Sir Matthew Brend (6 February 1600 – 1659) inherited from his father,

Nicholas Brend Nicholas Brend (c. 1560 – 12 October 1601) was an English landowner who inherited from his father the land on which the Globe Theatre was built, and on 21 February 1599 leased it to Cuthbert Burbage, Richard Burbage, William Shakespeare, ...

, the land on which the first and second

Globe Theatre The Globe Theatre was a theatre in London associated with William Shakespeare. It was built in 1599 by Shakespeare's playing company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men, on land owned by Thomas Brend and inherited by his son, Nicholas Brend, and gra ...

s were built, and which Nicholas Brend had leased on 21 February 1599 for a 31-year term to

Cuthbert Burbage Cuthbert Burbage (c. 15 June 1565 – 15 September 1636) was an English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adj ...

Richard Burbage Richard Burbage (c. 1567 – 13 March 1619) was an English stage actor, widely considered to have been one of the most famous actors of the Globe Theatre and of his time. In addition to being a stage actor, he was also a theatre owner, ent ...

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

, Augustine Phillips,

Thomas Pope Sir Thomas Pope (c. 150729 January 1559), was a prominent public servant in mid-16th-century England, a Member of Parliament, a wealthy landowner, and the founder of Trinity College, Oxford. Early life Pope was born at Deddington, near Ban ...

John Heminges John Heminges (bapt. 25 November 1566 – 10 October 1630) was an actor in the King's Men, the playing company for which William Shakespeare wrote. Along with Henry Condell, he was an editor of the First Folio, the collected plays of Shakespeare ...

, and

William Kempe William Kempe (c. 1560–c. 1603), commonly referred to as Will Kemp, was an English actor and dancer specialising in comic roles and best known for having been one of the original players in early dramas by William Shakespeare. Roles associat ...

. During much of the time he was the legal owner of the Globe, Matthew Brend was underage, and his properties were managed for him by

Sir Matthew Browne Sir Matthew Browne (1563 – 1 August 1603) of Betchworth Castle, Surrey, MP, was the only son of Sir Thomas Browne and Mabel Fitzwilliam. He was involved in legal and financial transactions concerning the Globe Theatre in 1601.. He was kille ...

, John Collet, Sir John Bodley, and Sir Sigismund Zinzan. In 1623 Brend conveyed the property on which the Globe was built to his wife, Frances, as part of her

jointure Jointure is, in law, a provision for a wife after the death of her husband. As defined by Sir Edward Coke, it is "a competent livelihood of freehold for the wife, of lands or tenements, to take effect presently in possession or profit after the dea ...

. In 1632 he was sued in the

Court of Requests The Court of Requests was a minor equity court in England and Wales. It was instituted by King Richard III in his 1484 parliament. It first became a formal tribunal with some Privy Council elements under Henry VII, hearing cases from the poor an ...

by the remaining original lessee,

, and others, for an extension of their original lease.

Family

Matthew Brend, born 6 February 1600 and baptized 6 March 1600 in the parish church of

St Mary Aldermanbury St Mary Aldermanbury was a parish church in the City of London first mentioned in 1181 and destroyed by the Great Fire of London in 1666. Rebuilt in Portland stone by Christopher Wren, it was again gutted by the Blitz in 1940, leaving only the ...

, London, was the elder son of

West Molesey Molesey is a district of two twin towns, East Molesey and West Molesey, in the Borough of Elmbridge, Surrey, England, and is situated on the south bank of the River Thames. East and West Molesey share a high street, and there is a second retai ...

and Margaret Strelley. He had a younger brother, John, and three sisters, Jane (born c.1595), Mercy (born 1597), and Frances (born 1598).

Career

Shortly after his own father's death, Nicholas Brend had leased part of his father's

Southwark Southwark ( ) is a district of Central London situated on the south bank of the River Thames, forming the north-western part of the wider modern London Borough of Southwark. The district, which is the oldest part of South London, developed ...

property for 31 years at a yearly rent of £14 10s to

, Augustine Phillips,

, and

. The lease agreement took effect at Christmas 1598, although it was not signed until 21 February 1599, and ran until 25 December 1629. Nicholas Brend survived his father by only three years. He died on 12 October 1601, leaving an estate encumbered by debts which he estimated at £1478. In order to provide for his wife and five children, including his infant son and heir, Matthew, in his final days Nicholas Brend entered into legal agreements with his half brother, John Bodley of

Streatham Streatham ( ) is a district in south London, England. Centred south of Charing Cross, it lies mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, with some parts extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth. Streatham was in Surrey ...

, his uncle, John Collet, and his friend,

Betchworth Castle Betchworth Castle is a mostly crumbled ruin of a fortified medieval stone house with some tall, two-storey corners strengthened in the 18th century, in the north of the semi-rural parish of Brockham. It is built on a sandstone spur overlooking ...

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

, under which Collet and Browne would act as his trustees, and under which Bodley would pay Brend's debts, taking in return a mortgage on Brend's properties in

Bread Street Bread Street is one of the 25 wards of the City of London the name deriving from its principal street, which was anciently the City's bread market; already named ''Bredstrate'' (to at least 1180) for by the records it appears as that in 1302, ...

and

, including the

. In addition Collet would give Brend £250 in cash, and Collet and Browne would take mortgages on the properties in Bread Street and Southwark for £1478. Brend also signed a bond on 8 October under which he promised to pay Collet and Browne £2500 if he did not perform the requirements of the mortgage. In his will, which he drew up on 10 October, Brend authorized Bodley and Browne to sell certain of his properties, including his house at St. Peter's Hill, London. This was the complicated financial situation inherited by Nicholas Brend's infant son, Matthew Brend. One of Nicholas Brend's overseers and trustees, Sir Matthew Browne, died within two years; he and Sir John Townshend were both killed in a

duel A duel is an arranged engagement in combat between two people, with matched weapons, in accordance with agreed-upon Code duello, rules. During the 17th and 18th centuries (and earlier), duels were mostly single combats fought with swords (the r ...

on horseback in 1603. In about 1605 Matthew Brend's mother, Margaret, remarried. Her second husband was Sir Sigismund Zinzan ''alias'' Alexander, one of Queen Elizabeth's equerries, and the son of Sir Robert Zinzan (c.1547–1607). Margaret brought Sir Sigismund Zinzan a marriage portion of over £1000, which Berry suggests would have been 'raised out of Brend properties'. By Zinzan Margaret had four sons and three daughters, Matthew Brend's stepbrothers and sisters:. *Henry Zinzan, who married Jacoba, one of the daughters of Sir Peter Vanlore of

Tilehurst Tilehurst is a suburb of the town of Reading in the English county of Berkshire. It lies to the west of the centre of Reading, and extends from the River Thames in the north to the A4 road in the south. The suburb is partly within the boundaries ...

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...

.. *Sigismund Zinzan. *Robert Zinzan. *

Charles Zinzan Charles Zinzan (died 1714) was the English Acting Governor of Bombay in the late 17th century. He appears to have been a grandson of Sir Sigismund Zinzan of Molesey Molesey is a district of two twin towns, East Molesey and West Molesey, in t ...

, who married firstly Elizabeth Plume of Essex, secondly Elizabeth Stanton, and thirdly a daughter of one Hogg of Scotland, 'where he lives'. *John Zinzan. *Margaret Zinzan. *Elizabeth Zinzan. *Letitia Zinzan. In 1608 John Collet, Nicholas Brend's remaining trustee, transferred his interest in the Globe and the other properties to John Bodley, who collected the rents and 'effectively owned the Globe' until Matthew Brend came of age on 6 February 1621. Hollar Globe

In June 1613 the first

burned to the ground. According to the terms of the lease, the lessees were required to rebuild, but before they undertook the considerable expense of rebuilding, Cuthbert Burbage, Richard Burbage, John Heminges and Henry Condell of the King's Men put their case to the then effective owner of the property, John Bodley, and on 26 October 1613 Bodley granted the lessees a 6-year extension of the lease, an extension which was later ratified by the

Court of Wards The Court of Wards and Liveries was a court established during the reign of Henry VIII in England. Its purpose was to administer a system of feudal dues; but as well as the revenue collection, the court was also responsible for wardship and liv ...

. Since Bodley had refused to grant them an extension for longer than six years, the Burbage brothers, Condell, Heminges, and Heminges' son-in-law, John Atkins, a London

scrivener A scrivener (or scribe) was a person who could read and write or who wrote letters to court and legal documents. Scriveners were people who made their living by writing or copying written material. This usually indicated secretarial and admini ...

, went in February 1614 to West Molesey where the legal owner of the property, Matthew Brend, was then living with his mother and her second husband, Sir Sigismund Zinzan. Since he was underage, Brend could not sign a legally binding contract, and the lessees accordingly proposed that he sign a document stating that when he came of age, in return for a payment of £10 he would ratify a 15-year extension of their lease to run from 25 December 1629. Brend signed the document, and his signature was witnessed by his mother, Margaret Zinzan, his uncle, Henry Strelley, and John Atkins. Upon reaching his majority, Matthew Brend promptly sued Sir John Bodley, in the

in 1622 for the return of his properties, including the Globe, and although Bodley took the position that the document signed by Nicholas Brend on 10 October 1601 had been an absolute sale, the Court ruled against him, and stipulated that the properties should be returned to Matthew Brend upon payment by him of £750 to Bodley as recompense for money owed to Bodley by Nicholas Brend and for Bodley's superintendence of the properties since Nicholas Brend's death.. In the winter of 1622-3 Sir Matthew Brend sued Bodley again, this time joined in the suit by his brother and three sisters, alleging that Bodley had enriched himself at their expense during their minorities. During the time Sir Matthew Brend was underage, his mother, Margaret, had not received the one-third of the income from Nicholas Brend's lands to which she was entitled, and in the summer of 1623 her second husband, Sir Sigismund Zinzan, and her son, Sir Matthew Brend, agreed upon terms for payment to Margaret of the sums owing to her. However this settlement was almost immediately revised in September of that year when Sir Matthew Brend was required to provide a

for his bride to be, Frances Smith. A new agreement was then reached under which Brend granted his mother a life estate in his properties in

, including the land on which the Globe Theatre was built, and the property was conveyed to Frances Smith as part of her jointure, with her interest to take effect after Margaret's death. In the late fall of 1624, pursuant to this agreement, Sir Sigismund Zinzan became effective owner of the Globe in right of his wife, Margaret, and continued to be so for a period of more than two years, despite lawsuits filed against him in Chancery by Sir Matthew Brend. According to Berry, Zinzan and Brend eventually negotiated a settlement, and in any event Zinzan's interest in the Globe in right of his wife came to an end when Margaret Zinzan died at some time prior to 20 June 1627. After the termination of Margaret Zinzan's life estate, the new owner of the Globe was Sir Matthew Brend's wife, Frances.. There were other frictions between Brend and his stepfather. In 1624-5 Brend alleged that Zinzan had harvested valuable timber on the family estate in West Molesey during the nineteen-year period during which Zinzan had been 'master' there. Zinzan denied the charge, claiming he had taken only a few

pollarded Pollarding is a pruning system involving the removal of the upper branches of a tree, which promotes the growth of a dense head of foliage and branches. In ancient Rome, Propertius mentioned pollarding during the 1st century BCE. The practice oc ...

trees to repair buildings on the property, and for use as palings for fences. After reaching the age of majority in 1621, Brend had never confirmed the 15-year extension of the lease granted by him to the Burbage brothers, Heminges and Condell in February 1614, while he was still a minor, and in about 1631, when the original lease had expired and the 6-year extension granted to them by John Bodley on 26 October 1613 had only four years still to run, the remaining lessees again requested Brend to ratify the document he had signed in February 1614. Brend refused, however, claiming that the property would have yielded him more revenue had houses been erected upon it, rather than a theatre. Faced with the possibility of dispossession from the Globe, on 28 January 1632, through their lawyer, Richard Lane, the remaining original lessee, Cuthbert Burbage, and the representatives of the other original lessees, who at the time were Richard Robinson and Winifred Robinson (d.1642), his wife,

William Heminges William Heminges (1602 – c. 1653?), also Hemminges, Heminge, and other variants, was a playwright and theatrical figure of the Caroline period. He was the ninth child and third son of John Heminges, the actor and colleague of William Shakespear ...

John Lowin John Lowin (baptized 9 December 1576 – buried – 24 August 1653) was an English actor. Early life Born in St Giles-without-Cripplegate, London, Lowin was the son of a tanner. Like Robert Armin, he was apprenticed to a goldsmith. While ...

and Joseph Taylor, filed a bill of complaint against Brend in the

. In the midst of this lawsuit, in June 1633 Sir Matthew Brend augmented his wife Frances' jointure so that she became owner of the properties comprised in it, including the Globe, not merely for life, but forever. This had no apparent effect on the lawsuit, despite the fact that Dame Frances had earlier conveyed the property to two of her brothers in trust, and in June 1633 conveyed it to John Kingsnorth, gentleman.. As Berry points out, it was Sir Matthew Brend who managed the property, and it was his alleged agreement to an extension in February 1614 which was the nub of the lawsuit. The legal owner of the property, Dame Frances Brend, is nowhere mentioned in the court documents. The lawsuit was finally settled in court on 18 November 1634 by an agreement between the parties stipulating that Sir Matthew Brend would draw up a new lease granting an extension of nine years to run from 25 December 1635, and that the lessees would pay an increased rent of £40 per year and would guarantee to leave the Globe in good repair at the end of that term. However Brend did not draw up a new lease, and on 25 December 1635 the original lease and the 6-year extension granted by Bodley expired. The lessees offered Brend the old rent, but he refused to accept it, and as a result received no rent for the next two years although the lessees were still in possession of the Globe. In mid-1637 Brend finally drew up a new lease, to run for nine years from 25 December 1635, but the lessees refused to accept it, stipulating that the new lease and the new rent of £40 per year payable under it should now only run from 25 December 1637.. Brend went back to court, and obtained an order mandating that the lessees accept the new lease. The lessees then sought another court hearing, and obtained an order requiring them to pay the new rent for only one of the two years in contention, and that the new lease was now to run for eight years from 25 December 1636.. Although no record that the new lease was finally signed survives, the lessees appear to have been secure in their possession of the Globe until 25 December 1644. However, before that date the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...

intervened, and in 1642 the playhouses were closed, rendering the final two years of the new lease moot. It has been claimed, on the basis of a document at 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 material ...

, that immediately upon the expiration of the lease on

Lady Day In the Western liturgical year, Lady Day is the traditional name in some English-speaking countries of the Feast of the Annunciation, which is celebrated on 25 March, and commemorates the visit of the archangel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary, durin ...

1644, i.e. 25 March 1644, Sir Matthew Brend took possession of the Globe and had it pulled down. However, as Berry points out, the extant documents state that the lease was to expire on 25 December 1644, not on Lady Day, and the document which claims that Brend had the Globe pulled down is now suspected to be a forgery.

Marriage and issue

In the winter of 1623-4 Brend married Frances Smith, the daughter of Sir William Smith (d. 12 December 1626) of

Theydon Mount Theydon Mount is a village and civil parish in the Epping Forest (district), Epping Forest district of the county of Essex, England. The village is notable for the Grade I listed Elizabethan mansion, Hill Hall (Essex), Hill Hall. History The na ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

, heir of Sir Thomas Smith, by whom he had two sons, Thomas and Francis. About 1655, Sir Matthew Browne's elder son, Thomas, married Judith Smith, the daughter of Robert Smith,Abstract of settlement made by Sir Matthew Brend, Frances his wife, and Thomas Brend with Robert Smith, elder, and Robert Smith, younger, on occasion of marriage of Thomas to Judith Smith, 17 October 1655
Retrieved 24 April 2013. by whom he had two daughters, Frances and Elizabeth.

Notes

References

* * * * * * * * * * * *

External links

Will of Sir Nicholas Brend of West Molesey, Surrey, proved 6 November 1601, National Archives
Retrieved 16 April 2013
Will of Thomas Brend, proved 7 October 1674, National Archives
Retrieved 24 April 2013
Will of Francis Brend of West Molesey, proved 9 October 1702, National Archives
Retrieved 24 April 2013 {{DEFAULTSORT:Brend, Matthew 1600 births 17th-century English people 1659 deaths

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