Reading and rhyming in the Black Friars

Abstract The precinct of the Black Friars was a liberty with ancient privileges in the heart of the City of London, a little world apart. Here members of the nobility and gentry kept London lodgings, staying there when they were not at court or in their country estates, living close to each other, entertaining each other, intermarrying. Among others, the names of Wyatt, Parr, Vaux, Fortescue, and Guildford recur. Given their wealth and status, it was likely that they were owners and readers of books. Several of their manuscripts and books—some of great beauty—survive. Some have inscriptions which are testaments of friendship, of shared beliefs and values, at a time when friendships and beliefs were profoundly tested. Some of the inhabitants of the precinct were not only readers but also ‘makers’, a coterie devoted to poetry. This essay reconstructs some of the networks of reading and friendship in the Black Friars at the moment of the dissolution of the friary, and before the establishment of the Blackfriars theatre. The evidence comes from surviving manuscripts and books and their inscriptions, from wills, inventories, leases, Chancery cases, state papers, and related documents.