Record of a loan from
Philip Henslowe
( c . 1555-1616, entrepreneur and
theatre-manager)
to
Jonson
, 5 Jan. 1598 , in Henslowe's diary. It is
difficult to determine from the diary if the date should be 1597 or 1598. Thayer
argues that it is 1597, but the entry is surrounded by other entries from late 1597,
while the general order of the diary is non-consecutive.
Eugene Giddens
[fol. 233v]
lent Bengemyne Johnson the 5 of
Jenewary 1597 Jtem Redy mony the some of
vs
Bibliography
Henslowe's Diary
Greg, 200
JAB, 3
H&S 11.307
Henslowe's Diary, 238
Henslowe Papers (facsimile)
Henslowe was originally a dyer by trade, and was unusual among theatre managers of the day in never having been an actor. He built the Rose Theatre in Southwark in 1587, presumably as an extension of his earlier financial enterprises, which included starch making and money-lending. His career as a theatre manager appears to have taken off in 1592, when his stepdaughter married Edward Alleyn the actor. Henslowe's primary connection to his theatres was financial and administrative rather than artistic; he took a percentage of the ticket sales, and his account books for 1593-1603 (known as his 'Diary') also record payments for licences, costumes, and to playwrights. His 'Inventory' (of costumes, properties etc.) of 1598 also survives.