Everything about Samuel Rowley totally explained
Samuel Rowley was a
17th century English dramatist and
actor.
Rowley first appears in the historical record as an associate of
Philip Henslowe in the late 1590s. Initially he appears to have been an actor, perhaps a sharer, in the
Admiral's Men, who performed at the
Rose Theatre. After 1598, he assumed some non-acting responsibilities, helping Henslowe and
Edward Alleyn manage the business affairs of the company. Yet he remained an actor as late as
1617, as he appears in the "plots" for plays including
Frederick and Basilea (as Heraclius),
The Battle of Alcazar (as an ambassador), and
1 Tamar Cam. He remained with the company through its successive patronage by
Prince Henry and
the Palsgrave.
As a writer, Rowley belonged to the crowd of collaborating playwrights who kept Henslowe and Alleyn supplied with new drama. Henslowe paid him for additions to
Christopher Marlowe's
Doctor Faustus; tradition, deferential to Marlowe, has assigned him the clown's bits in the
1616 edition. He wrote the now-lost
Judas with William Borne (or Bird, or Boyle) and Edward Juby. He had a hand in
Thomas Dekker's
The Noble Soldier (printed 1634). He also wrote alone. His only extant solo work is
When You See Me You Know Me (1603–5), a history of
Henry VIII from the death of
Jane Seymour to the visit of
Charles V. He also wrote a play on
Richard III and two apparent comedies,
Hard Shift for Husbands and
A Match or no Match—all three licensed shortly before his death, and none of which has survived.
On stylistic grounds, H. D. Sykes assigned him a share in
The Famous Victories of Henry V,
The Taming of a Shrew, and parts of
Robert Greene's
Orlando Furioso. These attributions are possible but not widely accepted, as the plays are associated with
Queen Elizabeth's Men, a troupe with which Rowley isn't otherwise associated. MacD. P. Jackson also credits him with writing
Richard II, Part One which others attribute to Shakespeare.
The long-uncertain question of his connection to the more-famous
William Rowley was perhaps clarified by the discovery of his will in the 1960s: in this document, a brother named William is bequeathed all of Samuel's books. Samuel Rowley died in the parish of St. Mary's in
Whitechapel, where he'd resided for decades.
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