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

This audio brings together three of the earliest English pamphlets that turned a scholarly eye toward the world of thieves, beggars and itinerant wanderers. An introductory essay sets the stage, explaining how seventeenth‑century editors revived the texts of John Awdeley’s Fraternitye of Vacabondes and Thomas Harman’s Caueat, and why their observations of cant and street crime still intrigue historians. Listeners will hear the original language, preserved with careful transcription notes that flag archaic spelling and unresolved printer errors, while the accompanying commentary clarifies obscure terms and contextual references.

The core of the recording presents Awdeley’s vivid portrait of a loosely organised brotherhood of vagabonds, followed by Harman’s systematic catalogue of their customs, tricks and punishments. A short sermon that oddly praises thievery offers a moral contrast, and a final section extracts passages not reproduced elsewhere, all rounded off by a detailed index and scholarly notes. Together they form a compact window onto Elizabethan attitudes toward lawlessness and the hidden jargon of the streets.