Philip Henslowe facts for kids

Philip Henslowe (around 1550 – January 6, 1616) was a very important person in the theatre world during the Elizabethan period in England. He was like a business manager for plays and theatres. Today, we know a lot about him because his personal diary survived. This diary is a super important record that tells us about how theatres worked in London a long time ago.

Philip Henslowe's Life

Philip Henslowe was born in Lindfield, in a part of England called Sussex. His family came from Devon. His father, Edmund Henslowe, was in charge of hunting in Ashdown Forest until he passed away in 1562. Philip's sister, Margaret, married a man named Ralf Hogge, who worked with iron.

In the 1570s, Philip moved to London. He became part of the Dyers' Company, which was a group for people who dyed fabrics. He worked for Henry Woodward, who managed properties for a nobleman named Anthony Browne, 1st Viscount Montagu. Philip later married Henry Woodward's widow, Agnes. From 1577, they lived in Southwark, a busy area of London. His older brother, Edmund, also owned property there.

Philip became quite successful in business. By the early 1600s, he was a respected member of his community in Southwark. He helped manage the church and looked after people who were poor. During the time of Elizabeth I, he worked for the Queen. Later, under King James I, he also served in the King's household. He even helped collect taxes.

Philip Henslowe passed away in London in 1616. He was still very active in the theatre business right up until his death.

Philip Henslowe's Businesses

Philip Henslowe had many different businesses. He was involved in dyeing clothes, making starch, and even lending money. He also bought and sold goat skins. He owned land in East Grinstead and Buxted, which are towns in Sussex. For about ten years, he also traded timber from Ashdown Forest. But his main business was being a landlord in Southwark, meaning he rented out many properties.

His Theatres

In 1584, Henslowe bought a property called The Little Rose in Southwark. Then, in 1587, he and John Cholmley built a theatre called The Rose. This was one of the first big, permanent theatres in London, and the very first one in the Bankside area.

From 1591, Henslowe worked with a famous acting group called the Admiral's Men. This group had split from another theatre company. Edward Alleyn, who was the main actor for the Admiral's Men, married Henslowe's stepdaughter, Joan, in 1592. After that, Henslowe and Alleyn became business partners.

In 1598, another famous theatre company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men (which William Shakespeare was part of), built the new Globe Theatre in Bankside. Henslowe then moved the Admiral's Men to a new theatre he had paid for, called the Fortune Theatre. This theatre was in a different part of London. A poet named John Taylor, who was known as the "Water Poet," even complained to the King. He was worried that the people who transported theatre-goers across the River Thames would lose business because the theatre had moved.

Henslowe also had interests in other theatres, like the Newington Butts Theatre and The Swan Theatre in Southwark.

Animal Shows

Henslowe and Alleyn also ran a place called Paris Garden. This was a venue for animal shows, where animals like bears and bulls would be shown to the public. Later, they even bought the official job of looking after the King's royal animals, including bulls, bears, and large dogs called mastiffs.

In 1614, Henslowe and Jacob Meade built the Hope Theatre in Bankside. This theatre was special because it had a stage that could be moved. This meant it could be used for both plays and animal shows. Over time, the animal shows became more popular there than the plays. The writer Ben Jonson even complained about the theatre being dirty and smelly in the introduction to his play Bartholomew Fair, which was performed there in 1614. After 1617, the Hope Theatre didn't have a regular acting group. Henslowe left his share of it to Edward Alleyn when he died.

Henslowe's Diary

Henslowe's "diary" is an amazing collection of notes and records. It's a very important source of information about the theatre world during that time. It lists payments he made to writers, how much money the theatre earned from ticket sales, and money he lent to people. It also has records of expensive costumes and stage props he bought. For example, it mentions the dragon used in Christopher Marlowe's play Doctor Faustus. This helps us understand how plays were put on in Elizabethan theatre.

The diary was actually written on the back of pages from an old account book. This book belonged to his brother-in-law, Ralf Hogge, who made iron. Philip wisely reused the old book. These older entries also give us valuable information about how iron was made back then.

The diary starts covering Henslowe's theatre activities in 1592. The entries continue until 1609, though sometimes they are more detailed than others. For example, he didn't start writing down the names of the authors until 1597. As he got older, Henslowe seemed to manage his theatre businesses from a bit more of a distance. After he died, his papers, including the diary, were given to Dulwich College, a school that Edward Alleyn had started.

Henslowe recorded payments to 27 different Elizabethan playwrights. He hired, bought plays from, or lent money to many famous writers. These included Ben Jonson, Christopher Marlowe, Thomas Middleton, Robert Greene, Henry Chettle, George Chapman, Thomas Dekker, John Webster, Anthony Munday, Henry Porter, John Day, John Marston, and Michael Drayton. The diary shows that many plays back then were written by more than one person working together. It also shows that Henslowe was a careful businessman. He would get rights to the authors' plays and keep their original writings. He would also tie them to him with loans and advances. If a play was very popular, Henslowe would even ask for a sequel!

The diary mentions performances of plays with titles similar to those by William Shakespeare. These include a Hamlet, a Henry VI, Part 1, a Henry V, a Taming of the Shrew, and a Titus Andronicus. The author for these plays is not listed. Most of these plays were recorded when the Admiral's Men and the Lord Chamberlain's Men briefly worked together in June 1594, because theatres were closed due to the plague.

In 1599, Henslowe paid Dekker and Henry Chettle for a play called Troilus and Cressida. This is likely the play we know today from a manuscript in the British Library.

It's interesting that William Shakespeare (or the famous actor Richard Burbage) are not mentioned in Henslowe's diary. This is because Shakespeare and Burbage usually worked with different theatres, not Henslowe's. Shakespeare's company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men, performed at The Theatre and later at The Globe Theatre.

How the Diary Was Found

People first started paying attention to Henslowe's papers in 1780. A scholar named Edmond Malone asked to see them at the Dulwich College library. The papers had been misplaced but were found in 1790. Malone copied the parts he thought were important for his work on Shakespeare. The original diary was returned to Dulwich College after Malone passed away. Another scholar, John Payne Collier, also studied the manuscripts later.