The Clifton Star Chamber Case and Kidnapped Child Actors

In Early Modern England, there was a rash of abductions of boys, who were being forced to work as actors. Then a child was taken whose father was in a position to actually do something about it. 

Research:

  • Soth, Amelia. “Her Majesty’s Kidnappers.” JSTOR Daily. 12/17/2020. https://daily.jstor.org/kidnapping-for-the-queens-choir/
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  • Reynolds, Patricia. “Kidnapped to order: child actors in Shakespeare’s day.” The National Archives. 5/12/2016. https://blog.nationalarchives.gov.uk/kidnapped-order-child-actors-shakespeares-day/
  • Map of Early London. “Blackfriars Theatre.” https://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/BLAC6.htm
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  • Wridgway, Neville. “Giles, Nathaniel (c. 1558–1634), choirmaster and composer.” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. Date of access 22 Jun. 2023, https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-10724  
  • Barrie, Robert. “Elizabethan Play-Boys in the Adult London Companies.” Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900 , Spring, 2008, Vol. 48, No. 2. Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/40071333
  • Mamujee, Shehzana. “’To serve us in that behalf when our pleasure is to call for them’: performing boys in Renaissance England.” Renaissance Studies , NOVEMBER 2014, Vol. 28, No. 5. Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/24423452
  • Jones, Roger T. “The Role of the Junior English Schools in the Development of the Drama.” A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Loyola University September, 1944.
  • Bradbrook, M.C. “’Silk? Satin? Kersey? Rags?’ The Choristers’ Theater under Elizabeth and James.” Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900 , Spring, 1961. Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/449339

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