''The Wounds of Civil War'' 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 ...

era stage play, written by

Thomas Lodge Thomas Lodge (c. 1558September 1625) was an English writer and medical practitioner whose life spanned the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods. Biography Thomas Lodge was born about 1558 in West Ham, the second son of Sir Thomas Lodge, Lo ...

. A dramatization of the

ancient Roman In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC ...

conflict between Marius and

Sulla Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix (; 138–78 BC), commonly known as Sulla, was a Roman general and statesman. He won the first large-scale civil war in Roman history and became the first man of the Republic to seize power through force. Sulla had ...

, the play is generally considered Lodge's only extant solo drama.

Publication

''The Wounds of Civil War'' 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 24 May 1594, and was published in

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 ...

later that year by the bookseller John Danter. The title page of the quarto identifies Lodge as the author, and states that the play was performed 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 ...

. The 1594 quarto is the only publication of the play before the nineteenth century.

Date

The date of the authorship and premier performance of the play is not known with certainty. Many scholars have considered the scene in Act III that includes a chariot drawn by four

Moors The term Moor, derived from the ancient Mauri, is an exonym first used by Christian Europeans to designate the Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily and Malta during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a distinct or ...

as an imitation of the famous similar scene in Marlowe's ''

Tamburlaine ''Tamburlaine the Great'' is a play in two parts by Christopher Marlowe. It is loosely based on the life of the Central Asian emperor Timur (Tamerlane/Timur the Lame, d. 1405). Written in 1587 or 1588, the play is a milestone in Elizabethan p ...

,'' indicating that Lodge's play must post-date Marlowe's. ''The Wounds of Civil War'' is generally dated to the 1587–92 period. (A minority view allows the possibility the Lodge's play may have pre-dated Marlowe's, and that Marlowe may have been influenced by Lodge.)

Sources

Lodge's primary source on the First Civil War in ancient Rome was the ''Roman History'' of

Appian Appian of Alexandria (; grc-gre, Ἀππιανὸς Ἀλεξανδρεύς ''Appianòs Alexandreús''; la, Appianus Alexandrinus; ) was a Greek historian with Roman citizenship who flourished during the reigns of Emperors of Rome Trajan, Hadr ...

; an English translation of Appian's work, by "W. B.," had been published by Henry Bynneman in

1578 __NOTOC__ Year 1578 (Roman numerals, MDLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events January–June * January 31 – Battle of Gembloux (1578), Battle of Ge ...

. Lodge departs from his source when it suits his purposes, as in elevating the minor figure Junius Brutus into a significant character. Lodge condemns militarism and tyranny as leading to civil disruption; he favors the unifying influences of a balanced, moderate, and just society.Andrew Hadfield, ''Shakespeare and Republicanism.'' Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2005; pp. 66-72. (Lodge conceived of Elizabethan England as that type of society, and was a conservative defender of the existing social order against potential change and "innovation.")

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wounds of Civil War, The English Renaissance plays Plays by Thomas Lodge 1590s plays 1580s plays