September 22, 1598
Ben Jonson is indicated for manslaughter.
On this day in 1598, playwright Ben Jonson was arrested for manslaughter after killing an actor in a duel. The actor was Gabriel Spenser, a noted member of Philip Henslowe’s Admiral’s Men playing company, with whom Jonson himself had been affiliated. Jonson pleaded guilty, but claimed “benefit of clergy”, and as a result was tried by the more lenient ecclesiastical courts. It is said that it was his ability to read and write that ultimately saved him. He narrowly escaped hanging, and was released after a short imprisonment. In the same year, having now dramatically parted ways with the Admiral’s Men, Jonson approached their rival company, The Lord Chamberlain’s Men, with a new play. Every Man in his Humour, which would go on to be considered one of Jonson’s best works, was performed for the first time by a cast led by none other than William Shakespeare, a prominent shareholder in the company. The immediate success of Every Man in his Humour solidified Jonson’s reputation as a leading dramatist of his time, while posterity ranks him, among the playwrights James I’s reign, as second only to Shakespeare.