1 A version of this essay was read at a plenary session of the March, 1983, meeting of the Pacific Northwest Renaissance Conference, Edmonton, Alberta. The data used here are part of that collected for my forthcoming Biographical Dictionary of Elizabethan Schoolmasters and was gathered in part thanks to a summer grant from the American Bar Foundation.

2 Sir George Buck's The Third Vniversitie ojEngland or A Treatise of the Foundations of all the Colledges, Auncient Schooles ofPriviledge, and of Houses of Learning and Liberall Arts, within and about the most Famous Cittie of London, appended to John Stow, Annals (1615), is typical of the English view of the study of the martial arts. Buck specifically included the“schools of defense” in his survey of London's educational facilities because Castiglione recommended and warranted them (p. 984).

3 Alfred, Hutton's Old Sword Play (London, 1892)Google Scholar and The Sword and the Centuries (London, 1901); Egerton, Castle's Schools and Masters of Fence (rev. ed., London, 1893);Google Scholar Gabriel, Letainturier-Fradin's Le Duel à travers les Ages (Paris, 1892)Google Scholar and Les joueurs d‘épée à travers les siècles (Paris, 1905); Thimm's, C. A. A Complete Bibliography of Fencing and Duelling, as practised by all European Nations from the Middle Ages to the Present Day (London, 1896)Google Scholar are standard works on the subject. The best“recent” sketch is A. Forbes Sievcking's “Fencing and Duelling” in Sidney Lee, ed., Shakespeare's England (2 vols., Oxford, 1916), II, 389-407. Castle notes that approximately 400 books relating to fencing were published between 1474 and 1884 by English and continental presses (p. xvii).

4 Facilities offering the non-academic disciplines of riding, painting, and dancing have been similarly neglected, principally because so little data on them are available. For example, London civic authorities exercised control over masters of dance and the Company of Musicians, but civic papers include the names of only 8 Elizabethan dancing masters (CLRO REP 15 [1561-65], fols. 144^v, 375^v). Except for a patent from the crown on 26 Feb. 1574 (Cat. Pat. Rolls, Eliz. I, VI, 258) authorizing Richard Frith, Robert Warren, and William Warren“to be the only teachers of dancing within the City of London and [its] suburbs” for a 21-year period, formal notices of authorized schools are yet to be recovered. Ecclesiastical sources mention only one dancing master and two music teachers, although data are available there for teachers involved in formal song schools. (Joseph Chester, ed., Allegations for Marriage Licenses issued by the Bishop of London, 1520∼1610 [Harleian Society Publications, XXV (1887)], p. 257; G[uildhall] L[ibrary] MS 6530 (Register St. Michael Wood Street), fol. i4^v; GL MS 5293 (Register St. Gabriel Fenchurch), fols. 10^v, I5^V).

5 Castle's Schools and Masters of Fence devotes a mere five pages to medieval developments, while Hutton's more elaborate study, The Sword and the Centuries, is principally concerned with weaponry. An edict of Edward I in 12X6 prohibited fencing schools in London. Roger le Skirmisour was indicted in the mayoral court on 13 March 1311 for “keeping a fencing school for divers men, and for enticing thither the sons of respectable persons so as to waste and spend the property of their fathers and mothers upon bad practices” (Castle, pp. 16-17). Further researches will undoubtedly provide additional details on this unexplored topic.

6 Castle, p. 15.

7 In the Holy Roman Empire the Hamburg Marxbrüder Gild established a monopoly in the fourteenth century and received formal imperial letters patents in 1480, 1512, 1566, and 1579. They later shared their monopoly with the Federfechter Gild. Similar associations in Italy and Spain are later in origin to the Marxbrüder. (Castle, 29-33, using data derived principally from late medieval treatises.)

8 Hutton's two works provide excellent descriptions of the weapons and the techniques designed for their use. Hutton construed the techniques from contemporary treatises by Marozzo (1536), Di Grassi (1570), Joachim Meyer (1570), Jacob Sutor (1612), and Alfieri (1653).

9 Buck, p. 985. Sieveking (p. 389) confuses the Hcnrician commission with the patent of corporation.

10 James, Gairdner and Brodic, R. H., ed., Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic of the Reign of Henry VIII (20 vols., London, 1862-1910), XV, p. 477.Google Scholar

11 Thomas Rymer, Foedera, 3^rd ed., (20 vols., rcpr. Farnborough, 1967), VII, pt. ii, pp.140-41.

12 B[ritish] L[ibrary] Sloane MS 2530, fols. 31, 33, 35.

13 See notes 29-33.

14 Buck, p. 985.

15 BL Sloane MS 2530, fol. 21.

16 Portions of this manuscript are printed in Hutton's The Sword and the Centuries, pp. 261-85.

17 BLSloaneMS2530, fols. 17, 39-46 for“the order of playinge of a Schollers prize“ and“A note of all the free scholars,” respectively.

18 Ibid., fols. 9-16, 18, for“A note of all the Provoste prizes, 1568” and“The Order of a Provost Prize,” respectively.

19 Ibid., fols. 27-30, where the regulations are stated in“The Provost's Oath.“

20 William Browne, Robert Edmonds, and John Green faced two masters, while Andrew Bellowe and James Cranadge faced nine; eleven candidates faced three masters; two faced four; two faced five; four faced six; three faced seven, and two faced eight.

21 A form letter is included in BL Sloane MS 2530, fol. 32. The undated letter uses the initials of the four ancient masters—R[ichard] W[hite], T[homas] W[eaver], G. T., and Alexander] R[eyson] and of the recipient E[dward] B[ritten], who was awarded his provost's letter in 1568.“G. T .“ is not referred to in company documents and cannot be identified.

22 See BL Sloane MS 2530, fols. 22-26.

23 Corporation documents (fols. 35-36) provide the rules and constitution of the school of William Mucklowe, who was admitted provost under Thomas Weaver, master, on 13 June 1568. Mucklowe (Macklowe) was master by 10 May 1578 (fol. 3).

24 BL Sloane MS 2530, fols. 5, 12, 44.

25 lbid., fols. 9-15, 39-46.

26 William Hearne, Francis Calvert, Andrew Dewelly, Paul Warren, and Richard Tarleton were admitted masters by agreement; Thomas Hudson, John ap Rice, Walter Green, Thomas Dycher, John Goodwin, Thomas Pratt, and Harry Holyday were similarly admitted provosts, while Robert Harvey, George Mucklowe, and Bartholomew Goodwin were admitted free scholars. See BL Sloane MS fols. 2, 3, 6, 9, 10, 12, 14, 43, 45, 46.

27 Thomas Weaver, who became one of the corporation's ancient masters, was made master by Edward VI at Greenwich. See BL Sloane MS 2530, fols. 2, 31-32.

28 Ibid., fols. 6, 11, 12, 13, 33, 34, 44, 46.

29 Wickham, G.lynne, Early English Stages, 1300 to 1660 (2 vols., London, 1963), II, pt. i, p. 190.Google Scholar

30 BL Sloane MS 2530, fol. 10.

31 Ibid., fols. 1-3, 9, 10, 39, 40, 45.

32 Ibid., fols. 3, 9, 10, 32, 37-43.

33 Ibid., fol. 6; Edmund K., Chambers, The Elizabethan Stage (4 vols., Oxford, 1923), II, 342-45;Google Scholar James O., Halliwell-Phillipps, ed., Tarleton's Jests, and News Out of Purgatory: with Notes, and Some Account of the Life of Tarleton (London: Printed for the Shakespeare Society, 1844), vii-xxix; Castle, p. 19; PCC 56 Rutland.Google Scholar

34 BL Sloane MS 2530, fols. 23, 46 for Bellow and fol. 14 for Crannage. Henslowe refers to the latter in his diary:“Jemes Cranwigge the 4 of November 1598 played his callenge in my howsse & I sholde haue hade for my parte xxxxs, w[hi]ch the company hath Rd. & oweth yt to me.” See Foakes, R. A. and Rickert, R. T., eds., Henslowe's Diary (Cambridge, 1961), p. 101.Google Scholar

35 See Herford, C. H. and Percy, and Evelyn, Simpson, eds., Ben Jonson (10 vols., Oxford, 1925),Google Scholar X, p. 312, citing BL Lansdowne MS 29, fol. 108.

36 Wickham, Early English Stages, 1300 to 1660, II, pt. i, p. 164. Naylor, styled“yeoman,“ was pardoned by the crown on 17 May 1565 for participating in a fight with Thomas Stokeley, who subsequently died. See Cat. Pat. Rolls, Eliz. I, III, p. 328. Naylor was part owner of Scrope Place, Holborn, on 15 April 1578 (Index Library, Inquisitions Post Mortem London: pt. Ill, XXXVI, p. 7).

37 PRO Pat. Rolls C.66/1061, memb. 25, printed in Cal. Pat. Rolls, Eliz. I, V, p. 4. See also Cal. Pat Rolls, Eliz. I, V, pp. 254, 365, for royal grant. At the time of his death Fenrutter lived in the parish of St. Katherine in the Tower and held property in Upner Castle, Kent (PCC 3 3 Arundell).

38 For Evans see BL Sloane MS 2530, fol. 13; for Goodwin see BL Sloane MS 2530, fol. 15.

39 GL MS 9050/1-5, GL MS 9051/1-6, and GL MS 9052/1-2 contain but one single entry with the style“master of the noble science of defense.” I have been unable to find the use of such styles in any other of the probate and administrative act books for diocesan inferior jurisdictions. The goods of William Joyner were distributed by the Archdeacon of London to Joyner's creditors, Robert Belcher, baker of Burford, Oxfordshire, and Matthew Goodgame,“scoller of that science,” in 1608 (GL MS 9050/4, fol. 338^v). Undoubtedly the entries on John Apprice of Allhallows the Less (GL MS 9050/ I, fol. 55^v and GL MS 9051/3, fol. 221), Francis Calvert of St. Andrews Holborn (GL MS 9050/5, fol. 65), John Evans of St. Andrew Holborn (GL MS 9050/2, fol. 107 and GL MS 9050/3, fol. 169), Henry Naylor of St. Martin Ludgate (GL MS 9050/3, fol. 23), Thomas Norris of St. Alphage (GL MS 9051/5, fol. 88^v), Richard Peters of St. Botolph Aldgate (GL MS 9050/5, fol. 191^v), and John Turner, gent., of St. Andrew Holborn (GL MS 9051/6, fol. 272^v), apply to members of the corporation, as do those for Anthony Fenrutter (PCC 33 Arundell), Bartholomew Goodwin (PCC 48 Montague), William Mucklowe (PCC 41 Langley) and William Oliver (PCC 42 Brudenell) in the probate records of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury.

40 PCC 33 Arundell.

41 John C. Jeaffreson, ed., Middlesex County Records (5 vols., London: Middlesex County Records Society, 1886), I, pp. 180, 210, 218, 243, provides entries applying to Devell, Fletcher, Harris, Matthews, and Norris, respectively; see crown patents conferring pardon on Alexander Rayson, late of London“tayllor,” and Henry Naylor, late of London, yeoman, in Cal. Pat. Rolls, Eliz. I, II, p. 406 and III, p. 328. William Wilkes of Middleton Cheyney, Northants, alias of London, and“debtor to the crown,” was granted protection through royal patents in 1568 and 1569 (Ibid., IV, pp. 70, 328).

42 Most notably, the treatises of Silver (see note 48) and Joseph Swetnam, The Schools of the Noble and Worthy Science of Defence (1617).

43 Swetnam, Sig. C3. For this murder Crichton and the two hired assassins were hanged (DNB, XIII, 91).

44 Swctnam, Sig. C3.

45 Roger Home of Essex matriculated plebeian of New College, Oxford, on iojanuary 1574/75. He played for his scholar's prize at Oxford and was admitted scholar under William Mucklowe, master, on 25 May 1575. ( Joseph, Foster, Alumni Oxonienses 4 vols., Kraus Reprint, Nendeln, 1968],Google Scholar I, pt. ii, p. 746; BL Sloane MS 2530, fol. 43.) This view is confirmed by George Hale (see note 53), who declares“you shall find most of them [i.e., ushers or provosts] Butchers, Byt-makers, Shooe-makers, or Truncke-makers, men enured to the hide, rather able to bear blowes then avoyd them“ (Sig. C2).

46 Wilfrid R., Prest, The Inns of Court under Elizabeth I and the Early Stuarts, 1590-1640 (London, 1972), p. 24.Google Scholar

47 Castle, pp. 22, 187. The rapier rapidly replaced the sword and buckler in popularity after it was introduced in the late 1570s.

48 STC 11097; DNB, XVII, 866. Another prominent fencing master was Thomas Brusket, whose activities are noted by Alan, Haynes, “Italian Immigrants to England, 1550-1603,” History Today, XXVII (Aug. 1977), p. 534.Google Scholar

49 STC 22554. For a summary of Silver's achievements see Alfred Hutton, The Sword and the Centuries, pp. 152-56. For attacks on foreigners see Swetnam, Sig. D3 and George Silver, Paradoxes of Defence (1599), pp. 66, 68.

50 Silver, pp. 64-65; Cat. Pat. Rolls, Eliz. I, VI, pp. 469-4X5; William Page, ed., “Denizations and Naturalizations,” Publications of the Huguenot Society of London, LVIII (1893), p. 26; Chester, Allegations for Marriage Licences, p. 51; Irwin, Smith, Shakespeare's Blackfriars Playhouse (New York, 1964), pp. 126 Google Scholar, 156-57 for citations to sources pertaining to Bonetti's lease of the house used in his“Colledge“; Arthur J., Butler and Sophie C., Lomas, eds., Calendar of State Papers, Foreign Series, of the Reign of Elizabeth (Hereford, 1913), XVII, pp. 269 Google Scholar, 315; R. E. G. Kirk and Ernest F. Kirk, eds.,“Return of Aliens Dwelling in the City and Suburbs of London from the Reign of Henry VIII to that of James I,” Publications of the Huguenot Society of London, X, pt. ii, pp. 222, 404. After his arrival in London Bonetti lived in Warwick Lane. On 31 Dec. 1571, when he secured license from the London consistory to marry Eleanor Sant Johnes, widow, he resided in St. Peter's, Paul Wharf. On 6 July 1572 he received letters of denization as“Captain within the territory and dominion of Venice.“

51 Hutton, Old Sword Play, pp. 2, 27-30.

52 Castle, pp. 187-88.

53 Among these are Sir William Segar's Honor Military and Civill (1602), George Hale's The Private Schoole of Defence (1604), John Selden's The Duello or Single Combat (1610), Gervase Markham's A Schoole for young Souldiers (1616), andloseph Swetnam's The Schoole of the Noble and Worthy Science of Defence (1617). Swetnam (Sig D3) felt“he is not worthie to be called a Maister of Defence which cannot defend himself at all weapons.“