To Hell With the Alewyfe, To Hell With Bad Business

ENG331: Drama to 1603 – Prof. Matthew Sergi

Daniel Iannucci - #997542057

April 1, 2014

To Hell With the Alewyfe, To Hell With Bad Business

Keywords: alewife, Innkeepers, public persona, reconciliation, advertisement

Across the Records of Early English Drama (REED), the alewife, both a trade position for women ale brewers and a character in dramatic performances, is listed most prominently in the records from Chester.  Known most (in)famously from the Innkeeper and Cooks presentation of the Harrowing of Hell, the alewife was regarded by the public as devious and fraudulent.  They were depicted as such when represented in dramatic texts.  Why were alewives regarded as such?  Furthermore what were their responses to these dramatic representations?  Is the Harrowing of Hell just a humourous attack on the alewife, or does the play provide an underlying social criticism?  Finally, is the depiction of the alewife detrimental to her image, or promotional?  The alewife’s speech in The Harrowing of Hell is a public call to all tradesmen, regardless of gender, to promote honesty and good business within the community.  By reading The Harrowing of Hell alongside the historical records provided in the REED, and with additional research into the alewife by scholar Judith Bennett, this report aims to expose and understand representations of the alewife in Chester during the late 16^th century.

            Before engaging with The Harrowing of Hell through the REED, let us first consider the position of the alewife in early-modern England by turning to research provided by Judith Bennett.  Bennett explains in her book Ale, Beer and Brewsters in England, that the alewife was targeted as a malevolent societal presence specifically because of her position as a woman.  Although dishonesty among taverners and tapsters was equally common around male brewers as it was female, “women and perhaps especially not-married women, who, if they lived without male masters or householders, seemed to be particularly unregulated and uncontrolled” (Bennett, 138).  This resulted in anxiety over brewing practices and ale prices.  This is not to say that alewives were entirely honest in their brewing and pricing, as they were not, but rather their reputation as dishonest tradespeople preceded them more than their male counterparts.  Ways in which brewers, both male and female, were accused of cheating their customers included diluting their ale, altering the measures or quantities agreed upon, and demanding higher than average prices (137).   These practices are directly referred to, sometimes hyperbolically so, in many works from the 16^th century, including John Skelton’s “The Tuning of Elynor Rumming”, in which women brewers are shown adding mucus and hen droppings into their ale (Bennett, 138).

            The Innkeepers and Cook’s performance text of The Harrowing of Hell is a representation of Christ’s descent into hell.  In it, Christ reclaims all those who are awaiting salvation; this includes biblical figures such as Adam, Isaiah, John the Baptist, and David.  There is one character who is anachronistically featured; the alewife.  All of these characters, including the thief crucified beside Christ at The Crucifixion, are given salvation at the conclusion of the play, but the alewife is forced to remain in hell.  She is given no lines nor is referred to in any capacity until confessing to her devious ways at the end of the play.  In her admittance of unfair practices she confesses, “Of can I kept no true measure. / My cups I sold at my pleasure, / deceiving many a creature. / Then my ale were nought.” (289-292).  These words align directly with practices outlined above by Bennett.  Upon initial inspection, one could argue that this dialogue was an attempt for the Innkeepers and Cooks to publically shame the alewives; after all, they were in direct competition with them for the sale of beer (125).  However, when we turn to the Innkeeper’s accounts presented in the REED, we see that alewives contributed ‘vj s [viij d] iiij d. ob.’ towards the production of the 1584-1585 Midsummer Show (REED, 206). Why would the alewives fund a play that publically ridicules them?  Could the Innkeepers and Cooks have somehow tricked them?  If so, then why do records from subsequent years show the alewives donating ‘iiij s’ to the Innkeepers in 1587-8, and then raising their donation to ‘ix s. vij d.’ in 1595-6 (218, 257)?  Bennett suggests that the play was an attempt to promote a sense of trust and morality among Cestrians.  Lines 301-312 of the play are a direct address to wrongdoers in the city:

Taverners, tapsters of this city

Shall be promoted here with me

For breaking statutes of this country,

Hurting the common weal,

With all tippers-tappers that are cunning…

…Therefore this place now ordained is

for such ill-doers so much amiss.

Here shall they have their joy and bliss,

Exalted by the neck

Beginning as a public shaming of all brewers, the alewife’s speech becomes a public plea for decency and good will.  Her character is emblematic of all ‘ill-doers’ who seek forgiveness.  This moment of supplication to an audience indicates her attempt to ask for forgiveness for her actions, and the malpractices of her fellow taverners.  In itself, this admittance of deceit and dishonesty, in keeping with Catholic practices, is a public gesture of reconciliation.  This in turn favours the alewife, promoting her public image.  Although she has been abandoned by Christ, perhaps it is not from him she is seeking forgiveness. 

Textual evidence in the Harrowing of Hell, coupled with the alewives’ funding of the play also suggests that this was an opportunity for alewives to advertise themselves and their product.  At the beginning of her speech, the alewife says, “Sometime I was a taverner, / a gentle gossip and a tapster, / of wine and ale a trusty brewer…And when I was a brewer long / with hops I made me ale strong; / ashes and herbs I blend among / and marred so good malt” (285-7, 293-6).  Although she has confessed to watering down or contaminating her ale, there is a deliberate attention in this passage paid to depicting her and her ale as authentic.  After first being described as a ‘trusty brewer’, she admits to ruining her ale; a beverage that is ‘strong’ with hops, and ‘so good malt’.  The sentence itself mirrors the perfect blend she has struck with her ingredients, an expert balance between bitterness and sweetness.  Though she has admitted to cheating her customers, the true sin is the ruination of the ale.  She continues that all ‘tipper-tappers’ are guilty of ‘mis-spending much malt’ and ‘brewing so thin’, but at no point is the ale of her competitors suggested to be sweet or malt, rather, it is described as ‘thin’ or tasteless.  The payments alewives made to the Innkeepers are a type of public tribute to their abilities.

A payment in the Innkeepers books also suggests that post-play revelry and celebration was held in an alewife’s tavern.  This may be a type of return for their investment in the play.  There is a modestly sized payment of five shillings listed as “spent at our svuard sysses howse after the wache vppone our bretherne” after the 1584-5 production (REED, 207).  Stewards were the head of guilds, and ‘sysses’ is a woman’s name.  Therefore these payments are likely to be spent by the Innkeepers at an alewife’s tavern.  Although one may consider this payment to go towards the production of the show instead of post-production revelry, the records indicate a distinction between items that are ‘spent’ and items that are ‘payed for’.  Paying indicates an exchange of money for a professional service, whereas spending money connotes a more recreational use.  Services going towards the play and procession are all listed as ‘payed’ to.  This includes payments for items like gloves, shoes, irons.  The money is listed as being spent ‘after the wache’.  The 1887-8 and 1895-6 accounts also produce similar payments to these.  There cannot be any ambiguity these payments being to stewards of other trades as they were specifically identified as such (e.g. weavers). 

The Innkeepers Harrowing of Hell is not an attack on the alewives; it is a celebration of the public and private brother and sisterhood of Chester. 

Works Cited

Bennett, Judith M. Ale, Beer and Brewsters in England: Women's Work in a Changing World, 1300-1600. New York: Oxford UP, 1996. Print.

Clopper, Lawrence M., David Mills, and Elizabeth Baldwin. Records of Early English Drama: Cheshire including Chester. Toronto: British Library and University of Toronto, 2007. Print.

The Harrowing of Hell. By Innkeepers. 1572.  Ed. Alexandra Johnston. 2010.