While Burghley’s word was powerful, the Vice Chancellor
was the actual head administrator in day to day matters. His power depended as
much or more upon the heads of the colleges as upon the Chancellor and he consulted
with them continually. According to Harrison, the author of the famous
Description of England:
Over eche Universitie also, there is a severall
Chauncelour, whose Offices are perpetual howbeit, their substitutes, whome wee
call Vicechauncelors, are chaunged every yere, as are also the Proctors,
Taskers, Maisters of the streates, & other officers, for the better
maintenance of their policie & estate.[1]
The Vice-Chancellor clearly had discretion even to graciously refuse the requests of the Chancellor upon consultation with them.
Watching common plays was not approved of within the institution, as the rule. Burghley’s request was exceptional.
It is unclear whether or not Oxford’s players performed
in the town. There they needed permission of the Mayor who was in the habit of
entertaining his citizens with plays by travelling players several times a
year. Regular remittances to the Earl of Sussex men appear in the records of
the town exchequer for playing in the city. Troops of tumblers also regularly
appear.
Little is known about Hatcher. He was a member of the gentry without the need to practice the professions he studied at King’s College. He was a noted antiquarian and friend of Dr. John Caius and John Stowe. Late in his life he may have retired to his family estate.
My bounden duty remembred[2]
with most humble recommendations: whereas it hath pleased your honor to
recommend unto me, and the Heads of the University, my Lord of Oxenford his
Players, that they might shew their cunning in several Plays already practised
by them before the Queen's Majesty. I did speedily council with the Heads and
others, viz. Dr. Still, Dr. Howland, Dr. Binge, Dr. Legge, &c. and
considering and pondering that the seed, the cause, and the fear of the
Pestilence is not yet vanished and gone this hot time of the year; this
Midsummer Fair time having confluence out of all countries, as well of infected
as not ; the Commencement time at hand, which requireth rather diligence in
study, than dissoluteness in plays; and also that of late we denied that like
to the right honorable the Lord Leicester his servants; and especially that all
Assemblies in open places be expressly forbidden in this University and Town,
or within five miles in compass, by her Majesty's Council's Letters to the Vice
Chancellor, 30th. Octob. 1 575; our trust is that your honor, our most dear
loving Chancellor, will take our Answers made unto them in good part ; and being
willing to impart something from the liberality of the University to them, I
could not obtain sufficient assent thereto, and therefore I delivered them but
xxs towards their charges. Also they brought Letters from the right
honorable the Lord Chancellor, and the right honorable the Lord of Sussex, to
the Vice-Chancellors of Cambridge and Oxford; I trust their Honors will accept
their Answers. Thus leaving to trouble your honor with my rude writing, I take
my leave. Your Lordships humble and unworthy deputy John Hatcher, Vice Can.
Cambridge The xxi of June 1580.
[1] Annals
of Cambridge (1843). II.349.
[2] Ellis,
Henry. Original Letters, illustrative of English history (1829). III.32.
Also at Virtual Grub Street:
- A 1572 Oxford Letter and the Player’s Speech in Hamlet. August 11, 2020. “The player’s speech has been a source of consternation among Shakespeare scholars for above 200 years. Why was Aeneas’ tale chosen as the subject?”
- A Model for Lady Macbeth. July 12, 2020. “In Macbeth, the Lady of the castle would also seem to be her Lord’s indomitable will. She will see the deeds done that need be done in order for him to pass the daunting tests and wear the crown.”
- Shakespeare’s Funeral Meats. May 13, 2020. “Famous as this has been since its discovery, it has been willfully misread more often than not. No mainstream scholar had any use for a reference to Hamlet years before it was supposed to have been written.”
- What About Edward de Vere’s Twelfth Night of 1600/01? January 28, 2020. “Leslie Hotson, who brought the Orsino-Orsino coincidence to the attention of the Nevillians seems to have made one particular mistake that is all to our point.”
- Check out the English Renaissance Article Index for many more articles and reviews about this fascinating time and about the Shakespeare Authorship Question.
- Check out the English Renaissance Letter Index for many letters from this fascinating time, some related to the Shakespeare Authorship Question.
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