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The long and complex lawsuit, generally called the
Baskervile or Worth/Baskervile suit, solicited depositions from most members of the company, generating a documentary record that is valuable for scholars of English Renaissance drama. "Her legal actions have provided much of our knowledge of Queen
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Thomas Greene's last will and testament, dated 25 July 1612, left his share in Queen Anne's Men, worth 80 pounds, to his wife. (More precisely, he willed her the value of his share; only actors could be sharers.) At the time of his death, the company owed Greene an additional £37 10
113:, rebuilt after the original burned down in 1621. Another lawsuit, begun in 1637, reveals that Baskervile owned one of the 24 shares in that theatre through the end of the period of English Renaissance drama, when the theatres were closed in September 1642 at the start of the
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in the company; in return they would be paid one shilling and eight pence every day the company played a play, for the remainder of their (the
Baskerviles') lifetimes. The company quickly fell behind in its payments; in 1616 the troupe raised the Baskervile pension to 3
53:, who performed with Queen Anne's Men and who died young in August 1612. (They had a daughter, Honor.) Susan married her third husband, James Baskervile, in June 1613; he was a bigamist who abandoned her and fled to Ireland in 1617.
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In his 1634 will, William Browne made his mother his executor; with
William's death in November of that year, Susan Baskervile acquired control of William's share in the Red Bull company, so called after the
74:, in return for another investment of £38. The Queen's Men still could not meet their payments to Susan Baskervile, and also failed to pay her son William who was acting with them. Susan Baskervile sued
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98:, great actor that he was, gave a deposition favoring Baskervile on 13 October 1623, and another favoring the actors a day later.
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and other members of the Queen's Men. Susan
Baskervile won her suit in 1623 — which forced the acting company to break up.
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Baskervile signed legal documents with her initials only, a fact taken by some commentators as an indication of illiteracy.
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61:, which also passed to Susan. In 1615, after negotiations, the Baskerviles agreed to invest another £57 10
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S. P. Cerasano, "Women as theatrical investors: three shareholders and the second
Fortune Playhouse," in:
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138:
A Dictionary of Actors and of Others
Associated with the Representation of Plays in England before 1642
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it occupied. Within a year, Baskervile was involved in litigation with
William's widow Anne Browne.
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Anne's
Company and of the duties, salaries, and grievances of hired men in the dramatic companies."
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41:. She was his second wife. Her five children by Browne included William Browne, who would act with
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Readings in
Renaissance Women's Drama: Criticism, History, and Performance 1594–1998
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in the years between 1616 and his death in 1634. Her second husband was the famous clown
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117:. The suit was still active in 1648, when Baskervile filed a deposition in the matter.
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237:, S. P. Cerasano and Marion Wynne-Davies, eds., London, Routledge, 2002; pp. 92-3.
194:, "The Grateful Dead: Actors' Testamentary Bequests to Women 1580–1651,"
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30:, as theatre investor, litigant, and wife, widow, and mother of actors.
182:, Third edition, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1992; p. 56.
26:, was one of the most influential and significant women involved in
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Vol. 7 (1954); Cambridge, Cambridge
University Press, 2002; p. 58.
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C. J. Sisson, "The Red Bull Company and the Importunate Widow,"
90:, among others, gave testimony on the side of Baskervile, while
153:, Washington DC, Folger Books, 1986; pp. 71, 74, 76 and ff.
198:, Vol. 135 No. 3 (September 1991), pp. 382-7; see p. 384.
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C. J. Sisson, "Notes on Early Stuart Stage History,"
196:Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society
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140:, New Haven, Yale University Press, 1929; p. 63.
222:Renaissance Drama by Women: Texts and Documents
220:S. P. Cerasano and Marion Wynne-Davies, eds.,
109:Susan Baskervile also invested in the second
94:among others gave testimony for the actors.
166:, Vol. 37 No. 1 (January 1942), pp. 25-36.
180:The Shakespearean Stage, 1574–1642
268:English theatre managers and producers
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37:(died 1603), actor and manager of the
224:, London, Routledge, 1996; pp. 173-4.
273:Women theatre managers and producers
20:Susan Shore Browne Greene Baskervile
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