Pembroke's Men

Pembroke's Men, company under the patronage of the 1st Earl of Pembroke, first mentioned in 1592. Among the play-books which the actors sold to the booksellers a year later were Marlowe's Edward II and two anonymous plays, The Taming of a Shrew and The True Tragedy of Richard Duke of York. Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew and Richard III may have been revisions of these last two. Pembroke's Men are also named together with Sussex's Men on the title-page of Titus Andronicus, which Shakespeare refashioned from Titus and Vespasian. The 2nd and 3rd parts of his Henry VI were also in their repertory, the first part having been written for Strange's Men. Shakespeare's connection with Pembroke's Men ceased when he joined the Chamberlain's Men on their foundation in 1594, and the company underwent an eclipse until 1597 when they leased the newly built Swan Theatre. They were soon in trouble over their production of Nashe's and Ben Jonson's satire The Isle of Dogs. This caused the group to disband, and some of the leading actors joined the Admiral's Men at the Rose Theatre under Henslowe. The others went into the provinces and may have made an unsuccessful attempt to return to London in about 1600. No further record of them is known, but they may have joined a short-lived company belonging to the Earl of Worcester which formed the basis of Queen Anne's Men, founded in 1603.