King James establishes the King's Men: warrant under signet seal

Although James VI of Scotland was proclaimed king of England on March 24, 1603, it took him over a month to arrive in London. Within ten days of his arrival there, and despite the fact that the theaters were closed due to plague, he gave instructions for turning the Lord Chamberlain's Men, of which Shakespeare was a member, into the King's Men.

This warrant for the Privy Seal is the first of three surviving administrative documents leading to the issuing of Letters Patent under the Great Seal that formally created the King's Men, although they do not explicitly refer to the players as the King’s. On May 17, 1603, in response to an instruction from the king in the form of either a Signed Bill or a King’s Bill (these bills do not survive prior to 1609), the Signet Office produced the formal warrant shown here. Known as a Signet Bill, it both instructed the Privy Seal Office to draw up a further warrant, and provided the text for the formal Letters Patent.

Accordingly, the next day on May 18, 1603, the Privy Seal Office issued a warrant under the Privy Seal, instructing the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England to further issue the Letters Patent under the Great Seal. Both documents (Signet Bill and Warrant for the Great Seal) supply the same text for the final document, the Letters Patent under the Great Seal delivered to Shakespeare’s company.

This warrant for the Privy Seal is sealed on the back with a paper star (in this case, four-pointed) over wax, a conventional method of sealing. The warrant is addressed, also on the back, “To our right trusty and wel beloued Counsellour the Lord Cecill of Esingdon keeper of our priuie Seal for the time being” (Robert Cecil was Keeper of the Privy Seal from 1598 to 1608). It is also endorsed, in a different hand, “The Players priuiledge.” The document was probably “filed,” or strung together with, a series of other warrants. It is (or was) either the 57th or 71st warrant in this file.

From the moment of enrollment, Shakespeare and the other players listed -- Lawrence Fletcher, Richard Burbage, Augustine Phillipps, John Hemings, Henry Condell, William Sly, Robert Armyn, Richard Cowley, "and the rest of their associates" -- were under the patronage of the king. According to the warrants and letters patent, after "the infection of the plague shall decrease," the players were free to perform at the Globe and throughout the country "for the recreation of our loving Subjects," as well as for the king's "solace and pleasure when we shall thinke good to see them." The Lord Chamberlain’s book, a roughly contemporary source, demonstrates that Shakespeare’s company was one of three companies patronized by the Crown: the King’s Men, the Queen’s Men, and the Prince’s Men, patronized by King James, Queen Anne of Denmark, and Prince Henry respectively.

Privy Seal records sent to the Lord Keeper or Lord Chancellor, including this warrant, were kept in Chancery from the time of their creation until 1884, when all such records were removed to the Public Record Office (now The National Archives).