re, = - * 
BLACKFRIARS THEATRE BUILDING 21 
worldly successors,’ and became from that time forth matter for 
constant contention between the inhabitants of the precinct and 
‘the Crown on the one side and the persistent City administration 
assertive of authority on the other until late James I. This 
chronic condition shows itself acutely in the opposing attitudes 
of Queen Elizabeth and the City authorities toward the establish- 
ment and maintenance of Blackfriars theatre as discussed in suc- 
ceeding chapters.” 
The buildings of the Blackfriars precinct were situated on the 
high embankment north of the Thames and east of the old Fleet 
ditch,— now _ New Bridge street. They included® besides the little 
church at St. Anne’s and numerous shops and dwellings, the im- 
posing conventual church 220 feet long from east to west by 66 
feet wide; a churchyard on the north 200 feet by go feet; the 
cloisters on the south, comprised in a square of 110 feet; and to 
the west of these, the little chapter-house and the large Priory 
buildings, one of which standing on the site of the present “Pub- 
lishing Office” of The Times, and opening on a short, narrow, 
irregular passage-way, still called “Playhouse Yard,” became the 
Blackfriars theatre in 1597. 
Edward VI, who succeeded to the throne January 28, 1547, 
put this particular building to a new use, which probably deter- 
mined its ultimate service to the drama. Soon after his accession 
he had all the apparel and furniture for the revels and masks at 
Court removed to it from Warwick inn.* 
Here also Sir Thomas Cawarden, one of the first Masters of 
the Revels,’ had his office and rehearsed, doubtless in the great 
*The nature and extent of these 
liberties and privileges with argu- 
ments in their defense are set forth 
in a lengthy brief and the testimony 
of witnesses, published under the 
heading, “Notes and Articles for 
maintenance of the ancient Liberties 
and Privileges of the late diffolved 
Black Friers, neere Ludgate in Lon- 
don,’ in John Stowe, op. cit. 
(1633), 375-80. These documents 
give the inhabitants’ side of the 
long controversy. For the City’s 
side, see infra, 154", 1547. See also, 
at Loseley House, documents (temp. 
Eliz., undated) on the first founda- 
tion of the Blackfriars and the lib- 
erties granted the same. Noted in 
Hist. MSS. Com., op. cit., 6630. 
*See infra, 54°-54°, 148-62. 
*For items, see .survey, taken by 
Hugh Losse, the King’s surveyor, 
4 January, 3 Edward VI, preserved 
among the Loseley MSS. Noted in 
A. J. Kemp, op: cit., 175; Hast. 
MSS. Com., op. cit., 606a. 
“See expense account for this re- 
moval in Kemp, op. cit., 73. 
°Sir Thomas Cawarden is gen- 
erally believed to have been the first 
incumbent of the office of the Mas- 
ter of the Revels. Letters patent 
135 
