Richard Tarlton
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Richard Tarlton (died 5 September 1588) was an English actor of the
Elizabethan era The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The Roman symbol of Britannia (a female ...
. He was the most famous clown of his era, known for his extempore comic
doggerel Doggerel, or doggrel, is poetry that is irregular in rhythm and in rhyme, often deliberately for burlesque or comic effect. Alternatively, it can mean verse which has a monotonous rhythm, easy rhyme, and cheap or trivial meaning. The word is de ...
verse, which came to be known as "Tarltons". He helped to turn Elizabethan theatre into a form of mass entertainment paving the way for the Shakespearean stage. After his death many witticisms and pranks were attributed to him and were published as ''Tarlton's Jests''. Tarlton was also an accomplished dancer, musician and fencer. He was also a writer, authoring a number of jigs, pamphlets and at least one full-length play.


Early life

Information on Tarlton's family background is meagre. His father's first name is unknown. His mother's first name was Katherine, but her maiden name is also unknown. A later lawsuit establishes that he had a sister named Helen. His birthplace is also unknown, although more than a century after Tarlton's death
Thomas Fuller Thomas Fuller (baptised 19 June 1608 – 16 August 1661) was an English churchman and historian. He is now remembered for his writings, particularly his ''Worthies of England'', published in 1662, after his death. He was a prolific author, and ...
said that he was born at Condover in
Shropshire Shropshire (; abbreviated SalopAlso used officially as the name of the county from 1974–1980. The demonym for inhabitants of the county "Salopian" derives from this name.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West M ...
, where his father was a pig farmer, and that the family later moved to
Ilford Ilford is a large List of areas of London, town in East London, England, northeast of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Redbridge, Ilford is within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London. It had a po ...
in Essex.


Career

Tradition claims that Tarlton started his career in London as either an apprentice, a swineherd in
Ealing Ealing () is a district in west London (sub-region), west London, England, west of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Ealing. It is the administrative centre of the borough and is identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Pl ...
, or a water-carrier; it is not impossible that he was all three. By 1583, when he is mentioned as one of the original members of the Queen's Men, he was already an experienced actor. He was an early yet extraordinary influence on Elizabethan clowns. His epitaph says: "he of clowns to learn still sought/ But now they learn of him they taught". Tarlton was the first to study natural fools and simpletons to add knowledge to his characters. His manner of performance combined the styles of the medieval
Vice A vice is a practice, behaviour, Habit (psychology), habit or item generally considered morally wrong in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a negative character trait, a defect, an infirmity, or a bad or unhe ...
, the professional
minstrel A minstrel was an entertainer, initially in medieval Europe. The term originally described any type of entertainer such as a musician, juggler, acrobat, singer or fool; later, from the sixteenth century, it came to mean a specialist enter ...
, and the amateur
Lord of Misrule In England, the Lord of Misrule – known in Scotland as the Abbot of Unreason and in France as the ''Prince des Sots'' – was an officer sortition, appointed by lot during Christmastide to preside over the Feast of Fools. The Lor ...
. During the play, he took it upon himself to police hecklers by delivering a devastating rhyme when necessary. He would spend time after the play in a battle of wits with the audience. He worked with
Queen Elizabeth's Men Queen Elizabeth's Men was a playing company or troupe of actors in English Renaissance theatre. Formed in 1583 at the express command of Queen Elizabeth, it was the dominant acting company for the rest of the 1580s, as the Admiral's Men and th ...
at the
Curtain Theatre The Curtain Theatre was an Elizabethan playhouse located in Hewett Street, Shoreditch (within the modern London Borough of Hackney), just outside the City of London. It opened in 1577, and continued staging plays until 1624. The Curtain was b ...
at the beginning of their career in 1583. The 1600 publication '' Tarlton's Jests'' tells how Tarlton, upon his retirement, recommended
Robert Armin Robert Armin (c. 1568 – 1615) was an English actor, and member of the Lord Chamberlain's Men. He became the leading comedy actor with the troupe associated with William Shakespeare following the departure of Will Kempe around 1600. Also a p ...
take his place. He was Queen Elizabeth's favourite
clown A clown is a person who performs physical comedy and arts in an Improvisational theatre#Comedy, open-ended fashion, typically while wearing distinct cosmetics, makeup or costume, costuming and reversing social norm, folkway-norms. The art of ...
. He had a talent for improvising
doggerel Doggerel, or doggrel, is poetry that is irregular in rhythm and in rhyme, often deliberately for burlesque or comic effect. Alternatively, it can mean verse which has a monotonous rhythm, easy rhyme, and cheap or trivial meaning. The word is de ...
on subjects suggested by his audience; in fact, improvised doggerel verse became known for a time as "Tarltons".Stephen, Sir Leslie. ''Dictionary of National Biography'', Volume 55. Macmillan. 1898. p. 370. To cash in on his popularity, a great number of songs and witticisms of the day were attributed to him, and after his death the text ''Tarlton's Jests'', containing many jokes in fact older than he was, made several volumes. Other books, and several ballads, coupled his name with their titles. Some have suggested that the evocation of
Yorick Yorick is an unseen character in William Shakespeare's play ''Hamlet''. He is the dead court jester whose Human skull, skull is exhumed by the The Gravediggers, First Gravedigger in Act 5, Scene 1, of the play. The sight of Yorick's skull evokes ...
in
Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...
's soliloquy was composed in memory of Tarlton. In addition to his other talents, Tarlton was a fencing master. He wrote at least one play, ''The Seven Deadly Sins'' (1585); though it was enormously popular in its day, no copy has survived. Besides ballads and a play, Tarlton wrote several pamphlets starting in the 1570s, one of which was ''A True report of this earthquake in London'' (1580). These were apparently genuine, though after his death a variety of other works were attributed to him as well.
Gabriel Harvey Gabriel Harvey (1545 – 11 February 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 Harve ...
refers to him as early as 1579, indicating that Tarlton had already begun to acquire the reputation that rose into fame in later years. That fame transcended the social limits that judged players to be little more than rogues. Tarlton, according to one of his sons, gambled away the family's entire fortune. Tarlton lived in Drayton Manor House,
Hanwell Hanwell () is a town in the London Borough of Ealing. It is about west of Ealing Broadway and had a population of 28,768 as of 2011. It is the westernmost location of the London post town. Hanwell is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086. St ...
where he is rumoured to be buried. Drayton Manor is now Drayton Manor High School. Tarlton made his last will on 3 September 1588, describing himself as "Richard Tarlton, one of the Grooms of the Queen's Majesty's Chamber". In the will he entrusted the son he had illegitimately fathered, Philip Tarlton, to the care of "my most loving mother, Katherine Tarlton, widow, and my very loving and trusty friends Robert Adams, gentleman, and my fellow, William Johnson, one also of the Grooms of her Majesty's Chamber".. He died on 5 September, at the home of Emma Ball, a "woman of bad reputation" and was buried the same day at St Leonard's, Shoreditch.


See also

* Jest book *
William Kempe William Kempe ( 1560 – 1603), commonly referred to as Will Kemp, was an English actor and dancer who specialised in comic roles. He was best known as one of the original stage actors in early dramas by William Shakespeare, and roles associa ...


References


Bibliography

* * * * * Dutton, Richard, Alison Gail Findlay, and Richard L. Wilson, eds. ''Lancastrian Shakespeare: Region, Religion, and Patronage.'' Manchester, Manchester University Press, 2004. * Gurr, Andrew. ''The Shakespearean Stage 1574–1642.'' Third edition, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1992. *


External links


Will of Richard Tarleton or Tarlton, Groom of Her Majesty’s Chamber, proved 6 September 1588, National Archives
Retrieved 22 April 2013 {{DEFAULTSORT:Tarlton, Richard 1588 deaths Male actors from Shrewsbury 16th-century English male actors English clowns Court of Elizabeth I