The Statutes of Dulwich College.
ALLEYNE, (Edward).
ALLEYN'S COLLEGE OF GOD'S GIFT
Manuscript written in a scribal hand on paper. Small Folio. 58pp. Original limp vellum, with a manuscript title on the front cover (loose; covers somewhat soiled).
[London: circa [1680]
The leading actor-manager Edward Alleyn (1566-1626) who had taken the title role in Marlowe's Tamburlaine the Great and Doctor Faustus and Jew of Malta and made a large fortune from his investments with Philip Henslowe in the Bear Garden and the Fortune Playhouse purchased the manor of Dulwich for £5000 in 1605. In 1613, with no children to worry about, he signed a contract for "a certain building of brick ... which building shalbe for a chapel, a schoolhouse, and twelve almshouses". The chapel was consecrated by George Abbot, Archbishop of Canterbury on Alleyn's 50th birthday in 1616. In 1619 The College of God's Gift, with a Warden, four Fellows (preacher, schoolmaster, usher and organist), six poor brothers, six poor sisters and twelve poor scholars, was incorporated by Royal Charter and On 13 September Alleyn read and signed the Deed of Foundation in the College chapel to a distinguished company including Sir Francis Bacon, Inigo Jones (the King's Surveyor), Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel, Sir Thomas Grimes, John Finch (later Lord Keeper), Richard Jones (Secretary to the Lord Chancellor) and Sir John Bodley.
On 29 September 1626, in his last illness, Alleyn dictated these statutes for the running and financing of his college, including detailed instructions for the selection of members and their behaviour, weekly diet, including boiled beef, cheese, fish, apple and pear pies, and beer "without stint" on three days a week. The scholars were to be taught "in good and sound learning writing reading Gram[m]ar Musique and good mann[er]s" and the children of the inhabitants of Dulwich were also to be taught for a small fee. The pensioners were expected to sweep and weed the garden and look after the scholars; and there stocks were set up by the gates as a punishment for drunkenness. Gambling and the possession of weapons and animals, except a cat, were prohibited. He executed his will on 13 Nov., added two clauses to the statutes a week later, and died on 25 November 1626.
Dulwich College, still thriving today, is a fine testament to Alleyn's wish, expressed in response to a letter from Sir Francis Calton, the previous owner of Dulwich Manor, that "If I am richer than my ancestors I hope I may do more good with my riches than ever your ancestors did with their riches".
The original manuscript of these statutes is still preserved at the College. Scribal copies, such as the present, were presumably made from time to time for daily use.
Reid (A.) & Maniura (R.), eds., Edward Alleyn Elizabethan Actor, Jacobean Gentleman, 1994.
|
