''The Four Prentices of London'' is an

Elizabethan The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The symbol of Britannia (a female personifi ...

play by English Renaissance playwright

Thomas Heywood Thomas Heywood (early 1570s – 16 August 1641) was an English playwright, actor, and author. His main contributions were to late Elizabethan and early Jacobean theatre. He is best known for his masterpiece ''A Woman Killed with Kindness'', a ...

, thought to have originated ''c''. 1592. The play is known to have been acted by the

Admiral's Men The Admiral's Men (also called the Admiral's company, more strictly, the Earl of Nottingham's Men; after 1603, Prince Henry's Men; after 1612, the Elector Palatine's Men or the Palsgrave's Men) was a playing company or troupe of actors in the El ...

on 19 July 1594. It might also have been performed, under the title ''Jerusalem'', by the

Lord Strange's Men Lord Strange's Men was an Elizabethan playing company, comprising retainers of the household of Ferdinando Stanley, Lord Strange (pronounced "strang"). They are best known in their final phase of activity in the late 1580s and early 1590s. After ...

on 22 March and 25 April 1592.Chambers, Vol. 3, pp. 340–1. 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 19 June 1594, under the title ''

Godfrey of Bouillon Godfrey of Bouillon (, , , ; 18 September 1060 – 18 July 1100) was a French nobleman and pre-eminent leader of the First Crusade. First ruler of the Kingdom of Jerusalem from 1099 to 1100, he avoided the title of king, preferring that of princ ...

and the Conquest of Jerusalem'', but was not published until 1615. The title page of the first

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 ...

states that the play was acted by

Queen Anne's Men Queen Anne's Men was a playing company, or troupe of actors, in Jacobean era London. In their own era they were known colloquially as the Queen's Men — as were Queen Elizabeth's Men and Queen Henrietta's Men, in theirs. Formation The group w ...

at the

Red Bull Theatre The Red Bull was an inn-yard conversion erected in Clerkenwell, London operating in the 17th century. For more than four decades, it entertained audiences drawn primarily from the City and its suburbs, developing a reputation over the years for r ...

, though the play had a long prior history of performances by earlier companies in earlier venues, as noted above. It was printed again in 1632. The text of the play in the 1615 volume is preceded by an Epistle to the Prentices, signed by Heywood, and a Prologue that provides yet a fourth title, ''True and Strange, or The Four Prentices of London''.

Synopsis

The old Earl of Boloigne has four sons, Godfrey, Guy, Charles, and Eustace, who are all apprentices due to his loss of his earldom by a usurper. He also has a daughter called Bella Franca, to whom he leaves what little wealth he has left. Godfrey is a mercer, Guy a goldsmith, Charles a haberdasher, and Eustace a grocer. At the beginning of the play, the father says he is to go on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land of Jerusalem to see the Saviour's sepulchre. He bids farewell to his sons and asks them to remain good apprentices. A Captain enrolls the four apprentices in a crusade led by Robert, Duke of Normandy, King William's son. After a shipwreck, the four brothers are separated and each believes the others to be dead. Godfrey finds himself on the coasts of Spain, helps the Citizen of Boloigne fight against the Spaniards and is created Earl of Boloigne, as his father used to be. Guy is cast away in France, where he is met by the

King of France France was ruled by monarchs from the establishment of the Kingdom of West Francia in 843 until the end of the Second French Empire in 1870, with several interruptions. Classical French historiography usually regards Clovis I () as the first ...

and his daughter, who falls in love with him and who will follow him through the rest of the play, disguised as a page. Charles happens to land in Italy, where he kills the leader of a band of thieves and becomes their captain. Eustace, the youngest of the four, is cast away on the coast of Ireland. Bella Franca also leaves London to go to Jerusalem. The whole company is united on their way to the Holy Land, but no one recognizes the other members of the family. The four apprentices fall in love with their sister and often fight to win her love. Tancred, the

County Palatine In England, Wales and Ireland a county palatine or palatinate was an area ruled by a hereditary nobleman enjoying special authority and autonomy from the rest of a kingdom. The name derives from the Latin adjective ''palātīnus'', "relating to ...

, accompanying them, is also enamored with her. She spends her time stopping their quarrels and dismissing their overtures. In Jerusalem, the apprentices fight against Soldan the Babylonian and Sophy the Persian and defeat them after some reversals of fortune. Finally reunited with their father and sister, they recognize each other. The news of King William the Conqueror's death leads to Robert's succession. King Robert has to crown a king of Jerusalem. Tancred and Godfrey both decline the King's offer. Guy becomes King of Jerusalem, Charles King of Cyprus and Eustace King of Sicily. Guy is united with the King of France's daughter and Tancred with the apprentices' sister Bella Franca. Heywood's play provided the primary target of the satire in

Francis Beaumont Francis Beaumont ( ; 1584 – 6 March 1616) was a dramatist in the English Renaissance theatre, most famous for his collaborations with John Fletcher. Beaumont's life Beaumont was the son of Sir Francis Beaumont of Grace Dieu, near Thrin ...

's ''

The Knight of the Burning Pestle ''The Knight of the Burning Pestle'' is a play in five acts by Francis Beaumont, first performed at Blackfriars Theatre in 1607 and published in a quarto in 1613. It is the earliest whole parody (or pastiche) play in English. The play is a sat ...

'' (1607).

Notes

References

* Chambers, E. K. ''The Elizabethan Stage.'' 4 Volumes, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1923. * Suzuki, Mihoko. ''Subordinate Subjects: Gender, the Political Nation, and Literary Form in England, 1588–1688.'' Burlington, VT, Ashgate Publishing, 2003. {{DEFAULTSORT:Four Prentices of London Plays by Thomas Heywood English Renaissance plays 1592 plays