''Elmerick, or Justice Triumphant'' is a 1740

tragedy A tragedy is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a tragic hero, main character or cast of characters. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy is to invoke an accompanying catharsi ...

by the British writer

George Lillo George Lillo (3 February 1691 – 4 September 1739) was an English playwright and tragedian. He was also a jeweller in London. He produced his first stage work, ''Silvia, or The Country Burial'', in 1730, and a year later his most famous play, ...

. It was performed posthumously following his death the year before.Bevis p.314 It portrays the

assassination of Gertrude of Merania Gertrude of Merania, the List of Hungarian royal consorts, queen consort of Kingdom of Hungary (1000–1301), Hungary as the first wife of King Andrew II of Hungary, Andrew II (r. 1205–1235), was assassinated by a group of Hungarian lords on 28 ...

, the consort of

Andrew II of Hungary Andrew II (, , , ; 117721 September 1235), also known as Andrew of Jerusalem, was King of Hungary and King of Croatia, Croatia between 1205 and 1235. He ruled the Principality of Halych from 1188 until 1189/1190, and again between 1208/1209 and ...

, and the play is part of the so-called

Bánk bán Bánk is a village and municipality in the comitat of Nógrád, Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the nor ...

tradition. The original

Drury Lane Drury Lane is a street on the boundary between the Covent Garden and Holborn areas of London, running between Aldwych and High Holborn. The northern part is in the borough of London Borough of Camden, Camden and the southern part in the City o ...

cast included William Mills as Andrew II,

William Milward William Milward (1702–1742) was a British stage actor. He began his career with John Rich's company at the Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre and also appeared at the Haymarket. From 1734 he became part of the company at Drury Lane where he remained ...

as Conrade,

James Quin James Quin (24 February 1693 – 21 January 1766) was an English actor of Irish descent. Life Quin was born in King Street, Covent Garden, London, an illegitimate son of James Quin, an Irish-born barrister, and his partner (whom he apparently ...

as Elmerick,

Richard Winstone Richard Winstone (1699–1787) was a British stage actor of the eighteenth century. In 1732 Winstone joined Henry Giffard's Goodman's Fields Theatre. After this he worked at several London theatres including Lincoln's Inn Fields, Haymarket Thea ...

as Belus and Thomas Wright as Bathori. The prologue was written by James Hammond.

References

Bibliography

* Baines, Paul & Ferarro, Julian & Rogers, Pat. ''The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Eighteenth-Century Writers and Writing, 1660-1789''. Wiley-Blackwell, 2011. * Bevis, Richard W. ''English Drama: Restoration and Eighteenth Century 1660-1789''. Routledge, 2014. 1740 plays West End plays Plays by George Lillo British tragedy plays Plays set in the 13th century Plays based on actual events Plays set in Hungary {{18thC-play-stub