Catalogue description Court of Requests: William Shakespeare: Documents of Shakespearean Interest

These documents consist of the pleadings and depositions in three lawsuits in the Court of Requests involving Shakespeare. They were found among the uncatalogued records of the Court of Requests in REQ 2. The case of Belott v Mountjoy concerns a marriage dowry, and contains Shakespeare's signed deposition; the documents pinpoint his residence in 1604. The case of Keysar v Burbage and others describes the King's Men company's involvement in the Blackfriars Playhouse. The case of Witter v Heminges and Condell describes the way in which the shares in the syndicate which leased the Globe playhouse were distributed.

All these (and related) documents are transcribed and discussed by the man who discovered them, C W Wallace, in 'Shakespeare and his London Associates as revealed in recently discovered documents', in the journal The University Studies of the University of Nebraska, vol. X, no 4, October 1910, pp 261-360. A copy of this is available at The National Archives