John Manningham

John Manningham, who died in 1622, was an English barrister of the Middle Temple and a diarist whose notes have become an important source for life in late Elizabethan and early Jacobean England. Though not famous in his own day as a literary figure, he is remembered for the sharp, curious eye he brought to the people and events around him.

His diary, kept mainly in 1602 and 1603, mixes personal observation, legal and social life, sermons, court news, and anecdotes passed around London. It is often consulted by historians because it captures the feel of the period in a direct, informal way rather than from a grand official viewpoint.

Manningham is also well known to Shakespeare scholars. His diary preserves the earliest known reference to a performance of Twelfth Night, which has helped make his writing a small but memorable part of English literary history.