Nathaniel Field
Encyclopedia
Nathan Field (17 October 1587–1620) was an English dramatist and actor; his father was the Puritan
preacher
John Field
and his brother Theophilus Field
became the Bishop of Llandaff
. (Another brother named Nathaniel, often confused with the actor, became a printer.)
Field's father passionately opposed London's public entertainments: he delivered a sermon which attributed divine judgment to the collapse of the public seating area, during a bear baiting on a Sunday, at Bear Garden in 1583, which resulted in several deaths. Nathan presumably did not intend a career in the theater; he was a student of Richard Mulcaster
at St. Paul's School in the late 1590s. At some point before 1600, he was impressed by Nathaniel Giles, the master of Elizabeth
's choir and one of the managers of the new troupe of boy player
s at Blackfriars Theatre
, called alternately the Children of the Chapel
Royal and the Blackfriars Children. He remained in this profession for the remainder of his life, later adding to it the profession of playwright. John Field was buried on 26 March 1588.
When John Field died, he left seven children, of whom the eldest was only seventeen. He left all his property to his wife, Joan. The first child was a daughter, Dorcas, baptized on 7 May 1570. The first son was baptized on 4 January 1572 and was named for his father. Theophilus was baptized on 22 January 1574, Jonathan on 13 May 1577, Nathaniel on 13 June 1581, Elizabeth on 2 February 1583 and Nathan on 17 October 1587. Little is known of the two daughters: Dorcas was married to Edward Rice on 9 November 1590; Elizabeth was buried at St. Anne, Blackfriars, on 14 June 1603, when she had just reached twenty, the age at which Dorcas married. We know nothing of the life of John Field, junior. Jonathan Field, who died in 1640.
Theophilus followed his father's profession. He married and in his will left all his possessions to his wife, Alice. He died on 2 June 1636 and was buried in Hereford Cathedral.
As a member of the Children of the Queen's Revels
, Field acted in the innovative drama staged at Blackfriars in the first years of the 17th century. Cast lists associate him with Ben Jonson
's Cynthia's Revels
(1600) and The Poetaster
(1601); a 1641
quarto
associated him with George Chapman
's Bussy D'Ambois
. Later in the decade, he performed in Epicoene
and, perhaps, played Humphrey in Francis Beaumont
's The Knight of the Burning Pestle
. During the same years, he wrote commendatory verses for Jonson's Volpone
and Catiline, and for John Fletcher's
The Faithful Shepherdess
. Field was presumably also among those of the children's company briefly imprisoned for the official displeasure occasioned by Eastward Hoe
and John Day's
The Isle of Gulls
; the latter imprisonment was in Bridewell Prison.
Field stayed with a children's company until 1613, his twenty-sixth year. He appears to be the only one of the boy actors of 1600 to remain with the Blackfriars troupe when, in 1609, Philip Rosseter
and Robert Keysar assumed control of the company. In this company, he performed in the theater in Whitefriars and, frequently, at court, in plays such as Beaumont and Fletcher's The Coxcomb. From the latter years of this period come the first of his plays: A Woman is a Weathercock and The Honest Man's Fortune
(the latter with Fletcher and Philip Massinger
).
In 1613, Rosseter combined his company with the Lady Elizabeth's Men
, managed by Philip Henslowe
. Performing at the Swan Theatre
and Hope Theatre
, he acted in Thomas Middleton
's A Chaste Maid in Cheapside
and Jonson's Bartholomew Fair. For the latter play, in which he may have performed as Cokes or Littlewit, he received payment for the company after a performance at court. These years witnessed some degree of tumult; Henslowe's business practices resulted in his actors' drawing up certain "articles of grievance" against him, and Rosseter's attempt to build a new private theater (Porter's Hall) in Blackfriars was blocked by the city and Privy Council
. This period ended when Henslowe died, Rosseter abandoned his plans, and Lady Elizabeth's Men briefly merged and then separated from Prince Charles's Men
, thereafter touring in the country. For Field, the period had a presumably more satisfactory end: by late 1616, he had joined the King's Men
.
With the King's Men, Field seems to have performed as Voltore in Volpone
and as Face in The Alchemist
. It is not clear what other parts he played; an epigram, produced by John Payne Collier
, that associated the actor with the role of Othello is an apparent forgery. Edmond Malone
supposed that Field played women's roles with the company; O. J. Campbell, however, suggests that he played young second leads. Of course he acted in a number of Fletcher's plays, as well as Shakespeare's; presumably he also acted in his own Amends for Ladies (printed 1618, though probably written earlier), and in The Fatal Dowry
, which he wrote with Philip Massinger
. Field died some time between May 1619 and August 1620.
Scholars and critics have argued for authorial contributions from Field in a number of plays of his era, most commonly in Four Plays in One
, The Queen of Corinth
and The Knight of Malta
, three dramas in the canon of Fletcher and his collaborators.
Field had a contemporary reputation as a ladies' man; gossip reported by William Trumbull charges him with a child of the Countess of Argyll. A portrait believed to be of Field can be seen at Dulwich Picture Gallery in London, UK. Where he is depicted as a melancholy figure with hand on heart, it has been said (Reference required) that this painting may be one of the first depictions of an actor 'in character'.
Puritan
The Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England...
preacher
Preacher
Preacher is a term for someone who preaches sermons or gives homilies. A preacher is distinct from a theologian by focusing on the communication rather than the development of doctrine. Others see preaching and theology as being intertwined...
John Field
John Field (divine)
John Feild , also called John Feilde, was a British Puritan clergyman and controversialist.-Life:We know very little of his early life, but when he was ordained by Edmund Grindal in 1566 at the age of 21, he was called a bachelor of arts of Christ Church, Oxford...
and his brother Theophilus Field
Theophilus Field
Theophilus Feild aka Feild was successively bishop of Llandaff , of St. David's and of Hereford ....
became the Bishop of Llandaff
Bishop of Llandaff
The Bishop of Llandaff is the Ordinary of the Church in Wales Diocese of Llandaff.-Area of authority:The diocese covers most of the County of Glamorgan. The Bishop's seat is located in the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul , in the village of Llandaff, just north-west of the City of...
. (Another brother named Nathaniel, often confused with the actor, became a printer.)
Field's father passionately opposed London's public entertainments: he delivered a sermon which attributed divine judgment to the collapse of the public seating area, during a bear baiting on a Sunday, at Bear Garden in 1583, which resulted in several deaths. Nathan presumably did not intend a career in the theater; he was a student of Richard Mulcaster
Richard Mulcaster
Richard Mulcaster , is known best for his headmasterships and pedagogic writings. He is often regarded as the founder of English language lexicography.-Educational achievements:...
at St. Paul's School in the late 1590s. At some point before 1600, he was impressed by Nathaniel Giles, the master of Elizabeth
Elizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...
's choir and one of the managers of the new troupe of boy player
Boy player
Boy player is a common term for the adolescent males employed by Medieval and English Renaissance playing companies. Some boy players worked for the mainstream companies and performed the female roles, as women did not perform on the English stage in this period...
s at Blackfriars Theatre
Blackfriars Theatre
Blackfriars Theatre was the name of a theatre in the Blackfriars district of the City of London during the Renaissance. The theatre began as a venue for child actors associated with the Queen's chapel choirs; in this function, the theatre hosted some of the most innovative drama of Elizabeth and...
, called alternately the Children of the Chapel
Children of the Chapel
The Children of the Chapel were the boys with unbroken voices, choristers, who formed part of the Chapel Royal, the body of singers and priests serving the spiritual needs of their sovereign wherever they were called upon to do so....
Royal and the Blackfriars Children. He remained in this profession for the remainder of his life, later adding to it the profession of playwright. John Field was buried on 26 March 1588.
When John Field died, he left seven children, of whom the eldest was only seventeen. He left all his property to his wife, Joan. The first child was a daughter, Dorcas, baptized on 7 May 1570. The first son was baptized on 4 January 1572 and was named for his father. Theophilus was baptized on 22 January 1574, Jonathan on 13 May 1577, Nathaniel on 13 June 1581, Elizabeth on 2 February 1583 and Nathan on 17 October 1587. Little is known of the two daughters: Dorcas was married to Edward Rice on 9 November 1590; Elizabeth was buried at St. Anne, Blackfriars, on 14 June 1603, when she had just reached twenty, the age at which Dorcas married. We know nothing of the life of John Field, junior. Jonathan Field, who died in 1640.
Theophilus followed his father's profession. He married and in his will left all his possessions to his wife, Alice. He died on 2 June 1636 and was buried in Hereford Cathedral.
As a member of the Children of the Queen's Revels
Children of the Chapel
The Children of the Chapel were the boys with unbroken voices, choristers, who formed part of the Chapel Royal, the body of singers and priests serving the spiritual needs of their sovereign wherever they were called upon to do so....
, Field acted in the innovative drama staged at Blackfriars in the first years of the 17th century. Cast lists associate him with Ben Jonson
Ben Jonson
Benjamin Jonson was an English Renaissance dramatist, poet and actor. A contemporary of William Shakespeare, he is best known for his satirical plays, particularly Volpone, The Alchemist, and Bartholomew Fair, which are considered his best, and his lyric poems...
's Cynthia's Revels
Cynthia's Revels
Cynthia's Revels, or The Fountain of Self-Love is a late Elizabethan stage play, a satire written by Ben Jonson, The play was one element in the so-called Poetomachia or War of the Theatres between Jonson and rival playrwights John Marston and Thomas Dekker.-Performance:The play was first performed...
(1600) and The Poetaster
The Poetaster
The Poetaster is a late Elizabethan stage play, a satire written by Ben Jonson, and first performed in 1601. The play formed one element in the back-and-forth exchange between Jonson and his rivals John Marston and Thomas Dekker in the so-called Poetomachia or War of the Theatres of...
(1601); a 1641
1641 in literature
The year 1641 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*Pierre Corneille marries Marie de Lampérière.*Sir William Davenant is convicted of high treason.*Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon becomes an advisor to King Charles I of England....
quarto
Book size
The size of a book is generally measured by the height against the width of a leaf, or sometimes the height and width of its cover. A series of terms is commonly used by libraries and publishers for the general sizes of modern books, ranging from "folio" , to "quarto" and "octavo"...
associated him with George Chapman
George Chapman
George Chapman was an English dramatist, translator, and poet. He was a classical scholar, and his work shows the influence of Stoicism. Chapman has been identified as the Rival Poet of Shakespeare's Sonnets by William Minto, and as an anticipator of the Metaphysical Poets...
's Bussy D'Ambois
Bussy D'Ambois
The Tragedy of Bussy D'Ambois is a Jacobean stage play written by George Chapman. Classified as either a tragedy or "contemporary history," Bussy D'Ambois is widely considered Chapman's greatest play, and is the earliest in a series of plays that Chapman wrote about the French political scene in...
. Later in the decade, he performed in Epicoene
Epicoene, or the Silent Woman
Epicœne, or The silent woman, also known as The Epicene, is a comedy by Renaissance playwright Ben Jonson. It was originally performed by the Blackfriars Children, a group of boy players, in 1609...
and, perhaps, played Humphrey in Francis Beaumont
Francis Beaumont
Francis Beaumont was a dramatist in the English Renaissance theatre, most famous for his collaborations with John Fletcher....
's The Knight of the Burning Pestle
The Knight of the Burning Pestle
The Knight of the Burning Pestle is a play by Francis Beaumont, first performed in 1607 and first published in a quarto in 1613. It is notable as the first whole parody play in English...
. During the same years, he wrote commendatory verses for Jonson's Volpone
Volpone
Volpone is a comedy by Ben Jonson first produced in 1606, drawing on elements of city comedy, black comedy and beast fable...
and Catiline, and for John Fletcher's
John Fletcher (playwright)
John Fletcher was a Jacobean playwright. Following William Shakespeare as house playwright for the King's Men, he was among the most prolific and influential dramatists of his day; both during his lifetime and in the early Restoration, his fame rivalled Shakespeare's...
The Faithful Shepherdess
The Faithful Shepherdess
The Faithful Shepherdess is a Jacobean era stage play, the work that inaugurated the playwriting career of John Fletcher. Though the initial production was a failure with its audience, the printed text that followed proved significant, in that it contained Fletcher's influential definition of...
. Field was presumably also among those of the children's company briefly imprisoned for the official displeasure occasioned by Eastward Hoe
Eastward Hoe
Eastward Hoe or Eastward Ho, is an early Jacobean era stage play, a satire and city comedy written by George Chapman, Ben Jonson, and John Marston, printed in 1605. The play was written in response to Westward Ho, an earlier satire by Thomas Dekker and John Webster...
and John Day's
John Day (dramatist)
John Day was an English dramatist of the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods.-Life:He was born at Cawston, Norfolk, and educated at Ely. He became a sizar of Caius College, Cambridge, in 1592, but was expelled in the next year for stealing a book...
The Isle of Gulls
The Isle of Gulls
The Isle of Gulls is a Jacobean era stage play written by John Day, a comedy that caused a scandal upon its premiere in 1606.The play was most likely written in 1605; it was acted by the Children of the Revels at the Blackfriars Theatre in February 1606. It was published later in 1606, in a quarto...
; the latter imprisonment was in Bridewell Prison.
Field stayed with a children's company until 1613, his twenty-sixth year. He appears to be the only one of the boy actors of 1600 to remain with the Blackfriars troupe when, in 1609, Philip Rosseter
Philip Rosseter
Philip Rosseter was an English composer and musician, as well as a theatrical manager. From 1603 until his death in 1623 he was lutenist for James I of England. Rosseter is best known for A Book of Aires which was written with Thomas Campion...
and Robert Keysar assumed control of the company. In this company, he performed in the theater in Whitefriars and, frequently, at court, in plays such as Beaumont and Fletcher's The Coxcomb. From the latter years of this period come the first of his plays: A Woman is a Weathercock and The Honest Man's Fortune
The Honest Man's Fortune
The Honest Man's Fortune is a Jacobean era stage play, a tragicomedy written by Nathan Field, John Fletcher, and Philip Massinger. It was apparently the earliest of the works produced by this trio of writers, the others being The Queen of Corinth and The Knight of Malta.-Texts:The Honest Man's...
(the latter with Fletcher and Philip Massinger
Philip Massinger
Philip Massinger was an English dramatist. His finely plotted plays, including A New Way to Pay Old Debts, The City Madam and The Roman Actor, are noted for their satire and realism, and their political and social themes.-Early life:The son of Arthur Massinger or Messenger, he was baptized at St....
).
In 1613, Rosseter combined his company with the Lady Elizabeth's Men
Lady Elizabeth's Men
The Lady Elizabeth's Men, or Princess Elizabeth's Men, was a company of actors in Jacobean London, formed under the patronage of King James I's daughter Princess Elizabeth. From 1618 on, the company was called The Queen of Bohemia's Men, after Elizabeth and her husband the Elector Palatine had...
, managed by Philip Henslowe
Philip Henslowe
Philip Henslowe was an Elizabethan theatrical entrepreneur and impresario. Henslowe's modern reputation rests on the survival of his diary, a primary source for information about the theatrical world of Renaissance London...
. Performing at the Swan Theatre
Swan Theatre
Swan Theatre may refer to:* The Swan , an Elizabethan playhouse* Swan Theatre , a theatre belonging to the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon, England...
and Hope Theatre
Hope Theatre
The Hope Theatre was one of the theatres built in and around London for the presentation of plays in English Renaissance theatre, comparable to the Globe, the Curtain, the Swan, and other famous theatres of the era....
, he acted in Thomas Middleton
Thomas Middleton
Thomas Middleton was an English Jacobean playwright and poet. Middleton stands with John Fletcher and Ben Jonson as among the most successful and prolific of playwrights who wrote their best plays during the Jacobean period. He was one of the few Renaissance dramatists to achieve equal success in...
's A Chaste Maid in Cheapside
A Chaste Maid in Cheapside
A Chaste Maid in Cheapside is a city comedy written c. 1613 by English Renaissance playwright Thomas Middleton. Unpublished until 1630 and long-neglected afterwards, it is now considered among the best and most characteristic Jacobean comedies....
and Jonson's Bartholomew Fair. For the latter play, in which he may have performed as Cokes or Littlewit, he received payment for the company after a performance at court. These years witnessed some degree of tumult; Henslowe's business practices resulted in his actors' drawing up certain "articles of grievance" against him, and Rosseter's attempt to build a new private theater (Porter's Hall) in Blackfriars was blocked by the city and Privy Council
Privy Council of the United Kingdom
Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, usually known simply as the Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the Sovereign in the United Kingdom...
. This period ended when Henslowe died, Rosseter abandoned his plans, and Lady Elizabeth's Men briefly merged and then separated from Prince Charles's Men
Prince Charles's Men
Prince Charles's Men was a playing company or troupe of actors in Jacobean and Caroline England.-The Jacobean era troupe:...
, thereafter touring in the country. For Field, the period had a presumably more satisfactory end: by late 1616, he had joined the King's Men
King's Men (playing company)
The King's Men was the company of actors to which William Shakespeare belonged through most of his career. Formerly known as The Lord Chamberlain's Men during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, it became The King's Men in 1603 when King James ascended the throne and became the company's patron.The...
.
With the King's Men, Field seems to have performed as Voltore in Volpone
Volpone
Volpone is a comedy by Ben Jonson first produced in 1606, drawing on elements of city comedy, black comedy and beast fable...
and as Face in The Alchemist
The Alchemist (play)
The Alchemist is a comedy by English playwright Ben Jonson. First performed in 1610 by the King's Men, it is generally considered Jonson's best and most characteristic comedy; Samuel Taylor Coleridge claimed that it had one of the three most perfect plots in literature...
. It is not clear what other parts he played; an epigram, produced by John Payne Collier
John Payne Collier
John Payne Collier , English Shakespearian critic and forger, was born in London.-Reporter and solicitor:...
, that associated the actor with the role of Othello is an apparent forgery. Edmond Malone
Edmond Malone
Edmond Malone was an Irish Shakespearean scholar and editor of the works of William Shakespeare.Assured of an income after the death of his father in 1774, Malone was able to give up his law practice for at first political and then more congenial literary pursuits. He went to London, where he...
supposed that Field played women's roles with the company; O. J. Campbell, however, suggests that he played young second leads. Of course he acted in a number of Fletcher's plays, as well as Shakespeare's; presumably he also acted in his own Amends for Ladies (printed 1618, though probably written earlier), and in The Fatal Dowry
The Fatal Dowry
The Fatal Dowry is a late Jacobean era stage play, a tragedy written by Philip Massinger and Nathan Field, and first published in 1632. It represents a significant aspect of Field's very limited dramatic output....
, which he wrote with Philip Massinger
Philip Massinger
Philip Massinger was an English dramatist. His finely plotted plays, including A New Way to Pay Old Debts, The City Madam and The Roman Actor, are noted for their satire and realism, and their political and social themes.-Early life:The son of Arthur Massinger or Messenger, he was baptized at St....
. Field died some time between May 1619 and August 1620.
Scholars and critics have argued for authorial contributions from Field in a number of plays of his era, most commonly in Four Plays in One
Four Plays in One
Four Plays, or Moral Representations, in One is a Jacobean era stage play, one of the dramatic works in the canon of John Fletcher and his collaborators...
, The Queen of Corinth
The Queen of Corinth
The Queen of Corinth is a Jacobean era stage play, a tragicomedy in the canon of John Fletcher and his collaborators. It was initially published in the first Beaumont and Fletcher folio of 1647.-Date:...
and The Knight of Malta
The Knight of Malta
The Knight of Malta is a Jacobean era stage play, a tragicomedy in the canon of John Fletcher and his collaborators. It was initially published in the first Beaumont and Fletcher folio of 1647.-Date and source:...
, three dramas in the canon of Fletcher and his collaborators.
Field had a contemporary reputation as a ladies' man; gossip reported by William Trumbull charges him with a child of the Countess of Argyll. A portrait believed to be of Field can be seen at Dulwich Picture Gallery in London, UK. Where he is depicted as a melancholy figure with hand on heart, it has been said (Reference required) that this painting may be one of the first depictions of an actor 'in character'.