Peter van Durant (ca. 15131584) alias Pickle Herring: A Contribution to the Possible Genesis of an Early Modern Clown Persona
Peter van Durant (ca. 15131584) alias Pickle Herring: A Contribution to the Possible Genesis of an Early Modern Clown Persona

Summary/Abstract: In the 1880s, the social historian William Rendle was the first to suggest that there might be close connections between the popular figure of the continental stage clown known as “Pickelhering”, a London brewer named Peter van Durant who bore the intriguing nickname “Pickel Heringe”, and Shakespeare’s Falstaff. This speculation did not, however, fall on fertile ground until recently when revived by the theatre historian Peg Katritzky who provided ample evidence that in Elizabethan Southwark the consumption of pickled herrings was frequently accompanied by heavy drinking. By culling pertinent information from a wide variety of printed and archival sources and elaborating on the socio-cultural context, I hope to remedy this lack of biographical data in the belief that van Durant offers the best hope yet for explaining the genesis of an important stage figure from the seventeenth century and one who still lives on today in the popular imagination.

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