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Thomas Middleton (1676–1715)
Thomas Middleton (baptised 18 April 1580 – July 1627; also spelt ''Midleton'') was an English Jacobean playwright and poet. He, with John Fletcher and Ben Jonson, was among the most successful and prolific of playwrights at work in the Jacobean period, and among the few to gain equal success in comedy and tragedy. He was also a prolific writer of masques and pageants. Life Middleton was born in London and baptised on 18 April 1580. He was the son of a bricklayer, who had raised himself to the status of a gentleman and owned property adjoining the Curtain Theatre in Shoreditch. Middleton was five when his father died and his mother's subsequent remarriage dissolved into a 15-year battle over the inheritance of Thomas and his younger sister – an experience that informed him about the legal system and may have incited his repeated satire against the legal profession. Middleton attended The Queen's College, Oxford, matriculating in 1598, but he did not graduate. Before he l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Chapman
George Chapman ( – 12 May 1634) was an English dramatist, translator and poet. He was a classical scholar whose work shows the influence of Stoicism. Chapman is seen as an anticipator of the metaphysical poets of the 17th century. He is best remembered for his translations of Homer's ''Iliad'' and '' Odyssey'', and the Homeric '' Batrachomyomachia''. Shakespeare was a contemporary of Chapman, and there is evidence that he knew some of Chapman's work. William Minto proposed Chapman as a candidate for being the " Rival Poet" mentioned in Shakespeare's sonnets. Life and work Chapman was born at Hitchin in Hertfordshire. His father appears to have been reasonably well off, but George was the younger son, and would need to earn his living. From his literary work it is evident that he acquired a good command of Latin and Greek (although he drew on the work of earlier scholars in his Greek translations). There is conjecture that he attended the University of Oxford without t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Fair Quarrel
''A Fair Quarrel'' is a Jacobean tragicomedy, a collaboration between Thomas Middleton and William Rowley that was first published in 1617. Performance and Publication The play was written sometime between 1612 and 1617, and probably after October 1614, on the basis of suspected borrowings from Ben Jonson's ''Bartholomew Fair''. The first quarto was printed by George Eld for the booksellers John Trundle and Edward Wright, and was published in two states or impressions: Q1a is missing the "roaring school" scene (Act IV, scene iv), while Q1b includes the scene as an appendix. The second quarto, issued in 1622 and printed by Augustine Matthews for Thomas Dewe, places the "roaring school" scene in its proper place. The play was dedicated to Robert Grey, Esq., the dedication signed by Rowley. The play was originally performed by Prince Charles's Men, the company to which Rowley belonged at the time, and the title page of both quartos states that it was "acted before the King". A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wit At Several Weapons
''Wit at Several Weapons'' is a seventeenth-century comedy of uncertain date and authorship. Authorship and date In its own century, the play appeared in print only in the two Beaumont and Fletcher folios of 1647 and 1679; yet modern scholarship has determined that ''Wit at Several Weapons'' is a collaboration between Thomas Middleton and William Rowley, written some three decades before its publication. In addition to the play's appearance in both folios, its belated entry in the Stationers' Register on 29 June 1660 Events January–March * January 1 ** At daybreak, English Army Colonel George Monck, with two brigades of troops from his Scottish occupational force, fords the River Tweed at Coldstream in Scotland to cross the Anglo-Scottish ... also assigns it to Beaumont and Fletcher. The Epilogue to the play in the folios refers to a limited Fletcherian role in the play's authorship: "...if he but writ / An act, or two...." Yet the play itself indicat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Rowley
William Rowley (c. 1585 – February 1626) was an English Jacobean dramatist, best known for works written in collaboration with more successful writers. His date of birth is estimated to have been c. 1585; he was buried on 11 February 1626 in the graveyard of St James's, Clerkenwell in north London. (An unambiguous record of Rowley's death was discovered in 1928, but some authorities persist in listing his year of death as 1642.) Life and work Rowley was an actor-playwright who specialised in playing clown characters (that is, characters whose function is to provide low comedy). He must also have been a large man, since his forte lay specifically in fat-clown roles. He played the Fat Bishop in Thomas Middleton's '' A Game at Chess'', and Plumporridge in the same author's ''Inner Temple Masque''. He also wrote fat-clown parts for himself to play: Jaques in ''All's Lost by Lust'' (a role "personated by the Poet", the 1633 quarto states), and Bustopha in ''The Maid in the Mill' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mary Frith
Mary Frith (c. 1584 – 26 July 1659), alias Moll (or Mal) Cutpurse, was a notorious English pickpocket and fence of the London underworld. Meaning of nicknames Moll, apart from being a nickname for Mary, was a common name in the 16th through 17th centuries for a young woman, usually of disreputable character. The term "Cutpurse" refers to her reputation as a thief who would cut purses to steal the contents. The other name by which she was known, "The Roaring Girl" is derived from the early modern London trend of "roaring boys," or aggressive young men of lower social stations who defied codes of civility and aped the belligerent and courtly styles of the upper class. An eccentric life The facts of her life are extremely confusing, with many exaggerations and myths attached to her name. ''The Life of Mrs Mary Frith'', a sensationalised biography written in 1662, three years after her death, helped to perpetuate many of these myths. Mary Frith was born in the mid-1580 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Roaring Girl
''The Roaring Girl'' is a Jacobean stage play, a comedy written by Thomas Middleton and Thomas Dekker 1607–1610. The play was first published in quarto in 1611, printed by Nicholas Okes for the bookseller Thomas Archer. The title page of the first edition states that the play was performed at the Fortune Theatre by Prince Henry's Men, the troupe known in the previous reign as the Admiral's Men. The title page also attributes the authorship of the play to "T. Middleton and T. Dekkar", and contains an "Epistle to the Comic Play-Readers" signed by "Thomas Middleton". The Epistle is noteworthy for its indication that Middleton, atypically for dramatists of his era, composed his plays for readers as well as theatre audiences. ''The Roaring Girl'' is a fictionalized dramatization of the life of Mary Frith, known as "Moll Cutpurse", a woman who had gained a reputation as a '' virago'' in the early 17th century. (The term "roaring girl" was adapted from the slang term "roaring b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Revenge Tragedy
Revenge tragedy (sometimes referred to as revenge drama, revenge play, or tragedy of blood) is a theatrical genre, in which the principal theme is revenge and revenge's fatal consequences. Formally established by American educator Ashley H. Thorndike in his 1902 article "The Relations of ''Hamlet'' to Contemporary Revenge Plays," a revenge tragedy documents the progress of the protagonist's revenge plot and often leads to the demise of both the murderers and the avenger himself.Thorndike, A. H. "The Relations of Hamlet to Contemporary Revenge Plays." ''Modern Language Association''. 17.2 (1902): 125-220. Print. The genre first appeared in early modern Britain with the publication of Thomas Kyd's ''The Spanish Tragedy'' during the latter half of the 16th century. Earlier works, such as Jasper Heywood's translations of Seneca (1560s) and Thomas Norton and Thomas Sackville's play '' Gorbuduc'' (1561), are also considered revenge tragedies. Other well-known revenge tragedies in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
City Comedy
City comedy, also known as citizen comedy, is a genre of comedy in the English early modern theatre. Definition Emerging from Ben Jonson's late-Elizabethan comedies of humours (1598–1599), the conventions of city comedy developed rapidly in the first decade of the Jacobean era, as one playwright's innovations were soon adopted by others, such that by about 1605 the new genre was fully established. Its principal playwrights were Jonson himself, Thomas Middleton, and John Marston, though many others also contributed to its development, including Thomas Heywood, Thomas Dekker, John Day, and John Webster. Once the companies of boy players—the Children of Paul's and the Children of the Chapel—had resumed public performances from 1600 onwards, most of their plays were city comedies. The closest that William Shakespeare's plays come to the genre is the slightly earlier ''The Merry Wives of Windsor'' (c. 1597), which is his only play set entirely in England; it avoids the ca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pierce Penniless
''Pierce Penniless his Supplication to the Divell'' is a tall tale, or a prose satire, written by Thomas Nashe and published in London in 1592. It was among the most popular of the Elizabethan pamphlets. It was reprinted in 1593 and 1595,Harrison, G. B. ''Thomas Nashe, Pierce Penilesse, His Supplication to the Divell.'' Corwen Press. 1924 and in 1594 was translated into French. It is written from the point of view of Pierce, a man who has not met with good fortune, who now bitterly complains of the world's wickedness, and addresses his complaints to the devil. At times the identity of Pierce seems to conflate with Nashe's own. But Nashe also portrays Pierce as something of an arrogant and prodigal fool. The story is told in a style that is complex, witty, fulminating, extemporaneous, digressive, anecdotal, filled with wicked descriptions, and peppered with newly minted words and Latin phrases. The satire can be mocking and bitingly sharp, and at times Nashe’s style seems to re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomas Nashe
Thomas Nashe (also Nash; baptised 30 November 1567 – c. 1601) was an English Elizabethan playwright, poet, satirist and a significant pamphleteer. He is known for his novel '' The Unfortunate Traveller'', his pamphlets including '' Pierce Penniless'', and his numerous defences of the Church of England. Life Nashe was the son of the parson William Nashe and Janeth (née Witchingham). He was born and baptised in Lowestoft, on the coast of Suffolk, where his father, William Nashe, or Nayshe as it is recorded, was curate. Though his mother bore seven children, only two survived childhood: Israel (born in 1565) and Thomas.Nicholl, Charles. ''A Cup of News: The Life of Thomas Nashe''. Routledge & Kegan Paul. 1984. The family moved to West Harling, near Thetford, in 1573 after Nashe's father was awarded the living there at the church of All Saints. Around 1581 Thomas went up to St John's College, Cambridge, as a sizar, gaining his bachelor's degree in 1586. From references in hi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James I Of England
James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until his death in 1625. Although he long tried to get both countries to adopt a closer political union, the kingdoms of Scotland and England remained sovereign states, with their own parliaments, judiciaries, and laws, ruled by James in personal union. James was the son of Mary, Queen of Scots, and a great-great-grandson of Henry VII, King of England and Lord of Ireland, and thus a potential successor to all three thrones. He acceded to the Scottish throne at the age of thirteen months, after his mother was forced to abdicate in his favour. Although his mother was a Catholic, James was brought up as a Protestant. Four regents governed during his minority, which ended officially in 1578, though he did not gain full control of his governmen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
