Hengist, King of Kent

"Hengist, King of Kent, or The Mayor of Quinborough" is a Jacobean stage play by Thomas Middleton, first published in 1661.

Date

The date of authorship of the play is uncertain, though it is usually dated to c. 1615–20. Some critics have argued that the close relationship between "Hengist" and "The Changeling" indicates that the plays were written in fairly close conjunction. "Both plays are lavish in the use of dumb-show; both revolve around a licentious woman (Beatrice-Joanna, Roxena) believed to be virtuous, and a chaste one (Isabella, Castiza) mistreated by an unworthy husband; and the role taken by Horsus, the secret love of Roxena, in planning villainies is not dissimilar to that of De Flores." [Lisa Hopkins, "The Female Hero in English Renaissance Tragedy," London, Palgrave Macmillan, 2002; p. 23.]

Texts

The play was entered into the Stationers' Register on September 4, 1646, by Humphrey Robinson and Humphrey Moseley; but it was not published until 1661, when the bookseller Henry Herringman issued it under the title "The Mayor of Quinborough". The title page of the first quarto assigns the play to "Tho. Middleton," and states that the play was acted by the King's Men at the Blackfriars Theatre (though no specific performances are known). [E. K. Chambers, "The Elizabethan Stage," 4 Volumes, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1923; Vol. 3, p. 442.]

There are also two extant manuscripts of the play, both of which are scribal copies of the theatre prompt-book. The Lambarde MS. is 1487.2 in the collection of the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington D.C., while the Portland MS. is in Nottingham University Library. The subject matter is derived from the Matter of Britain; it tells the story of Saxon king Hengist during his wars against the Brythons.

Authorship

Middleton's authorship of "Hengist" has never been seriously questioned, though a few scholars have postulated a contribution by Middleton's most frequent collaborator, William Rowley, in the comic subplot concerning the Mayor of Quinborough. [Terence P. Logan and Denzell S. Smith, eds., "The Popular School: A Survey and Bibliography of Recent Studies in English Renaissance Drama," Lincoln, NE, University of Nebraska Press, 1975; p. 70.] David Lake, in his study of authorship questions in the Middleton canon, refutes the Rowley hypothesis, and assigns the play to Middleton alone. [David J. Lake, "The Canon of Thomas Middleton's Plays," Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1975; pp. 32-3.]

Genre

The play is an anomaly in Middleton's oeuvre, his only overt history play. Its genre does not prevent the playwright from injecting his usual sexual and thematic preoccupations. (One critic has called it "quirky.") In resorting to what by 1620 was a somewhat antiquated genre, Middleton chose to exploit an equally dated (from the 1620 prespective) dramaturgical technique: the murders of Constantius and Vortimer are acted out in dumb-show instead of being portrayed in the usual combination of speech and action. Another dumb-show features a personified Fortune figure.

Title

Through most of its existence the play was known by the title that refers to its comic subplot, as is true of a few other English Renaissance plays, like "Blurt, Master Constable" — though modern scholarship tends to prefer the title from the manuscripts that refers to the play's main plot.

In 2001 it was performed at the Globe Theatre, London, and in 2005 it was published by Nick Hern Books under the title "Mayor of Queenborough".

In the subplot, Middleton takes a satirical jab at the theatrical profession: in Act V, scene i, three thieves pretend to be actors to cheat the Mayor.

References