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MUNDAY (or MONDAY), ANTHONY (c. 1553-...

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Originally appearing in Volume V19, Page 4 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MUNDAY (or See also:MONDAY), See also:ANTHONY (c. 1553-1633)  , See also:English dramatist and See also:miscellaneous writer, son of See also:Christopher See also:Monday, a See also:London See also:draper, was See also:born in 1553-1554 . He had already appeared on the See also:stage when in 1576 he See also:bound himself apprentice for eight years to See also:John Allde, the stationer, an engagement from which he was speedily released, for in 1578 he was in See also:Rome . In the opening lines of his English Romayne Lyfe (1582) he avers that in going abroad he was actuated solely by a See also:desire to see See also:strange countries and to learn See also:foreign See also:languages; but he must be regarded, if not as a See also:spy sent to See also:report on the English Jesuit See also:College in Rome, as a journalist who meant to make See also:literary See also:capital out of the designs of the English Catholics See also:resident in See also:France and See also:Italy . He says that he and his See also:companion, See also:Thomas See also:Nowell, were robbed of all they possessed on the road from See also:Boulogne to See also:Amiens, where they were kindly received by an English See also:priest, who entrusted them with letters to be delivered in See also:Reims . These they handed over to the English See also:ambassador in See also:Paris, where under a false name, as the son of a well-known English See also:Catholic, See also:Munday gained recommendations which secured his reception at the English College in Rome . He was treated with See also:special kindness by the See also:rector, Dr See also:Morris, for the See also:sake of his supposed See also:father . He gives a detailed See also:account of the routine of the See also:place, of the dispute between the English and Welsh students, of the See also:carnival at Rome, and finally of the martyrdom of See also:Richard Atkins ( ? 1559-1581) . He returned to See also:England in 157$-1579, and became an actor again, being a member of the See also:Earl of See also:Oxford's See also:company between 1579 and 1584 . In a Catholic See also:tract entitled A True Reporte of the See also:death of M . See also:Campion (1581), Munday is accused of having deceived his See also:master Allde, a See also:charge which he refuted by See also:publishing Allde's signed See also:declaration to the contrary, and he is also said to have been hissed off the stage . He was one of the See also:chief witnesses against See also:Edmund Campion and his associates, and wrote about this See also:time five See also:anti-popish See also:pamphlets, among them the See also:savage and bigoted tract entitled A Discoverie of Edmund Campion and his Confederates whereto is added the See also:execution of Edmund Campion, Raphe See also:Sherwin, and See also:Alexander See also:Brian, the first See also:part of which was read aloud from the See also:scaffold at Campion's death in See also:December 1581 .

His See also:

political services against the Catholics were rewarded in 1584 by the See also:post of messenger to her See also:Majesty's chamber, and from this time he seems to have ceased to appear on the stage . In 1598-1599, when he travelled with the earl of See also:Pembroke's men in the See also:Low Countries, it was in the capacity of playwright to furbish up old plays . He devoted 'himself to See also:writing for the booksellers and the theatres, compiling religious See also:works, translating Amadis de Gaule and other See also:French romances, and putting words to popular airs . He was the chief See also:pageant-writer for the See also:City from 16o5 to 1616, and it is likely that he supplied most of the pageants between 1592 and 16o5, of which no See also:authentic See also:record has been kept . It is by these entertainments of his, which rivalled in success those of See also:Ben See also:Jonson and See also:Middleton, that he won his greatest fame; but of all the achievements of his versatile See also:talent the only one that was noted in his See also:epitaph in St See also:Stephens, Coleman See also:Street, London, where he was buried on the loth of See also:August 1633, was his enlarged. edition (1618) of See also:Stow's Survey of London . In some of his pageants he signs himself " See also:citizen and draper of London," and in his later years he is said to have followed his father's See also:trade . Of the eighteen plays between the See also:dates of 1584 and 1602 which are assigned to Munday in collaboration with See also:Henry See also:Chettle, See also:Michael See also:Drayton, Thomas See also:Dekker and other dramatists, only four are extant . John a See also:Kent and John a Cumber, dated 1595, is supposed to be the same as See also:Wiseman of See also:West See also:Chester, produced by the See also:Admiral's men at the See also:Rae See also:Theatre on the and of December 1594 . A ballad of See also:British Sidanen, on which it may have been founded was entered at Stationers' See also:Hall in 1579 . The Downfall of See also:Robert Earl of See also:Huntingdon, afterwards called See also:Robin See also:Hood of merrie Sherwodde (acted in See also:February 1599) was followed in the same See also:month by a second part, The Death of Robert Earl of Huntingdon (printed 1601) in which he collaborated with Henry Chettle . Munday also had a See also:share with Michael Dray-ton, Robert See also:Wilson and Richard Hathway in the First Part of the See also:history of the See also:life of See also:Sir John See also:Oldcastle (acted 1599), which was printed in 1600, with the name of See also:William See also:Shakespeare, which was speedily withdrawn, on the See also:title See also:page . William See also:Webbe (Discourse of English Poetrie, 1586) praised him for his pastorals, of which there remains only the title, Sweet Sobs and Amorous Complaints of Shepherds and See also:Nymphs; and See also:Francis See also:Meres (Palladia Tamia, 1598) gives him among dramatic writers the exaggerated praise of being " our best plotter." See also:Pen Jonson ridiculed him in The See also:Case is Altered as See also:Antonio Balladino, pageant poet .

Munday's works usually appeared under his own name, but he sometimes used the See also:

pseudonym of " See also:Lazarus Piot." A . H . Bullen identifies him with the Shepherd Tony " who contributed " Beauty sat bathing by a See also:spring " and six other lyrics to England's See also:Helicon (ed . Bullen, 1899, p . 15) . The completest account of See also:Anthony Munday is T . Seccombe's See also:article in the See also:Diet . Nat . Biog . A life and bibliography are prefixed to the Shakespeare Society s reprint of John a Kent and John a Cumber (ed . J . P .

See also:

Collier, 1851) . His two " Robin Hood " plays were edited by J . P . Collier in Old Plays (1828), and his English Romayne Lyfe was printed in the Harleian See also:Miscellany, vii . 136 seq . (ed . See also:Park, 1811) . For an account of his city pageants see F . W . See also:Fairholt, See also:Lord See also:Mayor's Pageants (See also:Percy See also:Soc., No . 38, 1843) .

End of Article: MUNDAY (or MONDAY), ANTHONY (c. 1553-1633)
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