The Rogues and Vagabonds of Shakespeare's Youth Awdeley's 'Fraternitye of vacabondes' and Harman's 'Caveat'

Delve into the tangled world of England’s 16th‑century street folk through three rare pamphlets that once circulated in taverns and prisons. The first tract sketches a loosely organized “fraternity” of vagabonds, offering vivid, sometimes humorous portraits of their codes, disguises, and the petty crimes that kept them on the margins of society. A scholarly introduction frames these passages, explaining the shifting language and the social anxieties that prompted their publication.

The second work, a more systematic warning against “common cursetors,” lists the tricks of con‑artists and thieves, presenting an early manual of criminal slang that feels oddly modern. Paired alongside is a paradoxical sermon that praises the very thieves it condemns, creating a striking contrast between moral rhetoric and streetwise pragmatism. Together, these texts reveal the lively, contradictory attitudes toward law, poverty, and survival in Shakespeare’s youth, inviting listeners to hear the raw voices that shaped early modern England’s understanding of the underworld.