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The Seven Champions of Christendom

Although Richard Johnsons chivalric romance The Seven Champions of Christendom is little known today, it was widely read for over three centuries after its first appearance in print in the 1590s, influencing the work of English writers from John Bunyan to G. K. Chesterton and profoundly affecting the representation of St George, Englands patron saint, in folklore and popular culture.

In this volume, Jennifer Fellows offers, for the first time, a scholarly edition of The Seven Champions of Christendom. The text is based on the original printings of Parts I and II of the romance and is accompanied by explanatory notes and by an extensive introduction which places the work in its literary-historical context, traces its evolution through the centuries and presents what little is known of its authors life.

Non-Canonical Early Modern Popular Texts

Series Editor: John Simons

In recent years it has become broadly accepted that the central texts of English literature do not provide adequate materials for the critical study of the history of literary production and readership, a subject of growing interest. However, the availability of other texts, particularly from the early modern period, remains very limited. This series is designed to meet the demand for modern editions of non-canonical texts, concentrating on the period c.1580-c.1650.

First published 2003 by Ashgate Publishing

Reissued 2018 by Routledge

2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

Copyright Jennifer Fellows 2003

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Notice:

Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

Publishers Note

The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint but points out that some imperfections in the original copies may be apparent.

Disclaimer

The publisher has made every effort to trace copyright holders and welcomes correspondence from those they have been unable to contact.

A Library of Congress record exists under LC control number: 2002032997

ISBN 13: 978-1-138-70853-2 (hbk)

ISBN 13: 978-1-315-19971-9 (ebk)

For Eleanor

Contents

The Seven Champions of Christendom

1. i
2. ii

Guide

In the course of preparing this edition, I have benefited from the help of many people. I should like in particular to thank, in strictly alphabetical order, Jon Coe, Helen Cooper, James R. Kelly, Michael Langford, Katharine Martin, Helen Moore, Lynette Muir, Gillian Rogers, John Simons, Stephen Tabor (of the Henry E. Huntington Library), Suellen Towers (of the Folger Shakespeare Library) and Elizabeth Williams.

My greatest debt of gratitude, however, is owed to my daughter, Eleanor Fellows. She has helped me with every aspect of the preparation of this edition, from the textual to the technological; she has encouraged me in moments of despondency, when the task seemed endless; she has shared my pleasure in Richard Johnsons geographical solecisms; she has been a never-failing source of moral support. To her, therefore, this volume is dedicated with my love and thanks.

7Ch	The Seven Champions of Christendom
BH	Sir Bevis of Hampton
DNB	Dictionary of National Biography, ed. Stephen et al. EETS Early English Text Society
ES	Extra Series
OS	Ordinary Series
FQ	Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene
ODEP	Oxford Dictionary of English Proverbs , ed. Wilson
OED	Oxford English Dictionary
STC	Short-Title Catalogue 14751640, ed. Jackson et al.
Wing	Short-Title Catalogue 16411700, ed. Wing

Richard Johnsons life and works

Despite the enormous popularity of such works as The Seven Champions of Christendom

It is clear that Johnson spent the greater part of his life in London: the subject-matter of several of his works (such as The Nine Worthies of London, The Pleasant Walkes of Moore-fieIds, Looke on Me London) is London-related, and in many of his later writings he describes himself as a freeman of this Citty. It may well be also that his knowledge of the dramatic works of Marlowe and of Shakespeare, to which he makes several allusions in 7Ch , was acquired in the London theatre.

In the dedication to The Nine Worthies of London, Johnson describes himself as a poore apprentice, though it is not known what his trade was. Given the phenomenal success of 7Ch , however, it seems likely that he abandoned it and supported himself by his writings. The works attributed to him are as follows:

STC 14685.5.

2 The Nine Worthies of London, explaining the honourable exercise of armes, the uertues of the valiant, and the memorable attempts of magnanimious minds (1592). A work in verse and prose celebrating the martial exploits of nine Londoners whose vertues made them great, and whose renowne sprung not of the noblenes of their birth, but of the notable towardnesse of their well qualified mindes (sig. B2r). Edited by Thomas Park in The Harleian Miscellany , vol. VIII (London: printed for White & Cochrane, John Harding and John Murray, 1811), pp. 43761. STC 14685.7.

3 The Most Famous History of the Seauen Champions of Christendome (1596). See below.

4 The Second Part of the Famous History of the Seauen Champions of Christendome (1597). See below.

5 The Most Pleasant History of Tom a Lincolne the Red Rose Knight (15991607). An Arthurian prose romance which, among Johnsons works, was second in popularity only to 7Ch. Edited by Richard S. M. Hirsch as The Most Pleasant History of Tom a Lincolne (Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 1978). A dramatic version, which can probably be dated to the period 16111615, has been attributed to Thomas Heywood. STC 14684.

6 Anglorum Lacrim: in a sad passion complayning of the death of our late soueraigne lady Queene Elizabeth (1603). A verse elegy shown to have been plagiarized from Thomas Rogerss Celestiall Elegies of the Goddesses and the Muses (1598). STC 14671.

7 A Lanterne-light for Loyall Subiects: or, A Terrour for Traytours (1603). A prose tract describing many fayre examples of Traytours foule ends (sig. A2r) and, like of 7Ch, dedicated to Lord Thomas Howard. STC 14675.

8 The Pleasant Walkes of Moore-fields (1607). A tract on London life, in the form of a dialogue between a Countrey Gentleman, and a London Citizen (sig. A3r); mainly based on John Stows Chronicle. STC 14690.

9 The Pleasant Conceites of Old Hobson, the Merry Londoner (1607). A collection of anecdotes which Johnson has associated with William Hobson, a well-known London haberdasher who died in 1581. Edited by W. Carew Hazlitt (London: Willis & Sotheran, 1866). STC 14688.

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