Examination of Augustine Phillips

In early 1601, Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, led a rebellion which was over almost as soon as it began. In the lead-up to the action, the Lord Chamberlain’s players, William Shakespeare’s company, was paid to perform Richard II, in which the king is imprisoned, deposed, and eventually killed by, or at the command of, Henry Bolingbroke, the future Henry IV. Among those examined in the aftermath of the rebellion were Augustine Phillips, a senior member of Shakespeare’s company, and Sir Gelly Meyrick, a participant in the rebellion.

In his examination on February 18, 1601, Augustine Phillips reported that Sir Charles and Sir Joslyne Percy, Lord Mounteagle, and “som thre more” offered the players 40s more than their usual charge to perform “the deposyng and kyllyng of Kyng Rychard the Second.” Phillips and his fellows proposed an alternative play, but after negotiation were finally “content” to play as requested.

Although scholars have proposed alternative explanations, the combined testimony of Augustine Phillips and Sir Gelly Meyrick suggests that Phillips and his fellow members of the Lord Chamberlain’s men performed William Shakespeare’s Richard II prior to the Essex rebellion.

After his interview, Augustine Phillips was let go without further consequence for himself or his fellow players, while Sir Gelly Meyrick was eventually hanged at Tyburn.