A New Way to Pay Old Debts

On November 24 1583 Philip Massinger underwent baptism at St. Thomas's in Salisbury.Massinger is identified as the son of a gentleman in his matriculation registration at St. Alban Hall Oxford (1602). His father a member of parliament and a product of that school was a member of the family of Henry Herbert 2nd Earl of Pembroke. Later the Earl was thought of as Massinger's possible sponsor.In 1606 he departed Oxford without a diploma. According to sources Massinger's father had died in 1603 and this together with rumours that he had converted to Catholicism meant that the next phase of his career would need to generate revenue.