The Earl of Pembroke's Men was an Elizabethan era playing company, or troupe of actors, in English Renaissance theatre. They functioned under the patronage of Henry Herbert, 2nd Earl of Pembroke. Early and equivocal mentions of a Pembroke's company reach as far back as 1575; but the company is known for certain to have been in existence in 1592. Elizabeth ushers in Peace and Plenty. ... In Renaissance London, playing company was the usual term for a company of actors. ... English Renaissance theatre is English drama written between the Reformation and the closure of the theatres in 1642. ... Henry Herbert, 2nd Earl of Pembroke (1534-1601) was a statesman of the Elizabethan era. ...

It is generally thought that William Shakespeare spent time as both as actor and writer for Pembroke's Men in the early 1590s. Two of the earliest quarto publications of individual Shakespearean plays are both linked to this company: the title page of the earliest text of Henry VI, part 3 (1595) states that the play was performed by Pembroke's Men, while the title page of Q1 of Titus Andronicus (1594) states that that play was acted by three companies, Pembroke's Men, Derby's Men, and Sussex's Men. The mention of three acting companies for one play is unusual; but the early 1590s were difficult years for the professional actors of the day. Severe epidemics of bubonic plague forced a halt to public performances in and around London; the actors' troupes toured the provinces, splintered and recombined, and generally did whatever was necessary to continue. Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... The size of a specific book is measured from the head to tail of the spine, and from edge to edge across the covers. ... Henry VI Part III is the third of William Shakespeares plays set during the lifetime of King Henry VI of England, and prepares the ground for one of his best-known and most controversial plays: the tragedy of King Richard III (Richard III of England). ... Title page of the first quarto edition (1594) The Tragedy of Titus Andronicus may be Shakespeares earliest tragedy. ... Bubonic plague is the best-known variant of the deadly infectious disease plague, which is caused by the enterobacteria Yersinia pestis. ...

The company that toured under Pembroke's patronage in 1592 is generally considered to have been formed by personnel from Lord Strange's Men and the Lord Admiral's Men, two companies that had been working together at Philip Henslowe's Rose Theatre in 1591. The tour lasted about ten months and was a financial failure. Their tour of 1593 featured 3 Henry VI; other plays in their repertory at the time were Christopher Marlowe's Edward II, and the early The Taming of a Shrew (a different version of the story that Shakespere later delivered in his similarly-titled play). The 1593 tour was also a disappointment; a letter that Henslowe wrote to Edward Alleyn in Sept. 1593 states that Pembroke's Men had been home from their tour for five of six weeks, and had had to pawn their costumes. The company's members struggled through, however; they were touring the provinces again in 1595 and '96. Lord Stranges Men was an Elizabethan playing company, comprising retainers of the household of Ferdinando Stanley, Lord Strange. ... This Elizabethan theatrical company was first known as the Lord Howards Men, named after their patron Charles Howard. ... Philip Henslowe (c 1550 - January 6, 1616) was an Elizabethan theatrical entrepreneur. ... The Rose was an Elizabethan theatre. ... An anonymous portrait in Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, often believed to show Christopher Marlowe. ... Edward II is an Elizabethan play written by Christopher Marlowe. ... Edward Alleyn (September 1, 1566 - November 25, 1626), English actor, was a major figure of the Elizabethan theatre and founder of Dulwich College and Alleyns School. ...

Pembroke's Men achieved their one great peak of fame, notoriety, infamy in 1597. In February of that year they signed an exclusive contract with Francis Langley, to perform at his new Swan Theatre. Their standing roster was augmented by two actors from the Admiral's Men, Thomas Downton and Richard Jones. Their season began in the spring and early summer without incident, as far as is known; but in July of 1597 they performed The Isle of Dogs, by Thomas Nashe and Ben Jonson. Something in this lost play (no copy survived its suppression) offended the Privy Council; in response to its "very seditious and scandalous matter," the Council ordered all the public theatres closed for the rest of the summer. Ben Jonson and two of the actors in the cast, Robert Shaw and Gabriel Spencer, were thrown into the Marshalsea prison till Oct. 3; Thomas Nashe escaped only by fleeing to Yarmouth. (The documents relating to the case specify that Jonson was not only a part-author of the play, but also a member of the cast—one of the few indications of Jonson's early career on the boards.) Francis Langley (1550 – 1601) was a theatre builder and theatrical producer in Elizabethan era London. ... A 1596 sketch of a performance in progress on the platform or apron stage of the Swan. ... The Isle of Dogs is play by Thomas Nashe and Ben Jonson which was performed in 1597. ... Thomas Nashe (November 1567–1600?) was an English Elizabethan pamphleteer, poet and satirist. ... Benjamin Jonson (circa June 11, 1572 – August 6, 1637) was an English Renaissance dramatist, poet and actor. ... Her Majestys Most Honourable Privy Council is a body of advisors to the British Sovereign. ... The Marshalsea Marshalsea was a debtors prison in Southwark, London best known for being the place where Charles Dickenss father was imprisoned for debt and as the central location in Dickenss book Little Dorrit. ...

The other theatre companies in London were allowed to resume activity after the summer was over; but the Privy Council decided to punish Langley in particular (he was in trouble for additional, non-theatre-related causes), and kept the Swan closed. (Langley may have staged occasional performances despite the ban; but he was unable to resume regular performances, which would have provided a regular income for all concerned.) This presented the Pembroke's Men with a critical problem: they were legally bound to act only for Langley—but couldn't act for Langley. The company broke apart under the strain: Jones and Downton returned to the Admiral's, and three more Pembroke men, William Borne and the recently-released Shaw and Spencer, followed them. (Spencer would be killed by Jonson in their famous duel a year later.) They appear to have taken some Pembroke's playscripts with them, titles that may have included a Dido and Aeneas, plus Hardicanute, Black Joan, Friar Spendleton, Alice Pierce, and others.

Langley sued over this breach of contract; but apparently he reached some kind of agreement with Henslowe, since the five actors stayed with Henslowe's company. The rump of Pembroke's Men, perhaps augmented with replacement recruits, toured the provinces from late 1597 through 1599. After two unsuccessful performances at the Rose Theatre in October 1600, the company disappears from history; some of its members may have joined Worcester's Men, a company that was re-forming at the time. Langley himself died a year after the company, in 1601.

References

• E. K. Chambers, The Elizabethan Stage, 4 Volumes, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1923.
• F. E. Halliday, A Shakespeare Companion 1564-1964, Baltimore, Penguin, 1964.