''Saint Patrick for Ireland'' is a

Caroline Caroline may refer to: People * Caroline (given name), a feminine given name * J. C. Caroline (born 1933), American college and National Football League player * Jordan Caroline (born 1996), American (men's) basketball player Places Antarctica * ...

era stage play, written by

James Shirley James Shirley (or Sherley) (September 1596 – October 1666) was an English dramatist. He belonged to the great period of English dramatic literature, but, in Charles Lamb's words, he "claims a place among the worthies of this period, not so m ...

and first published in

1640 Events January–March * January 6 – The Siege of Salses ends almost six months after it had started on June 9, 1639, with the French defenders surrendering to the Spanish attackers. * January 17 – A naval battle over ...

. It is notable as an early development in

Irish theatre The history of Irish theatre begins with the rise of the English administration in Dublin at the start of the 17th century. Over the next 400 years this small country was to make a disproportionate contribution to drama in English. In the ea ...

. The play was written and performed during Shirley's stay in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

in the years 1637–40. Shirley, one of the most prominent and successful London playwrights of the previous decade, moved to Dublin during the long closure of the London theatres, from May 1636 to October 1637, due to an epidemic of

bubonic plague Bubonic plague is one of three types of plague caused by the plague bacterium (''Yersinia pestis''). One to seven days after exposure to the bacteria, flu-like symptoms develop. These symptoms include fever, headaches, and vomiting, as well a ...

. ''St. Patrick for Ireland'' was clearly written specifically for Shirley's new Dublin audience; it was performed in the autumn of

1639 Events January–March * January 14 – Connecticut's first constitution, the Fundamental Orders, is adopted. * January 19 – Hämeenlinna ( sv, Tavastehus) is granted privileges, after it separates from the Vanaja parish, ...

, at the

Werburgh Street Theatre The Werburgh Street Theatre, also the Saint Werbrugh Street Theatre or the New Theatre, was a seventeenth-century theatre in Dublin, Ireland. Scholars and historians of the subject generally identify it as the "first custom-built theatre in the c ...

in Dublin, "the first Irish playhouse." There is no record of a London performance in Shirley's era...or later. The play was entered into the

Stationers' Register The Stationers' Register was a record book maintained by the Stationers' Company of London. The company is a trade guild given a royal charter in 1557 to regulate the various professions associated with the publishing industry, including print ...

on 28 April 1640 and was issued later that year in an

octavo Octavo, a Latin word meaning "in eighth" or "for the eighth time", (abbreviated 8vo, 8º, or In-8) is a technical term describing the format of a book, which refers to the size of leaves produced from folding a full sheet of paper on which multip ...

volume, printed by J. Raworth for the bookseller Robert Whitaker. In both the Prologue and Epilogue to the 1640 printed text, Shirley promises to continue the story of St. Patrick in a second part to the play – which apparently was never written. Because of this, however, the existing play is sometimes referred to as ''Part 1,'' or ''1 St. Patrick for Ireland.'' The play was reissued in

1657 Events January–March * January 8 – Miles Sindercombe and his group of disaffected Levellers are betrayed, in their attempt to assassinate Oliver Cromwell, by blowing up the Palace of Whitehall in London, and arrested. * Febru ...

in London, in a

quarto Quarto (abbreviated Qto, 4to or 4º) is the format of a book or pamphlet produced from full sheets printed with eight pages of text, four to a side, then folded twice to produce four leaves. The leaves are then trimmed along the folds to produc ...

that it shared with Shirley's ''

The Constant Maid ''The Constant Maid, or Love Will Find Out the Way'' is a Caroline era stage play, a comedy written by James Shirley and first published in 1640. The play is associated with the Irish phase of Shirley's dramatic career (1637–40), and was l ...

''. The play was next reprinted in Dublin in 1751, when William Rufus Chetwood included it in ''A Select Collection of Old Plays.'' The play's genre has been described as "neo-miracle," an updated version of the miracle or

mystery play Mystery plays and miracle plays (they are distinguished as two different forms although the terms are often used interchangeably) are among the earliest formally developed plays in medieval Europe. Medieval mystery plays focused on the represen ...

that typified

Medieval theatre Medieval theatre encompasses theatrical performance in the period between the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century and the beginning of the Renaissance in approximately the 15th century. The category of "medieval theatre" is vast, c ...

. Shirley applied his knowledge of the stage devices of the London stage to tell a story rich in Christian miracle lore. (One critic has speculated that the proposed second part of the play would have dealt with "St. Patrick's Purgatory," an Irish place of pilgrimage.) Shirley's primary source for historical data on his subject was the biography of the saint by Abbot

Jocelyn of Furness Jocelyn of Furness (fl. 1175–1214) was an English Cistercian hagiographer, known for his Lives of Saint Waltheof, Saint Patrick, Saint Kentigern and Saint Helena of Constantinople. He is probably responsible for the popular legendary associati ...

(c. 1185). The play's apparent pro-British-imperial political implications provoked a response, in ''Landgartha'', a drama composed by the Dublin lawyer Henry Burnell and staged on 17 March 1640. One of the dedicatory verses to that play criticizes dramatists who employ "flames and fire / Tempests and whirlwinds" to tell their stories – a reference to the effects in Shirley's play.

Synopsis

At the start of the play, the Irish

Druid A druid was a member of the high-ranking class in ancient Celtic cultures. Druids were religious leaders as well as legal authorities, adjudicators, lorekeepers, medical professionals and political advisors. Druids left no written accounts. Whi ...

s are up in arms, and soldiers are manning all the ports, in response to a prophecy of St. Patrick's arrival and his coming success in converting Ireland to Christianity. The King, Leogarius, has been having nightmare visions of the coming campaign against him. But of course,

St. Patrick ST, St, or St. may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Stanza, in poetry * Suicidal Tendencies, an American heavy metal/hardcore punk band * Star Trek, a science-fiction media franchise * Summa Theologica, a compendium of Catholic philosophy an ...

's arrival is not the military-style campaign that the King fears; the saint comes with a group of priests – and his guardian angel, Victor. Leogarius tries to poison Patrick, but fails; a servant drinks the poison and dies, but is brought back to life by Patrick (a miracle that converts Leogarius's queen). In another instance, two men disguise themselves as the statues of

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but ...

and

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury (planet), Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Mars (mythology), Roman god of war. Mars is a terr ...

in a pagan temple (Shirley conflates the Druids with

Roman mythology Roman mythology is the body of myths of ancient Rome as represented in the literature and visual arts of the Romans. One of a wide variety of genres of Roman folklore, ''Roman mythology'' may also refer to the modern study of these representat ...

), and when the King is present the statues move and speak and demand the blood of Patrick. After the ceremony is done, the masqueraders descend from their pedestals, and as a reward are allowed to "dance" with the Queen's daughters. In the final confrontation, the Druid Archimagus summons up poisonous snakes to kill the sleeping Patrick; but the saint providentially wakes in time and dispels the snakes from the entire island. The Archimagus is swallowed by the earth. The King converts to Christianity as a result – though Patrick mistrusts the firmness of his change of heart (a reservation that leaves an opening for a continuation of the story). Forsythe notes significant parallels in structure and characterization with the

Dekker Dekker is a Dutch occupational surname equivalent to English Thatcher. Notable people with the surname include: *Aesop Dekker (born 1970), American rock drummer *Albert Dekker (1905–1968), American actor and politician *An Dekker (1931–2012) ...

Massinger Massinger is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Philip Massinger Philip Massinger (1583 – 17 March 1640) was an English dramatist. His finely plotted plays, including '' A New Way to Pay Old Debts'', ''The City Mada ...

play ''

The Virgin Martyr ''The Virgin Martyr'' is a Jacobean era stage play, a tragedy written by Thomas Dekker and Philip Massinger, and first published in 1622. It constitutes a rare instance in Massinger's canon in which he collaborated with a member of the previous ...

'', among other works of the era.Forsythe, pp. 223–31.

Notes

{{reflist

References

* Forsythe, Robert Stanley. ''The Relations of Shirley's Plays to the Elizabethan Drama.'' New York, Columbia University Press, 1914. * Logan, Terence P., and Denzell S. Smith, eds. ''The Later Jacobean and Caroline Dramatists: A Survey and Bibliography of Recent Studies in English Renaissance Drama.'' Lincoln, NE, University of Nebraska Press, 1978. * Nason, Arthur Huntington. ''James Shirley, Dramatist: A Biographical and Critical Study.'' New York, 1915; reprinted New York, Benjamin Blom, 1967. * Ohlmeyer, Jane H. ''Political Thought in Seventeenth-Century Ireland: Kingdom or Colony.'' Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2000. * Rankin, Deana. ''Between Spenser and Swift: English Writing in Seventeenth Century Ireland.'' Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2005. * Turner, J. P., ed. ''A Critical Edition of James Shirley's "St. Patrick for Ireland."'' New York, Garland, 1979. Irish plays 1639 plays Plays by James Shirley