Durham E-Theses Theatre, Catholic Communities, and Popular Entertainment in England's North-East, c.1600-1625 JAKOVAC, GASPER How to cite: JAKOVAC, GASPER (2018) Theatre, Catholic Communities, and Popular Entertainment in England's North-East, c.1600-1625 , Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/12668/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 Theatre, Catholic Communities, and Popular Entertainment in England’s North-East, c.1600-1625 By Gašper Jakovac A Thesis Submitted in Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of English Studies Durham University 2018 Copyright / Declaration Declaration No material in this thesis has been previously submitted for a degree at this or any other university. Statement of Copyright The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without the author’s prior written consent, and information derived from it should be acknowledged. Abstract This thesis traces theatrical practices among the Catholic community in the north-east of England during the reign of James VI and I. Its basis is archival work conducted as part of the Records of Early English Drama North-East project. It focuses on two case studies: the career of Durham-born recusant dancing master, Robert Hindmers (b. 1585), and the 1617 Newcastle performance of Anthony Brewer’s play The Lovesick King (publ. 1655). In the introduction, I discuss the issue of north-eastern regional identities and situate my work within the wider field of scholarship. In chapter two, I examine the available manuscript sources in order to determine the identity, career, and role of Robert Hindmers within the Durham Catholic community. I expand our understanding of Catholic missionary strategies in post-Reformation England by suggesting that dance instruction might have been utilized by Catholics to access particular households and assist the mission. Chapters three, four, and five discuss Anthony Brewer’s play The Lovesick King and its northern performance context. I offer a reconsideration of the well-known conjecture that The Lovesick King had not only been originally written for a performance in Newcastle, but had also been performed as an occasional piece during King James’ visit to the city in 1617. I provide additional evidence to support this well-founded speculation. More importantly, my reading of Brewer’s play traces its muted religious undertones. While The Lovesick King’s subplot is linked to religious conservatism and Catholic nostalgia, a substantial reliance on Herculean imagery in the main plot, in particular the motif of Hercules in bivio, is associated with contemporary Catholic anxieties surrounding the oath of allegiance. Considering the prominence of crypto-Catholicism among the Newcastle coal-trading elite and The Lovesick King’s focus on individual virtue, unconditional loyalty, and social reconciliation, the play can be considered as a political plea of moderate Catholics for toleration. The two case studies illustrate the diversity of Catholic engagement with performative entertainment in the North-East: while Robert Hindmers’ dancing demonstrates the subversive potential of entertainment, the staging of The Lovesick King by the Newcastle elite elucidates Catholic participation in eulogistic royalism and their willingness to compromise with the Protestant establishment. Table of Contents ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.................................................................................................I LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ............................................................................................ II LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS........................................................................................... IV 1 INTRODUCTION: REGION AND RELIGION .................................................... 1 2 DANCE, FESTIVITY, AND EVANGELISATION.............................................. 13 2.1 THE BISHOP’S LETTER ........................................................................................... 16 2.2 CREEPING INTO HOUSES ........................................................................................ 24 2.3 ROBERT HINDMERS, A DANCING MASTER............................................................. 39 2.4 DANCE AND THE CATHOLIC COMMUNITY ............................................................. 47 3 ENTERTAINING THE KING IN NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE....................... 58 3.1 THE LOVESICK KING.............................................................................................. 59 3.2 THE ROYAL VISIT .................................................................................................. 72 3.3 THE CRYPTO-CATHOLIC LORDS OF COAL ............................................................. 87 3.4 THE KING’S HOST .................................................................................................. 96 3.5 THE LANGUAGE OF UNION .................................................................................. 104 4 HERCULES IN THE NORTH-EAST.................................................................. 126 4.1 THE CHOICE OF HERCULES .................................................................................. 126 4.2 HERCULES ON STAGE........................................................................................... 144 4.3 THE LOVE EMBLEMATICS OF OTTO VAENIUS ..................................................... 153 4.4 CHOOSING PLEASURE .......................................................................................... 166 4.5 CHOOSING VIRTUE............................................................................................... 180 4.6 RECONCILING VIRTUE WITH PLEASURE............................................................... 197 5 LOVE AND CONFESSIONAL POLITICS ........................................................ 205 5.1 REWRITING CUPID’S REVENGE ............................................................................ 206 5.2 THE THEOLOGY OF GRACE .................................................................................. 216 5.3 ICONOCLASTS TURNED IDOLATERS...................................................................... 227 5.4 THE OATH OF ALLEGIANCE AND MODERATE CATHOLICISM .............................. 248 6 CONCLUSION....................................................................................................... 270 7 BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................................. 272 Acknowledgements This doctoral thesis has been made possible thanks to the generous support of the AHRC; the postgraduate research fund of Durham’s English Department; the City of Ljubljana; and the Gerda Henkel Foundation. I would like to express my gratitude to the research team of Records of Early English Drama project, both in Toronto, and at Durham, and the editors on the REED North-East project, for many suggestions and fruitful conversations, and for sharing their expertise and enthusiasm for archival work with me. In particular I would like to thank Prof. John McKinnell, Dr. Diana Wyatt, Dr. Mark Chambers, Prof. David Klausner, and Prof. Barbara Ravelhofer. I would also like to thank my family and friends, especially Dr. Christian Schneider, Dr. Daniel Derrin, and Jamie Beckett. Finally, I’m deeply indebted to my partner, Dr. Nicoletta Asciuto, for invaluable and constant support. G. J. Durham, January 2018 i List of illustrations Figure 1 (p. 26). Details on the incarceration of Robert and Anne Hindmers. DCL, DCD/D/SJB/7, fol. 28r. Figure 2 (p. 43). Payment to Robert Hymers for dancing lessons. CA, DHN/C/706/12, fol. 74v. Figure 3 (p. 132). ‘Virtus Romana et antiqua’ from Henry Peacham, Minerva Britanna (London, 1612), p. 36. Figure 4 (p. 133). Annibale Carracci, Hercules at the Crossroads, c. 1596. Museo Nazionale di Capodimonte, Naples. Figure 5 (p. 135). ‘Bivium virtutis & vitij’ from Geoffrey Whitney, A choice of emblems (Leiden, 1584), p. 40. Figure 6 (p. 137). Peter Paul Rubens’ workshop, The Choice of Hercules, c. 1635. Uffizi Gallery, Florence. Figure 7 (p. 144). ‘Vis Amoris’ from Henry Peacham, Minerva Britanna (London, 1612), p. 95. Figure 8 (p. 160). Virtutis radix Amor’ from Otto Vaenius, Amorum emblemata (Antwerp, 1608), p. 33. Figure 9 (p. 162). ‘Virtute duce’ from from Otto Vaenius, Amorum emblemata (Antwerp, 1608), p. 53. Figure 10 (p. 163). Alessandro Farnese, Duke of Parma, as Hercules Choosing the Path of Virtue, Gijsbert van Veen after Otto Vaenius, c. 1580–1628. The British Museum, 1857,0214.413. ii Figure 11 (p. 165). ‘Amor addocet artes’ from Otto Vaenius, Amorum emblemata (Antwerp, 1608), p. 83. Figure 12 (p. 171). ‘Conscientia testis’ from Otto Vaenius, Amoris divini emblemata (Antwerp, 1615), p. 111. Figure 13 (p.