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DAVID, the First (and final) EARL OF JEDBURGH
David Thomas (1564-1613?) was born into a sheep-farming family near present-day Llanstinan in Wales. At the age of twelve, he ran away to sea and became a cabin boy aboard the "Jackdaw", a vessel with a commission to explore and map Java and the East Indies. After a difficult start, it seems he found favour with the Master, as these extracts from Captain Jones' diary show:
Extracts from the diary of Captain John Jones, Master of the exploration vessel Jackdaw
June 29 1576
"pore davy thomas downe with seasicknesse. Lyes in my cabine, puking and mewling lyke the childe he is. Pore boye is but twelve yeres olde, pritty and pert, stomack weke butte I think wil is stronge."
Jan 18 1577
boye nedes harde discipline. Runnes wilde and annoyes older handes for he is notte yet obedient. Hadde to flogge him yesterday - six with bosun's cane - mayde him cry but for his owne goode
Jan 25 1577
davy flogged agayne for disobedience - six cuttes with bosun's cane - no longer cryes tho hurte
June 1 1577
dvy is a goode ladde, attendes my nedes, wil teche him to rede and ryte like me
June 25 1577
semes he (dvy) fathered childe with Java girle. Shalle leve afore childe is borne.
June 29 1577
one yere since he joyned my crewe, davy comfortes me nightly - brings leeks and mutton and plays for my pleasure. He "baaas" moste swetely.
July 9 1577
bosun mayde davy a shepeskynne coat
July 25 1577
St Jestyns Point, in site of Fishguard where oure voyage wil ende. Dvy cryed. I stroked him for comforte and all handes pressed hym farewel.
In 1588 he was offered his own vessel, "The Golden Fleece", and a commission from the cartographer Gerard Janzoon to map the journey of the Argonauts. However, en route, he engaged a pirate ship off the Spanish coast near Santiago della Compostella, killing its Flemish captain Avermann. The captured treasure-laden vessel was handed to the English Crown. Ennoblement followed and, in 1594, he became the 1st Earl Jedburgh with a castle in the Scottish Lowlands.
Jedburgh settled in London, founding his own church, St Julian’s, his own theatre, the Jubilee in Charing Cross, and his own company of players, Jedburgh's Men. He persuaded Giles Jankin to become his resident writer and thus became responsible for launching the career of one of the finest and most influential Jacobean dramatists. After the apprentice riot of 1604, which led to Jedburgh's Men being sued for incitement, the company was left bankrupt. Jedburgh retired to Scotland where he developed the sheep farms on his estates and considered his future. One morning in 1605, Jedburgh was visited by an Italian named Mazzola who promised a vast sum of money for a new play by Jankyn, the subject of which was to be provided by Mazzola himself. And thus Jump, or the Devil Will Take You was born, the Jubilee Theatre revived and the company of players reconstructed, and when King James commissioned a Twelfth Night masque from Ben Jonson and Giles Jankyn in 1607, Jedburgh found himself a courtier and companion to the 12 year old Prince of Wales. At the age of 42, the sheep-farmer's son had come a long way.
Inevitably, jealousy and resentment undermined his position. Gossip and rumour circulated concerning the relationship between himself, the brothel-keeper Tabitha Termagent and the boy actor Tom Tages. The gossip was not serious enough to worry the King but other members of the Establishment decided the upstart Davey Thomas was a danger. He had, after all, connected Prince Henry to a world of taverns and theatres, whores and wenches. These extracts from the correspondence of Lord Windsor, the head of the King's secret service, and the Duke of Arundel indicate the depth of feeling –
Windsor to Arundel, April 1610
"forgettes his plase, forgettes his rootes, forgettes he is a shepe fermer, ledes the prince to dennes of vyse and sinne - goldin gartyr, jubile, haunts of whoors, theves and actors - a man of lose moralitie who corrupts our swete prince…"
Arundel to Windsor, Feb. 1611
"tages and prince sene in golden garter with davey jb and several whores…"
Arundel to Windsor, Jly 1611
"jank, jb, shaksper, tages, in berehoose, jbh to whoorhous with tages, sh and jankyn fought with bayliffes "
Arundel to Windsor, Jan. 1612
It being Bene Feste Day and 12th Nyghte, all manner of thyngs overturned and
codes brokyn - in the mask the kyng a slobering foole drivling over tom tages.
Atte the grete feste the kyng plaied wile jb putte tages in a shepeskynne cote and
hitte hym harde with strong grene leeks and mayde hym "baaaaa".
Prince Henry died of typhus on November 6th 1612. The following year, 1613, the Earl of Jedburgh disappeared. No-one knows what happened or where he went. Some suggested he had been murdered by the secret service, others that King James had disposed of his once faithful servant, others that Jedburgh had grown tired of courtly life and returned to the sea. The castle he built in Jedburgh was destroyed in a mysterious fire in 1776. All that remains is the legend and a handful of references in letters pulled from the ruins by an unknown retainer.
The Coat of Arms of David Jedburgh is a golden sheep suspended in a sling supported by two green leeks rampant.
From Vitriol and Jealousy; Theatre, Writing and Rivalry in the English Renaissance by Jurat Jarkman, Jackdaw Press 2000, pp. 26-32
(Reproduced with kind permission of the author and publisher)
viij
THE BARMPOT OF BARNƒLIEE.
With the humorous life of Beniamin Bumpkyn
and many iests
As it was acted before the Queenes moƒt excellent Maieƒtie and
at the Jubilee by the Earl of Iedburgh, his ƒeruants
Printed for M. Jankyn by Timothy Thomas at the ƒign of the Iack
-Daw neere Bainards Castel to be ƒold in the yerde of Paul's
1602
Prologue
Dear Lord Davy, tender master,
Thou who make our hearts beat faster
Pass these jigging lines of foolish wit
Whose mouths the halting tongues don't fit*
And pardon please your servant Jyle
Whose skill and craft oft makes thee smile
Take all in good worth
For nought is intended
But merry and mirth
My work here is done.
Farewell. I am gone.
Jyles Jankin
J. Page 12