Grace Ioppolo

Hengist, king of Kent; or The mayor of Queenborough

Hengist, King of Kent (also known as The Mayor of Quinborough) was one of the most popular plays of the 1630s and 1640s. Written by Thomas Middleton by 1619, its main tragic plot concerns the invasion of the Saxons, led by Hengist, into Britain and the division of the kingdom into heptarchies, one of which, Kent, Hengist comes to rule. The plays comic subplot concerns the election of a mayor in the town of Quinborough (now known as Queenborough) in Kent by its citizens, including a tanner, a buttonmonger, a barber, a brazier, a weaver, and several other tradesmen. Eventually, these tradesmen watch a play performed by travelling actors in the town hall amidst much commentary on contemporary stage conditions. The plays main plot criticizes various contemporary political, economic, and social policies and crises of the reign of King James I, and also sheds light on the contemporary treatment of women, including those who have been subject to rape. The subplot satirizes Puritanism, play-going, and working-class conceptions of power and politics. The play exists in two manuscript texts (both from the 1640s) and an early printed quarto (1661); this is one of the rare plays of the period that exists early manuscript copy.

“Extraordinary and Rare”: Ben Jonson’s manuscripts

This essay is the first scholarly work to examine and discuss all extant manuscripts in the handwriting of poet and playwright Benjamin Jonson and surveys later scribal copies of these manuscripts and his printed works.