On 1 June 1599, John Whitgift (the Archbishop of Canterbury) and Richard Bancroft (the Bishop of London) signed their names on an order to ban a selection of literary works. This act of

censorship Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governments ...

has become known among scholars as the "Bishops' Ban" and is one of four such acts during the reign of

Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is ...

. Debora Shuger has called the order "the most sweeping and stringent instance of early modern censorship."

Censored books

This "Bishops' Ban" has been documented in the surviving records of the

Stationers' Company The Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers (until 1937 the Worshipful Company of Stationers), usually known as the Stationers' Company, is one of the livery companies of the City of London. The Stationers' Company was formed in ...

and can be observed in Edward Arber's transcription. It ordered the censorship of

satires Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming or ...

and

epigrams An epigram is a brief, interesting, memorable, and sometimes surprising or satirical statement. The word is derived from the Greek "inscription" from "to write on, to inscribe", and the literary device has been employed for over two millen ...

, histories and dramatic works published without the approval of the Privy Council, and all the works by

Thomas Nashe Thomas Nashe (baptised November 1567 – c. 1601; also Nash) was an Elizabethan playwright, poet, satirist and a significant pamphleteer. He is known for his novel ''The Unfortunate Traveller'', his pamphlets including ''Pierce Penniless,'' ...

and

Gabriel Harvey Gabriel Harvey (c. 1552/3 – 1631) was an English writer. Harvey was a notable scholar, whose reputation suffered from his quarrel with Thomas Nashe. Henry Morley, writing in the ''Fortnightly Review'' (March 1869), has argued that Harvey's Lati ...

. Additionally, nine specific books were singled out for censorship: * Joseph Hall, ''Vergidemiarum''. 2 Vols. (1597–1598). * John Marston, ''The Metamorphosis of Pigmalions Image and Certaine Satyres'' (1598) * John Marston, ''The Scourge of Villanie'' (1598) * Edward Guilpin, ''Skialetheia. or, A shadowe of Truth'' (1598) *

Thomas Middleton Thomas Middleton (baptised 18 April 1580 – July 1627; also spelt ''Midleton'') was an English Jacobean playwright and poet. He, with John Fletcher and Ben Jonson, was among the most successful and prolific of playwrights at work in the Jac ...

, '' Microcynicon: Six Snarling Satires'' (1599) * T. Cutwode (pseud.), ''Caltha Poetarum: Or The Bumble Bee'' (1599) * John Davies and Christopher Marlowe, ''Epigrammes and Elegies'' (1599) * Ercole and

Torquato Tasso Torquato Tasso ( , also , ; 11 March 154425 April 1595) was an Italian poet of the 16th century, known for his 1591 poem ''Gerusalemme liberata'' ( Jerusalem Delivered), in which he depicts a highly imaginative version of the combats between ...

, ''Of Mariage and Wiving'', trans.

Robert Tofte Robert Tofte (bap. 1562 – d. Jan. 1620) was an English translator and poet. He is known for his translations of Ariosto's ''Satires'' and his sonnet sequences ''Alba, The Months Minde of a Melancholy Lover'' (1598) and ''Laura, The Toyes of a ...

(1599) * Anonymous, ''The xv ioyes of marriage'' The last work may be a translation from a French original, and is probably lost (although we know it was probably printed by Adam Islip, who was fined for printing the book on 5 February 1599). All the other books survive. Three days later, on 4 June, seven of the above titles were burned in Stationers' Hall. The two books that were "stai " (i.e. not burned) were Hall's ''Vergidemiarum'' and ''Caltha Poetarum.'' The following year, poet

John Weever John Weever (1576–1632) was an English antiquary and poet. He is best known for his ''Epigrammes in the Oldest Cut, and Newest Fashion'' (1599), containing epigrams on Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, and other poets of his day, and for his ''Ancient ...

published ''Faunus and Melliflora'', which contains references to Joseph Hall, John Marston, and the Bishops' Ban. Weever is also the probable author of an anonymous pamphlet in 1601 entitled ''The Whippinge of the Satyre'', which vindicates the decision of the bishops and attacks Edward Guilpin, John Marston, and

Ben Jonson Benjamin "Ben" Jonson (c. 11 June 1572 – c. 16 August 1637) was an English playwright and poet. Jonson's artistry exerted a lasting influence upon English poetry and stage comedy. He popularised the comedy of humours; he is best known for t ...

. The list of books is worded as follows (from Arber's translation):

Satyres tearmed Halls Satyres, viz' Virgidemiarum, or his toothless or bitinge Satyres
Pigmalion with certaine other Satyres
The scourge of villanye
The Shadowe of truthe in Epigrams and Satyres
Snarlinge Satyres
Caltha Poetarum
Davyes Epigrams, with marlowes Elegyes
The booke againste woemen, viz'; of miarriage and wyvinge
The xv ioyes of marriage
That noe Satyres or Epigramms be printed hereafter
That noe English historyes bee printed excepte they bee allowed by somme of her maiesties privie Counsell
That noe playes bee printed excepte they bee allowed by such as have auctoritie
That all NASSHes bookes and Doctor HARVYes bookes be taken wheresouer they maye be found and that none of theire bookes bee euer printed hereafter
That thoughe any booke of the nature of theise heretofore expressed shalbe broughte unto yow under the hands of the Lord Archbisshop of Canterburye or the Lord Bishop of London yet the said booke shall not bee printed until the master or wardens have acquainted the said lord Archbishop, or the Lord Bishop with the same, to knowe whether it be theire hand or no
John cantuar
Richard London
Suche bookes as can be found or are already taken of the Argumentes aforesaid or any of the bookes above expressed lett them bee presentlye broughte to the Bishop of London to be burnte

Theories about the Ban

It is not entirely clear what reason or reasons prompted the ban and the subsequent book burning. Nevertheless, there are three general theories that attempt to explain the controversy. The first of these supposes that the ban was simply a response to satirical writing that was getting out of hand. Richard McCabe refers to the ban as an effort to target social critique that was "too close to the truth for comfort." More recently, William Jones contends that the bishops' primary concern was the satirists' harsh, Juvenalian approach to social commentary. This interpretation draws its force in part from the Bishops' sentence "That noe ''Satyres'' or ''Epigrams'' be printed hereafter." However, though many of the books in question fit the generic category of "satire", the Bishops' Ban problematically also limits the printing of some "English histories" and "playes", which may themselves be satiric. An alternative theory on the event supposes that Archbishop Whitgift engineered the ban specifically to protect his friend the

Earl of Essex Earl of Essex is a title in the Peerage of England which was first created in the 12th century by King Stephen of England. The title has been recreated eight times from its original inception, beginning with a new first Earl upon each new cre ...

from political satire. This nuanced, political interpretation points out that Essex's failure during a military campaign in Ireland had recently captured the attention of the English public, and figures that the banned books seize upon this controversy. Because

's ''Of Mariage and Wiving'' and the anonymous ''xv ioyes of marriage'' are literary translations that do not directly relate to England's contemporary political climate, some scholars suppose that the anti-marriage rhetoric of these two books was perceived as sedition against

. A third explanation for the ban reasons that the bishops were reacting specifically to the malicious and pornographic content in the books, as opposed to their generic or political implications. Charles Gillett argues that the seven books were burned "because of their offence against morality." Lynda Boose has claimed further that the bishops "attempted to cut off the hostile, malcontented political aggressions of the violently sexualized discourse they heard in these new hybrid literary constructions." Lynda Boose, "The 1599 Bishops' Ban, Elizabethan Pornography, and the Sexualization of the Jacobean Stage," in ''Enclosure Acts: Sexuality, Property and Culture in Early Modern England'', ed. Richard Burt and John Michael Archer (Ithaca: Cornell UP, 1994), 197.

References

{{reflist 1599 in England Censorship Censorship in the United Kingdom Events relating to freedom of expression