The Records of Early English Drama announces the open access publication of its latest edition in the REED series: REED: Hampshire, edited by Peter Greenfield and Jane Cowling.
Now available on REED Online at https://ereed.library.utoronto.ca/ and https://ereed.library.utoronto.ca/collections/hamps/
REED: Hampshire offers the largest and most varied set of medieval and renaissance records yet included in REED Online, spanning from the late 10th century to the start of the Civil War in 1642.
Records range from a kingale mentioned in a 1381 coroner’s report to a previously unpublished play based on Sophocles and Seneca performed at Winchester College.
Hampshire’s record of seasonal festivities – especially that known regionally as a ‘king ale’ – complements and extends the Berkshire data across the common county boundary.
Winchester, Winchester College, and Southampton are major stops in a lively performance circuit including other towns, monasteries, and aristocratic households which provide abundant evidence of itinerant minstrels, players, and other performers.
Collection highlights include records of the Quem Quaeritis at Winchester, the boy bishop tradition at St Swithin’s Priory, a 1409 legal dispute over a St Agnes play, expenses for constructing stages and sets in the Winchester College hall, licenses to acting troupes from the Master of the Revels that name star actors like Edward Alleyn and Will Kemp, and the elaborate entertainment for Queen Elizabeth provided by the earl of Hertford at Elvetham in 1591, which appears here in its Hampshire context. Also included are Isle of Wight records of both folk customs and aristocratic entertainments. All locations are linked to the GIS provincial map of England, which now defines, for the first time, pre- and post-Reformation diocesan boundaries.
Premodern Performance Cultures 