Robert Browne (died October 1603) 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 ...

, and the owner and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

of the Boar's Head Theatre. He is also part of an enduring confusion in the study of

English Renaissance theatre The English Renaissance theatre or Elizabethan theatre was the theatre of England from 1558 to 1642. Its most prominent playwrights were William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe and Ben Jonson. Background The term ''English Renaissance theatr ...

Two Robert Brownes

The relevant documents of English Renaissance drama contain numerous references to "Robert Browne." Early twentieth-century scholars, like E. K. Chambers and Edwin Nunzeger, assumed that these records referred to a single individual. Later scholars, principally Charles Jasper Sisson and Herbert Berry, argued persuasively that two separate individuals had been confused and conflated into one. Or two at least: "There were obviously at least two and could easily have been three or more Robert Brownes who had to do with the companies and playhouses of the time." To distinguish between two Robert Brownes, the earliest years of the seventeenth century are key. One Robert Browne was busy running the Boar's Head Theatre in 1601 through 1603; another Robert Browne was performing with English actors in Germany between 1601 and 1607. The Boar's Head Browne died in 1603, and so can reasonably be termed an Elizabethan actor. The career of the "other" Robert Browne extended through the first two decades of the seventeenth century; he can sensibly be called a Jacobean actor.

The Elizabethan actor

The Robert Browne who is the subject of this article was the man who ran the Boar's Head Theatre, and who was married to Susan Browne (later Susan Greene, later

Susan Baskervile Susan Shore Browne Greene Baskervile (died 1648), or Baskerville, was one of the most influential and significant women involved in English Renaissance theatre, as theatre investor, litigant, and wife, widow, and mother of actors. Her first husba ...

) and the father of their five children, including the actor William Browne (1602–34). Browne of the Boar's Head was in all likelihood the Browne who was a leader among the acting troupe Derby's Men, and who received payments for Court performances by Derby's Men in 1600 and 1601. A Robert Browne wrote to

Edward Alleyn Edward Alleyn (; 1 September 156621 November 1626) was an England, English actor who was a major figure of the Elizabethan theatre and founder of the College of God's Gift in Dulwich. Early life Alleyn was born on 1 September 1566 in Bishop ...

in 1589; when the subject of this article died in October 1603, Joan Alleyn wrote the news to her husband. The later Robert Browne wrote to Alleyn in 1612, showing that the Alleyns knew both men. Concerning Edward Alleyn and the two Brownes, one scholar has written, "From the scanty record it would appear that the first was of particular interest to Alleyn but not on good terms, while the second appears, from occasional notes to Alleyn, to have been confident and respectful." It is not impossible that there was a family relationship between the two Brownes, since familial connections were common among actors and theatre people in the era: consider John and Lawrence Dutton in

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 ...

Anthony Anthony, also spelled Antony, is a masculine given name derived from the '' Antonii'', a '' gens'' ( Roman family name) to which Mark Antony (''Marcus Antonius'') belonged. According to Plutarch, the Antonii gens were Heracleidae, being descenda ...

and Humphrey Jeffes in the

Admiral's Men The Admiral's Men (also called the Admiral's company, more strictly, the Earl of Nottingham's Men; after 1603, Prince Henry's Men; after 1612, the Elector Palatine's Men or the Palsgrave's Men) was a playing company or troupe of actors in the Eli ...

a generation later, plus Robert Pallant father and son (apparently),Chambers, Vol. 2, p. 331; Nunzeger, pp. 263–5. and other such pairs. To compound the confusion, both Robert Brownes had sons named Robert Browne.

References

External links

''The Biographical Index of English Drama Before 1660'', on the Brownes.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Browne, Robert English male stage actors Actor-managers 16th-century English male actors 17th-century English male actors 1603 deaths Year of birth unknown 16th-century births 16th-century theatre managers 17th-century theatre managers