xv. The Earl of Hertford’s Men

Edward Seymour, s. of Edward, Protector and 1st and attainted Duke of Somerset; nat. 25 May 1539; cr. Earl of Hertford, 13 Jan. 1559; m. (1) Lady Catherine Grey, d. of Henry, Duke of Suffolk, c. Nov. 1560, (2) Frances, d. of William, 1st Lord Howard of Effingham, before 1582, (3) Frances, d. of Thomas, Lord Howard of Bindon and widow of Henry Pranell, Dec. 1600; ob. 6 Apr. 1621.

These are among the most obscure of the companies. They appeared at Canterbury in 1582, Faversham in 1586, Newcastle in October 1590, Leicester on 22 November 1590, and Bath, Marlborough, and Southampton in 1591–2. During the progress of 1591 Elizabeth was entertained from 20 to 24 September by the Earl at Elvetham in Hampshire ‘beeing none of the Earles chiefe mansion houses’ (cf. ch. xxiv). This was really a visit of reconciliation, for much of Hertford’s life had been spent in disgrace, owing to his first marriage with the heiress, under Henry VIII’s will, to Elizabeth’s throne. The entertainment was very elaborate, and at its close Elizabeth protested to the Earl that it was so honourable ‘as hereafter he should find the rewarde thereof in her especiall favour’. No doubt Hertford’s players took a part, and shared the ‘largesse’ which she bestowed upon the ‘actors’ of the pastimes before she departed. I think it must have also been their success on this occasion which earned them their only appearance at Court, on the following 6 January 1592. I have elsewhere tried to show that there is a special connexion between this Elvetham entertainment and A Midsummer-Night’s Dream, and if any special company is satirized in Bottom and his fellows, I feel sure that it must have been the Earl of Hertford’s and not, as Mr. Fleay thinks, the Earl of Sussex’s.

Probably the company went under in the plague of 1592–4, and in 1595 Hertford was again in disgrace for presuming so far upon his favour as to claim a declaration of the validity of his first marriage. But there were players under his name at Coventry in 1596–7, at Ipswich in 1600–1, and on 8 May 1602, at Norwich in 1601, and at Bath in 1601–2, and this company appeared at Court on 6 January 1603. Their payee was Martin Slater, formerly of the Admiral’s, and since then, possibly, an associate of Laurence Fletcher in his Scottish tours. In 1604–5 they were at Norwich. In 1606 they visited Leicester, on 9 July Oxford, and on 2 December the Earl of Derby wrote to the Mayor of Chester to bespeak for them the use of the town-hall. In 1606–7 they were at Coventry.