ANNALS OF THE STAGE, FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO THE No country of Europe, since the revival of letters, has been able to produce any notice of theatrical performances of so early a date as England *. That notice was first published by Stow in his Survey of London, 1599, who discovered it in the Vita Sancti Thoma Archiepiscopi et Martyris, by William Fitzstephen. In that work the author inserts a description nobilissimæ civitatis Lundonia, which contains the following passage: Lundonia pro spectaculis theatralibus, pro ludis scenicis, ludos habet sanctiores, representationes miraculorum quæ sancti confessores operati sunt, seu representationes passionum quibus claruit constantia martyrum†. * The plays of Roswitha, a nun of Gandersheim, in Lower Saxony, who wrote at the close of the tenth century, and which are mentioned in a note by the Editor of the last edition of Warton's Hist. Eng. Poet., ii. 68, were not represented. There is a slight difference in the mode in which these words have been translated into English. Stow gives them thus: ‘London, 'for the shews upon theaters, and comical pastimes, hath holy playes, ' representations of miracles, which holy confessors have wrought; 'or representations of tormentes, wherein the constancie of martirs ' appeared.' (Survey, 1599, p. 68.) Warton renders them compenVOL. I. B It is probable that Fitzstephen wrote before the year 1182; and as Thomas à Becket was not killed until 1170, the author of his Life is speaking of theatrical performances in London, during the twelve years between those dates; which is bringing it to as near a point as we can expect to arrive at. Warton thought, from the mention of Henry III. in it, that Fitzstephen did not write his Life of Thomas à Becket until after 1216, when that King came to the throne; but Ritson has shewn that the Henry III. there spoken of was 'Henry the younger, son of Henry II., and grandson of the Empress Matilda, who was crowned king in the life-time of his father*,' and who died in 1182+. If Fitzstephen, in his Description of Lon 6 diously as follows, omitting to notice the words pro ludis scenicis: 'London, for its theatrical exhibitions, has holy plays, or the repre'sentation of miracles wrought by confessors, and of the sufferings of 'martyrs.' He adds in a note, that he has construed sanctiores in a positive sense,' without stating his reason for so doing. (Hist. Eng. Poet., ii. 69, edit. 8vo.) Malone elsewhere follows Warton, but calls the representations religious plays.' (Shakespeare by Boswell, iii. 9.) The Rev. S. Pegge, who published the Description of London by Fitzstephen in 1772, translates sanctiores in a comparative sense :'London, in lieu of the ancient shews of the theatre, and the entertain'ments of the scene, has exhibitions of a more devout kind; either representations of those miracles which were wrought by the holy con'fessors, or those passions and sufferings in which the martyrs so 'signally displayed their fortitude.' Fitzstephen has just before referred to the state of Rome in this respect, and seems to be drawing a comparison between the public amusements there and in London. * Ritson's note in Warton's Hist. Eng. Poet., ii. 69, edit. 8vo. † This point is rendered still clearer by the circumstance, that don, allude to Henry III. as still living, it would establish that he produced that part of his work prior to A.D. 1182. It is to be inferred that these spectacula theatralia were then established performances; and it is known that, prior to 1119, the Miracle-play of St. Katherine had been represented at Dunstaple. This fact is proved by Matthew Paris and Bulaus: the former wrote his Vita Abbatum, &c. as early as 1240; where we are told, that while Geoffrey, afterwards Abbot of St. Albans, was yet a secular person, he was invited from Normandy by Richard, the then Abbot of St. Albans, to teach the school established there; that, in consequence of some delay, when Geoffrey arrived the vacant office had been filled, and that he, therefore, took up his residence at Dunstaple, and brought out the Miracle-play of St. Katherine:-Legit igitur apud Dunestaplium, expectans scholam S. Albani sibi repromissam; ubi quendam ludum de S. Katerina, (quem Miracula vulgariter appellamus) fecit; ad quæ decoranda petiit a Sacrista S. Albani, ut chorales accommodarentur, et obtinuit *. sibi cape Matthew Fitzstephen states that the Henry III. whom he mentions was born in London: Prince Henry, the son of Henry II., was born in London, but Henry III., who succeeded in 1216, was born at Winchester. The double reign of Henry II. and his son is noticed in the old comedy called Looke about You, 1600, where we meet with the following stage direction: Sound trumpets, enter with a herald on one side, Henry 'the Second crowned, &c. On the other part, K. Henry, the son, " crowned,' &c. *Vit. Abb, ad calc. Histor. Major. Edit. 1640, tom. i. p. 56. Paris proceeds to relate, that on the following night Geoffrey's house was burnt, together with the capa chorales; and considering it a judgment of heaven, he made himself a holocaust,' assumed the habitum religionis, and subsequently became Abbot of St. Albans. The testimony of Bulæus, in his Historia Universitatis Parisiensis, is important in fixing the date of the representation of the play of St. Katherine. He informs us, that Geoffrey was a member of the University of Paris, and that he died in 1146, having A. D. been raised to the dignity of Abbot of St. 1119. Albans, in 1119*. It is undoubted, that he brought out the play while he was yet at Dunstaple, and before he had assumed the religious habit; so that 1119, when he became Abbot, is the nearest date which can be fixed with certainty. Warton conjectured, that the Miracle-play of St. Katherine was represented by the scholars of Geoffrey about the year 1110 † ;' but, perhaps, it was performed even earlier, as that date would leave only nine years between his taking orders (in consequence of the fire the day after the exhibition, according to Matthew Paris) and his attainment of the highest dignity in the Monastery of St. Albans. *Vol. ii. p. 225. Paris, 1665. 6 Hist. Eng. Poet., ii. 68. edit. 8vo. Malone, (Shakespeare, by Boswell, iii. 9,) professing to follow Warton, asserts without qualification, that the play was performed in the year 1110,' and he refers to Dr. Percy in confirmation, whose words on the contrary are, this was probably within the eleventh century.' Reliques, i. 138, edit. 1812. According to Bulæus, this play of St. Katherine was not then by any means a novelty-non novo quidem instituto, sed de consuetudine magistrorum et scholarum, and from a passage in the Annales Burtonenses we may conclude, that in the time of Matthew Paris, or very shortly afterwards, itinerant actors were well known. Among the regulations, under date A. D. of a. D. 1258, we meet with the following re- 1258. markable expressions: Histrionibus potest dari cibus, quia pauperes sunt, non quia histriones; et eorum ludi non videantur, vel audiantur, vel permittantur fieri coram Abbate vel monachis*. Here the words histriones and ludi would seem distinctly to point out the nature of the performances †. One objection to these ludi might possibly be, that the histriones gave them in the popular language of the country; and it will be seen hereafter, that there is some ground for supposing that the Miracle-play of St. Katherine, and other dramatic representations, founded upon the lives of saints, and upon the events of the Old and New Testaments, at the date now referred to, were in French. The clergy do not seem to have been unanimous as to the propriety and policy of public dramatic per * Gale, Rerum Anglicarum Scriptor. Vet. i., 437. Warton (H. E. P., iii. 41, edit. 8vo.) is of opinion, that the word histrio had a very wide application in the barbarous ages, including mimics, juglers, dancers, tumblers, musicians, and minstrels; but in a note to the preceding page, he refers to this very passage from the Annales Burtonenses, in order to shew, that in this instance it excluded minstrels, harpers, and juglers, and that it meant players. |