Edmund Tylney
Encyclopedia
Sir Edmund Tilney or Tylney (1536–1610) was a courtier best known now as Master of the Revels
to Queen Elizabeth
and King James
. He was responsible for the censorship of drama in England. He was also instrumental in the development of English drama of the Elizabethan period
. Tilney made the office of Master of the Revels into an institution.
to King Henry VIII
, and Malyn Chambre. Edmund Tilney's father, Philip, was a younger son of Sir Philip Tilney of Shelley (d.1533), treasurer during the Scottish wars under the command of the Duke of Norfolk
. Norfolk's first wife was Sir Philip Tilney's cousin, Elizabeth Tilney; after Elizabeth died in 1547, Norfolk married Sir Philip Tilney's sister, Agnes
, later Dowager Duchess of Norfolk. Malyn Tilney was implicated in the scandal leading to the downfall of the Duchess's step-granddaughter, Queen Catherine Howard
, and was sentenced on 22 December 1541 to life imprisonment and loss of goods, but pardoned after the Queen's execution on 13 February 1542. Edmund Tilney's father was buried on 10 September 1541 in St. Leonard's Church Streatham
. He died in debt, and his widow Malyn received a promise of help from the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk.
No record of Tilney's education survives. He evidently learned Latin, French, Italian and Spanish because his early works indicate his acquaintance not only with the languages but also with subjects such as law, history, economics and genealogy. There is speculation that he must have travelled because travel was regarded as a part of one's education at that time.
in Parliament
.
The 2nd Duke of Norfolk's son and grandson held the title of Lord Howard of Effingham consecutively. The second Lord Howard became the Lord Chamberlain
in 1574. The Revels Office has always been under the Lord Chamberlain, and he conferred the position of Master on Edmund Tilney. In July 1579, Edmund Tilney formally assumed the office of Master of the Revels though he had been the acting Master since February 1577.
Tilney occupied this position as it underwent a significant change in focus. When he began his work, it consisted principally of planning and conducting royal entertainments, as a unit of the Lord Chamberlain's office. His principal aim was that of pleasing the Queen. Then he started clearing up the various problems associated with the Revels office. It had fallen into major disrepute with creditors. A commission issued on 24 December 1581 solved this financial crisis and enabled him to reduce the maintenance costs of the office to a moderate budget. The second section of the commission was to prohibit the discussion of any controversial issues in theatre. A play would be permitted only if the manuscript had the signature of the Master. Any offender could be imprisoned by Tilney's orders. He was given complete authority in matters concerning drama. This responsibility had been previously shared by Revels officers.
He now became the censor
of drama all over the country. One important example is The Book of Sir Thomas More
. It concerned the anti-alien riots on the Evil May Day
of 1517. Due to its inflammatory political content it was rigidly censored, and the play was never released. Any political content designed to agitate the court was censored.
Tilney's career as Master (1579–1610) spanned some of the most eventful years in the history of English drama. In 1576, The Theatre
and The Curtain, the first public playhouses, were built. There were many more being built all over the country at this time. This led to a rapid proliferation of dramatic activity. It began with playwrights such as Christopher Marlowe
and Thomas Kyd
who were drawing crowds with Tamburlaine and The Spanish Tragedy
. The entire career of William Shakespeare
, with the exception of a few years, fell within Tilney's tenure of Mastership. The latter licensed thirty of Shakespeare's plays.
But if Tilney's censorship restricted the writers, his support protected them from generally hostile civic authorities. The polite fiction of aristocratic patronage did not obscure the reality that the troupes were commercial enterprises; however, that fiction brought the theatres under royal protection; in 1592, the Lord Mayor of London named Tilney as one of the obstacles to ending public drama in the city. However, Tilney's censorship was not of a generalising nature. While he did omit politically volatile passages and scenes, some, like the deposition scene in Richard II
and the murder of Julius Caesar
, were allowed to remain. However, there is no way of knowing whether Julius Caesar
was allowed to be performed uncensored. Shakespeare's plays seemed to have suffered the severest form of censorship under Tilney.
Tilney is also credited with the creation of the Queen's company of actors. She had received a few players as part of her inheritance. However, Elizabeth never used them, and usually asked Tilney to get either children or other companies to perform. Soon it became difficult to arrange for performances according to the court preferences. Some plays proved to be dull and were often cancelled. Just a few years after assuming office, Tilney chose twelve of the best actors from different companies and created the Queen's Men. Soon after this, the Queen's Men
played a major part at all court performances. However they had all but faded by the 1590s.
Tilney brought about another important change in the development of drama by giving priority to the play instead of the masque
as part of the entertainment. Masques were very expensive to produce, and Tilney cut down on the Revels expenses by producing plays. In the succeeding reign of James I, masques made a comeback.
On 24 March 1603, Elizabeth's reign ended, and James I ascended the throne. There had been major issues regarding Tilney's patent, as John Lyly
had been vying for that post. George Buck
, supported by the Howards, was also a contender. But Tilney retained his position as the Master even under James I. Also, around 1606, the Master of the Revels was vested with the power of licensing plays for publishing. Some documentary evidence reveals the fact that George Buck had been appointed as acting Master. Censorship took on a more relaxed stance with the onset of the Jacobean era
. In the following years, Buck licensed many plays, though Tilney controlled and managed the accounts of the office. He stayed in office till his death in 1610.
genre of the conversazione. He talks about the perfect state of marital love and expounds it with various historical examples. It is an eloquent work of writing and deals with length on the ideal state of marriage between men and women. The treatise reveals an influence of humanist
and philosophical ideas.
Topographical Descriptions, Regiments, and Policies is the unpublished diplomatic book that he was preparing. Tilney dedicated his work to King James and spoke about collating notes on different countries. This reference work reveals Tilney's knowledge on varied subjects include topography
, genealogy, geography, economics and law.
to contend with and on the other there was the Lord Chamberlain from whom he took direct orders. Following his appointment as the Master, he grew increasingly popular and married Dame Mary Braye in 1583. She was the fourth wife of Sir Edmund Braye. There are no other details about whether they had any children or not. Even in his will written in 1610, there is no mention of either his wife or any issue. He spent the latter part of his life fighting various lawsuits and claims over property and debt. Towards the end, his financial circumstances had become severely strained. He lost a few properties through lawsuits as well. In his will he wished to be buried near his father without much pomp and ceremony. He bequeathed money to a few poor parishes, some servants and to his cousin Thomas Tilney. He lived in the town of Leatherhead
, Surrey, in the building known as the Mansion House. In the 1990s, a new Wetherspoons in the Leatherhead High Street was named after him. He is buried in St. Leonard's Church, Streatham, London. A rather fine monument was erected in his memory.
to Sidney Lee
, there has been varied representation of facts on Tilney. There are no details about his issue or what happened to his wife as there was mention of neither in his last will and testament. There are even debates about the possibility of Tilney having been knighted.
Master of the Revels
The Master of the Revels was a position within the English, and later the British, royal household heading the "Revels Office" or "Office of the Revels" that originally had responsibilities for overseeing royal festivities, known as revels, and later also became responsible for stage censorship,...
to Queen Elizabeth
Elizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...
and King James
James I of England
James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...
. He was responsible for the censorship of drama in England. He was also instrumental in the development of English drama of the Elizabethan period
Elizabethan era
The Elizabethan era was the epoch in English history of Queen Elizabeth I's reign . Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history...
. Tilney made the office of Master of the Revels into an institution.
Early life
Edmund Tilney was the only son of Philip Tilney (d.1541), Usher of the Privy ChamberGentleman Usher
Gentleman Usher is a title for some officers of the Royal Household of the United Kingdom. See List of Gentlemen Ushers for a list of office-holders.-Historical:...
to King Henry VIII
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
, and Malyn Chambre. Edmund Tilney's father, Philip, was a younger son of Sir Philip Tilney of Shelley (d.1533), treasurer during the Scottish wars under the command of the Duke of Norfolk
Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk
Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk, KG, Earl Marshal , styled Earl of Surrey from 1483 to 1514, was the only son of John Howard, 1st Duke of Norfolk by his first wife, Katherine Moleyns...
. Norfolk's first wife was Sir Philip Tilney's cousin, Elizabeth Tilney; after Elizabeth died in 1547, Norfolk married Sir Philip Tilney's sister, Agnes
Agnes Howard, Duchess of Norfolk
Agnes Howard was the second wife of Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk. Two of King Henry VIII's Queens were her step-granddaughters, Anne Boleyn, and Katherine Howard...
, later Dowager Duchess of Norfolk. Malyn Tilney was implicated in the scandal leading to the downfall of the Duchess's step-granddaughter, Queen Catherine Howard
Catherine Howard
Catherine Howard , also spelled Katherine, Katheryn or Kathryn, was the fifth wife of Henry VIII of England, and sometimes known by his reference to her as his "rose without a thorn"....
, and was sentenced on 22 December 1541 to life imprisonment and loss of goods, but pardoned after the Queen's execution on 13 February 1542. Edmund Tilney's father was buried on 10 September 1541 in St. Leonard's Church Streatham
Streatham
Streatham is a district in Surrey, England, located in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is situated south of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.-History:...
. He died in debt, and his widow Malyn received a promise of help from the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk.
No record of Tilney's education survives. He evidently learned Latin, French, Italian and Spanish because his early works indicate his acquaintance not only with the languages but also with subjects such as law, history, economics and genealogy. There is speculation that he must have travelled because travel was regarded as a part of one's education at that time.
Career
Though Tilney had a very informal education, he had a bright future ahead of him because of his royal connections. He was a distant kinsman of Queen Elizabeth by virtue of the familial alliance with the Howards. To obtain royal favour he wrote a treatise called A brief and pleasant dis-course of the duties in Marriage, called the Flower of Friendshipp which was published in 1568. The book was dedicated to the Queen. For the next few years he maintained his connections with the Howard family. In 1572, he represented Gatton, SurreyGatton, Surrey
Gatton was a village near Reigate in Surrey, England. The village lay within the Reigate hundred.-History:Gatton appears in Domesday Book of 1086 as Gatone. It was held by Herfrid from the Bishop of Bayeux. Its domesday assets were: 2½ hides; 1 church, of meadow, woodland and herbage worth 7 hogs...
in Parliament
Parliament of England
The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England. In 1066, William of Normandy introduced a feudal system, by which he sought the advice of a council of tenants-in-chief and ecclesiastics before making laws...
.
The 2nd Duke of Norfolk's son and grandson held the title of Lord Howard of Effingham consecutively. The second Lord Howard became the Lord Chamberlain
Lord Chamberlain
The Lord Chamberlain or Lord Chamberlain of the Household is one of the chief officers of the Royal Household in the United Kingdom and is to be distinguished from the Lord Great Chamberlain, one of the Great Officers of State....
in 1574. The Revels Office has always been under the Lord Chamberlain, and he conferred the position of Master on Edmund Tilney. In July 1579, Edmund Tilney formally assumed the office of Master of the Revels though he had been the acting Master since February 1577.
Tilney occupied this position as it underwent a significant change in focus. When he began his work, it consisted principally of planning and conducting royal entertainments, as a unit of the Lord Chamberlain's office. His principal aim was that of pleasing the Queen. Then he started clearing up the various problems associated with the Revels office. It had fallen into major disrepute with creditors. A commission issued on 24 December 1581 solved this financial crisis and enabled him to reduce the maintenance costs of the office to a moderate budget. The second section of the commission was to prohibit the discussion of any controversial issues in theatre. A play would be permitted only if the manuscript had the signature of the Master. Any offender could be imprisoned by Tilney's orders. He was given complete authority in matters concerning drama. This responsibility had been previously shared by Revels officers.
He now became the censor
Censorship
thumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...
of drama all over the country. One important example is The Book of Sir Thomas More
Sir Thomas More (play)
Sir Thomas More is a collaborative Elizabethan play by Anthony Munday and others depicting the life and death of Thomas More. It survives only in a single manuscript, now owned by the British Library...
. It concerned the anti-alien riots on the Evil May Day
Evil May Day
Evil May Day or Ill May Day is the name of a riot which took place in 1517 as a protest against foreigners living in London.- Causes :...
of 1517. Due to its inflammatory political content it was rigidly censored, and the play was never released. Any political content designed to agitate the court was censored.
Tilney's career as Master (1579–1610) spanned some of the most eventful years in the history of English drama. In 1576, The Theatre
The Theatre
The Theatre was an Elizabethan playhouse located in Shoreditch , just outside the City of London. It was the second permanent theatre ever built in England, after the Red Lion, and the first successful one...
and The Curtain, the first public playhouses, were built. There were many more being built all over the country at this time. This led to a rapid proliferation of dramatic activity. It began with playwrights such as Christopher Marlowe
Christopher Marlowe
Christopher Marlowe was an English dramatist, poet and translator of the Elizabethan era. As the foremost Elizabethan tragedian, next to William Shakespeare, he is known for his blank verse, his overreaching protagonists, and his mysterious death.A warrant was issued for Marlowe's arrest on 18 May...
and Thomas Kyd
Thomas Kyd
Thomas Kyd was an English dramatist, the author of The Spanish Tragedy, and one of the most important figures in the development of Elizabethan drama....
who were drawing crowds with Tamburlaine and The Spanish Tragedy
The Spanish Tragedy
The Spanish Tragedy, or Hieronimo is Mad Again is an Elizabethan tragedy written by Thomas Kyd between 1582 and 1592. Highly popular and influential in its time, The Spanish Tragedy established a new genre in English theatre, the revenge play or revenge tragedy. Its plot contains several violent...
. The entire career of William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
, with the exception of a few years, fell within Tilney's tenure of Mastership. The latter licensed thirty of Shakespeare's plays.
But if Tilney's censorship restricted the writers, his support protected them from generally hostile civic authorities. The polite fiction of aristocratic patronage did not obscure the reality that the troupes were commercial enterprises; however, that fiction brought the theatres under royal protection; in 1592, the Lord Mayor of London named Tilney as one of the obstacles to ending public drama in the city. However, Tilney's censorship was not of a generalising nature. While he did omit politically volatile passages and scenes, some, like the deposition scene in Richard II
Richard II (play)
King Richard the Second is a history play by William Shakespeare believed to be written in approximately 1595. It is based on the life of King Richard II of England and is the first part of a tetralogy, referred to by some scholars as the Henriad, followed by three plays concerning Richard's...
and the murder of Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....
, were allowed to remain. However, there is no way of knowing whether Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar (play)
The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, also known simply as Julius Caesar, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1599. It portrays the 44 BC conspiracy against...
was allowed to be performed uncensored. Shakespeare's plays seemed to have suffered the severest form of censorship under Tilney.
Tilney is also credited with the creation of the Queen's company of actors. She had received a few players as part of her inheritance. However, Elizabeth never used them, and usually asked Tilney to get either children or other companies to perform. Soon it became difficult to arrange for performances according to the court preferences. Some plays proved to be dull and were often cancelled. Just a few years after assuming office, Tilney chose twelve of the best actors from different companies and created the Queen's Men. Soon after this, the Queen's Men
Queen's Men
The Queen's Men was an Elizabethan playing company that operated between 1583 and 1595. It was a popular company and its patron was Queen Elizabeth I...
played a major part at all court performances. However they had all but faded by the 1590s.
Tilney brought about another important change in the development of drama by giving priority to the play instead of the masque
Masque
The masque was a form of festive courtly entertainment which flourished in 16th and early 17th century Europe, though it was developed earlier in Italy, in forms including the intermedio...
as part of the entertainment. Masques were very expensive to produce, and Tilney cut down on the Revels expenses by producing plays. In the succeeding reign of James I, masques made a comeback.
On 24 March 1603, Elizabeth's reign ended, and James I ascended the throne. There had been major issues regarding Tilney's patent, as John Lyly
John Lyly
John Lyly was an English writer, best known for his books Euphues,The Anatomy of Wit and Euphues and His England. Lyly's linguistic style, originating in his first books, is known as Euphuism.-Biography:John Lyly was born in Kent, England, in 1553/1554...
had been vying for that post. George Buck
George Buck
Sir George Buck was an antiquarian who served as Master of the Revels to King James I of England.George Buck was educated at the Middle Temple, and served on the successful Cádiz expedition of 1596 under Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex...
, supported by the Howards, was also a contender. But Tilney retained his position as the Master even under James I. Also, around 1606, the Master of the Revels was vested with the power of licensing plays for publishing. Some documentary evidence reveals the fact that George Buck had been appointed as acting Master. Censorship took on a more relaxed stance with the onset of the Jacobean era
Jacobean era
The Jacobean era refers to the period in English and Scottish history that coincides with the reign of King James VI of Scotland, who also inherited the crown of England in 1603 as James I...
. In the following years, Buck licensed many plays, though Tilney controlled and managed the accounts of the office. He stayed in office till his death in 1610.
Works
Edmund Tilney wrote a treatise called A brief and pleasant dis-course of the duties in Marriage, called the Flower of Friendshipp. This was dedicated to the Queen. It is written in the traditional RenaissanceRenaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
genre of the conversazione. He talks about the perfect state of marital love and expounds it with various historical examples. It is an eloquent work of writing and deals with length on the ideal state of marriage between men and women. The treatise reveals an influence of humanist
Renaissance humanism
Renaissance humanism was an activity of cultural and educational reform engaged by scholars, writers, and civic leaders who are today known as Renaissance humanists. It developed during the fourteenth and the beginning of the fifteenth centuries, and was a response to the challenge of Mediæval...
and philosophical ideas.
Topographical Descriptions, Regiments, and Policies is the unpublished diplomatic book that he was preparing. Tilney dedicated his work to King James and spoke about collating notes on different countries. This reference work reveals Tilney's knowledge on varied subjects include topography
Topography
Topography is the study of Earth's surface shape and features or those ofplanets, moons, and asteroids...
, genealogy, geography, economics and law.
Personal life
Edmund Tilney lived a life which was spent in balancing one controversy against another. On the one hand he had the Lord TreasurerLord High Treasurer
The post of Lord High Treasurer or Lord Treasurer was an English government position and has been a British government position since the Act of Union of 1707. A holder of the post would be the third highest ranked Great Officer of State, below the Lord High Chancellor and above the Lord President...
to contend with and on the other there was the Lord Chamberlain from whom he took direct orders. Following his appointment as the Master, he grew increasingly popular and married Dame Mary Braye in 1583. She was the fourth wife of Sir Edmund Braye. There are no other details about whether they had any children or not. Even in his will written in 1610, there is no mention of either his wife or any issue. He spent the latter part of his life fighting various lawsuits and claims over property and debt. Towards the end, his financial circumstances had become severely strained. He lost a few properties through lawsuits as well. In his will he wished to be buried near his father without much pomp and ceremony. He bequeathed money to a few poor parishes, some servants and to his cousin Thomas Tilney. He lived in the town of Leatherhead
Leatherhead
Leatherhead is a town in the County of Surrey, England, on the River Mole, part of Mole Valley district. It is thought to be of Saxon origin...
, Surrey, in the building known as the Mansion House. In the 1990s, a new Wetherspoons in the Leatherhead High Street was named after him. He is buried in St. Leonard's Church, Streatham, London. A rather fine monument was erected in his memory.
Ambiguities
Though the office of the Master of the Revels was one of the most influential posts in Elizabethan England, there is a paucity of information about the life of Edmund Tilney, the Master who was connected with the development of drama at that time. There have been various sources, most of which have offered erroneous information. Starting from scholars like MaloneEdmond Malone
Edmond Malone was an Irish Shakespearean scholar and editor of the works of William Shakespeare.Assured of an income after the death of his father in 1774, Malone was able to give up his law practice for at first political and then more congenial literary pursuits. He went to London, where he...
to Sidney Lee
Sidney Lee
Sir Sidney Lee was an English biographer and critic.He was born Solomon Lazarus Lee at 12 Keppel Street, Bloomsbury, London and educated at the City of London School and at Balliol College, Oxford, where he graduated in modern history in 1882. In the next year he became assistant-editor of the...
, there has been varied representation of facts on Tilney. There are no details about his issue or what happened to his wife as there was mention of neither in his last will and testament. There are even debates about the possibility of Tilney having been knighted.