CHAPTER IX 
STATUS OF THE BLACKFRIARS CHILDREN.—THE QUEEN’S 
REQUIREMENTS 
ONE of the most valuable documents yet discovered in revealing — 
the relations of Queen Elizabeth to the setting up and maintenance 
of her Chapel Children as actors at Blackfriars, as well as illu- 
minating their whole history, consists of two paragraphs in the 
Diary of Philipp Julius, Duke of Stettin-Pomerania, under date 
of September 18, 1602. The statements there, taken with the 
documents and evidences offered in other chapters, change all 
previous conceptions not only of this company and the Black- 
friars theatre, but also of the relations of the children-companies 
under Elizabeth and James to the dramatic and theatrical history 
of the times. 
A word therefore seems necessary on the value of the present 
record as evidence. Minor but essential details I subjoin in a 
note.1 Other considerations throwing light upon the present 
history follow the quoted record. 
*Philip Julius, Duke of Stettin- 
Pomerania, Prussia, in his eigh- 
teenth year (1602) was sent on a 
grand tour of the chief states of 
Europe for the purpose of com- 
pleting his education, shaping his 
character, and preparing him for the 
duties of government in his own 
country. One of the important 
‘members of his retinue was Fred- 
eric Gerschow, former tutor to the 
Duke, and later (1605-35) Profes- 
sor of Law at the University of 
Greifswald. In accordance with the 
Duke’s command to write down ac- 
curately, day by day, everything 
they saw or heard on the journey, 
Gerschow kept a careful diary from 
the day of departure, Feb. 1, 1602, 
to the day of return, under the head- 
“ing :— 
Der Durchlauchtigsten Herrn 
Philippi Gulii Herzogen zu Stettin, 
Pommern, etc., Reise durch 
Deutschland, Engelland, und Italien, 
1602. 
The MS. of this Diary is now 
in the library of Count von der 
Osten of Plathe, Pomerania, and 
has never yet been fully published. 
Only a part of it is the original 
MS., according to the doubtful 
statement of the recent publishers. 
In 1892, Dr. Gottfried von Biilow, 
Superintendent of the Royal Ar- 
chives in Stettin, assisted by Mr. 
Wilfred Powell, English Consul in 
Stettin, published in Transactions 
of the Royal Historical Society 
(New Series, 1892), VI, 4-67, all 
that part of the Diary pertaining 
to the journey in England. They 
give also an English translation 
page for page with the German text. 
219 
