Gabriel Spenser

Gabriel Spenser
A memorial plaque in St Leonard's, Shoreditch commemorating Spenser and other actors.
Born	c. 1578
Died	1598 (aged 19–20) Hoxton, London
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1596-1598

Gabriel Spenser, also spelled Spencer, (c. 1578–22 September 1598) was an Elizabethan actor. He is best known for episodes of violence culminating in his death in a duel at the hands of the playwright Ben Jonson.

Spenser appears in a number of documents as an actor associated with two of the major theatre companies of the day. Spenser first appears in records working for Francis Langley, in the Earl of Pembroke's Men, though he may have already been working for the Lord Chamberlain's Men. The stage direction "enter Gabriel" in the First Folio version of Shakespeare's Henry VI, Part 3 has often been thought to refer to Spenser's role in the play — that of a messenger. The names of actors are sometimes accidentally substituted for roles in published versions of plays. It has also been suggested that Spenser was the actor responsible for the so-called bad quarto of Romeo and Juliet published in 1597, if it was a memorial reconstruction.

In July 1597 Spenser was imprisoned after performing in The Isle of Dogs, an allegedly seditious play co-written by Ben Jonson and Thomas Nashe. It is not known why only Spenser and one other actor, Robert Shaw, were imprisoned, along with Jonson (Nashe fled London). The report of their arrest says that "the rest of the players or actors in that matter shall be apprehended", but no one else ever was. He was released after eight weeks.

In November of that year Spenser left the Earl of Pembroke's Men to join Philip Henslowe's company the Admiral's Men. Spenser joined as a shareholder, entitling him to a portion of the daily takings. Langley sued Spenser for breach of contract. In March 1598 Spenser appears in a document as a witness to a contract drawn up between Henslowe and Thomas Heywood.

In December 1596, while still a member of Langley's company, Spenser got into an argument with James Feake, the son of a goldsmith, at the house of a Shoreditch barber. It culminated with Spenser stabbing Feake with his sword, mortally wounding him. According to the inquest, the argument had escalated to the point that Feake attempted to throw a copper candelabrum at Spenser, who responded by attacking him with his still-sheathed sword, which penetrated his eye and entered his brain. Feake languished for three days before he died.