salaries in lump sums ithout the detail characteristic of the York and Beverle

9 accounts. Thus the absence of references to itinerant pla ers is not enough to conclude that pla ers did not pla . If itinerant pla ers did perform in Hull, their e penses ould not have been registered in these accounts but in others, more detailed in nature, hich do not survive . 10 Charters 46. 11 The ma oress as also given a gold chain to ear upon civic ocrlions, KHRo: BRB 2 f 310. 12 The follo ing is a seventeenth-centur ms description of the propert (KHao: BRN 45) :

A scale from the Major and Burgesses of Hull / to John Rale of the George Inn ith its appurtenances in Hull for three ears and a half comencing from Martinmas 1693

This indenture made the eighth and t entith da of August in the fifth ear of the Raign of our Soveraigne Lord and Lad William and Mar King and Queen b the Grace of God over / England, , ffrance and Ireland Defenders of the ffaith etc. Anno qr. Domini one thousand si hundred and ninet three. Bet een the major and Burgesses of the To n / or Bourrough of of one part. And John Rale of Kingston upon Hull in the Cout of Kingston upon Hull aforesaid inholder on the other / part Witnesseth that the said Major and Burgesses for divers good causes and considerations them therevnto moving Have ithour full assent and consent demised granted/ and to ffarme letten, and b the presents doe demise grant and to ffarme lett vnto the said John Ra le , All that their capitall Messuage, Inn, or Mansion house kno n b the name / or signe of the George Inn, ith one Garden there unto adjo ning and belonging, Together ith one great Chamber on the East part of the said Messuage hereto- fore and also no / vsed for la ing of Cloth in or for the Cloth Hall, And all singular houses, Edifices, buildings, Chambers, Sollers, Sellers, Heirloomes, Stables, Garths, Entries, Waies, Backsides, / Easements and Appurtenaunces to the same Capitall Messuage, and premisses belonging or appertaining stitute l eing and being in Kingston upon Hull aforesaid, on the West side of a certain Street commonl / called the High Street also Hull Street, and like ise the ard, Cockpitt & Stable bought of Henr H ld ard Esqr. & alsoe the great gate & passage into the Lo Gate, and alsoe that Close l eing out of the North Gates in / Tripper adjo ning on Gods House hospitall, all hich ere late in mr Joseph Gouldings occcupacion, and are no in the tenure or occupacion of the said John Rale

13 There is some precedent for a more theatrical interpretation of the documents . The Records ofPla s andPla ers in and , ed. David Gallo a (O ford: Malone Societ Collections i, 1981) 12-13, 15, 131, make mention of t o game places, one at and the other at W mondham . Richard Beadle, ('The East-Anglian "game-place": a possibilit for Further Research,' REED Ne sletter 1 (1978): 2-4), ho describes a third place at Walsham-le-Willo s, argues that these documents ma be evidence of a permanent site in hich pla s, much like The Castle ofPerseverance, ere pla ed in the round. David Gallo a `Comment: The East-Anglia "game-place" : some 10 facts and fictions,' REED Ne sletter, 1 (1979) 24-6, retorts that there is no conclusive evidence that an permanent structures, such as game-houses, tenements or permanent scaffolds, e isted on these sites. 14 For e tensive discussion of conformit in Hull see Peter Heath, `Urban Piet in the Later Middle Ages : the Evidence of Hull Wills', The Church, Politics and Patronage in the Fifteenth Centur ed. Barrie Dobson (: Alan Sutton, 1984) 209 -29, Cross, `Parochial Structure', Cross, Urban Magistrates and Ministers: Religion in Hull and from the Reformation to the Civil War (York: Borth ick Papers L vu), and Hugh Aveling, Post-Reformation Catholicism in East Yorkshire 1558-1790 (York: East Riding Local Histor Societ, 1960) . 15 Letters and Papers Foreign and Domestic ofthe Reign ofHenr viii (London: HMSO, 1864-1932) viii, 382. 16 On the demise of the Noah pla see Mill 505 . As I suggested earlier there is little evidence to suggest that Hull inhabitants ere attached to spectacular displa s of piet or to traditional ritual ceremon and celebration. All pre-Reformation guild ordinances, be the of the craft or the religious guilds, do include the customar references to lights, obits etc. but evidence of processional activit is relativel scant. While the Guild of St John the Baptist made provisions for a procession at hich all members ere required to be present, as did the Guild of the Blessed Virgin Mar and the Guild of the Hol Trinit, the Corpus Christi Guild ordinances as ell as those pertaining to the Merchants' Guild of St George record no entries related to such activit . See Lambert 111-31, 156-61 . The chamberlains' rolls reveal an occasional interest in a bo bishop from 1423 to 1434, KHRO : BRF 2 ff 347-55 . Provisions for `singingmen' also dot medieval records as do orders for the maintenance of a light in Trinit Church, KHRO : CQA1 f 77, BRB 1 f 219, BRB 2 ff 4v, 14v. Miri Rubin, Corpus Christi: The Eucharist in Late Medieval Culture ( : cur, 1991) 62, notes that in 1502 a Hull alderman left mone for the construction of a mechanical device above the high altar hich caused images of angels to descend on the altar at the conclusion of the Paternoster . Whether the device as ever made is unrecorded . It should be cautioned that an conclusions on the sub- ject of religious drama have been made in the absence of church ardens' accounts for Hull parishes .

ABIGAIL ANN YOUNG

Minstrels and minstrels : household retainers or instrumentalists?

Fe technical terms in the stud of earl English drama and music have such ide public recognition as `minstrel.' From Sir Walter Scott to Mont P thon and the Hol Grail, a popular picture has emerged of the andering minstrel ith a lute slung over his shoul- der, singing soulfull in his master's hall or on the greens ard ith Robin Hood. Scholars, hile deprecating the romantic mediaevalism of the last centur, often concentrate on minstrels as musicians and some e tend their investigation to the minstrel as jongleur, as reciter, or as poet. Some scholars use `minstrel' and `minstrels interchangeabl ith 11