John Fletcher 1579-1625

Like most dramatists of his era John Fletcher left behind little in the way of biographical records. He was born in Rye, Sussex in the year 1579, the fourth child of Richard Fletcher, a former fellow of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge and currently an Anglican minister. In 1587 Richard Fletcher had risen to the position of dean of Peterborough and was subsequently chosen by Elizabeth I to preside over the execution of Mary Queen of Scotts. By 1596 Richard Fletcher had risen so much in Elizabeth's favour that he was now the Bishop of London when an injudicious second marriage to a woman who, as Greg puts it, was "of better fortune than reputation" (xciii), placed him out of favour with the Queen and brought about the suspension of his position in the Church. He died the same year.

What occurred next is by no means clear. The family was in debt and it may be that John was educated under the benefice of his uncle Giles Fletcher. Or, as Greg suggests, he may have been admitted to his father's college as a pensioner. Records show that a John Fletcher took a B.A. in 1595 and an M.A. in 1598, though this may be too early to be John Fletcher the dramatist. If it was Fletcher then it is possible that either his birth date or the University dates are incorrect, or it may be that he was a good student. What ever the case nothing more is know of Fletcher until 1605-6 when he appeared as a writer of plays and verse. His first play is generally believed to The Faithful Shepherdess which was written for the more exclusive audience of the Blackfriars theatre. It was not a success. Soon after he began to collaborate with another unsuccessful dramatist, Francis Beaumont, and together, writing for the King's Men who had recently obtained the lease to the Blackfriars theatre, they managed to produce the first of their many successful plays, Philaster. Although Fletcher is thought to have worked with many dramatists during his lifetime, including Shakespeare, composing more plays with others and on his own than he did with Beaumont, the names of Beaumont and Fletcher as a play-writing team have become synonymous.

Certainly the two men shared a lodging at Bankside for several years and, if popular myth is correct and Aubrey is to be believed, maybe be even more: "They lived together on the Banke side, not far from the Play-house, both batchelors ; lay together ; had one Wench in the house between them, which they did so admire ; the same cloathes and cloake, & c. ; between them." (21-22). Much has been read into this statement, the most extreme being some form of homo/heterosexual love triangle between Fletcher, Beaumont, and the admired wench. It must be remembered that same-sex bed-sharing was a common practice in this period, c.f. Shakespeare's Henry V: "Nay, but the man that was his bedfellow" (TLN 635, 2.2.8), and the admired wench may have been no more than a good servant. The professional connection was severed, however, when Beaumont married in 1613 and retired outside of London. Fletcher's career continued for another twelve years. When Shakespeare retired, also in 1613, from his position as the principal dramatist of the King's Men, Fletcher succeeded him and continued writing plays until the time of his death allegedly by plague in 1625. Whether or not there is any truth in the story that he delayed his escape into the country in order to obtain a new set of clothes is unclear [1]. He was buried on 29 August 1625 at what is now Southwark Cathedral.

There is only one extant example of Fletcher's handwriting. To see it go to Petti 52.   For the entire letter see Greg XCIII.

Petti, Anthony, G. English Literary Hands From Chaucer to Dryden. London: Edward Arnold, 1977. Item 52.