Thomas Heywood
Encyclopedia
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
playwright, actor, and author whose peak period of activity falls between late Elizabethan and early Jacobean theatre.
Early years
Few details of Heywood's life have been documented with certainty. Most references indicate that the county of his birth was most likely LincolnshireLincolnshire
Lincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk to the south east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south west, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to the west, South Yorkshire to the north west, and the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north. It also borders...
, while the year has been variously given as 1570, 1573, 1574 and 1575. It has been speculated that his father was a country parson and that he was related to the half-century-earlier dramatist John Heywood
John Heywood
John Heywood was an English writer known for his plays, poems, and collection of proverbs. Although he is best known as a playwright, he was also active as a musician and composer, though no works survive.-Life:...
, whose death year is, again, uncertain, but indicated as having occurred not earlier than 1575 and not later than 1589.
Heywood is said to have been educated at the University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
, eventually becoming a fellow of Peterhouse
Peterhouse, Cambridge
Peterhouse is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. It is the oldest college of the University, having been founded in 1284 by Hugo de Balsham, Bishop of Ely...
. Subsequently, however, he moved to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, where the first mention of his dramatic career is a note in the diary of theatre entrepreneur Philip Henslowe
Philip Henslowe
Philip Henslowe was an Elizabethan theatrical entrepreneur and impresario. Henslowe's modern reputation rests on the survival of his diary, a primary source for information about the theatrical world of Renaissance London...
recording that he wrote a play for the Admiral's Men
Admiral's Men
The Admiral's Men was a playing company or troupe of actors in the Elizabethan and Stuart eras...
, an acting company, in October 1596. By 1598, he was regularly engaged as a player in the company; since no wages are mentioned, he was presumably a sharer in the company, as was normal for important company members. He was later a member of other companies, including Lord Southampton's, Lord Strange's Men
Lord Strange's Men
Lord Strange's Men was an Elizabethan playing company, comprising retainers of the household of Ferdinando Stanley, Lord Strange . They are best known in their final phase of activity in the late 1580s and early 1590s...
and Worcester's Men
Worcester's Men
The Earl of Worcester's Men was an acting company in Renaissance England. An early formation of the company, wearing the livery of William Somerset, 3rd Earl of Worcester, is among the companies known to have toured the country in the mid-sixteenth century...
(who subsequently became known as Queen Anne's Men
Queen Anne's Men
Queen Anne's Men was a playing company, or troupe of actors, in Jacobean era London. -Formation:...
). During this time, Heywood was extremely prolific; in his preface to The English Traveller (1633) he describes himself as having had "an entire hand or at least a maine finger in two hundred and twenty plays". However, only twenty three plays and eight 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...
s have survived that are accepted by historians as wholly or partially authored by him.
Creative activity
Heywood's first play may have been The Four Prentises of LondonThe Four Prentises of London
The Four Prentices of London is an Elizabethan play by English Renaissance playwright Thomas Heywood, thought to have originated c. 1592.The play is known to have been acted by the Admiral's Men on July 19, 1594...
(printed 1615, but acted some fifteen years earlier). This tale of four apprentices who become knight
Knight
A knight was a member of a class of lower nobility in the High Middle Ages.By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior....
s and travel to Jerusalem may have been intended as a burlesque of the old romance
Romance (genre)
As a literary genre of high culture, romance or chivalric romance is a style of heroic prose and verse narrative that was popular in the aristocratic circles of High Medieval and Early Modern Europe. They were fantastic stories about marvel-filled adventures, often of a knight errant portrayed as...
s, but it is more likely that it was meant seriously to attract the apprentice spectators to whom it was dedicated. Its popularity was satirized in Beaumont and Fletcher
Beaumont and Fletcher
Beaumont and Fletcher were the English dramatists Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher, who collaborated in their writing during the reign of James I ....
's travesty of the middle-class taste in drama, The Knight of the Burning Pestle
The Knight of the Burning Pestle
The Knight of the Burning Pestle is a play by Francis Beaumont, first performed in 1607 and first published in a quarto in 1613. It is notable as the first whole parody play in English...
. Heywood's two-part history plays Edward IV
Edward IV (play)
Edward IV, Parts 1 and 2 is a two-part Elizabethan history play, often attributed to Thomas Heywood, perhaps with collaborators.The two parts were entered into the Stationers' Register together on August 28, 1599, and were published together later that year in a quarto issued by the bookseller John...
(printed 1600), and If You Know Not Me, You Know Nobody
If You Know Not Me, You Know Nobody
If You Know Not Me, You Know Nobody is a two-part play by Thomas Heywood, depicting the life and reign of Elizabeth I of England, written very soon after the latter's death. The title deliberately echoes that of Samuel Rowley's 1605 play When You See Me You Know Me.Part 1 is a chronicle history of...
, or, The Troubles of Queene 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...
(1605 and 1606) concern, respectively, The Wars of the Roses and the life of the Queen contrasted with that of the preeminent merchant and financier Thomas Gresham
Thomas Gresham
Sir Thomas Gresham was an English merchant and financier who worked for King Edward VI of England and for Edward's half-sisters, Queens Mary I and Elizabeth I.-Family and childhood:...
.
He wrote for the stage, and (perhaps disingenuously) protested against the printing of his works, saying he had no time to revise them. Johann Ludwig Tieck called him the "model of a light and rare talent", and Charles Lamb wrote that he was a "prose Shakespeare"; Professor Ward, one of Heywood's most sympathetic editors, pointed out that Heywood had a keen eye for dramatic situations and great constructive skill, but his powers of characterization were not on a par with his stagecraft. He delighted in what he called "merry accidents", that is, in coarse, broad farce
Farce
In theatre, a farce is a comedy which aims at entertaining the audience by means of unlikely, extravagant, and improbable situations, disguise and mistaken identity, verbal humour of varying degrees of sophistication, which may include word play, and a fast-paced plot whose speed usually increases,...
; his fancy and invention were inexhaustible.
Heywood's best known plays are his domestic tragedies and comedies (plays set among the English middle classes); his masterpiece is generally considered to be A Woman Killed with Kindness
A Woman Killed with Kindness
A Woman Killed with Kindness is an early seventeenth-century stage play, a tragedy written by Thomas Heywood. Acted in 1603 and first published in 1607, the play has generally been considered Heywood's masterpiece, and has received the most critical attention among Heywood's works...
(acted 1603; printed 1607), a domestic tragedy about an adulterous wife, and a widely admired Plautine
Plautus
Titus Maccius Plautus , commonly known as "Plautus", was a Roman playwright of the Old Latin period. His comedies are the earliest surviving intact works in Latin literature. He wrote Palliata comoedia, the genre devised by the innovator of Latin literature, Livius Andronicus...
farce The English Traveller (acted approximately 1627; printed 15 July 1633), which is also known for its informative "Preface", giving Heywood an opportunity to inform the reader about his prolific creative output. His citizen comedies are noteworthy because of their physicality and energy. They provide a psycho-geography of the sights, smells, and sounds of London's wharfs, markets, shops, and streets which contrasts with the more conventional generalisations about the sites of commerce, which are satirised in city comedies.
Heywood wrote numerous prose works, mostly pamphlets about contemporary subjects, of interest now primarily to historians studying the period. His best known long essay is An Apology for Actors, a moderately-toned and reasonable reply to Puritan
Puritan
The Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England...
attacks on the stage, which contains a wealth of detailed information on the actors and acting conditions of Heywood's day. It is in the "Epistle to the Printer" in this 1612 work that Heywood writes about William Jaggard
William Jaggard
William Jaggard was an Elizabethan and Jacobean printer and publisher, best known for his connection with the texts of William Shakespeare, most notably the First Folio of Shakespeare's plays...
's appropriation of two of Heywood's poems for the same year's edition of The Passionate Pilgrim
The Passionate Pilgrim
The Passionate Pilgrim is an anthology of 20 poems that were attributed to "W. Shakespeare" on the title page, only five of which are accepted by present-day scholars as authentically Shakespearean.-Editions:...
. In 1641 Heywood had printed The Life of Merlin Surnamed Ambrosius. The book chronicled all the kings of England dating back to the legendary king Brutus, who had come from Troy to start an exploration and a new colony, up to Charles I who was the King when Heywood died. The book goes on to chronicle certain prophesies told by Merlin and the interpretations of each and explanation of each within the context of the modern world.
Final two decades
Between 1619 and 1624, Heywood seems to have inexplicably ceased all activity as an actor, but from 1624, until his death seventeen years later, his name frequently appears in contemporary accounts. In this period, Heywood was associated with Christopher Beeston's company at The Phoenix theatre, Queen Henrietta's Men or Lady Elizabeth's Men. At The Phoenix, Heywood produced new plays such as "The Captives", "The English Traveller", and "A Maidenhead Well Lost" as well as revivals of old plays. Numerous volumes of his prose and poetry were published, including two lengthy poetic works, Gunaikeion (1624), described as "nine books of various history concerning women" and, eleven years later, "The Hierarchy of the Blessed Angels". As a measure of Heywood's popular standing in the final years of his life, Love's Mistress or the Queen's Masque, a play published in 1636, but performed since 1634, was reported to have been seen by King Charles ICharles I of England
Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...
and his queen three times in eight days.
According to writings of the period, Thomas Heywood had been living in Clerkenwell
Clerkenwell
Clerkenwell is an area of central London in the London Borough of Islington. From 1900 to 1965 it was part of the Metropolitan Borough of Finsbury. The well after which it was named was rediscovered in 1924. The watchmaking and watch repairing trades were once of great importance...
since 1623 and it was there, at St. James's Church
St James Church, Clerkenwell
St James Church, Clerkenwell is an Anglican parish church in Clerkenwell, London, England.- Nunnery of St Mary: c. 1100 - 1539 :The parish of St James, Clerkenwell, has had a long and sometimes lively history. The springs which give Clerkenwell its name are mentioned during the reign of Henry II...
that he was buried eighteen years later. Because of the uncertainty regarding the year of his birth, his age can only be estimated, but he was likely in his late sixties, possibly having reached seventy. The date of the burial, 16 August 1641, the only documented date, also appears in a number of reference books as Heywood's death date, although he may actually have died days earlier. It may be presumed, however, that due to a possible August heatwave, the burial occurred on an expedited basis.
Primary literary output
- The Royall King and the Loyall Subject (acted circa 1600; printed 1637)
- the two parts of The Fair Maid of the West or a Girle Worth GoldThe Fair Maid of the WestThe Fair Maid of the West, or a Girl Worth Gold, Parts 1 and 2 is a work of English Renaissance drama, a two-part play written by Thomas Heywood that was first published in 1631.-Date:...
(both parts printed 1631) - The Fayre Maid of the Exchange (printed anonymously 1607), a play doubtfully attributed to Heywood
- The Late Lancashire WitchesThe Late Lancashire WitchesThe Late Lancashire Witches is a Caroline era stage play, written by Thomas Heywood and Richard Brome, published in 1634. The play is a topical melodrama on the subject of the witchcraft controversy that arose in Lancashire in 1633.-Performance:...
(1634), written with Richard BromeRichard BromeRichard Brome was an English dramatist of the Caroline era.-Life:Virtually nothing is known about Brome's private life. Repeated allusions in contemporary works, like Ben Jonson's Bartholomew Fair, indicate that Brome started out as a servant of Jonson, in some capacity...
and prompted by an actual trial in the preceding year - A Mayden-Head Well Lost (1634)
- A Challenge for Beautie (1636)
- The Wise-Woman of HogsdonHoxtonHoxton is an area in the London Borough of Hackney, immediately north of the financial district of the City of London. The area of Hoxton is bordered by Regent's Canal on the north side, Wharf Road and City Road on the west, Old Street on the south, and Kingsland Road on the east.Hoxton is also a...
(printed 1638), the witchcraft in this case being matter for comedy, not seriously treated as in the Lancashire play - Fortune by Land and SeaFortune by Land and SeaFortune by Land and Sea is a Jacobean era stage play, a romantic melodrama written by Thomas Heywood and William Rowley. The play has attracted the attention of modern critics for its juxtaposition of the themes of primogeniture and piracy.-Publication:...
(printed 1655), with William RowleyWilliam RowleyWilliam Rowley was an English Jacobean dramatist, best known for works written in collaboration with more successful writers. His date of birth is estimated to have been c. 1585; he was buried on 11 February 1626... - The five plays called respectively The Golden Age, The Silver Age, The Brazen Age and The Iron Age (the last in two parts), dated 1611, 1613, 1613 and 1632, are series of classical stories strung together with no particular connection except that "old HomerHomerIn the Western classical tradition Homer , is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest ancient Greek epic poet. These epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature.When he lived is...
" introduces the performers of each act in turn - Loves Maistresse or The Queens Masque (printed 1636), the story of Cupid and PsycheCupid and PsycheCupid and Psyche , is a legend that first appeared as a digressionary story told by an old woman in Lucius Apuleius' novel, The Golden Ass, written in the 2nd century CE. Apuleius likely used an earlier tale as the basis for his story, modifying it to suit the thematic needs of his novel.It has...
as told by ApuleiusApuleiusApuleius was a Latin prose writer. He was a Berber, from Madaurus . He studied Platonist philosophy in Athens; travelled to Italy, Asia Minor and Egypt; and was an initiate in several cults or mysteries. The most famous incident in his life was when he was accused of using magic to gain the... - The Tragedy of the Rape of Lucrece (1608), which chronicles the rise and fall of TarquinLucius Tarquinius SuperbusLucius Tarquinius Superbus was the legendary seventh and final King of Rome, reigning from 535 BC until the popular uprising in 509 BC that led to the establishment of the Roman Republic. He is more commonly known by his cognomen Tarquinius Superbus and was a member of the so-called Etruscan...
as presented by a "merry lord", ValeriusValeriusValerius is the nomen of gens Valeria, one of the oldest patrician families of Rome. The name was in use throughout Roman history...
, who lightens the gloom of the situation by singing comic songs - A series of pageants, most of them devised for the City of London, or its guilds, by Heywood, printed in 1637
- In volume iv of his Collection of Old English Plays (1885), A. H. Bullen printed for the first time a comedy by Heywood, The Captives, or The Lost Recovered (licensed 1624), and in volume ii of the same series, Dicke of Devonshire, which he tentatively assigns to the same hand
- Troia Britannica, or Great Britain's Troy (1609), a poem in seventeen cantoCantoThe canto is a principal form of division in a long poem, especially the epic. The word comes from Italian, meaning "song" or singing. Famous examples of epic poetry which employ the canto division are Lord Byron's Don Juan, Valmiki's Ramayana , Dante's The Divine Comedy , and Ezra Pound's The...
s "intermixed with many pleasant poetical tales" and "concluding with an universal chronicle from the creation until the present time" - An Apology for Actors, Containing Three Brief Treatises (1612), edited for the Shakespeare Society in 1841
- Gynaikeion or Nine Books of Various History Concerning Women (1624)
- England's Elizabeth, Her Life and Troubles During Her Minority from Time Cradle to the Crown (1631)
- The Hierarchy of the Blessed Angels (1635), a didactic poem in nine books;
- A Woman Killed with KindnessA Woman Killed with KindnessA Woman Killed with Kindness is an early seventeenth-century stage play, a tragedy written by Thomas Heywood. Acted in 1603 and first published in 1607, the play has generally been considered Heywood's masterpiece, and has received the most critical attention among Heywood's works...
- Pleasant Dialogue, and Dramas Selected Out of LucianLucianLucian of Samosata was a rhetorician and satirist who wrote in the Greek language. He is noted for his witty and scoffing nature.His ethnicity is disputed and is attributed as Assyrian according to Frye and Parpola, and Syrian according to Joseph....
, etc. (1637) - The Life of MerlinMerlinMerlin is a legendary figure best known as the wizard featured in the Arthurian legend. The standard depiction of the character first appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, written c. 1136, and is based on an amalgamation of previous historical and legendary figures...
surnamed Ambrosius (1641)
See also
- Appius and VirginiaAppius and VirginiaAppius and Virginia is an early 17th-century stage play, a tragedy by John Webster . It is the third and least famous of his tragedies, after The White Devil and The Duchess of Malfi.-Heywood:...
- A Cure for a CuckoldA Cure for a CuckoldA Cure for a Cuckold is a late Jacobean era stage play, a comedy written by John Webster and William Rowley. The play was first published in 1661, though composed some four decades earlier.-Date and performance:...
- A New Wonder, a Woman Never VexedA New Wonder, a Woman Never VexedA New Wonder, a Woman Never Vexed is a Jacobean era stage play, often classified as a city comedy. Its authorship was traditionally attributed to William Rowley, though modern scholarship has questioned Rowley's sole authorship; Thomas Heywood and George Wilkins have been proposed as possible...
- Swetnam the Woman-HaterSwetnam the Woman-HaterSwetnam the Woman-Hater Arraigned by Women is a Jacobean era stage play, an anonymous comedy that was part of an anti-feminist controversy of the 1615–20 period.-Performance and publication:...
- The Thracian WonderThe Thracian WonderThe Thracian Wonder is a stage play of English Renaissance drama, a work that constitutes a long-standing and persistent problem for scholars and historians of the subject.- Publication :...