Sussex

David E. Kemp, a former professor of drama at Queen’s University, is
the author of The Pleasures and Treasures of the United Kingdom.

The aim of the Records of the Early English Drama series is to find,
transcribe, and publish external evidence of dramatic, ceremonial, and
minstrel activity in Great Britain before 1642. Sussex, volume 15 in the
series, covers documents found in archives across the southeast of
England and further afield where appropriate. There are excellent
introductions relating to the physical geography of the area, roads and
transport, political and economic history, religious history (including
the major episcopates and religious houses), and nobility and gentry.
The major towns are examined, especially the Cinque Ports (in this
volume, the Sussex towns of Hastings, Rye, and Winchelsea), Chichester,
and Lewes. There are English and Latin glossaries, and an excellent
chapter entitled “Drama, Music and Seasonal Customs” examines such
topics as traveling performers, playing places, seasonal activities,
local customs, and royal visits. This meticulously researched book is an
invaluable resource for students and scholars of English drama in
southeast England prior to the arrival of Cromwell and the Civil War.