Rogues' License: Counterfeiting Authority in Early Modern Literature

According to Adam Fox, "England was a society permeated by documentary standards of reference and proof. The Act for the Punishment of Rogues, Vagabonds and Sturdy Beggars (1597) specifies that those whipped for vagrancy would be given "a Testimonial subscribed with the Hand and sealed wit...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Shakespeare studies (Columbia) 2017-01, Vol.45, p.137
Main Author: Dunne, Derek
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Beggars
British & Irish literature
Bureaucracy
Counterfeiting
Early modern period
Elizabethan drama
English literature
Forgery
History
Jonson, Ben (1573-1637)
Licencing
Licenses
Licensing
Literary history
More, Thomas (1478-1535)
Shakespeare, William (1564-1616)
Social aspects
Theater
Upward mobility
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:According to Adam Fox, "England was a society permeated by documentary standards of reference and proof. The Act for the Punishment of Rogues, Vagabonds and Sturdy Beggars (1597) specifies that those whipped for vagrancy would be given "a Testimonial subscribed with the Hand and sealed with the Seal of the same Justice of the Peace," allowing them to return to their place of origin.5 Yet the cony-catching pamphlets of the 1590s describe how the false livelihoods and lively falsehoods of many "rogues" depend upon forging such a document, making possible their deceits-by impersonating someone they are not, or allowing them to be somewhere they should not be.6 The Groundwork of ConyCatching (1592) notes how: they will carry a certificate . . . about them from some Justicer of the peace, with his hand and seal unto the same, how he hath been whipped and punished for a vagabond according to the laws of this Realm, and that he must return to C. where he was born or last dwelt.7 However, all this is "famed," i.e., false, to allow the rogue free passage through unsuspecting villages. According to the pamphlets, the rogues' forged licenses are thus fundamental to the figurative licenses they take with other people. The cony-catching pamphlets warn of how convincing forged documents can be: such warrants ... be so good and effectual, that if any of the best men of law, or learned about London should peruse the same, they were able to find no fault therewith, but would assuredly allow the same.17 Meanwhile Mopsa opines "I love a ballad in print, a-life, for then we are sure they are true" (4.4.260), raising the question of whether the printing press is more reliable than the questionable signatures of justices of the peace.
ISSN:0582-9399