''Hengist, King of Kent, or The Mayor of Quinborough'' is a Jacobean stage play by

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 ...

of the 1610s, but first published in 1661. It is his only overtly historical play. It was read by Pepys.

Dating

The date of authorship of the play is uncertain, usually put about 1615–1620. Some critics have argued for the close relationship between ''Hengist'' and '' The Changeling'' as an indicatuion that they were written in close conjunction. "Both plays are lavish in the use of dumb-show; both revolve around a licentious woman (Beatrice-Joanna, Roxena) believed to be virtuous, and a chaste one (Isabella, Castiza) mistreated by an unworthy husband; and the role taken by Horsus, the secret love of Roxena, in planning villainies is not dissimilar to that of De Flores."

Texts

The play was entered into the Stationers' Register on 4 September 1646, by Humphrey Robinson and

Humphrey Moseley Humphrey Moseley (died 31 January 1661) was a prominent London publisher and bookseller in the middle seventeenth century. Life Possibly a son of publisher Samuel Moseley, Humphrey Moseley became a "freeman" (a full member) of the Stationers Co ...

, but it was not published until 1661, when the bookseller

Henry Herringman Henry Herringman (1628–1704) was a prominent London bookseller and publisher in the second half of the 17th century. He is especially noted for his publications in English Renaissance drama and English Restoration drama; he was the first publis ...

issued it under the title ''The Mayor of Quinborough''. The title page of the first

quarto Quarto (abbreviated Qto, 4to or 4º) is the format of a book or pamphlet produced from full sheets printed with eight pages of text, four to a side, then folded twice to produce four leaves. The leaves are then trimmed along the folds to produc ...

assigns the play to "Tho. Middleton," and states that the play was acted by the King's Men at the

Blackfriars Theatre Blackfriars Theatre was the name given to two separate theatres located in the former Blackfriars Dominican priory in the City of London during the Renaissance. The first theatre began as a venue for the Children of the Chapel Royal, child ac ...

, although no specific performances are known. There are also two extant manuscripts of the play, both of which are scribal copies of the theatre prompt-book. The Lambarde MS. is 1487.2 in the collection of the

Folger Shakespeare Library The Folger Shakespeare Library is an independent research library on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., United States. It has the world's largest collection of the printed works of William Shakespeare, and is a primary repository for rare materi ...

Washington D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, Na ...

, while the Portland MS. is in the

University of Nottingham , mottoeng = A city is built on wisdom , established = 1798 – teacher training college1881 – University College Nottingham1948 – university status , type = Public , chancellor ...

Library. The subject matter is derived from the

Matter of Britain The Matter of Britain is the body of medieval literature and legendary material associated with Great Britain and Brittany and the legendary kings and heroes associated with it, particularly King Arthur. It was one of the three great Wester ...

; it tells the story of Saxon king

Hengist Hengist and Horsa are Germanic brothers said to have led the Angles, Saxons and Jutes in their invasion of Britain in the 5th century. Tradition lists Hengist as the first of the Jutish kings of Kent. Most modern scholarly consensus now rega ...

during his wars against the

Britons British people or Britons, also known colloquially as Brits, are the citizens of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the British Overseas Territories, and the Crown dependencies.: British nationality law governs mod ...

Authorship

Middleton's authorship of ''Hengist'' has never been seriously questioned, although a few scholars have postulated a contribution by Middleton's most frequent collaborator,

William Rowley William Rowley (c. 1585 – February 1626) was an English Jacobean dramatist, best known for works written in collaboration with more successful writers. His date of birth is estimated to have been c. 1585; he was buried on 11 February 1626 in ...

, in the comic subplot concerning the Mayor of Quinborough. David Lake, in his study of authorship questions in the Middleton canon, refutes the Rowley hypothesis, and assigns the play to Middleton alone.

Genre

The play is an anomaly in Middleton's œuvre, as his only overt history play. Its genre does not prevent the playwright from injecting his usual sexual and thematic preoccupations. (One critic has called it "quirky".) In resorting to what by 1620 was a somewhat antiquated genre, Middleton chose to exploit an equally dated (from the 1620 perspective) dramaturgical technique: the murders of Constantius and Vortimer are acted out in dumb show instead of being portrayed in the usual combination of speech and action. Another dumb show features a personified Fortune figure.

Title

Through most of its existence the play was known by the title that refers to its comic sub-plot, as is true of a few other English Renaissance plays, like '' Blurt, Master Constable''. However, modern scholarship tends to prefer the title from the manuscripts, which refers to the play's main plot. Samuel Pepys was reading it as ''The Mayor of Quinborough'' on 16 June 1666, calling it "a simple play" in his diary. In 2005 it was published by Nick Hern Books under the title ''Mayor of

Queenborough Queenborough is a town on the Isle of Sheppey in the Swale borough of Kent in South East England. Queenborough is south of Sheerness. It grew as a port near the Thames Estuary at the westward entrance to the Swale where it joins the R ...

''.Publisher's page. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
/ref> In the subplot, Middleton takes a satirical jab at the theatrical profession: in Act V, scene i, three thieves pretend to be actors in order to cheat the Mayor.

References

{{Thomas Middleton English Renaissance plays 1610s plays Arthurian theatre Plays by Thomas Middleton