William Davenant



Sir William Davenant (baptised 3 March 1606 – 7 April 1668), also spelled D'Avenant, was an English poet and playwright. Along with Thomas Killigrew, Davenant was one of the rare figures in English Renaissance theatre whose career spanned both the Caroline and Restoration eras and who was active both before and after the English Civil War and during the Interregnum.

Life
Davenant is believed to have been born in late February, 1606 in Oxford, the son of Jane Shepherd Davenant and John Davenant, proprietor of the Crown Tavern (or Crown Inn) and mayor of Oxford. He was baptised on 3 March, his godfather being William Shakespeare, who had stayed frequently at the Crown during his travels between London and Stratford-upon-Avon. It was even rumored that he was the Bard's biological son as well. However, it seems that this rumor stemmed from a comment attributed to Davenant by Samuel Butler: "It seemed to him [Davenant] that he writ with the very same spirit that Shakespeare [did], and seemed content enough to be called his son."

He attended Lincoln College, Oxford, for a while in about 1620, but left before gaining any degree.

Following the death of Ben Jonson in 1637, Davenant was named Poet Laureate in 1638. He was a supporter of King Charles I in the English Civil War. In 1641, he was declared guilty of high treason but was, ironically, knighted two years later by the king following the siege of Gloucester. In 1645, after the Battle of Naseby, he retired to Paris, where he became a Roman Catholic and worked on his epic poem Gondibert. That same year he was appointed Emissary to France, and in 1649 treasurer of the colony of Virginia by Charles II. The following year, he was made lieutenant governor of Maryland, but was captured at sea, imprisoned, and sentenced to death. He spent all of 1651 in the Tower of London, where he continued writing Gondibert. On his release in 1652, he immediately published Gondibert, but he was only pardoned in 1654. In order to avoid the strict laws of censorship in force in all public places at the time, he turned a room of his home, Rutland House, into a private theatre where his works, and those of other writers considered seditious, could be performed. A performance of his The Siege of Rhodes at Rutland House in 1656 is considered to be the first performance of an English opera, and also included England's first known professional actress, Mrs. Coleman. 

Davenant once again found himself in legal trouble in 1659, when he was imprisoned for his part in Sir George Booth's uprising at Cheshire. He was released the same year though and fled to France. He had returned to London by 1660 as he is publicly recorded as being one of the two theatrical patentees. He headed the Duke of York's Men and produced highly successful theatrical seasons at Lincoln's Inn Fields from 1660 until his death in 1668. Among his more successful productions were some Shakespeare plays including: Hamlet, Henry VIII, Macbeth as well as non-Shakespeare plays such as Sir Samuel Tuke's The Tragedy of Five Hours and John Dryden's comedy Sir Martin Marall. He had returned to England sometime before the initial production of his adaptation of Shakespeare's The Tempest, written with John Dryden, who would be named the next Laureate in 1670.

He died in London on 7 April 1668, shortly after his final play, The Man's the Master, was first performed. He is buried in Poets' Corner at Westminster Abbey where the inscription on his tablet reads "O rare Sir William Davenant." It has been noted that the original inscription on Ben Jonson's tablet, which was already removed by the time Davenant died, was "Rare Ben," which was the name Shakespeare supposedly had for Jonson.

Nine of his works, though they were previously licensed or produced in London during his life like all of his plays, were finally published in print posthumously. Several of these were included in The Works of Sr William D'avenant Kt., by Henry Herringman in 1673, which was copied from Davenant's own originals.

Epic poems and books of poetry
Each year links to its corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:
 * 1630: Ieffereidos
 * 1638: Madagascar, with other Poems
 * 1648: London, King Charles his Augusta, or, City Royal, of the founders, the names, and oldest honours of that City
 * 1650: A Discourse upon Gondibert, an heroick poem (or simply Gondibert), originally published unfinished, then published again in 1651 in its final form and included Davenant's "Preface to his most honour’d friend Mr. Hobs" and "The Answer of Mr. Hobbes to Sir William D’Avenant’s Preface before Gondibert" by Thomas Hobbes, to whom the book was dedicated; the official second edition in 1653 also contained "Certain Verses, written by severall of the author’s friends"
 * 1656: Wit and Drollery: Jovial Poems
 * 1657: Poems on Several Occasions

Panegyrics
Each year links to its corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:
 * 1660: "A Panegyric to his Excellency the Lord General Monck", to George Monck
 * 1660: "Poem, Upon His Sacred Majesties Most Happy Return to His Dominions", on the Restoration of Charles II
 * 1663: "Poem, to the King’s most sacred Majesty", to Charles II

Original plays, masques and operas
Listed in chronological order.
 * Albovine, King of the Lombards, tragedy (ca. 1626-9; printed 1629)
 * The Cruel Brother, tragedy (licensed 12 January 1627; printed 1630)
 * The Just Italian, comedy (licensed 2 October 1629; printed 1630)
 * The Wits, comedy (licensed 19 January 1634; printed 1636)
 * Love and Honour, tragicomedy, also previously performed as The Courage of Love; and The Nonpareilles, or The Matchless Maids (licensed 20 November 1634: printed 1649)
 * The Temple of Love, masque (licensed 10 February 1635; printed 1635)
 * News from Plymouth, comedy (licensed 1 August 1635; printed 1673)
 * The Platonick Lovers, comedy (licensed 16 November 1635; printed 1636)
 * The Triumphs of the Prince D'Amour, masque (performed 23 or 24 February 1636; printed 1636)
 * Britannia Triumphans, masque, with Inigo Jones (licensed 8 January 1638; printed 1638)
 * Luminalia or The Festival of Light, masque, with Inigo Jones (licensed 6 February 1638; printed 1638)
 * The Unfortunate Lovers, tragedy (licensed 16 April 1638; printed 1643)
 * The Fair Favourite, tragicomedy (licensed 17 November 1638; printed 1673)
 * The Spanish Lovers, or The Distresses, comedy (licensed 30 March 1639; printed 1673)
 * Salmacida Spolia, masque (performed 21 January 1640; printed 1640)
 * The Siege of Rhodes, Part I, tragicomedy (performed September 1656; printed 1656)
 * The Cruelty of the Spaniards in Peru, opera (performed and printed 1658)
 * The History of Sir Francis Drake, history (performed 1658-9; printed1659)
 * The Siege of Rhodes, Part II, tragicomedy (ca. 1657-9; printed 1663)
 * The Playhouse to Be Let, comedy (performed ca. August 1663; printed 1673); includes Sir Frances Drake and The Cruelty of the Spaniards in Peru
 * The Man's the Master, comedy (performed 26 March 1668; printed 1669)

Revisions, adaptations and other productions for the stage

 * The First Day's Entertainment at Rutland House, a "disputation" (performed 23 May 1656; printed 1657)
 * The Law Against Lovers (performed 10 February 1662, printed 1673), a version of Measure for Measure mixed with Much Ado About Nothing
 * Macbeth (performed 5 November 1664; printed 1674), an operatic adaptation of Shakespeare's Macbeth
 * Greene's Tu Quoque (performed 12 September 1667; lost), based upon the 1614 edition of John Cooke's Greene's Tu Quoque Or, the Cittie Gallant, which had been made famous by the actor Thomas Greene's 1611 performance
 * The Tempest, or The Enchanted Island (performed 7 November 1667, printed 1670), an adaptation with John Dryden of Shakespeare's The Tempest
 * The Rivals (c. 1664; printed 1668), a revision of The Two Noble Kinsmen
 * Hamlet
 * Julius Caesar with John Dryden