A new edition that offers detailed consideration of the role of the Master of the Revels in English Renaissance entertainments and the relationship between the politics of the court and English theatre.

Educated at King's College, Cambridge and the University of Nottingham, Professor Dutton taught English for 29 years at Lancaster University. He then moved to The Ohio State University where he was Humanities Distinguished Professor of English for 13 years, five of them as chair of department. Following retirement in 2016, he held a three-year part-time research position at Queen's University, Belfast. In the course of his career he has authored and edited some 30 books and received research funding from numerous sources, including the Arts and Humanities Research Board, the Folger and Huntington Libraries, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

• Introduction: Through a Glass, Darkly


• 1: Country and Court: A System of Control Emerges, 1549-79


• 2: Tilney, Patronage and Profit, 1579-89


• 3: 1586-1592: Decrees for Orders in Printing; 'Martin Marprelate'; Tilney Reappears; Christopher Marlowe


• 4: 1592-1602: The Theatrical World Reassembles; Tilney's Position Consolidated


• 5a: Transition and Transgression: From Tilney to Buc, 1603-10


• 5b: The 'Little Eyases' and the Early Years of James's Reign


• 6: Sir George Buc, 1610-22, and Topical Readings


• 7: From Astley to Herbert: the contest for office, 1622-3


• 8: 1623-42: Sir Henry Herbert, A Master at Work