‘M[aster] Monkesters schollars’: Richard Mulcaster, Physical Education, and the Early Modern Boy Companies

Abstract

This article reconsiders the pedagogical theories of leading Elizabethan teacher Richard Mulcaster in the light of early modern boy company repertories. Focusing on Mulcaster’s teachings relating to the skilled, moving body, the article traces his connections to the Children of Paul’s and the Children of the Blackfriars to suggest that the boy company stage became a site that explored boys’ physical skills. The early modern boy company repertories, the article ultimately suggests, positioned their young actors as ‘Mr Mulcaster’s scholars’.