Edward Alleyn (usually pronounced Allen) was one of the most famous actor-managers of the Elizabethan and Jacobean theatre. Born at The Pie Inn in London’s Bishopsgate, where his father was the publican, he lost his father in childhood and his mother is then believed to have married an actor who influenced the young boy. Alleyn joined the Earl of Worcester’s Players before he was eighteen, and in 1589 became the leading actor of the Lord Admiral’s Men. In 1592 he married Joan Woodward, stepdaughter to the actor-manager Philip Henslowe, and through this marriage became part owner of Henslowe’s theatres, notably The Rose in Bankside and the Fortune Theatre in Cripplegate, the main rival of The Globe. He also became invo

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First published 22 October 2004 ; revised 25 May 2005

Citation: Editors. "Edward Alleyn". The Literary Encyclopedia. 22 October 2004.
[http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=89, accessed 9 February 2010.]