A Finding List: Part 3.

Elizabethan Facts and Historical References

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W-X-Y-Z

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Henslowe’s Diary In Greg’s introduction, there is a short history of the Henslowe Diary manuscript: “Of all documents illustrating the external history of the Elizabethan drama the most important that has escaped the ravages of time is undoubtedly the volume of miscellaneous accounts and memoranda commonly known as Henslowe’s Diary. The volume was first used by a certain John Henslowe for the entry of accounts of the felling and disposal of timber and other matters relating to Ashdown Forest. His accounts belong to the years 1576 to 1581. After this the book appears to have been laid by for some time, for we next find it in use by Philip Henslowe in London early in 1592. By him it was used for the entry of a variety of accounts and memoranda relating both to private affairs and to business transactions, dramatic and other, during the following eighteen years. The latest entry dates from 1609.” [See Appendices Henslowe’s Diary].

Holborn and the Inns of Court and Chancery The origin of the City of London is almost as unknown as that of Rome itself, and all its earliest history is lost in the misty traditions of the Middle Ages, and to this may be due the fact that the arms it blazons on its shield, and the weird supporters it claims to use, have but little to warrant them but custom and age. Yet, we know that just as Holland denoted the hollow land, so Holborn, or Holeburn, implies the hollow bourne the bourne or river in the hollow. This once forcible little stream descended four hundred feet in a journey of six miles, taking its rise in Ken Wood, the beautifully timbered estate of the Earls of Mansfield at Highgate. After passing through several ponds, skirting the existing Millfield Lane, it crossed the foot of West Hill and continued its course through what is now known as the Brookfield Stud Farm, till, somewhat to the north of Prince of Wales’ Road at Kentish Town, it encountered another stream of almost equal rapidity, the birthplace of which was in the Happy Valley at Hampstead. The united current then rolled on through Camden Town and St. Pancras towards Battle Bridge at King’s Cross, from whence it flowed through Packington Street, under Rosebery Avenue, into Farringdon Street, creating steep banks on its flanks, which still remain the measure and evidence of its ancient energy; until, finally, it debouched into that tidal estuary from the Thames mediasvally known as the Fleet. Holborn Viaduct, at a much higher altitude, now spans the hollow where once stood Holeburn Bridge, at the wharves on either side of which “boats with corn, wine, firewood, and other necessaries” would unload. In 1598, John Stow knew of this burn only as Turnmill Brook. Now it no longer exists; the damming of its waters for the erection of mills in the Middle Ages, and its absorption by the water companies, have led to its complete disappearance. The Manor of Holeburn, which was bounded on the east by the southern part of the Farringdon Street portion of this stream, included both sides of Shoe Lane; but how far west or north it originally extended is not known. In the year 1300, Saffron Hill, Fetter (or Faytour) Lane, and Fleet Street were all outside its bounds. Shoe Lane was known as Sho Lane, at one end of which was a well, called Show Well, from which the neighbourhood drew its water.
The street of Holborn was at first simply the King’s Street; afterwards it acquired the name of Holebourne-Bridge-strate. From Newgate to a little way west of St. Sepulchre’s Church the high-road was known as la Baillie; from thence it bore the same name as the river, being carried over the bridge on to the ridge along which the Romans had built their military stoneway, known as Watling Street, out of which, in the year 1300, there turned two streets towards the south, namely, Scho Lane and Faitur Lane, and two towards the north, one called le Vrunelane, afterwards Lyverounelane, then Lyver Lane, now Leather Lane, and the other called Portpool Lane, now Gray’s Inn Road. The justiciars, clerks in Chancery, and Serjeants had frequent cause to protest against the manner in which the stream of Holeburn was being defiled. In the Parliament of Barons held in 1307, the Earl of Lincoln, whose Inn was in close proximity, complained that later on, in 1371, a writ was issued by Edward III., to the mayor and sheriffs to the effect that “Upon the open information as well of our Justiciars and our Clerks in Chancery and our other Officers, as of other reputable men now living in Fletestrete, Holebourne and Smythfeld, we have heard that certain butchers of the said city, giving no heed to our Ordinance, have slain large beasts within the said city and have thrown the blood and entrails thereof in divers places near Holbournebrigge and elsewhere in the suburb aforesaid, from which abominations and stenches, and the air affected thereby, sicknesses and very many other maladies have befallen our Officers aforesaid and other persons there dwelling to the no small damage of the same our Officers and others.” Cursitors’ Inn, also in Chancery Lane, was sometimes known as Bacon’s Inn, having been founded, in 1574, by Sir Nicholas Bacon, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal. In 1478 it was known as the Bores hedde, and then consisted of one tenement and a large garden, about two and a half acres in extent, bounded on the north by the grounds of the Old Temple and of Staple Inn; on the east by that property of the Convent of Malmesbury which had formerly been known as Lyncolnesynne; and on the south by a lane known as Cursitor Street. The rent was then being paid to the Corporation of the City of London, who were probably feoffees of the bishopric of Lincoln; but in 1561 they purchased it of Edward VI., into whose hands it had come at the dissolution of chantries and chapels; and they in 1574 granted it to Sir Nicholas Bacon, who there housed the cursitor clerks. There were twenty-four cursitor clerks i.e., Clerks of the Course whose business was to draw up the writs. The Cursitor Baron administered the oaths to the sheriffs, bailiffs, and officers of the Customs, etc. Cursitor Street perpetuates the name of the Inn. (Ditchfield). 1

Honorificabilitudine This is a perfectly serious word, meaning honour in a high degree, with two stem roots and three suffixes, combined according to the rules of medieval Latin. We find it in a charter granted by The See of Rome to a religious house in Genoa in 1187, but not printed until 1614. 2  We also find it in Dante’s De Vulgare Eloquio, written in or about 1304, translated from the original Latin into Italian and printed for the first time in 1529. And then in De Vulgare Eloquio, 3 (c.1304). Then in The History of Henry VII., of Italy by Albertus Musatus, a work composed between 1313 (date of Henry’s death) and 1330 (date of the author’s death), but first printed in 1635. And then in De Gestis Henrici 4 (1313–1330). In the Complaint of Scotland (1549) which was first discovered by Mr. George Stronach of Edinburgh, and communicated to the public by the poet Henry Dryerre, Esq., in the People’s Friend (Dundee), May 16, 1898. Honorificabilitudinitatibus can also be found in Love’s Labour’s Lost 5(1598). The first edition of the play was printed in 1598; the play was probably written in or about 1588. The word is then found in the Northumberland Manuscript (c.1598) as Honorificabilitudine. The word honorificabilitudinitatibus has proved a stumbling block both to orthodox Shakespeareans and to Baconians. A writer suggested that the clue to the meaning which the word is intended to convey in the text may be discovered in the immediate context as given here:
“Thou art not so long by the head as honorificabilitudinitatibus. In the first place, the words “thou art” as we have already seen, frequently appear in connection with cryptographic spellings of the name BACON, and they may be understood as an anagrammatic acrostic for AUTHOR. In the second place, the person addressed, whether or not he be thus understood to be hinted as the author, is said to be “not so long by the head as honorificabilitudinitatibus.” If the person addressed is not so long by the head as this long word, his length “by the head” may be understood to be discoverable by removing part of the head from the word, or the letters “ho.” The removal of these letters from the word leaves the following letters “by the head” of the word: “norificab” and these letters may be anagrammatised as: I, I, FR. BACON. In structure this anagram, which is composed of consecutive letters in the interior of a word, differs from the common anagram, which is composed of all the letters of a word, and from the acrostic anagram, which is composed of letters at the extremities of a word. That an anagram of interior letters is here intended appears in the phrase: “thou art not so long by the head as honorificabilitudinitatibus.” This phrase hints at cryptographic letters which are “by the head” of the word, and which must accordingly be understood as not to extend to the end of the word. And the words: “not so long by the head” may be understood to hint at cryptographic letters which do not include the whole head of “honorificabilitudinitatibus” and which accordingly do not extend to the beginning of the word. Since there is thus a hint to exclude both the letters at the end of the word and the letters at the beginning of the word, the phrase: “not so long by the head” can only be understood as an allusion to letters in the interior of the word. Thus the structure of the anagram, which yields the spelling: I, I, FR. BACON, may be understood to be hinted in the sentence in which the anagram is contained. And the meaning of the anagrammatic spelling as a play on BACON as a kind of ham and so as something to eat, may be understood in the phrases: “a great feast of Languages”; “the alms basket of words”; “eaten thee for a word” and “Thou art easier swallowed then a flap dragon.” These possible references to the meaning of the cryptographic spelling as something which is edible are confirmed by the acrostic on the first three lines of the speech in which “honorificabilitudinitatibus” is contained.”

Howes’ observations The following are amongst the observations of Howes on the writers that flourished in the reign of Elizabeth and mentioning Francis Bacon and George Withers: “Our modern and present excellent poets, which worthily flourish in their own works, and all of them in my own knowledge lived together in this Queen’s reign, according to their priorities, as near as I could, I have orderly set down, viz., George Gascoigne, esquire, Thomas Church-yard esquire, Sir Edward Dyer knight, Edmond Spencer esquire, Sir Philip Sidney knight, Sir John Harrington knight, Sir Thomas Challoner knight, Sir Francis Bacon knight, and Sir John Davie knight, Master John Lillie gentleman, Master George Chapman gentleman, M. W. Warner gentleman, M. Willi. Shakespeare gentleman, Samuell Daniell esquire, Michaell Draiton esquire of the bath, M. Christopher Mario gen., M. Benjamine Johnson gentleman, John Marston esquier, M. Abraham Francis gen., master Francis Meers gentle., master Josua Silvester gentle., master Thomas Deckers gentleman, M. John Flecher gentle., M. John Webster gentleman, M.Thomas Heywood gentleman, M. Thomas Middleton gentleman, M. George Withers.”