Neo-Latin Drama and Theatre in Early Modern Europe 9789004253421, 9789004257467

Table of contents :
Neo-Latin Drama and Theatre in Early Modern Europe
Copyright
Contents
List of Illustrations
Preface
Map showing places of Neo-Latin dramatic activity
1. Introduction: Neo-Latin Drama: Contexts, Contents and Currents
2. Neo-Latin Theatre in Italy
3. Neo-Latin Humanist and Protestant Drama in Germany
4. Jesuit Theatre in Germany, Austria and Switzerland
5. Neo-Latin Drama in the Low Countries
6. Humanist Neo-Latin Drama in France
7. Jesuit Neo-Latin Tragedy in France
8. Neo-Latin Drama in Britain
9. Neo-Latin Drama in Spain, Portugal and Latin America
10. Central and Eastern European Countries
11. Latin Drama in the Nordic Countries
Works Cited
About the Authors
Index of Names
Index of Geographical Names
Index of Anonymous Plays
Index of Subjects

Citation preview

Neo-Latin Drama and Theatre in Early Modern Europe

Drama and Theatre in Early Modern Europe Editor-in-Chief

Jan Bloemendal Editorial Board

Cora Dietl (Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen) Jelle Koopman (University of Amsterdam) Peter G.F. Eversmann (University of Amsterdam)

VOLUME 3

The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/dtem

Neo-Latin Drama and Theatre in Early Modern Europe Edited by

Jan Bloemendal Howard B. Norland

LEIDEN • BOSTON 2013

Cover illustration: Edward Forsett, Pedantius (performed 1581 and published 1631), engraving Pedantius. Reproduced by permission of the Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

This publication has been typeset in the multilingual “Brill” typeface. With over 5,100 characters covering Latin, IPA, Greek, and Cyrillic, this typeface is especially suitable for use in the humanities. For more information, please see www.brill.com/brill-typeface. ISSN 2211-34IX ISBN 978-90-04-25342-1 (hardback) ISBN 978-90-04-25746-7 (e-book) Copyright 2013 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Global Oriental, Hotei Publishing, IDC Publishers and Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. This book is printed on acid-free paper.

CONTENTS List of Illustrations��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������vii Preface�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������xi Map showing places of Neo-Latin dramatic activity����������������������������������� xiii    1. Introduction: Neo-Latin Drama: Contexts, Contents and Currents�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������1 Jan Bloemendal and Howard B. Norland    2. Neo-Latin Theatre in Italy���������������������������������������������������������������������������� 25 Jean-Frédéric Chevalier    3. Neo-Latin Humanist and Protestant Drama in Germany�����������������103 Cora Dietl    4. Jesuit Theatre in Germany, Austria and Switzerland��������������������������185 Fidel Rädle    5. Neo-Latin Drama in the Low Countries�������������������������������������������������293 Jan Bloemendal    6. Humanist Neo-Latin Drama in France���������������������������������������������������365 Mathieu Ferrand    7. Jesuit Neo-Latin Tragedy in France���������������������������������������������������������415 Jean-Frédéric Chevalier    8. Neo-Latin Drama in Britain�����������������������������������������������������������������������471 Howard B. Norland    9. Neo-Latin Drama in Spain, Portugal and Latin America����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������545 Joaquín Pascual Barea 10. Central and Eastern European Countries����������������������������������������������633 Jan Bloemendal

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11. Latin Drama in the Nordic Countries�����������������������������������������������������657 Raija Sarasti-Wilenius Works Cited������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������687 About the Authors������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������759 Index of Names�����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������761 Index of Geographical Names���������������������������������������������������������������������������783 Index of Anonymous Plays���������������������������������������������������������������������������������787 Index of Subjects���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������789

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Jan Bloemendal and Howard B. Norland 1. Terentius cum quinque commentis (Paris, 1552), p. 204.���������������������������8 Cora Dietl 1. Jacob Locher: Haec in libello continentur: Poemation de Lazaro mendico. Carmen inaug. de D. Caes. Maximiliano. Epigrammata contra oblocutores Mai. Caes. Carmen de festo Conceptionis B. Mariae V. [Augsburg: Otmar][ca. 1513], A3v [by courtesy of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek Munich]������������������113 2. Johannes Reuchlin: Scaenica progymnasmata, hoc est Ludicra praeexercitamenta … Tübingen: Anshelm, 1511, 193r [by courtesy of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek Munich]������������������124 3. Konrad Celtis: Ludus Diane in modum comedie coram Maximiliano Rhomanorum Rege Kalendis Martijs [etc.] Ludis saturnalibus in arce Linsiana danubij actus … Nuremberg: Hölcel, 1501, a1r [by courtesy of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek Munich]����������������������������������������������������������������������������140 4. Sixt Birck: Judith Drama Comicotragicum. Cologne: Haeredes Gymnici, 1544, front page. [by courtesy of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek Munich]�������������������������������������������������������147 5. Thomas Naogeorg: Hieremias: tragoedia nova. Basle: [?], 1551, A2v: http://www.uni-mannheim.de/mateo/ camena/naogeorg3/jpg/s020.html [by courtesy of the University Library Mannheim]�������������������������������������������������������������������152 6. Nikodemus Frischlin: Hebraeis, continens duodecim libros. Strasbourg: Jobin, 1599, 1v: http://www.uni -mannheim.de/mateo/camena/frisc2/jpg/s002.html [by courtesy of the University Library Mannheim]������������������������������166 Fidel Rädle 1. Foundations of the Jesuit Order in 1540–1580 and 1581–1615. Repr. from: E.W. Zeeden, Propyläen Geschichte Europas, vol. 2, 1977, p. 375���������������������������������������������������������������188, 189

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2. Ignatius of Loyola (vera effigies): Jacopino del Conte (ca. 1515– 1598), Rome 1556. Repr. from “Rom in Bayern”, p. 309���������������192 3a. Title page of the Perioche for the performance of Thomas Becket by Georg Bernardt, Konstanz 1626, on the occasion of the investiture of the new Bishop Sixtus Werner. Repr. from Szarota, Das Jesuitendrama, III, 2, Nr. III, VII,1, p. 1375����������������221 3b. Thomas Becket, last page of the Perioche (cf. 3) with Scenes IV, V and VII, in which the king expiates the murder in the Cathedral�������������������������������������������������������������������������222 4. Religio Principum, Tutela Regnorum (‘The piety of the princes is the protection for their realms’): Copper engraving by Raphael Sadeler from Matthaeus Rader S.J., Bavaria Sancta, Vol. 1, Munich 1615, Plate 9. Repr. from Die Jesuiten in Bayern, Nr. 174, p. 193�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������224 5. Facade of St. Michael’s church (1597), Munich. Repr. from Rom in Bayern, Plate III, p. 115. In July 1597, on the occasion of the dedication of this church, the festival play Triumphus Divi Michaelis Archangeli Bavarici (‘Triumph of St. Michael, Archangel of Bavaria’) was staged�������������������������������������������������������227 6. Title page of the festival play for the dedication of St. Michael’s church (from the Ms. Clm 19757/2 of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek Munich) with a detail of the third scene of the fifth act, in which envoys from the new world, address the allegory of the Ecclesia, at first in Japanese: (cf. 5).����������������������������������������������������������������������228 7. Title page (with the list of dramatis personae) of the first surviving Fulda Jesuit drama (1575) on St. Elisabeth. The text is written by an inexperienced student’s hand������������������������235 Jan Bloemendal 1a-b. Cornelius Crocus, Comoedia sacra, cui titulus Ioseph (Antwerp: Ioannes Steelsius, 1536), University Library Jena Shelf number 8 Art.lib.IX,9(1) Title page; dramatis personae���������������������������������������������������������������������������299, 300 2. Philip Galle, Georgius Macropedius, 1572������������������������������������������301 3. Georgius Macropedius, Hecastus (Antwerp: Michael Hillen, 1539)������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������310 4. Comoediae ac tragoediae aliquot ex Novo et Vetere Testamento (Basel: Nicolaus Brylinger, 1540), title page�������������������������������������312



list of illustrationsix 5. Dramata sacra. Comoediae ac tragoediae aliquot e Veteri Testamento desumptae (Basle: Ioannes Oporinus, 1547). �313 6. Cornelius Crocus, Ioseph (Antwerp: Steelsius, 1536), copy annotated by a student, University Library, Jena. Invitatio��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������315 7. Cornelius Crocus, Ioseph (Antwerp: Steelsius, 1536), copy annotated by a student, University Library, Jena. Prologue����������316 Mathieu Ferrand 1. The Collège de Navarre in 1440, by F.A. Pernot (ca. 1850)�����������369 2. Illustration to Andria I, Guidonis Juvenalis natione Cenomani in Terentium familiarissima interpretatio cum figuris unicuique scaenae praepositis (Lyon: Jean Trechsel, 1493).������������������������������378 3. The Fight against the Snail. Compost et Kalendrier des bergers (Jean Belot, 1457)�����������������������������������������������������������������������382 4. La tragédie de Jephté, translated from the Latin by Claude de Vessel (Paris: Robert Estienne, 1566).�������������������������������������������395 5. The Mountain of Sainte-Geneviève and its colleges in the sixteenth century. (detail)����������������������������������������������������������������������403 Howard B. Norland

1–2. Two engravings from Pedantius by Edward Forsett (performed 1581 and published 1631)��������������������������������������484, 485 3. Title page of Ulysses redux by William Gager (performed 1591–92 and published 1592)��������������������������������������������������������������492 4. Title page of Roxana by William Alabaster (performed 1591–92 and published 1632)��������������������������������������������������������������494 5. Title page from Ignoramus by George Ruggle (performed 1614–15 and published 1630)��������������������������������������������������������������511 6. Engraving from Ignoramus (published 1630)�����������������������������������512 Joaquín Pascual Barea 1. Ludovicus Crucius, Tragicae comicaeque actiones, Lyon 1605�����581 2. Joannes Bonifacius, De sapiente fructuoso, Burgos 1589, f. 38r: Dialogue between Peniphilus and Gazophorus from Bonifacius’ comedy Margaritha.�������������������������������������������������585 3. Petrus Sugnerius, Terra: Dialogus in gratiam puerorum editus, Barcelona 1574, f. 59: Dialogue between Fortuna and Paupertas���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������594

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4. Francisco de Luque Fajardo: Relación de la fiesta que se hizo en Sevilla a la beatificación del glorioso San Ignacio…, Seville 1610, f. 8v��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������601 5. Joannes Maldonatus’ epitaph����������������������������������������������������������������������627 Jan Bloemendal 1. Map showing division of Hungary in 1526����������������������������������������������636 2. Map showing the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth�������������������������643 Raija Sarasti-Wilenius 1. Title page Cornelius Schonaeus, Comedia Dyscoli […] et nunc in usum scholarum trivialium magni Ducatus Finlandiae Seorsim edita (Aboe: Johannes Winter, 1670)����������������������������������������663 2–3–4–5. Prelims and Fabulae interlocutores of Johannes Micraelius Pomeris: tragico-comoedia nova de Pomeride a Lastlevio afflicta et ab Agathandro liberata (s.l.: s.n., 1631)��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 679–682

PREFACE The idea of this overview of Neo-Latin drama in Europe was born at the Thirteenth Congress of the International Association of Neo-Latin Studies at Budapest, in August 2006. Within only one hour of its birth, the idea was discussed with specialists on Latin drama from several countries, and a team of authors was formed. The idea further developed, the chapters were written, and the result is here. This volume is intended as an overview of Neo-Latin drama from its beginnings in the late fourteenth to the mid seventeenth century when this humanist genre slowly gave way to popular vernacular productions and the growing Jesuit theatre. Our study is designed for scholars in this field, as well as for others who are interested in European literary culture. An introduction to Neo-Latin drama, it is an historical account of the development of this unique tradition. The individual contributors had their own views and preferences, partly because of the material they had at their disposal, partly due to their own interests. We have endeavoured to harmonize their contributions whilst allowing individual differences in interpretation and emphasis. The rationale underlying the structure and grouping of the individual chapters is to follow the expansion of Neo-Latin drama chronologically and geographically across Europe. The volume begins with the Neo-Latin drama that first appears in Italy in conjunction with humanism. It then spreads northward to the German lands and to the Low Countries. Moving westward to France, Britain, and the Iberian peninsula, it extends to Central and Eastern Europe, and to the Nordic Countries. Finally it is exported to Latin America by Spanish missionaries. We must first of all thank our co-authors for their painstaking research and their cooperation in meeting the inevitable deadlines in writing, rewriting, revising, re-revising and correcting their manuscripts, and for their patience in seeing their work materialized in this book. We wish to extend our most cordial thanks to Philip Ford, who translated the chapters on France by Chevalier (on Jesuit Drama) and by Ferrand (on Humanist Neo-Latin Drama) from French into English. We are deeply saddened by his death and remember him with affectionate gratitude. We would also like to thank the Huygens Institute for the History of the Netherlands of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences for

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their support. It is a spin-off of the Vidi Project of Jan Bloemendal, ‘Latin and Vernacular Cultures: Theatre and Public Opinion in the Netherlands (ca. 1510–1625)’, funded by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO), and carried out at the Huygens Institute and the Institute of Culture and History of the University of Amsterdam. Thanks are also due to these organizations for supporting the project. A book like this cannot be made without careful copy-editing. We thank Rhoda Schnur and Pegasus Limited for their financial support in this endeavour, and Will Kelly of Minerva Professional Language Services Ltd. for carrying out this copy-editing. Finally, we would like to thank the staff of Brill Publishers for their cooperative support in publishing this book and the anonymous peer reviewers for their valuable suggestions. We dedicate this volume to our wives, Brenda Hosington and Els van der Wal, who have shared the lives of their husbands with Neo-Latin drama for longer than they expected. Jan Bloemendal and Howard B. Norland

30

40

50

0

0

Seville

Africa

Lisbon

0

Cordoba

Arhus

Palma

Barcelona

Saragossa

Auch Toulouse

10

Rome

Bologna

Venice

20

Turku

Tartu

Königsbergen

Budapest

Stockholm Linkoping

Uppsala

Copenhagen Odense

Bergen

Cambridge Haarlem London Utrecht 's-Hertogenbosch Oxford Dortmund Wittenberg Antwerp St. Omer Louvain Leipzig Jena Douai Amiens Prague Reims Heidelberg Rennes Metz Dillingen a.D. Strasbourg Ingolstadt Tübingen La Flèche Freiburg i.Br. Vienna Linz Augsburg Munich Lyon Bordeaux

Mediterranean Sea

Alcala de Henares

Valencia

Burgos Valladolid Salamanca Madrid Toledo

500 Miles

500 km

250

Atlantic Ocean

250

Moscow

Black Sea

40

map showing places of neo-latin dramatic activityxiii

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION NEO-LATIN DRAMA: CONTEXTS, CONTENTS AND CURRENTS Jan Bloemendal and Howard B. Norland Early Modern Europe—Historical Context When Petrarch (1304–1374), the ‘Father of Humanism’, became the first Poet Laureate since Antiquity in 1341, the Renaissance can be said to have begun.1 The times were turbulent. Europe had suffered from the Black Death (1340), which according to some estimates reduced its population by as much as half or at least killed a third of the people. In conjunction with this depopulation social unrest and warfare afflicted society. In the following years, France and England experienced peasant uprisings: the peasants’ rising called Jacquerie (1358) during the Hundred Years’ War, a series of wars in France from 1337 to 1453, and in England the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381. The unity of the Catholic Church was broken by the Western Schism (1378–1417), which was ended by the Council of Constance (1414– 1418). These events as a whole came to be called the Crisis of the Late Middle Ages. At the same time, the century experienced progress within the arts and sciences. The fall of Constantinople in 1453 when the city was conquered by the Ottomans contributed to a renewed interest in ancient Greek and Roman texts. Byzantine scholars fled to the West through the Empire’s western bulwark Venice, which entailed a renewed knowledge of Greek. At the same time, the fall cut off trading possibilities with the East. Europeans were forced to discover new trading routes. Columbus sailed to the Americas in 1492 and Vasco da Gama navigated around India and Africa in 1498. The world was rapidly changing towards a new world view, a new economy and a newly discarded Church. The conquest of the New World with its gold caused a rapid upheaval of the economy; the 1 For this introduction, we used among other works Wiesner-Hanks, Early Modern Europe, 1450–1789; Bloemendal, Spiegel van het dagelijks leven; Bot, Humanisme en onderwijs; Grund, Humanist Comedies and id., Humanist Tragedies; IJsewijn and Sacré, Companion to Neo-Latin Studies, vol. 2; Kindermann, Das Theaterpublikum der Renaissance; Parker, The Thirty Years’ War, and Worp, Drama en tooneel.

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sky seemed to be the limit, until inflation brought people back down to earth. Whereas Italy was one of the leading cultural countries, the Baltic Sea became one of the most important trade routes in the fourteenth century. The Hanseatic League, an alliance of trading cities, connected vast areas of Baltic countries to Europe’s economy. Powerful states in Eastern Europe could grow, such as Poland, Muscovy, Lithuania, Bohemia and Hungary. This age of crisis and change was a fertile soil for cultural and religious development. The Early Modern period, which spans the centuries from the discovery of the New World in 1492 to the French Revolution in 1789, is characterized by the rise of science and technological progress. One of the major inventions was that of printing with movable type in the 1450s, which made it possible to spread ideas in a kind of ‘mass production’, even though oral culture remained important. Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543), for instance, had his De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres) printed just before his death. Most of the plays we are discussing in this volume were also printed and published in (­relatively) large numbers. Capitalist economies developed, beginning in some northern Italian republics, but also in the southern part of the Low Countries and then in other regions. This entailed demand for more schooling and a flowering of the arts and literature that was later called the Renaissance, i.e. a rebirth of classical Antiquity. For Petrarch, this rebirth was so real that he wrote letters to men from Antiquity. For this reason, he is considered to be the first humanist. Humanism was a literary, scholarly and educational movement that aimed to spread knowledge in order to improve people morally and religiously on the basis of the classics. To this end, Latin and—although to a lesser extent—Greek texts were read and studied; Greco-Roman culture was admired as a Golden Age. Of course, the medieval monks had also read and studied ancient texts, but they focussed more on Christian views and the Kingdom of God, whereas the humanists studied these texts both for their own beauty and for their philosophical content, although these texts remained a means to internalize and deepen Christian faith. This change in scope is associated with the changing place of higher education that was dominated by the Church in the Middle Ages, whereas from the second half of the fifteenth century municipal authorities founded more secular schools. Nonetheless, these schools continued to be training centres for pastors. Jesuit colleges offered free education in Latin, theology, philosophy, history and other branches of knowledge.



introduction: neo-latin drama3

In education, the humanists strove to lead their pupils to read ancient texts as soon as possible. Therefore, they abandoned the medieval inductive didactics—starting with many rules of grammar, and eventually studying ancient texts—for a new, more deductive method, giving a few rules and then starting to read.2 The pupils read texts aloud. These texts comprised ancient works of literature such as the comedies of Terence, as well as colloquies written for this specific purpose: the teaching of Latin conversation. The most famous collection of these dialogues was written by the ‘arch-humanist’ Desiderius Erasmus (1466?–1536), but even the colloquies by the reformer Mathurin Cordier (1479/1480–1564) or those by Ravisius Textor (1493–1522), as well as the Linguae Latinae exercitatio by Juan-Luis Vives (1492/1493–1540), were used in the schools. The humanists, especially those at the Protestant gymnasia in Germany and the Latin schools in the Low Countries, considered the acting of dramas another effective way of mastering the Latin language. Another difference between the medieval scholars and the humanists is a shift in the use of Latin from a pragmatic one (if necessary, new words could be coined, even ‘unclassical’ ones, and syntactic means could be used as seemed fit), to a principled one, which should aim at writing ‘classical’ Latin morphologically and syntactically. One of the adages of humanism was the demand to go ad fontes, i.e. to read the original texts. The same climate of ad fontes was characteristic of the Protestant Reformation, and as such humanism is one of its roots. A popular saying of the time was ‘Erasmus laid the egg that Luther hatched.’ There had been other pre-reformative movements, such as the Devotio moderna in the Hanseatic area of the Low Countries and Northern Germany, the movement of Jan Hus (c. 1360–1415) in Bohemia and the reform of John Wycliffe (c. 1328–1384) in England, but the full Reformation started in 1517, when Martin Luther (1493–1546) nailed his 95 theses at the doors of the Chapel at Wittenberg. The Reformation dealt with dogmatic and ecclesiastical reforms—about the Eucharist and the role of the Church in the Christians’ salvation—but gained ground because of people’s dissatisfaction with corruption in the Catholic Church. It also gained followers among princes and kings who sought a stronger state by diminishing the influence of the Church. In England King Henry VIII challenged the Catholic hierarchy and established the Church of England. The religious divisions were the causes of many wars inspired 2 See for example Grendler, Schooling in Renaissance Italy; Bloemendal, Spiegel van het dagelijks leven.

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and driven by faith, but also by the ambition of western European rulers in states that became more centralized and powerful. The most destructive one was the Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648). It was fought primarily in what is now Germany, but what was then a conglomerate of small principalities brought together in a kind of theoretical frame that was called the Holy Roman Empire. Gradually the war developed into a more general conflict involving most of the European states. It led to further wars between the French Bourbons and the Habsburg powers. It started with a Bohemian Revolt (1618–1621), in France Huguenot rebellions were involved (1620– 1628), and both Denmark (1625–1629) and Sweden (1630–1635) intervened. For the Low Countries this was the last phase of a period of eighty years of rebellion and warfare against the Spanish Habsburgs. The Peace of Westphalia (1648), involving the Holy Roman Emperor, Ferdinand III, the Kingdoms of Spain, France, Sweden, the Dutch Republic, and the Princes of the Holy Roman Empire, marked the end of this period. The Protestant Reformations also prompted a strong reform movement within the Catholic Church, the so-called Counter-Reformation. The movement aimed to reduce corruption and to improve and strengthen Catholic dogmas and faith. It used education and literature, as well as the (baroque) visual arts. One of the most important groups in the Church involved in this movement was the Societas Jesu, the Society, or Company, of Jesus. The Jesuits were strongly engaged in education, especially in the Latin schools, thus influencing or even indoctrinating new Catholics.3 One of the means they took over from the Protestant gymnasia for this task was the staging of Latin plays, which in their hands became multimedia shows. By having martyr and saints’ plays staged, they tried to imbue their pupils’ minds with zeal for the Catholic faith and the spread of Catholicism. Thus they also wanted to create new missionaries, since the mission was also a part of their ‘core business.’ Furthermore, they had political influence. For instance, they helped keep Central and Eastern Europe within the Catholic fold, partly by way of their Neo-Latin plays with Catholic overtones. However, the countries of Central Europe, i.e. the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Hungary, were more tolerant. Although they sought to maintain the predominance of Catholicism under the influence of the Jesuits, they continued to allow religious minorities to maintain their faiths. But Central Europe too became divided, between Roman Catholics, 3 See the contributions to this volume by Rädle, Chevalier and Norland on German, French and English Jesuit theatre respectively.



introduction: neo-latin drama5

Protestants, Orthodox Catholics and Jews. These regions also experienced several wars, among which the Livonian War (1558–1583) between the Tsardom of Russia and a coalition of Denmark and Norway, Sweden, Lithuania and Poland. Parts of Central Europe were invaded by the Ottomans. The Ottoman Empire, which would last until 1929, was at the centre of interaction between the Eastern and the Western worlds for six centuries. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in particular it was highly influential. It reached its apogee during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent (reigned 1520–1566), who in 1529 even besieged Vienna. A dramatic moment in the struggle for power between Christendom under the command of Spain and the Ottoman Empire was the naval battle of Lepanto (1571) in the Gulf of Patras (Greece). This stopped the Ottoman expansion—at least temporarily. In Christendom itself, several religious wars occurred. Some countries remained relatively unaffected by these religious quarrels. Italy was one of them. Consisting as it did of many city-states, however, it came to be dominated by several foreign powers. It was the subject of the so-called Italian Wars or the Habsburg-Valois Wars (1494–1559), which became a struggle for power and territory between France, Spain, the Holy Roman Empire, England, Scotland and the Ottoman Empire. In the early modern period, parts of Italy were annexed to the Spanish empire. For Italy, this was a period of relative peace. This enabled it to remain an important centre of Western culture. In this changing world, Latin drama was written and read, rehearsed and performed, all over Europe. It was a ‘coat of many colours’, comprising tragedy, comedy, farce and tragicomedy, varying in length, outspokenly confessional, Protestant or Catholic, or demolishing the walls between the religions, taking its subjects from the Bible, the saints’ lives, fairy tales, ­history, daily life and school life, and finally offering moral, religious or intellectual lessons of various kinds, or just entertainment, or a defence of the humanist cause. The economic growth required for schooling also advanced the production of Latin and vernacular drama. This was advanced by a renewed interest in the classics and in late-medieval ecclesiastical plays and by a tradition of staging plays in the vernacular. The International Scope of Neo-Latin Drama The diversity in the history of Europe involved differences between humanists from the individual countries and between their Latin dramas.

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Yet there were also constants: the use of Latin at the schools facilitated a European context for education. For the Latin schools and the universities, comedies by Plautus and Terence, tragedies by Seneca, or translations of Greek tragedies were read and performed in many European countries. Furthermore, new comedies and tragedies were written and staged, which through the international language reached super-regional acclaim. The Ioseph (1535) by Cornelius Crocus was read in Poland, as was George Buchanan’s Jephthes, which was known all over Europe. Borders could be crossed, both between countries and between convictions. A Protestant martyr play by Daniel Heinsius (Auriacus, 1602) was imitated in a Catholic play by Jacobus Zevecotius (Maria Stuarta, 1623). A very successful play on the theme of the Prodigal Son by the Dutch humanist Guilielmus Gnapheus, Acolastus (1529), was read, studied and staged all over Europe. The international scope of this play is also demonstrated by the Paris edition of 1554 with commentary notes by Gabriel Prateolus Marcossius (or Dupréau, 1511–1588). Other international publications were the two collections of Latin plays from German lands and the Low Countries that were published in Basle in 1541 and 1547 and the collection of Jesuit plays Selectae P.P. Soc. Iesu tragoediae that was printed in Antwerp in 1634. A play by the Dutch headmaster Georgius Macropedius (1487–1558) was performed at Trinity College in Cambridge in 1565–1566 and another one in Munich in 1609.4 Jesuit plays also experienced international circulation. Father Joseph Simons (1594–1671) is one of the famous Jesuit dramatists whose plays enjoyed pan-European renown. His life had an international scope too: a native of England, he studied and taught at several English colleges on the Continent. This provides evidence that humanists and their texts travelled throughout Europe. This is known in the case of Erasmus, who travelled to Italy, Germany, Switzerland and England. Gnapheus fled from his native Netherlands to Poland, where a Dutch Protestant community lived and was tolerated. There he wrote and staged other plays. The Polish humanist Simon Simonides (1558–1629) visited Holland, where he would have seen or read Crocus’s Joseph play. International compilations of Latin plays were printed, such as the collections by Brylinger and Oporinus in Basel, and the Selectae PP. Soc. Iesu tragoediae which we just mentioned. These plays and collections fulfilled the need for texts in the schools—not every teacher or headmaster was talented at writing such plays. In conclusion, there were many factors that contributed to the international scope of 4 Giebels and Slits, Georgius Macropedius, pp. 229 and 260.



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Neo-Latin drama: the Latin language as a lingua franca, the travelling of merchants, priests and scholars throughout Europe, the demand for Latin plays to be staged as a part of the curriculum and the possibilities offered by the printing press. Classical Receptions of Neo-Latin Drama The international scope of Neo-Latin drama was enhanced by its classical orientation. Yet, as Philip Ford and Andrew Taylor rightly observe in their introduction to The Early Modern Cultures of Neo-Latin Drama, this orientation was ‘relatively complicated and at times problematic.’5 They explain this through the aims of drama, which are more complex than, for instance, those of poetry: ‘In drama, especially drama designed for performance, the relationship with the audience is far more direct and immediate, and the rich tradition of the medieval theatre, in both Latin and the vernacular, offered popular alternative models which influenced the themes and their treatment by neo-Latin authors.’ Thus the classical orientation of dramatists towards Roman comedy and tragedy in particular—the plays by Terence and Plautus, read through the lens of the fourth-century Roman critic and grammarian Donatus, and the tragedies of Seneca, read through a rhetorical looking glass—gradually grew. The early Neo-Latin dramas are often ‘hybrid forms, with no clear classical models.’6 The theoretical framework was also far from systematic, as Ford and Taylor also show. The playwrights drew on scattered and diverse sources, such as the introduction to drama by Donatus (or Evanthius) in his aforementioned commentary (which was printed in almost every edition of Terence, and to a lesser extent of Plautus), and the few remarks that Horace made in his Ars poetica; later on in the period they read Aristotle’s Poetics with its distinctions between ‘history’ and ‘poetry’ and ‘truth’ and ‘verisimilitude’, as well as its concept of the tragic hero, and adjusted them to their own ideas and interpretations.7 But the playwrights could and did easily apply ‘the formal structure and rules of classical drama: the five-act play, the use of choruses and the restriction to three speaking actors on stage at any one time’, for instance.8 5 For this part of the introduction, we are indebted to Ford's and Taylor’s ‘Intro­ duction’ to their The Early Modern Cultures of Neo-Latin Drama. The quotation is from p. 7. 6 Ibid. 7 Ibid., p. 8. Ford and Taylor speak in terms of imperfect understanding. We would rather speak in terms of ‘their own understanding’, and ‘adaptation.’ 8 Ibid. See for instance Horace, Ars poetica, 190–95.

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Fig. 1. Terentius cum quinque commentis (Paris, 1552), p. 204.



introduction: neo-latin drama9

They found these rules in the theoretical framework that the Ars poetica offered, as well as in the editions of Terence that they used in the classroom, so in the praxis of classical drama as they conceived it. The comedies of Plautus and Terence had no choral songs, in contrast to Senecan tragedies, but the humanists also introduced such choruses into comedy, under the influence of either Seneca’s plays or Horace’s advice. Greek tragedy and comedy were less known and therefore had a lesser reception, although the Latin translations of Greek plays by such figures as Erasmus and George Buchanan (1506–1582) circulated and were staged. Buchanan himself wrote classical dramas based on Greek models, especially the tragedies by Euripides, with episodes divided up by choruses. However, his example did not find many followers, since the clear five-act form of Seneca’s dramas was easier to follow and to adapt. Another famous example of a playwright drawing on Greek models is Hugo Grotius (1583– 1645). His growing insight into Greek tragedy is reflected in his dramas, as well as in his Excerpta ex tragoediis et comoediis Graecis (1626). However, his Greek orientation did not prevent him from writing tragedies in the Roman vein, with emphasis on a Stoic attitude towards emotions.9 The classical models allowed significant variation. For instance, Cornelius Schonaeus (1541–1611) tends towards a more serious treatment of biblical stories and more thorough moralization than, for instance, his Dutch predecessors Guilielmus Gnapheus (1493–1568) and Georgius Macropedius. Thus the Senecan and Terentian models are adapted to the increasingly sober religious concerns of the later sixteenth century.’10 Neo-Latin Drama—Latin and the Vernacular Although part of the international Latin Republic of Letters, Neo-Latin drama also has a local, regional or ‘national’ aspect (though nation states did not yet exist). These were related to local culture. In the Low Coun­ tries,  for instance, humanists who were part of the respublica literaria were also related to members of literary clubs called ‘Rederijkerskamers’ or Rhetoricians’ Chambers. Their language was Dutch. When in 1618 the Haarlem Chamber ‘Trou moet blijcken’ (‘Loyalty must be shown’) wished 9 See Eijffinger, ‘“The Unacknowledged Legislators of Mankind”’ and ‘“The Fourth Man”.’ 10 Ford and Taylor, ‘Introduction’, pp. 11–12; Verweij, ‘The Terentius Christianus at work.’

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to raise money for an old men’s home, the headmaster of the Latin School and author of several Neo-Latin biblical plays, contributed with a Latin play on charity. For the non-latinized audience, ‘interludes’ (poems in Dutch) were added, summarizing each act. The same technique was employed by the Jesuits in German lands, who added comic interludes in German. Another way of linking Latin and the vernaculars was the periochae, programme leaflets containing summaries of the play in the vernacular or in the vernacular and Latin, and with the names of the actors. The Jesuits especially employed this means of helping the audience to understand the plays. The ties between Latin and vernacular cultures were also tightened by mutual translations. The Dutch headmaster Georgius Macropedius reworked a Dutch morality play (written by a rhetorician) Elckerlijc into a Latin play Hecastus (1539). He translated parts of it, but added a prologue and choruses, to fit the theme into the genre of Neo-Latin comedy (or fabula). The same Elckerlijc was also translated into English as Everyman, and it had previously been imitated in Latin by Christianus Ischyrius in a play called Homulus (1536). Many dramas written in Germany, especially Protestant, but also Catholic ones, exist in German and in Latin. As Dietl states in her contribution: ‘The translation from Latin into German was often done by relatives and friends of the authors, as well as by other authors, while the reverse translation from an original German text into Latin is usually the author’s own work.’11 A special case is John Christopherson’s tragedy Jephthah, which was composed in Greek, and translated into Latin by the author.12 Several Latin dramas were translated into the vernacular languages. Plays by Macropedius were published in Dutch, French, German and Swedish.13 A Swedish translation of Stymmelius’s comedy Studentes was also published. Betuleius translated his German Judith and Suzanna into Latin, partly adjusting them to classical forms. Jacob Schöpper’s five Latin dramas were translated into German soon after they were published. A French translation by Jean Bienvenu of John Foxe’s Christus triumphans (1556) was published five years after the original. By means of these many translations into the vernacular different audiences could be reached in the same city or in other countries. 11 Dietl, ‘Germany’, p. 148. 12 Norland, ‘England’, p. 476. 13 Dietl, ‘Germany’, passim.



introduction: neo-latin drama11

The other way around, plays in the vernacular were translated or i­mitated in Latin. For instance, tragedies by French playwrights, such as Jean Racine (1639–1699) and Pierre Corneille (1606–1684), were known in Germany in Latin translations.14 In his Ludus podagrae (1534), for instance, Eobanus Hessus also translated a German play into Latin. Borders were crossed in another way too. The Jesuit author on poetics Andreas Friz (1711–1790) discusses the tragedies of Racine in his manuscript Epistola de tragoediis (c. 1741/1744),15 whereas the Dutch theoretician Gerardus Johannes Vossius also treats the vernacular tragedies of his friend Joost van den Vondel (1587–1679) in his Latin Poeticae institutiones (1647).16 Performances and Audiences Neo-Latin dramas were written to be read, but most of them were also meant to be staged.17 In this introduction, we will leave the ‘from page to stage’ and ‘from stage to page’ discussions, confining ourselves to stating that a performance added to the impact of a play by means of the spoken word as well as decor and props. However, the performance records of early Latin humanist dramas of the Quattrocento are scanty.18 In any case they circulated privately and widely. If they were staged—either in ‘full’ performance or in declamation, such performances often took place in the open air or in the halls of the nobility and in the palaces of the Pope and his cardinals. In ecclesiastical and political spheres there were opportunities for scenic display, which were also employed for ancient Latin plays by Plautus and Terence, once they were available in print after the 1470s, and for new humanists’ plays. For instance, at the wedding of Alfonso I d’Este and Anna Maria Sforza at Ferrara in 1491 Plautus’ Amphitruo was staged—it presented Jupiter and twin sons, one of whom was Hercules. As was the case in several instances, the play was adapted to the situation, concluding with a prediction of the birth of a new Hercules: Duke Ercole II. But Latin plays were also staged in pedagogic and scholarly spheres, such as the Roman Academy under the leadership of Giulio Pomponio Leto (1425–1498), the German colleges, and the great halls of 14 Information given by Nienke Tjoelker. 15 See Tjoelker, Andreas Friz’s Letter on Tragedies. 16 See the modern ed. by Bloemendal. 17 See also Bloemendal and Ford, ‘Introduction’. 18 On performances of Latin dramas in Italy, see Grund, Humanist Comedies, pp. xii–xv.

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the colleges of Oxford and Cambridge.19 In matters of performances, there was much interaction between signorial courts, the academies and the papacy: academies were utilized in the entertainment of royal guests and prelates. In Northern humanism, the situation differed slightly. There, Latin drama was more connected to the schools and the universities. The masters and headmasters wrote plays that were not intended purely to be read; they also had their students perform them.20 In municipal archives there are many entries that offer evidence of this. For example, because the players were offered refreshments, a grant was given for staging, or because the rector, hypodidascali and pupils received some money for their efforts or for the costs in staging the plays. Remarks in dedicatory letters also provide information. Schonaeus noted in the dedication added to his Nehemias that the administration of Haarlem had been so content with his Tobaeus that they wanted the play to be performed on the marketplace.21 We know that performances were put on in cities by the Latin schools. Students even went on to other cities to act. For instance, the students of the St Jerome’s school in Utrecht went to Gouda with their rector Macropedius in 1552. There are indications that the performances were real productions, and not mere declamations.22 In order to perform a play, it had to be rehearsed. This happened mostly during school time. A play could also be discussed in the lessons without explicitly aiming at a performance. In this way we can understand a remark by Schonaeus that the City Council stimulated him to consider his Tobaeus in the classroom: ‘in gymnasio nostro pueris enarrari’, where enarrari implies interpretation.23 19 This was no harmless venture; because of Leto’s fanatical dedication to things Roman, Pope Paul II disbanded the Academy and had Leto and his followers imprisoned and tortured. The academy was re-established in 1471 by Pope Sixtus IV. See Grund, Humanist Comedies, p. xiv. 20 For this section, see for instance Bloemendal, Spiegel van het dagelijks leven, pp. 68–74; Kindermann, Theaterpublikum der Renaissance. Professional theatre, at least in the Netherlands, was of a later date. However, there were English professional players active in the Netherlands, see Hoenselaars, ‘Engelse toneelspelers’ and Bordewijk, ‘Strolling players.’ 21 See Van de Venne, Cornelius Schonaeus, 1 Leven en werk, p. 113. One could also consider phrases in prologues, used again and again, on what the spectators are going to see. 22 For instance, a distinction is made between pupils who are ‘more active’ and should play, and those who are ‘more passive’ and would be better off listening. This is an indication of an actual performance. 23 See Van de Venne, Cornelius Schonaeus, 1 Leven en werk, p. 113.



introduction: neo-latin drama13

Since only boys attended the Latin schools, all roles—including the female ones—were played by males. It was the students of the highest classes who studied and performed the plays. They had sufficient knowledge of Latin grammar and rhetoric; in addition, they could meet the requirements of voice and movement. In some cases, there were not enough players and an appeal was made to pupils in the lower classes to take the smaller roles or participate in the chorus. The number of pupils required could vary. For farces usually eight to twenty players were required, while for biblical plays the number could be as many as twenty-five. When a piece was rehearsed, it was often not yet printed, but circulated in manuscript form. A rector could copy the manuscript, or even read for the pupils the verses that belonged to the part they played.24 Often performances were accompanied by (vocal and instrumental) music. Many plays included choruses that were sung, which was a humanists’ addition to ancient comedy. Macropedius even made melodies for the choral songs of his plays himself. Certainly these choruses were sung.25 Theatrical music was also made in other ways. For instance, in 1540 the Haarlem rector Cornelius Claesz received two pounds from the City Council to cover the costs of setting up a stage and an organist’s fee.26 Instrumental music could be a means of filling silences. In biblical plays choruses or characters could sing a kind of psalms, hymns or other religious songs.27 Plays were performed before an audience, which could vary. At the ­performance of Plautus’ Aulularia in Louvain by students under the guidance of Martinus Dorpius, professors and students came flocking in. The  performance was, moreover, so successful that it was repeated for years to come ‘in the most famous towns’ even though it was also criticized by ‘jealous people and grumblers.’28 In Elbing, whence he had fled, Gnapheus saw a successful performance of his Acolastus before pupils, parents, the city council and the clergy in 1531. The play made its way

24 Ibid., p. 112. 25 On the reasons why the humanists may have re-introduced the chorus, see p. 7. On the chorus songs of Macropedius, see Grijp, ‘Macropedius and Music’; a modern ed. of Macropedius’ choral odes can be found in Macropedius, Verzameld toneel: Koren en liederen, ed. Dekker. 26 See Kindermann, Das Theaterpublikum der Renaissance, 2, pp. 73–74; Von Liliencron, ‘Die Chorgesänge’, pp. 346–48. 27 Schmidt, Die Bühnenverhältnisse, p. 175. 28 See Kindermann, Das Theaterpublikum der Renaissance, 2, p. 67.

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throughout Europe with countless performances in Latin and translations into German, French and English, thereby increasing its audience.29 In Middelburg in September 1595, the members of the States of Zeeland were at a performance of three pieces. A smaller audience will have attended the performance for which the Alkmaar preacher Adolphus Venator opened his house.30 A select public saw the production by Leiden students of Seneca’s Trojan Women in 1617: English and Swedish envoys were present.31 Often the number of spectators was not particularly limited, because of the performance locations, which included markets.32 In the Jesuit gymnasia and colleges in Germany, the audience could extend to thousands of people. It was predominantly an urban audience who attended the productions.33 It is likely that the onlookers demonstrated a certain snobbery in showing off their mastery of Latin. Not only did spectators attend performances in their own city, as is rather obvious in the case of performances at kermises as well as those put on in collaboration with rhetoricians (as sometimes happened in the Low Countries); in the case of several performances, parents of students who came from out of town may also have been present. A lottery play by Schonaeus (1606) will have been intended for a large audience; poems in Dutch were added to the play for the spectators who did not speak Latin.34 When no explanation in the vernacular was available, such spectators would still have been able to follow the play through the costumes and the intonation and by virtue of the fact that the student-actors in many pieces played true-to-life characters: themselves, their parents and neighbours.35 In other ways as well the audience was met with prologues, epilogues and short tables of contents presented in the vernacular. Sometimes translations of the plays 29 For instance, it served as a model for one of the most famous comedies of German humanistic theatre, Christophorus Stymmelius’s Studentes (1545). 30 He was disciplined by the classis and synod for this performance of Terentius’ Andria. See Wille, ‘De Gereformeerden en het tooneel’, p. 108; Schotel, Tilburgsche avondstonden, pp. 307–08. 31 Worp, Drama en tooneel, 1, p. 201. 32 In this respect this theatre resembled rhetoricians’ drama, which was also performed at celebrations either in private meetings or in public performances. The audience of Jesuit plays could extend to thousands of people. 33 Cf. Ramakers, Spelen en figuren, pp. 12–18: ‘Toneel als stadsliteratuur’. 34 The same is true of Crocus’ Ioseph, where in the Antwerp print from 1548 a guardian’s  song in English has been inserted. See Sterck, ‘Onder Amsterdamse humanisten’, p. 291. 35 Kindermann, Das Theaterpublikum der Renaissance, 2, pp. 69–70 (about the success of Acolastus). The audience had a more visual mindset, as witnessed by the processions and tableaux vivants. See also Ramakers, Spelen en figuren.



introduction: neo-latin drama15

were sold, or a piece was first played in Latin and then in the vernacular.36 One option was very common in Jesuit theatre: leaflets were sold with the title and a synopsis of the play in Latin and the vernacular, the periochae.37 There were also literati without knowledge of Latin who attended performances. For instance, the prolific Dutch tragic poet Joost van den Vondel (1587–1679), who initially could not read Latin, wrote in 1657 of his young years: ‘I also remember that I saw a stage built in Utrecht, before the town hall, by order of the burghomasters, for the use of the pupils of the Latin school.’38 In 1657 he published a ‘Tooneelkrans’ for the Amster­ dam  burgomaster’s son Nikolaes Vlooswyk, who had played the title role in Philedonius (1657), written by Spinoza’s teacher Francis van den Enden (1602–1674).39 Vondel may have attended a performance of his friend’s son. The location could vary. The performance could take place in the school itself. Often the Town Hall was the place of performance, or it was played before the Town Hall. Some of the audience were probably sitting on wooden benches, most will have been standing. Farces were about an hour long, other plays took about two hours. It cannot always have been easy for the players to have been heard above the noise that sometimes arose. Although it is a topos, it is not unlikely that when time and again silence is requested in prologues, this correlates with a request required in reality. As far as we know, admission was free, although the pupils could have asked for money. This was not necessary, however. The fact that entries are found in municipal records for rector and students to cover the costs of a performance points to free entrance. Because there were no fixed stages, the theatre stage was very simple. It may have resembled the ‘scaffold’ on which rhetoricians presented their plays or may even have been the same scaffold, for instance in 1529.40 Actors played on a stage with no scenery except doors and some props, 36 Fleurkens, ‘Meer dan vrije expressie’, p. 81. 37 An edition of such periochae has been compiled by Elida Szarota. 38 Vondel, Salmoneus, ‘Berecht’, in WB, 5, p. 712: ‘My heught oock that ick t’Uitrecht voor het Stadthuis, door last der Heeren Burgemeesteren, ten dienst der Latijnsche schoolieren, een tooneel gebouwt zagh [..]..’ This concerned a play containing David and Goliath; perhaps it was Macropedius’s Adamus, which featured these two biblical characters, or a piece from the rector of the school in Alost, Gabriel Jansen (Monomachia Davidis cum Goliath). See also Van de Graft, ‘Vondel bij het spel van David en Goliath te Utrecht’. 39 Vondel, ‘Tooneelkrans’, WB, 8, pp. 570–71. 40 Koster, Van schavot tot schouwburg, pp. 21–22; on the staging of rhetoricians drama, see also Hummelen, ‘De eerste bundel met rederijkersspelen’ and id., ‘Typen van toneelinrichting bij de rederijkers’.

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such as seats or shrubs.41 The rest of the mise en scène was undoubtedly fairly primitive too: the different places of the action were probably only indicated by a sign with the name of the town or by spoken words, especially in the early phase of the Latin school stage.42 Often the stage consisted of a ‘scena’ resembling a house, and a proscenium: a ‘flat floor.’ This staging must have been problematic: it was the model for the ancient theatre, and its design must have been not entirely apt to the staging of biblical plays which, for example, presented the nomadic Patriarchs. Such difficulties were overcome by ‘spoken stage settings’: with words, anything could be suggested.43 The costumes were most likely more contemporary than historically justified. All in all, the humanists’ stage likely resembled that of the vernacular stage. At first, the repertoire consisted mainly of plays by Plautus and, above all, Terence. In addition to comedies, tragedies ascribed to the Roman playwright Seneca were regularly programmed. The popularity of these plays by Terence and Seneca is witnessed by the fact that editions of them became schoolbooks. The Jesuit Martinus Delrio, a well-known Seneca scholar and editor from Antwerp, wrote to Justus Lipsius that Moretus could safely publish Seneca’s plays because they were read every year in the Jesuit colleges and consequently would become bestsellers.44 Occasionally plays by the Greek comedian Aristophanes and the three Greek tragic poets, Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, were staged as well. Sometimes the plays were staged in Greek—for example, Euripides’ Hecuba in 1526 put on by Haarlem pupils under the guidance of rector Jacob Meyster.45 Greek theatre, however, was usually performed in a Latin translation, such as Erasmus’s translations of Hecuba and Iphigenia at Aulis.46 Soon the humanists added other plays. Of course, some rectors wrote their own pieces, but they did not choose their own works alone. Not every 41 As, for example in Frischlins Hildegardis magna., see Schmidt, Die Bühnenverhältnisse, pp. 164–65. 42 Koster, Van schavot tot schouwburg, p. 41; Schmidt, Die Bühnenverhältnisse, pp. 135–57. 43 This is the view of Schmidt, Die Bühnenverhältnisse, e.g., p. 149, but is refuted by Giovanoli, Form und Funktion, p. 80. 44 Letter from Liège, 28.06.1593 (ILE 93 06 28): ‘Editionem [sc. Senecae] … confido … illi [Moreto] futuram frustuosam …’iacturae … timori mederi debebat, quod tragoediae illae quotannis ferme in Societate nostra ubique praelegendae, et sic emptores non defuturi.’ Quoted after IJsewijn and Sacré, Companion to Neo-Latin Studies, 2, p. 142. 45 Bot, Humanisme en onderwijs, p. 131. 46 Modern ed. in ASD I, 1.



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rector was kissed by the Muses, so they were ready to pick up pieces from a standard repertoire. Some pieces were very popular, such as Gnapheus’s Acolastus, which saw many performances all over Europe, as did the plays by Macropedius, especially his Hecastus, and Stymmelius’s Studentes.47 There were two reasons for this writing of new plays: the ancient plays were too immoral for the humanists, or the repertoire was too small.48 It is not always clear which piece was played. Often we find in accounts the indication that a ‘Latin play’ or even just a ‘play’ or ‘comedies’ were performed, so that it even remains enigmatic as to whether the pupils of the Latin school did a piece in Latin or in the vernacular.49 Most public performances took place in the afternoon, usually on a number of occasions. For example, in the case of religious celebra­ tions   such as the feast of St Magdalena in Utrecht, the Sint-Jansmis or ‘ommegancx-dag’ (24 or 25 June, named after the feast of St John the Baptist on 24 June) in Haarlem and Corpus Christi in Oudenaarde.50 This time of year presented several benefits: many people were present for the kermis and the risk was small that bad weather at an open-air show would be a hindrance. The situation was different at Shrove Tuesday (Carnival) in February, another time at which plays were regularly performed. There were performances on the occasion of St Martin’s day (11 November), annual fairs, Christmas and New Year. The number of times at which there were performances is not always clear. The frequency seems to have been a couple of times a year—more performances may have been too much of a burden on the schoolmasters. Pupils in Haarlem presented a play in the spring and in the autumn of 1578.51 It is also apparent from a comment by Macropedius in the prologue of his Bassarus that a production was enacted more than once a year.52 47 See below, pp. 203, 309 and 155–56. Although a playwright himself, Schonaeus brought, in the autumn of 1578, Gnapheus’s Acolastus, see Van de Venne, Cornelius Schonaeus, 1 Leven en werk, p. 65. 48 The first reason is the communis opinio, the second is advocated by Michiel Verweij in his ed. of Vladeraccus’s Tobias, pp. 17–18. 49 Although the combination of facts and astute reasoning can have their results, see for example Van de Venne, Cornelius Schonaeus, 1 Leven en werk, pp. 112–13. 50 The rhetoricians chamber also played on this day. See Van de Venne, Cornelius Schonaeus, 1 Leven en werk, p. 113 n. 88, and references listed there. On the situation in Oudenaarde, see Ramakers, Spelen en figuren, in particular p. 23. 51 Van de Venne, Cornelius Schonaeus, 1 Leven en werk, p. 165. 52 Macropedius, Bassarus 4–5: ‘It is now 12 months since the last time that we, in our habit, produced a play which was so expected.’ This is followed by an explanation for the long period of time, suggesting that a higher frequency was common. See Engelberts in Macropedius, Bassarus, p. 69; see also ibid., n. 4.

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More often in the context of education itself pupils played during school time, or on a free afternoon.53 The German teacher Jakob Sturm (1489– 1553) even argued the case for a play each week.54 At Oxford and Cambridge too a fixed number of Latin and Greek plays were mandated. Usually there was a prologue, spoken by one of the young actors, just like the periocha, a brief summary in verse. The other roles were divided among the pupils, with major roles sometimes being performed by more than one student. The pieces almost always ended up with an epilogue in which the lessons to be learnt from the play were explicitly explained. This role was assigned to a single actor. Following in the footsteps of Plautus and Terence, the Neo-Latin authors typically requested applause at the end of the play. Performances of Latin plays not only received acclaim. Occasionally, there was some criticism. The Dordrecht teacher Walricus Lithodomus or Steenhuyse was angry about colleagues who, in order to get many pupils: … suos in Comoediis agendis exercitent, et quidem non intellectis: eiusmodi tamen gestibus, ut etiam doctos spectatores fallunt, ut qui ipsos actores quae agunt intelligere putent, cum vix nomen aliquod aut verbum inflectere norint. Alliciunt tamen ipsi fraudulenti magistelli has arte ne dicam impostura, miseros et illiteratos homines, quorum oculos ita effascinant, ut nullam vituperationem apud eos subire possint: nam quicquid dicunt, Sibyllae habetur folium.55 (… had their children perform comedies again and again, whereas they do not understand anything of them. The actors, however, look and gesture in such a way that even learned visitors come under the delusion that they do understand what they play, even though they can’t inflect a substantive or conjugate a verb. Yet these treacherous little schoolmasters know how to allure poor illiterate persons with their tricks—or even lies. They do allure their pupils’ eyes to such an extent, that they do not want to hear an evil word about the master, for what he says, is considered to be a page from the Sybilline oracles.)

Neo-Latin Drama: Contexts and Contents Neo-Latin drama evolved in disturbing times. Not only was war a frequent disruption, but it was also an age of intellectual turmoil. Religious 53 Fleurkens, ‘Meer dan vrije expressie’, p. 77. 54 Bot, Humanisme en onderwijs, p. 130. 55 Walricus Lithodomus, Progymnasmatum Latinae linguae pars altera (Dordrecht, 1558), fol. Aiiiijv, a preface to Bonifacius Pistorius, rector, and Cornelius Fabius, teacher in Rotterdam. Quoted after Giebels and Slits, Georgius Macropedius, p. 107.



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watersheds between Protestants and Roman-Catholics caused a division between Protestant and Roman-Catholic drama, too, but some of the plays, such as Levinus Brechtus’ Euripus (1549) built bridges over this troubled water between the confessions. This was facilitated by the international scope of Neo-Latin drama. Plays were printed and performed in regions other than the cities in which they were first written and performed, and collections of plays from several countries were bound together. Moreover, popular Latin plays were translated into other languages. On the other hand, however, vernacular plays such as the tragedies of Corneille and Racine were translated into Latin. These phenomena built bridges between Latin and vernacular languages. Latin drama also spread in other ways. It was meant to be read in the classroom, but also to be performed at school, on the market square or in the town hall. Plays by the Roman playwrights Plautus and Terence were staged as well as Latin translations of Greek plays. Soon the schoolmasters and university men began to write dramas themselves, which were performed and printed, either to replace the ancient plays, or to expand the repertoire. The plays were staged before an audience of schoolmasters, fellow pupils, parents and other persons. If they had insufficient mastery of Latin, they were helped by summaries in the vernacular, either spoken or given in print as periochae, and by the props and acting. For Protestant reformers, the purpose of drama was to teach reading the Bible, as well as writing, and for Roman Catholic teachers it was to produce preachers and missionaries; and for both groups it was to instil religious values and Christian doctrine, even though they had different views thereon. The subjects of the plays could vary, and included school life and (late) medieval stories, as well as biblical stories and saints’ lives, and events from early or modern history. The plays could vary from farces and comedies and tragicomedies to tragedies. Thus the genre allowed a large variety of themes and forms. The contributions in this present volume give evidence of this variety, with regard to geographical entities too. However, they also give evidence of a kind of continuum in time and place. Latin plays were written and staged all over Europe, from the fifteenth to the seventeenth century and even beyond. Most of them were meant for the Latin schools or the universities. This practice of writing and staging Latin plays was an exercise in speaking (and writing) Latin, a way of instilling moral lessons and religious notions in both the pupil-actors and the audience, as well as in entertainment, offering a pleasant escape in troubled times.

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Neo-Latin Drama in Early Modern Europe—General Assessment Now the chapters of this volume have been brought together, we can draw some lines. As we can see, Neo-Latin drama was a truly European phenomenon. First sighted in Renaissance Italy in the early fourteenth cen­ tury, the rejuvenation of classical Roman genres—and their adaptation!— flourished in the fifteenth century as humanist poets imitated Plautus and Terence’s comedies and Seneca became the model for tragedy. This pattern of imitation as a means of instructing pupils at schools and university students in the learning of Latin and rhetorical principles as well as providing them practice in elocution appears to have become the standard mode of instruction in the schools in Italy, and as the new learning spread it appears to have been generally adopted throughout Europe. As a result, Neo-Latin drama was written and performed in schools, colleges and universities in virtually every major region on the Continent, including France, Germany, the Low Countries, Great Britain, the Iberian peninsula, Eastern and Central Europe (including Poland), and the Nordic countries. It even was extended to the New World, as Pascual Barea shows us, where the tradition continued in the Spanish colonies in the Americas. This expansion and development of Neo-Latin drama in early modern Europe is something that we can call the ‘common ground’ of all dramatic activity discussed in this volume. However, as will be demonstrated in the following chapters, the underlying design of Latin as the language of instruction was interpreted in a variety of ways. Not only could language and style vary—from ‘truly Terentian’ to ‘seriously Senecan’, sometimes according the demands of the genres, in some cases mixing them up—but also general form and structure. For instance, Jacobus Cornelius Lummenaeus a Marca, a Benedictine playwright from the Low Countries, developed Senecan tragedy into a model in which the choral odes were ‘overarching’ the drama, whereas other tragedies did not have any choral odes at all.56 These deviations or adaptations of classical models were applied under the guidance of stylistic or ideological insights, but it was vernacular traditions as well that offered other patterns of development in themes, structure, characterization, style and spectacle. All this implies that dramas created drew upon the local cultural context with the learned tradition incorporating a multiplicity of complex 56 On this see Janning, Der Chor im neulateinischen Drama.



introduction: neo-latin drama21

combinations. ‘Local’ should be interpreted here as belonging to a town or city, a region, or a country. Regional cultures, then, were important factors in determining the forms and subjects of the dramas written and performed. Johannes Reuchlin’s Henno treats a folk story about cheats and lies, whereas Georgius Macropedius’s Aluta, for instance, has as its subject a Dutch medieval story. Of course some of the plays were written on the occasion of the opening of a school or a school year, or upon the royal entry of a king, such as Jan-Baptist Gramaye’s Andromeda Belgica dicta, written for the entry of the royal couple Albrecht and Isabella in Louvain. Jacob Kerckmeister created a series of dialogues, entitled Philippica, recited in the Heidelberg Castle. The six prose dialogues between a teacher and a student all end in a panegyric praising Prince Philip, who attended this recital, as the ideal humanist prince. Geographically—or historically—determined is also the fact that on the Continent most dramas were written for the gymnasia and Latin schools whereas extant British drama was mainly connected to the universities at Oxford and Cambridge. Related to regional cultures, the history of countries was a factor in conceiving dramas. Daniel Heinsius, for instance, wrote a tragedy on the assassination of William of Orange by Balthasar Geeraerdts and had it performed, to create a kind of ‘national’ drama about the ‘Father of his Country’, whereas the Roman Catholic author Panagius Salius took the same event as the subject for his tragedy to show the Prince’s wickedness. This was, of course, not always the case: Marcus Antonius Muretus’s Julius Caesar is more likely to be a drama that has to be interpreted as a means to introduce young boys to the classical tradition and the Latin language in general and to the figure of Julius Caesar in particular, rather than as a vehicle for moral lessons. However, if moral issues were depicted, they could vary; differing values could be instilled in the students’ minds, varying from courage to modesty, from stoic calm to zealous faith. Those moral issues could be displayed, could be exemplified like positive and negative patterns of conduct, as well as also spoken in sententiae by actors or in choral songs. The differences were related to the choice of subjects, the intellectual, moral and religious backgrounds of the authors, and the intended audiences: pupils or university students and their respective parents, or teachers and professors at those institutions. The latter category brings us to another determinant factor in the conception of Neo-Latin drama: the author, or rather his ideological or educational origins. At first, comedies and tragedies were written by

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humanists, who mainly—but certainly not exclusively!—focused on educational drama that often took for its subject school life and education itself, as evidenced by Jakob Wimpfeling’s Stylpho, Johann Kerckmeister’s Codrus and Georgius Macropedius’s Rebelles. Time is also an important factor. In the 1430s people were obsessed with punishment and reward after death and the question of man’s consolation in the hour of his passing. This is the theme of Macropedius’s Hecastus, Jakob Bidermann’s Cenodoxus and Naogeorg’s Mercator, to name but a few examples from different traditions. There were also regional differences. In the Nordic Countries, hardly any Neo-Latin drama existed, whereas in Hungary, educational drama (in Latin and the vernacular) was the only type of theatre that was allowed. Through this circumstance it had a far more important status than in other countries, where school drama existed in the context of other types of more or less professional theatre. In Italy, ecclesiastical authorities such as Archbishop Carlo Boromeo (1538–1584) tried to ban drama, even saints’ plays, while Spain saw the production of religious farces.57 In the Low Countries Neo-Latin drama developed alongside vernacular drama, and both were in some instances linked to each other, partly due to the development of the Reformation. Within these considerations, Jesuit drama takes pride of place. After the foundation of the Societas Jesu in 1540, the Order adopted Latin drama as an educational means from the humanist Latin schools and gymnasia. One could even say that they re-invented it and turned it into a multimedia spectacle fully intent on influencing the actors’ and the audience’s minds. In the Societas the authors as a rule had to remain anonymous, although many of them did not keep that general rule of the Order. The rules for dramas were rather strict, but even that situation allowed for individual differences, as Rädle clearly demonstrates in his chapter. Let us return from Jesuit Latin drama to Latin drama on a more general level. The individual plays may be designed to instruct their audience or to entertain them, though if it manages to do both, following Horace’s famous dictum ‘omne tulit punctum, qui miscuit utile dulci’ (he who mixes what is useful with what it pleasing wins all favour, Ars poetica 343), it may be regarded as most successful. Neo-Latin drama was essentially oriented towards the youth, since they were the principal actors and their masters (teachers) the authors and

57 See Shore, ‘Counter-Reformation Drama’, pp. 355–56.



introduction: neo-latin drama23

directors, and schoolboys made up the greatest share of the audience. The ‘message’ or ‘messages’ of a play may therefore have been directed towards them, though in fact a large percentage of the plays that survive appear to have been intended for a more general community. Oddly, in fact, the community, even the religious elements among them, probably could not follow the Latin, which led the producers to prepare summaries of the dialogue in the vernacular or offer songs or comic action in their mother tongue. Women probably made up a minor part of the audience for many productions, though they were barred by directive from attending (Jesuit) theatre, where women’s roles were forbidden even when performed by boys. The latter characterization is true for (almost) all Neo-Latin drama, which is by and large a man’s affair. However, humanist drama did indeed contain female roles—that were staged by boys. One important remark has to be made. Roughly this survey ends in 1650. This does not mean that this is the end of Neo-Latin drama in Europe. Jesuit drama, for instance, continued for a long time, and it remained of major interest, evolving into a kind of drama that incorporated the ideas of the Enlightenment. For Italy, we could mention Giuseppe Car­pani (1683–1762), for Germany Anton Claus, Franz Lang (1654–1725), Johann Baptist Adolph (1657–1708), Andreas Friz (1711–1790) and Ignatius Weitenauer (1709–1783), to name a few.58 Valentin in his Répertoire of Jesuit theatre in the German countries even lists more dramas for the eighteenth century than for the seventeenth. It was not possible to discuss this later drama here because the required research still has to be completed. Stefan Tilg and his research group in Innsbruck are working on this project, and in a volume of Supplementa Humanistica Lovaniensia that appeared on the occasion of the second millennium of the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest or the Varian disaster, three Neo-Latin dramas on Arminius (from 1678, 1701 and 1758) are discussed.59 We also leave aside Latin operas such as Oedipus Rex (1927) written by Igor Stravinsky (1882– 1971) and Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) that can be considered as a late remnant of Neo-Latin drama. Moreover, not only the Jesuits, also members of other orders, in particular the Augustinians (OSA) and the Benedictines (OSB) were active in the field. 58 See also the contribution by Rädle, p. 191. 59 Beck, Ad fines imperii Romani. The dramas were written by Johannes Ludovicus Prasch (Arminius, 1678), Johann Baptist Adolph (1657–1708) (Arminius Germaniae defensor, 1701) and Ignatius Weitenauer (Arminii corona, 1758), treated by Paula Marongiu, Fidel Rädle and Jan-Wilhelm Beck.

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The contributions in this volume make clear that dramas within the period under consideration have much in common and many individual traits that differ according to the various countries and each author as well. This is certainly not the final word on Neo-Latin drama, but it may provide Neo-Latinists and other interested scholars with some insight into that multifarious genre, and it may (we hope) stimulate further research in the field. Many things are already happening. We will confine ourselves to mentioning the Münster project on ‘Theatrical and Social Communication: Functions of Urban and Courtly Theatre in the Late Middle Ages and Early Modern Times’, which is part of the Sonderforschungsbereich ‘Symbolic Communication and Systems of Social Values’, conducted by Christel Meier-Staubach,60 and the project ‘Latin and Vernacular Cultures: Theatre and Public Opinion in the Low Countries, 1510–1625’ conducted by Jan Bloemendal. Nonetheless, as the annual bibliographical data in  Human­istica Lovaniensia testify, as well as the work done in Cambridge by Ford and Taylor, there is more work to do. Consider in this regard research on individual authors and plays; on the functions of plays; on the social stratification of the players and the audience; on the relationships or nonrelationships between Latin and the vernacular; on the possible functions of drama in the self-fashioning of teachers, players and audiences; on the role of dramas in the career-building of their authors, to name but a few. May this volume contribute to these future studies.

60 See http://www.uni-muenster.de/SFB496/projekte/b3-abstract-d.html and http:// www.uni-muenster.de/SFB496/.

CHAPTER TWO

NEO-LATIN THEATRE IN ITALY Jean-Frédéric Chevalier Renaissance of Latin Tragedy: Poetry, Politics and Spirituality The Renaissance of Latin Tragedy in Italy in the Trecento and Quattrocento Latin tragedy, which saw its renaissance in Italy in the early trecento, is not a theatrical show requiring acting.1 It is rather a text that, by means of an appeal to history or mythology, offers a world view that is both frightening and rich in education. In the early fourteenth century, Albertino Mussato, like the Jesuit Father Louis Cellot in the seventeenth for example, condemns the performance by professional actors. That is not surprising: the gestures of the body had risked vulgarizing the tragic gravitas. The first Fathers of the Church, Tertullian and Cyprian, had strongly opposed theatrical shows as places of all excesses.2 How could tragedy, if staged, escape this condemnation? The criticism formulated by Saint Augustine, which extended a Platonist argument, went to the heart of the debate: theatre is mere fiction and therefore an illusion. Yet it was within the framework of the monasteries that drama reappeared: from the first plays to the mysteries, the representation of the life of Christ or of scenes from the Old Testament manifested their worth in preaching by word and image.3 In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries Jesuit poets were well aware of this. However, leaving the monastery and the strictly religious domain involved risks of transferring fiction to reality and giving the impression that the joy of staging was more important than the truth to be delivered. Thomas Aquinas, located in a tradition that distinguished several types of plays—some more illicit and others more legitimate—did 1 I would like to thank Jan Bloemendal for translating this chapter. 2 See Chambers, The Medieval Stage; De Bartholomaeis, Le Origini della poesia drammatica italiana; De Reyff, L’Église et le Théâtre, pp. 15–27; Allegri, Teatro e spettacolo nel Medioevo; Doglio, Teatro in Europa, 1, pp. 21–46; Faral, Les jongleurs en France au Moyen Age; Muratori, ‘De Spectaculis et ludis pubblicis, sive Dissertationes…, XXIX.’ 3 See Doglio, Teatro in Europa, 1, pp. 108–366.

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not condemn each ‘play’, but only the indecent ones.4 ‘Plays’ were per­ mitted if they respected decency, relaxed the minds and built consciences, for example, by reciting epic texts celebrating great men, kings or saints.5 We will return to the fact that the first Latin tragedy, Mussato’s Ecerinis (1315) was the subject of a recitatio or public reading. Although the tragedies that followed, until the second half of the quattrocento, were never designed to be represented, they were nevertheless conceived as spectacular works. The Rediscovery of the Tragedies by Seneca Thanks to the Etruscus Manuscript The theatre of Lucius Annaeus Seneca (c. 1 bc–65 ad) was hardly known during the Middle Ages. Knowledge of his plays was gained mainly through anthologies that do not systematically show differences between texts in prose and poetry. The excerpts were chosen for their moral value, such as collections of maxims.6 Birger Munk Olsen studied the occurrence of tragedies in the form of extracts within Senecan anthologies. Quotations from these tragedies by Vincent de Beauvais in his Speculum historiale, are also particularly significant; they certainly made the Senecan text known, albeit not appreciated for its theatricality.7 However, a manuscript tradition, called A, circulated, which contained texts of Seneca or works attributed to him (such as Octavia). At the end of the thirteenth century the Etruscus manuscript (today Laurentianus, Plut., XXXVII, 13) was discovered in the monastery of Pomposa.8 This manuscript, which included the same plays (except for Octavia) though with other titles, had captured the attention of those who are called the first Paduan humanists. They began to write commentaries explaining the plot and annotations analysing the several tragic metres. Albertino Mussato (1261–1329), in Padua, was one of the first to compose an Evidentia on the life of Seneca and on the metres employed, as well as Argumenta on each of the plays. His interest was undoubtedly roused by Lovato de’ Lovati (1240/41–1309). This 4 Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, IIa, IIae, quaestio 168, articulus 3. 5 For the reception of acting by the first humanists and the clergy, see Doglio, Teatro in Europa, 1, pp. 120–37 (‘Dal mimus al joculator, evoluzione dell’interprete e dello spettacolo’) and De Reyff, L’Église et le Théâtre, pp. 27–34. 6 See Munk Olsen, ‘Les florilèges’, pp. 163–83; Pastore Stocchi, ‘Seneca poeta Tragicus’, pp. 11–36; Monti, ‘Il raconto medievale della morte di Seneca’, pp. 71-99. 7 Vincent de Beauvais, Speculum historiale, IX, 113–114. 8 See Billanovich, ‘Appunti per la diffusione di Seneca tragico e di Catullo’, pp. 56–65; id., Il preumanesimo padovano, pp. 19–110; id., Il Seneca tragico di Pomposa e i primi umanisti padovani, pp. 149–169; Monti, ‘Il corpus senecano dei Padovani: manoscritti e loro datazione’, pp. 51–99.



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enthusiasm for Senecan drama in the fourteenth century did not abate. The commentaries multiplied, even though the efforts to write a tragedy remained limited. Unlike the epic, which only uses the dactylic hexameter, iambic trimeters and lyrical metres required an impressive virtuosity. In addition, tragedy was not conceived as a spectacle, but as a work of scholarship with a didactic, or even political and theological purpose. At the end of the trecento, the long narrative of the katabasis of Hercules by Theseus in the Hercules furens enabled Coluccio Salutati to develop a long Neoplatonist commentary on each element of the ancient view on the supernatural world. The First Commentaries on Plays by Seneca From the end of antiquity onwards, numerous ancient authors were Christianized, with people believing that these authors had converted to Christianity, which saved them from oblivion. For example, from the fourth century, the age of St Jerome, correspondence circulated—which we now know to be apocryphal—between Seneca and St Paul, in which we see Seneca express his interest in the new religion. This ‘Christianiza­ tion’ of Seneca permitted his entire work to be read from a moral perspective. Moreover, even when this view of Seneca’s life was questioned, the points of convergence between Christianity and Senecan Stoicism continued to be highlighted. The commentary of Martin Antonio del Rio (1551–1608) at the end of the sixteenth century bears witness to this phenomenon. Accordingly, people were entitled to comb Seneca’s tragedies for a message in line with Christian thought. Nicolas Trevet (or Triveth, c. 1257–c. 1334), a Dominican, made the most comprehensive commentary as early as the beginning of the fourteenth century.9 While the first commentaries primarily explained the plot of each play, they also shed light on the specific features of iambic trimeter and lyric metres. In fact, tragic poets composed iambic trimeters and not iambic senarians. Iambic trimeters necessarily made up of pure paired feet of iambs (with the possibility of a tribrach in the second and fourth feet), while the iambic senarians employed by the comic poets Plautus and Terence admitted other sub­ stitutions of paired feet. 9 See Franceschini, Il commento di Nicola Trevet al Tieste di Seneca; Trevet’s commentaries on Seneca’s tragedies have been edited: on Agamemnon by Meloni; on Hercules furens by Ussani; on Hercules Oetaeus by Meloni; on Troades by Palma; on Medea by Roberti; on Phaedra by Chiabò; on Phaedra by Fossati; on Phoenissae by Mascoli; on Oedipus by Lagioia; for Octavia, see Junge, Nicholas Trevet und die Octavia Praetexta; for a history of the philological reception of Seneca’s tragedies, see Marchitelli, ‘Nicholas Trevet und die Renaissance der Seneca-Tragödien’, pp. 37–63 and 87–104, and Grund, Humanist Tragedies, pp. xvi–xviii.

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The wealth of lyric metres sprang from reading the tragedies by Seneca, the Odes of Horace and the Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius, as well as from Christian poets such as Prudentius (especially the Cathemerinon and the Peristephanon). Among the lyric metres most widely employed were the anapaestic dimeter, the lesser Asclepiads, the Sapphic hendecasyllable and the Glyconaeus. Contrary to the great hymn poetry, the choruses of the first Latin tragedies of Italian humanism are rarely made up of stanzas. For example, the amount of verses before the Adonic verse recurs is generally irregular, as in the Senecan tragedies. Gregorio Correr thus prefaced his tragedy Progne by an Argumentum explaining each metre used. The necessity of including this argumentum implied that not all scholars of the first half of the fifteenth century were familiar with these metres. The First Humanist Tragedy: Albertino Mussato’s Ecerinis (1315) The term poeta theologus generally refers to Dante Alighieri (1264–1321). One of the founding fathers of Italian poetry, he is given this title because his work is inseparable from contemporary politics and theology. By the supernatural journey that takes him from Hell to Paradise, Dante presents himself as a theologian who knows the secrets of Christian afterlife, as well as the pagan view, for instance that of Virgil. St Paul, in 2 Corinthians 12, 4, had unconsciously opened the door in the Christian world to all stories of travelling beyond the grave. The exceptional reception of the Visio Pauli bears witness to this.10 However, in the Commedia divina of Dante, gods and deities of paganism should be understood in an allegorical reading as supernatural forces of which Christianity presents the interpretative keys.11 In his afterlife journey, Dante has written a theological epic, like Virgil in the Aeneid, in particular proceeding from allegorical readings of Virgil’s work. At the end of the fourteenth century, the commentary (De laboribus Herculis12) that the Chancellor of Florence Coluccio Salutati (1331–1406) devoted to the descent of Hercules into the underworld from Seneca’s Hercules furens was a culmination of a Neoplatonic allegorical reading, strongly inspired by Macrobius. Therefore, Dante deserves the appellation of poeta theologus in a double sense: he reveals 10 See Carozzi, Le voyage de l’âme dans l’au-delà d’après la littérature latine. 11 Jean Seznec’s La Survivance des dieux antiques is also a landmark. 12 See Salutati, De laboribus Herculis, ed. Ullman.



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the Christian supernatural world and at the same time it allows Christian theology to re-appropriate, at least partly, ancient paganism. To Ernst Robert Curtius we owe essential remarks on the reception of the title poeta theologus.13 He shows how from the beginning of the trecento Albertino Mussato (1261–1329) continues this tradition in claiming the title vates. This is not simply one poet among others; he is the poet destined to speak the truth in the name of God. When Mussato was crowned for his Latin tragedy, Ecerinis, and at the same time for his historical work, his play was solemnly read on Christmas Day 1315.14 This was a bold decision, which brought the Paduan poet many problems, both political and religious. Thus in one of his sermons the Dominican Fra Giovannino of Mantua deplored this pretension of poets to have knowledge of the sacred. The monks risked being deprived of one of their prerogatives. Basing himself on the entire medieval tradition of condemnation of the pagan poetic image (Albertus Magnus or Thomas Aquinas, for example) Fra Giovannino carefully distinguishes the scriptural metaphor, the only one that could express the truth, from all other metaphors, which merely serve fiction and, accordingly, pleasure.15 Mussato had chosen to put on the stage the barbarism of Ezzelino da Romano, the thirteenth-century Lord of Verona. This choice of tragedy stemmed from the rediscovery of the Etruscus manuscript. Mussato develops the idea that the term ‘tragic’ means both the heinous atrocities of the tyrants and the narrative of exploits of kings and princes. The social position of the characters portrayed does not establish a difference between tragedy and epic. On the contrary, ‘tragic’ means everything that makes for a dark, pathetic and cruel plot. More precisely, the principal difference between epic and tragedy stems from the metre being used: tragedy employs iambic trimeters and lyric metres, while epic is written in dactylic hexameters. This represents a discontinuity with medieval tradition, illustrated by Dante who made Virgil say that his Aeneid is a lofty 13 Curtius, Europäische Literatur und lateinisches Mittelalter, pp. 221–34. For the presentation of the play of Mussato and its contextualization with regard to political, religious and cultural history, we refer to the remarks and bibliography in our critical edition. Since then, see esp. Gualdo Rosa, ‘Préhumanisme et humanisme en Italie’, pp. 87–120 and Beyer, Das politische Drama im Italien des 14. und 15. Jahrhunderts, pp. 55–104 (study) and pp. 609– 40 (bibliography). We also refer to the work announced by Solveig Kristina Malatrait (Fu una bellissima festa) on tragedy and comedy in Italy in the Middle Ages, forthcoming. 14 Eds. by Osio, Graevius, Padrin, and Chevalier. See also Grund, Humanist Tragedies, pp. xx–xxiv and 1–47 and Lummus, The City of Poetry. 15 See Mussato’s Epistles I, IV, VII and XVIII.

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tragedy.16 The last difference is the mode of expression: a tragedy consists only of dialogues, monologues, speeches, songs, while an epic is essentially a narrative (which, however, may involve direct speech). In short, a tragedy is essentially more a vocal expression, a mournful melody in iambic or lyric rhythm, than a show. Indeed, avoiding the risk of any assimilation to secular drama, Latin tragedy was not staged. We know that the Ecerinis was read in public on Christmas Day for three consecutive years in Padua, but it was a recitation. The model is not that of ancient theatre, but that of the reading of the poems of Statius in antiquity. The voice allows the audience to imagine the scene. In this public reading tragedy resembles preaching. The images therefore have to be striking. With their emphasis on macabre horror, the dramas of Seneca were the ideal model. Thus tragedy becomes a sacred poem, just as the Commedia of Dante. In its title, Ecerinis (‘Ecerinid’, like Aeneis—Aeneid) is given some epic qualities. However, it is not a theological epic, but represents an incredible and supernatural violence, opposing good and evil forces. This political and theological confrontation appears from the opening scene onwards, where Adeleita, the mother of Ezzelino and his brother Alberico, reveals to her two children that they are the sons of the devil. To ‘reveal’ here implies saying of someone that he is the son of the devil, excluding doubt and bringing conviction. Besides, the status of the character—the mother—is a guarantee of truth, and the circumstances that are added (the description of a monster in imitation of the sea monster that caused the death of Hippolytus in Seneca’s Phaedra, spatial and temporal precision, noise and flames) correspond to the medieval representation of the devil. Moreover, it is a resumption of a topos in medieval political thought, which identifies a tyrant as a son of the devil (in John of Salisbury’s Policraticus, for example). Because it is a revelation of the intrusion of evil in human life, tragedy is theological revelation. The death of the tyrant Ezzelino da Romano is also achieved as a result of a ‘crusade’ led by the Church. The tragedy ends with both a song of thanksgiving and a warning. The audience should retain a lesson. The play is obviously polemical because it is aimed, through the denunciation of a bloodthirsty tyrant of the thirteenth century, at the new Lord of Verona, Can Grande della Scala. This protector of Dante never stopped striving for Padua. The play was not read in public there after 1318, i.e. from 16 Inferno, 20, ll. 112–13. See Pastore Stocchi, ‘Dante, Mussato e la tragedia’, pp. 251–62.



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the year that the Carrara family, who were in power, pursued a more conciliatory policy towards the ruler of Verona, and even opened its gates to Can Grande. Mussato ended his life in exile in Chioggia, after he had twice been banned from his city. Poetry, politics and theology were inseparable. The tour de force of Mussato consisted in adapting the themes and formal framework of Senecan tragedy to a contemporary political context. He certainly had the model of Octavia at hand, a tragedy that was missing in the Etruscus manuscript but was attributed to Seneca as a political tragedy, but Mussato managed to highlight from the mythological tragedies of Seneca their darker dimension, to be able to mix theology and politics. While the Civil War of Lucan offered the model for a funeral epic, Senecan tragedy allowed a renewal of a fourteenth-century literary style, and tragedy as a link to a theological vision of the history of the world. The theatre is the scene where opposing supernatural forces meet through fictive or real characters. Pastore Stocchi has also convincingly shown how Ecerinis was linked to historical narratives, especially the thirteenth-century Chronicle of the March of Treviso and Lombardy (or Annals of St Justin of Padua). Mussato has taken over everything that related Ezzelino’s prison with infernal Sheol. The cries of supplication of the choruses echo the cries of the desperate people described in the chronicle. And as Pastore Stocchi showed, the risk of the return of tyranny in Padua at the beginning of the fourteenth century gave the impression of a curse hanging over Padua.17 Therefore, we have to situate the final song of thanksgiving and the admonition about the barbarism of a tyrant not in the context of liberation but of salvation. The play is not about escaping a tyrant, but about thanking God that He prevented Padua from being a cursed city. In this respect, as has more frequently been noted, the play is less of a tragedy.18 At the same time, Dante calls a poem that goes from hell to paradise a comedy. In their martyr tragedies the Jesuit poets in their turn were able to prevent the victim from dying condemned: divine Providence always restored a world order that was temporarily disrupted by the monstrosity of a tyrant. It is an enduring debate: can we speak of a Christian tragedy? Christ’s death at the Cross is transcended by the Resurrection. Tragedy, no longer 17 See Pastore Stocchi, o.c., pp. 251–56; Beyer, Das politische Drama im Italien des 14. und 15. Jahrhunderts, pp. 55–104, has shown exactly all the echos between the Annales and this tragedy. 18 See Pastore Stocchi, o.c., pp. 255–56.

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in its ancient sense but in a Christian context, is the staging of human fear of being abandoned by God or delivered to doubt. It is the experience of a test. One understands, therefore, why it took decades to find another example of tragedies written in Latin. We find two more or less fruitful attempts before the end of the trecento: a dialogue in prose about the fall of Cesena by Ludovico da Fabriano (1377)19 and a tragic chorus composed by Manzini della Motta (1387–1388).20 These two texts are situated in the legacy of Ecerinis and of tragedy conceived as deploring tyranny and denouncing atrocities and massacres. Achilles as a Tragic Hero in Antonio Loschi’s Achilles (c. 1390) Mussato’s tragedy reconciled an ideological frame and a theological interpretation of history. The tragedians at the end of the fourteenth century and the beginning of the fifteenth avoided such an ambition. They rather rewrote the history of the Trojan War or ancient myths in a poetic way. Born in Vicenza, the humanist Antonio Loschi (c. 1368–1441), for example, wrote a complete new Senecan tragedy on Achilles (Achilles, c. 1390).21 A priori this could seem to be an enterprise of pure poetic fiction, but through the life of a hero such as Achilles the ‘forces’ that reflect a specific vision of the universe shone through. It is impossible to draw conclusions from the establishment of a plot in a completely pagan context applying to a Christian reader of the late trecento. Yet the perspective on antiquity is revealing: the Greek heroes are playthings of supernatural forces. Several critics have stressed the omnipotence of fate in Achilles.22 This weight of fate was found in tragedies such as Seneca’s Oedipus. Achilles is divided into five acts, each act consisting of a dialogue scene and a chorus. In the first act, Paris agrees to trick Achilles into an ambush by using his sister Polyxena, while in the second act Achilles himself is introduced, musing that Cupid is a stronger god than Jove, since he has brought an end to the war. Act III shows Hecuba who relates Achilles’s assassination to Priam, who orders a celebration. In Acts IV and V we see Greek reactions to the ambush. Finally fate supplants the pagan gods. Apollo and Neptune, who have built the walls of Troy, are impotent to prevent the fall of their city. Such is 19 See Beyer, Das politische Drama im Italien des 14. und 15. Jahrhunderts, pp. 153–66. 20 See Beyer, o.c., pp. 166–73. 21 Eds. by Osio, Graevius, Da Schio, Berrigan, Zaccaria, Chevalier, Trois tragédies, pp. 1–97. See also Grund, Humanist Tragedies, pp. xxiv–xxvii and 48–109. 22 Vittorio Zaccaria, Ettore Paratore, Guido Paduano, Attilio Grisafi, Hartmut Beyer and Gary R. Grund.



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the cry, inspired by the analogous scene of Seneca’s Trojan Women, uttered by Hecuba in the opening scene of that play. But the gods who favour the Greeks are also impotent to prevent the treacherous killing of Achilles. The tragedy plays on this continuous comparison between the two camps, Trojan and Greek. Each act focuses on one of the sides culminating in a final song from a chorus consisting of either Greeks or Trojans. But ultimately the plot gives the impression that there is no winner or loser, as Agamemnon laments at the beginning of the fifth act: ‘But today, an equal fate befalls each of the two peoples by a double death.’23 The play ends with the oracle of Calchas: Pyrrhus, the son of Achilles, should be brought to Troy, since he is the only one able to achieve the fall of the city. Thus there is no final decision, since the Trojans and the Greeks have lost their most eminent noblemen, Hector and Troilus on the one side, Achilles on the other. This tragedy of revenge and hatred reveals that the emotions determine the course of the plot.24 Nothing can stop the hatred of an old woman, Hecuba. Hate suffices to bring about the death of the bravest of the Greek heroes. A woman faces a warrior, another uneven duel, but as in the Bible where David prevails over Goliath, the ostensibly weaker party in fact proves the strongest. Yet the champion chosen by Hecuba to gratify her hatred, Paris, is far from a representation of the virtue of bravery that would be expected of him. The assassin acts treacherously through a romanesque stratagem. Based on the story of Dares the Phrygian (History of the Destruction of Troy, Ch. 34), and on a medieval tradition (for example, the Romance of Troy, especially in the Italian version by Binduccio dello Scelto), Loschi resumes the story according to which the Trojans have proposed to Achilles to marry Polyxena and thus to betray the Greeks. Contrary to a poetic aestheticism immortalized by Dante or Petrarch, love is not a celebration of woman, or a spiritualization of desire. The numerous editions of Seneca’s Phaedra present an image of love as a blind and destructive force. While the first lines of the play evoke the fatal marriage of Paris and Helen, they are also the promise of a marriage that will lead to the death of Achilles. Paris, though hesitant, is finally resolved to kill Achilles, but it will be less the son of Hecuba and Priam than the fire of love which will destroy the son of Peleus. The expression tantus ardor not only designates the hatred of Hecuba but also qualifies, by tragic irony, 23 Loschi, Achilles, ll. 782–83: ‘Sors equa sed nunc, cede geminata, capit / Vtrumque populum.’ 24 See Chevalier, Trois tragédies, pp. 3–55.

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the passion Achilles feels for Polyxena. He is both the victim of Hecuba’s resentment and the latest prey of Cupid. Here the impact of Ovid throughout the Middle Ages should be stressed, which is also evident in the play. Here we discern the influence of Giovanni Boccaccio’s Elegia di Madonna Fiammetta on this tragic plot. Boccaccio in his turn had been influenced by Ovid and Seneca. Aristotle stated that the protagonist of a tragedy should be neither entirely bad, nor entirely good.25 Yet Loschi never shows any acquaintance with the Poetics, whereas Mussato was familiar with the Poetics, perhaps through an anthology. The representation of Achilles in the play is certainly that of the eminent warrior of the tradition, but also that of a hero who is ready to satisfy his personal ambition of grandeur, the beauty of Polyxena and the risk of excess, to the detriment of the interests of all Greeks. While he dies bravely and unjustly, he is not without fault. Loschi knew that, in his Art of Poetry (ll. 119–22), Horace had recommended that Achilles be portrayed as energetic (impiger), irascible (iracundus), inflexible (inexorabilis) and violent (acer), refusing to comply with laws and resuming arms. Loschi’s tragedy also shows that even the greatest men are not free of the passion of pride (hubris). It is a fatality which befalls them. As Mussato had said, no greatness is lasting. This topos of the wheel of Fortune is renewed by Loschi, since the lifetime of the characters in his play seems to be determined by the stars, i.e. by fate as described by Seneca several times. The tragedy, therefore, is not only a play of rewriting an ancient model, but also emphasizes a certain vision of humanity through a destiny it renews. The humanists could not be satisfied with definitions transmitted by antiquity. If one follows the definition of Boethius in the Consolation of Philosophy: ‘What does the cry of tragedies deplore if not the reversal of prosperous reigns beaten by a blind blow?’26 He retains the pathetic tone of tragedy and the idea that no grandeur is destined to endure. This definition, which qualifies the heroes as victims of a blind power, emphasized the pathetic situation without taking into account the suffering subject. The first tragedies of the trecento and quattrocento focus on a reverse of situation. It is no longer the gods who play with men; tragedy is a fatal 25 Aristotle, Poetics 1453a. 26 Boethius, Consolation of Philosophy II, pr. 2: ‘quid aliud tragediarum clamor deflet, nisi fortunam indiscreto ictu felicia regna uertentem?’ See also Kelly, Ideas and Forms of Tragedy from Aristotle to the Middle Ages, pp. 186–87.



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mechanism set up by men to destroy others and finally themselves. Achilles, like Tereus in Gregorio Correr’s Progne (1427/8) and Hiempsal in Leonardo Dati’s Hiensal (1441), has no suspicion, even when some indefinable misfortune urges.27 The second definition that gained authority stemmed from the Etymologies of Isidore of Seville (c. 560–636): ‘Tragic actors are those who sang the history and the crimes of villainous kings before the eyes of the public.’28 This definition no longer responded to what is specific to NeoLatin tragedy. The two definitions, Boethius’s and St Isidore’s, describe tragedy as a pathetic representation of the downfall of royal power. Finally, tragedy is more the confrontation of man (or woman) with a rival whom he envies, or eventually with himself. The mise en scène of this myth of Achilles does not stipulate the existence of pagan gods arbitrarily determining the course of human life; it illustrates the destructive power of two sinful passions: hatred and lust. Thus while the context of the play can never be directly linked to Christian thought (contrary to the model of the Ecerinis of Albertino Mussato), there is, however, a perspective of moral theology. The myth is used to illustrate in another way, and with a cathartic effect, the danger of intense emotions. Pagan antiquity and Christianity join in the denunciation of brutal violence, perpetrated by man against man. It is significant that the innocent victim to be sacrificed to the shade of Achilles at the end of the Trojan War (e.g. in the Trojan Women of Seneca), ubiquitous in the words of Hecuba or Paris, never appears on stage throughout the plot. By her beauty she is the tragic incentive; she is so by the promise that led to the fatal ambush laid for Achilles. Yet one never sees her, never hears her. The Latin tragedy is still conceived as a confrontation between two beings. Like epic, it is staging a war between emotions. It was only until the spread of Greek tragedy, especially thanks to Erasmus and Buchanan, and (for example) the development of the first Jesuit plays, that the place given to the victim changed the perspective of tragedy. 27 See for instance Newman and Grafton, Secrets of Nature. Burckhardt, Die Cultur der Renaissance in Italien, ch. ‘Verflechtung von Antiken und neuerem Aberglauben’; Curtius, Europäische Literatur und lateinisches Mittelalter, ch. 6 ‘Göttin Natura’, pp. 116–37 (= European Literature and the Latin Middle Ages, ch. 6 ‘The Goddess Natura’, pp. 106–27); and Garin, Medioevo e Rinascimento, have shown how much astrology was at the very heart of civilization, however Christian it may be, of the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period. 28 Isidorus, Etymologiae XVIII, 45: ‘Tragoedi sunt qui antiqua gesta atque facinora sce­ leratorum regum, luctuoso carmine, spectante populo concinebant.’

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Myth and Barbarism: Gregorio Correr’s Progne (1427/28) We find a similar impotence of the pagan gods to stop human monstrosity in the third Latin tragedy of Italian Humanism: the Progne (1427/8) of Gregorio Correr (1409–1464). The tragedy recounts the rape of Philomela by the Thracian King Tereus. Inspired by Ovid’s Metamorphoses, but mostly by the account in Giovani Boccaccio’s On the Genealogy of the Gods of the Gentiles,29 the play also borrows from the scene of Seneca’s Thyestes in which the children are offered in sacrifice, as victims, and transformed into food for their own father. This tragedy returns to the darkest plots of ancient mythology. We find, as in Mussato’s Ecerinis, a rape scene. This upheaval of the laws of nature—a king forces his sister-in-law to have sexual intercourse with him, then tears out her tongue and imprisons his victim to prevent her from revealing the abomination—turns the tragic universe into a show of excess of which even the gods themselves are victims; since the murder of children was organized as a sacrifice to the gods, they are forced to witness the play that Progne puts on the stage. As in the Achilles, a woman surpasses in monstrosity a king who is invinci­ble  in combat. The tragedy is a staging of a secret revenge, as Florence Dupont has shown for Seneca, intended to transform the killing hero into a mytho­ logical monster.30 It is, therefore, more a Senecan rewriting in the frame of a school work, than a historical-theological tragedy as the Ecerinis or a tragedy of fate like Achilles. In his correspondence, Correr tells the reader that his teacher Vittorino da Feltre wept when reading the tragedy. These tears are likely to arise both from the emotion felt at the success of his brilliant pupil and from pathos that the most violent scenes arouse.31 Aenea Silvio Piccolomini, who would go on to become Pope Pius II, praised Correr highly in his De liberorum educatione (1450): ‘but we have no Latin tragedian besides Seneca, except Gregorio Correr of Venice, who, when I was a youth, turned the story of Tereus, which comes from Ovid, into a tragedy.’32 29 Boccaccio, De genealogia deorum gentilium IX, 8. See Aldo Onorato in his ed. (1994) and Guastella, L’ira e l’onore. Editions were made by Ricci (1558), Berrigan and Tournoy, Casarsa, De Vries, Onorato, Chevalier, Trois tragédies, pp. 98–207 and Grund, Humanist Tragedies, pp. xxvii–xxx and 110–87. For a study of the plot, see Guastella, L’ira e l’onore, pp. 209–33; Beyer, Das politische Drama im Italien des 14. und 15. Jahrhunderts, pp. 174–202 and Chevalier, Trois tragédies, pp. 101–27. For all other numerous editions or studies we refer to the bibliographies in the latter works. 30 See Dupont, Les monstres de Sénèque. 31 See Chevalier, ‘Les larmes de Procné, ou les traces possibles d’une influence de la Poétique d’Aristote aux Trecento et Quattrocento’, forthcoming. 32 See Kallendorf, Humanist Educational Treatises, p. 223; Grund, Humanist Tragedies, pp. xxviii–xxix. We borrow from them the quotation in English.



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So, while the plot borrows from Book VI of Ovid’s Metamorphoses, the formal frame is that of Seneca’s Thyestes. The long récit during which we learn how Progne sacrifices her son according to the ritual of ancient sacrifices, and offers the flesh of the infant son to his father Tereus to devour it is reminiscent of the early Greek myths in which Kronos ate his own children. The reader thus is referred to the time of the origins of creation, since the same barbarism is repeated, here from family to family, from curse to curse. The kingdom of Thrace, in fact, had already been sullied by monstrosity when Diomedes gave human flesh as food to his mares. Yet in the tragedy by Correr the myth might be merely an illustration of the monstrous violence of the most vehement human passions. Indeed, at no time do the gods intervene. Progne is transformed from a human and loving wife into a cursed criminal when she learns of the torture inflicted on her sister by her husband. The plot thus unfolds in a family universe where the myths are recalled only to be surpassed in horror. Such a theme makes Progne resemble the Ecerinis and the Achilles. All heroes are cursed, none survives monstrosity. Yet it is possible to connect this story to medieval allegories applied to this monstrosity in Metamorphoses.33 The numerous allusions in the play to the myth of Orpheus suggest that the tragedy represents the descent of the soul into hell, victim of the barbarism of the most fierce passions. But after the soul has lost its original purity, it becomes more barbarous than its torturer. One understands why, following the recommendation of the Art of Poetry by Horace (l. 187), the tragic poet must avoid representing on stage the metamorphoses of the two sisters, Progne and Philomela, into birds. The last scene, in which the curse is uttered by the father, butcher of all his family, must strike the minds of the audience with horror. It is not pity that is appro­ priate, only terror is tragic. This Latin tragedy by Gregorio Correr was translated into Italian by Ludovico Domenichi in 1561, from the edition of Giovanni Ricci from 1558, without any mention of its attribution to Correr.34 The myth inspired another dramatist, Girolamo Parabosco, to write another version in Italian, La Progne, tragedia nova, published in Venice in 1548.35

33 For a study of the connections between this plot and the Neoplatonist tradition of representation of the soul, we refer to the note in our ed. of the play and to notes explaining the sources of several verses. 34 The text was edited by Casarsa, Il teatro umanistico veneto, pp. 125–26 and 183–236. 35 See Marcello, ‘Reescrituras teatrales del mito de Progne y Filomena’, pp. 151–66.

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Tragedy and Political Allegory in Leonardo Dati’s Hiensal (1441/2) The last example of Latin tragedy before the renewal of dramaturgical models at the end of the quattrocento and the actual staging of a play is provided by the humanist Leonardo Dati (1408–1472). After the failure of the Certame coronario on the theme of friendship organized in Florence in 1441 by Leon Battista Alberti, Dati composed a Latin tragedy both historical and political on the theme of invidia.36 The plot of Hiensal (1441/2) is borrowed from Roman history. In a new dynastic crime, the heir to the throne of Numidia, Jugurtha, kills his two rivals, who had become his brothers after his adoption by Micipsa. This episode could recall the fratricidal war between Eteocles and Polynices on the rule of Thebes. But the play, borrowing its frame from the War of Jugurtha by the Roman historian Sallust (first century BC) puts less empha­sis on the actual historical details than on the symbolic dimension of the story. The brothers are the prey of passions embodied partly by allegories. Another time, the gods of mythology are supplanted by moral forces that drive men and their cities to destruction. The eponymous hero of the tragedy, Hiempsal, is in fact both victim and culprit. At first, Hiempsal insulted and despised the man who became his brother, Jugurtha. It is he who first feels envy. The victim of envy, Jugurtha, will turn into a monster to punish him who wishes him harm. In this play, Dati analyses the fatal mechanism of the passions. As recognized by the priest Polymites, the gods are powerless in controlling this outburst of violence from which the entire kingdom of Numidia will suffer. The condemnation of envy, however, could allow a development inspired by the Bible and theological treatises. The originality of Leonardo Dati consists in resuming, or renewing, the medieval process of moral allegorization. Thus, as Aldo Onorato and Hartmut Beyer have demonstrated, while the dramatic form is borrowed from Seneca, Dati’s inspiration for the characters, the descriptions, the dialogues, and other matters, owes much to the caustic irony of Lucian. Onorato has also insisted on the effects of rewriting with regard to the Intercenales by Alberti and Stefano Pittaluga in line with the comedy Philodoxus by the same Alberti.37 Finally, the lesson learnt by the tragedy joins that of the previous plays and is part 36 Eds. by Berrigan, Onorato, Chevalier, Trois tragédies, pp. 209–88, Grund, Humanist Tragedies, pp. 188–243. For a study of the plot, see Beyer, Das politische Drama im Italien des 14. und 15. Jahrhunderts, pp. 203–53; Chevalier, o.c., pp. 211–42 ; Stok, ‘La Hiensal Tragoedia di Leonardo Dati’, pp. 73–88; Grund, Humanist Tragedies, pp. xxx–xxxiv. 37 See our section about Alberti’s Philodoxeos fabula, pp. 58–61.



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of the legacy of Senecan drama. The staging of pagan divinities is not in contradiction with the teaching of Christianity. Pagan and Christian theology come together in rejecting the madness of a man who, like an almighty god, wants to impose his power. Characterization of the First Neo-Latin Tragedies in Italy The first Latin tragedies of Italian humanism therefore all insist on this fear of a world destined for destruction by human violence: the political tyranny of Ezzelino da Romano, treason and ambush in Achilles, the sexual violence of Tereus and the hateful monstrosity of Progne, the envious hatred of Hiempsal.38 The common point of these plays consists in vengeance: Ezzelino avenges his father, the devil, who has been cast out of heaven, and he somehow offers his father an earthly kingdom by showing a similar violence of which he considers his father to have been victim. The plot of Achilles is centred on the staging of the revenge of Queen Hecuba. Progne turns from a human being into a monster to avenge the cruelty of Tereus. Hiempsal, contrary to the expectations that all had put on him, takes a more bloodthirsty revenge than the insult that Jugurtha had inflicted on him. The second common point between these four tragedies was the monstrous hero seeking recognition. Ezzelino tries to justify his tyranny and to be recognized as lord over Padua; Hecuba mourns the death of most of her sons and is a fallen queen; Progne, betrayed by her husband, has lost her status as wife and queen; Jugurtha, though heir, never will achieve that role, because he is not the son of the same father as Hiempsal and Adherbal. The only solution for those deprived of recognition is to sink into violence and kill all those who deprive them of their legitimacy. Ezzelino kills the Paduans; Hecuba has Achilles murdered; Progne transforms Tereus into the tomb of his own son; Jugurtha kills his brothers. Such violence condemns them, but the tragedy is the short moment when the heroes through their crimes have the illusion of finally being masters of their fate. From both sides, both in the victims and the executioners, the desperation gradually transforms the characters into melancholic beings. The lesson that should be learnt from the tragedy is no longer just political or moral, but existential. The Jesuit poets will understand the existential issue and will respond to this human anguish in the face of 38 Here we resume some elements we developed in the intr. to our Belles Lettres ed. of the Achilles, the Progne and the Hiensal.

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tyranny and monstrosity by referring to Providence. Christianity, basing itself on the authority of the Bible that reminds us of God’s interventions in human history, finally offers a reassuring answer. The last Chorus of the Ecerinis of Albertino Mussato is a foreshadowing of what would become sixteenth-century tragedy. The Renewal of Dramaturgical Models at the End of the Quattrocento Latin tragedy reappeared in Rome at the end of the fifteenth century. This resurgence, far from confirming the aesthetic choices of the previous decades, calls into question the very nature of tragedy as it had been seen since 1315. Tragedy renews its inspiration celebrating kings and princes. But for the first time two plays were officially produced in Rome. They were even written in the entourage of the Pope, in prose and in dactylic hexameters. The abandonment of the iambic trimeter shows that tragedy was no longer what it had been. Tragedy or the Theatrical Staging of Contemporary History: The Examples of the Historia Baetica (1492) and the Fernandus servatus (1493) The first historical play to be noted is devoted to the death of Giacopo Piccino (1423–1465): De captivitate ducis Iacobi.39 It was composed by Laudivio da Vezzano in 1465, shortly after the death of the famous condottiere. He had indeed been imprisoned and killed at the royal court of Naples. The tragedy echoed the emotion roused, especially at Ferrara. The title remarkably resembles that of a work of history. The Historia Baetica (1492), written by Carlo Verardi also presents a paradoxical title.40 Stefano Pittaluga insists on the author’s application of a very old distinction between historiae, argumenta and fabulae, proposed by Isidore of Seville.41 The historiae recount historical events and the argumenta facts that might have occurred, while fabulae are myths. The title Historia Baetica, therefore, is justified, but it is surprising to note that such 39 Ed. and comm. by Beyer, Das politische Drama im Italien des 14. und 15. Jahrhunderts, pp. 254–314 and 525–79. 40 A thoroughgoing comm. is written by Beyer, Das politische Drama im Italien des 14. und 15. Jahrhunderts, pp. 315–88. 41 Isidorus, Etymologiae, I, 44, 5. See Pittaluga, ‘Antiche gesta e delitti di re scellerati’, pp. 15–34 (also in Pittaluga, La scena interdetta, pp. 295–311, esp. 306–11).



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an old distinction endures to the end of the quattrocento, while neither Mussato, nor Correr, nor Dati had raised such distinctions. It is a new tentative effort—perhaps not original—to define a literary genre that ultimately eludes any precise classification. The play recounts the siege and capture of Granada (2 January 1492) by King Ferdinand II of Aragon. The tragedy is no longer the staging of a cruel monstrosity towards an innocent victim, but it becomes a celebration. We cannot even say that it ‘sings’ the victory of a prince; it relates a victory by magnifying the victor and demonizing the vanquished. Like Aeschylus in the Persians, the tragic poet could have used the name of the conquered people or the defeated prince as a title of his play. Then the perspective would have joined those of Mussato’s Ecerinis or Loschi’s Achilles. But Verardi does not introduce any chorus in his tragedy. Renouncing threnody or hymn, the tragedy abstains from monologues, speeches and usual dialogues to become dialogue narrative. Significantly, Antonio Stäuble wondered whether the play was a comedy, a tragedy or, more simply, a humanist drama. Others spoke of the birth of tragi­ comedy since the end is happy. Yet the last two acts of the Ecerinis had been a relief too. Furthermore, for the first time since 1315, tragedy became a ‘hybrid’ genre,42 taking the form of a panegyric to celebrate the greatness of a most Christian king in the presence of the Sovereign Pontiff. The only theatrical specificity consists in the choice of having these dialogues recited on a stage in the presence of the Roman Curia. In fact, the choice of borrowing a subject from history and in the perspective of a celebration need not surprise us. As Federico Doglio recalls, inspiration was found in Roman tragedies such as Romulus or Clastidium of Naevius.43 The fabula praetexta Clastidium celebrated the victory of the consul Marcus Claudius Marcellus on the inhabitants of Cisalpine Gaul in 222 bc. Anthony James Boyle has shown how the origin of the fabula praetexta was related to the song of triumph, or even to a national anthem such as the tragedy of Naevius called Romulus.44 To represent in Rome in 1492 the victory of King Ferdinand, was to accord him the honour of a triumph. Even in the absence of the conqueror, the procession to the theatre was a substitute for a triumphal procession. King Ferdinand did not become a national 42 We borrow the word from Onorato in the intr. of his ed. of Leonardo Dati’s Hyempsal (2000), pp. 43–49. The expression ‘prodotto ibrido’ appears on p. 46. 43 See Doglio, Il teatro tragico italiano, xxvii–xxix (see esp. p. xxix, n. 2). 44 See Boyle, Roman Tragedy, pp. 49–55.

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hero, but a hero of Christianity, putting the ‘temporal sword’ at the service of the ‘spiritual sword’. The choice of prose allowed avoidance of the criticism of adorning the story with metaphoric language, hyperboles and dramatic effects that could lead to questioning the truth and objectivity of the facts reported. Cicero had recalled in the beginning of De legibus (On the Laws) how truth is not the objective of a poet. This literary memory would justify the title Historia Baetica. In 1493 Carlo Verardi’s nephew, Marcellino Verardi, wrote and produced in Rome, in the presence of the Pope, a tragedy on the assassination attempt of King Ferdinand.45 The title of the tragedy must surprise us, since tragedy is by definition a poem on the fall of ‘the great’. Here the dramatist presents the reverse: the tragedy celebrates a king who escapes death thanks to his high moral qualities. It is also surprising that in waiving prose Marcellino Verardi chose the hexameter. Hartmut Beyer explains the choice by the numerous borrowings from Claudian’s In Rufinum, an epic poem.46 The play especially borrows from Claudian the evil character chosen by the Furies to accomplish sacrilege on earth.47 One is reminded of the tragedies of Seneca where one of the three Furies comes on earth to contaminate a palace and spread furor, but the atmosphere chosen by Marcellino Verardi is more that of mournful epics where infernal powers take delight in upsetting the world order.48 Is it still a tragedy? Should we not rather speak of a tragic atmosphere? Beyer has shown that all political overtones of a play designed as a ‘diplomatic poem’ are supporting attempts to reconcile Pope Alexander VI and the King of Spain.49 Being an occasional or a laudatory poem, the tragedy is deliberately rhetorical, serving political interests. It is not enough to summon the Furies in order to make the spirit of Senecan tragedy present. Besides, as we learn from the preface, this tragedy is merely a transposition in dactylic hexameters of a version in prose written by Carlo Verardi. Presumably the model in prose seemed too modest for the Roman Curia in the light of the his­ torical circumstances, and a specialist of the epic, the editor of De raptu 45 For a detailed commentary on the play, see Beyer, Das politische Drama im Italien des 14. und 15. Jahrhunderts, pp. 389–470. See also Grund, Humanist Tragedies, pp. xxxxiv– xxxviii and 244–91. 46 See Beyer, Das politische Drama im Italien des 14. und 15. Jahrhunderts, pp. 416–47. 47 In 1852, Chassang (Des essais dramatiques …) presented an analysis of the plot where he discussed the influence of Claudian’s carmina. 48 Virgil, Aeneid 7, Claudian, In Rufinum. 49 See Beyer, ‘Carlo and Marcellino Verardi’s Fernandus servatus and the Poem Supra casum Hispani regis by Petrus Martyr.’



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Proserpinae, was called to magnify the event by his verses and thus to augment its value for posterity.50 It is perhaps also a sign that Italian humanists at the end of the quattrocento mastered the Virgilian hexameter better than the Senecan trimeter. Let us recall that no more than four Latin tragedies in iambic trimeters and lyric verses were written between 1315 and 1493. In the same period there was a curious attempt to transform Claudian’s epic De raptu Proserpinae into a tragedy.51 Two editors removed all descriptions and narrative parts to keep only the dialogues and to link them so as to give the impression that the text is a tragedy. This is the medieval notion that a play is characterized by a series of dialogues which make the lack of a narrator less noticeable. Such a concept prevailed in the spirit of Carlo and Marcellino Verardi. At the end of the fifteenth century the novelty originating in the reading of the iambic trimeters of Seneca’s tragedies in the Etruscus manuscript no longer appeared to be characteristic of tragedy. The Celebration of the Triumphal Entry of Louis XII in Milan by Giovanni Armonio Marso Another tragedy can be connected to the cycle of history plays, in part inspired by Claudian, De rebus Italicis deque triumpho Ludovici XII regis Francorum tragoedia. This is a play written by Giovanni Armonio Marso (1477–after 1552).52 It is likely that the author knew the two plays by Carlo and Marcellino Verardi, since the kinship between the titles is significant. The rapid publication of the two works contributed to their spread. The tragedy of Marso, written less than six years after the representation of the two plays on Spanish history, is again a work of literature dealing with an event that had just occurred: the triumphal entry of Louis XII in Milan on 6 October 1499 and the downfall of the Sforza dynasty. To resume the classification of Isidore: this is a historia. The play is structured in five acts separated by choruses. As emphasized by Harry C. Schnur, the verses appear as a kind of iambic senarians, but ‘with the utmost liberty’.53 50 See Onorato, in his introduction to Hyempsal of Leonardo Dati, p. 47, n. 1. 51 See Chevalier, ‘Épopée ou tragédie?’ We owe this discovery to the work of Jean-Louis Charlet on the editions and afterlife of the poems of Claudian. 52 See Tournoy’s ed. of the play, as well as Ludwig, Gentilini, Vecce and GrosselinHarter, Le théâtre de Johannes Harmonius Marsus. 53 See Schnur, ‘Corollarium’.

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The kinship with the preceding plays does not limit itself to the form of the title. The principal poetical model used by Marso is not Seneca, but Claudian, both his In Rufinum—when Marso wants to criticize Sforza— and his panegyrics celebrating the grandeur of Louis XII. Again a tyrant becomes a disciple of the Furies, a king is the defender of Christendom and of Italy undermined by the barbarity of a dynasty presented as evil. References to the triumph of a victorious Roman general could be mentioned.54 Italy saw in Louis XII a new Aemilius Paulus or a new Marius. It is significant that such references appear in Act V. Italy assuming the role of witness, at the request of the chorus, describes the triumphal entry of Louis XII in a long speech of 117 lines. The initial stage direction presenting, in the manuscript, this final act as the report of the triumph transforms tragedy into history intended to celebrate a king or a prince.55 The dialogues are in fact disguised narratives. Writing in verse adds to the solemnity of the event and the author hopes to gain a great reputation for his work. We see the inspiration of the first authors of fabulae praetextae in Rome. Naevius was a client of the family of Marcellus. Marso became a court poet who devoted his pen to the service of a dynasty and an ideology. The tragedy presents long static speeches. The tone varies from the initial lamentations of Italy and Rome in a pathetic atmosphere originated in Lucan’s Civil War to the celebration of the most Christian King and the role of Providence. To the question posed by the chorus of the Ecerinis in one of its first interventions, the last chorus of Marso’s tragedy responds that the world is delivered neither to chance nor to chaos. As in Mussato’s play, this tragedy ends with a thanksgiving, which is reminiscent not only of the Biblical psalms or Christian hymns, but also of the final chorus of Seneca’s Hercules on the Oeta and the apotheosis of Hercules. Yet the play gives the impression of having been written in haste. It may be suggested that it should be offered to the king during festivities held to mark his triumphal entry. We know how fond the Middle Ages were of these collective moments of jubilation and how many people were celebrating the royal entries.56 The sixteenth- and seventeenth-century colleges maintained this tradition.

54 See Grosselin-Harter, o.c. 55 See Giovanni Armonio Marso, De rebus Italicis…, p. 64. 56 See Chevalier, Les mondes théâtraux autour de Guillaume Coquillart; Guenée and Lehoux, Les Entrées royales françaises.



neo-latin theatre in italy45 The Vogue of Shows and Commentaries

The Neo-Latin tragedies by Carlo and Marcellino Verardi and by Giovanni Armonio Marso fell quickly into oblivion. However, this new orientation of tragedy towards panegyric was consolidated, albeit in the long term. The main novelty lies in the representation of the two plays devoted to King Ferdinand. Until then, Latin tragedies were at best recited in public (such as the Ecerinis). The three following tragedies (Achilles, Progne and Hiensal) are not plays designed for performance. They are highly spectacular in their representation of an outburst of furor, but their authors did not take into consideration that the roles could be distributed to actors. The miniature of a manuscript,57 representing a staging of Seneca’s Hercules furens, and woodcuts in editions of Terence in the Renaissance, as, for example, the edition of Trechsel in Lyon, 1493, are in fact, in spite of numerous debates, less illustrations of theatrical reality than attempts to reconstruct a stage from the extant data, especially those from the Etymologies of Isidore.58 Such editions multiplied in Venice from 1497 onwards.59 Nicolas Trevet, c. 1315, in the prologue of his commentary to Seneca’s Hercules furens, thus presents the mise en scène of the play: the author is at the centre of a semi-circular stage on a covered platform— which is somewhat reminiscent of the pulpit of a church—where he recites his poem. Outside, mimes (mimi) play the characters by adapting their movements to the character represented. So this is a sketch of a representation, far from the Roman reality of the times of Plautus or Terence. The First Representations of Ancient Theatre However, from the second half of the fifteenth century, drama is conceived for the stage. This passion for stage performance appeared in Rome in the framework of the Academy founded by Pomponio Leto and encouraged by Pope Sixtus IV. The plays of Plautus and Terence are not only studied by teachers and their students, they are also staged. Since 1486 in Ferrara, in a cortile, the Menaechmus Brothers of Plautus was staged, and later, in 1487, his Amphitryon. We may also mention the staging in 1499, in a room of the Ducal palace, Terence’s Eunuch. We retain only a few 57 Vat. Urb. Lat. 355, fol. 1v. 58 Isidorus, Etymologiae XVIII, 42–49. See Lawrenson and Purkis ‘Les éditions illustrées de Térence dans l’histoire du théâtre’; Galand-Hallyn and Hallyn, Poétiques de la Renaissance, pp. 47–53. 59 Ibid., pp. 21–23.

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significant data. Giovanni Attolini gives a synthesis of the history of the first performances emphasizing the theatrical space—closed or open— and the circumstances. Performances were held not only in Ferrara, but in all the princely or religious courts, in Mantua from 1471, in Rome from 1484, and in Urbino from 1506. The repertoire of the performances was not limited to the plays by Plautus and Terence, but included contemporary plays in Italian which superseded theatre in Latin, though without replacing it. This taste for performance is strengthened by a passion for research into architecture. The De re aedificatoria (printed in Florence in 1485) by Leon Battista Alberti is the pioneering book that led to attempts to build the first theatres in Italy. Another determinant date was 1486, when Sulpizio da Veroli completed the editio princeps of the Roman treatise on architecture by Vitruvius. Many treatises were published throughout the sixteenth century, of which one of the most important was made by Sebastiano Serlio. In the same period the first permanent stages were built. One no longer had to content oneself with playing in the hall or the courtyard of the palace. The success of the performances and the crowds thronging to see the plays compelled the promoters of theatre to invent and to create buildings rivalling palaces in terms of the majesty of decoration and ingenuity of design. The discovery of Greek theatre and the first attempts at translation enriched the repertoire of plays to be staged. Translations into Latin of Euripides’s tragedies by Erasmus (Iphigenia at Aulis and Hecuba, first edition Paris 1506, then Venice 1507), and by Buchanan (Medea and Alcestis, 1556) met with great success. The editio princeps of the tragedies of Sophocles was published by Aldus Manutius in 1502.60 Editions, commentaries and Latin translations increased, especially with the translation of Sophocles, made in 1543 by Giovanni Battista Gabia, or those made by Pietro Angeli Bargeo or by Alessandro Pazzi de’ Medici. Around 1527 the latter humanist had made a Latin translation of Electra by Sophocles, and previous to this had made translations into the vernacular of Euripides’s Iphigenia in Tauria (1524) and Cyclops (1525). In Naples in 1556, Coriolano Martirano, Bishop of St Mark and secretary to the Council of Trent, published a Latin translation of Prometheus by Aeschylus, Sophocles’ Electra, five plays by Euripides (Medea, Hippolytus, Bacchae, Phoenician Women and Cyclops) and two comedies by Aristophanes 60 See Borza, Sophocles Redivivus.



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(Plutus and Clouds).61 These translation attempts were undertaken parallel to the composition of tragedies in Italian.62 For example, Alessandro Pazzi de’ Medici wrote Didone in Cartagine in 1524.63 The Prefaces and the Arts of Poetry The last determinant influence is that of the prefaces of printers and editors as well as poetical treatises. The prefaces of Josse Bade (Jodocus Badius Ascensius, 1462–1535) collected data from ancient texts, including Donatus, which shaped the form of literary genres and of the history of ancient theatre for decades. To the critical discussion that accompanied the rediscovery of Seneca’s theatre from the early trecento (among the editors were Albertino Mussato and Nicolas Trevet or Triveth) to the quattrocento came the first commentaries printed from the 1490s. In general they appear as prefaces to the editions of the tragedies. In 1491, Gellius Bernardinus Marmita of Parma published his first commentary on Seneca’s tragedies. His initiative was followed in particular by Daniel Gaietanus of Cremona in 1498. These commentaries were summarized and reprinted.64 They aimed to present the author and the history and characteristics of tragedy, sometimes the metrics of several verses, and finally the plot of each play. In general two Senecas are distinguished— one a philosopher, the other a playwright—but the opinions differ. Often the first Seneca is considered both the philosopher and the author of nine tragedies. The second one might be the author of the Octavia. This play, in fact, relating events that happended after the death of Seneca, cannot be attributed to the same author. Therefore, they thought there must have been a second Seneca. The definition of tragedy has changed little since the one proposed by Albertino Mussato. The references remain the same and are based on the reading of Ovid’s Tristia (2, 381): ‘tragedy surpasses every genre of writing in earnest.’65 Gravitas characterized tragedy: royal or princely characters, an elevated style, a pathetic fall, and the recognition of the universal law that no power is destined to last. The commentators rely on the authority of Horace’s Epistle to the Pisones 61 See Fanelli, ‘Un commento di Coriolano Martirano’ and ‘Tragico e comico, sacro e profano’; Mund-Dopchie, ‘Un travail peu connu sur Eschyle’; Pometti, ‘I Martirano’. 62 See Cosentino, Cercando Melpomene. 63 For a presentation of the theatrical production in Italian imitating ancient models or plots, see esp. Pieri, ‘La tragedia in Italia’. 64 Maurice Lebel published a French translation of these principle texts in Préfaces de Josse Bade (1462–1535), pp. 142–62. 65 Ovid, Tristia 2, 381: ‘Omne genus scripti gravitate tragoedia vincit.’

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(or Ars poetica), esp. l. 251, in an attempt to trace the historical origins of tragedy. Finally this is rather close to the letter of Dante (or attributed to him), addressed to Can Grande della Scala, itself dependent on Boethius and Isidore. Moreover, treatises on metrics became richer after the brief note that Lovato Lovati and Mussato had devoted to Seneca’s metres or to the definitions that Gregorio Correr placed in the preface to his Progne.66 The artes versificatoriae of Niccolò Perotti and Pietro Crinito quickly became reference manuals.67 Latin translations of Aristotle’s Poetics enriched reflections inherited from the Art of Poetry of Horace, the commentaries of Donatus68 or the Etymologies of Isidore of Seville. The Latin translation of the Poetics by Giorgio Valla appeared in Venice in 1498. Alessandro Pazzi de’ Medici then published—again in Venice—a new Latin translation in 1536, much more faithful to the original. In Venice in 1508 the editio princeps of the Greek text appeared, constituted by Jean Lascaris.69 It was not until the years 1540–1560 that commentaries and translations were published that offered a better understanding of the text. The most famous of these works were made by Francesco Robortello, Bernardo Segni, Vincenzo Maggi and Pietro Vettori.70 The treatise is gradually distributed without recourse to the Latin translation of Willem of Moerbeke (1278) or to the commentary of Averroes translated by Hermann Alemannus (13th c.).71 But Aristotle’s text remained difficult to access. In his Discorse intorno al comporre della 66 See Charlet, intr. to the ed. and transl. of the Chrysis of Enea Silvio Piccolomini, pp. 31–36 (with n. 3 on p. 31, which presents a rich bibliography). 67 See Charlet, ‘Niccolò Perotti et les débuts de l’imprimerie romaine’; ‘Le choix des mètres dans les Poemata de Pietro Crinito’; and ‘Les pseudo-vers iambiques d’Enea Silvio Piccolomini’. 68 The commentary that Donatus devoted to the comedies by Terence was discovered as late as 1433. See Barletta, ‘Sul Paulus di Pier Paolo Vergerio’, p. 50; Reeve, ‘The textual tradition of Donatus’ commentary on Terence’, pp. 310–26; Sabbadini, ‘Biografi e commentatori di Terenzio’, pp. 289–327 and Le scoperte dei codici latini e greci, p. 116. 69 In Rhetores Graeci, vol. I, Venetiis: in aedibus Aldi, 1508. 70 Respectively Francesco Robortello (In librum Aristotelis de arte poetica explicationes… (Florence: L. Torrentino, 1548)); Bernardo Segni (Rettorica et poetica d’Aristotele [Florence: L. Torrentino, 1549]); Vicenzo Maggi (In Aristotelis librum de Poetica … explanationes, (Venice: Vincontius Valgrisius, 1550); Pietro Vettori (Commentarii in primum librum Aristotelis de Arte poetarum… [Florence: Officina Juntarum, Bernardi filiorum, 1560]). See Bray, Formation de la doctrine classique, esp. Ch. 3: ‘L’influence des théoriciens italiens’, pp. 34–48. See also Weinberg, A History of Literary Criticism in the Italian Renaissance and Aristotle, Poétique, ed. Magnien, pp. 53–72. 71 For the Latin translation by Hermann Alemannus, see Minio Paluello, De arte poetica. For a study on the influence of the commentary written by Averroes, see Kelly, ‘AristotleAverroes-Alemannus on Tragedy’. See also Kelly, Tragedy and Comedy from Dante to Pseudo-Dante and Ideas and Forms of Tragedy from Aristotle to the Middle Ages.



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tragedia, Giambattista Giraldi, who nevertheless wrote nine tragedies in Italian in the 1540s, acknowledged the difficulty he experienced in understanding Aristotle’s Poetics.72 From the early years of the sixteenth century, therefore, Neo-Latin theatre cannot be separated from the rediscovery of Greek theatre in editions, commentaries and translations, the first essays on theatre in the vernacular, and the explosion of arts of poetry, inspired or not by Aristotle. At the end of the century, the Jesuits built on the reading of the commentary on Seneca’s tragedies made by one of them, Martín Antonio Del Rio, whose Neo-Latin tragedy written before 1500, however, hardly received notice. A Tragic Repertoire Inspired by Ancient Sources In the early sixteenth century the proliferation of theatrical stages, the examination of theatrical place and dramaturgy, the development of a theatre in the vernacular, the translation of ancient plays (Greek as well as Roman) transformed the history of Neo-Latin tragedy. The popularity of drama in Italian did not put an end to writing plays in Latin. The publication of these plays and their numerous reprints show that there was interest in this theatre that could be seen as outdated in comparison to the large number of contemporary plays performed in Italian. However, these plays do not present a unity of inspiration. Some of them sprang from the medieval tradition of sacred representations, others depict a mythological story, others an episode of ancient history. Thus the tragedy Imber aureus (The Golden Rain, 1529) by Antonius Thylesius or Antonio Telesio (1482–1534) is a mythological tale cast into tragedy. Written in five acts with choruses, this tragedy of 1098 lines stages the decision of the King of Argos, Acrisius, to lock up his daughter Danae.73 Acrisius learns from a messenger who was sent to Delphi to consult the oracle of Apollo that his daughter would give birth to a son who would kill his grandfather. After he has thought about the best suitor for his daughter, he suddenly decides to rule out any marriage for her. Imprisoned in an iron tower built by Vulcan and the Cyclopes, Danae laments her fate until the day Jupiter turns into a golden rain and lies with her. Acrisius notes that his daughter is pregnant, has her locked in a wooden chest that he has 72 See Dondoni, ‘L’influence de Sénèque sur les tragédies de Giambattista Giraldi’, p. 38. 73 See Minicucci, ‘Quibus virtutibus Antonii Thylesii niteat ‘Imber aureus’, and Beck, Antonii Thylesii Consentini Imber aureus.

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thrown out into open sea. The title of the play is astonishing. While the plays in general bear the name of a character, the choice for the title ‘golden rain’ could emphasize the aspect of ‘fairy tale’ of the plot. Yet the play ends with the brutality of the father who kills his daughter at sea. One thinks of Agamemnon leaving his daughter Iphigenia to be killed, and of Nero trying to have his own mother die at sea, and of Nero killing Octavia. The originality of the play can be grasped when it is compared to another scenic representation of this myth, entitled Danae, in Milan in January 1496.74 This first play, written by Baldassare Taccone, ended with a happy denouement thanks to a supernatural intervention borrowed from Greek tragedy, the deus ex machina. At the urging of Jupiter, Hebe intercedes for Danae and demands that Acrisius give up his anger and forgive his daughter. Thylesius, however, abandons the fabulous aspect of the plot to return to the tragic inspiration from Seneca. There is another play, based on a historical plot: Agrippina the Elder, wife of Germanicus—to whom she gave nine children, including Agrippina the Younger and Caligula—suspected Emperor Tiberius of having plotted the death of her husband. On Tiberius’s order, she was banished to the island of Pandataria, where she died in 33 ad. In 1639, Bartolomeo Tortoletti (1560–c. 1648) was inspired by this episode of Roman history and placed his plot in the courtyard of Tiberius’s palace, in his Agrippina Maior.75 The historical events, however, are placed upside-down to create a tragic plot. The Roman story is no longer real but probable. Tortoletto, modifying places and times, claims this right in his preface: ‘the poet looks for the probable, not for the real’ (‘verisimile, non verum requirit’). Agrippina and Nero, slanderlously accused, are relegated, Agrippina to the island of Pandataria, and her son Nero to the island of Pontia. In secret they return to Rome, but the mother does not know that her son is back nor does Nero know of his mother’s return (Act I). Fortunately Nero meets Drusus, who has just escaped from prison after having been accused by Caligula, and they decide to free the human race from the tyranny of Tiberius. The centurion who escorts Agrippina learns of the conspiracy attempt, but is mistaken about the identity of the conspirators. He advises Agrippina to reveal it to Tiberius (Act II). The centurion reveals the 74 See Steinitz, ‘Le dessin de Léonard de Vinci pour la représentation de la Danaé de Baldassare Taccone’, pp. 35–40. 75 The play has been edited by Beck (Regensburg, 2006).



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conspiracy to Tiberius (Act III), and Nero and Drusus are seized (Act IV). Finally, contrary to the expectation of Agrippina, Tiberius executes her two sons. Then he calls Agrippina and offers her a macabre gift, the heads of her dead children. Agrippina dies of grief (Act V). This tragedy, consisting of 2,334 lines in iambic trimeters and lyric metres, divided into five acts with a recurring chorus of old Romans, is appropriate to a mournful pathetic scheme. The play begins with a first scene of lamentation inspired by Seneca’s Trojan Women. Agrippina, like Hecuba, laments her fate. The plot is based on the development of vengeance, but a sudden reversal transforms victims who had been turned into executioners into victims again. Among the last words of the tragedy the imperative lugete is repeated significantly. We will see at the presentation of the Jesuit plays, how close this aesthetic is to that of plays in the vernacular, which are often very gruesome. Latin Humanist Comedy in Italy Following the pioneering work of Irineo Sanesi, we are indebted to Antonio Stäuble for the fundamental study on humanist comedy in Italy: La commedia Umanistica del Quattrocento (1968). In his study, which was complemented by several publications,76 Stäuble distinguishes in particular three types of comedy: – comedies conceived as literary exercises; among the most significant authors are Pietro Paolo Vergerio, Leon Battista Alberti and Enea Silvio Piccolomini; – comedies written for special occasions (holidays or court), such as the seven comedies of Tito Livio Frulovisi; – farcical theatre, of which the Janus sacerdos is the most famous example of satire.77 There is little information referring to the staging of plays.78 Stäuble has compiled a list of comedies that were certainly produced, as well as other 76 See Stäuble, ‘Risonanze Europee della Commedia Umanistica del Quattrocento’, pp. 182–94 and ‘Umanistica, Commedia’, pp. 541–46. 77 We will focus on Latin humanist comedies inspired by poetical models from antiquity. 78 See Doglio, Teatro in Europa, pp. 492–534. On performances of Italian comedies, see also Grund, Humanist Comedies, pp. xii–xxi.

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plays that may have been performed.79 The first of these is Janus sacerdos in 1427 in Pavia. The first performances of comedies of Plautus and Terence were carried out in the last decades of the quattrocento, mainly in Ferrara, Florence, Mantua, Rome and then in Venice at the beginning of the cinquecento.80 They took place in stately houses, palaces and even in churches. Among the plays performed most were the Lady from Andros of Terence and the Brothers Menaechmus of Plautus. Stäuble even speaks of a zeal for ancient plays stemming from a fashion that we could, as Stäuble himself suggests, date from the spread of the treatise on architecture by Alberti, written in 1452, but published for the first time in 1485.81 This pioneering text has encouraged artists and architects to compete in renewing architectural models. The treatise of Serlio on architecture is one of the best-known achievements of this research on perspective. The editio princeps of Vitruvius dating from 1486 has already been mentioned, while the text, known in the ninth century, was rediscovered in 1414.82 In the same period prefaces were published which functioned as the first theatrical encyclopaedias. Josse Bade is certainly the most known of these preface authors. His Terence edition of 1493 (at J. Trechsel in Lyon) combines his commentary with that of Guido Juvenalis.83 Some years earlier, in 1476 (in Venice, thanks to Calphurnius who also published his own commentary, and in Vicenza, also in 1477), Terence’s plays had already been published with the commentary of the fourth-century grammarian Donatus; this commentary was published several times with the plays, for example in Venice in 1479, 1482 and 1483. These commentaries allow us to see the preferences of sixteenth-century readers and printers. They were arts of poetry that were read together with the Ars poetica of Horace, before the spread of the Renaissance arts of poetry in the vernacular and the first translations of Aristotle’s Poetics. This enthusiasm for ancient comedy was not shared by the religious orders. In the prologue to Plautus’s Menaechmi written by Angelo

79 Stäuble, La commedia Umanistica del Quattrocento, pp. 187–202. 80 The complete list is given by Stäuble, La commedia Umanistica del Quattrocento, pp. 200–01. See also Attolini, Storie e uomini di teatro, p. 64, for the performance of the Menaechmi in Ferrara in 1486, or ibid., p. 107 for the staging of Terence’s Eunuch in the same city in 1499. See also Attolini, o.c., pp. 105–64 for a description of the theatrical place and especially the palace courtyards. 81 Stäuble, La commedia Umanistica del Quattrocento, p. 191. 82 Attolini, Storie e uomini di teatro, p. 105. 83 See Renouard, Bibliographie des impressions et des oeuvres de Josse Badius Ascensius, p. 11 and passim.



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Poliziano before May 1488,84 there are three goals, identified by Alessandro Perosa whose analysis we follow: the representation of plays in verses were useful to raise the prestige of Latin comedy, often written in prose; the emulation of the style of Plautus could help to enrich the practice of Latin language; the invitation of monks could be employed not to be offended by performances. In this defence of ancient comedy the Plautine plays are presented as models of writing in spite of their pagan context. Here we see again the outlines of the debate that opposed Albertino Mussato to Fra Giovannino of Mantua, a Dominican, around 1315. At the same time the ban on secular culture uttered by Savonarola cannot be forgotten. The First Attempts The plays of Terence, read throughout the Middle Ages, are the origin of a Latin medieval theatre, such as the plays of Hrotsvitha of Gandersheim. Until 1429 only eight plays of Plautus were known (Amphitruo, Asinaria, Aulularia, Captivi, Curculio, Casina, Cistellaria, Epidicus). In that year Nicolaus Cusanus rediscovered in Germany the manuscript called Ursinianus (after Cardinal Orsini), which gives the text of twelve other plays (Bacchides, Mostellaria, Menaechmi, Miles gloriosus, Mercator, Pseudolus, Poenulus, Persa, Rudens, Stichus, Trinummus, Truculentus). These new plays began to be known no earlier than the second half of the fifteenth century.85 The birth of Latin humanist comedy is situated, like tragedy, in the trecento when Petrarch broke with the medieval tradition of liturgical drama or elegiac comedy86 by writing the first Latin comedy on anci­ ent  models, in particular those of Terence.87 Only one fragment of this comedy entitled Philologia is extant, transmitted by Petrarch in one of his

84 Perosa has translated this prologue, Teatro umanistico, pp. 217–18, and proposed in the preceding pages (pp. 213–16), a commentary allowing this analysis to be situated in the perspective of the reception of classical theatre at the end of the quattrocento. The text was first published by Del Lungo, Prose volgari inedite e Poesie latine e greche edite e inedite di Angelo Ambrogini Poliziano, pp. 281–84. Our references are derived from Perosa, Teatro umanistico, pp. 215–16. For recent editions and studies, see Pittaluga, La scena interdetta, p. 116. 85 Attolini, Storie e uomini di teatro, p. 105; Doglio, Teatro in Europa, p. 446. 86 See Bertini, Commedie latine del XII e XIII secolo and ‘Le commedie elegiache del XIII secolo’; Pittaluga, La scena interdetta, pp. 13–134. 87 See Doglio, Teatro in Europa, pp. 406–10; Perosa, Teatro umanistico, antologia, pp. 17–18; Stäuble, La commedia Umanistica del Quattrocento, pp. 3–8.

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letters: ‘the majority of people die waiting.’88 Petrarch specialists have emphasized the probably allegorical aspect of this play, whose names recall ancient characters. The title Philologia is borrowed from the fifthcentury Marriage of Philology and Mercury of Martianus Capella. The evocative name ‘Tranquillinus’ is formed after the Roman surname Tranquillus. In the same letter to Cardinal Giovanni Colonna (protector and friend of Petrarch, and also his counsellor, after Petrarch asked him which city he should choose to be crowned poet, Paris or Rome) he informs the reader that he had written this comedy to relax this Giovanni Colonna and ‘chase the worries from his mind’.89 It suffices to read some letters from the Familiares, exercises in rewriting Plautine scenes, under the influence of Horace, to see how Petrarch reconstructs with humour characters typical of the comedy such as that of the miser (Familiares I, 10) or the parasite (Familiares I, 11). In Familiares V, 14, a letter quoted by Federico Doglio,90 Petrarch gives more particular reasons why he loves Plautus even more than Terence. This has to do with amusing stories through imitation of life and allowing laughter over the ‘human comedy’ and people’s vices: deceit, lust, greed, gluttony, disquiet, love affairs. Each vice or passion is attributed a type of character: deceit is characteristic of slaves; lust is for courtesans; greed for procurers; gluttony for parasites; disquiet for old men; love affairs are for youngsters. So many vices, not to mention sins, that a priest normally heard in confession, but in theatre this ‘confession’ becomes public and people laugh about these flaws in a context that loses any religious dimension. Farces and fables roused the same laughter, but in the vernacular. The same letter of Petrarch, a real poetics in just a few lines, tells us that the aim of comedy is to give the mind some rest and relieve boredom. So writing, reading or—later—attending the performance of a comedy serves as a distraction. To attend the theatre of life lets spectators forget the worries of daily life by means of the pleasure of a funny story that could be called timeless. Finally, to borrow a word from Petrarch, comedies are delicious nugae (‘trifles’), but nugae that reflect life. And Petrarch,

88 Petrarca, Familiares II, 7, 5: ‘maior pars hominum expectando moritur.’ Pétrarque, Lettres familières, ed. Dotti and Longpré, p. 195. 89 Familiares, IV, 4 (‘ut curas tibi iocis excuterem scripsi’). 90 Doglio, Teatro in Europa, 1, pp. 406. See Pétrarque, Rerum Familiarium, V, 14, Lettres familières, ed. Dotti and Longpré pp. 196–201. Doglio, o.c., pp. 407–09, also quotes important passages from the De remediis utriusque fortunae devoted to actors.



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resuming the plot of Plautus’s Casina, draws a parallel between his own situation and that of the characters. In doing so, he insists on the misadventures that one faces when married or having troublesome servants, which are topoi found in vernacular literature, for example in the context of novels. In the same letter Petrarch draws outlines of what will be Latin comedy in the trecento and quattrocento. A complete comedy that survived is Paulus of Pier Paolo Vergerio. Stäuble considers this play, written about 1390 in Bologna, the first humanist comedy, since it is a literary exercise of youth, inspired by ancient models, but at the same time reflecting the reality of student life at the end of the trecento.91 Paulus brings on stage the life of a student from Bologna, torn between the desire to devote himself to studies and the temptation of a life full of pleasures. The originality of this comedy, written in metres that attempt to correspond to the laws of iambic senarians, is the presence of two slaves, one of whom encourages Paulus to devote himself to his study, the other to yield to all forms of temptation. Both slaves symbolize Paulus’s conscience. The moral ambition of the play is also expressed in the prologue where it is stated that the comedy aims to correct the morals of young people. It is, then, impossible to discern between comedy and satire, but for the choice of metre. Some years later, the goliard theatre inherited the well-known collegiate tradition of making a caricature of the manners of the clergy. The most representative play is Janus sacerdos by an anonymous author, written in Pavia in 1427.92 The action, presented in prose, unfolds on Good Friday in twelve scenes. An old priest, hearing the confessions of a young servant, tries to seduce and debauch him. The young man, assisted by several friends, lays a trap for the priest to punish him. Caught in flagrante delicto, the priest is abused, ridiculed and stripped of a large sum of money which is used to hold a banquet. To this tradition can also be assigned Mercurio Ranzio’s De falso hypocrita, performed in 1437.93

91 See Barletta, ‘Sul Paulus di Pier Paolo Vergerio’, pp. 49–56; Doglio, Teatro in Europa, pp. 411–13; Fonte, ‘Università e teatro umanistico’; Malatrait, ‘Die Per-Version der Hierarchien’; Perosa, Teatro umanistico, antologia, pp. 18–19, 55–85; Stäuble, La commedia Umanistica del Quattrocento, pp. 9–12. See also Grund, Humanist Comedies, pp. 1–69. 92 Ed. by Faccioli, Dalle origini al Quattrocento, pp. 335–84; see Perosa, Teatro umanistico, antologia, p. 23; Stäuble, La commedia Umanistica del Quattrocento, pp. 32–34. 93 See Perosa, o.c., pp. 23–24; Stäuble, La commedia Umanistica del Quattrocento, pp. 34–36.

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The comedy Cauteriaria of Antonio Barzizza (perhaps composed around 1420–1425 or 1450) is more generally based on the tradition of performances of goliards than on classical comedy.94 The plot does not linger on the dissolute life of students, but on the love of a young woman (Scintilla), a dissatisfied wife of an old man (Brachus), for a priest (Auleardus). It is perhaps a denunciation of the hypocrisy of some members of the clergy, but above all it is a hymn to love and denunciation of everything that hinders it, such as a marriage with an old impotent man and a priest’s inability to experience feelings of love. The play reverses decency. It is thanks to a servant that the young woman manages to arrange an appointment with the priest she loves. Surprised by her husband, she is condemned to an horrific punishment: being branded with a hot iron. The intervention of the young priest, escorted by friends, reverses the situation again. For fear of being denounced for his cruelty, the old husband has to accept his wife’s adultery with the priest and he is even obliged to organize a feast at home with the lovers. This ending, imitated from some comedies by Plautus, allows the text to resolve the complex and gritty situation with laughter. Although the influence of bawdy tales of novels is also evident, Barzizza states in his prologue that he was inspired by a fact that really happened. Novel and comedy also have in common such an inspiration from reality. While Paulus reflected student life and Janus sacerdos satirized the clergy, Cauteriaria denounces the female condition which is subjected to the tyrannical rule of men. This same denunciation appears in another comedy, Philogenia, also written in Latin prose, probably in Pavia in 1437. Love and barriers to overcome provided Ugolino Pisani (mid 15th c.) the plot of this comedy.95 The author had already written a parody of a poetic coronation in 1435 (for Shrove Tuesday),96 the Repetitio magistri Zanini coqui, in which he presented a cook, a character borrowed from Plautine comedy, crowned

94 Ed. by Beutler, Forschungen, pp. 1–77. See Doglio, Teatro in Europa, pp. 416–23; Fonte, ‘Università e teatro umanistico’; Pandolfi, Storia universale del teatro drammatico, 1, pp. 226–28; Perosa, ‘Barzizza, Antonio’; Perosa, Teatro umanistico, antologia, pp. 20, 87–130; Pittaluga, La scene interdetta, pp. 101–17 and 135–41; Rosso, ‘Tradizione testuale ed aree di diffusione della Cauteriaria di Antonio Barzizza’, pp. 1–92 ; Sottili, ‘Il Petrarca e l’Umanesimo tedesco’; Stäuble, La commedia Umanistica del Quattrocento, pp. 19–24. For the connections between novel and comedy, see esp. Perosa, Teatro umanistico, antologia, pp. 21 and 28–29. 95 See Doglio, Teatro in Europa, pp. 425–41; Viti, Due commedie umanistiche pavesi and ‘Struttura e fonti della Philogenia di Ugolino Pisani’, pp. 57–65. 96 See Viti, ‘Struttura e fonti della Philogenia di Ugolino Pisani’, p. 58.



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for his art.97 There are some features of this carnival farce of the goliards in the Philogenia.98 The kinship between this play and Plautus’s Casina has been emphasized: a woman is kidnapped and given in marriage to a bumpkin, Gobius. This situation allows Epiphebus to profit quietly from the charms of his beloved. But it is above all the satire of contem­ porary society, especially of the clergy, that holds our attention. The confessor Prodigus supports the stratagem and the play ends, as in ancient comedy, with a marriage and an invitation to enjoy life. One scene (xiii) is a long parody of confession and another one (xv) of a wedding ceremony during which Philogenia must give her consent. But contrary to Plautus’s play where the free, young woman, Casina, marries whom she loves, Philogenia is forced to leave her parents and to marry a man she does not love, after having been abused by friends of her lover. The tone of the play cannot merely be that of Casina. The plot, carried on a steady pace throughout fifteen scenes, offers moral maxims and many parodic tableaux: the scruples of the young woman, the anguish of parents seeing the abduction of their daughter, the pleasure that the puella is obliged to give her lover and his friends who hide her, and finally the lack of understanding of Philogenia when she learns that she has to marry a boor to allow Epiphebus to regain satiety, paint a sad portrait of the condition of women. The young lady, whose naivety is quite grotesque, lives as a victim of her parents, her husband and her lover. She meets with the same disgrace as heroines of novels. Viti stresses the relation­ ship   between this play and story 7 of the second book of Boccacio’s Decamerone.99 Once again, humanist comedy seems to be closer to satire and Latin elegy than to Roman comedy. But laughter ultimately prevails over any form of morality. The comedy is more subversive than even ancient plays, since they ended in a marriage that met the lovers’ wishes. Philogenia, however, ends with the jubilation of the husband only, and what a husband! It is not about pitying the situation of the female protagonist, but only, for the students, about enjoying life. However, as Viti points out, this play, by its numerous borrowings from Terence and Plautus, strays from the model of goliard theatre. Humanist comedy, therefore, has two simultaneous sources of inspiration: satire and comedy. 97 Ed. by Viti, Due commedie umanistiche pavesi. See also Perosa, Teatro umanistico, p. 24; Stäuble, La commedia Umanistica del Quattrocento, pp. 40–41. 98 See Stäuble, o.c., p. 41. 99 See Viti, ‘Struttura e fonti della Philogenia di Ugolino Pisani’, pp. 59–60.

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The comedy Fraudiphila of Antonio Cornazzano (1429–1484) borrows its plot from Boccaccio, being a free translation, written between 1449 and 1455,100 of a story from his Decamerone.101 This comedy in prose consists of fifteen scenes. It is based on the efforts of two young lovers to hide their love. A young man, Anichinus, falls in love with a married woman, Florida. He serves her husband, Eganus, in order to have the possibility of seeing his lover regularly. However, one day the husband suspects his wife of betraying him, but she employs a stratagem, suggested by her maid, Silicerna (Scene viii). After that the husband is convinced of the young man’s loyalty. In the novel by Boccaccio, the woman was alone in developing the trick. The hypocritical woman, playing the role of the faithful wife, reveals to her husband that the young man and she will have a rendezvous at night. The husband takes on the clothes of his wife and goes to the date to catch the villain. At the very moment, however, he is beaten. The young man, who hypocritically plays the role of a faithful servant to his master, wishes to give the impression of punishing the unfaithful wife (Scene xv). Note that the two lovers tenderly love each other while the husband waits outside for his unfaithful wife. Based on adultery, the play leads to laying an ambush in which the husband himself falls, blinded by his anger. The lovers may lie with each other, since the husband is reassured of the loyalty of the young man. Pittaluga has shown how much this play was indebted to the language of Terence, but also to Barzizza’s comedy Cauteriaria.102 The First Two Comedies of Humanist Inspiration Leon Battista Alberti’s Philodoxeos fabula (1424) The plot of the comedy Philodoxus (1424) by Leon Battista Alberti (1404– 1472) requires an allegorical interpretation that differs from the preceding ribald plays that were close to farces. We are indebted to Lucia Cesarini Martinelli for the first critical edition with commentary of the two extant

100 See Pittaluga, Antonii Cornazani Fraudiphila, p. 12. 101 Boccaccio, Decamerone VII, 7. The play was edited by Pittaluga, Antonii Cornazani Fraudiphila. For studies on this comedy, see Pittaluga ‘Grafia e aplografia in un passo della Fraudiphila’ and id., ‘Terenzio, Ovidio e la tradizione comica nella commedia del primo Umanesimo’, pp. 231–39; Smith, ‘Antonio Carnazano’. For the debts of comic poets to Boccaccio, see Pittaluga, Antonii Cornazani Fraudiphila, pp. 15–24. 102 See Pittaluga, Antonii Cornazani Fraudiphila, pp. 25–48.



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versions of this comedy103 that is important both for literary history and Alberti’s own work.104 The comedy, written about 1424 when Alberti was a student at Bologna, first circulated against the wishes of its author. It was considered an ancient play written by a certain Lepidus. It was highly appreciated until the day that Alberti decided to offer a second version, thus revealing that he was the author, as he explains himself in a note he places after the dedication to Leonello d’Este and before the prologue to the second version. The play, written in Latin prose, resembles the intricate plots of new comedy, as indicated by the following outline. The play begins with the monologue of a friend of Philodoxus, named Phroneus. In this expository scene, the audience learns that Philodoxus feels an intense love for a young woman whose name we do not know (it is Doxia) until the next scene. He relies on his friend to declare his love to his beloved. From the first scene onwards we see all the characteristics of a Latin comedy: the love felt by a young man for a puella, albeit a thwarted love. To achieve his ends, the youngster appeals to the ingenuity of a friend, not a slave as in ancient comedies. The scene also recalls the topoi inherited not only from Latin comedy, but mostly from the elegies by Ovid, including the sickness of love that borders on madness. As agreed with Philodoxus, Phroneus goes to a neighbour of the beloved, Ditonus, to try to obtain his goodwill. The play thus unfolds in essence near the house of Doxia. Ditonus could become an ally allowing Philodoxus to approach his love. Here we find strategies that the author of the Art of Love would not have rejected. Alberti finds in this scene the occasion to satirize the society of his time, even if the action takes place in ancient Rome. Ditonus, a former slave of Tychia, freed as a reward for his services, is presented as a man guilty of passing his life in taverns. The altercation between Ditonus, an irascible man, and Phroneus, a hesitant young man, creates a vivid dialogue (Scene ii). In exchange for the protection of

103 See Cesarini Martinelli, ‘Leon Battista Alberti, Philodoxus fabula’; for a translation into English, see Jones and Guzzi, ‘Leon Battista Alberti’s Philodoxus’; Grund, Humanist Comedies, pp. 70–169; Marciak, La place du prince. Perspective et pouvoir dans le théâtre de cour des Médicis, Florence (1539–1600), pp. 106–13. An English translation can be found on http://parnaseo.uv.es/Celestinesca/Numeros/1993/VOL%2017/NUM%201/1_documento .pdf. 104 See Doglio, Teatro in Europa, pp. 423–24; Fonte, ‘Università e teatro umanistico’; Perosa, Teatro umanistico, antologia, pp. 21–23; Pittaluga, La scena interdetta, pp. 209–10; id., ‘Leon Battista Alberti e la libertà’; Stäuble, La commedia Umanistica del Quattrocento, pp. 25–32.

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Philodoxus, Ditonus promises to help the young people. This scene could easily find a place in the narrative of a novel. While Scene iii consists of a dialogue between two other characters, Dynastes and Fortunius, on love and the beauty of a girl, Scene iv is a parody of the triumph of love. Philodoxus is sure to win the heart of his beloved thanks to the help of Phroneus and Ditonus. From Scene v the obstacles multiply. The girl whom Fortunius loves is exactly the same as the one loved by Philodoxus. The plot spans twenty scenes, often mirroring each other. For instance, a speech by Fortunius echoes a monologue of Philodoxus. The sagacity of Phroneus finally facilitates Philodoxus’s marriage to Doxia. Meanwhile Phroneus has found his wife from whom he was separated for several years. Both had tried to help the love felt by Philodoxus for Doxia (Scene xiii); the play has a happy ending because Fortunius marries Doxia’s sister, Phimia. The order, for a moment upset by the actions of Fortunius—especially when he forcibly enters the house of Phimia—is restored by the authority of an elderly man with a symbolic name, Chronos. Moreover the play offers, in the form of a law student of the Bologna University, a parody of a process. Earlier, Fortunius had forcibly intruded into the house of Doxia to take the young girl with him. At the end, he has raped Phimia who was accompanied by Alithia, Chronos’s daughter. This is almost a story within a story. This act of violence is reported by Mnimia, the wife of Phroneus (Scene xii). From Scene xiv, Chronos arranges the process. At the end of Scene xvi, Chronos sends Philodoxus as a lictor, to look for the culprit. Then he asks Phroneus to convene the victims at the place. The terms used, such as lictor, refer to everyday life in ancient Rome. Tychia, Fortunius’s mother, acts as his advocate in a monologue (Scene xvii). The judiciary debate between Chronos and Tychia evolves in Scene xviii, while in Scene xix the witnesses such as Alithia are summoned. Tychia, assuring Chronos that her son pleads guilty, points out the extenuating circumstances, especially his young age and his sincere repentance. An arrangement is found when Tychia proposes that her son repair the outrage by marrying Phimia. It is notable that Chronos does not impose this decision on his daughter, but that she freely must consent to marry Fortunius. Several scenes, though in prose, are free imitations of Terence. Thus when Tychia describes the route from the tavern to his house (Scene xviii), one is compelled to think of the scene in Terence’s Brothers (ll. 570–91) where the slave Syrus tries to remove the grumpy old father Demea by making him cross the city. One detail is significant: in the two plays an indication of a bakery serves as a geographical marker. It is even more



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telling that the monologue of Tychia in Scene xvii, in which she presents her vision of education, is a rewriting of Scene ii of The Brothers Menaechmus in which Micio extols the principles of an education based on mutual confidence and not merely on authority. Alberti’s play, far from being a somewhat artificial series of scenes, is constructed on the dramatic effects of surprise, and it is underpinned by a reflection on moral values, including love, friendship and education. But is Alberti’s play theatrical? Antonio Stäuble points out that the allegorical names of the characters are the key to understanding the deeper sense of the plot. He recalls that the comedy was written shortly after the death of Alberti’s father, when the author was rejected by his family. The plot can be explained thus: Philodoxus (Alberti), in love with Glory (Doxia) and with the help of Wisdom (Phroneus) is thwarted in his aspirations by Fate (Tychia), mother of Fortune (Fortunius). But Fortunius married Phimia (Renown). As for Alethia (Truth), she is, in fact, spectator of the whole plot, as Alberti says in his commentary. The allegorical interpretation was suggested by Alberti himself in his commentary. It remained to identify the author with his hero. Simonetta Fonte in particular noted how the theme of relations between Virtue and Fortune or Fate was recurrent in the works of Alberti and many other humanists.105 Alberti chose to compose a comedy not only to prove his talents as an erudite man, but also because every comedy ends happily. Chronos vindicates Philodoxus. The end thus prefigures the future success of Alberti himself. The comedy had an afterlife. The topic appeared again in Alberti’s own work (I libri della famiglia), and it inspired Leonardo Dati to compose the tragedy Hiensal, another allegorical play of the quattrocento, in the extension of the Certame coronario, about envy in a family.106 Enea Silvio Piccolomini’s Chrysis (1444) Enea Silvio Piccolomini (1405–1464) was not the first to imitate the style of comic poets of antiquity. As part of his schooling, Tito Livio Frulovisi wrote five comedies, performed in Venice between 1432 and 1435: Corallaria, Claudi duo, Emporia, Symmachus and Oratoria.107 These plays 105 See Fonte, ‘Università e teatro umanistico’, p. 44. 106 See Pittaluga, ‘Leon Battista Alberti, Il Philodoxus e l’invidia’. On Hiensal, see p. 38. 107 Ed. of these five plays and two other ones by Prévité-Orton (1932). The comedy Oratoria was recently edited by Cocco. See especially Cocco, o.c., pp. XI–LXXII; Doglio, Teatro in Europa, pp. 441–44; Gentilini, ‘La commedia umanistica a Venezia’; Ludwig, ‘Titus Livius de’ Frulovisi’; Perosa, Teatro umanistico, antologia, pp. 25–26; Prévité-Orton,

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in Latin prose inscribed a classical intrigue (love thwarted by lack of money or the presence of a rival) in a contemporary context. These loosely structured plays are interesting because they are the first ones, after the Janus sacerdos, of which we are sure that they were performed.108 Then, leaving Venice, probably because he had injured some Venetians in his comedy, Tito Livio Frulovisi travelled to England where he composed two more comedies, Peregrinatio and Eugenius. But one of the most popular comedies at that time was the Poliscena, written in 1433 by Leonardo della Serrata (or perhaps Leonardo Bruni).109 Leonardo della Serrata, born in Vercelli, became clericus Vercellensis. The plot of the Poliscena is the staging of an instance of love at first sight: a young man, Graccus, sees a beautiful girl on her way to church with her mother. He asks his slave, Gurgulio, to help him (Scene i). Poliscena, in a monologue, laments her condition and desires to see the young man again (Scene ii). But the slave, Gurgulio, cannot find any trick (Scene iii). So he asks an old woman, Tharatantara, to help Graccus (Scene iv). In the other scenes Tharatantara meets Poliscena’s mother, Calphurnia, in vain, until Macharius, the young man’s father, speaks with Calphurnia (Scene xiii). The dialogues, in prose, are quick and full of situations and expressions borrowed from Plautus and Terence. Arbea, the last editor of the comedy, counted 34 manuscripts, proof of a great success. It was not until 1444 that the first great Latin comedy of humanism, the Chrysis by Enea Silvio Piccolomini—later to become Pope Pius II—was written in pseudo-senarians, i.e. Latin verses that sought to imitate the iambic senarians of Plautus and Terence.110 This play only saw limited circulation in the Renaissance. While the plot is original, each scene can be considered as indicating an aemulatio of Plautine and, to a lesser extent, Terentian theatre. Opera hactenus inedita T. Livi de Frulovisiis de Ferraria, pp. ix–xxxvi; Rundle, ‘Tito Livo Frulovisi and the place of comedies in the formation of a humanist’s career’; Sabbadini, ‘Tito Livio Frulovisio umanista del sec. XV’; Stäuble, ‘Le sette commedie dell’umanista Tito Livio De’ Frulovisi’, and La commedia Umanistica del Quattrocento, pp. 51–65. 108 See Perosa, Teatro umanistico, antologia, p. 25; Stäuble, La commedia Umanistica del Quattrocento, pp. 62–63. 109 See eds. by Pearson Perry, Giorgio Nonni, J.R. Jones and Antonio Arbea. For the identification of the author of the Poliscena, see Nonni, ‘Della Serrata’, Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, 37 (1989). 110 See the eds. by Cecchini, Charlet and Grund; Charlet, ‘Les pseudo-vers iambiques d’Enea Silvio Piccolomini dans la Chrysis’; Dall’Oco, ‘Sulla Chrysis di Enea Silvio Piccolomini’; Doglio, Teatro in Europa, pp. 445–46; Mariotti, ‘La Philologia del Petrarca’, pp. 167–82; Perosa, Teatro umanistico, antologia, pp. 32–33; Pittaluga, ‘Sint procul meretrices’; Stäuble, La commedia Umanistica del Quattrocento, pp. 69–78.



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Recently, Jean-Louis Charlet presented a study of Piccolomini’s pseu­dosenarian works which may extend at least to the comedies of the end of the fifteenth century, especially those of Giovanni Armonio Marso or Bartolomeo Zamberti.111 The verses, which have ‘ten to sixteen syllables’, show irregularities such as ‘spondees or trochees at the end’, pyrrhics or even trochees ‘in any of the five first feet of the pseudo-senarian’.112 While the overall theme of the Chrysis—love thwarted—is conventional, the structure is not borrowed from any ancient play. The action takes place in a medieval town and not in a conventional Greek city. References or allusions to recent places or events prove once again the will to put the play in the context of clerical life in the quattrocento. The author also gives up the fiction of a young girl snatched from her parents as a child, who became a courtesan against her will, rescued from the clutches of a pimp by the love of a young man without money, but helped by the tricks of his slave, and finally recognized by a member of her family thanks to a fortunate coup de théâtre. Ancient plays are usually concluded with a marriage. The happiness of young people reassured the restless audience in the face of so much misfortune. As a matter of fact, to speak of the restlessness of the audience is somewhat excessive, since the plot was pure convention. In Roman antiquity, the audience came to the theatre to see an adaptation in Latin of a Greek play, to admire the actors who were also dancers, and to enjoy the taste of a musical show. Piccolomini does not present a comedy in this vein. The young girls are courtesans by their own will; the clergy and young men do not wish to marry and, in spite of the last moralizing verses, addressed to the audience in the tradition of Roman theatre, the play does not make virtue triumph on the stage. All or almost all of the characters are rather cynical: their aim is to benefit as much as possible from life’s pleasures. Thus the play, far from being situated in a conventional framework, is a reflection of the lives of young people and clerics. In this play of self-mockery, people’s own lives are staged, without mask, but not without exaggeration or caricature. The issue of the performance of the play was never resolved. Charlet, however, emphasizes the theatricality of this comedy. Even if it has not been staged, it must at least have been conceived as it should be. Piccolomini took care to make characters appear on the stage in pairs 111 See Charlet (2006), pp. 31–36 and ‘Les pseudo-vers iambiques d’Enea Silvio Piccolomini dans la Chrysis.’ 112 Charlet, ‘Les pseudo-vers iambiques d’Enea Silvio Piccolomini dans la Chrysis’, esp. pp. 186–89.

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or couples. Dialogues are favoured. We see in the first scene two clerics of a certain age, Dyphanes and Theobulus, waiting in a street at dusk, for two prostitutes they would like to bring home, Chrysis and Cassina. They wait most of the night, during which the two harlots indulge in the pleasures of love with two other men, Sedulius and Charinus, who are happier than the two clerics. A madam (the lena in Plautus), a cook, servants and another lover of a certain age complete the tableau of the characters on stage. The plot gives the impression of wishing to privilege portrait galleries and the effects of imitatio on the basis of Latin models. This humanist comedy does not present a crafty slave playing every trick to advance his young master’s amorous happiness. It does not present any vocal part. It is written in what resembles iambic senarians, about the status of which the humanist poets are not yet completely sure. It is, therefore, a very free imitation of the spirit of ancient comedy whose plot could have been provided by the novels of Boccaccio. Latin Comedies of the Second Half of the Quattrocento The Epirota of Tommaso Mezzo (b. c. 1447) is also situated in the beginnings of humanist comedy. We do not know, however, when or in what circumstances it was written and staged, between 1470 and 1483, when the play was published in Venice.113 Set in Syracuse, this prose comedy presents the thwarted love of an old woman, Pamphila, for a handsome young man, Clitiphon. The latter, however, loves a beautiful girl, who has no dowry, since fate has separated her from her family. His richly endowed uncle, the eponymous character, originally from Epirus, goes to find her. Finally the marriage takes place. The structure is both simple and complex, since Mezzo multiplies the number of secondary characters. This is not a romantic comedy. We must laugh at the expense of an old woman who plays the coquette. The influence of the novel is obvious. Thus from the first scene onwards, Pamphila recalls the power of love in the hearts of men and justifies the conduct of Helen who, seduced by 113 See Gentilini, ‘Appunti su Tommaso Mezzo e la sua commedia Epirota’; ead., ‘La commedia umanistica a Venezia’; ead., Il teatro umanistico veneto, pp. 7–17; Perosa, Teatro umanistico, antologia, p. 36; Stäuble, La commedia Umanistica del Quattrocento, pp. 106–10. See also Grund, Humanist Comedies, pp. 348–431.



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Paris, abandoned Menelaus. She compares her lover to Alexander the Great and Narcissus. This scene lightly parodies scenes in which love is sung, as in Latin tragedy, and in particular a chorus of Seneca’s Phaedra (ll. 274–357). Boccaccio too is evoked. Pamphila, subjected to Cupid, has a servant named after the mistress of Catullus, Lesbia, but this is also the name of a midwife in Terence’s Lady from Andros. This servant Lesbia talks with an obstetrix (midwife) called Andria in Scene ii. Pamphila is also the name of a girl in Terence’s Brothers; his Self-Torturer provides the name of the young lover Clitiphon and the Eunuch those of Antiphon and Charinus. Although Mezzo reclaims these names, he deeply alters the comic plot. It consists of sixteen scenes, with only a few interrelations. Only Scenes i and ii, iii and iv, v and vi, x to xiii and xiv to xvi are related, and only by the presence of the same character on the stage. It would be illusory to identify an act structure. At best we can identify that Scenes i to iv are centered around the character of Pamphila; Scenes v to vii provide the location of a misunderstanding in the context of a brothel; Scenes viii to xi witness the arrival of the Epirote and the obstacles in his path to find his niece; Scenes xii and xiii allow Epirota to recognize his family in Syracuse; in Scenes xiv to xvi the marriage is organized and we learn that everything ends well, since Pamphila agrees to marry the Epirote, a rich and generous man, motivated by her wish to live in the same house as Clitiphon, in order to pursue her comedy of seduction. This comedy is characterized by an aesthetic of excess, of exuberance, so dear to Plautus, admitting a satire of contemporary society: an old woman makes herself ridiculous by means of make-up to regain her former beauty. The young woman who is loved, Antiphila, does not appear on the stage. The pure and unhappy love of a young woman is not really comic, it just serves to make the plot. However, advice from a beautician, the composition of a love letter using another’s amusing advice and caricatures such as the innkeeper are indications of a wish to renew the genre of ancient comedy. Even the title of the comedy is surprising: it is neither the name of the young lover, nor that of the old Pamphila; it does not originate in a symbolic object as often in the plays of Plautus. It is the name of the uncle who, by his arrival and generosity, solves an amorous conflict. In contrast, Stephanium (1502) by Giovanni Armonio Marso, written in pseudo-senarians, performed in Venice, faithfully follows the structure of a Latin comedy of antiquity: a young man, Niceratus, in love with a poor young girl, Stephanium, sees his wish for a marriage thwarted by the

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avarice of his father, Hegio.114 Thanks to the tricks of a slave, Geta, the old miser is deprived of a treasure that he had carefully hidden. The money could have served the interests of Niceratus, but Hegio discovers the cheat. The history could end badly, especially for the slave, without the intervention of the uncle of the young girl who unexpectedly arrives from Lesbos to take care of his niece. We learn that in fact the girl is free. Moreover, she is now richly endowed by her uncle, and the marriage can take place. The old master forgives—somewhat reluctantly—the slave thief, who is freed. The play owes its success to scenes imitated from Plautus, such as the description of the old miser, or the scenes of the slave cook touting his know-how, or to the caricatures of more contemporary inspirations—for instance, the incompetent and libidinous physician. The plot of the Dolotechne by Bartolomeo Zamberti (1473–?), written before 1502, also in pseudo-senarians, stages the thwarted love of a young man (Mononyus) for his beloved, Rhodostoma.115 The latter, a native of Athens, had been raped and found herself in the hands of a leno. The play ends with the marriage of the two young people after everyone has learned that Rhodostoma is free. The plot is a succession of scenes that, as in Stephanium, are portrait galleries: an old couple deplores the woes caused by old age and discuss the chance of a marriage for their only son (Scene i); the old man asks a slave about the conduct of his son to see if he does not have a secret affair (Scene ii). In these two scenes there is an alternation of scabrous allusions and moral reflections on old age, the best education, the risk of a young man being spoiled by the bad influence of friends, the primacy of beauty over a rich dowry. This is closer to the conversational tone of Horace’s Satires than the usual exchanges between master and slave in Roman comedy. In Scene iii a parasite enters whose only function is to make the audience laugh by his personality, though this has no relation to the plot at all. Scene iv consists of a conversation between an old woman who wants to stay beautiful and her maid who acts as her beautician. Scene v sees the same woman trying to be considered much younger, taking a slave as a judge. But it is in passing that we learn that she embellishes herself to seduce the young man, the comedy’s hero, who, however, loves

114 See Perosa, Teatro umanistico, pp. 36–37, and the eds. by Ludwig, Gentilini, Vecce, and Grosselin-Harter. 115 See Perosa, Teatro umanistico, pp. 36–37; Gentilini, ‘L’ultima commedia umanistica veneziana’; ead., ‘La commedia umanistica a Venezia’; ead., Il teatro umanistico veneto, pp. 143–50.



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a young girl. The ‘ordinary’ plot is thus preserved, though it is admittedly artificial. The play continues for twenty-two scenes, besides the prologue and the address to the reader at the end. Consequently, the scenes more resemble set pieces or bravura pieces put together, than a tightly constructed plot. In fact the scenes are ‘photographs’ reproducing reality. While the characters are borrowed from antiquity, the considerations discussed in the dialogues, monologues and speeches are taken from daily life. An important finding is formulated by the slave Sphalerus: ‘I know by experience’. Comedies, taking lessons from experiences, often give all the more effective instructions as the plays take recourse in caricature and parody. The comedies thus become more and more complex, multiplying subplots or dramatic effects. Thus in the Aetheria, an anonymous comedy at the end of the fifteenth century, the story of a young man recounting his dream teaches us that fate reserved for him as his wife the goddess of Ether. In a young girl that he meets shortly after, he recognizes the goddess that was promised to him. An ‘ordinary’ history of love thwarted because of a dowry invokes the miraculous to enrich a plot that the author in his prologue claims to be very personal.116 Between 1484 and 1488, Angelo Poliziano (1454–1494) presented an analysis of tragic aesthetics that, as pointed out by Pittaluga, marked a watershed in the history of the reception of the genre of comedy. Alessandro Perosa was the first to draw the attention of the historians of humanist drama to the importance of the courses that Poliziano devoted to Terence’s Lady from Andros and the originality of the poetic reflection in the Prologue to Plautus’s Brothers Menaechmus and the letter to Paolo Comparini. In the latter, rather polemical text, already discussed,117 Poliziano criticizes the ‘artificial’ side of humanist comedies written in his age. He discerns in these texts a premature imitation of the great models Plautus and Terence and calls for a comic drama respecting the rules of ancient metrics, presenting a better structured plot, and introducing more elaborate characters, and no stereotypes. And in spite of some exaggeration, Poliziano gives an outline of what would become the great humanist comedy: a ‘regular’ play in the moral tradition of condemnation of vices— in the vein of Horace and Juvenal—and designed to be useful in civilizing

116 See Perosa, Teatro umanistico, pp. 38 and 219–64. 117 See pp. 52–53.

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the audience based on the search for aesthetic pleasure roused by the richness of the plot, the musicality of the verses and the acting. Of all texts made at the end of the fifteenth and the early sixteenth centuries recalling that goal, the prologue that Marso wrote for his comedy Stepha­ nium and the prefaces of Josse Bade to the editions of Terence take pride of place. In his prologue, Giovanni Armonio Marso situates himself in the long tradition of ancient and medieval drama since Cicero and in particular since Donatus’s commentary on the comedies of Terence, conceived as imitations of life.118 Since the rebirth of Latin comedy in the tenth century with the plays written by Hrotsvitha of Gandersheim, this moral tradition has been recalled with great force. To quote the commentary by Donatus, comedy is ‘imitation of life, mirror of custom, image of truth.’ Marso thus takes care to emphasize the originality of his comedy by relating it to the history of ancient drama: Eupolis, Cratinus, Aristophanes, Menander and Philemon as for the Greek tradition, and Livius Andronicus, Caecilius, Plautus, Naevius and Terence for Rome, but he makes no reference to plays written since antiquity.119 The same references appear in the prefaces by Josse Bade, conceived as a history of ancient theatre. These prefaces offer the sum of a humanist’s knowledge of ancient theatre at the dawn of the sixteenth century. It is interesting to compare them to the Syntagma that Del Rio published at the end of that century, to see the extent of the discoveries and advances in theoretical thinking. Badius’s prefaces also develop the history of ancient dramaturgy, from the construction of buildings to the development of scenic design. Gradually and in parallel with the translation or adaptation of Latin comedy, a comic theatre in the vernacular developed which prolonged, renewed and outgrew the inspiration of the first authors of Neo-Latin comedy. Federico Doglio has shown how much experiments with regard to the theatrical place, for instance the ‘prospective stage created by Pellegrino da Udine for the Cassaria, the first comedy of Ariosto’,120 have favoured the 118 For the reception of Cicero, see Halliwell, The Aesthetics of Mimesis, p. 288. For that of De fabula of Evanthius and De comoedia of Donatus, see Hokenson, The Idea of Comedy, p. 30. For a translation in English of the De fabula, see Hardison Jr, in Preminger, Hardison and Kerrane, Classical and Medieval Literary Criticism, pp. 299–305. Bruno Bureau and Christian Nicolas (Université Jean Moulin-Lyon 3) have published an electronic ed. and transl. in French of Evanthii De fabula and Excerpta de comoedia (http://hyperdonat .tge-adonis.fr/editions/html/DonEva.html). 119 See Ludwig’s ed., pp. 93–97; Gentilini, Il teatro umanistico veneto, pp. 81–83 and 117–18; Grosselin-Harter, Le théâtre de Johannes Harmonius Marsus, pp. 112–31 and 462–66. 120 See Doglio, Teatro in Europa. p. 45.



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extension of the number of plays in Italian for the pleasure of the audience. Gradually the rather basic decor is abandoned, for a conventional framework inherited from medieval theatre, a luxury for innovation and refinement in the context of princely courts. It is the courts that constitute the public of this theatre and that promote its dissemination.121 In its imitation of the language of the poetic models, Plautus and Terence, in the exploration of feelings and the caricature of men’s vices, and in its concern for dramaturgy, Neo-Latin comedy formed a gradual transition between medieval theatre of laughter and the classical comedy in the vernacular.122 The Permanence of Religious Drama: From the Tradition of Religious Performance to the Modernity of Aesthetic Drama by the Jesuits In the early sixteenth century, religious tragedies are written, heirs to the sacred performances of the Middle Ages. Among the important plays a few dramas called Christus patiens,123 translations of a Greek tragedy attributed to Gregory of Nazianzus (a compilation of verses borrowed from Euripides), should be noted, and a tragedy Theoandrothanatos, on the Passion of Christ (1508 and 1514),124 and another one, Theocrisis (on the Last Judgment, 1514), written by Giovanni Francesco Conti (or Quintianus Stoa, 1484–1557). While Easter and the Resurrection had been the origin of the birth of liturgical drama, the chapters of the Gospels that relate the Passion inspired numerous dramatists at the end of the fifteenth and the early sixteenth centuries. This inspiration is not confined to Italy. 121 See Doglio, Teatro in Europa. pp. 46–47. 122 The question of the performance of these plays and the transition of Latin comedy of the quattrocento to Italian comedy has particularly been studied in the frame of the colloquy Teatro, scena, rappresentazione dal Quattrocento al Settecento, acts published by Andrioli a.o. See also Gareffi, La scrittura e la festa; Hénin, Emmanuelle, ‘Ut pictura theatrum’; Mamone, Il teatro nella Firenze medicea; Marciak, La place du prince; Padoan, L’avventura della commedia rinascimentale; Zorzi, Il teatro e la città. 123 See the Latin translation by Franciscus Fabricius: Divi Gregorii Nazianzeni theologi tragoedia Christus patiens, latino carmine reddita per Franciscum Fabricium, Antverpiae, in aedibus Ioan. Steelsii, 1550. See Parente, ‘The Development of Religious Tragedy’. 124 On Theoandrothanatos see Gardenal’s and Selmi’s ed.. All the historians of theatre, among whom Chassang, Des essais dramatiques imités de l’Antiquité au XIVe et au XVe siècle and Perosa, Teatro umanistico, pp. 16–17, have stressed the importance of the representation of the Passion.

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In France, the Christus xylonicus (1529) by Nicolas Barthélémy is situated in this tradition. The First Jesuit Theatre in Italy125 Unlike other religious orders at the time, the Jesuits saw in drama a tool for religious edification, or more accurately, religious education. Finally, they were close to the position of Thomas Aquinas: acting is permitted when it relaxes the mind, while respecting morality. The originality of the Jesuits consisted in making theatre a tool of pedagogy. But, as Michael Zampelli recalls, it is necessary to state that this enthusiasm for drama was not shared by all Jesuits.126 The first plays written followed the tradition of sacred performances and can be understood within the growth of drama in Protestant lands. The number of colleges increased, and the repertoire was extended, although it kept its religious inspiration.127 The plays are performed as part of celebrations organized within the colleges, mainly for the distribution of the year-end prizes, for the entry of a prince or an eminent ecclesiastical prelate, for the celebrations corresponding to the veneration of the Virgin or saints, and for Carnival. It seems that the initiative for a theatrical performance for the awards came from the College of Coimbra in Portugal, then to the Sicilian colleges (Messina, Palermo and Catania). The Collegio Romano and the Seminario Romano, since its founding in 1565, gradually extended this practice128 and the first name to receive significant renown for having written such plays is Father Stefano Tuccio, under the aegis of the Collegio Mamertino, then the Collegio Romano.129 125 For this chapter we are gratefully indebted to the catalogue of authors of the Societas Jesu by Carlos Sommervogel, and the pioneering and fundamental works of Marc Fumaroli and Bruna Filippi. 126 See Zampelli, ‘Lascivi Spettacoli’. For the Church’s attitude towards theatre, see for example De Reyff, L’Église et le Théâtre and Dubu, Les églises chrétiennes et le théâtre. 127 For notices, lists or programmes of many of them, see esp. Boriaud, ‘La poésie et le théâtre latins au Collegio Romano’; Filippi, Il teatro degli argomenti; Quarta, ‘Drammaturgia gesuita nel Collegio romano’, pp. 135–46. These three studies deal with theatre in the Collegio Romano or in Sicily. For Jesuits’ plays that were played in Milan from 1588, see Damiano, ‘Drammaturgia e spettacolo al Collegio Milanese di Brera’ and ‘Il Collegio gesuitico di Brera’. For a study of the function of programmes, see Filippi, ‘Il teatro al Collegio Romano’. For a survey of the history of Jesuit theatre in Italy, see D’Amico, Enciclopedia dello Spettacolo, pp. 1159–78; Oldani and Yanitelli, ‘Jesuit Theater in Italy: Its Entrances and Exit’. 128 See Filippi, ‘Il teatro al collegio romano: dal testo drammatico al contesto scenico’. 129 For the role of the Collegio Mamertino in the beginning of Jesuit theatre, see Soldati, Il collegio Mamertino. For the Collegio Romano, see Filippi, La scène jésuite, esp. pp. 41–45.



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The theatrical production of Father Stefano Tuccio (1540–1597) is revealing for the relationship of this theatre with sacred inspiration.130 A native of Messina, Tuccio wrote three plays on Old Testament themes: Nabuchodonosor (1562, now lost), Goliath (1563) and Judith (1564).131 Then he devoted three plays to the life of Christ: Christus nascens, Christus patiens and Christus iudex inspired by the medieval performances related to the important moments of liturgy, Christmas, the Passion and the Resurrection. The Christus nascens, performed in Rome in 1573, is called Eclogue because of the presence of shepherds coming to worship Christ.132 The Christus patiens (1569 and 1574) stages the Passion.133 The Christus iudex (or De extremo mundi iudicio), staged in Rome in 1569 (then in a revised edition in 1573), was performed in many Jesuit colleges in Europe.134 Jean-Marie Valentin has shown the reluctance this play on the final Judgment could raise in the German lands, both from the political authorities and the general public,135 and how this drama designed to impress or even frighten consciences, to summon to conversion those who dissented from the strict path of Catholicism by making them fear the Last Judgment, did not receive a warm welcome everywhere. Valentin also shows that the play rapidly lost its attraction because it borrowed too many features from medieval aesthetics of sacred theatre such as a static structure in tableaux, and a confrontation between demons and angels. Besides, the use of the dactylic hexameters instead of the iambic trimeter in the three plays on the life of Christ implied they were more oriented toward celebration than to tragedy. The choruses in lyric metres, others in the rhythm of anapaestic dimeters, intensify this sense of celebration. However, these choruses are not merely interludes between the acts, but weave a network of echoes and mirrors.136 In this respect Tuccio joins the 130 The most comprehensive study on Tuccio’s drama is written by Mirella Saulini (Stefano Tuccio s.j.). We also refer to Boriaud, ‘La poésie et le théâtre latins au Collegio Romano’, pp. 91–92; Sacco Messineo, ‘I primordi del teatro gesuitico in Sicilia e la sua evoluzione’; Quarta, ‘Drammaturgia gesuita nel Collegio romano’. See further the introduction of José Quiñones Melgoza to his ed. of Judith. The three dramas about the life of Christ were recently edited by Saulini (Rome, 2011). 131 On Goliath, see Saulini, Stefano Tuccio s.j., pp. 50–67; on Judith, Quarta, ‘Drammaturgia gesuita nel Collegio romano’, pp. 124–29; Saulini, o.c., pp. 67–84. 132 See Quarta, ‘Drammaturgia gesuita nel Collegio romano’, pp. 130–32; Saulini, Stefano Tuccio S.J., pp. 88–97. 133 See Saulini, o.c., pp. 97–112. 134 See Quarta, ‘Drammaturgia gesuita nel Collegio romano’, pp. 132–34; Saulini, o.c., pp. 113–48. 135 See Valentin, Les jésuites et le théâtre, pp. 337–38. 136 See Saulini, Stefano Tuccio s.j., pp. 149–59.

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Senecan practice of construing a tragedy. This, however, raises the question of ‘Christian tragedy’.137 By the Resurrection and Christ’s victory over death, Christianity excludes any tragic perspective of life. In his commentary on Seneca’s tragedies, Del Rio indicated how the concepts of fatum and tragic curse are alien to the Christian faith. This is a warning to the readers that not everything can be borrowed from Seneca. It was not until the plays of Father Bernardino Stefonio that the aesthetics of religious Neo-Latin tragedy were profoundly renewed. With the plays by Father Tuccio, Latin Jesuit drama was not able to rival the wealth of theatre in the vernacular, especially in Italy. The need for a renewal became urgent if the expectations of an audience eager for entertainment of richly elaborated plays were to be met. Therefore, the plays of Tuccio were replaced by plays inspired by Biblical or pagan antiquity. Gradually, the need for hagiographic tragedies and religious dramas grew. This is not an aesthetic revolution, but the culmination of a reflection that would seek a source of renewal in antiquity, especially in Seneca. The first Latin tragedy written by Bernardino Stefonio is a martyr drama on St Symphorosa and her seven sons.138 They were victims of persecutions during the confrontation between Christians and Emperor Hadrian. Cardinal Baronius stressed the parallel with the martyrdom of St Felicity and her seven sons. This tragedy recalls the history of the seven brothers Maccabees.139 The inspiration of Tuccio had an important afterlife. Parallel to a Senecan type of tragedy performed at the College of Rome, a theatrical vein persisted, especially in Sicily, as a heritage of sacred representations. This theatrical model strongly influenced Ortensio Scam­ macca (c. 1562–1648), the author of some fifty tragedies in Italian during his professorship at the Jesuit College of Palermo.140 His dramatic oeuvre is close to mystical inspiration, especially in its choreography. It also takes its originality from the acquaintance of their author with the great Greek tragedies.141

137 See Saulini, o.c., pp. 161–74. 138 See Filippi, Il teatro degli argomenti, pp. 28–29; Quarta, ‘Drammaturgia gesuita nel Collegio romano’, pp. 148–49. 139 2 Maccabees 7. See the remarks in this volume on Nicolas Caussin’s Felicitas, pp. 437–39. See also Baronius, Annales ecclesiastici, 2, Antwerp 1617, pp. 191–92 (year 175). 140 See Sacco Messineo, Il martire e il tiranno and ‘I primordi del teatro gesuitico in Sicilia e la sua evoluzione’. 141 Di Bella, ‘La sublimation de la violence sacrificielle dans la dramaturgie jésuite sicilienne’.



neo-latin theatre in italy73 Spiritual Exercises

It has long been demonstrated that there is a methodical similarity between the meditations proposed by Ignatius’s Spirituales exercitationes (1522–1524), the contemplation of pious imagines and the portrayal of the combat between virtues and vices in theatre, the latter being a tradition inspired by the Psychomachia by the Latin poet Prudentius in the early fifth century. In drama, the spectator sees scenes and tableaux that are etched in his soul and thus encourage meditation. The Spiritual Exercises do the same thing: they recommend visualization of scenes, especially in the life of Christ, the imagination of the places where he lived.142 Thus ‘the Christus judex of Father Tucci is a dramatization on stage of the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius.’143 Similarly, the famous meditation on ‘the two Standards’ (fourth day of the second week), those of Christ and Lucifer, departs from the visualization of a spiritual combat.144 In the tragedy, the confrontation between an innocent victim and his accusers, between a hero scoffed and condemned to death, and a sovereign who is prey to his passions, stirred up by perfidious advisers, makes theatre no longer a place of illusion but one of the expression of the theological truth. The theatre becomes an image of spiritual struggles of earthly life and an appeal for conversion to eternal life. Therefore, in this type of college drama it is not the mere application of courses in rhetoric that has to be searched. Theatrical rhetoric serves spirituality. Religious Drama, Rhetoric, Apologetics and Ratio studiorum In her doctoral thesis Bruna Filippi states that the main purpose of the Jesuits is to form the ideal speaker according to the criteria developed by Cicero of the vir bonus dicendi peritus. In the spirit of Cicero, this ideal orator was also an ideal statesman. Jesuit drama is thus inseparable from the three goals of rhetoric: probare (to convince), movere (to move) and delectare (to please). The audience has to be convinced, but this can only be achieved by using the thrill of eloquence and the charm of words. Drama is the application of the constitutive rules of the art of eloquence:

142 See Fabre, Un monogramme de l’imagination. 143 See Fumaroli, ‘Le Crispus et la Flavia du P. Bernardino’, p. 507. 144 For the function of language in Loyola’s Spiritual Exercises, see Barthes, Sade, Fourier, Loyola and Quarta, ‘Drammaturgia gesuita nel Collegio romano’, pp. 119–22 and 133–34, where she emphasizes the binary structure of Tuccio’s whole plays, borrowed from the Spiritual Exercices.

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to find an appropriate subject (inventio); then to arrange the arguments (dispositio); to use images and tropes (elocutio); to retain the text (memoria); and finally to play it with the expressions of the body and inflections of the voice (actio).145 In the case of a Jesuit teacher he must find the subject of a religious drama (biblical or not), structure the plot, use images and metres of the ancient poets, in particular Seneca, train his pupils to memorize the text and then act it before an audience. The pupil thus learns to express himself in public. If he does not take part in a debate, he incorporates characters who in their dialogues, speeches and monologues express themselves by the three rhetorical genres identified by Aristotle: demonstrative, deliberative or judicial. As an exercise of rhetoric, drama finds its place in the Ratio studiorum (definitive fashion 1599, but since 1586 developed in the Collegio Romano, revised in 1591), where the structuring of education is specified in detail. Theatre itself, however, finds only a limited place that is accompanied by some restrictions: tragedies and comedies must be written in Latin, there may be not too many of them, and nothing may be inserted between the acts that is not in Latin and that is inconsistent with the moral. The last rule is that no feminine roles must be introduced, not even female dress. Such restrictions originated in the prohibitions of the Christians of the first centuries, especially of Tertullian, Cyprian or Augustine. Yet the Jesuits themselves did not respect these instructions. One of the most important authors of this period is Ortensio Scammacca, mentioned previously.146 Having written at least 46 plays, this poet, who worked at the College of Messina at the end of the sixteenth and the early seventeenth centuries, modelled his drama on the Greek tragedies of Sophocles and Euripides in his composition of original works of inspiration. Even though he in fact wrote tragedies on secular subjects, he also put on stage the lives of saints. Other authors have passed their work on to posterity, such as Francesco Benci who, in addition to two comedies (Ergastus, 1587 and Philotimus, 1590), wrote a tragedy entitled Hiaeus, featuring the prophet Elisah, the fall of King Joram, the son of Jezabel, and the advent of Jehu.147 But the most significant example of this reappropriation 145 For the actio see Conte’s thesis, Action oratoire et écriture, and for teaching of rhetoric, Filippi, La scène jésuite, pp. 125–216. 146 See Sacco Messineo, Il martire e il tiranno and ‘I primordi del teatro gesuitico in Sicilia e la sua evoluzione’. 147 2 Kings 9–10. See Rädle, ‘Italienische Jesuitendramen auf bayerischen Bühnen des 16. Jahrhunderts’; Quarta, ‘Drammaturgia gesuita nel Collegio romano’, pp. 138–46 (with a detailed survey of the plot, pp. 139–40).



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of ancient drama is provided by Bernardino Stefonio. As early as c. 1595, he had written a tragedy named Sancta Symphorosa,148 and in 1597 he had another tragedy entitled Crispus performed at Rome. The Tragedies by Bernardino Stefonio and Alessandro Donati The Apogee of Italian Jesuit Theatre The Crispus (1597) by Bernardino Stefonio Bernardino Stefonio (1560–1620) abandoned the exclusively biblical inspiration of Stefano Tuccio to render a Christian colour to an ancient myth and a page in Roman history.149 Jesuit drama thus leaves the narrow framework of the Bible to reappropriate ancient culture. Stefonio rewrites the myth of Phaedra in the context of Roman history: Crispus, son of Emperor Constantine, is accused by his mother-in-law Fausta of planning to dishonour her. Therefore, the Emperor condemns his son to death. The plot is designed in such a way that Constantine assumes the role of Theseus, Fausta that of Phaedra, and Crispus becomes a new Hippolytus. But in the Argumentum of the play Stefonio indicates that, while Constantine and Fausta closely resemble their ancient models, Crispus shows more constancy than Hippolytus (‘Hippolyto ipse constantior’): the purity of his morals, his exemplary past and his contempt of death make him superior to the son of Theseus. The title also shows that the plot of the play should enhance the hero having become a victim. In this respect, Stefonio follows the tradition of Euripides or tradition A of the Senecan manuscripts, for the Etruscus manuscript is the only one that gives this play the title of Phaedra and not Hippolytus. The opening scene was inspired by Agamemnon or Thyestes. In these plays Seneca makes a damned spirit resurge from hell to defile and curse his former palace and its inhabitants at the instigation of the Furies. In Thyestes it is Tantalus who is forced to curse the palace of the Myceneans, a curse that is passed down from generation to generation. It is a place that is defiled by a family dynasty.150 In Phaedra, the heroine is the victim 148 See Quarta, ‘Drammaturgia gesuita nel Collegio romano’, pp. 148–50. 149 Bernardino Stefonio also performed, in 1593, 1613 and 1616, a mime (Mimo) on the occasion of the prize ceremonies for the pupils of the classes of grammar, humanities and rhetoric at the Roman College. This play imitating a genre from antiquity combined utility and pleasure in accordance with Horace’s rule. See Boriaud, ‘La poésie et le théâtre latins au Collegio Romano’, p. 91 and Filippi, Il teatro degli argomenti, pp. 73–78. 150 See Dupont, Les monstres de Sénèque.

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of a family curse. Being the daughter of Minos and Pasiphae, Phaedra is condemned by the monstrous love of her mother for a bull to conceive monstrous loves too. In Stefonio’s play this legendary background disappears, the hagiographic model perfects the martyr portrait. Indeed, pagan mythical allusions are replaced by references to the religious world of Christianity. While the first dramatic scene of Phaedra’s emergence from hell is borrowed from Seneca, the wife of Theseus is not accompanied by a Fury. Although since the Middle Ages the Furies have been incorporated into the pantheon of demonic gods in the service of the Devil—for example, they can be found in Dante’s Inferno (IX, ll. 34–60)—Stefonio takes care not to make them appear on stage. Phaedra is escorted by a wicked demon (Malus Daemon) whose role is similar to that of ‘deities avenging crimes’. From the first lines of the tragedy, it is made clear that the crime committed is not due to a prior fault in the family, since Fausta is not the parent of Phaedra: ‘See this soil heavy with Phaedra’s deceits’.151 If the tragedy had been situated in Greece or Rome, the soil would have been the soil connected with the family crime, Mycene. In Stefonio’s tragedy, the action is situated in Rome. The space is no more that of a palace, but extends to all Christianity. The crime committed is no longer a crime: since it has become a sin, it affects the human condition. While Phaedra declares that everywhere she looks she sees her old crime (ll. 33–34), Stefonio follows the ancient model (Seneca), but strictly speaking, she cannot recognize places she has never seen, such as Rome. Therefore, one can understand that Phaedra, as in Correr’s Progne, a play with which Crispus has many analogies, sees in advance the crimes that will develop in the palace. Attending these scenes, she sees her own crime. Another borrowing from Senecan drama, similar to Progne, is that the tragic crime must be crueler than all those already committed. The Wicked Demon calls, in a moving chiasmus, for the father to surpass Theseus and the mother-in-law Phaedra.152 These lines can also be read as an injunction that the playwright addresses to himself. In emulation of his illustrious predecessor he must go further to renew the tragic aesthetics. The more the conduct of Theseus and Phaedra is exacerbated, the more the heroism of Crispus will shine. In late antiquity, the more relentlessly

151 Stefonio, Crispus, l. 1: ‘Haec illa tellus fraudibus Phaedrae gravis.’ 152 Stefonio, Crispus, ll. 53–54: ‘Theseum vincat pater / Noverca Phaedram.’



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the executioners harm their victims, the more shining the example of steadfastness in faith the martyrdom of Christians was, and for others an appeal to conversion.153 Thus the influence of hagiography has fashioned the tragic aesthetics. The Jesuits were able to resume this tradition of Greek tragedy (especially Euripides’ Iphigenia at Aulis) renewed by George Buchanan’s Jephthes and the early editions and translations of Greek theatre. Tragedy is no longer the irruption of monstrosity on earth, but the celebration of the final victory of the victim over his tormentors. In this respect, Stefonio’s play is exemplary. The great number of reprints, translations and performances of these 4119 lines proves that it has become a model of constructing a tragic plot.154 This Crispus has even been called ‘the model of Christian tragedy.’155 Bernardino Stefonio, Flavia (1600) Encouraged by his success, Stefonio wrote for the jubilee year 1600 a tragedy called Flavia. This play is a religious drama on the death of martyrs and inaugurates the long tradition of martyr dramas. The Emperor Domitian condemns to death consul Flavius Clemens and his two sons on the day he learns they have converted to Christianity, even though he had adopted these two boys shortly before.156 The reversal of fortune is the work of Apollonius of Tyana, who passed for a philosopher interested in occult practices. Although this event in Roman history was described in the Life of Domitian by Suetonius (XV, 1), the History of Rome by Dio Cassius (LXVII, 14) and the History of the Church by Eusebius (III, 8), it is mainly through Philostratus’s Life of Apollonius of Tyana that Apollonius is well known.157 He was put in prison and then expelled by Domitian. However, thanks to the intervention of another consul, Fulvius Valens, Apollonius was returned to favour. Not satisfied with this imperial grace, he was bent on revenge. His rage was directed at Flavius Clemens and his family, because they had converted to Christianity. Another tradition, however, holds that they were converted to, or at least approached, Judaism. Apollonius, interpreting the Sibylline Books and the predictions

153 Filippi, ‘Il corpo glorioso: Il martire sulla scena gesuitica (XVII secolo)’; ead., ‘Le corps suspendu’; Fragonard, ‘Morts en martyrs, morts en service de charité.’ 154 See Livera, Le thème tragique du Crispe. 155 See Filippi, La scène jésuite, p. 41. 156 Cf. Fumaroli, ‘Théâtre, humanisme et contre-réforme à Rome’, and ‘Le Crispus et la Flavia du P. Bernardino Stefonio s.j.’ 157 See Philostratus, The Life of Apollonius of Tyana, ed., transl. Jones.

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of the Fortuna of Praeneste, claimed that Flavius Clemens and his sons had to be punished if the wrath of the gods were to be avoided.158 In this five-act play with thirty scenes, pagan religion is opposed to Christian faith. Gentile priests are indignant to see their cults neglected and express their desire for revenge. Like the evil heroes created by Seneca, Apollonius of Tyana, feeling bitter resentment (dolor), falls in a furor during which he, summoning the underworld, seeks to invent revenge without precedent.159 The opposition of pagan and Christian religion is clear in Scenes iii and iv of Act I, which present Egyptian mystery cults and a hymn for Christ and Mary, led by a double chorus. One aspect draws our attention, the dramaturgical concern of Stefonio. We see numerous stage directions: ‘now Damis [Apollonius’s accomplice] leaves the stage’; ‘now the stage changes to give the appearance of a desolate wilderness’; ‘now an earthquake occurs and the place is shrouded in darkness’; ‘now trochaic lines follow and all magic incantations must be uttered loudly and mournfully’; ‘now we hear dogs barking and see a flame penetrating through gaps.’160 The second act is also ended with a double Christian choral song celebrating the praise of Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary. In the central, third, scene of the act, the priest of Jupiter expresses before Emperor Domitian his despair: ‘In Rome Christ is king.’161 The Emperor utters an inexorable sentence about the Christians: ‘Let them die’ (l. 636 moriantur). The structure of the act prepares the reversal of the situation that will imminently strike the consul Flavius Clemens and his relatives. The last scene before the choral song presents a confrontation (agôn) between Apollonius and the Apostle John. This agôn is the culmination of the tension emerging from the opening lines of Act II. In a sense, the choral song soothes the tension created by the confrontation and the fear of seeing Apollonius’s plans triumph. Act III is extremely spectacular and swift. While the previous act consisted of long scenes, this one includes three scenes in 49 lines. One of

158 As there is no modern ed. of the Flavia written by Bernardino Stefonio and of the Svevia composed by Alessandro Donati, two great models of Christian tragedy, we have provided a longer summary of each plot. 159 See Dupont, Les monstres de Sénèque, pp. 55–90, 163–88. 160 Stefonio, Flavia, l. 365: ‘Hic Damis abscedit’; l. 373: ‘hic mutatur scena, in speciem horridae solitudinis’; l. 427: ‘hic fit terrae motus et obscuratur locus’; l. 429: ‘sequentes trochaici totumque incantamentum alta et ferali voce pronunciandum’; l. 527: ‘hic latratus canum exprimitur: flamma per rimulas penetrans visitur.’ 161 Stefonio, Flavia, l. 595: ‘In Urbe Christus regnat.’



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the other scenes, the fourth, is entirely didactic and rhetorical: the two Caesars are invited to interrogate the Apostle John on the qualities required to lead the empire. Exempla from the world of epic, among which the comparison of Ulysses and Achilles and the stichomythia between the two young men slow down the progress of the tragedy, but participate in the didactic and moral intention of the young actors and the audience. Spectacular is also the staging of a battle in the last scene.162 The tension of Act IV, written in three long scenes followed by a choral song, culminates in the last, graphic scene, in which, during a sacrifice to the gods, Apollonius reveals to the Emperor that the gods require Flavius Clemens and his sons to be punished for their Christian faith. Previous scenes partly accentuate the harshness of the reversal of the situation, as they offer an opportunity to celebrate the great names of Roman history. The chorus that closes the act condemns the worship of idols. The fifth act depicts the culmination of Apollonius’s revenge. A messenger announces to John that he must go into exile at Patmos, whereas Apollonius, repeating the victory cry of Agamemnon in Seneca’s Agamem­ non (l. 550 ‘We have won’, ‘vicimus’), exults in the reversal that has befallen Flavius’s family. Through a ruse he persuades the two boys that the Empire is converting to Christianity. They fall into the trap and rejoice before the Emperor. Flavius Clemens and his family are condemned and Apollonius utters a cry of joy.163 A messenger informs the chorus that Flavius is being thrown into prison. The Emperor unsuccessfully tries to make the boys, adopted by him, apostatize, as does Apollonius, who tries to get the two boys to sacrifice to Jupiter, but in vain. After a very brief song announcing the imminent death of the victims, the actual death of Flavius’s two sons is announced. The last scene adds to the horror, since Flavius Clemens is forced to look at the decapitated heads of his children before he himself is sentenced to death. Initially, the female characters, especially Flavius Clemens’s wife, appear on the stage. Later, Stefonio removed this scene so as not to violate the rule of the Ratio that one should refrain from introducing female roles. In this particularly dramatic play, Stefonio is partly inspired by Seneca’s Thyestes for Domitian’s killing of the two sons and for the cruel scene in which the Emperor shows Flavius Clemens his two sons. The play is mainly structured around the opposition of the two advisers, of evil,

162 Stefonio, Flavia, l. 570: ‘hic datur armorum pugna.’ 163 Stefonio, Flavia, l. 358: ‘O me beatum!’

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i.e. Apollonius of Tyana, a follower of witchcraft and counsellor to the Emperor, and of good, the Apostle John, who advises Flavius. This antagonism shows the influence of the meditation ‘on the two standards’, so characteristic of the Spiritual Exercises.164 The spectacular scenes are intended to strike the minds of the spectators in order to turn them towards spiritual conversion. Such a confrontation between counsellors inspired Jesuit playwrights all over Europe. This can be seen in the structure of the tragedies by Nicolas Caussin, which were often produced, translated and reprinted as well. The plays devoted to the death of Boethius and Symmachus, and other illustrious Romans unjustly sentenced to death by an emperor who is duped by ambitious knaves, are in line with Stefonio’s Flavia. Stefonio too is didactic in his moralistic view, as well as in his inclusion of several kinds of ancient realia in his play. Alessandro Donati, Svevia (1629) In 1629, Alessandro Donati (1584–1640),165 a Jesuit from Siena, and a professor at the Roman College, performed and published a tragedy called Svevia.166 The play had some afterlife since it was reprinted in the anthology published in Antwerp in 1634, as well as in Cologne. The title refers to the House of Swabia, in particular to the family of the medieval German Emperor Frederick II Hohenstaufen (1194–1250). The play relates the assassination attempt against Conrad IV, Frederick’s son, by Giovan del Moro, general in the army of Jordanus, King of Jerusalem and Sicily, also called Henri, and Conrad’s brother, at the moment at which Campania and Naples had just surrendered. Giovan del Moro (Dux Ioannes Afer cognomento Maurus), bribed by Manfred, Prince of Tarente and natural son to Frederick, who aspired to be an emperor,167 took advantage of the celebrations in Naples at the meeting between the two brothers to hatch an attack against Conrad, while Jordanus himself was unaware of 164 See Fumaroli, ‘Le Crispus et la Flavia du P. Bernardino’, p. 513 (also Héros et orateurs, p. 148): ‘L’antithèse entre Apollonius de Tyane, entouré de sa troupe de noirs démons, et l’Apôtre Jean, entouré de chœurs de jeunes chrétiens, est une version scénique de la Méditation des Deux Etendards.’ 165 See Bauer, ‘Multimediales Theater’, pp. 213–15; Boriaud, ‘La poésie et le théâtre latins au Collegio Romano’, p. 94; Costanzo, ‘L’Ars poetica di Alessandro Donati’; Filippi, ‘Le spectacle des idoles dans le théâtre de conversion jésuite’, p. 171; Happ, Die Dramentheorie der Jesuiten ; Li Vigni, ‘Poeta quasi creator’; O’Malley a.o, The Jesuits II; Salviucci Insolera (2004), p. 44. 166 See Filippi, Il teatro degli argomenti, pp. 124–30. 167 Manfred was killed at the Battle of Benevento in 1266 after having been banished; see Pispisa, Il Regno di Manfredi.



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the conspiracy. Their goal was to hand over power to Jordanus. In fact, Manfred wished to kill Jordanus after Conrad’s death, in order to rule alone. The attack failed, but Conrad, who suspected his brother of having been the principal conspirator, poisoned him before dying himself poisoned by Manfred, or in another version killed by disease, in 1254. The play is fully Senecan in structure and character. It consists of five acts (and fourty-three scenes!) of which the first four are closed by a choral song. The tragedy shows the audience revenge, hubris and spectacular scenes. It contains simultaneous scenes in different locations. Act I opens with a spectacular, expository scene where Divine Justice, escorted by heavenly creatures singing songs, appears at night to the hermit Pietro del Morrone (who became Pope Celestinus V in 1294), to tell him what disasters will befall the house of Swabia. The next scene, Scene ii, shows a besieged city, surrounded by military camps, before dawn. Scene iii prepares for the reversal of fortune: in a monologue, a consiliarius of Conrad predicts the death of the two brothers. This consiliarius is endowed with the ability to prophesy substitutes—in the 13th century—for the pagan soothsayers and pagan priests whose prophecies could be spectacular in ancient tragedies and epics. The same counsellor warns Conrad of the conspiracy of Manfred, but the king is blinded by his victories. This tragic blindness, caused by hybris, will cause his death. Although he will incite his troops and take the city of Naples, Manfred’s conspiracy is revealed by a servant. Conrad learns of the arrival of Jordanus and Isabella. In the next scene, Manfred and Jordanus are received by Conrad. Then a chorus consisting of citizens of Naples sings of the return of peace and its relief at being set free.168 After another warning scene in which a consiliarius urges Jordanus to realize the latent hatred of Manfred toward him and a scene in which the prefect and the senators of the city of Naples are pleased to see the return of peace, the spectators witness the triumphal entry of Conrad IV in Naples. Donati, showing on the stage Conrad’s triumph, prepares, by means of tragic irony, the king’s pathetic end. A stage direction indicates that the scenery changes at the end of the scene to reveal the inner city. Scene iv is, in fact, built in counterpoint: the joy of Naples and of Conrad IV during the first three scenes vigorously contrasts with the atmosphere of hatred of this scene, during which Manfred hatches the conspiracy. The next scene prolongs the funereal atmosphere by calling on stage the 168 They do so in a song of 17 couplets consisting of a Glyconean followed by an Asclepeadean minor, in imitation of Horace, testifying to Donati’s poetic skills.

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Shades that avenge crimes, who warn Manfred. Far from repenting, he sends them back without heeding their warnings. Then the Fury appears— a characteristic trait of Senecan aesthetics—in order to exacerbate the hatred of Manfred. The hermit Pietro del Morrone returns to the stage to try—albeit unsuccessfully—to calm Manfred’s furious folly. A chorus sings that one should move towards the kingdom of Heaven, and not to the world that is destined to be annihilated.169 Act III shows the assassination attempt. Triumphal games, organized in Scene ii, express the audience’s taste for show. The servant, urging Manfred to complete the crime, reveals the unfolding of the plot. The attack was carried out but failed. Revenge and punishment of criminals are prepared, and Jordanus is informed of the imminent danger. Three short scenes follow where we witness the turmoil of the soldiers and advisers. In the last scene, Jordanus tries to prove his innocence and to be reconciled with his brother. This scene, recalling juridical rhetoric, presents a long plea. In eight Sapphic stanzas, the chorus laments the hatred between brothers, giving in particular the tragic example of Eteocles and Polynices. The fourth scene of Act IV is the culmination of the tragic tension: Conrad, in the presence of Manfred and the prefect, orders the arrest and execution of Jordanus. The next two scenes develop the circumstances leading to the reversal that will strike Jordanus. At this moment in the tragedy, there is a very spectacular scene, in which Pietro del Morrone, on stage again, has a vision of the imminent tragic events. The act culminates in the imprisonment of Jordanus. The chorus laments the evils of Discord.170 In Scene i of the final act, a counsellor of Jordanus tries to warn the king’s mother Isabelle. The pathetic second scene is devoted to the tears of Isabelle who is preparing to try to change Conrad. Manfred mocks the warnings of Pietro and prepares to poison Conrad. Scenes iv to vi in particular show the traits of rhetorical training: Pietro del Morrone, then Jordanus himself and finally Isabelle are unable to convince Conrad. At the end of the act Conrad, regretting his verdict against his brother, dies in turn, poisoned by Manfred. This revenge tragedy continues to be a theme dear to the Jesuit poets: treason and calumny in one ruling family and the treachery of evil advisers. Faithful to Senecan aesthetics, Donati endeavors, from the beginning 169 This song consists of 8 Alcaic strophes, in imitation of Horace. 170 The song is in 29 distichs consisting of an iambic catalectic dimeter followed by an iambic dimeter.



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of the tragedy, to show the spectators the bloody events of the last act. The summary is based on the text of the 1634 edition. This edition merely contains the text preceded by some lines of explanation. Thanks to the work of Bruna Filippi,171 we have valuable information about the performance of the spectacle in 1629 at the Collegio Romano, where the tragedy was staged five times in the presence of illustrious people, including cardinals. A prologue featured the siren Parthenope, who gave her name to the city of Naples, where the play is set. Interludes of songs and dances between the acts portrayed the mythological character of Proteus. The gloomy and pathetic atmosphere of the play contrasted sharply with the fairy-tale spectacle of the prologue and the interludes. Afterlife of the First Tragic Models of the Italian Jesuits The two plays of Bernardino Stefonio nourished the Jesuits’ reflection of the tragic, in particular how they could situate their own theatrical writings at a time when Aristotle’s Poetics was the authority. Stefonio’s tragedies strongly inspired the theoretical reflection of Father Tarquinio Galluzzi in the Virgilianae vindicationes et commentarii tres de tragoedia, comoedia, elegia (Rome, 1621) and the Rinnovazione dell’Antica tragoedia e difesa del Crispo (Rome, 1633).172 Filippi has studied the influence of the theoretical thought of Galluzzi in comparison to all Jesuit drama and to other theoretical treatises such as the Ars poetica by Alessandro Donati, published in Rome in 1631.173 It turned out that the Aristotelian catharsis was re-interpreted in the light of the moral and edifying finality of Christian tragedy. Thus Aristotle was reread according to Plato: tragedy, far from encouraging the spectator to be freed from passions, invites him to consider that he could become a victim too. The edifying goals and the admiration for the tragic hero are, in fact, an invitation to lift up his eyes to God. The catharsis is no longer an immediate salvation obtained by seeing a dramatic plot, but a deliverance that takes place through faith. Theatre thus becomes a form of meditation.174 Jesuit theatre, as the

171 Filippi, Il teatro degli argomenti. 172 See Fumaroli ‘Le Crispus et la Flavia du P. Bernardino’; Stegmann, L’héroïsme cornélien, p. 25. 173 See Filippi, Il teatro degli argomenti, pp. 45–55; ‘The Orator’s Performance’; ‘L’emblème dans l’action dramatique’; Valentin, Les jésuites et le théâtre, pp. 145–95. 174 See the works Bruna Filippi devotes to this theatrical education, as well as the studies on the image and the emblems. See De Certeau, La fable mystique; Dekoninck,

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emblem, has been perfectly defined by Filippi: ‘The reflection evoked in the spectator by seeing a sublime example, is tantamount to abandoning the horizontal identification with the character, to project oneself into the vertical tension of the aspiration to the divine.’175 The success of Jesuit theatre is proved by the wide dissemination of books containing the most famous plays that have become models. Before the first theatre experiments two collections of biblical plays were published: Comoediae ac tragoediae aliquot ex Novo et Vetere Testamento (Basle, 1541) and Dramata sacra (Basle, 1547). In turn, the Jesuits compiled their best plays in two volumes entitled Selectae PP. Soc. Jesu tragoediae (Antwerp, 1634), of which the first volume contains the three best known plays: Crispus, Flavia and Svevia; the second volume did not contain any play by Italian Jesuits. Many plays, however, have disappeared or are known only by their programmes. We confine ourselves in this consideration of the Jesuit theatre in Italy to the Collegio Romano as examined by Bruna Filippi in her accurate and comprehensive study of the arguments of seventeenth-century plays performed at that college. The subjects are no longer necessarily borrowed from antiquity, nor are the plays necessarily written in Latin. In 1632 Leone Santi (1585–1651), first working at the Collegio Romano, then at the Collegio Germanico, wrote in Italian a biblical drama, Il Gigante, devoted to the biblical episode of the confrontation between David and Goliath.176 Similarly, tragicomedies, comedies and pastorals in which a prominent place was given to music and ballet, gradually attained a lively success.177 Mario Bettini S.J. (1582–1657), professor at Parma, also survived for his lyrical virtuosity in his tragicomedy Rubenus, published in 1614, and for his pastoral play Ludovicus (1622).178

‘Ad imaginem’; Fabre, Un monogramme de l’imagination; Spica, Symbolique humaniste et emblématique. 175 See Filippi, ‘L’emblème dans l’action dramatique’, p. 385. Somehow, when she speaks of ‘divine illumination’ by theatre, we could suggest that in 1315 the Ecerinis of Albertino Mussato, by resuming the Senecan tragic model, had a similar effect. However, Mussato’s tragedy, an invitation to celebrate Providence, did not succeed by a ‘sublime example’, but by fear and pity felt by the audience who identified more easily with the victims since they themselves were Paduans and the events were recent. 176 See Filippi, ‘L’emblème dans l’action dramatique’; Saulini, ‘Il teatro gesuitico’. Santi has also written Latin tragedies: Somniator, sive Joseph, published in Rome, 1648, and Philippus tragoedia, produced and published in Rome, 1656. 177 See Franchi, Drammaturgia romana, p. cx. 178 See Aricò, Scienza, teatro e spiritualità barocca; Laurens, Anthologie, pp. 282–97 and 423–24; Laurens, La dernière muse latine; Oldani and Yanitelli, ‘Jesuit Theater in Italy: Its Entrances and Exit’, p. 23.



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Contemporary history was also staged. The worship of St Ignatius gave rise to performances of the apotheosis of the saint at the Roman College in 1622. In fact, celebrations in honour of the canonization of Ignatius of Loyola were rich in theatrical representations. Thus in the Apoteosi o Consagratione dei Santi Ignatio Loiola e Francesco Saverio, each act portrayed the allegory of a country coming to Rome to pay homage to the saints.179 Unusually, the music that accompanied the play has been preserved. Furthermore, from the mid sixteenth century onward the Jesuit theatre was oriented towards the oratorio. Blending lyric and drama, narrative and song, religious subject and allegory, this genre was born in Rome within the framework of the Chiesa Nuova of the Oratorians in the entourage of the Italian priest Filippo Neri (1515–1595).180 The new dramatic genre leading to the opera was the natural apogee of lyricism and tragedy. In particular, choruses had already given birth to lyrical interludes dividing the acts in tragedies written in the sixteenth century. The composer Giacomo Carissimi (1605–1674), who profoundly influenced the aesthetics of Latin oratorio, saw his name attached to the Collegio Germanico where he held the position of Kapellmeister. Thus from the second half of the seventeenth century, performances of plays by Jesuits are strongly determined by the importance of music and ballet. The theatre becomes full-blown spectacle again, as it was in antiquity. This evolution is not limited to Italy; the Jesuit Paullinus composed the first German oratorio, entitled Philotea in 1643.181 For the place of the performances in the context of the College of Milan, we refer to recent works that provide a rich analysis of the spec­ tacle, especially the volume published by Annamaria Cascetta and Roberta Carpani, and the book that Giovanna Zanlonghi has devoted to the relationship between theatrical performance, word and image in the perspective of a theatre of education in Milan in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.182 Giovanna Zanlonghi thus opens up the drama­tic work of Emanuele Tesauro (1592–1675) when he taught rhet­ oric   at the College of Brera and especially the tragedy Hermenegildus 179 See Filippi, Il teatro degli argomenti, pp. 89–94 and ‘The Orator’s Performance’, pp. 512–29. 180 See Apollonio, Storia del teatro italiano, I, pp. 627–36: ‘L’espressione musicale del sentimento religioso nella Lauda e nell’Oratorio’. 181 See Valentin, Les jésuites et le théâtre, pp. 569–72. 182 For the Jesuit theatre in Milan in the eighteenth century, see Zanlonghi, ‘The Jesuit Stage and Theatre in Milan’, pp. 539–42, where the author fights the misconception that we are witnessing the progressive decline of Jesuit influence.

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(1621).183 She shows how closely the play is connected in its moral allegory to the decoration of the catafalque built on the occasion of the funeral of Philip III in the same year. The mise en scène of virtues is featured in parallel form, especially prudence, which the protagonist of the play demonstrates.184 The rhetoric thus rivals the figurative arts in celebrating the virtues of idealized great princes. A parallel is drawn between the entry of Mary Anne of Austria in 1649 and a tragedy on Theseus written on that occasion by an anonymous author. Zanloghi then presents the Silvia (1633) of Leonardo Velli, professor of rhetoric at the College of Milan, written during the visit of Cardinal Ferdinando, brother of the King of Spain Philip IV. While the plays are so closely related to the context that saw them created, an in-depth study of the characteristics of a performance that is both a tragicomedy and a pastoral play allows us to highlight the audience’s taste for this form of spectacle following the Aminta of Torquato Tasso and the Pastor fido of Battista Guarini at the end of the sixteenth century.185 This theatre and its educational mission continued for over a century until the abolition of the Company of Jesus by the brief Dominus ac Redemptor of Clement XIV. The works that were preserved, however, are mainly composed in Italian, although plays in Latin were also written, by for instance Giuseppe Carpani (1683–1762).186 Three names at least deserve mention: Saverio Bettinelli (1718–1808), whose plays are influenced by French classical tragedy and Voltaire,187 Agostino Palazzi (1725– 1806), the author of a Eustachio staged and published in Brescia in 1758 that was often reprinted (in 1763, 1768 and 1805, for instance), and Bartolomeo Boasi (1737–1815). While the plots, often borrowed from antiquity, are situated in the moral and edifying tradition of Jesuit theatre, the choice of the vernacular language not only reflects the influence of contemporary literary and poetical models, but also the intention to address a still wider audience. 183 See Sarnelli, ‘Emanuele Tesauro dall’Hermenegildus (1621) all’Ermenegildo (1661)’. For the presentation of the plot, we refer to Zanlonghi, Teatri di Formazione, pp. 54–70, esp. p. 56 for the presentation of the historical facts, as well as to Zanlonghi, ‘The Jesuit Stage and Theatre in Milan’, pp. 536–37. See also my discussion of the play by Nicolas Caussin devoted to the same martyr, in this volume, pp. 448–50. 184 See Zanlonghi, ‘The Jesuit Stage and Theatre in Milan’, pp. 536–37. 185 See Zanlonghi, Teatri di Formazione, pp. 71–130; Scaduto, ‘Il teatro gesuitico’, pp. 194–215. 186 See Oldani and Yanitelli, ‘Jesuit Theater in Italy: Its Entrances and Exit’, pp. 18–32; Zanlonghi, o.c., pp. 233–383. 187 See Bonora, ‘Le tragedie et la poetica del tragico di Saverio Bettinelli’ and Minervini, Tiranni a teatro.



neo-latin theatre in italy87 Further Reading

Beyer, Hartmut, Das politische Drama im Italien des 14. und 15. Jahrhunderts: Humanistiche Tragödien in ihrem literarischen und funktionalen Kontext (Münster: Rhema, 2008). Chevalier, Jean Frédéric, Trois tragédies latines humanistes: Achilles d’Antonio Loschi, Progne de Gregorio Correr et Hiensal de Leonardo Dati (Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 2010) Les Classiques de l’Humanisme. Chiabò, Maria, and Federico Doglio (eds.), I Gesuiti e i Primordi del Teatro Barocco in Europa: XVIII Convegno Internazionale, Centro Studi sul Teatro Medioevale e Rinascimentale (Roma-Anagni 26–30 ottobre 1994) (Viterbo: Centro Studi sul Teatro Medioevale e Rinascimentale, 1995). Filippi, Bruna, Il teatro degli argomenti: Gli scenari seicenteschi del teatro gesuitico romano: Catalogo analitico (Rome: Institutum Historicum S.I., 2001) Bibliotheca Instituti Historici S.I., 54. Grund, Gary R., Humanist Comedies (Cambridge, MA, London: Harvard University Press, 2005) The I Tatti Renaissance Library, 19. ——, Humanist Tragedies (Cambridge, MA, London: Harvard University Press, 2011) The I Tatti Renaissance Library, 45. Guastella, Gianni (ed.), Le rinascite della tragedia: Oigini classiche e tradizioni europee (Rome: Carocci, 2006). Perosa, Alessandro, Teatro umanistico, antologia (Milan:Nuova Accademia editrice, 2006). Pittaluga, Stefano, La Scena interdetta: Teatro e letteratura fra medioevo e Umanesimo (Naples: Liguori, 2002). Stäuble, Antonio, La commedia umanistica del Quattrocento (Florence: Istituto nazionale di studi sul Rinascimento, 1968).

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Alberti, Leon Battista (1404–1472) is one of the greatest humanists of Quattrocento Italy. His De pictura (after 1435) and De re aedificatoria (1452) soon became standard treatises read by all artists and architects. He was of illegitimate birth, born in a family that was exiled from Florence and that rejected him after his father’s death. Yet, he could count among his friends great men such as Lorenzo the Magnificent. He wrote two versions of his first Latin comedy in prose entitled Philodoxeos fabula (1424). Work Philodoxeos fabula, ed. Cesarini Martinelli (1977); transl. by Jones and Guzzi (1993); Grund, Humanist Comedies, pp. 70–169. Studies Perosa, Teatro umanistico, pp. 21–23; Pittaluga, ‘Prologhi e didascalie nel teatro latino del Quattrocento’; Pittaluga, ‘Leon Battista Alberti e la libertà’; Pittaluga, ‘Leon Battista Alberti, Il Philodoxus e l’invidia’; Stäuble, La commedia Umanistica del Quattrocento, pp. 25–32. Anonymous, Aetheria, comedy written at the end of the Quattrocento. Work Aetheria, ed. Franceschini, ‘L’Aetheria, commedia umanistica’; Italian translation by Perosa, ‘Eteria di Anonimo’, Teatro umanistico, pp. 219–64. Study Franceschini, ‘Di una ignota commedia latina umanistica.’ Anonymous, Janus sacerdos, comedy written in Pavia, 1427. Work Janus sacerdos, ed. and Italian transl. Faccioli, Il teatro italiano, I, 2, pp. 335–84; Viti, Due commedie umanistiche pavesi. Studies Bruscagli, ‘Lo Janus sacerdos e il teatro umanistico’; Stäuble, La commedia umanistica del Quattrocento, pp. 32–34. Armonio Marso, Giovanni (Johannes Harmonius Marsus) is the author of one tragedy and one comedy. The first, De rebus Italicis deque triumpho



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Ludovici XII regis Francorum tragoedia, is devoted to the triumphal entry of Louis XII in Milan, whereas the comedy, Stephanium, is an imitation of the Latin comedies on the thwarted loves of a young man. Works De rebus Italicis, ed. Tournoy (1978), ed. and French transl. by GrosselinHarter (2009). Stephanium, ed. and German transl. by Ludwig (1971); ed. and Italian transl. by Gentilini (1983); ed. and French transl. by Grosselin-Harter (2009). Studies Grosselin-Harter, Le théâtre de Johannes Harmonius Marsus; eadem, ‘Le double visage de l’envie dans le théâtre de J. Harmonius Marsus’; Schnur, ‘Corollarium: Some Observations on Prosody and Metre’; Vecce, ‘La Stephanium di Giovanni Armonio Marso.’ Barzizza, Antonio (c. 1401– ?) was born in Bergamo, but after the exile of his family he was raised by his uncle, Gasparino Barzizza, who was a famous professor of rhetoric. Thus, Antonio became a student at the University of Bologna. It is not known when exactly he wrote his comedy Cauteriaria. Perhaps he composed it during his stay in Bologna between 1420 and 1425 (as suggested by Perosa), or in Pavia (according to Pandolfi), but other critics assume a later date, even after 1450 (Stäuble). Work Cauteriaria, ed. Beutler (1927); Italian translations: Perosa, Teatro umanistico, pp. 89–130; Artese, Teatro goliardico dell’Umanesimo, pp. 443–549. Studies Doglio, Teatro in Europa, 1, pp. 416–23; Pandolfi, Storia universale del teatro drammatico, 1, pp. 226–28; Perosa, ‘Barzizza, Antonio’; Pittaluga, ‘Prologhi di commedie medievali e prologhi di commedie umanistiche’; idem, ‘La Cauteriaria: Note di lettura’; Rosso, ‘Tradizione testuale ed aeree di diffusione della Cauteriaria di Antonio Barzizza’; Sottili, ‘Il Petrarca e l’Umanesimo tedesco’; Stäuble, La commedia umanistica del Quattrocento, pp. 19–24. Benci s.j., Francesco (1542–1594), was a pupil of Marc-Antoine Muret. He became a professor at the Collegio Romano, and delivered the funerary eulogy on two cardinals, Alexander Farnese (1589) and Antonio Carafa

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(1591), as well as the eulogy on Muret (1585). He wrote two Latin comedies, Ergastus and Philotimus, and one tragedy, Hiaeus. Works Ergastus (Milan, 1587); (Rome, 1587); Philotimus (Rome, 1590); (Rome, 1591); Hiaeus (c. 1590). Studies Quarta, ‘Drammaturgia gesuita nel Collegio romano’; Rädle, ‘Italienische Jesuitendramen auf bayerischen Bühnen des 16. Jahrhunderts’; Sommer­ vogel, Bibliothèque de la Compagnie de Jésus, 1, coll. 1285–92. Bettini s.j., Mario (1582–1657) was professor of mathematics and philosophy at Parma. He wrote two plays that impressed both his contemporaries and posterity by their originality. Pierre Laurens has shown that Bettini wanted to renew versification by stressing accent instead of metre. Rubenus is a tragicomedy, famous because of the stylistic feature that was to compete with the song of the nightingale in act V, whereas Ludovicus was a pastoral play. The edition of Rubenus is accompanied by a treatise written by Denis Ronsfert exposing the new metres employed by the author. Works Rubenus hilarotragoedia satyropastoralis... cum notis (Parma, 1614). Ludovicus, tragicum sylviludium (Parma, 1622); (Paris, 1624). Studies Aricò, Scienza, teatro e spiritualità barocca; Laurens, Anthologie de la poésie lyrique latine, pp. 282–97 and 423–24; idem, La dernière muse latine, pp. 245–63; Oldani and Yanitelli, ‘Jesuit Theater in Italy’; Sommervogel, Bibliothèque de la Compagnie de Jésus, 1, coll. 1426–29. Cornazzano Antonio (c. 1429–c. 1484), born in the area of Piacenza, is primarily known for several treatises, especially the treatise on dance (1455), dedicated to the Milanese Sforza family. Around the same time (between 1449 and 1455) he wrote a Latin prose comedy, published by Pittaluga. The most recent study of his life and works was carried out by William Smith (with a full bibliography up to 1992). It also included his treatise on dance (pp. 80–107). Work Fraudiphila, ed. Pittaluga (1980).



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Studies Smith, ‘Antonio Cornazano’; Pittaluga, ‘Grafia e aplografia in un passo della Fraudiphila’; idem, ‘Proverbi e facezie di Antonio Cornazzano.’ Correr, Gregorio (1409–1464) was a pupil of Vittorino da Feltre at the prestigious school of Mantua. While still an eighteen-year old student, he wrote his Latin tragedy Progne, modelled upon the darkest plays of Seneca. Being an author of many works in imitation of literary genres from pagan antiquity such as pastorals, satires, hymns; in his later years, however, he wrote only works for Christian purposes, after choosing an ecclesiastical career in 1431. Work Progne (Venice, 1558); ed. and transl. by Berrigan and Tournoy (1980); Casarsa (1981); De Vries (1987); Onorato (1994); Chevalier, Trois tragédies latines, pp. 98–207; Grund, Humanist Tragedies, pp. 110–87. Studies Beyer, Das politische Drama im Italien, pp. 174–202; Chevalier, ‘Le spectacle de la cruauté’; idem, ‘Peut-on parler de scène d’exposition ou de prologue’; idem, ‘Les larmes de Procné’; Guastella, L’ira e l’onore, pp. 209–33; Marcello, ‘Reescrituras teatrales del mito de Progne y Filomena.’ Dati Leonardo (1408–1472) lived in the circle of Florentine humanists and was notably a friend of Leon Battista Alberti. He is also the author of eclogues, an elegy, an epic and many other poems. At the end of his life, he became pontifical secretary of Nicholas V, and then Bishop of Massa Marittima. His dramatic work consists of one tragedy, Hiensal or Hiempsal. Works Hiensal/Hyempsal, ed. and transl.: Berrigan, (1976); Onorato (2000); Chevalier, Trois tragédies latines, pp. 209–88; Grund, Humanist Tragedies, pp. 188–243. Studies Beyer, Das politische Drama im Italien, pp. 203–53; Chevalier, ‘Le monstre Liuor’; Stok, ‘La Hiensal Tragoedia di Leonardo Dati.’ Donati s.j., Alessandro (1584–1640), born in Siena, was a professor at the Collegio Romano. In 1622 he wrote a tragedy on the martyrdom of St. Pirilamo, and in 1629 a tragedy on the house of 13th-century Swabia, with the title Svevia. He also published in Rome an Ars poetica (1631), and

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four books on the topography and architecture of Rome (Roma vetus ac recens, 1638). Works Svevia (Rome, 1629); (Cologne, 1630); Selectae PP. Soc. Iesu tragoediae, vol. 1. Ars Poetica (Rome, 1631); (Cologne, 1633); (Bologna, 1659). Studies Filippi, Il teatro degli argomenti, pp. 124–30; Sommervogel, Bibliothèque de la Compagnie de Jésus, 3, coll. 131–33. Frulovisi, Tito Livio, from Ferrara, lived in the first half of the Quattrocento (c. 1400–c. 1457). Close to Guarino of Verona, he translated Greek texts. After he became a teacher in Venice, he wrote five comedies that were performed there in a school setting, and then two other comedies, written in England. Works Opera, ed. Prévité-Orton (1932) (Corallaria, pp. 4–32; Claudi Duo, pp. 33–64; Emporia, pp. 65–104; Symmachus, pp. 105–50; Oratoria, pp. 151–84; Peregrinatio, pp. 185–220; Eugenius, pp. 221–86). Peregrinatio, transl. Smith (2003). Oratoria, ed. and transl. Cocco (2004; 2010). Studies Cocco, Oratoria, pp. xi–lxxxi; Gentilini, ‘La commedia umanistica a Venezia’; Jocelyn, ‘The two Comedies of Tito Livio de’ Frulovisi allegedly written in England’; Ludwig, ‘Titus Livius de’ Frulovisi’; idem, Litterae Neolatinae, pp. 70–97; Marzari, ‘Presenza di Luciano nel teatro umanistico’; Perosa, Teatro umanistico, 25–26; Prévité-Orton, Opera, pp. ix–xxxvi; Rundle, ‘Tito Livo Frulovisi and the place of comedies’; Sabbadini, ‘Tito Livio Frulovisio umanista del sec. XV’; Stäuble ‘Le sette commedie dell’ umanista Tito Livio de’ Frulovisi’; idem, La commedia umanistica del Quattrocento, pp. 51–65, 260, 278. Loschi, Antonio (c. 1368–1441) was a secretary of the Count of Milan, Giangaleazzo Visconti, but after 1406, he became apostolic secretary of several popes: Gregory XII, Alexander V, John XXIII (1410–1414, during Western Schism), Martinus V and Eugenius IV. He wrote his tragedy Achilles c. 1390, shortly after the victorious entry of Giangaleazzo Visconti in Vicenza and the fall of Antonio della Scala (1387).



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Works Achilles (Venice, 1636) in Albertini Mussati Historia Augusta Henri VII Caesaris et alia; (Leiden, 1722) in Thesaurus antiquitatum et historiarum Italiae, VI, 2; (Padua, 1843); ed. Da Schio (1843); transl. Berrigan (1975); ed. and transl. by Zaccaria (1981); Chevalier, Trois tragédies latines, pp. 1–97; Grund, Humanist Tragedies, pp. 48–109. Studies DBI 66 (P. Viti); Beyer, Das politische Drama im Italien, pp. 105–51; Chevalier, ‘L’originalité de la mise en scène tragique de la mort d’Achille par Antonio Loschi’; Cloetta, Beiträge zur Literaturgeschichte, pp. 91–147; Faraone, Antonio Loschi e Antonio da Romagno; Gärtner, ‘Zwei konjekturen zum Prolog der Achilles-Tragödie des Antonio Loschi’; Grisafi, ‘Fortuna, fides e regnum nell’ Achilles di Antonio Loschi’; Gualdo, ‘Antonio Loschi, segretario apostolico’ (1406–1436)’; Paduano, ‘La prototragedia e le categorie del discorso drammatico’; Paratore, ‘L’influsso dei classici, e particolarmente di Seneca, sul teatro tragico latino del tre e quattrocento’; Pittaluga, La Scena interdetta; Zaccaria, ‘Antonio Loschi e Coluccio Salutati’; idem, ‘Per l’edizione dell’Achilles di A. Loschi.’ Martirano, Coriolano (1503–1557) was Bishop of the San Marco Argentano, in Calabria, and a secretary of the Council of Trent. He translated Greek plays into Latin: Aeschylus’ Prometheus, Sophocles’s Electra, Euripides’s Medea, Hippolytus, Bacchae, Phoenicians and Cyclops, and Aristophanes’s Plutus and Clouds; he also translated the Odyssey. In 1542 he wrote a tragedy Christus on the life of Christ. Works Tragoediae VIII Medea, Electra, Hyppolitus, Bacchae, Phoenissae, Cyclops, Prometheus, Christus; comoediae II Plutus Nubes Odysseae lib. XII Batrachomyomachia. Argonautica (Naples, 1556; 1563). Il Cristo tragedia di Coriolano Martirano Vescovo di Cosenza trasportata in versi toscani, transl. Aurelio Camillo Francesco Bernieri-Terrarossa (Parma, 1786); ed. Galati (1962). Studies Fanelli, La figura e l’opera di Coriolano Martirano; idem, ‘Tragico e comico, sacro e profano, nel teatro di Coriolano Martirano’; Mund-Dopchie, ‘Un travail peu connu sur Eschyle’; Pometti, ‘I Martirano.’ Messo, Tommaso (second half of the Quattrocento) is little known. Originating in Venice, from a noble family, he was passionate about

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classical texts and he wrote many plays, of which only the Epirota is extant (Venice, 1483). The reprints of 1516, 1517 and 1547 are proof of its success. Works Epirota (Venice, 1483); ed. and transl. by Braun (1974); Gentilini, Il teatro umanistico, pp. 8–69; Grund, Humanist Comedies, pp. 348–431. Studies Gentilini, ‘Appunti su Tommaso Mezzo e la sua commedia Epirota’; eadem, ‘La commedia umanistica a Venezia’; Stäuble, La commedia umanistica del Quattrocento, pp. 106–10. Mussato, Albertino (1261–1329), a Paduan notary, was crowned Poet Laureate in 1315 for his tragedy and his historical work De gestis Henrici VII. There was a commentary on the play, written by Guizzardo of Bologna and Castellano of Bassano. This tragedy, Ecerinis, depicts the violence of the lord of Verona of the 13th century, Ezzelino da Romano. Albertino Mussato, engaged in the political struggles between Padua and Verona, ended his life in exile after Can Grande della Scala managed to impose his influence on Padua. Works Ecerinis: ed. Padrin (1900; = 1975); ed. and transl. by Chevalier (2000), esp. pp. clxix–ccviii; Grund, Humanist Tragedies, pp. 2–47. See Chevalier, o.c. pp. clxxiv–clxxv, for all the translations before 2000. Studies Beyer, Das politische Drama im Italien, pp. 55–104; Billanovich, ‘Il preumanesimo padovano’; Pastore Stocchi, ‘Un chapitre d’histoire littéraire aux XIVe et XVe siècles: Seneca poeta Tragicus’; idem, ‘Dante, Mussato e la ­tragedia’; Locati, La rinascita del genere tragico nel medioevo. Petrarca, Francesco (1304–1374) is considered to be the first humanist. He has written a comedy, Philologia, that is now lost. Studies Charlet, in Piccolomini, Chrysis, ed. Charlet, pp. 31–32; Mariotti, ‘La Philologia del Petrarca’; Prete, ‘Il frammento della « Philologia » di Francesco Petrarca’; Rico, ‘Variaciones sobre la Philologia de Petrarca’; Ruiz Arzalluz, El hexámetro de Petrarca. Piccolomini, Enea Silvio (1405–1464) wrote between 1431 and 1435 Latin poems modelled on literary genres from ancient Rome: a collection of



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elegies, Cinthia, a pastoral poem and epigrams. Crowned Poet Laureate by the Emperor in 1442, he distinguished himself two years later by writing the Historia de duobus amantibus (Story of two lovers) and a Latin comedy titled Chrysis, featuring the loves of young clerics. His literary aspirations did not prevent him from carrying out his duties as cardinal’s secretary. He even took up an ecclesiastical career in 1444 and became Bishop, Cardinal and Pope (Pius II) in 1458. Work Chrysis, ed. Boutemy (1939); Sanesi (1941); Cecchini (1968); ed. and transl. by Charlet (2006; see pp. 39–45 for a complete bibliography of editions and studies); Grund, Humanist Comedies, pp. 284–347; transl. Perosa, Teatro umanistico, pp. 189–209. Studies Charlet, ‘Les pseudo-vers iambiques d’Enea Silvio Piccolomini dans la Chrysis’; Dall’Oco, S., ‘Sulla Chrysis di Enea Silvio Piccolomini’; Mariotti, Scritti medievali e umanistici; Pittaluga, ‘Sint procul meretrices’; Stäuble, La commedia umanistica del Quattrocento, pp. 69–78; idem, ‘Un dotto esercizio letterario’; for situating Piccolomini in the humanist context of his age: Rotondi-Secchi Tarugi, Pio II e la cultura del suo tempo; eadem, Pio II umanista europeo. Pisani, Ugolino (c. 1405–c. 1445) was born in Parma. He became a student at Pavia and was crowned Poet Laureate by Emperor Sigismund c. 1432. He participated in the Council of Basle, 1441, where he assisted the anti-pope Felix V. He wrote two plays: the Repetitio egregii Zanini, a parody of the ceremony of the poetical coronation, and the Philogenia, a comedy putting on stage the abduction of a young girl, Philogenia, and the ruse invented to allow her to meet her lover freely. The play was an immediate success in the fifteenth century after it was translated into German, along with Plautus’s Menaechmi and Bacchides by Albrecht von Eyb (1420–1475), who had also been a student at Pavia. Works Repetitio magistri Zanini coqui, ed. Viti (Due commedie umanistiche pavesi, 1982). Philogenia, comoedia (Toulouse, 1476), ed. Roselli and transl. Artese (Pandolfi and Artese, Teatro goliardico dell’Umanesimo, 1965); Perosa, Teatro Umanistico, pp. 133–80; Grund, Humanist Comedies, pp. 170–283.

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Studies Hermann, Deutsche Schriften des Albrecht von Eyb, 2: Die Dramenüber­ tragungen; Limbeck, S Theorie und Praxis des Übersetzens; Stäuble, La commedia umanistica del Quattrocento, pp. 41–48; Viti, ‘Struttura e fonti della Philogenia di Ugolino Pisani.’ Santi, Leone, S.J., (1585–1651 or 1652), native of Siena, was notably a professor at the Collegio Romano. He is the author of a drama in Italian, Il Gigante, and of two Latin tragedies, on a biblical character, Joseph, and on King Philip II of Spain. Works Il Gigante (Rome, 1632). Somniator, sive Joseph (Rome, 1648). Philippus (Rome, 1656). Studies Filippi, Il teatro degli argomenti, pp. 13, 35, 131–40, 199–200, 208, 262, 402; eadem, ‘L’emblème dans l’action dramatique’; Oldani and Yanitelli, ‘Jesuit Theater in Italy: Its Entrances and Exit’; Saulini, ‘Il teatro gesuitico: Il Gigante del P. Leone Santi’; Sommervogel, Bibliothèque de la Compagnie de Jésus, 7, coll. 590–94. Scammacca s.j., Ortensio (1562–1648) was one of the greatest playwrights of his age, who worked at the College of Palermo. He was the author of at least 46 plays, often adaptations of Greek tragedies by Sophocles and Euripides, moulded into a perspective of Christian elevation. Works Tragedie sacre e morali, 14 vols. (Palermo: 1632–1648). Tommaso in Conturbia, ed. Donzelli (1976). Studies Bancheri, ‘La Poetica della Tragedia Sacra nelle Opere di Ortensio Scammacca’; Di Bella, ‘La sublimation de la violence sacrificielle dans la dramaturgie jésuite sicilienne’; eadem, ‘Le rôle de l’imaginaire mystique dans la dramaturgie jésuite de la Sicile espagnole.’ Sacco Messineo, Il martire e il tiranno; eadem, ‘I primordi del teatro gesuitico in Sicilia’; Sommervogel, Bibliothèque de la Compagnie de Jésus, 7, coll. 684–86. Serrata, Leonardo della (c. 1410–1487), clericus Vercellensis, is proba­ bly   the author of the Poliscena in 1433. This popular drama, Poliscenae



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comoedia or Gracchus et Poliscena comoedia, was also attributed to Leonardo Aretino Bruni (c. 1370–1444), famous for his History of the Florentine People, but, according to a manuscript, the author is Leonardo della Serrata. Giorgio Nonni (DBI 37 in 1989) gives a complete description. Works Calphurnia et Gurgulio: comoedia auctore Leonardo Aretino. In monasterio Sortenti, 1478. Then many editions are published at the beginning of the sixteenth century, for example in Leipzig. Poliscena, a Latin humanist comedy of the early Renaissance, ed. Perry; Poliscena, ed. Nonni; Comedia Poliscena, ed. Jones; ed. and transl. Arbea; Poliscenae comoedia, ed. Malatrait (forthcoming). Studies Arbea, ‘Una original versión renacentista compendiada de la comedia humanística latina Poliscena’; Bering, ‘Akademisch gebildetes und einfaches Theaterpublikum im spätmittelalterlichen Polen’, esp. pp. 31–32; Nonni, ‘Della Serrata’, DBI, 37. Stefonio s.j., Bernardino (1560–1620) was professor of Humanities and Rhetoric at the Collegio Romano since 1591. After the Mimus (1593), he wrote three tragedies, of which Crispus and Flavia were performed and re-edited many times. Works S. Symphorosa (Rome, 1655), 1–90. Mimus (ibid.), pp. 91–222. Crispus (Rome, 1601); (Mussiponti, 1602); edition: Strappini (1998); see for a complete list of the editions: Sommervogel, Bibliothèque de la Compagnie de Jésus, 7, coll. 1527–31. Flavia (Rome, 1621); (Pont-à-Mousson, 1622); (Paris, 1622); (Florence, 1647). Crispus and Flavia also in Selectae PP. Soc. Iesu tragoediae, 1. Studies Faivre, ‘La Flavia’; Filippi, La scène jésuite; eadem, Il teatro degli argomenti, pp. 73–78 (‘Argomento del Mimo’), 84–88 (‘Argomento della Flavia’), 113–18, 173–77, 216–20, 302–04, 338–40 and 454–58 (‘Argomento del Crispo’); Fumaroli, ‘Théâtre, humanisme et contre-réforme à Rome’; id., ‘Le Crispus et la Flavia du P. Bernardino Stefonio s.j.’; id., ‘Les jésuites et la pédagogie de la parole’; Livera, Le thème tragique du Crispe; Sommervogel, Bibliothèque de la Compagnie de Jésus, 7, coll. 1527– id. ‘Aspects’.

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Quintianus Stoa (Quinziani Stoa), Joannes Franciscus (Conti, Giovan Francesco), (1484–1557), a native of Brescia, has written two Biblical Latin tragedies on Senecan models, on the Passion of Christ (Theoandrothanatos), and on the Last Judgement (Theocrisis). He was responsible for the education of the future king Francis I and enjoyed the honour of being crowned Poet Laureate by Louis XII in 1509. Works Theoandrothanatos (Milan, 1508); (Lyon, 1515); also in Christiana opera (Pavia, 1510); (Paris, 1514); and in Christianae poeseos opuscula aliquot (Basle 1542); Theocrisis in Christiana opera (Paris, 1514); ed. Gardenal and Selmi (2002). Study Parente, ‘The Development of Religious Tragedy.’ Telesio, Antonio (or Antonius Thylesius, 1482–1534) was born and died in Cosenza; he was a humanist, poet and professor in Milan, particularly known for a work on colours (Libellus de coloribus) and for a commentary on the Odes of Horace. He published in Venice in 1529 a Latin tragedy on the myth of Danae, with the title Imber aureus; its success is confirmed by many editions. Work Imber Aureus (Venice, 1529); (Nuremberg, 1530); (Antwerp, 1546); ed. Beck (2000 and 2006). Studies Minicucci, ‘De Vergilio apud Antonium Thylesium Tydei Picentini discipulum’; eadem, ‘Quibus virtutibus Antonii Thylesii niteat Imber aureus.’ Tesauro s.j., Emanuele (1592–1675 or 1677) was Professor of Rhetoric at the College of Milan. He left the order in 1634. Particularly known for two treatises Il cannocchiale aristotelico (1654, 1670) and La Filosofia morale (1671) that was inspired by Aristotle too, he also wrote one tragedy in Latin, Hermenegildus. His two tragedies in Italian, Ippolito and Edipo, were adaptations of plays by Seneca. Works The three plays were published in 1661 (Torino: B. Zavatta). Hermenegildus; ed.: Frare and Gazich (2002). Edipo: ed. Ossola and Getrevi (1987).



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Studies Costanzo, Critica e poetica del primo Seicento, 3; Frare, Retorica e verità; Merola, La messinscena delle idee; Sarnelli, ‘Emanuele Tesauro dall’Hermenegildus (1621) all’Ermenegildo (1661)’; Sommervogel, Biblio­ thèque de la Compagnie de Jésus, 7, coll. 1943–45; Vuilleumier, ‘Les conceptismes’; Zanlonghi, ‘The Jesuit Stage and Theatre in Milan.’ Tortoletti, Bartolomeo (Bartholomaeus Tortolettus, c. 1560–c. 1648) was doctor of sacred theology. He wrote a Latin tragedy in five acts, Agrippina major, but he is best known for an epic on the Biblical character of Judith (Bartholomaei Tortoletti Iuditha uindex e uindicata, 1628). He also wrote in Italian the tragedies Gionata (1624), Il giuramento o’vero Il Battista santo, and La scena reale (1645), as well as Rime (1645). Work Agrippina major (Rome, 1639); Agrippina major, ed. Beck 2006. Studies Carpanè, L., Da Giuditta a Giuditta : l’epopea dell’eroina sacra nel Barocco. Alessandria 2006 (Edizioni dell’Orso). Tuccio s.j., Stefano (1540–1597) became a professor of humanities and rhetoric in Messina, after he studied at the Colleges of Messina and Palermo. Later, he taught at Padua and Rome (c. 1570) and participated in the redaction of the Ratio Studiorum (1586). He had six Latin plays performed in Messina and Rome between 1562 and 1573, viz. three biblical plays: Nabuchodonosor (1562, now lost), Goliath (1563) and Juditha (1564), and three plays on the life of Christ: Christus Nascens (1573), Christus Patiens (1569), Christus Judex (1569, then 1573). The last tragedy was extremely successful and was especially staged at the Collegio Romano in 1574. Works Christus Judex (Rome, 1673); (Munich, 1697). R. P. Stephani Tuccii, e Societate Jesu Tragoedia Christus Judex. Juxta exemplar Romae impressum. Monachii, sumpt. Viduae et Haeredum Joann. Hermanni a Gelder, 1697. Il Cristo giudice (Rome, 1698). Juditha: ed. Soldati (1908); Scarfi (1926); Quiñones Melgoza (2006). Christus Nascens, Christus Patiens, Christus Iudex. Tragoediae, ed. Saulini (2011).

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Studies Calogero, Stefano Tuccio; Giorgianni, Stefano Tuccio (1540–1597): Quarta, ‘Drammaturgia gesuita nel Collegio romano’; Sacco Messineo, ‘I primordi del teatro gesuitico in Sicilia e la sua evoluzione’; Saulini, Il teatro di un gesuita siciliano; ead., Padre Stefano Tuccio s.j.; Soldati, Il Collegio Mamertino e le origini del teatro gesuitico; Sommervogel, Bibliothèque de la Compagnie de Jésus, 8, coll. 263–65; Taviani ‘Christus Judex.’ Verardi, Carlo (Carolus Verardus, 1440–1500), from Cesena, was apostolic secretary. In 1492 he wrote a tragedy Historia Baetica on the conquest of Granada by King Ferdinand II of Aragon on 2 January 1492. Work Historia Baetica (Rome, 1493); (Basle 1494); (Salamanca, c. 1494); (Frankfurt, 1603: Hispania illustrata, 2); ed. Barrau-Dihigo (1919); Bravo Villarroel (1971); Rincón Gonzáles (1992); Chiabò, Faraenga, Miglio (1993; with transl.). Studies Beyer, Das politische Drama im Italien, pp 315–88; idem, ‘Marcellino Verardi’s Fernandus servatus and the Poem Supra casum Hispani regis by Petrus Martyr’; Raimondi, ‘Una lettura dell’Historia Baetica di Carlo Verardi’; Onorato, in Dati, Hyempsal, pp. 43–46. Verardi, Marcellino (Marcellinus Verardus), a nephew of Carlo Verardi, is the author of a tragedy in dactylic hexameters, Fernandus servatus, on the assassination attempt against Ferdinand II of Aragon. Work Fernandus servatus (Rome, 1493); (Salamanca, c. 1494); ed. Thomas (1914); ed. with transl. Grund, Humanist Tragedies, pp. 244–91. Studies Beyer, Das politische Drama im Italien, pp. 389–470; idem, ‘Marcellino Verardi’s Fernandus servatus and the Poem Supra casum Hispani regis by Petrus Martyr’; Gotor López, J.L., ‘Il carme De casu regis di Pietro Martire d’Anghiera e la tragicommedia Fernandus servatus di Marcellino Verardi’; Graziosi, ‘Tradizione e realtà nel Fernandus seruatus di M. Verardi’; Onorato, in Dati, Hyempsal, pp. 46–49. Vergerio, Pietro Paolo (1370–1444), best known for his treatise De ingenuis moribus et liberalibus studiis, was a humanist who was involved in the



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political-theological debate of his time. After a brilliant study at the highest universities of Italy, he took part in the Council of Constance in 1414 and became a secretary of Emperor Sigismund of Luxembourg. He wrote his comedy Paulus in Bologna c. 1390. We owe pioneering work (critical edition, translation and commentary) to Cella and Semi. Work Paulus: ed. Cella and Semi (1966); Perosa (1983), pp. 321–56; transl. Katchmer (1998); Grund, Humanist Comedies, pp. 2–69; Perosa, Teatro umanistico, pp. 55–85. Studies Barletta, ‘Sul Paulus di Pier Paolo Vergerio’; Katchmer, Pier Paolo Vergerio and the Paulus; Perosa, ‘Per una nova edizione del Paulus del Vergerio’; Stäuble, La commedia Umanistica del Quattrocento, pp. 9–12, 287–88 (for the manuscripts and the editions before 1968); Malatrait, ‘Die Per-Version der Hierarchien.’ Zamberti, Bartolomeo (1473– ?), was born in Venice, and is mainly known for his translations of Greek scientific texts, especially by Euclides (1505). He also wrote a Latin comedy Dolotechne. We have only one manuscript (Munich) and two incunabula (Venice, 1504 and Strasbourg, 1511). It was Graziella Gentilini who made this comedy available. Work Dolotechne; ed. with transl. by Gentilini, Il teatro umanistico veneto, pp. 151–271. Studies Gentilini, ‘L’ultima commedia umanistica veneziana’; eadem, ‘La commedia umanistica a Venezia.’

CHAPTER THREE

NEO-LATIN HUMANIST AND PROTESTANT DRAMA IN GERMANY Cora Dietl In ‘Germany’ (i.e. the Holy Roman Empire) as in many other European countries, the new literary genre ‘Neo-Latin drama’ was originally an academic experiment, based on the analysis and reception of classical Roman drama and Roman rhetoric, but was also influenced by Italian, French and Dutch early Humanist traditions. The typical spheres for Neo-Latin drama were the universities, secular and clerical courts, diets, Humanistic circles in the broader surroundings of courts or universities, and schools, or civic communities, especially in free cities. Convents and monastic schools followed the universities and civic schools in using and developing their own Neo-Latin dramas for didactic purposes. The following chapter mostly focuses on Neo-Latin drama in the Holy Roman Empire, but it eventually looks across the border to Switzerland. The history of NeoLatin drama in the German speaking countries can roughly be divided into three periods: (1) The early Humanist period before the Reformation is a time of formal experiments in Neo-Latin drama. During that time the dramatic conception in the proper sense separates from the semi-dramatic dialogue; the genres of tragedy and comedy followed classical examples (Seneca and Terence), while a third, less clearly defined genre comes about, which might be interpreted as an attempt to imitate the classical satyr play: the mythological or allegorical ‘spectaculum’, which often appears in the shape of a festival play that is strongly linked to the festive context of its performance. (2) During the time of the Reformation, the field of Neo-Latin drama in the Holy Roman Empire is clearly split into two separate if not hostile camps: the Protestant (mostly Lutheran) and the Roman Catholic. Both of them develop a new genre of biblical (or legendary) drama that is supposed to replace the medieval religious play. Both of them also develop new forms of tragedy and comedy and of allegorical and moralistic plays or dialogues. The developments on both sides react to each other and are parallel to a certain degree, but, led by religious considerations, their decisions on how to use theatrical or dramatic

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forms for their respective purposes are clearly distinguished. In contrast to the Lutheran Church, the Reformed Church in the Empire and in Switzerland displayed an increasing opposition against theatrical presentations in general. (3) In the late 16th and 17th centuries, after the Neo-Latin drama has been fully established in Germany, new tendencies of reform can be observed: the Reformation Drama starts to reflect upon itself and upon the achievements of the Reformation in the field of dramatic literature. There are some attempts to reestablish classical dramatic norms, while at the same time new techniques are explored on stage, leading to a literary form that traditional scholarship called ‘baroque’. The borderline between the confessional sides is stressed by the new theatrical activities of the religious orders, especially by the Societas Jesu, which develops a new form of Neo-Latin drama. Following the traditional periodization of German language and literature, this survey ends mid 17th century (i.e. with the 30 Years’ War), which is generally regarded as marking the end of the Early Modern German language and literature. Neo-Latin drama, however, was still being written in German speaking countries in the 18th century, not only by Jesuit authors,1 but also by authors from other religious orders and teachers from Catholic schools, for example the Benedictines in Salzburg (Thomas Weiß, Otto Gunzinger, Otto Aicher, Wolfgang Rinswerger)2 and in Kremsmünster (Simon Rettenpacher, Ernst Leopold),3 the Cistercians in Stams (Cassian Primisser),4 or the teachers of the Brixen gymnasium (Joseph Resch).5 There are also protestant authors of Neo-Latin dramas in the later 17th and 18th centuries, such as (for example) Valentin Merbitz in Dresden,6 Martin Hanke and Gottlob Krantz in Wrocław7 or Johann Christoph Bremer in Quedlinburg. The corpus of German 19th-century Neo-Latin drama mostly comprises scholarly translations from German dramas (e.g. Karl Essler).

1 See Rädle’s chapter. 2 Cf. Meid, Die deutsche Literatur im Zeitalter des Barock, pp. 364–66. 3 Rettenpacher, Dramen, ed. Wintersteller; cf. Meid, Die deutsche Literatur im Zeitalter des Barock, pp. 367–73. 4 Cf. Tilg, ‘Theater’, pp. 691–93. 5 Cf. Tilg, ‘Theater’, pp. 682–87. 6 Cf. Roling, ‘Valentin Merbitz und das protestantische Antikendrama in Dresden’. 7 Cf. Mettenleiter, Adam Christian Thebesius, p. 13; Rudkowksi, ‘Gottlob Krantz’; Peil, ‘Christian Gryphius und das Breslauer Schultheater’, p. 153, and the literature quoted there.



neo-latin humanist and protestant drama in germany105 The Beginnings of German Neo-Latin Drama

When Peter Luder, Professor of poetics at the University of Heidelberg, gave his inaugural lecture on 15 July 1456, it was celebrated as the first public propagation of the ideas of Humanism in Germany. Luder stressed the didactic value of Terence’s comedies as a ‘school of morals’.8 In his later lectures9 on Terence, he repeated Cicero’s and Donatus’s characterization of comedy as an ‘imitatio vitae, speculum consuetudinis, imago veritatis’10 (imitation of life, mirror of custom, image of truth). In doing so, Luder followed Enea Silvio Piccolomini, who had emphasized the value of Roman comedy for the purpose of language and moral education in his Tractatus de liberorum educatione in 1450: ‘Comoediae plurimum conferre ad eloquentiam possunt’ (‘comedies can greatly contribute to creating eloquence’).11 As early as the 1450s, however, Roman comedies, though their didactic value was accentuated, were not yet staged in German school contexts but were read, analysed and recited. In addition to the classical Roman comedies, Neo-Latin comedies from Italy were read at the University of Heidelberg, such as Leonardo Bruni’s Poliscena, Ugo­ lino Pisani’s Philogenia,12 Antonio Barzizza’s Comoedia Cauteriaria,13 Leon Battista Alberti’s Philodoxeos14 or the anonymous Comedia Bile.15 The dialogue Lollius et Theodoricus, which was included in the same context, might as well be of Italian origin; the only manuscript of the text that has come down to us was written by a student from Heidelberg.16 By contrast, 8 Wattenbach, ‘Peter Luder’, p. 106; Barner, ‘Studia toto amplectenda pectore’; cf. Dietl, Die Dramen Jacob Lochers, pp. 20–21. 9 Bertalot, ‘Humanistische Vorlesungsankündigungen’, pp. 3 and 6; Wattenbach, ‘Peter Luder’, p. 62; Barner, ‘Studia toto amplectenda pectore’, p. 246. 10 Donatus, Commentum Terenti, ed. Wessner, vol. 1, p. 22 (v, 1); cf. Jakobi, Die Kunst der Exegese im Terenzkommentar des Donat; Cicero, Der Staat: De re publica, ed. Büchner, iv, 11. 11 Enea Silvio Piccolomini, Opera quae extant omnia (Basle, 1551), p. 984, quot. Barner, Barockrhetorik, p. 304; cf. Baron, ‘Plautus und die deutschen Frühhumanisten’, pp. 92 and 99. 12 Albrecht von Eyb had brought it home from Pavia in 1459 and published a German translation of it in 1472/73. Bahlmann, Die Erneuerer des antiken Dramas, p. 34. 13 Rupprich, Geschichte der deutschen Literatur, part 1, p. 629. The text is edited in: Beutler, Forschungen und Texte zur frühhumanistischen Komödie, pp. 1–77. Sottili claims that the lively reception of the Cauteriaria in Germany constitutes proof of German students lacking understanding of literary quality: Agostino Sottili, ‘Wege des Humanismus’, pp. 132–33. 14 Bahlmann, Die Erneuerer, pp. 28–30; Eisenbarth, Geschichte des Heidelberger Theaters, p. 11. 15 Rupprich, Geschichte der deutschen Literatur, part 1, p. 633. 16 Heidelberg, University Library, Cod. lat. 589.4° (c. 1470–80), with glosses pointing to the use of comedies for instruction at the Faculty of Arts, cf. Holstein, ‘Heidelbergiensia’, p. 392; Ritter, Die Heidelberger Universität, vol. 1, pp. 453 and 463; Bahlmann, Die lateinischen Dramen, p. 9.

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tragedies were hardly ever read in German universities at that time. Luder offered a lecture on Seneca in Heidelberg between 1457 and 1460, but he had to cancel it, because he lost his audience in the concern for ‘gravitas et morum et sentenciarum’ (‘dignity of morals and expressions of thought’).17 Even in 1492, when Konrad Celtis gave his inaugural lecture in Ingolstadt, the staging of Latin drama had not yet begun in Germany. Celtis reminds his audience of the fact that it had been an exemplary means of Roman politics to stage plays: Magna profecto res illa et prope divina in administranda illorum republica, quod sapientia[m] eloquentiae coniunge[re] studuerint proque his percipiendis publica spectacula instituerint, in quibus sublimi persuasione remotisque inventionibus spectantium animos ad virtutem, pietatem, modestiam, fortitudinem et omnium rerum tolerantiam hortabantur quisque pubescentem indolem a vitiis deterrebant et ad gloriam inflammabant, ut quid patriae, amicis, hospitibus et caris parentibus deberent, vivis quasi simulacris acciperent. (10, 4)18 (In the administration of their republic, they indeed made an important and nearly divine step when they tried to combine wisdom and eloquence, and when they demonstrated them in public performances. Thereby, they used sublime eloquence and rare, bright inventions to lead their audience to virtue, piety, modesty, courage and to the tolerance of all mischief; they deterred the promising youth from vices and sparked them to strive for glory. They should learn from living mirrors what they owed their country, their friends, their guests and their caring parents.)

Celtis was convinced that a similar use of dramatic performances could help to educate the German youth and the German nation, so that the Germans could (re-)gain the lost power of the Roman Empire through a final translatio of erudition, eloquence and prudence. However, he still had to wait some years until one of his students finally staged the first German Humanist play. Semi-Dramatic Dialogues Since the early Neo-Latin drama formed part of the school and university education in rhetoric, there is a certain stress on the spoken word, while the action on stage originally is less important. This is why a number of early Humanist authors wrote dialogues that are not dramatic in a strict 17 Bertalot, ‘Humanistische Vorlesungsankündigungen’, p. 4. 18 Celtis, Oratio in gymnasio in Ingelstadio publice recitata, ed. Gruber [accessed: 7 July 2013], my own corrections to the online edition are rendered in square brackets.



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sense, but they appear to be designed for recitation. These semi-dramatic dialogues could be regarded as ‘forerunners’ of early modern drama. The contents and the purpose of them are primarily the propagation of the studia humanitatis, the praise of diligent students and highly educated princes. They also serve the discussion of moral values on a discursive level. These discussions might refer to something ‘visible’ (i.e. imaginable) or to exemplary figures, but in the end, the dialogue’s aim is to convince through argument. Scholarship has often claimed Jakob Wimpfeling’s Stylpho to be the first specimen of German Neo-Latin drama. It was originally a prose dialogue, written as part of the speech Pro licencia in artibus viae modernorum, delivered by Jakob Wimpfeling, the Dean of the Faculty of Arts of the University of Heidelberg, on the occasion of a graduation ceremony on 8 March 1480.19 The integration of a dialogue into a speech was a rather common stylistic feature at that time, as demonstrated by funeral speeches.20 Wimpfeling’s speech was turned into a play when it was published fourteen years later, edited by Wimpfeling’s student Gallinarius, who added the following prologue to the ‘play’: Apologiam quandam instar Comediae […] nuper inter quaedam Vympfelingii Sletstatini opuscula reperi: quam ipse quondam in Heidel­ bergensi gymnasio | dum vicecancellarium gereret. ad licenciandos quosdam recitavit. eam arbitrabar lectu dignam: quoniam vel utilem vel iucundam […]. (Aa1v)21 (Recently, among a number of minor works by Wimpfeling of Schlettstadt, I have found an apology [of the Arts] in the shape of a comedy. He had once recited it for some new licentiates at the University of Heidelberg, when he held the office of Vice Chancellor. I thought that the text was worth reading, since it [fulfils the requirement] of being useful and pleasant at the same time.)

In the printed version, the dialogue has the form of a play. It starts with an argumentum and a prologue; at the beginning of each chapter the speaking roles are mentioned. In the end, the speaker of the epilogue uses the concluding words Valete et plaudite, the usual closing formula of the Palliata, and a variant of the common remark by Calliopius: ‘Iacobus 19 Cf. Mertens, ‘Jakob Wimpfeling (1450–1528)’, p. 46: ‘Diese Aufführung vom 8. März 1480 bedeutet nichts Geringeres als den Beginn des humanistischen Schuldramas in Deutschland.’ 20 Cf. Holstein, ‘Einleitung’, pp. viii–ix; cf. Schnur, ‘Nachwort’, pp. 57–58. 21 Stylpho Jacobi Vympfelingii Sletstatini (Basle: Johann Bergmann von Olpe, 1495) [Tübingen University Library, Gb 490.4]; cf. Holstein, ‘Zur Biographie Jakob Wimphelings’, pp. 232–33.

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Vympfelingius Sletstatianus recensui’ (Aa10r).22 In 1505, the dialogue was performed with several actors (or rather, reciters, ‘per quas iste actus recitatus est’), who are individually mentioned in the textbook which was used for the performance.23 They were students at the Strasbourg Gymnasium.24 Wimpfeling himself, however, never thought of Stylpho as a spectacle; like medieval scholars, he regarded Terence’s comedies, which partially served him as models, as designed for recitation.25 In a codex collected by the author himself, Stylpho can be found among the Oraciones diverse in studio Heidelbergensi facte.26 Within the speech, Wimpfeling introduces the dialogue as a temporary decline in style: Ne similitudo sermonis matrem se praebeat fastidii, a maximis baccalaureorum laudibus declinans aliud orationis genus complectar, quo quidem et ipsa eorum quos hic cernitis praeconia non modo non deerunt, sed etiam ad ampliorem studiorum operam praestabuntur inritamenta (1, 14–19).27 (In order to avoid displeasure caused by the uniformity of the speech, I decline from the high level of eulogy for the Bachelor students and change to a different style which, however, shall not diminish the honour delivered to those whom you can see here. By contrast, the new style is intended to give incentives for maximizing the students’ enthusiasm in their studies.)

The dialogue is designed for persuading and convincing the audience evidentissime of the fact that it is worthwhile to carefully study the Arts. In the prologue, Wimpfeling once again expresses his conviction that the chosen dicendi genus (3, 6–9) is most persuasive. Vincentius, ‘quem audituri estis’ (3, 18), serves as a positive example for the (listening) audience, who are to realize that mortalium bona are submitted to fortune and fate (3, 19–23). While the message is rather typical for a tragedy, the hero’s name is taken from a comedy: from Terence’s Phormio (II, iii). Wimpfeling was afraid that his Stylpho could be mistakenly perceived as a farce or even as a carnival play; this is why he asks the audience 22 recensui] recnnsui, cf. Holstein, ‘Einleitung’, p. xii. 23 Heidelberg, University Library, D 8400 oct. INC [7], fol. 10a: Explicit comicus ludus eximii poete Jacobi Wimpf. Slet. Johannes Stump—Stilfo || Johannes Erckman—Vincentius … recitate [?] || Caspar Kuotlin—Asuerus praesul || Martinus Wehinger—praetor || Jacobus Binder—Lampertus […] plebanus || Johannes Bodenloß—Petrucius Examinator || Johannes Bentili—Portitor. || Personae per quas Iste actus recitatus est Anno 1505. 24 Holstein, ‘Einleitung’, p. xiv. 25 Michael, Frühformen der deutschen Bühne, p. 75, explains: ‘Die Stylpho-Aufführung ist nicht der erste Beleg für einen neuen humanistischen Bühnengeist, sondern der letzte Beleg für eine veraltete, mittelalterliche Bühnenanschauung von der Antike.’ 26 Uppsala, University Library, Cod. C 687; cf. Holstein, ‘Ein Wimpfeling-Codex’; Nelson, ‘Zum Wimpfeling-Codex der Universitätsbibliothek zu Uppsala.’ 27 Wimphelingius, Stylpho, ed. Holstein.



neo-latin humanist and protestant drama in germany109 […] ut hos iocos salis expertes in hac ieiunii tempestate, quae serio gravitateque potius egeret, aequo auscultent animo […]. (3, 26–28) ([…] to calmly listen to these ‘saltless’ jokes during the time of Lent, which is a time that should rather call for gravity and seriousness.)

The author is eager to stress that Stylpho is neither satiric nor obscene, and that it is not a spectaculum but rather addressed to a listening audience.  Within the dialogues, the movements of the figures on and off the ‘stage’ are indicated, but as in Terence’s comedies, there are no stage directions. A sequence of six dialogues recounts the story of Stylpho: he is a lazy student, but he manages to receive some papal prebend on the Rhine. When, however, the proud hero is confronted by members of the University of Heidelberg and the Bishop of Worms (i.e. Johannes Dalberg, the centre of the Heidelberg Humanist circle), he cannot hide his ignorance. Finally, he ends up as a swineherd. Unlike the Prodigal Son, though, he will never find grace. He is rather treated according to the image of a tragic hero. ‘Quam admiranda fati commutatio!’ (14, 32), Wimpfeling comments in the epilogue, where he contrasts the story of Stylpho with that of the rather exemplary Vincentius, who had appeared in the first two dialogues, as a diligent student and as Stylpho’s counterpart. After his graduation, we are told, Vincentius became chancellor at court and then gradually advanced to the honours of a bishop. Vincentius’s story is not depicted in another dialogue but it is told in the form of a prose resumée. Thus the halfdramatic dialogue is gradually retransformed into the speech from which it had emerged. Wimpfeling is not the first German Humanist playwright in a strict sense, but he is the first German Humanist who used the style of Roman comedy for publicly propagating the studia humanitatis and the benefit of Humanist erudition for a courtly or clerical career. There could be no better place for the recitation of this dialogue than a university that had been founded by a prince, and which served to educate young people for future court appointments.28 Similar semi-dramatic dialogues were written and recited at schools, such as Johannes Kerckmeister’s Codrus, which has been called the second school comedy in Germany.29 Kerckmeister, rector of the Latin school 28 Cf. Ritter, Die Heidelberger Universität, vol. 1, p. 444. 29 ‘Kerckmeister, Johannes’, Worstbrock, Deutscher Humanismus, 1, coll. 1283–86 (Christel Meier), esp. col. 1283. Cf. Meier-Staubach, ‘Humanist Values in the Early Modern Drama’, pp. 155–57. Edition: Kerckmeister, Codrus, ed. Mundt.

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at Münster, published his ‘comedy’ in 148530 without any indication of whether any performance or recitation of the work had taken place. However, the topic, the minimal requirement for an appropriate stagesetting and direct addresses to the audience within the play, make it plausible that Codrus was designed for performance, possibly a recitation or staging in the context of a graduation ceremony. Seventeen scenes, consisting either of monologues or of dialogues, describe the encounter between Codrus, a Prussian scholastic teacher speaking some kind of nonclassical Middle Latin, and two students from Cologne who represent modern Humanist learning. Codrus plans to achieve a doctorial promotion at the University of Cologne, but the students, who are superior in their language and rhetoric, ridicule him, invite him to a mock exam and finally violently carry out on Codrus the rite of a depositio for freshmen. In the end, the protagonist escapes and leaves Cologne. The play’s purpose is clearly visible: it intends to support the establishment of Humanist erudition at school, and to demonstrate how well Kerckmeister’s students are prepared for university. Semi-dramatic dialogues that were not directly based at a university or school but were written either for civic Humanist circles or for courts tend to be either moralistic or panegyric. Sebastian Brant, for example, a professor, lawyer and judge in Basle, published a Latin and German Schachmatt-Spiel in his Varia Carmina in 1498,31 which Joachim Knape calls a ‘miniature drama’ and is considered by him to have been inspired by both the Elckerlijc and the Danse Macabre.32 Death and an angel appear and proclaim the end of all life. Representatives of different ranks (including the Emperor) react in different ways. They start a discussion with Death about the finite nature of all living beings. Finally, Death tells the audience a riddle that could reveal the exact time of the Last Day. There is no indication that Schachmatt was ever performed. By contrast, a dialogue that serves a panegyric purpose needs to be performed. On 9 October 1498, Jacob Wimpfeling’s students (among them his nephew Jakob Spiegel and Jacob Dornberger, the son of the University’s Vice Chancellor) recited Wimpfeling’s Philippica in Heidelberg Castle.33 30 Prologus in Codrum feliciter incipit (Münster: Johannes Limburg, 1485). 31 Varia Sebastiani | Brant Carmina (Basle: Johannes Bergmann v. Olpe, 1498), ed. Kiepe in Epochen der deutschen Lyrik, vol. 2, 1300–1500, pp. 400–02. 32 ‘Brant (Titio), Sebastian’, Worstbrock, Deutscher Humanismus, 1, coll. 247–83 (Joachim Knape), esp. col. 262. 33 Philippica Iacobi Vuimpfelingi Sletstatini in laudem et defensionem Philippi Comitis Rheni Palatini Bauariae Ducis etc. (Strasbourg: Martin Schott, 1498), microfiche edition of



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The Palatine Prince Philipp and his sons were among the audience, as well as Albrecht, Bishop of Strasbourg. The Philippica are a series of six short prose dialogues held between a scholar, Mygecius, and his student, Calvus. They discuss the benefit of sapientia for rulers and the value of erudition for the cautious preparation of a crusade against the Turks. All their considerations lead to a common aim: praise of Prince Philipp, the ideal of an erudite, Humanist ruler. The semi-dramatic dialogues did not disappear with the performance of the first Neo-Latin dramas in Germany; on the contrary, the dialogues remained a very popular alternative to a full drama—which often is not clearly distinguishable from them. In addition, when the tradition of dramatic performances at the universities and schools had been established, a new form of semi-dramatic dialogues came about, using the image and the special vocabulary of the drama for dialogues that are designed for reading purposes. When quoting the dramatic genre, they still keep and even stress the characteristic discursive element of the dialogue. Heinrich Bebel’s Comoedia de optimo studio iuvenum (1501)34 was originally designed to be performed or recited after Bebel’s promotion as poet laureate at the University of Tübingen. Its literary genre is not clearly indicated.35 Though the title of the original print is comedia, the poet’s letter of dedication calls it a dialogue. The reprints of the text that came out in Zwolle, c. 1506, in Braunschweig, 1509, and in Cologne, 1517/20 are entitled Dialogus de optimo studio scholasticorum; the Strasbourg print (1513) calls it Comoedia vel potius dialogus de optimo studio Scholasticorum.36 The original performance or recitation took place in a room similar to the fictive setting of the plot: at the University of Tübingen—either in one of the University’s representative halls37 or in an open space in front of the Burse—in the presence of the University’s President, the senate and a large group of students: ‘[…] dialogum […] quem recitavimus in praesentia fratris tui atque frequenti nostri gymnasii senatu, stipatissimaque the University Library of Heidelberg, Bibliotheca Palatina, E2061. For a résumé and analysis of the plot cf. Knepper, Jakob Wimpfeling, pp. 109–11. 34 Bebel, Comoedia de optimo studio iuvenum, ed. Barner a.o.; cf. Dietl, Die Dramen Jacob Lochers, pp. 204–12. 35 Cf. Bömer, Die lateinischen Schülergespräche der Humanisten, vol. 1: Vom Manuale scholarium bis Hegendorffinus c. 1480–1520, who calls it a scholarly dialogue. Bebermeyer, Tübinger Dichterhumanisten, p. 17, regards it as totally undramatic. Other scholars call it a comedy that (still) is close to the dialogue genre, cf. Roloff, ‘Neulateinisches Drama’, p. 650; Barner, ‘Einführung’ in Bebel, Comoedia, ed. Barner, p. 116. 36 Bebel, Comoedia de optimo studio iuvenum, ed. Barner, pp. 73–75. 37 Barner, ‘Einführung’, Bebel, Comoedia de optimo studio iuvenum, ed. Barner, p. 82.

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totius ordinis scholastici corona […]’ (10, 4–7). Throughout the Comedia, the spectatores are asked to listen to the recitation or to the singing (12, 8; 14, 4; 14, 7; 70, 23–24), i.e. the words are given major importance, while there is no focus on any action. The plot consists of a series of dialogues grouped around the story of an individual student. Vigiliantius, the industrious son of a peasant, has an ardent desire for knowledge. Soon the University of Tübingen accepts him. He is being given an introduction into the studia humanitatis, until he meets Lentulus, a scholastic sophist. They discuss the advantages of humanist erudition or scholastic learning. Finally, a representative of the court and a poet support Vigilantius. They argue strongly that eloquence and the studia humanitatis are key concepts for human life. The special importance attributed to the eloquence within the plot is reflected in the concentration on the spoken word, which is characteristic of semidramatic dialogues. A peculiar example of a Humanist dialogue that discusses a certain casus and is obviously designed for a reading reception, yet calls itself drama or comoedia, is Johann Stamler’s Dialogus de diversarum gentium sectis (1508). Stamler, a student of Locher’s, calls it a Dyalogus in modum Comici dramatis (a2r).38 It is a prose dialogue split into fourteen dramata, i.e. dialogue parts. It describes the return of Arnestus, who had been abducted by the Tatars, to his home. His father welcomes him happily, but when he realizes that his son has become an apostate, he dismisses him. Arnestus has a long discussion with a Jew and a Christian. At the end of the discussion both Arnestus and the Jew are baptized. The text consequently is addressed to lectores, but it uses a structure roughly orientated towards a dramatic structure, in order to make the message more convincing. Jacob Locher, the author of the first German Humanist tragedy,39 wrote a closet drama Poemation de Lazaro mendico (1510)40 inspired by Lucian of Samosata’s dialogues. He tells the story of a certain Brother Michael who is about to die. Because of the intervention of Lazarus, however, Charon offers him a short prolongation of his life. During that time, Michael observes the misery of war with all the casualties of the French, Swiss and 38 Johannes Stamler, Dyalogus de diversarum gencium sectis et mundi religionibus (Augsburg: Erhard Oglin and Georg Nadler, 1508) [Württembergische Landesbibliothek, Stuttgart, Theol. fol. 1553]. Cf. Dietl, ‘Eine Diskussion der Trinität in der “Komödie”: Johann Stamlers Dyalogus de diversarum gencium sectis et mundi religionibus (1508).’ 39 Cf. below, pp. 115–23. 40 Cf. Dietl, Die Dramen Jacob Lochers, pp. 305–18, 503–14.



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Fig. 1. Jacob Locher: Haec in libello continentur: Poemation de Lazaro mendico. Carmen inaug. de D. Caes. Maximiliano. Epigrammata contra oblocutores Mai. Caes. Carmen de festo Conceptionis B. Mariae V. [Augsburg: Otmar] [ca. 1513], A3v. [by courtesy of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek Munich Res 4 P lat 841 Bbd 2]

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Italian armies arriving at the Styx, and the horror of hell where they are led. There is no clear border line between the Lucianic style dialogue and other texts printed with it in the same volume;41 the text is rather gradually transformed from dialogue into a vision of a universal battle and a panegyric poem for Maximilian. Similarly, Ulrich von Hutten wrote a Lucian style dialogue, Phalarismus, in 1516/17.42 However, this work does not serve panegyric purposes, but is highly satirical. A German tyrant (Duke Ulrich of Wuerttemberg) asks Mercury to take him to Charon and to help him organize a conversation with Phalaris of Agrigent. The tyrant intends to learn something from the famous tyrant Phalaris, but Phalaris has to admit that his visitor is superior to him. Hutten went on to write several political dialogues inspired by Lucian: Aula (1518),43 Febris I (1518),44 Arminius and Dialogi (1519 and 1518– 20 respectively).45 Another dialogue experimenting with the dramatic form, but most probably not designed for dramatic performance,46 is Joachim von Watt’s Gallus pugnans, finished in Linz, in March 1514 and published in Vienna in the same year. It depicts a trial which should be understood as a mythicum syntagma, i.e. in a figurative sense. The subtitle of the play explains: Res tota in disceptatione posita est. Accusant Gallinæ, patrono Philonico. Galli se tutantur propugnante Euthymo. Capi semimares, decreti Arbitri pronunciant, litemque sedant partibus conciliatis / Nomothete interprete. (Air)47 (The whole thing is represented in the shape of a disputation. The hens accuse the cocks through their lawyer Philonicus. The cocks defend themselves, with Euthymus as their advocate. Half-male capons announce the sentence of the judge, and they settle the conflict by reconciling the parties. Nomothetes translates/interprets the sentence.) 41 Poemation Iacobi locher philomusi de Lazaro mendico: diuite purpurato, et inferno charonte (Augsburg: Sylvanus Othmar, 1510) [Stuttgart, Württembergische Landesbibliothek, Fr. D. qt. 423]. 42 ‘Hutten’, Worstbrock, Deutscher Humanismus, 1, coll. 1185–1237 (Herbert Jaumann), esp. col. 1207. 43 Ibid., col. 1209. 44 Ibid., col. 1212. 45 Ibid., col. 1215–16. 46 Rupprich, Geschichte der deutschen Literatur, 19942, p. 647 is convinced that it could not be performed. In 1959, Rudolf Hilty made a modern theatre version of it: Hilty, Joachim Vadian, Hahnenkampf oder Hennen im Laufgitter. 47 Ioachimi Vadiani Helvetii mythicum syntagma, cui titulus gallus pugnans (Vienna: Hieronymus Vietor/Johann Singriener, 1514).



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The subject of the dispute is the question of whether cockfights (i.e. academic disputes) are legal. If, however, a cockfight is not legal, there should not be a cockfight about its legitimacy. Philonicus and Euthymus use different premises and thus cannot find a common solution. This is why the capons are asked to pass sentence. Without any argumentation, they declare that the cocks (who claim that a cockfight is legal) are right, and they order that there should be peace among hens and cocks, since peace is superior to everything. Why, the reader might ask, should cockfights be acceptable if peace is the most important value? In the end, the parasite Lichanor claims that it would have been best to sentence all hens, cocks and capons to death in the cooking pan. Thereby, it has finally become obvious how absurd and outdated the traditional scholastic dispute is, and that scholastic dialectics should quickly be replaced by Humanist rhetoric. A similar type of allegorical dialogue appealing to the audience’s vigilance was written by Bartholomäus Frankfurter: Inter Vigilantiam et Torporem dialogus, printed in Vienna in 1520.48 These last two examples clearly depict that the Neo-Latin semi-dramatic dialogue should not be misunderstood as a continuation of the scholastic scholarly dialogue, but as a new form of discussion, adequate for the studia humanitatis. Early Tragedy In Germany, Neo-Latin tragedies began to be written and staged earlier than comedies, but they did not achieve the same popularity as the comedies. The tragedies follow Seneca’s example and Celtis’s advice to imitate the Romans in performing plays that are relevant to the politics of the Empire. Consequently, because of their political intentions, the early NeoLatin tragedies are directed towards an audience that is at least partly a courtly audience. Thus they may well serve to stress the links between the university and the court. The first Neo-Latin tragedy written by a German author and staged in Germany is Jacob Locher’s Historia de Rege Frantie, a dramatic representation of the invasion of Italy by Charles VIII of France. Jacob Locher had just returned from Italy, where he had observed the war and had reflected on his role as an author in war times, when he received a professorship for 48 Bartholomaei Pannoni Comoedia Gryllus, Et eiusdem inter Vigilantiam & Torporem dialogus. [Vienna: Singriener, ca. 1520]; cf. Rupprich, Geschichte der deutschen Literatur, 19942, p. 647.

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poetry, rhetoric and historiography in Freiburg in 1495. Locher was convinced that an author had to serve his country by presenting examples of virtuous or vicious life, by preserving the memory of former heroic deeds, by distributing and fostering knowledge, and by giving advice to both the rulers and their armies. Historiography, in his view, is superior to fiction, and tragedy is superior to comedy. This is why he writes a historia in imitation of the classic tragedies (prologue, ll. 28–29).49 Its form—five acts with choruses, describing the rise and fall of a tyrant, caused by fortune and divine justice—was not only inspired by Seneca but also by Mussato and Verardi. The substance of the play is an attempt to explain contemporary history by the patterns of tragedy, and to support Maximilian’s politics: Charles, the King of France, plans to conquer Naples. The Duke of Orleans and the Duke of Milan support him, and they gain a quick victory over the Pope and over Alfonso, the King of Naples. In the last act, however, the Holy League has suddenly defeated Charles, his troops are vanquished, and the Lily of France, as we are told by the chorus, is about to die, while the chorus praises Maximilian as the triumphant hero. In fact, Maximilian had not managed to reach the River Taro before the French troops crossed it, escaping from the Liga. The structure of a tragedy, however, made it possible for Locher to convincingly manipulate the facts, and to deliver a visible ‘report’ of the French King’s ‘defeat’. Locher’s Historia was staged at the University of Freiburg, as part of the promotion ceremony for the university’s president Sigismund Kreutzer, within the Faculty of Law. According to the statutes of the faculty, a promotion ceremony had to consist of a speech given in the Minster, and a meal in a tavern.50 Locher describes the room of the ceremony as opulently decorated with gold, silver and purple, appropriate for the most outstanding guests, such as the Margraves of Baden (a2v).51 It is a description that could virtually fit anywhere. Some scholars suppose that the performance took place in the courtyard or the garden of the university.52 This assumption is based on a reference to musarum hortus in the Ad librum epigramma of the printed version (a4v, ll. 5f.). When, however, Locher explains that his work had been in the garden of the muses a short time 49 Jacob Locher, Historia Tragico de Carolo Grancorum Rege, ed. in Dietl, Die Dramen Jacob Lochers, pp. 384–408 (p. 391) [line numbers corrected]. 50 Schreiber, Geschichte der Albert-Ludwigs-Universität zu Freiburg im Breisgau, part 1: Von der Stiftung der Universität bis zur Reformation, p. 173. 51 Dietl, Die Dramen Jacob Lochers, pp. 104 and 389. 52 Michael, Die Anfänge des Theaters zu Freiburg im Breisgau, p. 53; Michael, Frühformen der deutschen Bühne, p. 76; Rupprich, Geschichte der deutschen Literatur, p. 640.



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before, he most probably means that he had just completed it, inspired by the muses. Since there are no special requirements for the stage, and since the acts mostly consist of static dialogues or even monologues, a performance in the Minster, directly after the official speeches, is rather likely. Two years later, when Locher was crowned poet laureate in Freiburg during the Freiburg Imperial Diet, he had his students perform his Tragedia de Thurcis et Suldano. It is the first time that a German author uses the term tragedia for his Neo-Latin play. Locher is well aware of the fact that he introduces inusitatum Alemannis nostris scriptitandi genus (D4r),53 a new literary form, not yet used by the Germans, as he writes in the preface. His plan is […] more tragico: non tragica sublimitate: nec iambica structura ludum scaenicum ac umbratilem clarissimis personis introductis representarem. (D4r) ([…] to present a scenic play for school purposes, similar to a tragedy, but without the tragic sublimity and without an iambic meter but with highly elevated persons.)

Locher obviously recognizes the difference between the genre of the Historia de Rege Frantie (as well as other plays that had been performed  in Freiburg)54 and that of his new drama. Both plays tell the story of the rise and the fall of a tyrant, both of them follow the structure of a tragedy, divided into five acts, with a chorus singing between the acts. Both plays are inspired by the contemporary politics of Maximilian. However, whereas the Historia claims to present facts, the Tragedia admits that its plot has not (yet) happened: the personified Christian faith (Fides) and the Christian people complain about the Turks’ oppression of Christianity. The Pope finally meets Maximilian and they plan a crusade. A declaration of war is sent to the Sultan and to Baijezid. The Turks react by quickly attacking Rhodes. The Christian army firmly trusts in the victory of the righteous, and soon we are told that the Christians have defeated the Turks. In the end, Maximilian celebrates his triumph in Rome. The audience is asked to join in the praises of the victorious Emperor. 53 Jacob Locher, Tragedia de Thurcis et Suldano, ed. in Dietl, Die Dramen Jacob Lochers, pp. 407–47 (p. 414). 54 Cf. his dedication of the Tragedia to Kreuzter: ‘In tanto tamen. tamque spectabili professorum Numero. Vatum Oratorumque Spectacula Ludosque Iucundissimos Spectare | nunquam erubuisti’ (A5r–v).

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The message of the Tragedia is an obvious advertisement (if not to say propaganda) for Maximilian’s crusading plans. According to the scheme of a tragedy, there cannot be any other outcome of a war against the Sultan than the defeat of the tyrant. Locher, thus, clearly fulfils the duty of a poeta laureatus:55 to praise the Roman King and to support his politics, and he does so twice, by claiming the necessary success of the war against the Turks and by turning Maximilian into a Roman Emperor, though he had not yet been anointed emperor by the Pope. The image of Rome as Maximilian’s seat is emphatically stressed throughout the play. Even the room in which the Tragedia was performed is described as a Roman amphitheatre by the actor who speaks the prologue, and who claims to be afraid of being thrown down the pulpitum, but he admits that it is too late for any scruples, now that he has entered the stage: ‘in proscenium: theatricamque harenam prodivi. pedem retrahere nequeo’ (D4r–v). For the large number of spectators, he says, the best and most spacious room has been chosen (D4v). The speaker of the prologue depicts it as follows: locus inquam ille eminentissimus est. in quo lepidum commentum spectaculi hodie sumus acturi. O quam spatiosa pavimenti marmoratio. proscenii splendidissima contabulatio. culminum eminentia admirabilis. Sedilium Orchestrorumque circumferentia comminatissima! [sic] (D4v) (I said that the place where we shall stage the charming invention of a play today is the best we could find. O what a spacious marble floor covering,  what a splendid arrangement of floorboards in the proscenium, the marvellous altitude of the dome, the dense enclosure of the seats in the orchestra!)

Scholarship has tried to find a room resembling the actor’s description in Freiburg, either in one of the university buildings56 or in Maximilian’s residence in the ‘Kaiserbau’.57 The prologue, however, does not really seem to aim at a realistic depiction of an existing room but rather at the imagination of a Roman theatre, richly inspired by Apuleius, Juvenal,58 Pliny and 55 Cf. Mertens, ‘Zu Sozialgeschichte und Funktion des poeta laureatus’, p. 337; Mertens, ‘Maximilians gekrönte Dichter über Krieg und Frieden’, p. 107. 56 Michael, Die Anfänge des Theaters zu Freiburg im Breisgau, p. 53, claims that the words actum in Friburgensi Gymnasio (I3r) undoubtedly meant that the play was staged in the university. Gymnasium, however, could as well mean the institution organizing the performance, rather than the room in which it was staged. 57 Fritz Moser, Die Anfänge des Hof- und Gesellschaftstheaters in Deutschland, p. 30; Michael, Frühformen der deutschen Bühne, p. 77; Kindermann, Theatergeschichte Europas, vol. 2: Das Theater der Renaissance, p. 253. 58 Michael, Die Anfänge des Theaters zu Freiburg im Breisgau, pp. 54–55.



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other classical authors. The ‘theatre’ is the metaphoric room of the resurrection of Roman dramatic culture in all its genres: […] patet hic locus omnibus. qui aliquid artis et ingenii in turbas fundere sciunt. Hic mimus et histrio Corporis motum. vultusque gestum elegantissime representant. hic comedus empta fabula de privatorum hominum fortuna. lenociniisque amatoriis sermotionatur [sic]. Hic Tragedus fulvis amictus cothurnis. longoque vestitus Syrmate | de fato. de fortuna. et de miseris Regum ac principum calamitatibus vociferatur. Ceteri itaque ludiones. quod cuiusque artis est. In spectaculo Regio: celebrique consessu | turbis congregatis ostentant. (E1r) ([…] This place is open to all those who wish to cast something artistic or bright into the crowd. Here, the mime and the actor most elegantly present the motions of their bodies and their facial expressions. Here, the comedian retells traditional stories of private people, of love affairs and procuration. Here, the actor of a tragedy, adorned with golden boots and a long coat, pronounces the fate, fortune and miserable fall of kings and princes. Similarly, the other actors present whatever is characteristic of their respective art as a royal spectacle in front of a noble convention and a lively crowd.)

In Locher’s view, Maximilian is the central figure for the new beginning of Humanist culture and literature in Germany. This is why the King’s throne is a major focus of the room description: In quo quidem loco sacrosancte Romane Maiestatis Cathedra fixis firmata gradibus pendet. Ad quem non osoribus | non Rabulis | non denique fraudulentis. Assentatoribus accedere licet. sed eruditis bonisque viris. quorum studio atque virtute Romani Regis solium Augustissimum semper colitur et illustratur. […] nihil sit in Regis solio. quod a preciosis munditiis peregri­ nisque sumptibus | sit alienum. (D4v) (In this room, there also stands the most holy Roman Majesty’s throne, based on firm steps that will not allow any hating, disloyal or falsely flattering person to come close to the King. On the contrary, it will only admit welleducated, good men who are eager to use their virtue for permanently praising and glorifying the throne of the Roman King, the highest majesty. […] At the King’s throne, there is no lack of any precious decoration or any rich, foreign embellishment.)

The room as well as the presence of the Roman King and the noble audience, he explains, will not allow any bad art or anything unseemly to be presented. Locher is convinced that his play, which he is about to present to Maximilian, is both a proper work of Humanist erudition and a play befitting the political mission of a poet laureate. Locher’s appreciation of his own role and that of Maximilian is also clearly represented in the

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woodcuts the publisher Johannes Grüninger used for the illustration of the Tragedia in the 1497 edition.59 For all three, the illustration of the Panegyricus Jacobi Philomusi, i.e. the poet’s praise to Maximilian (B1v), for the speaker of the prologue (D4r) and for the messenger delivering the declaration of war within the play (H2r), he uses woodcuts that he also used for the figure of Calliopius in his Latin and his German edition of Terence’s comedies in 1496 and 1499.60 A most remarkable depiction of Maximilian can be found in Grüninger’s woodcut that is subtitled ‘Triumphus’ and introduces the end of the Tragedia. The woodcut depicts the Roman King (with the eagle flag above his head) sitting in a covered carriage, with soldiers following him on foot and singers walking in front of the carriage (I1v). The same woodcut was used by Grüninger in Locher’s edition of Horace’s works as an illustration of the triumphs of Octavian after his defeat of Antonius and his victory over Cleopatra.61 By the re-use of the woodcut, the parallel between Maximilian and Octavian is clearly stressed. The triumph is written in Sapphic lines and describes the order of the triumph: at first, the Turks are led along in chains; thereafter, Fides is led to her throne. Her carriage is followed by the carriage of the besieged people. The next carriage is drawn by white horses. The carriage glitters, reflecting the arms of the defeated. On top of them are laid the sceptres of the defeated kings. Picture plates represent the rivers and cities that have been taken. A carriage full of foreign treasures passes, the proud kings follow in their purple coats, while Rome and Alemannia are asked to praise Maximilian and to thank God for the victory. Scholarship has discussed the question of whether Maximilian in fact celebrated a triumph in Freiburg, which could have been integrated into Locher’s play,62 such as the triumph at the end of Verardi’s Historia Baetica 59 Libri philomusi. Panegyrici ad Regem. Tragedia de Thurcis et Suldano. Dyalogus de heresiarchis (Strasbourg: Johannes Grüninger, 1497), microfiche edition of the University Library of Heidelberg, Bibliotheca Palatina, E2179, fols E5v and L2r. 60 Cf. Dietl, Die Dramen Jacob Lochers, pp. 131–32. 61 Horatii Flacci Venusini poete lirici opera: cum quibusdam annotationibus imaginibusque pulcherrimis aptisque ad odarum con cantus et sententias, ed. by Jacob Locher (Strasbourg: Johannes Grüninger, 1498) [Freiburg, University Library, Ink. 4. D. 6329, p]. 62 Cf. Hehle, ‘Der schwäbische Humanist Jakob Locher Philomusus’, p. 29: Hehle supposes that Maximilian and his army in fact celebrated a triumph in Freiburg. Similarly: Maassen, Drama und Theater der Humanistenschule in Deutschland, pp. 84–85; Brauneck, Die Welt als Bühne. p. 416. Schauerte, Die Ehrenpforte für Kaiser Maximilian I, p. 58, is convinced that a triumph ‘all’ antiqua’ north of the Alps was impossible during the reign of Maximilian; Maximilian always had his royals’ entries on horseback. On the other hand,



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or likewise the trionfi that were staged in Northern Italian city states in the second half of the fifteenth century. However, there was no reason for Maximilian to celebrate a triumph over the Turks whom he had not yet attacked; there was only a reason for Locher to celebrate his own triumph as poeta laureatus. Maximilian was not even in Freiburg at the stated time of the performance, 15 May 1497, but in Fuessen.63 Locher’s thankful letter to Sigismund Kreutzer, ‘qui me in poetico triumpho theatralique ovatione tua presidentia plurimum decorasti’ (A5v) (‘who highly honoured me by presiding the poetical triumph and the theatrical triumph’), and the play’s epilogue (I 3r), in which Locher summarizes what the audience has now heard in the play and what it has seen in the triumph, prove that Locher in fact saw a difference between the performance of the play and that of the triumph. Thus it is most probable that there was a theatrical triumph with Sigismund Kreutzer representing the Roman King at the end of the performance. The (supposed) fictive triumph led through the streets of Freiburg was designed to have a very persuasive effect on the audience, who were given a role of their own. It was first of all a common role, since the Habsburg city of Freiburg was well accustomed to processions, processional plays (such as the Freiburg Corpus Christi Play) and royal entries.64 The audience was used to adopting a relationship to the celebration by watching or joining a procession. The role attributed to the audience, however, was also a fictive role, with Freiburg being transformed into Rome, assuming that the Habsburg city had turned into the core of the Empire, and that it was responsible for the glorious victory. With his introduction of the tragedy as a new dramatic genre, Locher clearly followed the ideas of his teacher Konrad Celtis who had praised tragedy as an ideal means of political education. He, however, broke the formal conventions of tragedy from the very beginning: a procession is not a common part of classical, but rather of medieval theatre. Ulrich Zasius, Locher’s colleague in Freiburg, wrote a letter that was printed with the play text, in which he states that Locher was well aware of the praecepta Tragica (L3v), but decided to break them—with good reason, since in so

Schenk, Zeremoniell und Politik, p. 267, describes a Roman-style triumph as rare (but not impossible) in fifteenth-century Germany. 63 Deutsche Reichstagsakten, 6: Reichstage von Lindau, Worms und Freiburg 1496–1498, ed. Gollwitzer, pp. 387–89; cf. Mertens, ‘Die Universität, die Humanisten, der Hof und der Reichstag zu Freiburg 1497/98’, pp. 319–20. 64 Cf. Dietl, ‘A Corpus Christi Play’, p. 109.

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doing he managed to write a drama that touched on current problems of Christianity. He presented them ‘vivido gestu’ (L4r) (‘with vivid gesture’), which also served the social and political purpose of drama, namely that it was to be distinctly different from the comedies of those authors whom Plato said should be driven out of the ideal state.65 After Locher’s Tragedia, only a few other Neo-Latin tragedies were written in Germany. All of them experiment with the classical form, and all of them, even though they might be performed at a university, are addressed to a courtly rather than an academic audience. Locher’s Spectaculum more tragico concinnatum de regibus et proceribus christianis, qui contra Thurcorum insultus arma parant foedusque constituunt (‘Spectacle, written in the form of a tragedy, about the Christian kings and nobles, who, as an opposition to the insults of the Turks, arm for battle and form an alliance’)66 was performed at the University of Ingolstadt in the presence of Duke Georg of Bavaria and the other Bavarian princes, as well as some important representatives of the city and the university, on 13 February 1502. It is an open-ended drama with four acts, describing the formation of a panChristian union against the Turks and the beginning of the conflict against them. A German prince (Georg was intended to identify with the figure) is about to become the decisive hero of the war. Here, the drama ends rather abruptly. The fifth act was supposed to be fulfilled outside of the theatre, in the real world. The genre of tragedy clearly offers the pattern for the expected actions: the tyrant (i.e. the Turks) will be destroyed. Already one year previously, Johann von Kitzscher, the former rector of the University of Bologna and the orator and councillor of Duke Bogislaw X of Pommerania, had written a play based on historical facts, but without strictly keeping to the rules of tragedy. In his Tragicocomoedia de hierosolemitana profectione Illustrissimi principis pomerani (‘Tragicomedy about the Famous Duke of Pommerania’s Journey to Jerusalem’), printed in Leipzig, 1501, Kitzscher narrates Bogislaw’s adventurous pilgrimage to Jerusalem and his encounter with the Turks on his way.67 The drama—which is supposed to recount true events and therefore cannot be called a ‘comedy’, but has a happy ending and thus cannot be called a ‘tragedy’68—is divided into ten consecutive scenes. All of them are situated at the Pommeranian

65 Dietl, Die Dramen Jacob Lochers, pp. 133–35. 66 Edited in: Dietl, Die Dramen Jacob Lochers, pp. 448–60. 67 Cf. Bauch, ‘Dr. Johann Kitzscher’; ‘Kitzscher’, Worstbrock, Deutscher Humanismus, 1, coll. 1286–97 (Franz Josef Worstbrock); Kipf, ‘Der Beitrag einiger Poetae minores’, pp. 39–44. 68 This is expressed in the prologue, Konow, Bogislaw-Studien, pp. 103–57, esp. p. 141.



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court and reflect the court’s and the duchess’s reactions to Bogislaw’s decision to leave for Jerusalem, as well as to various reports delivered by messengers from Palestine, ranging from the wrong message about the Duke’s death to the final account of Bogislaw’s glorious reception in Venice. Most probably, the play was performed at court to celebrate the Duke’s return.69 The early Humanist understanding of a tragedy as the dramatization of the fall of a tyrant and often the triumph of justice was finally questioned in Locher’s three-act Libellus dramaticus novus sed non musteus, written in 1513 for a performance at the University of Ingolstadt, and never printed.70 Its topic is Pope Leo’s peace politics. Locher had problems both in finding the appropriate form for the contents and in defining the genre of his drama; these problems are reflected in the prologue (ll. 1–16). The characters are royal, but the plot is not tragic; it is fictum (l. 2), but not frivolous; there are classical choruses, but the play has only three acts. Thus it is neither a comedy nor a tragedy, but a libellus dramaticus or a spectaculum (l. 7). Early Comedy While the early Humanists understood the tragedy as concerning public affairs, the comedy was interpreted as a genre dealing with ‘private’ affairs, depicting general human faults. The authors used comical or farcical patterns and elements from Terence’s or Plautus’ comedies in order to ridens dicere verum (‘say the truth while laughing’, cf. Horace). Normally, they use the comedies for attacking their personal enemies. The depicted faults and vices of the negative figures, however, are clearly recognizable as general faults of the present society. Thus the comedies are both personal and socio-critical. The socio-critical side made the comedies rather independent from their original contexts; this might be a reason why the comedy gained more popularity than the tragedy, which was linked to the current political situation. When Johannes Reuchlin’s Scaenica progymnasmata was performed in Heidelberg on 31 January 1497, German Humanists appreciated the performance as the beginning of German Neo-Latin drama. Martin Crusius, Professor of Classics at the University of Tübingen, wrote in his Annales Svevicorum:

69 Cf. ‘Kitzscher’, Worstbrock, Deutscher Humanismus, 1, col. 1294 (Worstbrock). 70 Dietl, Die Dramen Jacob Lochers, pp. 319–38, esp. p. 324, edition ibid., pp. 515–30.

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Fig. 2. Johannes Reuchlin: Scaenica progymnasmata, hoc est Ludicra praeexercitamenta ... Tübingen: Anshelm, 1511, 193r. [by courtesy of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek Munich, Res 4 P 0 lat 756 23]



neo-latin humanist and protestant drama in germany125 [1497] Prima Comoedia (ut Bucholcer ait) cuius scriptor fuit Reuchlinus, in Germania est acta, in honorem Joannis, nobilis à Dalburg, Episcopi Wormaciensis: magno cum plausu, à Germano tale quid scriptum esse (III, ix, 8).71 ([1497] The first comedy (we are told by Buchholzer), written by Reuchlin, was performed in Germany, in honour of John, a nobleman from Dalberg, Bishop of Worms; this was particularly appreciated because it was written by a German author.)

Contemporary authors called Reuchlin ‘prim[us] apud germanos comoediae scriptor[…] vel scaenicorum ludorum inductor […]’ (‘first author of a comedy among the Germans or forerunner of scenic performances’).72 The Scaenica progymnasmata, however, was not his first comedy. Reuchlin had been Privy Councillor and juridical counsellor of Count Eberhard V of Wuerttemberg. When Eberhard died in 1496, Reuchlin had to flee from Wuerttemberg, since the former Augustine brother Konrad Holzinger, whom Reuchlin had had taken prisoner in 1488, had become the new counsellor of Eberhard VI. Reuchlin went to Heidelberg in 1496 and was accepted into the Humanist sodalitas at the court of John of Dalberg. Here, Reuchlin started to write poetry, and he completed his first comedy, designed for the ludi februi: Sergius vel capitis caput.73 Dalberg, however,  did not allow the comedy to be performed, because it was too provocative. The protagonists of the comedy are a group of sodales or histriones, who are characterized as a happy-go-lucky group of young men mirroring the Heidelberg sodalitas itself, i.e. the planned actors of the play.74 The sodales welcome a guest, Buttubatta, who claims to have a treasure in his sack: it is the rotting head of a dead man. Friends advise him to turn it into a relic and to cheat simple people with a fictive legend of the ‘saint’. He follows their advice and is all too convincing in doing so. Buttubatta says that the ‘holy’ skull is ‘Caput omnium mortalium dignissimum’ (‘the most honourable skull/head of mankind’; pp. 289, 293) and capitis caput (p. 244), who 71 Martin Crusius, Annales Svevicorum (1213–1594) (Frankfurt, 1596), p. 507 [University Library Tübingen, L I 24]. 72 Ioannis Revchlin Phorcensis scænica progymnasmata, hoc est ludicra præexercitamenta. cum explanatione Iacobi Spiegel Selestati (Tübingen: Thomas Anshelm, 1512) [University Library, Tübingen, DK II 110. g. 4], B1v. For Reuchlin’s comedies cf. Dietl, Die Dramen Jacob Lochers, pp. 160–74. 73 Ed. in: Johann Reuchlins Komödien, ed. Holstein, pp. 108–26. 74 Cf. Dietl, ‘Schauspieler und Schwankheld’. The carnival atmosphere in the play is especially stressed in: Dall’Asta, ‘Histrionum exercitus scommata—Schauspieler, die Sprüche klopfen’, p. 27.

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in fact governs the country, who ‘principem regit trahitque quo cupit’ (‘reigns over the duke and makes him go where he wants him to go’; p. 325). It is, he claims, the head of Sergius, an apostate who had left the monastery, converted to Islam and now hates his former brothers in Christ.75 The friends are shocked that they had allowed the head of such a devilish person to be brought into their circle. Buttubatta concludes: Factum bene est, calvuntur hac calvaria, Quicunque spem locant in hanc calvam cavam. Egi meum officium, sodales optumi. Ludos leves meo cavillo callide Vobis videntibus attuli. Id licuit mihi. (ll. 483–87). (It is well done. By this skull, all those are deceived who set their trust and hope on this hollow skull. I have done my duty, my best friends. With a smart joke I have let you see an easy game. I had the right to do so.)

In speaking these words, Buttubatta steps out of his role and is transformed into the author himself, who addresses his sodales. In his play, he has demonstrated how easy it is to deceive people, even if they are histriones and masters of untruth and deception. The epilogue finally explains what kind of lies and tricks he meant: Si quis cupit prudenter omne negotium / Gerere, ut rei privatae et id quod plus erit / Etiam rei communitas publicae / Bene commodet, frugaliter cadat et quadret, / Is meminerit quae hac dicta sunt comoedia, / Cum capite vano nil agat, nil consulat, / Vbi nec est sapientia aut constans fides, / Praesertim ubi iam peieravit denuo, / Nam peius est unquam, nihil periurio. (ll. 488–96) (If someone tries to fulfil wisely all his duties and to serve private and [even more importantly] public interest, to support and foster public affairs, he may be reminded of what this comedy expressed. You cannot move anything nor give proper advice with an empty skull lacking in wisdom and constant faith, especially if this skull has already committed perjury from time to time. There is nothing worse than perjury.)

Sergius rather obviously represents Konrad Holzinger. He is the shallow skull that has taken over the rule; he is the skull that commits perjury and successfully deceives the country. Reuchlin’s Sergius is thus a highly political play, reflecting the role of deceit in politics—and of literature and theatre in a political world. The author recognizes drama as the best way to 75 Petrus Venerabilis, Epistolarum Libri Sex, lib. IV, ep. XVII. PL 189, coll. 321–44, esp. col. 341.



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reflect and to reveal ‘theatrical’ and deceitful structures in the world that are similar to fiction and play, but may not be recognized as such. Reuchlin’s above-mentioned Scaenica Progymnasmata (Henno) was designed as the quick replacement to the play that Dalberg did not allow to be performed during the ludi februi, 1497.76 It was staged in Dalberg’s house on 31 January 1497 and was printed in Basle in 1498. Reuchlin calls his new play a ludus anilis, which lacks both a refined content and a sublime style (a2r).77 In a handwritten commentary, Reuchlin explains that a ludus anilis is a ‘comoedia […] veteris disciplinae et inscita ioculatoria et actus breviuscul[i]’ (‘comedy of the old kind, with unrefined jokes and very short acts’).78 According to Horace, a ludus anilis is a parodic comedy, using choruses between the rather short acts.79 Reuchlin’s aim when writing his lusus anilis is to ‘placere paucis versibus’ (‘please with a few verses’; a2r). Even though the text is short, it should still follow the rules of a comedy in style, plot and meter (a2r). It is a kind of condensed model comedy. In an adjunct to the editio prima of Reuchlin’s Henno, Johannes Richartzhausen, a member of the Heidelberg sodalitas and the Rector of the University of Heidelberg, writes: TE duce / res nostris agitur rarissima terris  Quondam o Roma tuis ludier apta scholis. Vidi equidem / et placuit ficti simulatio sexus  Gestus: et in numeros qui salit arte chorus. Plus tamen interior me significantia veri  Commovet: inque suos ars nova ficta dolos. Huic vetus in nostris Comoedia cede theatris:  Iam libeat soccum conspicere arte novum: Nunc ex Germano dabitur spectare Poeta:  Mendicata prius / quae tulimus latio. (b4v) (You directed a performance of a kind which is very rare in our country, but used to be adequate to your schools, o Rome. I have attended it, and I liked the presentation of the fictive gender, the gestures, and the chorus that 76 Philipp Melanchthon, De Capnone Phorcensi (1552), in: Corpus Reformatorum, ed. Bretschneider, 11, coll. 999–1010, esp. col. 1005. 77 The edition of Reuchlin’s Henno is not very reliable. This is why I use the editio princeps: Johannes Reuchlin, Scenica Progymnasmata: Hoc est: Ludicra preexercitamenta (Basle: Johannes Bergmann von Olpe, 1498) [Tübingen, University Library, Dk II 110 g. 4]. Cf. Reuchlin, Henno, ed. Schnur; reviewed by Ludwig Krapf, in Germanistik 13 (1972), 112–13. 78 Wimpheling-Codex, fol. 8–21, in: Johann Reuchlins Komödien, ed. Holstein, pp. 98–106, esp. p. 98. 79 Horace, Ars poetica, ll. 281–84. Cf. Glodny-Wiercinski, ‘Johannes Reuchlin—novus poeta?’, pp. 151–52; Janning, Der Chor im neulateinischen Drama, pp. 37–41.

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cora dietl skilfully danced to the music. I was even more fascinated by the presentation of truth in the new fictive art. Old comedy, leave our theatres; we shall now take our pleasure in viewing the new comedy. Now, a German poet lets us see something that we had previously borrowed from Italy.)

The old comedy, i.e. the recitation of half-dramatic dialogues, has now been overcome by a new kind of play and performance; the gestures and motions, the costumes (which help men to cross-dress as women), the music, the illusive art are regarded as a new feature in Humanist comedy. The plot of Reuchlin’s Henno also distinguishes it from the old halfdramatic dialogues. On its surface it is a farce based on the French Maître Pathelin or a similar text of the same tradition.80 Henno, a peasant, steals his wife’s money and asks his servant Dromo to take it and buy some cloth with it. Dromo buys the cloth, but he does not pay for it. Rather, he promises the merchant Danista that Henno will pay for it later. On the other hand, he promises Henno that Danista will deliver the cloth, while he keeps both, the money and the cloth, for himself. Once they find out, Dromo is drawn to court. The advocate Petrucius advises him to pretend to be mad and simply to reply ‘ble’ to any question. Dromo is successful at court and uses the same trick against Petrucius when he asks him for his fees. Henno’s wife Elsa, however, is aware of the fact that her daughter loves Dromo and therefore is worried about his mental state. She promises Dromo that he may marry her daughter if he reveals what has happened to him. He quickly does so by explaining that he had no other intention than to punish the thief Henno, the profiteer Danista and the deceitful lawyer Petrucius. Philipp Melanchthon comments that Reuchlin’s Henno was a ‘fabula […] gallica […], plena […] candidi salis, in qua forensia sophismata praecipue taxat’ (‘French story, full of white salt, in which he mainly treats forensic sophismata’).81 According to Jane Newman, the Scaenica progymnasmata is paradigmatic in that ‘texts that appear classical on the surface often mask novel, even potentially subversive local elements.’82 It is more than just a farce; it is a satire criticizing unjust lawyers and negative elements in society, politics and learning.83 At the same time, Reuchlin’s 80 Geiger, Johannes Reuchlin, sein Leben und seine Werke, pp. 82–85; Bernstein, German Humanism, p. 72 supposes that Reuchlin used Maître Pathelin only as a secondary source, while the primary source was an Italian play. 81 Melanchthon, De Capnone, col. 1005. 82 Newman, ‘Textuality vs. Performativity in Neo-Latin Drama’, p. 273. 83 Cf. Roloff, ‘Sozialkritik und Komödie. Reuchlin als Komödienautor’; Rhein, ‘Reuchli­ ana 2, p. 30; Laufs, ‘Johannes Reuchlin—Rat und Richter’. In the so-called Wimpfeling



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comedy discusses the role of literature in society. This is why the chorus, who according to Horace is supposed to support the righteous party,84 does not support any of the figures, but praises the author and poetry in general (a6r, a7v).85 The poet can resist any legal and political corruption (such as the corruption in Wuerttemberg that turned Reuchlin into a nova poeta) and any ignorant enemy:  Musis / poetis / et sacro  Phoebo referte gratias: Visus nequit infirmitas Apollinem contingere Illiterati cecitas Nequit poetam cernere.  Musis poetis et sacro  Phoebo referte gratias. Hinc hostis est audaculus. Qui nescit ullas litteras Poeticis ornatibus Poeta vincit viperas (a7r–v). (Give thanks to the muses, to the poets, and to divine Apollo! A man’s fable view cannot grasp Apollo; the blindness of an uneducated man cannot grasp the poet. Give thanks to the muses, to the poets, and to divine Apollo! A totally uneducated opponent is foolhardy; with his verbal weapons the poet defeats vipers.)

The enormous confidence in the prowess of poetry and erudition that is expressed in Reuchlin’s Henno and the new subtle way of reproaching his opponents in a seemingly harmless comedy might be additional factors that were responsible for the play’s overwhelming success. Within the first twenty-five years, it was printed thirty-one times, not including the various translations and adaptations of Henno. Soon after the publication of Reuchlin’s Scaenica progymnasmata, other authors also used the form of comedy to either criticize personal opponents or shortcomings in society. One of the most remarkable exemplars of these new comedies that followed Reuchlin’s example might have Codex the play is given the title Comedia Reuchlini contra causidicos, clearly indicating that the major objects of Reuchlin’s critical parody are dishonest, greedy lawyers. Holstein, ‘Ein Wimpfeling-Codex’, p. 214. 84 Horace, Ars poetica, ll. 194–96. 85 Glodny-Wiercinski, ‘Johannes Reuchlin’, p. 148 explains that the choir does not refer to the plot, but to the literary genre of the comedy. Cf. similarly: Udo Friedrich, ‘Johannes Reuchlin am Heidelberger Hof: poeta—orator—paedagogus’, in: Reuchlin und die politischen Kräfte seiner Zeit, ed. by Stefan Rhein (Sigmaringen: Thorbecke, 1998), pp. 163–85 (pp. 168–69).

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been a lost play written by Jakob Wimpfeling in 1497, just a few months after the first performance of Reuchlin’s Scaenica progymnasmata.86 During the Imperial Diet in Worms (i.e. between April and August, 1497), in the presence of Jacob of Baden (who functioned as Maximilian’s representative), Wimpfeling’s students staged a comedy. Only the prologue and the epilogue of it have come down to us,87 together with a note written by Wimpfeling himself, stating that the play is not to be published: ‘non ibit in lucem sed sepulta manebit apud me’ (206r) (‘it should not go out into the light, but stay buried at my place’). The comedy is about a young man called Graccus, who leads a loose life and abhors learning. When he grows old and has used up all his fortune, there are only three alternatives left for him: committing crimes to earn his living, killing himself, or woefully ending his life in a hospice. A second protagonist in the play is a young woman leading a similar life. When she grows old and has lost all her beauty, there is no hope left for her to marry. The comedy was designed for a performance (repraesentatio) lasting one or two hours; it included some pieces of music and the songs of a chorus. The main impetus, however, focuses on the words of the figures that are supposed to carry a clear message against the levitas that Wimpfeling observed among young people— students and nobles (204r). The parts of the comedy that have been passed on do not reveal any politically, socially or personally pointed critique in the play, but rather an interest in general moral education. Whether the rest of the text had a double mission as Reuchlin’s Henno had (by which Wimpfeling was obviously influenced in terms of style and genre) cannot be determined. Most of the other early Humanist comedies following Reuchlin’s example do not include a chorus, such as Jacob Locher’s Ludicrum drama de sene amatore (1503). It is a prose adaptation of Plautus’s Asinaria, directed against Locher’s academic opponent, the conservative theologian Georg Zingel, of whom Gerontius, the protagonist, is a caricature.88 Gerontius is openly accused by his wife Eriphila of having an affair with a prostitute.  The servant Staphilus manages a conciliation of the two parties; they make a contract that subdues Gerontius, but the old man does not realize this and is under the impression of having succeeded in the conflict. Ludicrum drama was part of Locher’s ongoing dispute with 86 Cf. Dietl, Die Dramen Jacob Lochers, pp. 154–56. 87 UB Uppsala, C 687, fol. 204r–206r; cf. Holstein, ‘Zur Biographie Jakob Wimphelings’, p. 245; Knepper, p. 43; Mertens, ‘Jakob Wimpfeling’, p. 46. 88 Cf. Dietl, Die Dramen Jacob Lochers, pp. 283–91, 492–502.



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Zingel; however, he was only able to publish it because he left Ingolstadt at the same time. A similar play was written by Bartholomaeus Frankfurter Pannonius, a schoolteacher in Buda. His comedy Gryllus, based on Plautus’s Captivi, was most probably written for the Hungarian court, in cooperation with Vadianus in Vienna, where it was printed in 1518 and in 1521.89 Gryllus is the story of a father who thinks that he has lost his two sons, but they, following twisted paths, find their way back to their father. The protagonist Gryllus is a parasite who tries to make a fortune from delivering good news to the father and other figures. He provides the main focus of Frankfurter’s subtle critique.90 A very different kind of ‘comedy’, following the pattern of Terence, was written by Kilian Reuter in his Comedia gloriose parthenices et martiris Dorothee agoniam passionemque depingens (‘Comedy that depicts the agony and passion of the glorious virgin and martyr Dorothea’, 1507).91 It is a religious play, written for a school context, telling the legend and the martyrdom of St Dorothea. In five acts, Reuter describes how Fabricius tries to force Dorothea to forsake Christianity and to get married. She is tortured in various ways, and her sisters are burnt, but she does not give in, and when she finally dies, breathing out roses, it is a triumph because Theophilus converts to Christianity in the last act. The ‘comedy’ is an adaptation of Hrotsvitha of Gandersheim’s dramas that had been discovered by Celtis and had been printed in 1501. Kilian uses a style similar to Hrotsvitha’s (‘Sacrimonialem secutus Rosphitam | Stilum’, A5v), and literal quotations from her Dulcitius and Sapientia; his intentions were very similar to Hrotsvitha’s. He wants to offer the youth who like to go to the theatre a Christian alternative to the heathen drama and the amoral comedy (A4v). For the young Ephebus who acts in the play it is supposed to be an exercise, for the audience it is supposed to be a pleasure (A6r). Whether there was in fact a performance of Dorothea in Wittenberg, cannot be proved. There are no further examples of religious ‘comedies’ of that kind 89 Bartholomeus Frankfordinus, Opera quae supersunt, ed. by Anna Vargha (Budapest: Egyetemi Nyomda, 1945); cf. Rupprich, Geschichte der deutschen Literatur, p. 647.; Kiss, ‘Dramen am Wiener und Ofener Hof ’, p. 296; cf. in this volume, p. 637. 90 Roloff, ‘Neulateinisches Drama’, p. 652, tries to measure Frankfurter’s Gryllus by classical standards and claims that Frankfurter failed in combining different scenes and motifs from classical sources; cf. Arnold, Das deutsche Drama, p. 134. 91 Chiliani Equitis Mellerstatini Comedia gloriose parthenices et martiris Dorothee agoniam passionemque depingens (Leipzig: Wolfgang Stöckel, 1507) [Göttingen, University Library, 8 P DRAM I, 2820]. Cf. ‘Reuter’, Killy, Literaturlexikon, 9, coll. 405–06 (Gerhard Wolf); Kipf, ‘Der Beitrag einiger Poetae minores’, pp. 47–51.

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known in German early Humanism. It seems that Reuter’s academic experiment was not very successful. Before the Reformation there is no remarkable interest in Neo-Latin religious plays. Mythological or Allegorical Spectacula and Festival Plays Early Humanist reflections on the Roman dramatic genres sometimes mention that there was a third genre besides tragedy and comedy: the satyr play. There is, however, never a clear definition of that genre. It could be something mythological or allegorical, it could be something bucolic or something expressing festive joy. When writing plays that could be classified as the ‘third genre’, the authors never use the expression ‘satyr play’, but rather the very general expressions spectaculum or ludus or even comoedia. We can still distinguish these ‘comoediae’ from the comedies following the patterns of Terence and Plautus. They do not consistently follow a classical structure, and they do not intend to ridicule the faults of an individual contemporary figure, but they either talk about virtues and vices in allegorical or mythological vestment, or they glorify virtuous persons, who normally are in the audience. A special characteristic of the festival play are the open borders between the play and the (courtly, university or civic) feast during which it is performed. The close interlinkage between the feast and the performance could be regarded as a late medieval feature of these spectacula, the mythological, rhetorical and literary models used for the single elements of the festival plays. However, they are clearly Humanist and are often explicitly set to stress the importance of the studia humanitatis. Presumably the first92 examples of German Neo-Latin festival plays are Joseph Grünpeck’s Comoediae duae.93 Grünpeck, a teacher at the grammar school in Augsburg and a student of Celtis and Lorenzo Valla, staged his two plays with his students in Augsburg in 1497. In the same year, he published them94 under the title: Comoedie vtilissime. omnem latini sermonis elegantiam continentes. e quibus quisque optimus latinus evadere potest (‘Very useful comedies that contain all the elegance of the Latin language, from which everybody can become a perfect Latinist’), clearly marking 92 Werner, Der Humanist Joseph Grünpeck und seine ‘Comoediae utilissimae’, pp. 72–73. 93 Cf. Dietl, Die Dramen Jacob Lochers, pp. 174–88; ‘Grünpeck, Joseph’, Worstbrock, Deutscher Humanismus, coll. 971–91 (Sarah Slattery and Johannes Klaus Kipf), esp. col. 976–77; Kipf, ‘Der Beitrag einiger Poetae minores’, pp. 31–57. 94 Joseph Grünpeck, Comoediae vtilissime. omnem latini sermonis elegantiam continentes. e quibus quisque optimus latinus euadere potest (Augsburg: Hans Froschauer, [1497]) [Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, RES P-YC-1].



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them as a response to Valla’s Elegantia linguae Latinae. Grünpeck is convinced that the proper use of the Latin language and Humanist erudition correlate with the power of the Empire. His ‘comedies’ follow the double intention of serving as an exercise in rhetoric and of educating the actors and the spectators in morality (a2r). He is convinced that his time and society desperately needed such an education. This is why he intends to present a speculum totius humani generis (‘mirror of the whole human kind’) (b4r). It is a mirror that obviously is designed for performance. Grünpeck’s very elaborate stage directions include all the various emotions that were supposed to be expressed in the dialogues. As we are told in the prologue of the second comedia, the author (who in the colophon admits that he acted himself, ‘egit autor ipsemet’) saw one of the major functions of the staging as being a non-verbal communication of the play’s contents to those spectators who had problems understanding the Latin language: […] si nostrum spectaculum eorum gravitati minus responderit cum quia latino prologo uti iussus quod pauci intelligunt. tum quia omnes | actus gestusque his minime cordi sunt a quibus haud facile percipi possunt actori ascribendum putent (b3v–4r). ([…] if our play fails to pass the strict judges’ acceptance since it follows the rule that a prologue should be spoken in Latin—which is a language that only a few people understand—and because those who cannot understand the gestures and mimed expressions do not like them, they may well blame the actor.)

Both the Latin language and gesture convey meaning, but both of them require some experience in reading them. It is, however, the actor’s duty to make his gestures and non-verbal expressions as easy to understand as possible—at least if he knows that the audience is not well trained in either of the two methods of understanding drama. His two comediae address different audiences, and therefore vary in the emphasis they put on language or gesture. The Comedia prima was written for the wedding of Georg Salemon, a member of the Humanist circle in Augsburg, in July 1497. Grünpeck can expect Salemon to understand the Latin dialogues, while some of the wedding guests might need the gestures to be able to follow the play, especially since there is no real action in the plot. The play consists of a dispute between various people on the values of virtus and levitas. At first, a puella religiosa discusses the subject with a group of girls. An increasing number of other figures enter the scene and join the discussion. At first, three young men defend the freedom of a secular life and blame teachers and parents for being too strict. A fourth young man appears and defends the

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life of the puella religiosa, and an old fortune-teller turns up and prophesies the end of the world. A fifth young man mocks the puella religiosa, until a female innkeeper reproaches the young men and is scorned by another boy. Two maidservants leave the kitchen and join the ardent discussion on opposite sides. Finally, all the figures show evidence of their faults and virtues. All of a sudden, one of the girls remembers the wedding of Anna and Georg Salemon, and a boy invites the whole group (there are at least fourteen persons on stage) to the feast and asks them to join the dance. The whole conflict is forgotten, and the play that might have served as a mirror for the wedding guests, their different attitudes towards life and their current conversation, turns into an integral part of the wedding celebration. Even though the ultimus puer concludes the play with a pseudo-Terentian phrase, ‘Vos valete et plaudite ego finem feci’ (‘farewell and give applause, I have finished’) (b3r), the play is certainly far from a classical comedy. There is no structure of acts and scenes: the dialogues are in prose; there is no limited number of persons on stage; and there is no resolution of the conflict. The conflict is abruptly brought to an end by the annunciation of the feast which is both part of the play and the non-fictional frame of the performance. The dissolved borderlines between the play and the surrounding festivity justify its categorization as a ‘festival play’.95 The Comoedia secunda was staged in November 1497 as a public performance to welcome Maximilian I to the town. Its content is similar to that of Grünpeck’s first play, the setting, however, is different; the conflict between virtus and voluptas ( fallacicaptrix) is now dealt with in the framework of the classical pattern of Hercules in bivio. In terms of form, Grünpeck pretends to follow classical dramatic norms, with acts (the numbering of the acts ends after Act I, however), with a strictly limited number of characters on stage, and with only one change of place: from a place in front of the Emperor’s residence in Augsburg to its interior. The protagonists, however, are not the classical heroes of a comedy but personifications, messengers and the King (the typical characters of a tragedy). Fallacicaptrix reminds the audience of Roman love poetry and tries to persuade everybody to follow her way of life. She stops speaking when she sees Virtus rushing to the King’s palace. Virtus, who is dressed in rags, now addresses the audience and complains that people have chased her away

95 Moser, Die Anfänge des Hof- und Gesellschaftstheaters in Deutschland, p. 31; ‘Grünpeck’, Killy, Literaturlexikon, 4, p. 395 (Heinz Wittenbrink).



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and her only hope of finding some dwelling now rests with Maximilian. When he is informed about her, the King quickly summons a court to judge any injustice in the Empire. Virtus and Fallacicaptrix appear at his court and have an extensive dispute. When Maximilian recognizes Virtus, he supports her and condemns Fallacicaptrix. Maximilian, who was present during the performance and whom the citizens of Augsburg expected to be a trustworthy and virtuous judge, is mirrored in the play that glorifies him.96 The King features in an allegorical action that does not represent a realistic action, but rather the manner of a just, virtuous king. His justice and virtue are reflected in his political actions to which Virtus refers in her speech (c3r). Maximilian’s praise on stage is designed to praise the King through the performance of the play. Here again, though in a quite different way from that in the first comedia,  the boundaries between the play and the feast (the reception of Maximilian) are opened up. Konrad Celtis’s two panegyric plays may well be regarded as the most exemplary festival plays in early German Humanism.97 During the carnival in 1501, half a year before the official foundation of the Colloquium poetarum et mathematicorum in Vienna, which was designed by and installed for Celtis, the poeta laureatus and Professor of rhetoric and poetry in Vienna, Konrad Celtis staged his Ludus Dianae in the Castle of Linz, to entertain and honour Maximilian I, his wife Bianca Maria and her cousins Massimiliano and Francesco Sforza, Dukes of Milan. The actors were members of the Vienna Humanist circle, among them Joseph Grünpeck, Vinzenz Lang and Celtis himself. In the title of the printed version,98 Celtis claims that it is a play in modum Comedie, performed for the Saturnalia. As soon as Mercury turns up and delivers the prologue, announcing the goddess Diana who ‘hac in aula’ (‘in this court’, l. 24) will honour King Maximilian, the audience is fully aware that this is not a regular comedy. In Plautus’s Amphitruo, Mercury explains in the prologue that a play in which kings and godheads appear cannot really be called a comedy (ll. 60–61).99 Not only are the persons too high for a comedy, they are 96 Roloff, ‘Neulateinisches Drama’, col. 653, supposes that Maximilian might have taken the role of the King in the play. The number of lines that had to be spoken by the King, however, makes Roloff’s supposition rather implausible. 97 Cf. Dietl, Die Dramen Jacob Lochers, pp. 188–203; Dietl, ‘Repräsentation Gottes— Repräsentation des Kaisers’. Both plays are edited in: Celtis, Ludi Scaenici, ed. Pindter. 98 Ludus Diane in modum Comedie coram Maximili-|ano Rhomanorum Rege Kalendis Martijs et | Ludis saturnalibus in arce Linsiana danu-|bij actus… (Nuremberg: Hieronymus Höltzel, 15 May 1501). Critical edition: ‘The Ludus Dianae of Conrad Celtes’, ed. Gingerick. 99 Plautus, Amphitruo, ed. Blänsdorf.

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also not clearly distinguished from the audience. The spectator of the play, Maximilian, is identical with the (silent) Maximilian figure in the play, and the space of performance is not separate from the fictive space of the plot. Therefore, we might rather understand Celtis’s remark in modum Comedie as a comparison of his ludus with Grünpeck’s comediae. Each of the five acts of the play consists of a panegyric speech addressed to Maximilian by one or several mythological figures, and of a concluding song.100 In the first three acts, Diana, Silvanus-Mars and Bacchus characterize Maximilian as a perfect hunter, warrior and organizer of festivals. Here, the play is interrupted, and Vinzenz Lang steps out of his role as Bacchus, while Maximilian steps out of his role as the silent King. Within the play, but with all legal consequences of a non-fictional ceremony, Vinzenz Lang is promoted poeta laureatus. The stage instructions simply remark: ‘Ceremonijs solitis’ (l. 210), ‘according to the normal ceremony’. After the formal promotion, the chorus praises Maximilian and reminds Lang of his duties as a poet laureate. In the following, fourth act Silenus appears on a donkey, delivering a carnival speech full of linguistic jokes, and inviting the festive community to have some wine, which is immediately served to the audience. The last act finally reunites all twenty-four characters of the play on stage. Diana and the chorus praise Maximilian and Bianca Maria, and ask for the release of the actors.101 The play and the singular, real ceremony of Lang’s promotion to a poeta laureatus form a unity that cannot be split. The contents and the intention of the play match the duty of a poet laureate, to praise the Roman King: ‘Cantabo laudes hic et vbique tuas’ (l. 209). Lang promises that in the play, while he and the other actors (most of whom are already poetae laureati)102 fulfil their duty in performing the play. The Ludus describes a singular festival that cannot be repeated. Consequently, the printed version is a documentation of a performance rather than a play text.103 This is why most of the stage directions are written in the past tense and elaborately describe not only the splendid decorations, costumes and props, the choreography and the music, but also the (stylized) reactions of the audience, such as in Act III:

100 For similarities between the structure of the Ludus and that of the ‘Reihenspiel’ type of carnival plays, cf. Dietl, Die Dramen Jacob Lochers, p. 194, n. 153. 101 For the praising function of the chorus cf. Janning, Der Chor im neulateinischen Drama, pp. 157–58. 102 Cf. Schmid, ‘Poeta et orator a Caesare laureatus’. 103 Cf. Müller, Gedechtnus, p. 373, n. 40.



neo-latin humanist and protestant drama in germany137 Post recitationem illius Carminis: ‘conticuere omnes intentique ora tenebant’ et mox Recitator Choriambi huius ad pedes Regis prouolutus Lauream his Carminibus a rege pecijt […] Poeta igitur Ceremonijs solitis per manus Regias creato totus chorus gratiarum actiones Regi cantauit tribus vocibus (ll. 203–05, 210–11). (After the recitation of this song ‘everybody became silent and they listened with intent faces’,104 and soon the reciter of the choriambus kneeled down in front of the King and asked him for the laurel, using the following lines […] Thereafter he was promoted to a poeta laureatus by the King according to the usual ceremonies, and the complete chorus thanked and praised the King, singing in three voices.)

In the printed version, there are even some remarks pointing to the artifical structure of the lines, such as: Littere in extremo carmen tibi fine reponunt | Et sex principio carmina lector habes (ll. 143–44) (The letters at the end of the lines taken together form a verse, and the beginnings of the lines, dear reader, you may put together into six verses [to be read vertically])

By these (and similar) phrases, it is clearly indicated that the printed version of the play is designed for reading, since the performance cannot be repeated anyway.105 The Ludus Dianae is a panegyric festival play combining panegyric with jocular passages, designed for a courtly performance at carnival. By contrast, Celtis’s second play is totally serious. The Rhapsodia, performed as a publicum spectaculum in Vienna in 1504, most probably at the Collegium poetarum et mathematicorum, albeit in the absence of Maximilian, and printed in 1505,106 reflect Maximilian’s military success over the Bohemian army in the Battle of Wenzenberg, 12 September 1504. The actors were noble or wealthy students from the Collegium.107 The play tries to prove that Celtis, the teacher of the acting students, fulfilled his duty ‘ut […] eloquentiam Romanam veteremque et solidam philosophiam inferrem’ (‘to introduce the eloquence of Roman antiquity and proper philosophy’) (1), as he writes in his letter of dedication to Maximilian. All the Collegium, he 104 Virgil, Aeneid, II,1. 105 I do not agree with Jörg Robert, ‘Celtis’, (Worstbrock, Deutscher Humanismus, 1, col. 375–427, esp. col. 411), who claims that the text was ‘von vornherein für den Leser und den Druck konzipiert.’ 106 Konrad Celtis, Rhapsodia, laudes et victoria de Boemannis per septem electroes et regem […] (Augsburg: Johann Otmar, 1505) [Freiburg, University Library, MF 81/10]. 107 Schuetz, Die Dramen des Konrad Celtis, pp. 136–37; Müller, Gedechtnus, p. 45.

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claims, praise Maximilian, and when they donate their book to Maximilian, they do it ‘genu nixi, ut coram deo fit’ (‘kneeling, as is appropriate in the presence of God’) (9). Celtis admits that many others praise the King. Nemo tamen, spero, placeat magis, inclyte Caesar,  Quam nos, qui Latiis scribimus acta notis. Nostra leget Gallus, Boemannus, Sarmata, Panno,  Romulus, Hispanus, Vasco, Britannus, Eryx. Illorum nostris tantum admirantur in oris  Rhemata; non alias sunt aditura plagas (A1r).108 (Nobody, I hope, will please you, noble King, more than we do, since we write down your deeds in Latin. Our work will be read by the French, the Bohemian, the Russian, the Hungarian, the Roman, the Spanish, the Basque, the Breton, the Irish. What the others wrote, however, will only be read in our country; they will not reach other areas.)

Celtis expects a broad European reception of the printed version of the play. As opposed to Grünpeck who admitted that only a few people could understand the Latin dialogues in his play, Celtis does not consider an audience who might not understand Latin, regarding Latin rather as the universal European language by means of which a reading audience is addressed. A documentation of the performance seems to be less important for the Rhapsodia than it was for Ludus Dianae. There are hardly any stage directions in the play, no information about the costumes, the setting or the music. Within the dialogues, however, an imaginary image of the ‘stage’ is set up. Maximilian sits on his throne. The seven electors are grouped around him like the seven planets around the sun, which moves in the middle orbit. The King, image of the sun and of Jupiter (or the reflection of God, surrounded by his angels, as he is presented in some Corpus Christi plays),109 outshines everything. A herald asks the iuvenes (obviously the students of Celtis’s Collegium) to enter the stage. They praise Maximilian, who triumphed over the evil forces and supports the muses and Apollo, who in turn will make sure that Maximilian’s deeds will never be forgotten. Apollo, Mercury and Bacchus (who claims to be an important source of poetic inspiration, l. 27) appear, and Apollo asks his muses to sing ‘summi victoris honores’ (l. 16). Clio praises Maximilian’s prowess on the battlefield; Thalia honours his cleverness in leading the war; Melpomene considers that he might be of divine origin; Euterpe applauds his success against the French, the Frisians, the Bretons and all 108 Celtis, Ludi Scaenici, ed. Pindter, p. 16. 109 Dietl, ‘Repräsentation Gottes’, p. 238.



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of Austria’s opponents; Polyhymnia reminds us that he had practised his vigour from early childhood; Erato claims that nobody could defeat Maximilian in a joust; Terpsichore promises him eternal glory, surpassing that of the Roman and Greek leaders; Calliope explains that he will be as famous as Charlemagne, Otto the Great and Barbarossa; Urania finally expresses her hope that he will soon become Emperor and that he will defeat the Turks and the Hussites, ensuring pax, sancta fides, pietas, concordia, virtus, integritas and sancta religio (ll. 180–81) on earth. After that, she promises, he will be deified (ll. 184–85). When the picture of Maximilian as the apocalyptic Last Emperor, securing peace and justice on earth, is painted, a persona laureanda appears: Sigismund Fuchsmagen, who played the role of Mercury. He pays tribute to Maximilian and reminds him of his duty to defeat the Turks and to return the ancient Greek towns back to their former glory. As a poeta laureatus, Fuchsmagen promises that he will sing Maximilian’s praise, at all times and in all places (ll. 201–02). Most probably, the promotion took place during the play, though there is no clear indication of it in the text.110 At the end of the play, all figures unite in further praise of Maximilian. Mercury concludes the actum by handing over the play text to the King (ll. 229–32), who promises to protect the school and to reward the actors for their presentation. The performance of the Rhapsodia was a celebration of Maximilian’s victory, a panegyric for the King and a public presentation of the Collegium poetarum et mathematicorum including the promotion of a poeta laureatus, who was educated in the Collegium and rendered his thanks to the founder of the institution, Maximilian, by using his erudition. If Maximilian had been present at the performance, there would hardly have been any distinction between the play and the performance. Since Maximilian could not come, the King had to be embodied by a delegate, who did not, however, perform the King’s role as an actor (there is no actor mentioned in the cast list) but as a legal representative. Thus the Rhapsodia might well be called a festival play, with the typical feature of not distinguishing the actors (or the spectators) and their roles, or the fictive and the performance spaces, and the events. The printed text pursued the additional intention of disseminating the praises for the Roman King to the neighbouring countries and thus threatening Maximilian’s enemies, so that he might overcome them. 110 For the discussion of the real, symbolic or omitted promotion, cf. Dietl, Die Dramen Jacob Lochers, p. 200.

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Fig. 3. Konrad Celtis: Ludus Diane in modum comedie coram Maximiliano Rhomanorum Rege Kalendis Martijs [etc.] Ludis saturnalibus in arce Linsiana danubij actus ... Nuremberg: Hölcel, 1501, a1r. [by courtesy of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek Munich, Rar 1551]



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In 1504 or 1505, Hieronymus Vehus, at that time a student of law at the University of Freiburg,111 staged another festival play praising Maximilian’s triumph in Wenzenberg: Triumphus Boemicus.112 We do not know anything about the performance; most probably it took place at the University of Freiburg. Maximilian has a passive role in the play, enabling us to assume that either he or the King’s legal representative in the Habsburg town (the Margrave of Baden) was expected to be present at the performance and to take Maximilian’s role. Apollo praises the warrior king, who surrendered neither to Bacchus nor to Venus, and he calls his Muses to celebrate his triumph. Calliope honours Maximilian’s bravery and adorns him with the laurel of the victor; the chorus asks the audience to join in the congratulations of the triumphant king. Clio praises the king and gives him the laurel of triumph. Euterpe follows her and honours Maximilian for fighting in the front line; she presents him with the corona castrensis, and the chorus glorifies Maximilian’s virtues. Polyhymnia now appears and bestows the corona obsidionica on the conqueror; Melpomene and Thalia award him with the corona civica, since he protected the citizens of the empire. The chorus interrupts again and wishes the King eternal glory. Terpsichore is next to adorn Maximilian with the warrior’s laurel, applauding him for killing so many barbarians that Charon could hardly transport them on his bark; Euterpe and Erato compare him with Hector and Hercules and give him a golden crown. Here, the chorus praises Maximilian as the pacifier of the world. Finally, Urania concludes the play by enumerating the King’s virtues and eulogizes the just ruler, whom she compares with Scipio. She offers him the crown of heavenly reward and eternal glory. Though there is no promotion of a poet laureate included in the play, and though we cannot really grasp what prompted the performance, we can still call it a festival play, since the content is nothing but the intention of the play: to praise the King. The addressee of the muses’ speeches within the play is the same as the addressee of the play: Maximilian or his representative. Vehus was not a poeta laureatus; he was not obliged to praise the King, but after the publication of the play, he was richly rewarded by Christoph of Baden.113

111 Immenkötter, Hieronymus Vehus, p. 12; Kattermann, Markgraf Philipp I. von Baden, p. 16. 112 Hieronymus Vehus, Deo Auspice pro divo Maximiliano Romanorum Rege Semper Augusto […] Boemicus Triumphus (Strasbourg: Johannes Grüninger, c. 1505) [Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, P. o. lat. 753(50]. 113 Kattermann, Markgraf Philipp I. von Baden, p. 16.

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Another panegyric play similar to Celtis’s Ludus Dianae and Rhapsodia is Georgius Sibutus’s Silvula in Albiorim illustratam (1506), performed at the University of Wittenberg, praising the city of Wittenberg and Friedrich of Saxony.114 An outstanding example of an early Humanist mythological spectaculum is Jacob Locher’s Spectaculum de iudicio Paridis, de pomo aureo, de tribus deabus, et triplici hominum vita (‘Spectacle on the Judgement of Paris, on the Golden Apple, the Three Goddesses and the Three Orientations of Human Life’), staged at the University of Ingolstadt in June 1502.115 It is not panegyric, but rather moralistic, but it still serves Maximilian’s politics— and it praises the studia humanitatis. Before Locher wrote this spectaculum, which is clearly distinguished from his earlier plays, he had read Boc­ caccio’s De genealogia deorum gentilium, Aristotle’s Ethics and Fulgentius’s Mythologiae. He was fascinated by Fulgentius’s allegorical interpretation of classical mythology, especially by his Fabula de iudicio Paridis stolido. Fulgentius’s work supported Locher’s theory that there was no contradiction between the poetry of antiquity and Christian faith. In his letter of donation accompanying the printed version of the Iudicium Paridis, Locher explains that he intends to ‘tenellis versiculis succinctas fabulas dilatare. et ad spectaculi morem transferre’ (‘extend the short fabulae with delicate verses and to transform them into a spectacle’) (l. 5). Fulgentius’s Fabula forms the core of Locher’s four-act Spectaculum; it is therefore printed together with the Spectaculum, as the play’s argumentum (c2v). In Fulgentius’s allegorical interpretation, the Judgement of Paris stands for every young man’s choice between the vita contemplativa (Minerva), the vita activa (Juno) and the vita voluptuosa (Venus), and thus for Locher it is the ideal topic for a play performed at a university. The prologue points out what the meaning of the three goddesses is, before the play starts off with the wedding of Peleus. Jupiter asks the goddesses to join the feast. Here, another argumentum interrupts the play; the audience is informed about the preliminary and the following events, up to the Trojan War. Now Discordia appears and throws the golden apple that is marked with the words ‘detur digniori’ (‘to be given to the most honourable’) among the goddesses. Jupiter sends Mercury to Paris, who is depicted as a lazy shepherd and a servant of Venus, ‘qui dormit in ida | Solares vitans radios’ 114 Kipf, ‘Der Beitrag einiger Poetae minores’, pp. 44–47. 115 Cf. Dietl, Die Dramen Jacob Lochers, pp. 243–76, 461–91. Jacob Locher, Spectaculum de iudicio Paridis, de pomo aureo, de tribus deabus, et triplici hominum vita (Augsburg: Hans Froschauer, 1502) [Microfiche, Bibliotheca Palatina, E2052].



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(‘who sleeps in Ida, avoiding the sunlight’) (c5r, ll. 76–77). In Act II, Minerva, Juno and Venus introduce themselves and try to bribe Paris, who is quickly convinced by Venus. ‘Virtutem non curo gravem. sophieque penetral’ (‘I don’t really care about virtue or sublime wisdom’) (d2r, l. 241), he explains, and he cannot be tempted by the power and the possessions that Juno offers him, since he will inherit Arabia anyway. The central Act III, in which Helena is forced by Cupido to follow Paris, is surrounded by two interludes: a duel between two gladiators, fighting for Venus’s laurel, and a bucolic dance of shepherds and peasants. Both groups reflect Paris, who has finally lost his royal honour by following Venus, and against whom Menelaos has the right to rage. ‘Quis tollerare potest. | hec latrocinia foeda’ (‘Who could tolerate the crime of theft?’) (e1r, ll. 399–400), he claims before he and his brother Agamemnon announce the ‘Prelia […] iusta’ (e2r, l. 437) against the Asians. The plot ends with an announcement of war and an appeal to all Greeks to help in saving their honour. The appeal clearly echoes the final words of Locher’s Spectaculum de regibus in which the kings of the Occident were asked to join in the war against the Turks. Though it is designed as a mythological or allegorical play, Locher’s Iudicium Paridis must be understood as a political play. After the end of the plot, a postlude represents the three vitae, who promote their respective ways of life. It is obvious that Minerva’s way is seen to be the best. She cares for wisdom and erudition, and she fights the necessary battles against voluptas and external enemies with the weapons of language and rhetoric. In the end, the play is not only a political play but also a play arguing for the studia humaniora. The Spectaculum de iudicio Paridis was originally written for an official event at the University of Ingolstadt, possibly for a visit of the Duke of Bavaria or of Maximilian. Thus it was designed as a kind of festival play. Locher, however, did not receive permission to stage it. Angrily, Locher wrote in a letter of dedication to Georg von Sintzenhofen: nescio quid stoicidas et morum publicos censores moverit. lascivum quiddam ac emasculatum inesse credebant. nos privatam sortem attentavimus. processit actus prospere. ingens spectatorum numerus scammata ac sedilia opplebat; plausus clarus atque magnisonus fuit editus. non potuit marcescens invidia nostre glorie penitus obesse. (c2r) (I do not know what moved the pseudo-Stoics and public moral censors. They thought that there was something lascivious or effeminate in it. This is why I staged a private performance, and there the play was successful. A huge number of spectators filled the seats and the standing room; the

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Later, the play was restaged twice: in Freiburg in 1504,116 and in Krakow in 1522.117 There, the message that the war against the Turks should finally begin could be interpreted as relating to the war against Moscow, while the general idea that the effeminate and unjust Eastern enemy had to be defeated (and also that the Humanist poets had the duty to open the public’s eyes to the necessity of war) was emphasized. Another mythological play aimed at fostering Humanist erudition and especially the effort for a classical Latin language is Tilmann Conradi’s Comedia Teratologia,118 dedicated to Martin Polich, the Rector of the University of Wittenberg, in 1509. It is a prose comedy in five acts with choruses, depicting the gods’ despair when viewing the development of the Latin language. Cyllenius (Mercury) and Latroides (Jupiter) talk to the young Grammatophilos and open his eyes to the clerics’ negative influence on his linguistic skills. Finally, Grammatophilos repents and promises to dedicate the rest of his life to the muses. The mythological pattern used most often for fostering Humanist erudition and possibly for praising educated princes in the audience is that of Hercules in bivio, which Joseph Grünpeck had drawn upon in 1497. Hercules reappeared on stage in Augsburg in 1510, in a welcoming ceremony for Prince Charles, the later Emperor Charles V. The schoolteacher Johannes Pinicianus, a former student of Locher’s, had his pupils perform Virtus et Voluptas.119 The play tells how Prince Charles is lost on a hunting excursion. He meets a hermit, who gives him some advice, and soon he encounters Virtus and Voluptas. Both of them try to win him over to their respective sides. When Virtus finally tells Charles that Maximilian is on her side, he quickly decides to follow her and dismisses Voluptas. The play 116 A hand-written copy of the Spectaculum de Iudicio Paridis de pomo aureo; de tribus deabus et triplici vita hominum by Jacobus Montanuy, 1510 (University Library, Cod. C. VI. 42, fol. 90r–107v) bears the remark: Actum in studio Ingolstadiensi 13 Kalendas Julij anno 1502 Et in gymnasio Friburgensi. Nonis februarijs Anno 1504 (fol. 107v). 117 Jacob Locher, Iudicium Paridis de pomo aureo inter tres deas, Palladem, Iunonem, Venerem, de triplici hominum vita, contemplativa, activa, ac voluptativa (Krakow: Florian Ungler, 1522) [ Krakow, Bibl. Jagiell., Cim. Qu. 4831]. 118 Tilmann Conradi, Comoedia Philymni Syasticani cui nomen Teratologia (Wittenberg: Johannes Rhau-Grunenberg, 1509). Cf. ‘Conradi’, Worstbrock, Deutscher Humanismus, 1, col. 460–70 (Johannes Klaus Kipf); Kipf, ‘Der Beitrag einiger Poetae minores’, pp. 51–54. 119 Johannes Pinicianus, Virtus et voluptas. Carmen de origine ducum Austrie, aegloga Coridon et Philetus rustici (Augsburg: Johannes Othmar, 1512) [Tübingen, University Library, Dk II 28].



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ends with a panegyric on the Emperor. Likewise, as in Grünpeck’s play, the guest most probably did not take the role of Prince Charles, but he was praised by a play that mirrored him as a perfect image of Hercules. When in 1515 a diet was held in Vienna to plan the Habsburg-Spanish double wedding, Benedictus Chelidonius (Schwalbe), a former member of the Nuremberg Humanist circle, who had come to the Schottenkloster in Vienna in 1514 at Maximilian’s insistence, welcomed the guests with another dramatization of Hercules in bivio: Voluptatis cum Virtute disceptatio.120 Among the audience were Mary, the designated Queen of Hungary, and Cardinal Matthäus Lang.121 The play is structured in three acts, with choral songs in between. In the first act, Venus and her party are depicted as dangerous seducers. She has a dispute with Pallas; Charles is asked to judge between them. The second act shows Epikur (inspired by Satan) speaking in favour of Venus, while Hercules (who actually reflects Charles)122 successfully supports Pallas. In Act III, Charles judges in favour of Pallas and Hercules. He offers Pallas the laurel, but she takes the laurel and adorns him with it; Satan takes Venus with him, while Epikur is beaten up on stage. None of the two brides or bridegrooms of the forthcoming wedding are mentioned in the play, but the brother of Ferdinand and Mary is stylized as epitomizing virtue. Accordingly, the whole Habsburg family is being praised, while a general appeal to follow virtue is given to the bridal couples and to the audience. A strange variation of the disputation between virtue and vice can finally be found in Johannes von Kitzscher’s Virtutis et Fortunae dissidentium certamen (1514),123 which is dedicated to Johann Friedrich of Saxony, at whose court it might have been performed. The play is constructed in two scenes. In the first scene, Virtus has to flee from her enemy Fortuna, especially since her daughters Castitas and Temperantia do not find any further support by nobles and clerics. In the second scene, Labor has arranged a trial at the court of Pope Leo X. Virtus and Fortuna present their supporters; there are Fortitutudo, Prudentia, Caritas, Modestia and Veritas on the side of Virtus; a huge group of cardinals, bishops, prelates 120 Benedictus Chelidonius, Voluptatis cum Virtute disceptatio (Vienna: Singriener 1515) [Vienna, National Library]; cf. Schmeltzl, Gesammelte Schriften in zwei Bänden, 1: Das dramatische Werk, ed. Dietl and Knedlik, pp. 243–44; ‘Chelidonius’, Worstbrock, Deutscher Humanismus, 1, coll. 427–39 (Claudia Wiener), esp. coll. 432–33); ‘Benedictus Chelidonius’, BBKL, 20, col. 293–96 (Manfred Knedlik), esp. col. 293. 121 Cf. Rupprich, Geschichte der deutschen Literatur, p. 646. 122 Wuttke, Die ‘Histori Herculis’, pp. 212–14. 123 Cf. ‘Kitzscher’, Worstbrock, Deutscher Humanismus, 1, coll. 1294–96 (Worstbrock).

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and Roman authorities support Fortuna. The Pope decides that both sides should cease their conflict and make peace with each other. Leo’s lack of interest in supporting Virtue is an explicit pre-Reformation critique. In other areas, the traditional dispute between virtus and voluptas was normally continued in its traditional form, such as in the half-dramatic dialogue De mundi contemptu et virtute amplectenda dialogus (1519) by Valentin Eck, a schoolteacher in Bartfeld.124 Neo-Latin Drama during the Reformation With the beginnings of the Reformation, the German Neo-Latin drama was gradually turned into a confessional and thus partly a regional literature.125 In the prologue to his commentary on Terence, written in Tübingen, 1516, Philipp Melanchthon stresses the value of Roman comedy for the ethical and linguistic education of the youth. In the second edition of 1528 the prologue is transformed into an appeal to teachers; in 1545, the Epistola Phil. Mel. de legendis tragoediis et comoediis was published as a letter about the theory of drama. Here we read: […] reliquiis fruamur, Plauti et Terentii fabulis, et has saepius legamus, cum ut sermonem Latinum inde hauriamus, tum vero ut morum et voluntatum dissimilitudines in personis consideremus.126 ([…] We should profit from others, from the stories written by Plautus and Terence, and we should read them more often so that we can inhale the Latin language, and at the same time can consider the differences in people’s manners and intentions.)

Melanchthon suggests insistently that plays should not only be read, but staged. He emphasizes the connection between ethical instruction, eloquence and gesture in theatrical performances. In the Kursächsische Schulordnung, set up by Melanchthon in 1528, performances of Roman comedies were set elements in the pupils’ curriculum. Other school ordinances took up similar rules.127 In addition to the exercise in rhetoric and morals, performance could also serve as a public demonstration of the 124 ‘Eck, Valentin’, Worstbrock, Deutscher Humanismus, 1, coll. 589–600 (Jacqueline Glomski), esp. col. 592. 125 Meier, ‘Theater zwischen Regionalität und europäischem Horizont’. 126 Philipp Melanchthon, ‘Epistola de legendis Tragoediis et Comoediis’, in Corpus Reformatorum, ed. Bretschneider, 5, coll. 567–72, esp. col. 571. 127 Bacon, Martin Luther and the Drama, pp. 23–31; Ehrstine, Theater, Culture, and Community, pp. 136–37.



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Fig. 4. Sixt Birck: Judith Drama Comicotragicum. Cologne: Haeredes Gymnici, 1544, front page. [by courtesy of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek Munich, A. lat. a. 1598]

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school’s quality.128 While Melanchthon’s argumentation aims at classical Roman plays or at the already established form of Humanist drama, Luther also considers the composition of biblical plays and does not necessarily insist on Latin language drama.129 In his Tischreden, he expresses the utility of drama, especially of Roman comedy, for instruction in language and ethics, as a warning against evil, and as a reminder of the duties of members of society and of the family (I, 431–32). Luther criticizes medieval religious plays, especially the Passion plays that in his view ridiculed Christ and kindled hatred against the Jews, but neither honoured God nor strengthened the audience’s faith.130 He supports the dramatization of certain passages in the Bible, mostly in the Old Testament or the apocryphal writings, such as the stories of Judith and Tobias: Vnd Gott gebe | das die Griechen jre weise | Comedien vnd Tragedien zu spielen | von den Jüden genomen haben | Wie auch viel ander Weisheit vnd Gottesdienst etc. Denn Judith gibt eine gute | ernste| dapffere Tragedien | So gibt Tobias eine feine liebliche | gottselige Comedien.131 (May God grant that the Greeks learned their way of performing comedies and tragedies from the Jews, just as other insights, religious ceremonies, etc. Then Judith is the proper subject matter for a serious, heroic tragedy; Tobias is the plot for a gentle, devout comedy.)

A few Protestant dramatists followed Luther’s advice—or they asked him for advice and might have changed their minds, as Jacob Rueff apparently did;132 in fact, a large part of the mid sixteenth-century Protestant drama is biblical drama, but this is not the only form of Neo-Latin drama of that time. The already established forms of Humanist drama continued and were adapted to the new situation during and after the Reformation. Many of the mid sixteenth-century dramas (especially Protestant, though also Catholic ones) existed in both languages, in German and in Latin, so that they could be performed and read in different contexts. The translation from Latin into German was often done by relatives and friends of the authors, as well as by other authors, while the reverse translation from an original German text into Latin is usually the author’s own work.

128 Barner, Barockrhetorik, pp. 291–93. 129 Washof, Die Bibel auf der Bühne, pp. 42–55. 130 Martin Luther, ‘Eyn Sermon von der Betrachtung des heyligen leydens Christi’, in D. Martin Luthers Werke: Kritische Gesamtausgabe, 2, ed. Knaake, pp. 136–42, esp. p. 140. 131 Martin Luther: ‘Vorrede auffs Buch Tobie’, in D. Martin Luther, Die gantze Heilige Schrifft Deudsch. Wittenberg 1545, ed. Volz, 2, pp. 1731–32, esp. p. 1731. 132 Cf. Dietl, ‘Passionsspiele sola scriptura?’, p. 265.



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Biblical Drama Following Luther’s and Melanchthon’s advice, a vast number of Protestant authors wrote biblical dramas. Even though scholarship normally concentrates on the German-language Reformation dramas, the majority of the texts are written in Neo-Latin. Besides the classical Roman drama, dramatic representations of biblical scenes were the most common school performance. The plays normally used the classical structure of five acts and followed the biblical source rather closely, but they emphasized those scenes that could be seen as supporting Lutheran teaching; often, short sermons were included in the texts as monologues. Compared with the number of preserved texts, scholarship concerning Latin biblical drama is rather faint. A few excellent examples are normally quoted. One of them is Sixt Birck, who had written German religious dramas during his time as schoolmaster and rector of the Paedagogium in Basle; he started writing Latin plays when he became rector of a Latin school in Augsburg in 1536.133 He at first translated his German Judith and Susanna into Latin and partly adjusted them to classical dramatic forms (1537 until ca. 1543).134 Thereafter, he wrote Eva, a play about Eve’s different children, and Sapi­ entia Salomonis, an instruction about the virtues of a good ruler, based on three scenes selected from Solomon’s life (printed in 1547).135 Birck’s plays have been regarded as especially focussed on civic concerns.136 Johannes Sapidus, Rector of the Strasbourg grammar school, wrote a Comoedia nova et sacra that gained scholarly attention mostly because of its dramaturgy. Anabion sive Lazarus redivivus was written for the opening of a new building of the school in 1536.137 All the action of the five-act play is situated in front of Lazarus’s house, thereby following the perspective of the biblical report of Lazarus’s resurrection. As stated by Hans-Gert Roloff,138 other biblical plays (such as Heinrich Pantaleon’s Philargyrus, 1546) imitated Sapidus’s stage-setting.

133 Cf. Michael, Das deutsche Drama der Reformationszeit, pp. 208–15; for background information cf. Jahn, ‘Die Augsburger Theatersituation im 16. Jahrhundert’. 134 Cf. Washof, Die Bibel auf der Bühne, pp. 317–30, 392–97. 135 ‘Birck’, Killy, Literaturlexikon, 1, p. 514–16 (Elke Ukena-Best), esp. p. 516; Washof, Die Bibel auf der Bühne, pp. 277–87. 136 Roloff, ‘Neulateinisches Drama’, p. 660. 137 Johannes Sapidus, Anabion. 1540, ed. Michael and Parker; cf. Michael, Das deutsche Drama, pp. 240–41; Washof, Die Bibel auf der Bühne, pp. 215–25. 138 Roloff, ‘Neulateinisches Drama’, p. 660.

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One of the major trends in Neo-Latin biblical drama is the combination of elements of different dramatic genres and different times, especially of medieval and classical patterns. Martin Balticus, for example, a teacher at the Latin school in Munich, who was strongly influenced by his predecessor Hieronymus Ziegler,139 used the title Adelphopolae (1556) for his drama on Joseph and his brothers. The title seems to refer to Terence’s Adelphoe; the text, however, is a depiction of important events in Joseph’s life, intermingled with lamentations about the instability of fortune.140 Balticus’s Daniel (1558),141 an elaboration of the scene of Daniel in the lions’ den, uses a chorus at irregular places in the text. His Tragoedia Senacheribus, written, performed and printed in Ulm in 1590, combines elements of biblical and of historical drama. The protagonist, an Assyrian king of the Old Testament, is announced as standing for ‘Thurcae et alii Tyranni’, whom fortune and divine justice cause to fall.142 The New Tragedy The early Humanist understanding of the tragedy as a political play, depicting the fall of historical or contemporary tyrants and supporting the politics of the Empire, did not inspire Protestant dramatists to produce further texts of that kind. There was, however, a clear interest in using the persuasive force of the tragedy for actual political purposes. One of the most famous Protestant dramatists of the early Reformation is Thomas Naogeorg, who began writing and performing political plays as a young Protestant priest in Sulza/Thuringia. His dramas are nonconformist in that he claims not only to write ‘new’ tragedies and break with the rules of classical drama, but also that he does not identify with any of the Protestant subgroups and their teaching. His Tragoedia nova Pammachius (1538)143 is a polemic play directed against the Roman Church and dedicated to Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury. In four acts, the history of the Church is depicted. Christ, Peter and Paul regard the world from above and state that the Last Judgement will soon 139 ‘Balticus’, Killy, Literaturlexikon, 2nd edition, ed. Kühlmann, 1, pp. 322–23 (Wolfgang F. Michael); id., Das deutsche Drama, pp. 286–88. 140 Roloff, ‘Neulateinisches Drama’, p. 660. 141 Cf. Washof, Die Bibel auf der Bühne, pp. 266–69. 142 ‘Balticus’, Killy, Literaturlexikon, 1 (Michael), p. 323. 143 Thomas Naogeorg, Sämtliche Werke, ed. Roloff, 1: Tragedia nova Pammachius nebst der deutschen Übersetzung des Johann Tyrolff; Roloff, ‘Heilsgeschichte, Weltgeschichte und aktuelle Polemik’.



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occur; it is time to assess the situation. Christ realizes that mankind still cannot clearly distinguish between divine and satanic will. In order to force people to choose a side, he sets Satan free so that he can rule the world until its end. Christ is convinced that hardly anyone will stay faithful to God. On the contrary, most people will follow the religious orders and assume that they will be saved when they shave their heads and wear habits, torment their bodies, follow the rites, go on pilgrimages, and pay for indulgences. Satan sets off to the world. When Emperor Julian resists the Pope’s claims, Satan is able to swiftly persuade Pope Pammachius (‘the one who fights against everything’) to sign a pact by promising him power and glory. Pammachius forces Julian to his knees and at the same time increases the number of cardinals, religious orders, cathedrals, churches and monasteries that support the side of the Church. Thereafter, Satan and the Pope celebrate their glory in a most luxurious, opulent feast. Peter and Paul, who are observing these events, are shocked, and Christ comforts them by promising some last help for mankind. Veritas is sent to Germany; in Wittenberg, a certain ‘Theophilus’ is instructed by her on how to convert mankind. She allows him to attack the Pope as long as he preaches the pure teaching of Christ. While Satan and Pammachius are still feasting, a messenger arrives and tells them that some new theology has spread in Wittenberg. The messenger lists the central aspects of Luther’s teaching. Satan and the Church immediately decide upon countermeasures. Disagreements among the reformers and an accentuation of extreme positions soon follow, along with a condemnation of the new teaching through bribed teachers, a pact with the Turks, a provocation of a war with the peasants and of conflicts between the nobles. It is now very obvious for all the audience that, with the end of the fourth act, the actual moment in the history of the world has been reached. There cannot be a fifth act, ‘quem Christus olim est acturus’ (‘that Christ will finally accomplish’): in the Last Judgement. Since it is a tragedy, there cannot be any doubt that Pammachius will be cast into hell. Naogeorg here uses a dramatic trick which Locher had used for activating his audience to feel the need to finish the last act outside of the theatrical space. Here, however, the audience is not called to fight, but rather to quickly realize the signs of the coming Judgement and save their souls. Thus it is a polemic and at the same time an admonitory ‘tragedy’, a historical and a prophetic play. It is a nova tragedia insofar as it uses patterns of earlier Humanist tragedies, but it poses a new relationship between fiction and reality: ‘res ficta est, ita tamen, ut adsit ueritas’ (‘the matter is fictitious, but in such a way, that

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Fig. 5. Thomas Naogeorg: Hieremias: tragoedia nova. Basle: [?], 1551, A2v: http:// www.uni-mannheim.de/mateo/camena/naogeorg3/jpg/s020.html. [by courtesy of the University Library Mannheim]



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there is still some truth in it’) (B3v),144 Naogeorg explains in the prologue. The history of the Church, the Antichrist and the Reformation are also  new topics for a tragedy; the militant use of Neo-Latin drama in the confesssional discussion is also new. The play was most successful in Protestant areas—and caused Naogeorg to be placed on the index of the Roman Church.145 Naogeorg also calls his second play another new tragedy, which again is  very different from his first tragedy: Tragoedia alia nova mercator seu iudicium (1539).146 The Mercator is a variation of the Elkerlijk/Hecastus story;147 the dying merchant has to realize that his conscience will accuse him in God’s presence. He therefore seeks help from a priest who advises him to do a huge number of bona opera (‘good works’). They cannot comfort him, however. Paulus and Cosmas finally come down from heaven and cure him. He vomits some of the bona opera, others he blows out of his nose. In the end, Paulus gives him the medicine of pure faith, and the merchant can now enter the court. He is justified, while a prince, a bishop and a Franciscan who had gone with him, but were not cured by their deeds, are sent to hell.148 The chorus concludes with a song ‘Papatus pereat…Papatus cecidit. plaudite fortiter’ (‘The papist must decline, the papist is fallen, give lively applause’) (H3v), before the condemned are finally led on their way. It is another nova tragedia—and the speaker of the prologue assumes that news is always regarded as interesting (ll. 1–2)—though the form (five acts and choral songs) seems to be more classical than that of Pammachius. The use of nameless figures (i.e. types) in a ‘tragedy’ and the juxtaposition of positive representatives of the middle class and negative nobles are rather unusual for a tragedy. In fact, the Mercator is rather a morality play, with very strong political and confessional polemic.

144 Thomas Naogeorg, Tragoedia nova Pammachius (Wittenberg: Johann Luft, 1538) [Mannheim, University Library, Sch 051/102]. Online: [accessed: 7 July 2013]. 145 ‘Naogeorg’, in Killy, Literaturlexikon, 8, pp. 330–32 (Hans-Gert Roloff), esp. p. 332. 146 Thomas Naogeorg, Sämtliche Werke, ed. Roloff, 2: Tragoedia alia nova Mercator mit einer zeitgenössischen Übersetzung; Thomas Naogeorg, Tragoedia alia nova mercator seu iudicium ([s.l.], 1590) [Mannheim, University Library, Sch 074/01]. Online: [accessed: 7 July 2013]. Thomas Naogeorg: Alia Tragedia nova Mercator seu iudicium, Bolte, Drei Schauspiele vom sterbenden Menschen, pp. 161–319. 147 Cf. Dammer and Jeßing, Der Jedermann im 16. Jahrhundert, p. 6. 148 Roloff, ‘Der menschliche Körper in der älteren deutschen Literatur’, pp. 20–21; id., ‘Konfessionelle Probleme in der neulateinischen Literatur des 16. Jahrhunderts’, p. 276.

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Naogeorg’s Incendia seu Pyrgopolinices tragoedia (1541)149 has current political content; it describes and accuses Duke Heinrich (Henry) von Wolfenbüttel of arranging arson in neighbouring Protestant areas, in Saxony and Hesse. The tragedy is in traditional form, divided into five acts, with a chorus singing between the acts, presents the evil outcome of a pact between German dukes and Pope Pammachius, and it assures the spectatores of God’s justice. Thomas Naogeorg’s later plays use a biblical setting, but they are also called tragedies, and they are clearly political plays, accusing people of shortcomings in politics, religion and society that might be personalized, but could also be understood as general phenomena of the time. The ‘nova tragedia’ Hamanus (1543),150 taken from the book Esther, accuses bad consultants and ministers at court who scrupulously follow their own interests. In Hieremias, tragoedia nova (1551),151 the biblical plot serves as an analogue to contemporary history: nobody listens to prophets and preachers, until it is too late. Iudas Iscariotes Tragedia (1552) accuses all traitors who obstruct the evangelic matter. Melanchthon is blamed for accepting the Leipzig Interim, Johannes Agricola for cooperating with the Augsburg Interim, and Moritz of Saxony is accused of double-dealing with the Protestant groups and the Emperor. Comedy The Humanist tradition of rewriting Plautine comedies for moral/didactic instruction and for personal or religious polemic was continued by Protestant authors. Christoph Hegendorff, a young Humanist at the University of Leipzig who had taken Luther’s position in the Leipzig Disputation in 1519, and who strongly welcomed Melanchthon’s ideas of educating the youth, wrote two comedies following the pattern of Plautus: De duobus adolescentibus and De sene amatore. They were both printed in Leipzig, in 1520 and 1521, at about the time that Hegendorff finished his master’s degree.152 The first comedy is based on Menaechmi and tells the 149 Thomas Naogeorg, Sämtliche Werke, ed. Roloff, 3/1: Incendia mit einer zeitgenössischen Übersetzung; Thomas Naogeorg, Incendia, seu Pyrgopolinices (Wittenberg: Georg Rhau, 1541) [University Library, Mannheim, Sch 074/012]. Online: [accessed: 14 November 2010]. 150 Thomas Naogeorg, Sämtliche Werke, ed. Roloff, 3/2: Hamanus mit der deutschen Übersetzung von Johannes Chryseus. 151 Thomas Naogeorg, Sämtliche Werke, ed. Roloff, 4: Hieremias, Iudas Iscariotes, mit zeitgenössischen Übersetzungen. 152 Rummel, The Correspondence of Wolfgang Capito, 1: 1507–23, p. 90; ‘Hegendorff’, Killy, Literaturlexikon, 5, p. 103 (Wilhelm Kühlmann).



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story of two twin brothers with very different characters, who are mistaken for each other because of their similar looks and thereby trick their father. The second play tells the story of an old lover who is being cheated by a meretrix, while his servant tries to reconcile the two parties.153 The latter comedy uses a chorus singing between the acts; one of the songs is in German: ‘Ich het mir ein feines lieb auserkorn’ (‘I have chosen a lovely little friend’). Hegendorff’s violation of the classical conventions (sharply criticized by Roloff)154 and his method of ridiculing a reception of vernacular love poetry in an inadequate context may well be understood as a clever commentary on the need to rethink old habits in society as well as old literary traditions in the time of Reformation.155 The Swiss author Petrus Dasypodius (Hasenfratz) had his comedy Philargyrus sive ingenium avaritiae performed by students in Strasbourg in 1530 (printed in 1565).156 He combines elements of Plautine comedies with Aristophanes’ Plutus and tells the story of an avaricious man who mistreats poor people and especially his servants. Among his servants he also receives a blind man into his house—Plutus, who will finally succeed in converting him into a philanthropist. Sixt Birck’s half-dramatic prose dialogue De vera nobilitate (1538), a dispute between a rich nobleman and a poor, but virtuous citizen as to the question of who is the better bridegroom might be seen in the same light; the basic motif is taken from a dialogue by Buonaccorsi da Montemagno. It is typical of both the comedy and the late medieval Minnereden; the dialogue, however, opens up the possibility of interpretation as a personal or political satire. Marriage in general is a popular topic of comedy. The Erfurt Humanist Maternus Steyndorffer wrote a Comedia de matrimonio (1540)157 about two peasant girls who try to hide that they have had some experience of love before marriage. The comic effect in this comedy is gained by the confrontation of the peasants’ world and a high linguistic style. The most successful German Neo-Latin comedy of the mid-sixteenth century is Christoph Stymmelius’s Studentes: Comoedia de vita studiosorum (1545).158 Stummel, at the time of the composition of the comedy still 153 Arnold, Das deutsche Drama, pp. 134–35. 154 Roloff, ‘Neulateinisches Drama’, p. 653. 155 I agree with Kühlmann, ‘Hegendorff’, p. 103, that Hegendorff still deserves more scholarly attention. 156 Rupprich, Geschichte der deutschen Literatur, p. 329. 157 Rupprich, Geschichte der deutschen Literatur, p. 360. 158 Christoph Stymmelius, Studentes. Comoedia de vita studiosorum (Frankfurt/O.: Johannes Eichorn, 1550); 

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a student at the University of Frankfurt/Oder, wrote it for use in class. In the prologue, he explains that Terence and Homer have depicted the circumstances of their times in their works and that he intended to do the same in his comedy (A7r). The comedy, divided into five acts with choral songs, presents a variation on the story of the prodigal son that had already been dramatized by the Dutch Humanists Macropedius and Gnaphaeus. At the beginning of the play, Philomates persuades his father to let him visit a university. The neighbours’ sons Acolastus and Acrates accompany him. While these two indicate the bad influence of other students— Acolastus ends up with an illegitimate child, and Acrates loses all his money—Philomates, however, remains the exemplary student and ideal son of his father. In the end, all three return to their families, Acolastus and Acrates repent their sins and are welcomed by their loving parents, while Philomates has nothing to regret. Finally, there is a happy ending for each of them. The concluding chorus and the epilogue (F1v) express the hope that young people should learn from this comedy to avoid the vices depicted, and to lead a proper life. Even though the background of the usual Protestant filius prodigus drama is the ongoing discussion about God’s grace, which also is important at the end of Studentes, Stummel does not really focus on the theological issue but rather stresses the moral. In the printed version, Iodocus Willich added a commentary to Stummel’s Comoedia, defending the comedy as a genre that combines delectatio and utilitas. He explains that: Vtiltes uerò sunt, cum ingenia propter certarum uel arcanarum, uel humanarum cognitionem informent (A2v). (They are in fact useful, because they inform the minds about trustworthy or hidden knowledge, or about the condition of human life.)

What is meant by the reference to the conditio humana becomes clear at the end of the commentary; a poem about the iudicium Paridis is attached to Stymmelius’s Studentes. Thus the three students—the eager student Philomates, the mercenary Acrates and the voluptuary Acolastus—are interpreted as representing the three ways of life, Pallas’s vita contemplativa, Juno’s vita activa, and Venus’s vita voluptaria. Stummel’s comedy had a very broad reception. Possibly, the less explicit  Lutheran understanding of grace was partly responsible for its

[accessed: 7 July 2013]; cf. Dietl, ‘Jacob Chronander und das deutsche Drama der Renaissance’; Michael, Das deutsche Drama, pp. 104–06.



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acceptability in different regions. Twenty-one editions of the play are known to have been printed before the eighteenth century;159 there is even a Swedish translation,160 and there are performances of the comedy recorded as far away as Bergen in 1571161 and Turku in 1640, where it was staged as part of the inaugural ceremony of the university.162 A far more explicitly Protestant comedy was written and performed in Heidelberg by a Dutch author: Antonius Schorus’s Eusebia (1550).163 On 18 February 1550, Emperor Charles V writes to Friedrich II of the Palatinate: […] das auf der hailigen drei könig dage jüngstvergangen zu Haydelberg in eim collegio ein commedi recitirt, darin allerhant wider die christliche häupter, die religion und das ampt der hailigen messen nachtailigs und hochbeschwerdtlichs fürgeloffen sei.164 ([…] recently, there was a recitation of a comedy in a college at Heidelberg at Epiphany, and the performance highly offended and insulted the leaders of Christianity, the religion, and the holy Mass.)

The context of Schorus’s performance is the Counter-Reformation in Heidelberg, which had been a centre of Protestantism. The Catholic theologian Keuler, the new Chancellor of the university, had forced all members of the university by decree to join the procession at Corpus Christi in 1549. The decree had led to a tumult in Heidelberg. Antonius Schorus, who had fled from the Inquisition in Antwerp in 1542 and had founded the Paedagogicum in Heidelberg in 1546, had been suspected by the Catholic forces at the university even before the performance. Schorus and Florian Susliga, who had taken one of the major roles in the play, had to leave Heidelberg quickly after the performance, which was held privately in Schorus’s flat, but it was scandalous enough to become public soon afterwards. The comedy is structured in six acts, of which the first five form a series of parallel dialogues. Eusebia (i.e. Religion) is sent out to survey the 159 Roloff, ‘Neulateinisches Drama’, p. 662. 160 Cf. von Frenckell, ABC för teaterpubliken, p. 11. 161 Krogh, Aeldre Dansk Teater, p. 79; Kindermann, Theatergeschichte Europas, 2, p. 374. 162 Consistorii Academici Aboensis äldre protokoller, ed. by the Finnish Historical Society, vol. 2/1 (Helsinki, 1884), p. 6. 163 There is no printed version of the play, only a possibly incomplete manuscript that also contains a German translation of the play: National Library, Vienna, Cod. 8983. The Descriptio spectaculi ipsa Epiphaniae Domini 1550 Haidelburgae authore Anthoni Scoro celebrati, actus VI can be found in: Rott, ‘Kaiser Karl V. und die Aufführung der Heidelberger Komödie Eusebia von 1550’, pp. 178–213; Dietl, ‘Vera religio vor den Toren der Stände’. 164 Friedrich II, Letter to Karl V, Heidelberg, 10 March 1550, printed in: Rott, ‘Kaiser Karl V. und die Aufführung der Heidelberger Komödie Eusebia von 1550’, pp. 215–20; esp. p. 215.

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people’s faith, and to look for a shelter. In the first act, she visits the Pope, who asks a bishop to send her away, however. In the second act, she approaches the secular princes who claim that they have no responsibility whatsoever for religious affairs. Eusebia then tries her luck with the academics in Act III, but they too send her away; they have other problems to solve. In the fourth act, Eusebia addresses the merchants and craftsmen, but they claim that they simply follow the guidelines of the Church. Act V depicts the protagonist meeting the women. They, however, do not dare to do anything against their husbands. Finally, in the last act, Eusebia meets the displaced outcasts. Three of them are mentioned individually: Christophorus ‘ein krist’ (‘a Christian’), Philostauros ‘ein liebhaber des kreutz’ (‘lover of the cross’), and Alethes, ‘die Warheit’ (‘Truth’, p. 209). They welcome her warmly and recognize her as the star of Bethlehem that ‘nobiscum habitet, in nobis versetur’ (‘der in uns wonet’, ‘who is dwelling in us’, pp. 210–11). They praise the Saviour, who enlightens and comforts the world: ‘summam sapientiam, unicum gaudium, certum solatium […] continere est visum’ (‘he is seen to convey the highest wisdom, the only joy and reliable comfort’, pp. 210–11). The three outcasts are willing to follow the star (like the three Magi), regardless of any repression by the authorities. Finally, they turn to the audience and warn everybody that they will return on the Last Day, together with Christ, the judge. The accusations against the Church, the Emperor, the secular authorities and society are obvious; those who are loyal to vera religio, i.e. the Protestants, are repressed and cast out, but God is on their side. The play was immediately marked on the index and publication of it was forbidden. Allegorical Dialogues and Plays Besides the comedies that use allegorical means, there are some allegorical plays written by Protestant authors. As compared to the early Humanist allegorical plays, they neither include a panegyric element nor are they linked to some festival context; rather, they resemble the traditional semidramatic dialogues, but with (partly) allegorical persons. Some of them follow the scheme of a court trial: between a patient and Podagra (Helius Eobanus Hessus: Ludus podagrae, 1534, a Latin translation of a play by Jodocus Hessus)165 or among the authorities of the seven liberal arts

165 ‘Hessus’, Worstbrock, Deutscher Humanismus, 1, coll. 1066–1122 (Gerlinde HuberRebenich and Sabine Lütkemeyer), esp. col. 1109.



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(Joachim Camerarius: Ludus septem sapientium, 1544).166 Others describe courtly intrigues mirroring the state of the empire and the Church, as for example Jacobus Mycillus in his Apelles Aegyptius (1531).167 Roman Catholic Drama Biblical or Legendary Drama In comparison with the Protestant dramas, the Roman Catholics were rather late in writing Neo-Latin religious dramas. While the Protestant biblical drama is a reaction to the medieval religious play tradition, the Catholic religious drama reacts to the Protestant drama. It is not just a biblical drama, but also a legendary drama, thereby clearly stating that the Bible is the most important, but not the only relevant religious text tradition. Among the large number of Roman Catholic dramatists who wrote biblical or legendary plays, Hieronymus Ziegler is especially worth mentioning.168 He taught at the St Anna School in Augsburg, 1535–1540 and 1542–1548, until he became Rector of the Poetenschule in Munich in 1548; he became Professor of poetics at the University of Ingolstadt in 1554. During these years at different schools, he wrote eleven biblical dramas in classical Humanist form. The dramas were very popular; some of them were translated into German, and some were even appreciated or used by Protestant authors. The volume Dramata sacra: Comoediae atque tragoediae aliquot e Veteri Testamento desumptae, which came out in Basle in 1547, unites Ziegler’s Old Testament dramas with those of Sixt Birck and with single pieces written by Cornelius Crocus, Andreas Diether, Jacobus Zovitius, Johannes Lorichius, and Thomas Naogeorg.169 The publisher Johannes Oporinus did not see any significant difference between the biblical dramas of Catholic or Protestant authors that should hinder him from collecting them in one edition. In fact, Ziegler’s approach is primarily

166 Hubrath, ‘Die volkssprachliche Rezeption von Joachim Camerarius’ Ludus septem sapientum’, p. 251. 167 Roloff, ‘Neulateinisches Drama’, p. 663. 168 Cf. ‘Ziegler’, Killy, Literaturlexikon, 12, p. 489 (Markus Mollitor); Parente, Religious Drama and the Humanist Tradition, pp. 28–30 and elsewhere; Michael, Das deutsche Drama, pp. 218–23; for his use of choruses see Janning, Der Chor im neulateinischen Drama, pp. 42–43. 169 Dramata sacra: comoediae atque tragoediae aliquot e Veteri Testamento desumptae  (Basle: Johannes Oporinus, 1547), 2 vols. [University Library, Mannheim, Sch 071/137].  [accessed: 14 November 2010].

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Humanist and not predominantly confessional—at least in his Old Testament plays. This is also why he always tries to categorize his plays in the proper dramatic genres.170 The Nomothesia, tragicomoedia (1540) describes the Jews’ passage through Sinai, the formulation of the Decalogue, the adoration of the Golden Calf, and the battle against the people of Amalek. The battle is brought on stage with large numbers of actors, while at the same time (on a kind of simultaneous stage) Moses is seen supported by his brothers. The drama is clearly designed for a spacious stage and a large group of pupils. Other plays of Ziegler’s could be performed on simple Terence-stages. The topics of his early dramas range from the stories of individuals in the Bible to important wars in Israel’s history. Heli, sive Paedonothia, tragoedia (1543) is about the Old Testament priest Heli and his sons; the Isaaci immolatio, comoedia (1543) depicts Abraham’s life in five acts; Protoplastus, comicotragoedia (1545) is a record of the Creation in three acts, while Samson. Tragoedia nova (1547) describes the Old Testament story of Samson and the Philistines. Half biblical, half historical is Cyrus maior, drama tragicum (1547); written in five acts, it describes the conflict between Cyrus and Astyages surrounding the rule over the Persians and the Medes that finally led to Cyrus gaining the power to destroy Babylon. With Ziegler’s move to Munich and his change from the grammar school to an academic institution, he began concentrating on New Testament matters: Christi vinea, drama sacrum (1548) describes the foundations of the Church and Christ’s mission to Peter. Ophiletes, drama aliud comicotragicum (1548), a dramatization of the parable of the merciless servant (Matthew 18, 21–35), makes clear that God’s mercy has to be understood as a duty towards one’s fellow men. Regales nuptiae (1553) shows Christ’s wedding with Ecclesia. Ziegler’s Infanticidium, drama sacrum (1555) describes the killing of the innocent children. The Parabola Christi de decem Virginibus, drama sacrum (1559) once again depicts Christ as the bridegroom of Ecclesia. Finally, his last biblical drama, Abel iustus (1559), stylizes Abel as an example of an obedient child. Jakob Schöpper,171 priest and schoolteacher in Dortmund, wrote five Neo-Latin biblical dramas for school usage, all of which were translated 170 Cf. Washof, Die Bibel auf der Bühne, pp. 35–40. 171 Cf. Roloff, ‘Neulateinisches Drama’, p. 660; ‘Schöpper’, Killy, Literaturlexikon, 10, p. 361 (Robert Stupperich); Michael, Das deutsche Drama, pp. 249–53; [accessed: 14 November 2010]; Janning, Der Chor im neulateinischen Drama, pp. 243–56.



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into German soon after their publication. The plays are written in a very didactic tone, with choruses giving moral interpretations of the plot. Schöpper sought to make it possible for all the pupils to participate in the performance. This is why he designed scenes with large groups on stage. His Ectrachelistes sive decollatus Joannes (1544, printed in 1546), a presentation of the conflict between John the Baptist and Herod and the decapitation of Johan the Baptist, has forty-seven speaking roles; his other plays have similar casts.172 In Monomachia Davidis et Goliae (1550), Schöpper interpreted David as a prefiguration of Christ and Goliath as an image of the devil—a rather common interpretation. The Protestant misuse of his play as a depiction of the battle between Luther (David) and the Pope (Goliath) caused the drama to be forbidden by the Church. His following three biblical dramas, Tentatus Abrahamus (1551), Euphemus seu felicitatus Jacobus (1553) and Ovis perdita (1553) all discuss the question of grace and the forgiveness of sins: central aspects of the discussion with Protestantism. Tragedy As opposed to the Protestant dramatists, Roman Catholic authors continue to reflect the politics of the empire or of local princes. Nonetheless, this enabled the panegyric elements to be reduced, while critical aspects were introduced into the plays. One of the most virulent subjects of political drama in the second quarter of the sixteenth century is the Peasant War. Hermann Schottenius Hessus, Rector of the Latin school at Cologne, had his pupils perform two historiographic prose dramas at carnival in 1526 and 1527: Ludus Martius and Ludus imperatoris.173 These plays were staged in the Bursa Laurentiana,174 where we would expect either a neutral stage or a Terence-stage with different doors representing the houses of the opposing parties. Both plays mingle medieval play traditions175 with Seneca’s tragic form, and with elements of Renaissance drama. Scholars have seen Hessus as influenced both by Locher and by Erasmus.176 His plays, however, present much more action on stage than Locher’s plays, where all battles are simply reported by messengers. The Ludus Martius is 172 Cf. Washof, Die Bibel auf der Bühne, pp. 347–52. 173 Hermann Schottenius, Ludus Martius sive Bellicus, ed. Roloff; cf. Niefanger, Geschichtsdrama der Frühen Neuzeit, 1495–1773, pp. 69–72. 174 Kindermann, Theatergeschichte Europas, 2, p. 337. 175 Bradner, ‘The Latin Drama of the Renaissance (1340–1640)’, p. 37. 176 Michael, Frühformen der deutschen Bühne, p. 81; Hamm, ‘Pax optima rerum’, pp. 436–45.

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a dramatic depiction of the Peasant War in more than twenty-five (not clearly separated) scenes. The peasants are persuaded by Bellona to chase Pax away and to ask the princes for a reduction of their duties. The negotiations are in vain, so the peasants attack monasteries and castles, and kill a count. Soon, however, they are defeated by the nobles, and many of the peasants are killed. Their widows mourn, until finally the nobles set the imprisoned survivors free, and Pax returns to her former place. The play clearly depicts contemporary history and tries to show the fault on both sides. At the same time, it transforms the Peasant War into a mythological incident by describing the nobles as classical heroes such as Aeneas, Hannibal, Ulysses, Hector, and others.177 The Ludus imperatoris is even further removed from a historiographic description of the reign of Charles V; it is rather an allegorical play about the vices and passions that the emperor has to overcome. The plot begins with a convention of devils. Hessus thereby perceptibly refers back to medieval traditions of religious plays, whilst also assimilating into his drama Humanist or Renaissance-style mythological plays. In Vienna, Johannes Prasch, the secretary to the Bishop of Vienna, wrote an allegorical tragedy which was published after his death by Wolfgang Schmeltzl, his former teacher and an author of German vernacular Counter-Reformation plays, Philaemus, tragaedia nova (1548).178 In five acts, written in hexameters and with choral songs between the acts, Prasch describes the rule of King Philaemus (‘the bloodthirsty’). His counsellor Diabole tells him that there are two German princes (Thrasybulus and Pammachus) who do not accept that the King has exiled Irene (‘peace’) and her daughters Threscia (‘service to God’) and Praedia (‘education of the youth’). Philaemus is angry to hear this, and he regrets that he had not killed Irene and her daughters earlier, when they occupied his temples and schools. Both sides prepare for war, while Philaemus’s corrupt supporters (Asotus and his friends) discuss on which side they could be better off. Suddenly, Philaemus’s son Alastor (‘executioner’) realizes that he loves Irene. Quickly, Diabole calls Mars to support the preparations for the conflict. Mars (who has just arrived from Asia) tries to impress Philaemus by presenting his sons. Philaemus, however, does not trust in the gods any more but asks a magician to help him to contact Satan. When Alastor hears about his father’s plans, he is shocked, and crushes the ampulla in 177 Cf. Roloff, ‘Neulateinisches Drama’, p. 653. 178 Cf. Schmeltzl, Gesammelte Schriften, 1: Das dramatische Werk, ed. Dietl and Knedlik, pp. 246–47.



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which Satan is captured. When Satan is freed, Alastor is thrown into prison, and the battle begins. Here, the drama ends either deliberately or because Prasch died before he could finish it.179 Within an Austrian perspective of the 1540s, the identification of the figures is rather easy: Philaemus represents François I of France, who was in constant conflict against Charles V and Archduke Maximilian, and who had asked the Ottomans for support during the Franco-Habsburg War, 1542–1544. Thus the play supports the Habsburg side, defames François, and suggests that the end of the war (the fall of the tyrant) was certain. Comedy The Catholic as well as the Protestant side used satirical comedy to defame their opponents. In 1530, for example, Johann Hasenberg (Horák), a teacher of philosophy at Litomerice180 and a friend of Johannes Cochlaeus, presented a Ludus ludentem Luderum ludens (‘Play Playing with the Playing Luther’).181 It is supposed to be performed in Bacchanalibus, i.e. as a carnival play. In four acts, Luther is blamed for his illegal marriage, for his separation from Church, for his heresy and his erroneous interpretation of the Scripture, and finally for his political mistakes or the political consequences of his behaviour. In the end, he is burnt. The entire play maintains a very satirical tone, and it concludes with the Horatian sentence: ‘Ridentem dicere verum? Quid vetat?’ (‘What would prohibit us from saying the truth while laughing?’) (F2v). A very polemic anti-Lutheran comedy was written by an originally Protestant or neutral author who, however, in his conflict with Luther came close to Catholic positions: Simon Lemnius’s Monachopornomachia (1538).182 Lemnius studied at the University of Wittenberg. When he published his first volume of epigrams in 1538, he dedicated it to Albrecht of Brandenburg, who was highly esteemed in Humanist circles, but Catholic. Therefore, Luther claimed that the book offended Christian faith. He achieved that the book was censured and that its publisher was arrested. 179 Cf. Michael, Das deutsche Drama, p. 267. 180 ‘Hochwart, Lorenz H.’, ADB, 12, pp. 529–30 (Edmund von Oefele). 181 Ludus ludentem Luderum ludens, quo Ioannes Hasenbergius Bohemicus in Bacchanalib. Lypsiae, omnes ludificantem Ludionem, omnibus ludendum exhibuit (Leipzig: Michael Blum, 1530). [accessed: 14 November 2010]. 182 ‘Lemnius’, Killy, Literaturlexikon, 7, pp. 219–20 (Hans-Jürgen Bachorski); ‘Lemnius’, NDB, 14, p. 191 (Peter Ukena). It is influenced by Johannes Cochlaeus’ Anti-Lutheran comedy Heimlich gsprech Vonn der Tragedia Johannis Hussen (1538). Cf. Dietl, ‘A Polemical Theatre Review on Stage’, p. 6.

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Lemnius fled to Chur, and Luther had him relegated from the university. Lemnius’s reaction was the publication of his polemic comedy. It starts with the accusation that Luther had—moved by mere, devilish lust— slept with a nun and promised to marry her. A series of dialogues between Luther, Jonas and Spalatin and their wives as well as between the three women, reveals that all three reformers are insufficient husbands and incapable lovers, and that their wives still need some extramarital satisfaction. The reformers do not have any virtue, and they lack the Humanist attitude towards the classical erotic tradition. Semi-Dramatic Dialogues The very traditional genre of semi-dramatic dialogues continues to be used by Roman Catholic authors. They are written and read or recited at Catholic schools and universities, and their purpose still is to discuss moral questions and to praise the wisdom and erudition that allow finding a solution for certain questions by logical argumentation. During the time of the Reformation, however, the Catholic semi-dramatic dialogues tend to ignore the opposition between ‘modern’ Humanist dialogues and scholastic disputations. Rather, they tend to re-evaluate scholastic methods. Johannes Becker’s (Artopoeus) Apotheosis Minervae (1551) is a most remarkable example of these dialogues. Becker, a professor of law and the Rector of the University of Freiburg, wrote a discussion between Minerva and the other gods about the mortality of man before his death. The discussion is divided into four acts which mark important steps in the argumentation, until Minerva finally accepts that the Christian understanding of death is the only argument why all human achievements in life are not in vain.183 Late Humanist Drama By the end of the sixteenth century, Neo-Latin drama had become a common literary genre, which was so widespread that only a few exemplary authors and texts can be mentioned in the present context.184 In general, all the different forms of Humanist and Reformation drama, influenced by classical drama and by medieval secular and religious plays, as well as by non-dramatic literary genres, and Renaissance festivals were constantly

183 ‘Artopoeus’, ADB, 1, p. 614 (Emil J.H. Steffenhagen). 184 A list of German and Dutch Neo-Latin dramas can be found in: Bradner, ‘A CheckList of Original Neo-Latin Dramas by Continental Writers Printed before 1650’, pp. 624–32.



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exploring new variations. On the other hand, there were influences of French ‘classicist’ models that strengthened the attempt to write ‘regular’ dramas according to antique models, even if the topics might have been biblical or historical, such as the dramas written by Georg Calaminus in Linz (Helis, tragoedia sacra, 1591 and Rudolphottokarus; Austriaca tragoedia, 1594),185 by Michael Virdung in Jena (Saulus, 1595, Brutus, 1596 and Thrasea, 1608),186 or by Theodorus Rhodius in Asselheim (Tragoedia Colignius, 1614; Simson, Esau, Saul, Joseph, Debora, Tesaurus, Hagne, 1615).187 They all observe the unities of time, plot, and place; they keep the numbers of actors limited, use choruses and messengers, and try to imitate the classical Roman style in their language. Some authors followed the convention of classical drama more closely in their biblical, mythological or historical dramas than in comic or satirical genres. Johannes Avianus,188 teacher and priest in Gera and surrounding towns, and superintendent in Eisenberg, had his students perform regular biblical dramas such as Daniel and Adamus lapsus (1596), Anonymus (i.e. the rich man and Lazarus, 1607), Abel clamans, Pharao submerses (1597), Nebocadnesar furens, Nebocadnesar somnians, Nimrod, Cana, and Josephus. His comedy Miles vagus sive mendicans (1597) imitates a classical model (Plautus’s Miles gloriosus), but uses elements of farce189 and includes polemic comments about Catholic priests who suppress the peasants. Often it can be observed that the more explicitly a late Humanist drama serves a moralistic, religious or political purpose, the stronger its tendency is to break the conventions of classical drama. Protestant Drama One of the most important centres of late Humanist dramatic production in Germany was the Strasbourg Academy.190 Its first director, Johannes Sturm, was concerned about fostering education in classical Latin. This is

185 ‘Calaminus’, Killy, Literaturlexikon, 2, p. 343 (Wilhelm Kühlmann). 186 ‘Virsung’, Killy, Literaturlexikon, 12, p. 35 (Markus Mollitor). 187 ‘Rhodius’, Killy, Literaturlexikon, 9, p. 426 (Wilhelm Kühlmann); Janning, Der Chor im neulateinischen Drama, pp. 256–269. 188 ‘Avianus’, ADB, 1, p. 705 (Wilhelm Scherer and Arrey von Dommer); Goedeke a.o., Grundriß zur Geschichte der Deutschen dichtung aus den Quellen, 1, p. 143; Klaus-Jürgen Sachs, ‘Johannes Avianus (um 1555–1617) und die Zeugnisse seines musikalischen Wirkens’, p. 270. 189 Roloff, ‘Neulateinisches Drama’, p. 671. 190 Cf. Schindling, Humanistische Hochschule und freie Reichsstadt; Michael, Das deutsche Drama, pp. 236–44.

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Fig. 6. Nikodemus Frischlin: Hebraeis, continens duodecim libros. Straßburg: Jobin, 1599, 1v: http://www.uni-mannheim.de/mateo/camena/frisc2/jpg/s002.html. [by courtesy of the University Library Mannheim]



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why he strongly supported the performance of classical Roman comedies as part of the language instruction. However, he did not focus on aspects of performance but rather on the rhetoric of the recitation, which took place in the seminar or lecture rooms. Due to the initiative of students, however, some comedies were also staged on larger scaffolds in the school yard from 1565 onwards.191 When Sturm left the Academy in 1581, a new era of Neo-Latin dramatic production began in Strasbourg. The aesthetic side of the drama was stressed more than its didactic elements; the new plays found their examples in Seneca, Aristotle and Horace, and they received inspiration from the medieval religious play as well as the modern drama of the religious orders. The dramatic production aimed at a most impressive performance on stage. The topics were broad: biblical and mythological as well as historiographic (as for example Justus Meierus’s Daniel, 1600, Caspar Brülow’s Andromeda, 1612, and Julius Caesar, 1616). Brülow, who was the dramatic director of the Strasbourg Academy from 1615 to 1627, stressed the playful aspects of drama. A pleasure arising from the performance of the play, he claimed, could support the student’s ability to learn the Latin language; it could aid the memory and thereby, the presentation of the drama was improved. He and his follower Johannes Paul Crusius accepted that classical forms had to be reduced in order to stress the lively  and playful character of the pieces. The Strasbourg drama is thus  characterized by very detailed scenes, with funny inventions, and also by huge numbers of actors.192 The broad variety of dramatic topics can also be observed outside of Strasbourg, at Protestant schools, universities and courts. Biblical Drama In Tübingen, Nicodemus Frischlin, Professor of poetics and history, wrote two biblical dramas that are exemplary for the late Humanist period. Rebecca, his first drama, closely imitates the form of classical Roman comedy, with direct borrowings from Terence’s Andria and other comedies.193 It is not written for a university context, but for the wedding of Duke Ludwig of Wuerttemberg and Dorothea Ursula, the daughter of Margrave Karl of Baden, in November 1575. Therefore, though following classical dramatic conventions, it includes elements of a Humanist festival play. The bride and bridegroom in the play are thought to reflect Ludwig and 191 Michael, Das deutsche Drama, pp. 238–39. 192 Roloff, ‘Neulateinisches Drama’, pp. 667–69. 193 Price, The Political Dramaturgy of Nicodemus Frischlin, p. 31.

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Dorothea; in the dedication of the play to the Roman Emperor, Frischlin openly draws the line of comparison: ‘ille Isacus, illa Rebecca mihi’ (‘for me, this is Isaac, and this is Rebecca’).194 The play presents Abraham as worried about the possibility that his son Isaak could marry a Canaanite woman. Political and financial aspects are considered besides the question of vera religio. The Canaanites, who are represented in Ismael, the son of Hagar, are painted as uncultivated barbarians, while Isaak, the son of Sara, is the ideal of an intellectual, highly educated Humanist. In the end, Rebecca, a woman of the right faith, is found as the ideal partner for Isaak. Both the panegyric and the political messages of the play are obvious: Frischlin warns the Protestant nobility not to mingle with Catholic women; he characterizes the Catholic nobles as rude barbarians, while he praises Dorothea Ursula and Ludwig as the perfect match. In his dedication to Emperor Maximilian II Frischlin certainly had to minimize the confessional polemics and to stress the defence of Humanism. The multifunctional design of his ‘Terentian’ biblical drama allowed him to do so: in 1576 Frischlin was crowned poeta laureatus by Rudolf II. Frischlin’s second biblical drama, Susanna (1577), was also staged at Ludwig’s court in Stuttgart. It achieved enormous popularity and was printed at least nineteen times and translated twice before 1636.195 In its form and language, it imitates the classical Roman comedy. As in Terence’s Heautontimorumenos, the prologue claims that the drama was criticized: some people claimed that ‘Leues personas in sacris Comoedijs | Non introduci oportere, sed omnes graues’ (‘comic figures should not be introduced into religious plays, but only serious ones’) (a7v).196 Frischlin clearly refers to criticism of the performance and publication of Rebecca. He, however, is not afraid of further criticism; on the contrary, he stresses the didactic effect of comedies that present the virtuous and the lascivious sides of human life (a8r). Susanna, the protagonist of Frischlin’s drama, is not only painted as an exemplary wife but also as a heroine resisting a corrupt group of nobles. Her story is mirrored in a subplot which is situated in the

194 Ibid., p. 34; Nicodemus Frischlin, Operum Poeticorum […] pars scenica; in qua sunt comoediae quinque: Rebecca, Susanna, Hildegardis, Iulius redivivus, Priscianus vapulans; tragoediae duae: Venus, Dido (Strasbourg: Jobin, 1585) [University Library, Mannheim, Wk 736a] http://www.uni-mannheim.de/mateo/camena/frisc6/jpg/s001.html [accessed: 7 July 2013]. 195 Price, ‘Die (Ohn-)Macht des Wortes’, p. 543. 196 Cf. Price, ‘Die (Ohn-)Macht des Wortes’, pp. 548–49; Nicodemus Frischlin, Susanna (Strasbourg: Jobin, 1585) [UL Mannheim, Wk 736a] | [accessed: 7 July 2013].



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countryside, where peasants have to suffer from the injustice of corrupt nobility.197 As opposed to the rude Canaanites in Rebecca, the corrupt judges in Susanna had a Humanist erudition. They know well how to use rhetoric for their malicious aims. Susanna, however, is also a master of rhetoric. She thereby represents the positive example of a virtuous, educated person who still needs divine help in her conflict with corrupt authorities. Frischlin’s biblical dramas are thus to be understood as social and political dramas with a clear reference to contemporary conditions. The use of subplots that break the convention of classical drama points toward the development of baroque drama with the intention of presenting the conflict of the protagonists as part of a general conflict in society. Drama Reflecting Humanism and the Reformation While the early Humanist and the early Reformation drama had to fight for a return to classical Latinity, for a reform of the education at universities and schools, and for the Reformation of the Church, late Humanist dramas tend to reflect on the achievements of Humanism and the Reformation. An extraordinary example of this kind of play is Nicodemus Frischlin’s Priscianus vapulans.198 It was written for the first centennial of the University of Tübingen in 1577 and performed in the castle of Tübingen on 20 February 1578. The audience consisted of Duke Ludwig, his court and the authorities of the university. The prologue introduces the drama as something new, especially when compared with previous plays: Non exquisitè facta est, neque uti cæteræ: non hic parasitus leno est, nec ferus Ismael, Neque suspicax maritus, neque petulans senex. Ridicula est res (B3r).199 (It is not elaborate, and it is not like the others: there is no parasitic panderer in it, and no uncultivated Ishmael, nor is there a suspicious husband, nor a lascivious old man. The whole work is funny.) 197 The peasant whose reality is far from bucolic atmosphere is a frequently used theme in Frischlin’s dramas, cf. Kaminski, ‘Frischlin’s rustici’. 198 Leonhardt, ‘Frischlins Priscianus vapulans und die zeitgenössische Lateinkultur’; Price, The Political Dramaturgy, pp. 71–83. 199 Nicodemus Frischlin, Operum Poeticorum […] pars scenica; in qua sunt comoediae quinque: Rebecca, Susanna, Hildegardis, Iulius redivivus, Priscianus vapulans; tragoediae duae: Venus, Dido. (Strasbourg: Jobin, 1585) [University Library, Mannheim, Wk 736a] [accessed: 14 November 2010].

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The protagonist of the drama is Priscian, who encounters two scholastic philosophers of the fourteenth and fifteenth century. Tortured by their bad Latin, he is in need of medical care, but the scholastic doctors hurt him even more. Priscian asks for legal support in order to sue the doctors. When he keeps correcting the lawyers’ Latin, however, they become furious and declare him mad. Priscian is tied up and sent to a church, where a monk and a priest are supposed to heal him. Attempts to exorcize demons from him fail, and finally he is half dead when Melanchthon and Erasmus come and save him. They demonstrate in him the achievement of Humanism. As in Susanna, Frischlin mirrors the main plot in a subplot which is set in rustic surroundings. The peasant Corydon is betrayed by his wife who has an affair with the two clerics. He accuses them, and the trial is dated in the year 1517. Thus Priscianus vapulans is a clearly anti-Catholic play, praising the achievements of the Reformation as corresponding with the accomplishment of Humanism. In accordance with the general topic of a university’s centenary, Frischlin looks back on a history of success for the Protestant schools. In doing so, he develops a new kind of drama, using elements of other play types: the classical form of five acts and various quotations from Terence are joined with a non-classical parallel structure of plot and subplot. Also included are constant changes of place and of interlocutors similar to Schorus’s Eusebia, and the use of historical figures as if they are personifications of Humanism, reminding us of Naogeorg’s Pammachius. Melanchthon and Erasmus heal Priscian in a way that also resembles the healing of the protagonist in Naogeorg’s Mercator. The conflicts between Humanism and Catholicism mentioned in Priscianus vapulans certainly were not all historical, but they still had their counterparts in reality. The whole work was not simply ridiculous either, but had a serious background. Frischlin was in conflict with the Catholic nobility and with a number of his colleagues at the university. He needed to reassure himself of Ludwig’s favour. His drama, therefore, is a personal defence, a political statement, and a retrospective praise of Humanism and the Reformation. Another drama reflecting the Reformation and Humanism was staged by Frischlin’s students in Tübingen and in Stuttgart during the carnival of  1580: Phasma. It is very polemical against all confessions except for the Lutheran, and it could not be published before the author’s death.200 200 Nicodemus Frischlin: Phasma: Hoc est: Comoedia posthvma, nova et sacra: de variis haeresibvs et haeresiarchis (Strasbourg, 1592) [University Library, Mannheim, Sch 072/369]. http://www.uni-mannheim.de/mateo/camena/frisc4/te01.html [accessed: 7 July 2013].



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After its publication in 1592, however, it became rather popular and was translated into German several times.201 The ‘comedy’ depicts the misery of the Christian religion after 1517 in five acts: the peasants are totally confused by the broad variety of confessions; Luther discusses the matter with one of them and tries to convince him not to follow the Anabaptists. Acts Three and Four depict the Marburg Religionsgespräche and the Council of Trent, and in Act V the question of heresy and vera religio is decided by Christ in the Last Judgement. The most remarkable aspect of the play is its use of the German language within a Neo-Latin play. All of its five acts begin with a German argumentum. In the fifth act there is a German scene, and at the end of the comedy two choruses sing in the German language, and a German epilogue concludes the play. The argumenta written for the ‘simple people’ are very clear in their message, stating that the Lutheran confession is the only acceptable one, while all the problems in the interconfessional dialogue are positioned within the Latin parts of the drama and are characterized as primarily linguistic problems.202 Thus, since a perfect command of classical Latin (which Frischlin attributes to the Lutheran Humanists only) cannot be expected from all of the audience, it is necessary that the final parts of the comedy are spoken in German. In the epilogue, the use of the dramatic form for religious instruction is defended against possible criticism: Es ist nichts Newes in diesen tagen / Daß man Spilweiß Geistliche sachen Fürbringen thut / vnd offt mit lachen Der argen Welt muß zeigen an / Wie sie sich muß bethören lan Vom Teuffel vnd seiner gantzen Rott / Vnd werden mit jm zu schand vnd spott. Christus hat selber Parabel weiß/ Vnd gleich ein Comedi mit fleiß Der Welt fürgemalt jr weiß vnd geberdt Jch will dir nit vil sagen hie / Wie Geistlich sein die Comedi / Nemlich Susanna vnd Judith / Tobias / Lehren gute Sitt / So in der Bibel werden gelesen /

201 Schade, ‘Nicodemus Frischlins Phasma (1592): Eine Dokumentation zu den Übersetzungen.’ 202 Kaminski, ‘Polyglossie, Polysemie’, p. 173.

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cora dietl Daß lauter gedicht Spil seind gewesen. Darumb es gar nicht vnrecht ist / Ein Geistlich Spiel so zu gericht (H3r–v) (It is not a new invention that nowadays religious topics are presented in dramatic form and that comic means are used to demonstrate to the wicked world how it is misguided by the Devil and all his company, and how everybody will be humiliated and disgraced together with the Devil. Christ himself has often used parabolic and comedy-like speech to depict the world’s ways of behaving. […] I do not want to give you lengthy explanations about the spiritual quality of the comedies that can be read in the Bible, such as Susanna, Judith, and Tobias. They all give good moral instruction, and they all were poetic plays. This is why it isn’t improper at all to present a religious play.)

Frischlin uses Luther’s famous argument in favour of religious plays for his defence against those who started criticizing him when he wrote biblical dramas that did not follow the classical drama conventions. He does not reflect differences in the dramatic genres he uses, and it is a main feature of his production of drama that he constantly mixes various dramatic forms. On the occasion of Duke Ludwig’s second wedding in May 1585, Frischlin had another of his plays performed at court, Iulius redivivus. It was printed in Strasbourg, with a dedication to the senate of the free city. A patriotic ‘comedy’, it experiments with the pattern of Lucian’s dialogues.203 In the dedication Frischlin mentions the Academy in Strasbourg, where students staged several comoediae et tragoediae. If by performing Greek and Latin plays, the students distributed ‘exterarum gentium laudes’ (‘the praise of foreign people’), Frischlin asks, why should there not be a comedy praising Germany (a4r)?204 In Iulius redivivus Julius Caesar and Marcus Tullius Cicero visit Germany and are amazed at the achievements of the sixteenth century. While Caesar is fascinated to see the firing of guns, Cicero enjoys meeting Eobanus Hessus, who not only speaks perfect Latin, but also explains to him how a printing press works. They also come to learn that the Roman Emperor is German, that Germany is the leading light in philosophy and literature, and that there are Italians and Frenchmen working in minor positions in Germany and speaking a 203 Cf. Leeker, ‘Frischlins Cäsar-Stücke im Spiegel der Tradition’, p. 571. 204 Nicodemus Frischlin, Iulius redivivus. Comoedia, in lavdem Germaniae & Germanorum scripta (Strasbourg: Bernhard Jobinus, 1585) [Mannheim, University Library, Wk 736a] http://www.uni-mannheim.de/mateo/camena/frisc6/jpg/s343.html [accessed: 7 July 2013].



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vernacular language that Cicero cannot understand. Gradually, however, the two visitors find out the dark sides of Germany’s splendour: the soldiers are often drunk and tend to be lascivious, and the poets do not always write the truth, but rather serve Pluto. A war that could be disastrous is looming, at which point Cicero and Caesar finally disappear. Thus the comedy is patriotic and critical at the same time. Once again in Iulius redivivus, Frischlin presents himself as a master of a combination of moral, panegyric, political, historical, religious and scholarly drama. He groups contemporary and historical figures, and freely uses classical and Renaissance forms of drama and dialogue, and he feels free to neglect single norms. Above all, he virtuously uses vernacular language within a Latin text. His reflection on Humanism reveals both pride and serious doubts. The same is true for other authors of late Humanist drama. Johann Valentin Andreae’s satirical comedy Turbo, sive moleste et frustra per cuncta divagans ingenium205 was also written at the University of Tübingen (where it was translated into German by Wilhelm Süß in 1607) and printed in Strasbourg in 1616. It was reprinted in Nuremberg and Strasbourg in 1620 and 1621. Andreae does not strictly follow the conventions of classical drama, but rather reveals the influence of the English travelling theatre, its topics, its stress on action and spectacle, and its stage-setting. The protagonist Turbo, who has been compared with Faust,206 searches for truth, knowledge and happiness in life. A panopticon of the world is brought on stage. Turbo, however, can only find vanity, deceit and hypocrisy. In the end, Turbo cannot see any other way of saving his own integrity than to flee from the secular world and to closely follow the example of Christ. Humanism seems to have reached its end. Lastly, a late representative of Humanist drama reflecting on the shortcomings of Humanism is Friedrich Hermann Flayder, a professor at the Collegium illustre, the academy for young nobles in Tübingen.207 In his Moria rediviva (1527) he uses Erasmus of Rotterdam’s Moria within the frame of Lucian’s dialogues: Democritus and Heracleitus return from the Underworld. They try to find people for their court of folly. Quickly they

205 Johann Valentin Andreae, Turbo, sive moleste et frustra per cuncta divagans ingenium (Strasbourg: NN, 1616); cf. ‘Andreae’, Killy, Literaturlexikon, 1, pp. 152–55 (Wilhelm Kühlmann), esp. p. 152. 206 Dechent, ‘Zur Vorgeschichte des Faust-Gedankens’. 207 ‘Flayder’, Killy, Literaturlexikon, 3, pp. 409–10 (Wilhelm Kühlmann); Roloff, ‘Neulateinisches Drama’, pp. 671–72.

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encounter various kinds of fools such as chamberlains, merchants, peasants and priests: virtually everybody is a fool. Since Sebastian Brant’s early Humanist Narrenschiff, the situation has not changed. Historical and Pseudo-Historical Drama Late Humanism is also a time of new developments in historical or pseudo-historical drama. Historical figures are turned into complex characters that could offer the spectator an opportunity to identify with them and at the same time could convey moral instruction. The focus is mainly placed on private aspects in the lives of kings and nobles and on intrigues at court. In 1579, Nicodemus Frischlin staged at the court in Stuttgart his Hildegardis Magna,208 an historical drama about Charlemagne’s wife and her conflict with her half-brother Talandus. He is taken prisoner by her when he tries to seduce his half-sister in Charlemagne’s absence. On Charlemagne’s return, Talandus claims that Hildegardis imprisoned him because she commited adultery and was afraid that he could try to prevent her from doing so. Charlemagne orders his wife to be blinded and killed in the forest. The executioners, however, let her escape and thus she flees to Rome. Disguised as a man, she becomes a renowned doctor in the Holy City. After some time, Talandus is struck by blindness. Together with the King, he travels to Rome and is cured by Hildegardis, who makes him confess his sins. In the end, Charlemagne renews his marital vows, and Talandus is banished. Talandus is the main character of the drama: the evil counsellor of the Emperor. He is mirrored in several similarly negative members of the court. While the Emperor is depicted as a weak, but generally positive character, it is the nobility who are the main focus of Frischlin’s critique. Weak rulers, upright noble women, corrupt members of court, a criminalized lower nobility, and loyal simple subjects are the main characters in Daniel Cramer’s dramas, too. Cramer was Professor of Theology in Wittenberg when he wrote his Areteugenia (1592) and Plagium: Comoedia, de Alberto et Ernesto Friderici II … abductis (1593).209 Both plays were 208 Nicodemus Frischlin, Operum Poeticorum […] pars scenica; in qua sunt comoediae quinque: Rebecca, Susanna, Hildegardis, Iulius redivivus, Priscianus vapulans; tragoediae duae: Venus, Dido. (Strasbourg: Jobin, 1585) [Mannheim, University Library, Wk 736a] [accessed: 7 July 2013]; Price, The Political Dramaturgy, pp. 55–59. 209 Daniel Cramer, Plagium. Comoedia de Alberto et Ernesto Friderici II. electoris Saxonici … filiis … abduchtis (Wittenberg: Johann Krafft, 1593).



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performed in Wittenberg and also in Stettin, where Cramer became Superintendent of the Paedagogium. In Areteugenia Cramer dramatizes the fictive story of the knight Aretino and his sister Eugenia, who are taken by robbers and finally freed. Plagium is about the abduction of the princes Albert and Ernestus of Saxony by Kuntz of Kauffungen and their liberation in 1455. Both dramas are clearly structured in five acts, with a classical development of the plot, and a subplot mirroring the main plot on the level of servants and peasants. The characterization of the figures is very clear and obviously intended to be morally instructive. Cramer, who is famous for his emblemata, wrote his plays as if they were dramatized emblems. Each acting figure illustrates one or several of the moral sentences in the emblemata. For example, in Plagium Duke Frederik demonstrates how wrong it is not to preview possible dangers and to trust blindly. In the end, he carries out the sentence that rulers should be grateful to those who helped them. Kuntz illustrates the rule that anger might be just, but should not be exaggerated. Both plays were very widely known and often performed. Plagium not only became a repertoire piece for university performances, it was also printed seven times in Latin before 1610 and eight times in different German translations.210 Friedrich Hermann Flayder also used pseudo-historical material for his first two comedies, written for the Collegium illustre in Tübingen:211 Imma portatrix (1625) dramatizes the story of the forbidden love of Charlemagne’s daughter Emma for Eginhard, a servant of her father’s; Ludovicus bigamus (1625) presents the story of the Count of Gleichen, who had two wives. In both comedies, the main plot is wittily mirrored in a subplot of peasants, stressing the noble protagonists’ faults. Roman Catholic Drama Catholic drama in the later sixteenth and seventeenth centuries is mostly Counter-Reformation drama. On a large scale, it is organized by the religious orders, and, above all, the Jesuits excel in developing a new form of Neo-Latin drama.212

210 An edition of these contemporary translations is in preparation by Cora Dietl. 211 ‘Flayder’, Killy, Literaturlexikon, 3, pp. 409–10 (Kühlmann); Roloff, ‘Neulateinisches Drama’, pp. 671–72. 212 See the chapter by Fidel Rädle in this volume.

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Dietl, Die Dramen Jacob Lochers und die frühe Humanistenbühne im süddeutschen Raum (Berlin, New York: de Gruyter, 2005) Quellen und Forschungen zur Literatur- und Kulturgeschichte, 37 (271). Glei, Reinhold F., and Robert Seidel (eds.), Das lateinische Drama der Frühen Neuzeit: Exemplarische Einsichten in Praxis und Theorie (Tübingen: Niemeyer, 2008) Frühe Neuzeit, 129. Janning, Volker, Der Chor im neulateinischen Drama: Formen und Funktionen (Münster: Rhema, 2005) Symbolische Kommunikation und gesellschaftliche Wertesysteme, Schriftenreihe des Sonderforschungsbereichs 496, 7. Meier, Christel, and Angelika Kemper (eds.), Europäische Schauplätze des frühneuzeitlichen Theaters: Normierungskräfte und regionale Diversität (Münster: Rhema, 2011) Symbolische Kommunikation und gesellschaftliche Wertesysteme, Schriftenreihe des Sonderforschungsbereichs 496, 34. Niefanger, Dirk, Geschichtsdrama der Frühen Neuzeit, 1495–1773 (Tübingen: Niemeyer, 2005) Studien zur deutschen Literatur, 174, pp. 69–72. Parente, Religious Drama and the Humanist Tradition: Christian Theater in Germany and in the Netherlands 1500–1680 (Leiden, etc.: Brill, 1987) Brill’s Studies in the History of Christian Thought, 39. Roloff, Hans-Gert, ‘Neulateinisches Drama’, Paul Merker and Wolfgang Stammler (eds.), Reallexikon der deutschen Literaturgeschichte, vol. 2 (Berlin: de Gruyter, 1959), pp. 645–78. Washof, Wolfram, Die Bibel auf der Bühne: Exempelfiguren und protestantische Theologie im lateinischen und deutschen Bibeldrama der Reformationszeit (Münster: Rhema, 2007) Symbolische Kommunikation und gesellschaftliche Wertesysteme, Schriftenreihe des Sonderforschungsbereichs 496, 14.



neo-latin humanist and protestant drama in germany177 Appendix Main Authors

Bebel, Heinrich (c. 1472–1518), German rhetorician, author, and editor. He studied in Krakow and Basle before he became professor for rhetoric and poetics in Tübingen. Bebel edited geographical and theological literature and wrote numerous school books, historiographic, political and panegyric works, tracts, poems, orations, facetiae, and a comedy (Comoedia de optimo studio iuvenum, 1501). In 1501, he was crowned poeta laureatus. Works Comoedia de optimo studio iuvenum (Barner, 1982). Studies Mertens, ‘Bebelius … patriam Sueviam …restituit’; Graf, ‘Heinrich Bebel (1472–1518)’; Dietl, Die Dramen Jacob Lochers, pp. 204–12. Brant, Sebastian (Titio, 1457–1521), Alsatian jurist, diplomat, author and editor. He was professor of jurisprudence in Basle and worked as lawyer, advocate and judge in Basle. In 1501 he left the university and moved to Strasbourg, where he was lawyer, syndic and diplomat. Brant also served Maximilian I as councillor. He wrote and edited numerous works in the fields of law, theology, historiography, politics, and poetry: poems, epigrams, sentences, fables, religious songs, facetiae, dialogues, letters, etc. in German and Latin language. His most famous work is the satirical Narrenschiff (1494) that was translated into Latin by Jacob Locher in 1497. Brant wrote a German Herkulesspiel (1512/13) and a Schachmatt-Spiel. The latter was edited in a bilingual version by the author himself, as part of his Varia Carmina in 1498. Works Schachmatt-Spiel (Kiepe, 1972). Studies Knape, Dichtung, Recht und Freiheit; Joachim Knape, ‘Brant (Titio), Sebastian’. Celtis, Konrad (Protucius, Konrad Bickel, 1459–1508), German Humanist, rhetorician, poet, cosmographer and editor. He was professor for rhetoric and poetics in Ingolstadt and Vienna, rector of the dome school in Regensburg, teacher of the sons of Philipp the Palatine, and head of the

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Collegium poetarum et mathematicorum in Vienna. An extreme networker, he is said to have founded the Humanist sodalitates in Heidelberg and Vienna. Celtis edited a large number of classical and medieval Latin texts in the fields of poetry, philosophy and historiography, among them the works of Hrotsvitha of Gandersheim. He wrote letters, orations, school books in rhetoric and philology, pedagogical tracts, extant descriptions of Germany, odes, love poetry, religious, political, patriotic and panegyric poems, and two dramas (Ludus Dianae, 1501; Rhapsodia, 1504). Celtis was the first German to be crowned poeta laureatus (1487). Works Ludus Dianae: editions: (Gingerick, 1940); (Pindter, 1945); Rhapsodia: edition: (Pindter, 1945). Studies Schuetz, Die Dramen des Konrad Celtis; Dietl, ‘Repräsentation Gottes— Repräsentation des Kaisers’; Robert, ‘Celtis’. Chelidonius, Benedictus (Benedikt Schwalbe, Musophilus, c. 1460–1521), German Benedictine monk and poet. Most probably by the initiative of Maximilian I Chelidonius moved from the Monastery St. Egidien in Nuremberg to the Schottenkloster in Vienna, where he became abbot in 1518. He was in close contact with the Nuremberg Humanists and saw himself as Celtis’ successor. Apart from editions and translations in the field of Mariology and Christology, he wrote mariological and Passion literature, religious and secular, panegyric poems, letters and epigrams—and a NeoLatin drama (Voluptatis cum virtute disceptatio, 1515). Works Voluptatis cum virtute disceptatio (uned.). Studies Wuttke, Die „Histori Herculis“ des Nürnberger Humanisten und Freundes der Gebrüder Vischer, Pangratz Bernhaupt gen. Schwenter, pp. 212–14; Knedlik, ‘Benedictus Chelidonius’; Wiener, ‘Chelidonius’. Conradi, Tilmann (Thiloninus Philymnus Syasticanus, c. 1452–nach 1522), German jurist, schoolteacher and author. He taught on a private level in arte poetica at the University of Erfurt, and was school teacher for Latin and Greek in Wittenberg. In 1518 he moved to Worms as a juridical counsillor and took part in the Imperial Diet in Worms, 1521. Conradi wrote



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love poetry, religious and secular poems, epigrams, panegyric and theological orations, he translated and edited Greek and Latin parodistic poetry, theological and mineralogical texts, and he wrote a Neo-Latin comedy (Teratologia, 1509). Works Teratologia (uned.). Studies Kipf, ‘Conradi’; Kipf, ‘Der Beitrag einiger Poetae minores zur Entstehung der neulateinischen Komödie im deutschen Humanismus 1480–1520’. Grünpeck, Joseph (1473–c. 1532), German schoolmaster, historiographer, rhetorician and chaplain. He was professor for rhetoric at the University of Ingolstadt, private teacher and schoolmaster in Augsburg, where he performed two comedies (Comoediae duae, 1497) and thereby attracted Maximilian’s attention. Grünpeck became historiographer, secretary and chaplain at the royal court in Vienna and was a member of the so called Sodalitas Danubiana. He had to leave the court because of a Syphilis infection. Besides the two comedies, he wrote a number of medical, astrological and prognosticates as well as historiographic works (among them the Historia Friderici III et Maximiliani I), a commentary to Lorenzo Valla’s Elegantiae, and numerous letters. In 1498 he was crowned poeta laureatus. Works Comoediae duae (uned.). Studies Werner, Der Humanist Joseph Grünpeck und seine ‘Comoediae utilissimae’; Slattery Kipf, ‘Grünpeck, Joseph’. Hutten, Ulrich von (1488–1523), German political author and reformer. Hutten left the Benedictine monastery in Fulda in 1505 and studied law. During his studies he started writing and understood himself as a poet by profession. His oeuvre consists of Neo-Latin and German political, didactic, patriotic, anti-clerical or satirical poems, open letters and dialogues (some of them half dramatic (Phalarismus, 1516/17; Aula, 1518, Febris I, 1518, Arminius and Dialogi (1519 resp. 1518–20). He also wrote didactic and rhetorical tracts and translated Latin texts into German. In 1517, he was crowned poet laureate.

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Works Editions: Phalarismus (Böcking, 1859); Aula (Böcking, 1859); Febris (Böcking, 1859); Arminius (Böcking, 1859); Dialogi (Böcking, 1859). Studies Ludwig, ‘Der Ritter und der Tyrann’; Jaumann, ‘Hutten’. Kerckmeister, Johannes (c. 1450–c. 1500), German schoolmaster and author. He studied in Cologne and became rector of the Latin school at Münster; otherwise, nothing is known about his life. He wrote an introduction to Latin grammar in the form of dialogues (Regulae Remigii, 1486) and a Neo-Latin comedy (Codrus, 1485). Both works were printed in Münster. Works Codrus: edtion: (Mundt, 1969). Studies Meier-Staubach, ‘Humanist Values in the Early Modern Drama’, pp. 155–57; Meier, ‘Kerckmeister, Johannes’. Kitzscher, Johannes von (c. 1460/65–1521), German nobleman, jurist and diplomat. He was rector of the University of Bologna, orator and counsillor of Duke Bogislaw X of Pommerania, and finally chancellor and secretary of Friedrich III of Saxony. He wrote several orations, two dialogues (Dialogus de sacri Romani imperii rebus, 1504; Virtutis et Fortunae dissidentium certamen, 1515), and a play (Tragicomoedia de iherosolemitana profectione Illustrissimi principis pomerani, 1501). Works Tragicomoedia de iherosolemitana profectione Illustrissimi principis pome­ rani: edition (Konow, 2003). Studies Bauch, ‘Dr. Johann Kitzscher’; Worstbrock, ‘Kitzscher’. Locher, Jacob (Philomusus, 1471–1528), German rhetorician and playwright. He studied in Basle and Ingolstadt, briefly worked as a lector for poetics in Tübingen, before he became professor for rhetoric and poetics at the University of Freiburg, from where he moved to the University of Ingolstadt. Apart from his translation of Sebastian Brant’s Narrenschiff into Latin, he wrote school books, theological works, orations, pamphlets,



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poems, short prose texts, letters; he edited and commented on works by Cicero, Horace, Seneca and Fulgentius, and he wrote seven Neo-Latin dramas (Historia de Rege Frantie, 1495; Tragedia de Thurcis et Suldano, 1497: Spectaculum de regibus et proceribus christianis, 1502; Spectaculum de iudicio Paridis, 1502; Ludicrum drama de sene amatore, 1503; Poemation de Lazaro mendico, 1510; Libellus dramaticus novus sed non musteus, 1513). In 1497, Locher was crowned poet laureate. Works Historia de Rege Frantie; (Dietl, 2005); Tragedia de Thurcis et Suldano (Reischl, 1951); (Dietl, 2005); Spectaculum de regibus et proceribus christianis (Dietl, 2005); Spectaculum de iudicio Paridis (Lethner, 1951); (Dietl, 2005); Ludicrum drama de sene amatore (Reinhartstoettner, 1886); (Pfannkuch, 1989); (Dietl, 2005); Poemation de Lazaro mendico (Dietl, 2005); Libellus dramaticus novus sed non musteus (Dietl, 2005). Studies Hehle, ‘Der schwäbische Humanist Jakob Locher Philomusus (1471–1528)’; Heidloff, Untersuchungen zu Leben und Werk des Humanisten Jakob Locher Philomusus (1471–1828); Dietl, Die Dramen Jacob Lochers und die frühe Humanistenbühne im süddeutschen Raum. Reuchlin, Johannes (Capnion, 1455–1522), German jurist, scholar of Greek and Hebrew, and author. He was interpreter and juridical councillor of Count Eberhard I of Württemberg in Tübingen. After Eberhard’s death and during the administration of Eberhard II, he had to leave Württemberg and followed an invitation to Johann von Dalberg, the Bishop of Worms, in Heidelberg. Here, as a member of the so called Sodalitas Rhenania, he wrote his two comedies (Sergius vel capitis caput, 1496; Scaenica progymnasmata, 1497). In 1502 he returned to Tübingen as a judge of the Swabian League; in 1519 he became professor for Greek and Hebrew in Ingolstadt, and finally in Tübingen. Besides his two comedies he wrote letters, dialogues, school books, pedagogical and juridical works, and he edited and translated Hebrew, Greek and Latin texts. Works Sergius vel capitis caput (Holstein, 1888); Scaenica progymnasmata (Henno) (Holstein, 1888); (Schnur, 1970). Studies Geiger, Johannes Reuchlin, sein Leben und seine Werke; Newman, ‘Textuality vs. Performativity in Neo-Latin Drama: Johannes Reuchlin’s Henno’; Roloff,

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‘Sozialkritik und Komödie: Reuchlin als Komödienautor’; Friedrich, ‘Johannes Reuchlin am Heidelberger Hof’; Dietl, ‘Schauspieler und Schwankheld’. Reuter, Kilian (Chilianus eques Mellerstatinus, born before 1480), German poet and academic teacher. He was docent at the University of  Wittenberg and author of a religious Humanist play (Comedia gloriose  parthenices et martiris Dorothee agoniam passionemque depingens (1507). Works Comedia Dorothee (uned.). Studies Wolf, ‘Reuter’; Kipf, ‘Der Beitrag einiger Poetae minores zur Entstehung der neulateinischen Komödie im deutschen Humanismus 1480–1520’. Vadianus, Joachim (von Watt, 1484–1551), Swiss poet, physician and reformer. Vadian was professor for poetics, vice-chancellor and president of the University of Vienna. In 1518 he left the university and moved to St Gall, where he worked as city physician and diplomat. He edited Roman classics, wrote a theory of metric, Neo-Latin poems, aphorisms, historiographic writings and a Neo-Latin drama (Gallus pugnans, 1514). In 1514, he was promoted poeta laureatus. Works Gallus pugnans (Zimmel, 1947). Studies Zimmel, Der ‘Gallus pugnans’ des Joachim von Watt; Schäffer, ‘Watt’. Vehus, Hieronymus (Feus, 1484–1544/45), German jurist and politician. He studied law in Freiburg and was lecturer in law and poetry in Freiburg. In 1514 he left the university and became councillor and finally chancellor at the court of Margrave Philipp of Baden. He participated at the Imperial Diets in Worms (1521), Nuremberg (1524) and Augsburg (1530) and stongly supportet all attempts to find a compromise between protestants and catholics. He wrote a report De re Lutherana (1522), and a Neo-Latin drama (Triumphus Boemicus, 1504/05). Works Triumphus Boemicus (uned.).



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Studies Kattermann, Markgraf Philipp I. von Baden (1515–1533) und sein Kanzler Dr. Hieronymus Veus; Immenkötter, Hieronymus Vehus; Wöhrer, ‘Vehus’. Wimpfeling, Jakob (Wimpfeling, 1450–1528), Alsatian theologian, pedagogue and author. He was professor of Arts and in 1481/82 rector of the University of Heidelberg and vicar at the Dome of Speyer. In 1501 he left the university, was councillor of the Bishop of Basle, pastor of a female Benedictine convent, and mentor of young patricians in Strasbourg, among them Jakob Sturm. In Strasbourg, he started a lively activity as author and editor. Apart from school books, pedagogical and historiographic works, he wrote several dialogues. Two of them can be regarded as semi-dramatic: Stylpho (1480), originally part of an address for a graduation ceremony in Heidelberg, and Philippica (1498), performed in the castle of Heidelberg. A comedy performed during the Imperial Diet in Worms (Graccus, 1497), has been lost. Works Stylpho (Preuss, 1888); (Holstein, 1892); (Schnur, 1971); Philippica (uned.); Graccus (Holstein, 1892); (Knepper, 1902). Studies Holstein, ‘Ein Wimpfeling-Codex’; Knepper, Jakob Wimpfeling (1450–1528); Mertens, ‘Jakob Wimpfeling (1450–1528)’.

CHAPTER FOUR

JESUIT THEATRE IN GERMANY, AUSTRIA AND SWITZERLAND Fidel Rädle Preliminary Note At the beginning of this chapter we should distinguish some basic conditions of Jesuit theatre that reflect significant distinctions between this type of drama and other conventional works of the dramatic genre. These conditions also determine the way it should be explored.1 The dramatic texts2 that are considered in this chapter are originally products of the pedagogic and rhetorical, learned oral culture of the Jesuit Order or the Societas Jesu (SJ). They are not primarily conceived as literature in the present sense for a reading circle of recipients, but rather are the result of a subsequent action of archiving. This means that they are the paper remains of a past staging, a possibly multimedia performance that was the first aim of the author or his Order. Every Jesuit play that has survived had been tried out on stage, and no author (at least in the period at issue here) when writing the text could be sure that he would also see it printed. This is a decisive difference from the classical epic genre. As a result most of the surviving texts are only available in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century manuscripts.3 The latter causes an extraordinarily greater degree of difficulty in exploring it when compared to the study of other, modern literatures. The circumstances of the genesis, dramatic performance and impact of the plays are highly complex. For that reason the title of this chapter is ‘Jesuit theatre’ and not ‘Jesuit drama’. The stock of preserved texts is the result of successive choice and conservation by librarians of the Order responsible for that. Nevertheless, the vicissitudes of history and personal negligence led to many regrettable 1 Translated from German into English by Jan Bloemendal with the assistance of Howard Norland. 2 There are various Latin terms for it—drama, actio, dialogus, dialogismus, comoedia (for drama in general)—alongside comoedia and tragoedia in a poetologically restricted sense. 3 These were often texts for stage direction or roles that were used at the staging. This can be discerned from the strikingly numerous stage directions and sometimes also from the ad hoc insertion of names of actors.

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losses of plays. The unrest of the confessional struggles and the destruction of the Thirty Years’ War, as well as the temporary suspension of the Order in 1773, prevented a steady and coherent transmission and led to a selection that is determined strongly by coincidence.4 The formation of a reasonable canon of normative authors of the first century of Jesuit theatre was impossible, due to the anonymity and to the complexity of the dramatic production. Individual authors like Avancini, Balde, Bidermann and Masen became visible only by the printing of their selected works at the beginning of the second half of the seventeenth century. In this respect, the term author can be questioned. For the Jesuits deemed it important that the performance of a play was not valued as an individual achievement, but as proof of the collective pedagogical potency of the college in question or of the entire Order. For that reason, the manuscript texts were transmitted in a fundamentally anonymous manner.5 Their allocation to individual authors is almost always secondary. The authors of the texts, who as a rule also had to stage their plays themselves, were bound to the ideological rules of the Order. The theatre dates, which over time became more frequent, resulted from the rhythm of the school year and from the calendar of Christian festivals of the Ecclesiastical year;6 for the rest the performances were dependant on the technical, practical and financial possibilities of the colleges and their gymnasia.7 4 Cf. Valentin, Répertoire, ‘Introduction’, pp. xv f. Of the 450 plays recorded by Valentin that were demonstrably performed before 1600, an extraordinary number, more than a hundred, were preserved in manuscript. Among them were seventeen plays by Jakob Gretser and seven by Jacobus Pontanus. These two proven authors were able to ensure themselves that their plays would not be consigned to oblivion. Gretser had copied and compiled his plays in his own hand; three of Pontanus’s plays enjoyed the privilege— which was still exceptional in the sixteenth century—of being printed, as an appendix to his poetics. On the other hand, there are entire areas in which hardly any texts have come down to us from more than two hundred years of theatrical activity. Less than one percent of the plays staged from the region of Aachen, Jülich-Berg and Ravenstein that have been investigated by Pohle (Glaube und Beredsamkeit) are extant. 5 As a rule, the programmes (periochae) mention the name of each individual player, if necessary the composer of the music as well, but never that of the author of the play. 6 Our survey takes into account all relevant texts, not only the autumn plays that were performed at the opening of the academic year (in renovatione studiorum). Furthermore, the plays that were performed at saints’ days (especially that of the Virgin Mary) were written by Jesuits and enacted by their pupils. Usually it was the Jesuits who were in charge of the sodalitates (i.e. very motivated groups of students of the gymnasia or citizens as well). 7 This pertained to (for example) the several stage forms which, as a rule, are hard to reconstruct (cf. Flemming, Geschichte des Jesuitentheaters). This form in itself also depended on whether the performances took place indoors or outdoors. The production costs were often taken over by the bishop responsible or by the sympathizing Catholic nobility that, as a matter of principle, closely cooperated with the Order. This cooperation, which was simply regarded as a precondition for a successful theatre production on the



jesuit theatre in germany, austria and switzerland187

The consequence is that Jesuit theatre is a cultural product that, notwithstanding the artistic peculiarity of individual works, hardly expresses positions accounted for by individual authors. This theatre is derived far more from a uniform spirit and serves collective spiritual and, at the same time, politico-religious requirements of the age. For the portrayal of the complex phenomenon of Jesuit theatre it is inevitable, in view of the immense mass of material, to start from exemplary cases and base the judgments on the author’s obviously limited personal reading. Prior to doing so, I wish to draw the reader’s attention to the fact that, besides Fulda, the Jesuit colleges of the Upper German Province (mainly Augsburg, Dillingen on the Donau, Ingolstadt and Munich) will be considered in more detail8 than other ones, about which the author has less authentic knowledge.9 As a result, the image will not become too one-sided, because the centralistic organization of the Order will guarantee, at least in the period under discussion, a strong uniformity of the schools’ activities, to which theatre belonged. The intensive exchange of teachers and students between the several part of the Jesuits, becomes very clear in the Epilogue of the Absolon that Peter Michael (Brillmacher) had performed in Speyer in 1571 before a distinguished audience. Here the ‘Epilogus’ thanks the ‘Sponsors’, Fulda, Landesbibliothek C 18, fol. 231: ‘Si grata vobis actio nostra haec fuit//Et cum voluptate utilitatem attulit,//Laetamur plurimum, Deoque gratias//Persolvimus. Spectatores amplissimi,//Vobis etiam, quorum sumptu omnis hic scenicus//Est factus apparatus, quantas possumus,//Non quantas debemus, gratias dicimus// Habemusque, optantes diu ut superstites//Et incolumes Vos Deus servet, saepius//Quo a nobis exhilarari ludo simili//Cum fructu possitis, quem unum optat sui//Laboris auctor esse finem et praemium.’ (‘If our performance has pleased you, and you derived both pleasure and profit from it, we are very delighted, and we thank God for it. We also thank you heartily, highly distinguished spectators, who paid the costs for this entire production, although we do that as much as we can, not as much as we ought to. We pray that God give you a long and healthy life, so that you can be pleased and taught by such plays more often. For that is the aim of the author and that is the only reward he wishes for his work.’) On Brillmacher’s Absolon see further below, pp. 232–33. 8 For this chapter much source material is analysed which is only available in manuscript, such as Litterae annuae (annual reports for the headquarters in Rome), chronicles of the colleges, and private letters of members of the Order. 9 Until now, most research concentrated on the Jesuit theatre of the Upper German Province. A correction of this tendency is executed by Barbara Mahlman-Bauer with her research project The Importance of the Colleges and Jesuit Theatre for the Recatholization of Fulda and Paderborn between 1570 and 1700 (‘Die Bedeutung der Kollegien und des Theaters der Jesuiten für die Rekatholisierung Fuldas und Paderborns zwischen 1570 und 1700’). This project entailed the publication of several plays, among which Turrianus SJ, Comoedia de Divi Augustini pueritia et adolescentia (Paderborn 1604), ed. Maier. Within the compass of this project some fifty school dramas have so far been transcribed (cf. Maier, p. 4). According to Annette Kollatz, who has promised a work on the development and importance of the Fulda school theatre, especially on the dramas by Gottfried Lemius, dramatic texts from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries have been preserved in Fulda in 38 manuscripts (cf. Kollatz, Eine Darstellung der Gründungsgeschichte, p. 260, n. 6 and p. 265).

Molsheim

Pont-à-Mousson

Wurzburg

Heiligenstadt

Luzern

Prague

Graz

Vienna

Brunn

Olomouc

Turnau

Krakow

Pultusk

Jaroslau

Fig. 1a. Foundations of the Jesuit Order in 1540–1580. Repr. from: E.W. Zeeden, Propyläen Geschichte Europas, vol. 2, 1977, p. 375.

Landsberg Hall Innsbruck

Munich

Speyer Baden-Baden Ingolstadt Dillingen Augsburg

Fulda Koblenz Mainz Trier

Liège

Dinant

Verdun

Nevers

Paris

Cambrai

Cologne

Paderborn

Residences and Colleges of the Jesuit Order founded in 1540-1580 Other Institutions of the Jesuit Order in 1540-1580

Bourges

Antwerp

Louvain Maastricht St. Omer Tournai Douai

Bruges

Posen

Braunsberg

Vilnius

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The circles indicate the foundation of residences and colleges of the Jesuit Order in 1581-1615, the triangles the foundation of other institutions 1581-1615. This period coincides with the Generalship of Claudius Acquaviva, which is characterized by a unique growth of the the Order.

Fig. 1b. Foundations of the Jesuit Order in 1581–1615. Repr. from: E.W. Zeeden, Propyläen Geschichte Europas, vol. 2, 1977, p. 375.

Foundation of residences and colleges of the Jesuit Order in 1581-11615 Foundation of other institutions 1581-1615.

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c­ olleges resulted in considerable communication. In the early period the visitation by authoritative patres from Spain and Italy, who probably brought along drama texts or arranged them, guaranteed the international association of the Provinces of the Order from the Northern Alps. On the Temporal and Geographical Frameworks of this Survey For over two hundred years Jesuit theatre has represented an important and visible field of Catholic culture. It began, hesitantly, after the middle of the sixteenth century. Already during the Council of Trent (1545–1563) it flourished, especially in Germania superior. This blossoming would last for fifty years, until the Thirty Years’ War paralysed all cultural life there around 1630. It had several changing forms, with successful phases, as in Vienna under Emperor Leopold I, until 1773. However, by the middle of the eighteenth century already its importance had declined, since it could not cope with the competition from the Enlightenment.10 From the middle of the sixteenth century until the suspension of their Order in 177311 the Jesuits regularly staged Latin dramas. In our survey, which due to the limitations of this volume is confined to the period until 1650, only the first half of the more than two centuries of the history of this theatre will be considered. Nonetheless, it is generally deemed the more creative and fruitful phase. Accordingly, this period has been highlighted by previous research. But the research just published by Frank Pohle shows that this emphasis is objectively wrong and must be corrected.12 Pohle shows—for the first time on the basis of exact source studies, especially by means of the analysis of specific historical conditions in a clearly delimited part of the Lower Rhine Province of the Order—a specific profile of Jesuit theatre after the middle of the seventeenth century that has long been underestimated. 10 The ‘agony of Jesuit theatre at the place of its former greatest triumph’ (i.e. in Munich) has just impressively been presented by Wittmann, ‘“Das Spiel machte keine Wirkung”’, p. 107. 11 Pohle (Glaube und Beredsamkeit) proves that the theatrical activities, just like the rest of the educational activities, went on unchanged for several years after this date. However, in the middle of the eighteenth century the vernacular could not be held back strictly from the stage. The vernacular had already permeated this environment, varying according to the region, in the second half of the seventeenth century, above all in arias, on the wings of song, as it were. 12 Pohle, Glaube und Beredsamkeit, pp. 38–40. Stefan Tilg had the same objective in his meritorious investigation of the complete theatrical production of the Society of Jesus in Tirol (until 1773). See his contributions in Korenjak a.o., Tyrolis Latina, vol. 1, pp. 267–81; 436–64; vol. 2, pp. 660–700 (with a list of the surviving texts, pp. 660–62).



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The current survey extends, as indicated, from the first demonstrable performance within the two Provinces of the Order that are taken into consideration, i.e. the Vienna Euripus of 1555, to the end of the Thirty Years’ War. This period has a historical plausibility, since it corresponds fairly closely to the era between the Peace of Augsburg (1555) and the Peace of Westphalia (1648), which is described by modern historiography using the notion of confessionalization. It is evident that the Latin Jesuit theatre fits very well into this process, since it served as an important instrument of this confessionalization. Our survey will try to record the theatre life of important colleges of geographically or politically connected ‘playing landscapes’13 on the basis of the theatre texts that have been handed down, and to present in this frame, which also includes sociocultural and religious factors, the most important works and authors. Taking 1650 as a temporal boundary means that, with the clear exceptions of Paul Aler (1656–1727), Johann Baptist Adolph (1657–1708), and Franz Neumayr (1697–1765), all great names and their productions fall within the scope of the present survey. Even the dramas of Jakob Masen (1606–1681) stretch to the middle of the century. The author only had his poetics, which were connected to his plays, printed in 1657.14 However, the work of Nicolaus Avancini (1611–1686) is divided, since only seven plays by him were performed before 1650, all in Vienna, but the majority followed thereafter. His latest drama, Fides coniugalis sive Ansberta sui coniugis Bertulphi e dura captivitate liberatrix, appeared on the Vienna stage in 1667.15 Regarding the spatial limitations, our survey encompasses the two German-speaking Provinces of the Societas Jesu, which Ignatius of Loyola had founded just before his death (1556), viz. the Upper German Province (Germania superior), which included Southern Germany as a whole, as well as Austria and the Catholic cantons of Switzerland, and the Lower German Province (Germania inferior), comprising the Rhineland, Northern Germany and the Low Countries.16 Jean-Marie Valentin, on whose Répertoire we depend, chose the criterion of the German language 13 On this concept, see Wimmer, ‘Neuere Forschungen zum Jesuitentheater’, pp. 597–98 and 622–25. 14 Cf. Pohle, ‘Jakob Masen als Dramatiker’, pp. 103–05. 15 Valentin, Répertoire, no. 2159. 16 From 1563 onwards an autonomous Austrian Province existed (Provincia Austriae), which stretched to Bohemia and parts of Hungary, Romania and Slovakia that were not occupied by the Turks, and to Italy. In 1564 the Lower German province was divided into a Rhenisch Province and the Belgian Province. In 1623 an autonomous Bohemian Province was separated from the Austrian one.

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Fig. 2. Ignatius of Loyola (vera effigies): Jacopino del Conte (ca. 1515–1598), Rome 1556. Repr. from “Rom in Bayern”, p. 309.



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to restrict his choice of material, the same criterion that Bernhard Duhr had used for his substantial, though overly apologetic, Geschichte der Jesuiten in den Ländern deutscher Zunge. To give the reader a rough geographical sketch, we will provide a list of the most important Jesuit colleges at which (or in the direct influence of which17) the Latin theatre was cultivated (Fig. 1).18 Upper German and Austrian Provinces: Augsburg, Dillingen an der Donau, Eichstätt, Freiburg im Breisgau, Fribourg in Switzerland, Graz, Hall in Tirol, Ingolstadt, Innsbruck, Klagenfurt, Constance, Lucerne, Munich, Passau, Porrentruy in Switzerland, Regensburg, Solothurn (Soleure), Straubing, Vienna.19 Lower German / Rhenish Province: Aachen, Fulda, Heiligenstadt, Hildesheim, Cologne, Koblenz, Mainz, Molsheim in the Alsace, Münster, Paderborn, Speyer, Trier. The Societas Jesu and Its Self-Fashioning The Jesuit Order, of which the members are not monks,20 but regular clergymen,21 was founded by Ignatius of Loyola (Fig. 2) and his fellows on 15 April 1539 in the form of a regular vow, and approved by Pope Paul II on 27 September 1540. A year later Ignatius was chosen as one of the first Superior Generals. He kept this position until his death on 31 July 1556. The aim of this completely novel, apostolic order was ‘care of souls’ (iuvare animas), to help them to obtain a Christian life, Christian education and 17 Some of these colleges belonged to a University of the Order; see Hengst, Jesuiten an Universitäten und Jesuitenuniversitäten. Others were responsible for specific faculties at the external university, for instance in Ingolstadt or Würzburg. 18 On the foundation of the first colleges and their history see Duhr, Geschichte der Jesuiten, 1, pp. 33–65 and 92–236. Literature on each college can be found in Valentin, Répertoire, 2: ‘Les scènes des Provinces Germaniques’, pp. 1154–79. On the history of the origin of the great European Jesuit colleges (Messina, Louvain, Rome, Vienna and Prague) see the contributions in Falkner and Imhof, Ignatius von Loyola und die Gesellschaft Jesu 1491–1556, ch. IV: ‘Frühe Jesuitenkollegien’, pp. 299–378. 19 On this, see Nising, ‘“… unseren Zwecken aufs beste angepaßt”.’ 20 Obviously, the caricature of the uneducated, lazy monk monotonously reciting his prayers, which the reformers and humanists unanimously had planted into the conscience of the age, did not incite anyone to found an Order in the tradtional manner. 21 The members of the Societas Jesu had no common liturgy of the hours, nor a habit; however, adopted from the monastic tradition were the vows (vota) of obedience, poverty and chastity, which were completed by a fourth vow, a special obedience towards the Pope, ‘with regard to the mission’ (circa missionem), viz. the willingness to have oneself sent to where the Pope recognized pastoral need. This concerns a vow of mobility, which replaces the traditional monastic vow of stability. See O’Malley, ‘Die frühe Gesellschaft Jesu’, p. 33.

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to spread the faith. Before his admission to the Order each Jesuit had to complete the thirty-day Exercitia spiritualia (‘Spiritual exercises’) that Ignatius had written as a partly mystical, partly practical book of meditation long before his ordination as a priest. With its systematic representation of psychic processes and spiritual distinctions, the Exercitia formed a spirituality of the Jesuit Order that later corresponded to the representation of the existential question of human life on the theatre stage in an ideal way.22 Humanism, which had its origins in Italy and found in Antiquity the possibility of a free development of life related to Christianity, caused an enormous thrust for Enlightenment and secularization. Thus the way was paved for the Reformation, and the Roman Catholic Church needed to restore trust, and even to find a new identity. This became the main task of the Jesuit Order, whose programmatic worldly ability corresponded to Humanism’s optimistic view of man. With regard to the spiritual and moral negligence of church life that was deplored by humanists and reformers alike, the first Jesuits, who for the most part had academic training in the ‘modus Parisiensis’,23 were convinced that a renewal of the Catholic Church would only succeed with a comprehensive intellectual education of the young. Therefore, starting in Messina in 1548, they founded schools, which were soon very successful and in the second half of the sixteenth century developed into a serious competitor to the Protestant gymnasia. ‘Although most official documents never said it clearly, the schools became part of the Jesuit self-definition […]. The Jesuit Order became a teaching order.’24 Humanism, which was by nature pedagogical, had turned to the new evangelical doctrine early and with success. By its combination of litterae/eloquentia and pietas respectively, it had become so convincing that there was no question about the educational programme of the Jesuit schools. It was the resolute conviction of the Jesuits too that the humanistic fight against ignorance also served the benefit of religion. Many of their dramas simply propagate the studium as the prerequisite for—not to say guarantee of—a Christian, responsible, moral life. Thus Christian school humanism, for which Johannes Sturm in 22 See Krupp, ‘Sinnenhafte Seelenführung’; further Münch-Kienast, Philothea von Johannes Paullin. 23 This is the stricter variant of both European modes of study: in contrast to the free listening and life of the students of the Bologna mode, study in Paris was coined by a relatively closed boarding and college system with a tight connection to the teachers. On this, see Mertes SJ, ‘Lernen in Messina’. 24 O’Malley, Die ersten Jesuiten, p. 28; cf. Smolinsky, ‘“Docendus est populus”’.



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Strasburg had found the formula sapiens et eloquens pietas (as finis studiorum),25 became the pedagogical programme of the Jesuit gymnasia. With regard to the formal-linguistic teaching there were no essential differences with the Protestant Latin schools of Melanchthonic coinage. The State of Research—Resources and Tools The history of research into Jesuit theatre26 started in the second half of the nineteenth century and saw a short but intense revival with the rediscovery of baroque literature just before the Second World War. The general interest in Neo-Latin literature as a noble sister of European national literatures finally brought the literary production of the Jesuit Order, especially drama, into view. This process, which primarily sprang from Germanic studies, began in the 1960s. Here the names of Max Wehrli, Rolf Tarot, Hans-Gert Roloff and Elida Maria Szarota deserve to be mentioned.27 Above them all towers Jean-Marie Valentin who presented the first modern survey of this subject with a monumental work in 1978.28 His Répertoire,29 quoted already, is simply indispensible for any researcher in the field. This repertory lists 7,650 performances of Jesuit dramas in chronological order. A very helpful source book is the extensive collection of printed theatre programmes published by Elida Maria Szarota.30 Often the periochae are the only extant textual witnesses of the performances. 25 On this, cf. now Schindling, ‘Der Straßburger Schulrektor Johannes Sturm’, pp. 328 and 339, with n. 55. 26 This research and its results are richly documented in Valentin’s Répertoire: the second volume contains a ‘Bibliographie secondaire’ on the ‘État des recherches et méthodologie’ (pp. 1137f.), on the ‘Instruments bibliographiques, catalogues et répertoires’ (pp. 1139f.), on the ‘Histoire de la Compagnie de Jésus’ (pp. 1140–44), on ‘Pédagogie et théâtre’ (pp. 1144–47), on the ‘Histoire du théâtre’ (pp. 1147–54), on the specific places of playing (‘scènes’) of the German Provinces of the Order (from Aachen to Xanten, pp. 1154–79), on the authors (pp. 1179–1211), on the subjects (‘Thèmes’, pp. 1211–25) as well further questions of literary and cultural studies (pp. 1226–42). Almost at the same time the ‘Literaturbericht’ by Ruprecht Wimmer, which provides competent appraisal, appeared. The newest and most comprehensive balancing of current research and the most complete bibliography are to be found in Pohle, Glaube und Beredsamkeit. 27 Cf. on this Wimmer, ‘Neuere Forschungen zum Jesuitentheater’, pp. 591–96. 28 Valentin, Le théâtre des Jésuites, with a bibliography, 3, pp. 1319–1500; a reworked and abridged version of this work was published as Les Jésuites et le théâtre. Important articles by the author are collected in Valentin, Theatrum Catholicum. 29 See n. 4. 30 Szarota, Das Jesuitendrama im deutschen Sprachgebiet; a fourth volume Indices (1987) opens up the rich material. Szarota’s attempts at periodization and her comments on individual plays are highly idiosyncratic.

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Two works that are authoritative for Jesuit drama in general should be mentioned, both published in the 1980s. Ruprecht Wimmer studied and tested the great variety of possibilities of poetic arrangement on Old Testament subject matter suitable for show, the ‘versions’ of which could each be represented in ‘types of form or action, situations of performance and occasions.’31 With this he corrects a fundamental and (for research) influential mistake of Johann Müller, who widely overestimated the potency of the subject matter and represented the opinion that ideological developments of the Order were manifest in the choice of specific subjects, such as the Theophilus complex.32 Barbara Bauer has worked out the enormous importance of rhetoric for the formal linguistic ideology of the Societas Jesu, oriented towards Humanism, from the treatises of its great teachers (Perpinyá, Soarez, Pontanus, Masen).33 The last fifty years have seen a constant growth in interest in Jesuit theatre. From 1997 onwards in the series Jesuitica important works on the theme appear.34 Within the scope of the ‘Sonderforschungsbereich 496’ ‘Symbolic Communication and Systems of Social Values from the Middle Ages to the French Revolution’ (‘Symbolische Kommunikation und gesellschaftliche Wertesysteme vom Mittelalter bis zur Französischen Revolution’) at the Westphalian Wilhelm University of Münster the project ‘Theatrical and Social Communication: Functions of Urban and Court Play in the late Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period’ (‘Theatralische und soziale Kommunikation: Funktionen des städtischen und höfischen Spiels in Spätmittelalter und früher Neuzeit’) directed by Christel MeierStaubach and Heinz Meyer has been carried out since 2002. It initiated intensive research on Jesuit theatre from different perspectives and presented fundamental publications.35 The latest one in this series is Frank 31 Wimmer, Jesuitentheater. 32 Müller, Das Jesuitendrama in den Ländern deutscher Zunge. 33 Bauer, Jesuitische ‘ars rhetorica’. The foundations for a new evaluation of rhetoric, even in the spiritual domain of the Jesuits, were laid by Barner, Barockrhetorik. 34 Hess, Oswald, Wimmer, and Wittmann, Jesuitica: vol. 1: Hess, Schneider, and Wiener, Trophaea Bavarica; vol. 2: Bauer and Leonhardt, Triumphus Divi Michaelis Archangeli; vol. 7: Hsia and Wimmer, Mission und Theater; vol. 8: Gier, Jakob Bidermann und sein ‘Cenodoxus’; vol. 9: Burkard, Hess, Kühlmann, Oswald, Jakob Balde im kulturellen Kontext seiner Epoche; vol. 10: Hess, Der Tod des Seneca. 35 The series of works of the Sonderforschungsbereich 496: vol. 4: Meier, Meyer, Spanily, Das Theater des Mittelalters und der frühen Neuzeit als Ort und Medium sozialer und symbolischer Kommunikation; vol. 7: Janning, Der Chor im neulateinischen Drama; vol. 14: Washof, Die Bibel auf der Bühne; vol. 23: Meier, Ramakers, Beyer, Akteure und Aktionen: Figuren und Handlungstypen im Drama der Frühen Neuzeit; vol. 29: Pohle, Glaube und Beredsamkeit.



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Pohle’s Glaube und Beredsamkeit which takes the most comprehensive view of research on Jesuit theatre up to the present.36 On the Cultural and Literary Origins of Jesuit Theatre ‘The road of the Order to the theatre goes through the school’, as Wimmer writes.37 This means that its origin is not cultic as is the case in the religious drama of the Middle Ages, which sprang from liturgy and finally left the church buildings and Latin language behind. Jesuit theatre is learned and it remains—incredibile dictu—in Latin until its end after the middle of the eighteenth century, as a humanistic fossil. But, of course, it is always an instrument of Christian education as well, and in this function there is a continuous tension with the new, elitist form of the Latin language. As Christian theatre it cannot easily break with the late medieval tradition and disappear in the learned company of the Ancient dramatists, Terence, Plautus and Seneca. So the Jesuits also had to adopt a medieval heritage. It can be proved that for a long time they cultivated the religious play in the form of Passion and Passover dramas, Christmas plays and Corpus Christi plays.38 It was, however, as can easily be seen, not simple to bring their genuinely humanistic verbal theatre into harmony with the popular and theatrical demands of action and representation. Religious Plays? Reports on Passover plays of the Jesuits greatly decreased after the first twenty-five years. Attested are, among other performances, those in Vienna 1559, Munich 1561, Prague 1571, Innsbruck 1574 and Cologne 1580.39 In Augsburg members of the Sodality staged a play entitled Nicodemus on Good Friday 1602 in the church at the empty sepulchre (cenotaphium).40 The play was repeated three times. We are able to learn from a letter to  Matthäus Rader that the active dramatist Wolfgang Schönsleder 36 Pohle, Glaube und Beredsamkeit, pp. 29–40. 37 Wimmer, Jesuitentheater, p. 12. 38 We must reckon with the possibility that such plays, which were more pastoral than cultural school events, were not consistently recorded in the chronicles. 39 Cf. Valentin, Le théâtre des Jésuites, vol. 1, p. 399, and idem, Répertoire, under the years in question. 40 Historia Collegii Augustani (Bibliothèque Cantonale et Universitaire Fribourg / Suisse, Hs., Sign. 95), p. 398.

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staged a play in Regensburg in the Holy Week of 1604 in the presence of the bishop.41 This Dialogus de Morte, Cupidine, Cacodaemone à Christo triumphatis (‘Dialogue on death, lust and the devil that are conquered by Christ’) had been played earlier in Augsburg. Already in the 1580s, however, the central staff of the Order criticized the performance of such plays (dialogi) in the churches, because they saw a danger for piety in their theatrical character.42 A clear division between drama and a liturgical act of piety was and remained difficult. Still, in 1640 the Ingoldstadt College chronicle reports an Actiuncula […] die Sabbathi Sancto ad sepulchrum de Christo patiente data (‘A little play staged on Sunday at the sepulchre of Christ’s passion’).43 During Holy Week, the empty grave was an important scene for the meditation of the faithful, who were supported by staged images. Was this still theatre? Relatively seldom and only for a short time we find reports on performances of Christmas plays. But the 1570s also saw a Dialogismus trium Personarum de nativitate Christi (‘A Dialogue between three characters on Christ’s Birth’), which is preserved in Fulda. In this dialogue, which accompanies a Prologus that is spoken in iambs, two pupils, Bernhardus and Martinus, celebrate Christ’s coming in elegiac distichs at the cradle.44 On Christmas 1585 in the church of the newly founded Augsburg College there was a dialogue that made a deep impression on the audience: ‘Natalitiis feriis ad Christi cunabula dialogismus in templo celebratus, cum magno sensu spectatorum.’45 For the year 1593 at the same place (p. 342) a further Dialogus ab Angelis ad Praesepe Domini recitatus (‘Dialogue recited by Angels at the Lord’s Cradle’) is recorded. From 1588, even, two Dialogues are preserved that were staged in Dillingen: a Dialogus Natalicius (‘Christmas Dialogue’, six scenes with a Prologue and an Epilogue), as well as a Dialogus pro Natalitiis ad praesepe Domini. Ad aram Sancti Hieronymi in Academia. Anno 1588 (‘Dialogue for Christmas, at the Lord’s Cradle. At the Altar of St Jerome in the Academy. In the year 1588’),46 41 Cf. Bayerische Gelehrtenkorrespondenz: P. Matthäus Rader SJ, Band I: 1595–1612, ed. Zäh and Strodel, intr. and ed. Schmid, no. 143, n. 5. Apparently the Descensus ad inferos was central to this play. 42 Cf. Duhr, Geschichte der Jesuiten, 1, pp. 355f. 43 Summarium de variis rebus Collegii Ingolstadiensis (Diözesanarchiv Eichstätt B 186), p. 333. 44 Fulda, Landesbibliothek, Hs. C 18, fol. 63r–64v. 45 Historia Collegii Augustani (Bibliothèque Cantonale et Universitaire Fribourg / Suisse, Hs., Sign. 95), p. 293; the Greek term dialogismus is frequently used as a synonym for dialogus. 46 Dillingen, Studienbibliothek XV 221, fol. 82r–96r and fol. 106r–112r resp.



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in which six angels make their appearance, partly with royal insignia, partly with instruments of passion. On 6 January of the same year, 1588, the Jesuits in Innsbruck gave a Comoedia trium regum; in Prague earlier in 1568 a play entitled Trium regum ad cunas iter et adoratio (‘The Journey and the Adoration of the three Kings at the Cradle’) is attested, and for 6 January 1594 another De nativitate Christi.47 In Biburg, a residence of the Jesuits that was under the care of the Ingolstadt College, a Dialogus, quo Pastorum ad puerum recens natum adventus repraesentabatur (‘Dialogue, in which the Coming of the Shepherds to the New Born Baby is represented’) was presented with great sympathy on Christmas 1595.48 We learn interesting details on the production of such Christmas plays from the Annales Collegii Monacensis for the year 1596: […] Natalitiis pius admodum de Christo recens nato in aula scholarum exhibitus, et octiduo post expetitus Dialogus exstructo in modum scenae Praesepi, cui superne nubes incumbebant, unde Angeli distinctis ordinibus suave admodum cantillare iussi, pastoribus puellum in cunis vagientem invisentibus, angelisque laetas choreas ducentibus et munuscula varia offerentibus. (At Christmas in the school auditorium [of the Munich College] a very pious dialogue on the Christ-child was staged and upon request another performance was put on eight days later. The Cradle was extended to a real stage, above which clouds were hanging. From there angels, in distinct choruses,49 were ordered to sing a very sweet song. The shepherds paid their respects to the child, who was crying in the cradle. Angels were dancing joyous choruses and offered the child several small gifts.)50

A small cradle play of Jacobus Pontanus (1542–1626), probably belonging to Dillingen, is preserved. It expresses very clearly the tension between the popular Christian mystery play and the humanistic form that is characteristic of the Jesuits: In natalem Domini Bucolicon poematium. Tres pastores de visis, auditisque ab se angelis, et de Salvatoris ortu sibi nuntiato mutuum gratulantes, ad praesepe adeunt, ubi puerum infantem precibus, et quibusdam rusticis muneribus venerati, beneficium Dei, et mox futuram saeculi felicitatem, honorem praeterea matris digredientes laetabundi canunt, omnesque ad exultandum invitant. (A small bucolic poem for Christmas. Three shepherds congratulate each other because they have seen and heard the angels and because the Saviour’s 47 Valentin, Répertoire, no. 271, 66 and 355 resp. 48 Summarium, p. 97. 49 This refers to the nine choruses of angels. 50 Munich, Arch. Prov. Germ. Sup. Mscr. I, 45, p. 48.

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This describes a bucolic alternate song between three shepherds with names from Antiquity: Battus (cf. Ovid, Metam. 2, 688), Alcimedon (cf. Virgil, Ecl. 3, 37) and Lollus. This song can be recognized immediately as a contrafactum of Virgil’s fourth eclogue, which was adapted to the birth of Christ in late Antiquity. Hardly and yet conspicuously changed, its two most famous lines are elegantly Christianized; in the cradle play, Virgil’s ‘Iam nova progenies caelo demittitur alto’ (Ecl. 4, 7) becomes ‘Iam nova progenies supera delabitur arce’, and ‘Incipe, parve puer, risu cognoscere matrem’ (Ecl. 4, 60) was reshaped by Pontanus into ‘Incipe, parve puer, intactam amplectere matrem’.52 A hexametrical pastoral, of which the characters bear ancient names, and which is in fact only a learned but playful literary invention that has nothing popular in it any more—this is a telling statement about the position of Jesuit drama, far from medieval popular theatre. With regard to its theme, a play on the Massacre of the Innocents which is recorded in the Dillingen Historia Collegii for the year 1576 could be classed under the Christmas performance: ‘Bacchanalibus Convictores Tragoediam de Innocentibus ab Herode occisis egerunt in Aula Academica’ (‘On Shrovetide the companions played a tragedy on the Innocents killed by Herod in the assembly hall of the academy’).53 Since the event took place at Carnival (‘Bacchanalibus’) and in the auditorium of the University, we must not consider it a religious play that fitted in the Ecclesiastical year, but rather a theatrical performance as the Jesuits gladly offered in this period as an antipharmacum against the temptations of the Carnival activity.54 So a dramatic performance of the Massacre may be designed to announce the literary adaptations of this theme that were to follow soon. Pontanus treated it in the third book of his Progymnasmata Latinitatis and in an elegy De infantibus, Herodis immani crudelitate trucidatis (‘On the 51 The text is preserved in manuscript: Dillingen, Studienbibliothek XV 223, fol. 252r–254v; printed in Pontanus, Miscellanea Poemata II (Augsburg: 1595), pp. 466–71; fol. 252r, Misc. p. 466. 52 Fol. 254v; p. 471. 53 Historia Collegii Dilingani S. J. (Bibliothèque Cantonale et Universitaire, Fribourg / Suisse, Hs. Sign. L 89), fol. 10r. 54 Most of the Plautus performances of Dillingen also relate to the time of Carnival.



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Babies that were massacred by the enormous atrocity of Herod’), and around 1602 Jacob Bidermann wrote his large epic Herodias, which was printed in Dillingen no earlier than 1622.55 Christmas and Passover were theologically and liturgically peaceful occasions, without any confessional controversies. Things were quite different for the Festival of Corpus Christi and the theological problematics of the Eucharist. The Council of Trent had assigned a special importance to it;56 the frequent receipt of the Eucharist was a central requirement,57 even promoted by the Jesuit Order, and the Festival of Corpus Christi developed into a demonstration of Catholic identity which had a great attraction for the people. In the Litterae annuae of the College of Speyer we read that in 1576 ‘many people, on the one hand impressed by the mighty outer magnificence, on the other moved by admiration for the saintly ceremonies, regained a yearning for their old religion’.58 Thus the Festival of Corpus Christi became the most suitable occasion for the Societas Jesu to act in public before the citizenship both theatrically and theologically. In the Acta of the University of Dillingen the next note for the year 1565 reads: Hoc ipso anno in octava corporis Christi de more solemnis habita est ab Universitate processio cum Venerabili Sacramento intra menia oppidi, et quater in locis ad hoc praeparatis substitit, ubi a pueris angelico schemate instructis Dialogi latini et germanici in Eucharistiae laudem sunt pronunciati. (In this very year in the octave of Corpus Christi a joyous procession of the most holy was traditionally held by the University within the city walls. This procession stopped at four designated stations. On this occasion, pupils dressed as angels recited Latin and German dialogues in praise of the Eucharist.)59

In Dillingen a hexametric Corpus Christi dialogue (entitled Discipulus et praeceptor) is preserved, in which the pupil takes advice on the mystery of  the Eucharist and at the end recites a Sapphic poem in its praise.60 55 See on this Hess, ‘Der Mord auff dem Papier oder: Herodes in Augsburg’, pp. 145–54. 56 Cf. Valentin, ‘Les Jeux de la Fête-Dieu jésuites au XVIe siècle’. On the theology of the Festival of Corpus Christi, see also the works of Leinsle. 57 The annual amount of communions was regularly registered in the Litterae annuae. 58 Quoted in Valentin, Le théâtre, 3, p. 1122, n. 79: ‘Harum rerum tum ingenti voluptate detenti, tum admiratione sanctissimarum capti ceremoniarum, multi antiquae religionis desiderium renovarunt.’ 59 Acta Universitatis Dilinganae (Dillingen, Studienbibliothek XV 226, 1), p. 74. 60 Dillingen, Studienbibliothek XV 219, pp. 1039–43. There too one of the dialogues in German mentioned here can be found: Dialogus inter vere Catholicum et Dubitantium(!). It

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An entire collection of eight Eucharist dialogues by Jacobus Pontanus which were previously unknown were recently found by Ulrich G. Leinsle and subsequently reported in detail.61 As we would expect in the case of Pontanus, the dialogues are highly elaborate (in three different metres); the speakers are a theologically competent character and an errant individual asking questions. It is unthinkable that these texts could have been expected of a lay population in the context of a procession. Tellingly, for the sacred host Pontanus uses the surprising ancient metonymy crustulum, which, as Leinsle found out,62 was ridiculed by the theologically stricter Jesuit Jakob Gretser (1562–1625) in his educational drama De regno Humanitatis comoedia prima (1587). Morality Plays: Hecastus and Euripus In their markedly popular and naive narrative, the mystery plays of the late Middle Ages were neither a basis nor an incentive for meticulous Latin dramatization, and on the streets strewn with flowers, the theological reflection on the mystery of the Eucharist was literally blowing in the wind. However, a literary phenomenon from the Dutch rhetoricians’ theatre was gratefully received by the Jesuits: the late medieval morality play (‘Moralität’), a type of didactic drama that was no longer connected to the liturgy and which appeared at first in a vernacular and later on in a Latin guise.63 Under the titles Elckerlijc, Everyman, Homulus and Hecastus64 they present human life, represented by allegories, in illustrative decisive situations, viz. in the situation of people being seduced by the world (‘mundus’), embodied in several vices (‘vitia’), and above all in the situation of death and judgement. In these plays, starting with the Dutch Elckerlijc (before 1475), what is at stake is nothing short of the salvation of the soul of man. The means of attaining salvation made available to the is edited by Valentin, ‘Les Jeux’, pp. 109–12; its source, included in Valentin, Répertoire, p. 380, no. 5, is the Latin dialogue Dubitantius (printed 1563) by Wilhelm Lindanus, Bishop of Roermond, who taught in Dillingen from 1554 to 1557, before the coming of the Jesuits there. 61 Leinsle, ‘Werke Jakob Pontanus’ in der Handschrift Studienbibliothek Dillingen XV 399’, pp. 141f., and Leinsle, ‘Dichtungen Jakob Pontanus’, pp. 286–99. 62 Leinsle, ‘Dichtungen Jacob Pontanus’, p. 286. 63 On this see Valentin, ‘Die Moralität im 16. Jahrhundert’, and Jeßing, ‘Zur Rezeption des morall play vom “Everyman”’; nowhere does Jeßing refer to Valentin. 64 Macropedius, Hecastus (1539), ed. Bolte, Drei Schauspiele vom sterbenden Menschen, pp. 63–159; Dammer and Jeßing, Der Jedermann im 16. Jahrhundert; Bloemendal, The Latin Playwright Georgius Macropedius.



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imperilled individual comprise the moral teachings of the Church for a virtuous, ascetic life, the sacraments and the so-called good works that had become questionable in the Reformation. It was inevitable that on this subject matter the confessions separated, and the case of Hecastus (1539 and 1552) of Georgius Macropedius (1487–1558) shows how delicate the writing of dramas could be in the mid sixteenth century. In the prologue to the second, slightly altered edition of his play Macropedius had to justify himself because he had originally neglected the importance of the works of penance and the sacramental care of the dying Hecastus by the Church. In the first phase of the theatre, the Jesuits staged Macropedius’s Hecastus several times: in Vienna in 1557, in Ingolstadt in 1559, in Innsbruck in 1559 and 1564. One may suppose that they changed many lines and made clear the strict Catholic position. This would be highly apposite for a play competing with Hecastus and also originating from the Low Countries, in which the antagonist is not saved, but literally seized by the devil: Euripus by the Louvain Minorite Livinus Brechtus (1502/3–1560) who stemmed from Amsterdam.65 This drama that gave the decisive impulse to the theatre of the CounterReformation was first performed on 1 July 1548 in the Paedagogium ‘The Falcon’ in Louvain, and after the editio princeps (1549) in Louvain it was printed five more times. With this play the theatre history of the Jesuits begins. Almost all huge Jesuit colleges staged Euripus in their early days, and even Ignatius himself praised it. The following performances can be verified: Vienna 1555 and 1566, Ingolstadt 1559, Prague 1560 and 1569, Munich 1560, Innsbruck 1563, Trier 1565, and Dillingen 1566.66 The play presents the sorrowful fate of the young Euripus who is wavering in his character (like the Strait of Euripos67), loses himself in the world and forfeits his salvation. He lets himself be deflected from the straight and narrow path68 by the allegorical characters Venus and Cupid who are surreptitiously working for the Devil. He ignores the warnings of the 65 It is edited, with a contemporary translation of Cleophas Distelmayer, by Rädle: Lateinische Ordensdramen, pp. 1–293. On this, the study by Valentin, ‘Aux origines du théâtre néo-latin de la Réforme catholique’, is exemplary. 66 Cf. Valentin, ‘Aux origines’, pp. 132–134; Rädle, ‘Aus der Frühzeit des Jesuitentheaters’, pp. 409–47. 67 For the Greeks, the Euripos, which divides the island of Euboea from the mainland, was proverbial for inconsistency, because its tides change four times every 24 hours. However, Brechtus departs from the Greek, stressing the penultimate syllable: Eurípus. 68 This is the narrow path described in Matthew 7, 14, which leads to the narrow gate of salvation. On this motif of homo-in-bivio see Valentin, ‘Aux origines’, pp. 152–63:

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allegorical figures ‘Godliness’ (‘Timor Dei’) and ‘Time of Grace’ (‘Tempus Gratiae’), and finally he is hit by Death (‘Mors’) and his servant (‘Pestis’, here syphilis). In the fifth act he, a poor soul (‘Anima Euripi’), is carted off to hell by devils whilst being subjected to derision and scorn. As the extensive preface tells us, it is the aim of the author not to present any of the commonly invented histories (‘poetica figmenta’), but to show each spectator or reader his own sinful life under another name, ‘as in a mirror’. For this life will have an awful end if the spectator, like Euripus, is weak enough as human being to yield to the world and forgo salvation because of a false opinion on Christian doctrine. For the hero of the play serves as a deterrent, showing what will become of a man when, for his own solace, he elects to swallow Luther’s false doctrine of justification ‘only from faith’ (‘sola fide’).69 For instance, in a fatal instance of negligence (‘securitas’) Euripus puts off his penance, he sends ‘Godliness’— who patiently takes care of him—away,70 and ‘prostitutes’ the ‘time of grace’ (cf. l. 1572). Thus in the end he is lost, as is evident to everybody. Here the use of allegories turns out to be dramatically very effective: at the end of the fourth act Euripus dies, abandoned by Timor Dei and Tempus Gratiae, and surrounded by Mors and Pestis instead, as well as by his seducers Venus and Cupido, who reveal themselves as devils. In the longwinded fifth act the frightened Anima Euripi is cruelly tortured by devils and transported to hell by them. Fortunately, the gloomy and hopeless, narrow-minded Euripus was only a temporary subject of Jesuit theatre. It represents the first severe period of the anti-Reformatory polemic, characterized by an internally insecure ideology that is aiming at demarcation and self-assertion. Soon this destructive and defensive attitude was superseded. Biblical Drama—A Proposal for a Compromise: Acolastus From the start it was unthinkable that the Jesuits would manage without biblical drama in their Christian theatre which, towards the mid sixteenth century after the anti-papal ‘dramas of combat’ of the first phase, had developed into the dominant type of Protestant drama.71 In this regard a ‘De l’Hercules Prodicius à l’Hercules inversus’. The bivium is present on the scene as a place of playing; see Rädle, ‘Die Bühne des “Euripus”’. 69 On this see Valentin, ‘Aux origines’, pp. 169–83; Rädle, ‘Aus der Frühzeit’, pp. 409–16. 70 ‘Abi, molesto solve nos tandem metu’ (l. 803). 71 See Washof, Die Bibel auf der Bühne.



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prototype can be identified that opens the successful series of dramas with biblical subject matter. It is the play of the Prodigal Son after the parable of Luke 15, printed in Antwerp in 1529 and entitled Acolastus (Greek: ἀƙόλαστος, ‘the spoilt one’). In Europe it saw almost 50 editions in the sixteenth century alone.72 Its author was the Dutchman Willem de Volder, in Latin Guilielmus Gnapheus (1492–1568), who, as a headmaster in The Hague, had been persecuted by the Inquisition in the 1520s because of his sympathy for the Reformation. In mortal danger he emigrated with the first group of Dutch exiles to Elbing near Danzig in 1530, a year after his Acolastus was published. This play is an example of an irenic, conciliatory spirit which may be explained by tactical caution or even outright fear of the Inquisition. In the following decades Latin biblical drama that, like Acolastus, renounced polemics turned out to be an institution that, obliged to Christian humanism, undoubtedly served the commonwealth by its education to pietas and virtus and worked as a kind of tertium comparationis, reconciling the markedly different confessions. The reason for this was that one could relatively easily come to an agreement on some main lines that were acceptable to both sides. The choice of biblical subject matter implied the banishment from the stage of suggestive subjects that were known from the ancient comedies and which, in terms of their form, were nonetheless still held in high esteem. The theatre should on the one hand serve the ‘doctrina verae religionis’ and on the other hand promote humanistic education (‘liberalis eruditio’); in both cases it would profit the res publica. This can be read in the dedication of the Basle printer Johannes Oporinus, who in 1547 published two volumes of Dramata sacra with seventeen biblical dramas from both Protestant and Catholic authors. It not only deserves mention, but even admiration that in the middle of this quarrelsome age such a collection of dramas could be published, in which the authors agreed on the pious mediation of the biblical word, without expressing special confessional interests. For the biblical dramatists it was important to retell the histories of the Old and New Testament faithfully and in correct Latin. Apart from possible suggestions in the prologue or the epilogue, nobody could expect interferences within the action in the sense of a demonstrative confessionalpolitical statement. This was surely a relief for the authors, but in the long run this restriction was not good for the dramas themselves. 72 Gnapheus, Acolastus, ed. Bolte; Gnapheus, Acolastus, ed. Atkinson.

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At the end of his drama on the biblical Job (Jobus, Patientiae spectaculum) performed in Marburg in 1543, its author Johannes Lorichius from Hadamar (d. 1569) turns to the audience with this apology: Si defuisse quid putatis, temporum Angustiam in causa fuisse credite: Et non agi secus sivit necessitas. Nam qui student fictis ad tempus fabulis Placere, maiori id possunt cum gratia. Sed haec sacrae dum tracto scripta paginae, Inclusus arctioribus spacijs fui: Nil addere hic licuit mihi, nil demere. (If you missed something in this performance, believe me, it was due to lack of time. Strict convention did not allow me to act otherwise either. For the authors who try to please with subjects invented temporarily are able to do so because of the greater favour of the audience. But when I made this play from the Holy Writ, I was bound too tightly: here I was not allowed to add something or take anything away.)73

It was not only the ostensibly limited number of suitable stories that brought an end to the honest Latin biblical drama, but also the religious quarrels aggravating the situation over the course of time. Because of the Schmalkaldic War in 1546 and 1547, as Protestantism weakened, Calvinism gained ground, and the Catholic Church discovered a new selfconsciousness in the Council of Trent. Of course, the Jesuits who expended considerable energy on the subjective and objective stabilization of this self-consciousness were unable to give up the repository of biblical subject matter which could be readily dramatized. Yet they soon felt themselves not unconditionally bound to the irenic mode that was used as a pretext by Gnapheus and the authors of the dramata sacra just mentioned. In these matters they were, of course, not allowed to fall back into the blunt polemic of Euripus. But it appears that they increasingly often held the view that the biblical text was implicitly directed against their current confessional opponents. Thus in their biblical dramas the Jesuits preferred to interpret the word of the Holy Writ in their own sense and to employ it against the heresy of the Reformation. The authors could do so by evocatively directing the action, or by taking a direct and punctual position in the prologue or the epilogue. In contrast, one might seek in biblical drama a markedly denunciatory fabrication and embodiment of

73 Dramata sacra, II, p. 107.



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anti-Reformation characters, as they were commonly found in free drama, fortunately to no avail. Jacobus Pontanus, mentioned earlier, wrote a tragedy that was performed in Dillingen in 1587 on the Jewish lawyer Eleazar, Eleazarus Maccabaeus (from 2 Maccabees 6, 18–31),74 who is martyred by the godless tyrant Antiochus because he adheres resolutely to his inherited religion. The action of the play is completely in accordance with the biblical text, but it is amply evident that in his preface the author refers to the significant parallel with the topical politico-religious situation: Tragoedia, praeterquam quod rarum et admirabile Catholicae iuventuti exemplum ad imitandum proponit, quantisque animis pro avita religione, sanctissimisque caeremoniis propugnandum sit docet, etiam saeculi nostri Antiochos depingit. (This tragedy presents to the Catholic youth a rare and admirable example to imitate, and it teaches with how much courage one must fight for the old religion and the most holy ceremonies; moreover it shows the Antiochs of our age.)75

The first extant Acolastus play of the Jesuits performed in Fulda in 1576 shows how biblical dramatic subject matter is deprived of its original meaning because of confessional opposition, because its explanation is radically altered, withholding its actual intention.76 It comes as no surprise that the Fulda Jesuit, who is unknown to us, does not accept the offer of the biblical story (Luke 15, 11–32) to consider the conquering and justifying power of grace, i.e. the forgiving love of the father, and to praise it, for this would have implied acceptance of Luther’s doctrine of grace! To avoid this constraint he simply but meticulously avoids the theological level, and limits the ‘message’ of his play to its pedagogical-moral dimension. The history of the Prodigal Son becomes no more than a tritely advisory example for the message that generational gaps should be solved with sensibility, without the price of painful aberrations.77 The Epilogue, which gives a poor summary of this otherwise by no means despicable drama, turns the parable upside down when he says that in this story it is taught that sooner or later God will punish man’s sin, that the son who is

74 See Mahlmann-Bauer, ‘Jacob Pontanus in Augsburg’. 75 Jacobus Pontanus S.I., Poeticarum Institutionum libri tres. Ed. tertia. Eiusdem Tyrocinium (Ingolstadii 1600), p. 509. 76 See Rädle, ‘Acolastus—Der Verlorene Sohn’, pp. 29–34. 77 The allegorical figure of Prudentia plays a central role.

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returning home teaches us to repent sincerely and do penance78 when we are guilty. Instead of the freely bestowed grace that may develop its comforting and humane activity in the Acolastus of Gnapheus, here the penance (‘poenitudo’) appears, as is required in Catholic theology, as a ‘merit’ (‘meritum’) that is complementary to grace. With this reappraisal in secret the envious brother that stayed at home becomes the exemplary hero of the drama, whereas in his Acolastus Gnapheus had not granted him an entrance at all! It was a general wish of the Jesuits to give the audience a touch of guilt, or theologically speaking, of sin, and to strengthen in them consciousness of moral responsibility. The fact that to this end the Fulda author took, of all stories, the parable of the Prodigal Son was a mistake. Jesuit Drama and the Ancient World Borinski stressed the importance of the Jesuits in safeguarding the ancient tradition for purposes of education and breeding.79 This tight relationship to the (pagan!) ancient world can best be demonstrated in the educational system of the Societas Jesu, which is based on the study of classical Latin (and Greek) literature.80 However important it was for the Jesuits to be appreciated in the world of learning through their Latin culture, this ‘insigne ornamentum, quo Deus Societatem cohonestare dignatus est’ (‘conspicuous ornament through which God deigned to honour the Society’)81 is betrayed by the regulations De studiis humanitatis of the Ratio studiorum of 1586, in which the physically and psychologically demanding profession of teacher is fundamentally appreciated.82 It may come as a surprise that no Christian authors appear in the linguistic training at the gymnasia. Around 1540, Ignatius himself decreed in his explanations to the Constitutiones of the Order that, even when they were good or useful, Christian works should not be read in case the author wrote bad Latin to prevent some pupils being stylistically affected by this author: 78 The word that was often used here, poenitere, which strikingly does not appear in Gnapheus’s play at all, covers both repentance and penance and undoubtedly implies the sacrament of penance that the Jesuits revalued. 79 Borinski, Die Antike in Poetik und Kunsttheorie, 2, p. 33: ‘Die Antike als Unterrichtsund Weltbildungsmittel hat […] in den Jesuiten als Korporation eine in vieler Hinsicht bevorzugte Leibgarde erhalten’. 80 On the role of the ancient languages and the pagan classics on the Jesuit gymnasia, see Duhr, Die Studienordnung der Gesellschaft Jesu, pp. 83–97 and passim. 81 Cf. Lukács, Ratio atque Institutio studiorum Societatis Iesu, p. 111. 82 Ibidem, pp. 111–13; cf. Rädle, ‘Schulstress in der Frühen Neuzeit’.



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‘christianorum opera, quamvis bona essent, si tamen malus fuerit auctor, legenda non sunt, ne ad auctorem aliqui afficiantur.’83 Initially the Jesuit pupils did not regularly come into contact with the dramatic genre. Ancient dramatists were not on the official curriculum of the gymnasium. But the lessons of both higher classes (Poesis or Humanitas and Rhetorica) incorporated an additional activity that can be seen as a preliminary step towards the theatre: the declamationes that were delivered at fixed intervals in the classroom or in public in the auditorium or in the church, and so-called privatae scenae. These were small dramas that schoolboys had to write on a set theme as homework. The best of these dramatic endeavours had the prospect of being performed in the classroom with roles being distributed among the pupils, but without a stage setting.84 As can be seen here, the lessons in rhetoric led directly to drama. Of course Seneca and both comedy writers, Plautus and Terence, were also present in the Jesuit school. It was self-evident that the magistri, who wrote dramas themselves, were acquainted with them. In the chapter on imitation (De imitatione, et quaenam quoque pacto imitanda) Jacobus Pontanus writes in his poetics: Qui comoediam facturus est, ad exemplum Plauti properabit: ut ille ad exemplum Epicharmi. Quidam malunt Terentium. […] In tragoedia quem imitemur, exemplo suo docebit Seneca. (Whoever is determined to write a comedy, shall unhesitatingly take Plautus as his model, as Plautus did with Epicharmus. Some prefer Terence. […] Whom we should imitate in writing tragedy, Seneca will show us with his own example.)85

According to the Index librorum in collegiis S.J. Germanicis adhibitorum86 from 1595, Seneca’s Hercules furens and Hercules Oetaeus were read in the Humanitas class, and in the Catalogus quinquennalis for the Upper German Province Seneca’s tragoediae were planned for the rhetoric class, as well as in the Catalogus perpetuus of the Rhenish Province for the years

83 Ratio studiorum et Institutiones scholasticae Societatis Jesu per Germaniam olim vigentes, ed. Pachtler, vol. I, p. 27. Rädle, ‘Die spätantike Dichtung im Humanismus’, p. 220, misunderstood this passage. 84 Lukács, Ratio atque Institutio studiorum, 1599, pp. 135 and 428. In manuscript 4o C 13 (fol. 3r–179r) of the Landesbibliothek Fulda, many such short dramas by Fulda schoolboys mentioned by name from 1583 and 1584 are extant. 85 Pontanus, Poeticae institutiones, pp. 29–30. 86 Ratio studiorum, ed. Pachtler, vol. 1, p. 318.

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1629–1634.87 During the dog days (23 July to 23 August) when, for reasons of health, lessons were generally less rigid, the Captivi and Trinummus of Plautus were included in addition to Seneca tragicus.88 However, if at all possible the schoolboys should have nothing to do with Terence, since the Jesuits regarded this author—who was highly valued by Erasmus and all humanists, as well as by Luther and Melanchthon—as not readily expurgatable.89 In a letter dated October 1616 to his fellow member of the Order Matthäus Rader (1561–1634), Jakob Bidermann (1578–1639) writes, on the occasion of a planned expurgated edition of Plautus: ‘Mallem ego tamen ita emendari Terentium posse, ut purus vulgari et legi posset’ (‘I would prefer that Terence be improved, so that he might be published and read in an expurgated form’).90 This reservation about the omnipresence of the erotic in Terence, founded on Christian morals, remains stereotypical for the Jesuits: in the introduction to Liber I Poesis dramaticae seu tragicocomicae of his Palaestra eloquentiae ligatae Jakob Masen translated the Aristotelian doctrine of catharsis simply as ‘purgation of morally bad emotions’ (‘pravorum affectuum purgationem’). With this he is aiming at the ancient writers of comedy, whose efforts towards the utile (from Horace’s formula ‘Omne tulit punctum, qui miscuit utile dulci’, Ars poetica 343) he disputes: Quid enim hi aliud ferè praeter adulteria, incestus, stupra? Unum tantae etiamnum famae expende Terentium, quid hic sine Lenonibus ac Meretriculis in scena egit? […] Videant igitur atque erubescant Christiani Poetae, illorum hoc etiam aevo vanitatem, qui ex horum nobis authorum exemplaribus Comoediae Tragoediaeque leges ita condunt, ut aliquando deflectere nefas existiment […]. (For what have these comedy poets brought on the stage other than adultery, sexual abuse or fornication? Only take one look at Terence who is so highly esteemed nowadays: what did he bring to the stage in which no pimps and prostitutes played a part? […] Therefore, their moral uselessness should be seen with a feeling of shame by the Christian authors of our age too, who derive the rules of comedy and tragedy from those authors in such a way, that they deem it a crime to deviate from them at times.)91

87 Ratio studiorum, ed. Pachtler, 4, p. 6 and pp. 25–29. 88 Ibid. p. 3, and Duhr, Geschichte der Jesuiten, 1, p. 252, n. 5. According to the Acta Universitatis Dilinganae, in the dog days of 1610 the teacher of the Humanitas class treated the Captivi and Martial: ‘Humanista docuit Plauti Captivos et Martialem’ (p. 207). 89 A century later the P. Terentii Comoediae expurgatae (Rothomagi 1686) by Joseph de Jouvancy SJ were published. 90 Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Clm 1611, no. 139. 91 Jacobus Masen, Palaestra, ed. nova, Cologne 1683, p. 23.



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In a separate chapter, De libris, the Ratio studiorum of 1586 gives a fundamental instruction for the purgation of offensive books. After all, though it does not go so far as to permit the reading in school of complete comedies by Plautus and Terence, it does at least allow the study of single sentences or isolated, morally unquestionable scenes with headings like ‘dialogue between Simon and Sosia or Chremes and Menedemus’: ‘[…] tum aliquas Terentii vel Plauti non comaedias, sed sententias, vel scaenam aliquam honestiorem cum hac inscriptione: Collocutio Simonis et Sosiae vel Chremetis et Menedemi etc.’92 Jacobus Pontanus adopted and commented on such scenes from Plautus, whom he preferred to Terence, in his Progymnasmata Latinitatis. Possibly because he was impressed by this regulation, in 1590 Jakob Gretser wrote a markedly poetological drama in which, among other problems, that of the poetae obscoeni was treated.93 In the Acta of the University of Dillingen for the year 1620 a performance of the dream of St Jerome (after Epist. XXII, 30) is recorded, in which the pagan poets that were especially notorious for their obscenity came to the scene from hell: ‘In festo Sancti Galli datus Sanctus Hieronymus iuvenis ab angelo percussus, quod neglectis sacris libris totus immersus esset Ciceroni. Damnati poetae Ovidius, Catullus, Propertius et Martialis prodiêre ab inferis.’94 Fortunately, such markedly negative assessments that had a long Christian tradition did not counterbalance the Jesuits’ fundamental esteem for classical literature. Thus it is hardly surprising that, in spite of the official reservations, the ancient comedies were frequently performed on the early modern Jesuit stage. Apparently they wished to offer pupils the experience of learning colloquial Latin from Antiquity seasoned with humour. For the everyday language of the school was also Latin. In Dillingen, where the famous humanist Pontanus taught, there were many, undoubtedly expurgated performances of Plautus: Captivi in 1574 and 1588 (and another time in 1616, sine apparatu), Mostellaria in 1578, Menaechmi in 1583, Aulularia in 1585 and Curculio in 1593. The Captivi, of which a reworked text has also been preserved,95 was useful to this end, since it was noted with admiration that it was

92 Lukács, Ratio atque Institutio studiorum Societatis Iesu, p. 140. 93 De Humanitatis regno comoedia altera. In qua de criticis, poetis obscoenis: et aliis ad litteras spectantibus agitur, ed. by Dürrwächter, Jakob Gretser und seine Dramen, pp. 147– 206 (cf. esp. the dispute of the Patronus lascivorum poetarum with the party of Humanitas, pp. 202–06). 94 Acta Universitatis Dilinganae (Dillingen, Studienbibliothek XV 226, 1), p. 284. 95 Dillingen, Studienbibliothek XV 221, fol 1r–31v.

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preferred by Plautus himself above all his other comedies because of its unusual chastity.96 After all, of the comedies of Terence only the Adelphoe (Adelphi) found favour in the eyes of the Jesuits; in a reworked version it was played in Vienna in 1556 and 1566, and likewise a play of Terence with an unknown title was staged in Innsbruck in 1564, with a further performance of Adelphoe in Dillingen in 1589. Its theme, the educational problems that severe Demea had with both of his sons, recommended this play to the pedagogically interested and relatively progressive Jesuits.97 The tragic poet Seneca was, according to Valentin’s Répertoire (nos. 100 and 101), staged only once: in 1573 Thyestes was staged in Olmütz. It is possible, however, that the Hercules that was recorded there for February of the same year was Seneca’s Hercules Oetaeus. In contrast with Plautus and Terence, Seneca was read rather than performed. From Pontanus to Masen, he is praised as the master of tragedy.98 In the Upper German Province in 1582 a revision course for future teachers existed first in Augsburg. It was probably established by Pontanus for the chosen prospective magistri who, after the study of philosophy, were trained in particular for their work at the gymnasium. This encompassed the writing of dramas. Johannes Bisselius S.J. (1601–1682), who brought a Thomas Morus on stage in 1631, conducted such a course in Regensburg in 1631 and 1632. At an old age he wrote a report on which Bernhard Duhr writes inter alia: ‘Bisselius taught those who were especially suitable for drama privatim. In particular he tried to fill them with enthusiasm for tragedy; he presented Seneca’s Medea as an example. Moreover, Bisselius made his own instruction. He also taught in theatre practice, the rehearsal of the players, costumes, insertion of interludes, choruses and dances.’99 This is a valuable report on the one-year training of the future teachers who were actually expected to write new school dramas in the foreseeable future. What the Jesuits could learn from Seneca for their own dramas was the lofty speech of tragedy with its pathos and wealth of aphorisms (‘sententiae’), and technical matters like the choruses at the end of the acts. Christianity had a long, fruitful affinity with Stoic philosophy and its

96 ‘Ipse Plautus unam, quam scripsit pudice, comoediam, caeteris omnibus praefert’ (De Humanitatis regno II, p. 204). 97 Valentin, Répertoire, nos. 2, 31, 55a and 280. 98 Cf. Valentin, ‘Hercules moriens: Christus patiens’, pp. 280–86. 99 Duhr, Geschichte der Jesuiten, 2, p. 554.



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popular doctrine of controlling emotions. A further fundamental philosophical connection is important: the point for the Jesuit dramatists was,  on the whole, to show individuals in conflict, i.e. in situations of temptation or faced with decisions. Furthermore, the outward action on the stage finally found its justification and interpretation in the individual  reflecting and deciding, who had to express himself in language. This rhetorical-theatrical explanation of conflicts (often in monologues) could not be learnt better from anyone other than Seneca. The fact that there is no room in his dramas for divine rule and that fortune is countered by the power of free man does not make him unsuitable for Christian drama, at least not for Jesuit theatre. For in their struggle with Luther’s doctrine of the powerlessness of works (opera) the Jesuits never got tired of pointing at the positive possibilities of man to act in a manner that is morally good. Against the heresy of the bound will (servum arbitrium) they praise man’s ability to freely decide and take responsbility as his highest distinction. From Plautus and Terence Jesuit drama learnt everyday conversation, fluent formulas that characterized stereotypical situations, humorous comebacks in dialogue, witty plays on words, proverbs and, not least, words of abuse. It took over the classical dramatic verses of comedy, predominantly the iambic senarius, and with it, mostly at the end of the verse, its archaic forms (e.g. siet instead of sit, the paragogic infinitive and futurum exactum instead of the futurum simplex). Their comedies abound with the influence of classical comedy on the many comical scenes with which the Jesuits brightened up their plays to prevent the spectators from being depressed by the weight of their subjects. The servants, cooks and parasites who feature, and often their names as well, are taken straight from ancient comedy. The model function of classical drama for the theatre practice of the Jesuits was recognizably more important and effective than the rules of poetics, which always remained theoretical and were also misunderstood. An instruction that was issued for the Rhenish Province in 1622 and which regulates the special education of teachers for the litterae humaniores reads:100 Tum consultum quoque erit drama aliquod subinde concinnare, in quo vel Terentius vel Plautus vel Seneca, siquidem argumenti gravitas postulet, per imitationem exprimantur. 100 In outline it resembles the revision course that Pontanus had established in Augsburg in 1582.

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Although Jesuit drama in its form was strongly oriented towards the ancient models, in metrics it regularly went its own ways. Since the Christus Iudex—first performed in Messina in 1569 and written by Stefano Tucci,102 who complained in his prologue that the iamb had lost its dignity and charm in modern times, citing this as his reason for electing to use the dactylic hexameter—plays written completely, or at least partially, in hexameters had been common, at least in Fulda. We also discern dactylic distichs and many ancient lyrical metres103 alongside accent-rhythmic cantica. Very conspicuous is a transitionary phase of prose drama which manifests itself in the last plays by Jacob Bidermann (Jacobus Usurarius, after 1616?, Joannes Calybita, 1618, and Josaphatus, 1619). This is a few years before the experiment of the Hermenigildus, written in prose, that Nicolas Caussin published among his five Tragoediae sacrae (Paris 1620). The four plays by Georg Bernardt from the years 1621 to 1626 retain only a barely recognizable iambic rhythm.104 The long neglected problem of metrics in Jesuit drama would merit its own study.105 Differing from the ancient dramas, the fresh tradition of Jesuit drama retains a great deal of very detailed stage directions that also directed the emotions of the performers.106 Just as in the case of the comedies of Joseph Grünpeck,107 these directions stem from the practice of the performances. The Activity of Playing: Authors as Producers, Terms, Stages108 Usually the teachers of the Humanitas or of the Rhetorica, both upper classes of the gymnasium, assumed the task of writing plays fitting for 101 Ratio studiorum, ed. Pachtler, vol. 4, p. 205. 102 The play was printed in Rome not earlier than 1673, but it was widely spread in manuscript. 103 Cf. the chapter ‘Metrik’ in Maier’s edition of the Augustinus dramas by Turrianus, pp. 224–30. 104 On this see Rädle, Georg Bernardt SJ, Dramen III: Jovianus 1623 / 1642, pp. 212–14. 105 It is presented competently by the editors of the Triumphus Divi Michaelis (cf. n. 34), pp. 96–106. 106 Cf. for instance the Actus Divae Catharinae, Trier 1580, Rädle, Das Jesuitentheater— ein Medium der frühen Neuzeit, pp. 23–26. 107 Cf. Dietl, Die Dramen Jacob Lochers, pp. 181f. 108 The most thoroughgoing survey of all organizational and technical aspects can be found in Pohle, Glaube und Beredsamkeit, in chapter 3: ‘Die Organisation des Schultheaters der Jesuitengymnasien’.



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defined occasions of the year, and produced them themselves. There is ample evidence that this task was considered a great effort and logistical achievement.109 Many letters give us a lively impression of the stress of the authors who had to finish their texts and were occasionally running out of time, and who inquired about tried and tested plays of friendly fathers from other colleges. Matthäus Rader was a privileged receiver of such requests.110 The correspondence of Georg Stengel (1584–1651) with his brother Karl, a Benedictine abbot, documents for a period of many years the work of a man of the theatre who was overworked due to the sheer popularity of his work.111 The vast majority of dramas stem from Jesuits who were between their philosophical and theological studies, when they were between twentythree and twenty-eight years old, and in special instances whilst they worked as scholastici at a gymnasium for some years prior to their later pastoral or other professional activities.112 Furthermore, there were the proven magistri perpetui (such as Pontanus), who taught their entire life. The authors of dramas were, as already mentioned, not explicitly revealed in relation to the performances. Whereas in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries it became usual for profane authors to acknowledge proudly their literary works, the anonymity that the Order commanded was a test of humility for Jesuit authors. Recurring theatrical occasions were Carnival (‘in Bacchanalibus’) and the beginning of a new school year in October (‘in renovatione studiorum’; this regulation applied until 1642) or the end of a school year in September (from 1643 onwards). Over time more occasions for performances were added, above all Ecclesiastical festivals, especially for the Virgin Mary, which the sodalitates that were dedicated to the service of Mary liked to celebrate with performances. In addition, the visits of rulers or high clerics

109 Cf. for instance Lukács, Ratio atque Institutio studiorum Societatis Iesu, Ratio studiorum, 1591, I, pp. 241 and 248. 110 Cf. Rader’s correspondence, Bayerische Gelehrtenkorrespondenz: P. Matthäus Rader SJ, Band I: 1595–1612, adapted by Helmut Zäh and Silvia Strodel, intr. and ed. by Alois Schmid, nos. 10, 44, 52, 65, 211, 212 and 215. A codex containing dramas by Rader that had been performed in Augsburg was in Dillingen in the spring of 1604, and in 1608 Wolfgang Schönsleder requested that it be brought to Regensburg too (cf. ibid. no. 139, n. 4). 111 Cf. Rädle, ‘Georg Stengel (1585 [recte 1584]–1651) als Dramatiker’. 112 In the time before 1600 a tendency can even be discerned to recruit teachers (scholastici) even before the study of philosophy. This tendency stemmed from fear that the notoriously corrupted Latin of philosophical texts could detract from the requisite classical Latinity of the education of the gymnasium. Cf. Rädle, ‘Humanistenlatein und das übrige Leben’, pp. 269–72.

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were, if possible, celebrated with a spectacle. However, the problem of performances disrupting teaching was soon recognized by the Order and discussed.113 Because of the lighting problems the performances usually took place in the early afternoon (‘a prandio’), and they often lasted for hours,114 on occasion even several days (e.g. the Comoedia de Sanctis Patribus Ignatio et Xaverio, Ingolstadt 1622). Whether the plays were staged in the open, in the auditorium or in the church depended on the occasion of the performance and on the character of the play, on the local possibilities (many colleges did not yet have a sufficiently large room) and not least on the time of the year and the weather.115 It is not true that the transition from the open-air stage to the theatre hall in the last two decades of the sixteenth century occurred because of a conscious aversion on the part of the ‘feudal elite’ towards the masses, as has been alleged.116 Although fundamentally each college was tasked with presenting its own plays, and aspired to do so if possible, it was nevertheless common for there to be an exchange of individual dramas, all the more so if these had been played somewhere with success. In particular between the Colleges of Munich, Ingolstadt, Augsburg and Dillingen a lively exchange of staff took place, enabling the propagation of great theatrical events. However, drama titles that are documented for several places do not constitute proof of the same play being intended on each occasion. As the extant texts or periochae show, of the innumerable performances of Theophilus no two texts are alike; a similar phenomenon applies to the many plays about the history of Joseph of Egypt. Pupils or students were the actors. Furthermore, female roles—without which theatre could not manage, despite restrictive directives from Rome—were played by male actors. In this respect the representation of allegories predominantly centred on female allegorical figures—such as Gratia, Conscientia, though also Superbia and Hypocrisis—was unproblematic. On the other hand the early plays seem to have followed a tendency towards comical depravation, especially in their vernacular intermedia. This depravation included

113 Cf. Duhr, Geschichte der Jesuiten, 1, pp. 353–56. 114 The Triumphus Michaelis Archangeli, Munich 1597, lasted for ten hours. 115 The entirely contingent change of setting is easily traced in the example of the Dillingen programme, cf. Rädle, ‘Das Jesuitentheater in Dillingen’, pp. 510–12. 116 Thus Müller, Das Jesuitendrama, pp. 13 and 42; and, depending on him, Kindermann, Theatergeschichte Europas, 2, pp. 342–46; as well as Szyrocki, Die deutsche Literatur des Barock, p. 191.



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the use of vulgar female roles,117 a development that threatened to make Jesuit drama close to the Shrovetide play and as such was definitively ended by the General of the Society in Rome by no later than 1599. Then the Ratio studiorum contains this regulation: Tragoediarum et comoediarum, quas non nisi latinas ac rarissimas esse oportet, argumentum sacrum sit ac pium; neque quicquam actibus interponatur, quod non latinum sit et decorum, nec persona ulla muliebris vel habitus introducatur. (The content of tragedies and comedies that may only be staged in Latin and extremely seldom, shall be sacred and pious [i.e. Christian]. And nothing shall be inserted between the acts that is not Latin and decent. Nor shall any female character or costume be introduced.)118

The Function of Jesuit Theatre The early version of the Ratio studiorum from 1586, which was somewhat more favourable to the humanistic way of thinking and in particular to the theatre, says under the heading Incitamenta Studiorum: Adolescentes tandem eorumque parentes mirifice exhilarantur atque accenduntur, nostrae etiam devinciuntur Societati, cum nostra opera possunt in theatro pueri aliquod sui studii, actionis, memoriae specimen exhibere. Agendae itaque videntur comaediae ac tragediae […]. (The growing pupils and their parents are cheered up in a marvellous way and stimulated, and brought to sympathize with our Company, when the boys by our agency are able to show something of their study and the art of declamation and memory on the stage. Therefore, it seems appropriate to stage comedies and tragedies.)119

It becomes clear from many similar statements that the performance of drama should not only stimulate the pupils’ zeal for learning and their abilities in acting in public, but also aim to build up a special relationship of trust between the school and the parents, and even promote the school 117 As an example for this may serve the scolding and flogging Faustina in Pontanus’s Stratocles, cf. Rädle, Lateinische Ordensdramen, pp. 350–365, and Jacobus Pontanus, Soldier or Scholar: Stratocles or War, ed. McCreight and Blum, pp. 96–100 and 120–29. 118 Lukács, Ratio atque Institutio studiorum Societatis Iesu, p. 371. For instance, for the allegories of Ecclesia or Religio head and breast should not be significantly femininely marked. Cf. Bolte, Andrea Guarnas Bellum grammaticale und seine Nachahmungen, p. *47, n. 3. 119 Lukács, Ratio atque Institutio studiorum Societatis Iesu, p. 205.

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and show its efficiency. The spectators should be driven to grant their own children a similarly successful (and free!) training at the Jesuit school. This even included the children of dissident fellow citizens. In mixedconfessional cities, such as Augsburg or Fulda,120 the reaction of the Lutherans was taken into account and their compliments for successful performances were proudly recorded. According to the Historia Collegii an enormous crowd gathered at Augsburg to see Joseph Aegyptius in 1583; no age, no class, no sex and no confession was excluded.121 Even the professors of the evangelical Latin school—partly invited, partly uninvited— came to the performance, though the evangelic preachers had forbidden it.122 According to the same source the adversarii of the Jesuits in Augsburg admitted that they had very much liked the Ignatius conversus that was  given there in 1622, the year of the canonization of the founder of the Order.123 In the Fulda College on 22 December 1602 a hexametric drama by  Gottfried Lemius on the foundation of the Fulda monastery, Archaeofuldalogus, was performed.124 The ensuing ovation was such that many highly placed persons from the audience, even Protestants, asked to have a copy of it.125 Active exhibition and testing of the Latin language, as well as promotion for the school, the Order and Catholicism in general were, of course, only temporary aims of Jesuit theatre. More important was and continued to be the moral and religious instruction that should lead both to the reinforcement and psychological comfort of individuals and to a solidarity of Catholic feeling in the community; it thus had an important political dimension. A 1619 draft for gymnasium pedagogics in the Rhenish Province spells out detailed directives to the authors of the plays: Accommodentur actiones omnes ad finem, quem Societas intendit, ad motum animorum in detestationem malorum morum, pravarum consuetudinum, fugam occasionum peccandi, ad studium maius virtutum, ad imitationem Sanctorum […]. 120 Cf. Rädle, ‘Eine Comoedia Elisabeth (1575) im Jesuitenkolleg zu Fulda’, pp. 82–89. 121 Historia Collegii Augustani (Bibliothèque Cantonale et Universitaire Fribourg/ Suisse, Hs., Sign. 95), p. 240: ‘Hominum copia maxima confluxit, nulla aetas, ordo, sexus, religio exclusa.’ 122 Ibidem: ‘Doctores ipsi Lutheranae scholae partim invitati, partim invocati venerunt, […] quamvis Evangelii praecones interdixerint.’ 123 Ibidem, vol. 2, p. 10. 124 Valentin, Répertoire, no. 477. 125 ‘Placuit argumentum principi, praepositis, nobilitati ita, ut plurimi nobiles etiam haeretici eius copiam describendi sibi fieri poscerent.’ Cf. Kollatz, ‘Eine Darstellung der Gründungsgeschichte Fuldas’, p. 264, n. 26.



jesuit theatre in germany, austria and switzerland219 All dramatic performances should aim at the general goal of the Company of Jesus: to lead people to abhor bad moral and evil habits, to flee occasions of sin, to strive for virtue, and to imitate the Saints […].126

In many dramas, beyond the fundamental finality of Jesuit theatre, the direct aim of the performance was additionally mentioned. As a rule this happens in the prologue or the epilogue. In some cases such remarks occur in historical sources. Thus we read in the Diarium of the Munich College about the performance of Cyriacus in 1596: ‘Referebatur tota actio ad extorquendos libros suspectos adolescentibus. Quod est factum, nam ultra LX libros attulerunt postea comburendos’ (‘The whole drama aimed at wrenching out the dubious pupils’ books. This goal was achieved, for afterwards they brought more than sixty books to be burned’).127 Each planned performance had to be checked by the prefect of studies and by the rector of the College, ‘so that nothing silly, uncouth, unserious or indecent from our workshop is made public. Finally in these matters we should always look at the utility and appropriateness for the audience.’128 Such reactions are not accidental. They are the reactions to critical, though natural developments of Jesuit theatre practice. Apparently, the temptation was great to season the obligatory and rather cumbersome religious message with entertaining ingredients and thus to make it attractive to the common man. In the Regulation for the Rhenish Province from 1619 previously quoted, the problem of meeting the audience’s taste at the expense of the substance of a play is given particular mention. If, for instance, the life of saints is staged, as is the case in about one third of all Jesuit dramas, it ‘should not be allowed that the exemplary noble and saintly deeds of the hero are represented only meagrely and in passing, while ridiculous histories that do not pertain to the subject itself and some childish superficialities are staged instead.’129

126 Ratio studiorum, ed. Pachtler, vol. 4, p. 186. The quotation is based on the 13th rule for the rector from the Ratio studiorum of 1591. 127 Clm 1550, fol. 5v. 128 Ordinationes de scholis, approved 1586 (Ratio studiorum, ed. Pachtler, vol. 4, p. 278): ‘Quotienscunque autem actiones hujusmodi exhibebuntur, diligenter ante et a Praefecto studiorum et a Rectore ipso expendantur, ne quid insulsum vel impolitum vel parum grave seu indecorum ex nostra officina in publicum prodeat. Memores denique semper simus in hisce utilitatis publicae et decori’. 129 Ratio studiorum, ed. Pachtler, vol. 4, p. 186 : ‘[…] non permittatur, ut de iis, quae bene et sancte gesserunt, quaeque ad exemplum esse possunt, ieiune et obiter tantum agatur; prolixius autem de figmentis ridiculis ad rem non pertinentibus, et de quibusdam levitatibus puerilibus.’

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Furthermore, we may discern in the next prohibition of the Regulation the reality of Jesuit theatre in its most vital phase, as testified to by many dramas: Caveatur item, ne, quod justam reprehensionem habet, in omni actione producantur Daemones, Mendici, Potatores, blasphemi, pueri leviculi; choreae mortuales, explosiones fistularum, tractatio armorum bellicorum et his similia non permittantur, nisi quando argumentum necessario exiget, actioque in publico et sub dio coram viris Principibus exhibenda erit. (What leads to justified criticism should be avoided, such as devils, beggars, drunkards, blasphemers and frivolous servants. Dances of death, gunshots, the use of arms and the like should not be allowed unless on occasion the contents of the play require it, and the performance must be given in public, in the open air and before noble visitors.)130

The Problem of the Latin Language: The periochae The degeneration just depicted of the originally refined humanistic drama is directly related to the unsolvable problem of the Jesuits retaining the Latin language without regard to the changed circumstances, and above all without regard to the many spectators who did not know Latin. In an early stage they had already abandoned the narrow areas of the schools themselves and had gone to the residences, or finally even to the free places for the culturally hungry and naively curious masses with their plays. This was stimulated by the baroque need for celebrations of the Prince-Bishops and of secular nobility. But even when there were many spectators outside the schools who had some practice in understanding spoken Latin (former graduates and clergymen, for instance), the greater part of the audience of hundreds, sometimes thousands of people, had no mastery of the Latin language, being able neither to speak nor understand it. These spectators had to manage without understanding the words and had to rely on optical and acoustic signals of the action. Therefore, in the first phase of their theatre the Jesuits decided to compensate these spectators in the pauses between the acts by interludes in German. These interludes are very simple, coarsely realistic dialogue scenes in doggerel provoking laughter at the expense of simple farmers. These intermedia usually had nothing to do with the Latin play that they interrupted only to entertain the uninaugurated spectators. Ultimately these scenes were forbidden in the regulation of the Ratio studiorum of 1599 as quoted above. 130 Ibidem, p. 186.



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Fig. 3a. Title page of the Perioche for the performance of Thomas Becket by Georg Bernardt, Konstanz 1626, on the occasion of the investiture of the new Bishop Sixtus Werner. Repr. from Szarota, Das Jesuitendrama, III, 2, Nr. III, VII,1, p. 1375.

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Fig. 3b. Thomas Becket, last page of the Perioche (cf. Fig. 3a) with Scenes IV, V and VII, in which the king expiates the murder in the Cathedral.



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This also holds for the summaries that were customary in the first decades and which were recited by a player during the performance for the orientation of the public. The only aid for the spectator without knowledge of Latin that survived, was the printed periocha, a kind of programme in which the action is explained in German (or often in German and Latin) and the roles were indicated with the names of the players. They were distributed beforehand, for instance, in connection with the invitation to the performance, nailed to the church tower, or sold. Thus they could be read or retold for illiterate members of the audience before the performance. Such periochae were printed for the first time for the Munich Divi Michaelis Archangeli Triumphus, for which great interest on the part of the spectators was expected (Figs. 3a and 3b).131 Types of Drama The numerous programmatic statements on the function of theatre in the educational and missionary concepts of the Societas Jesu and the corrective authoritative interventions that were made over time, correcting problematic developments such as the ever-threatening comical depravation, provided a solid framework for their work in the theatre. Nevertheless, there is (fortunately) a surprising degree of variety in terms of the extant fruits of this cultural activity, the dramas. This is, on the one hand, due to constant changes in political circumstances and, as a result, to the fundamentally unstable state of the Catholic Church in this period, wavering between depression and triumph. Naturally these circumstances are mirrored in the texts and in their sentiment. They define whether a play is polemic, or cheerful. On the other hand, Jesuit theatre is also—more than could be expected of such a universally coordinated Order—determined by regional and local conditions. It makes quite a difference whether a college has the backing of a powerful ruler or not, if there is a university next to the college, or whether a college feels itself more inclined towards a duty of education or of pastoral care. Here the needs of the public come into view; these may be extremely varied, both sociologically and intellectually. The dramatists always had to decide whether and to what extent

131 On the term and the history of the periocha, see Pohle, Glaube und Beredsamkeit, pp. 47–53. On the use of Latin on stage, see Rädle, ‘Lateinisches Theater fürs Volk’.

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Fig. 4. Religio Principum, Tutela Regnorum (‘The piety of the princes is the protection for their realms’): Copper engraving by Raphael Sadeler from Matthaeus Rader S.J. Bavaria Sancta, 1, Munich 1615, Plate 9. Repr. from Die Jesuiten in Bayern, Nr. 174, p. 193.The figure illustrates the blessing of Bavaria (see the map in the centre) by the Christ child, Mary as patroness of Bavaria gives this blessing in the presence of the holy Archangel Michael, represented as a war hero.



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in a performance they should take into consideration the court, the educa­ tional community of the school or the university, or else the simple masses. In the next sections we will examine the great variety of texts performed according to types of drama and to substantiate this structure with representative examples and illustrative quotations. Festival Plays Dramas of this type, which distinguish themselves by displays of splendour, are inconceivable without close cooperation with princely protectors. They considerably exceed the financial resources of the colleges, and because of the strong emphasis on festive representation it is only at a later stage that they correspond to the primary interests of the Jesuit theatre, i.e. the advancement of religion and education. In a literary sense they seem to be able to develop freely; in reality they serve as homage to the ruler, who may be a bishop, or even the Emperor. This homage may be expressed directly in speech, but at its best it remains elegantly hidden and makes use of symbols and allegories that must be decoded (Fig. 4). In the first decades Munich was a centre of such encomiastic festive plays;132 later Vienna followed. The close connection of the Munich Societas Jesu with the ducal House of Wittelsbach became manifest in a particular way as early as 1568 when, on the occasion of the wedding of William V of Bavaria133 with Renate of Lorraine, the Jesuits staged a play that had not been written by one of them: the Samson of Andreas Fabricius Leodius (1520–1581).134 Soon after, in 1575, the Constantinus Magnus appeared on stage; the text is preserved in manuscript form.135 There is some debate about the author, this time a Jesuit. The play, in two parts, required two days for performance. The first part treats the military and political triumph of the fully Christian ruler Constantinus over the pagan Maxentius; the second part shows the sometimes dangerous inner path of Constantine to true Christianity. This journey culminates in the acknowledgement of papal primacy and in the Donatio Constantini, which had long since been exposed as a forgery. The Duke of Bavaria, in a region that maintained a perfect relationship with Rome, could have and would have 132 Cf. Valentin, Le théâtre, 1, pp. 429–64: ‘Les fêtes Munichoises’. 133 During his life he was a special friend of the Jesuits and bequeathed this sympathy to his successor Maximilian I of Bavaria. 134 Andreae Fabricii Leodii Samson. Tragoedia nova, ex sacra Iudicum historia sumpta (Coloniae apud Maternum Cholinum, Anno 1569). 135 Valentin, Répertoire, no. 118.

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felt honoured by this play as a Christian ruler in the legitimate succession of Constantine. Perhaps less direct, but still unambiguous, was the tribute to the Bavarian ducal house that was expressed in the showy Triumphus Divi Michaelis Archangeli Bavarici of 1597.136 The author of this play is also unknown. It was performed on the occasion of the consecration of the Munich church of St Michael on 11 July 1597. The performance lasted eight hours and was played by over 900 actors. Within the action the earthly history of the ecclesia militans is set in the eternal struggle between the archangel Michael and the ‘Great Dragon’ (Satan) and the persecution of the ‘apocalyptic woman’ by the dragon (Apocalypse 12, 7–18). In strong contrasts, frightening and beatifying, a tragicomoedia of the history of the world and of salvation culminates in the establishment of the church of St Michael as a salutis asylum and thus in the triumphant annexation of the archangel as patron of Bavaria ruled by the Wittelsbach family.137 Pedagogical and Educational Dramas138 Such triumphant festival plays could have given the audience a feeling of pride that they were on the right side of confession and lived in a political society that was clearly blessed by heaven. The sober and dynamic Jesuits could definitely not be satisfied with that. It was their aim, as already said, to give the post-tridentine Catholic self-consciousness a firm basis, and they did so by way of uniquely organized pedagogic efforts, for they were convinced that, after its crisis originating in the Reformation and in secular humanism, the Catholic Church could only continue to exist if pietas and litterae would be united in a fruitful combination. As a result, within their pedagogical system the formal education in the sense of humaniora was given a completely unexpected degree of prestige. Humanistic education became almost a synonym for an effective upbringing; good eruditio guaranteed good mores. This idea, which was simply a creed, forms the basis of the many educational dramas that dominated the last three decades of the sixteenth century. The most impressive proclamation of this new idea, which included an unexpectedly open criticism of the present situation, is to be found in an anonymous Dialogus de usu et abusu 136 Cf. the richly commented edition by Bauer and Leonhardt: Triumphus Divi Michaelis Archangeli Bavarici (Figs. 5 and 6). 137 Cf. Hess, ‘Der sakrale Raum als Schauspiel’; Hess, Der Tod des Seneca, pp. 278f. 138 Cf. Rädle, ‘Gegenreformatorischer Humanismus: die Schul- und Theaterkultur der Jesuiten’.



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Fig. 5. Facade of St. Michael’s church (1597), Munich. Repr. from Rom in Bayern, Plate III, p. 115. In July 1597, on the occasion of the dedication of this church, the festival play Triumphus Divi Michaelis Archangeli Bavarici (‘Triumph of St. Michael, Archangel of Bavaria’) was staged (cf. Fig. 6).

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Fig. 6. Title page of the festival play for the dedication of St. Michael’s church (from the Ms. Clm 19757/2 of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek Munich) with a detail of the third scene of the fifth act, in which envoys from the ‚new world‘ address the allegory of the Ecclesia, at first in Japanese. After a prayer of Ecclesia (a Psalm paraphrase in the form of a horatian epode), the Apostolic Nuncio talks with the envoys, who will later reconcile with the Church. On the inner edge of the second page are two stage directions: ‘Ascendit (scil. Ecclesia) thronum, habet armigeros’ (‘[Ecclesia] ascends the throne, she has soldiers’), and ‘Accedit (scil. Nuntius Apostolicus) primum post orationem’ (‘After the speech, [the Apostolic Nuncio] approaches first’).Repr. from: Triumphus Divi Michaelis Archangeli Bavarici, edd. Bauer and Leonhardt, p. 6.



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eruditionis multorum annorum laboribus partae. This drama has the Graecizing title Dittemathematochresis and treats the dual (i.e. good and bad) use of learned education (eruditio).139 The play was performed for the first time in 1585 before Duke Wilhelm V and the whole house of Wittelsbach, and was later repeated elsewhere, for instance in Dillingen in 1599 and 1601. At the beginning of the drama the character of Ecclesia, pressed by ‘Heresy’, takes to the stage and discusses the possibilities of their salvation with the two decisive powers of this world, embodied in the King and in the Bishop. As becomes evident later on, this salvation consists in the mobilizing of Sapientia. Remarkably, the Bishop is given the role of naming the guilty source of Ecclesia’s misery, and implicitly he presents the educational concept of the Jesuits: the clerics are guilty and the fundamental evil is their lack of education (ignorantia): […] ignorantiâ maximâ Plerique caeci non levant virtutibus, Deest quod eruditioni, sed fere Indoctiores improbiores sunt quoque Nec caeteros verbis nec exemplis docent. Vita mala, muta lingua, facta turpia— Haec sunt eorum, proh nefas, molimina. (Most clerics are blind because of their enormous lack of education, and they do not compensate for their ignorance with moral quality. Rather the rule applies that the less educated are also morally more depraved. They can teach the people neither by words, nor by good example. A bad life, incompetence in speech and atrocities, that is what they produce—what an outrage!)140

So the elimination of ignorantia brings salvation. It is only consistent when in their dramas the Jesuits show how the saints (e.g. St George or St Ulrich) also tried to gain an education. Education—here, of course, reduced to good results at school—is something that even the Virgin Mary grants to people: initially bad pupils, like the future saint Albertus Magnus141 and Udo von Magdeburg142 who would fail as a Bishop, receive intellectual inspiration through her.143 139 Preserved as a manuscript in the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek Munich, Clm. 1554, fol. 64r–78v. 140 Ibidem, fol. 65r. 141 The Ingolstadt Summarium (n. 43), p. 100, records for 1596 a Drama de Alberto Magno, quomodo a Beata Virgine ingenium docile impetrarit that unfortunately is lost. 142 Jakob Gretser’s ‘Udo von Magdeburg’ 1598, ed. Herzog, esp. pp. 11–19. 143 Cf. Rädle, ‘Schulstress’, pp. 96–100.

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From the 1580s onwards the plays increasingly recognize that the worldly rulers propagate humanistic study in the spirit of Jacobus Pontanus. In this respect the scholarly efforts (labor) are praised as a Christian virtue. This labor was highly esteemed by the Jesuits as the modern form of ascesis. An exemplary play is Wolfgang Starck’s (1554–1605) Misoponus: Drama de negligentis adolescentis ad diligentiam conversione,144 which was staged in Augsburg in 1591 for the opening of the school year, at Carnival 1592 in Dillingen and in Ingolstadt in 1596. The subject of this drama is the conversion of Misoponus. This young man evades the demands of grey labor in favour of negligentia and receives Ignorantia as his wife. After a while she, a self-professed supporter of soloecismus, bores him and finally she is chased out of the house in a wild Plautine scene of beating, after he has been changed by the torture of this misalliance into Philoponus (‘he who loves labour’). There are many such dramas that, under various titles, are situated in the school environment and give many opportunities for humour, especially on the part of philologists, and derision of faulty Latin. As early as 1573 a Mysoponus is attested for Cologne,145 and again in 1626 the dramatist Simon Schall S.J., who was rediscovered by Father Peter Leutenstorfer, wrote a Misologus resipiscens in Hall in Tirol.146 Among other plays, this series included the following preserved texts, to which I will return later: Stratocles (Dillingen 1578 and 1590, Augsburg 1588) of Jacobus Pontanus, the anonymous Misomathematerastes played in Munich in 1584 (Valentin, Répertoire, no. 212), Ferdinand Crendel’s Ignaviae proscriptio (Dillingen 1588, Répertoire, no. 267) and Matthäus Rader’s Hypnomachia or Vigilantius (Augsburg 1595 and Dillingen 1597, Répertoire, no. 358 and 380). Their direct or indirect dependence on the first early humanist, pre-Reformation educational dramas (Jakob Wimpfeling’s Stylpho [1480/1494], Heinrich Bebel’s Comoedia de optimo studio iuvenum of 1501, and Johannes Kerckmeister’s Codrus, printed in 1495) is evident.147 A subgenre of these educational dramas, which were centred on the schools, is the plays inspired by Andrea Guarna, Bellum grammaticale 144 Preserved in Dillingen, Studienbibliothek XV 237, fol. 123r–154v. 145 Duhr, Geschichte der Jesuiten, 1, p. 338, n. 2 (there erroneously Mysopomus). 146 Private edition and translation by Leutenstorfer; cf. Leutenstorfer, ‘Vier lateinische Jesuiten-Theaterstücke aus Hall in Tirol’. 147 Cf. Rädle, ‘Schulstress’, pp. 83–87. On the problem, see esp. Barner, ‘Humanistische Bildungswerbung’, and Meier, ‘Die Inszenierung humanistischer Werte im Drama der Frühen Neuzeit’, esp. pp. 553–56.



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(1511) and by Nikodemus Frischlin, Priscianus vapulans (premiere in Tübingen 1578, printed in Strasbourg 1580). In these plays the language itself became the subject of the action and the cosmos of grammar as in Regnum Humanitatis where allegorical personifications such as Barbarismus and Soloecismus appear on the stage.148 At the beginning of the Jesuit tradition of these plays we find Jakob Gretser’s Dialogus de regno Humanitatis, which was staged in Fribourg in Switzerland in March 1585. The author has revised his drama more than once, and after his arrival in Bavaria it was performed with comic scenes considerably extended in Ingolstadt in 1587 and 1590, and in Munich in 1598.149 Biblical Dramas The Jesuits were eager to use the rich and colourful subject matter of the Bible. They had fewer scruples than the Protestants in treating the histories of the Old Testament and the stories and parables of the New in their own theological and ecclesiastical-strategic way, as well as in modifying them and above all in developing and enriching them theatrically. It was already demonstrated in the Fulda Acolastus of 1576 how radical the changes could be. As a rule, however, it was a matter of showing the fixed biblical history in a dramatically plausible and humanly understandable way. This could include, of course, quite extensive additions. For instance, during his Swiss residence in Fribourg Jakob Gretser followed a regional preference for popular biblical dramas and wrote and staged a Lazarus resuscitatus (after John 11) in 1584. Since the actual action of the resuscitation in the Gospel is very short, Gretser has taken three acts to represent in a touching way the illness of Lazarus and the sorrows of his two sisters, Mary and Martha. The biblical characters are appropriately complemented by a greedy physician who has guaranteed himself two talents as a success fee. During five scenes in the second act (II, 1–6) the death of Lazarus is shown on stage as a dramatic struggle between devils and angels for the soul of the dying man. From Jean Gerson (1363–1429) onwards this ars moriendi, in which a fight between devils and angels was described in elaborated dialogues and illustrated, was codified and often varied. In Gretser’s play the ars was graphically depicted to the people. An additional, darkly humorous enlivening of the drama results

148 Cf. Rädle, ‘Un mezzo espressivo diventa soggetto’. 149 Dürrwächter edited three versions between 1898 and 1912. Cf. Dürrwächter, Jakob Gretser und seine Dramen, pp. 76–99: ‘Die Regnum-Humanitatis-Dramen’.

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from the dialogue between two gravediggers on the felicitas of their profession.150 Thus in spite of their connection to the biblical source the Jesuit dramas of this type often abound with additions and extensions, and with explications and humour. In this respect they do not fundamentally differ from saints’ or legend dramas in which the authors naturally had a far greater degree of freedom to introduce changes. Whatever actual messages could be introduced into a biblical drama by way of explanation of the action, or rather what the audience could learn from a biblical drama, is betrayed by the prologue of a play called Absolon which was considered to be lost, but was preserved in a Fulda manuscript.151 The play has the explanatory title Absolon: Drama sacrum et novum, quo rebellis filii in patrem scelus et eiusdem iusta vindicta: tum Davidis miserabile exilium et laetissimus reditus in recuperatum deo authore regnum etc. tragikomikôs exhibentur (‘Absalom, a biblical and new drama in which the crime of a son who rebels against his father and his just punishment are shown, as well as the sorrowful exile of David and his most happy return to the throne, restored by God, etc., in a tragicomic way’).152 It was written and staged by Peter Michael (called Brillmacher, 1542–1595) in Speyer in 1571. As a matter of fact, the play is provided with many stage directions and, for the first two acts, with German ‘arguments’. The prologue announces that here the people could ‘as in a mirror see in which complications God, Creator of heaven and earth, changes the human condition for the better. He never, not even in serious dangers, abandons his people who sincerely believe in Him.’153 For all spectators and readers, this drama should serve as a warning that God punishes those who ‘violate the sacred religion of the fathers and fathers’ fathers’, ‘and trample on the most precious and sacred religious decrees as mud’.154 Yet after this clear address to the ‘heretics’ a human and theological concern is expressed:

150 Dürrwächter, Jakob Gretser und seine Dramen, pp. 39–51 interpreted the play with empathy, illustrating his interpretation with many quotations. 151 Valentin, Répertoire, no. 88. 152 Fulda, Landesbibliothek C 18, fol. 194v–232r. 153 Ibidem, fol. 195r: ‘[…] qua [fabula] non secus / Quam in speculo videat genus mortalium, / Quibus res hominum verset vicibus Deus / Poli terraeque conditor: quamque suos / Nunquam vel medijs in periculis deserat / Sincere qui spei in illum anchoram suae / Figunt.’ 154 ‘sacram Patrum et / Maiorum pietatem violare’ and ‘et optima / Sanctissimaque decreta instar sordium / Proculcare’.



jesuit theatre in germany, austria and switzerland233 […] Si quis quoque Praesentis reipublicae acerbum dolet Casum et deformem faciem: hic videt non novum id Et insolitum esse in humanis, ne perperam Aliquid in cogitationem irrepere Sinat de supremo Mundi regimine Quasi nullum extet. (If someone also deplores the bitter situation of our commonwealth and its ugly appearance, here he sees that this is not new and unusual wherever there are people, so that he could not get the idea that the highest rule of the world would not exist at all.)155

After this surprising theodicean notion, the prologue draws another conclusion: in good and in bad times one should, like David, not lose one’s trust in God. People should obey the real Ruler unconditionally and not rebel like the people of Israel. On the other hand, the rulers may learn that they should treat their people humanely, since they have to account for their well-being before God. With these guidelines the spectator may better follow and understand the events of the drama, drawn from 2 Kings, 13–19. Brillmacher retells it in a reliable account, in which he makes the human and political catastrophe of this drama plausible by his clear empathy. Moreover, theologically coined ideas of the sixteenth century appear in other places. For instance, the author gives the devils Astaroth, Belial and Sathan theatrically impressive appearances on stage, in addition to which their opponent, the angelus bonus, is visibly evident. Within this play, these representatives of extraterrestrial powers, which are otherwise often present on the Jesuits’ stage and secretly steer the action, verify that the existence of a supremum Mundi regimen. With regard to the further historical development of biblical drama, it seems that its naive narrative style changes into a reflective didactic abstraction that can often be recognized by the use of allegorical character. A periocha of an Absalom play from Augsburg in 1630 has been preserved: Absalom impius Das ist: Tragoedia Vonn dem trewlosen Abfall Absalonis//unnd Verfolgung seines mildreichen Vatters und Königs Davids (‘The impious Absalom, i.e. a tragedy of the perfidious defection of Absalom and the persecution of his mild father and King David’).156 Here the entire action is driven and explained by the allegories of Ambitio, Perfidia and Impietas on the one hand, and Pietas and Victoria on 155 Fol. 195v. 156 Szarota, Das Jesuitendrama im deutschen Sprachgebiet, II, 1: II, III, 20.

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the other. Among all authors, allegorical figures are the most effective and popular means to give their dramas theologically reflected structures and to give the audience indications, even beyond the spoken word, for a rough understanding of the action. Saints’ and Martyrs’ Dramas Hagiography supplied the dramatists with subject matter that was not as rigidly fixed as material from the Bible, for instance. Still, when they wanted to bring the life of a saint on stage, as a rule they stuck to the Vitae traditions that were conveyed and cherished by the Church and which were often strongly anchored in the consciousness of the people. This means that there are far more saints’ dramas that are edifying than those that are laden with conflict and tension. The happy ending of such plays in a Christian or Catholic sense is in any case firmly established, even when the action comes to its end obliquely through the hero’s danger and guilt. The audience need not worry about a male or female saint. On the contrary, they are presented with tokens of exemplary moral and religious life. Skilled authors often compensated for the possibly tiring didactics of such dramas by means of historical, and if necessary, even exotic colouration. This applies in the case of martyrs’ dramas, for instance.157 Another emotionally enlivening element of saints’ dramas is their pious, fundamentally high solemnity which, in the case of martyrdom, can also adopt triumphalist traits. We will take a closer look at two anonymous plays on two very popular saints to serve as examples: a tragicomoedia on the saintly martyr George,158 performed in 1586 by the Fulda Jesuit College, which belonged to the Province of Germania inferior, and a Comoedia de Sancto Udalrico Episcopo Augustano, which was given in Dillingen in 1611 on the occasion of the laying of the first stone of the new church of the Virgin Mary.159 As a matter of fact, the concluding consecration of this church in June 1617 157 A fully new species, i.e. dramas of contemporary martyrs, is formed by the exotic plays that have as their historical (not legendary) basis the Japanese and Chinese mission of the Jesuits. They are investigated in a collection edited by Hsia and Wimmer, Mission und Theater. See especially Wimmer, ‘Japan und China auf den Jesuitenbühnen des deutschen Sprachgebietes’, pp. 17–58. 158 Tragicomoedia qua sub persona Divi Georgij celeberrimi Equitis et magni Martyris Generosorum nobilium institutio ac mores describuntur (Fulda, Landesbibliothek C 18, fol. 78v–124r). 159 The play is preserved in two manuscripts: Dillingen, Studienbibliothek XV 222, fol. 3r–70r, and XV 245, fol. 190r–251r. Selected parts are edited and translated in Rädle, ‘Der heilige Ulrich auf dem Jesuitentheater’.



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Fig. 7. Title page (with the list of dramatis personae) of the first surviving Fulda Jesuit drama (1575) on St. Elisabeth. The text is written by an inexperienced student’s hand.

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was celebrated with Georg Stengel’s Triumphus Deiparae Virginis,160 which lasted for three days and serves as another example of the festival play already considered. The generic term tragicomoedia of the Fulda ‘George’ play can be explained from the fact that here a saint’s life ends happily, i.e. in eternal bliss, only after atrocious suffering, the martyrdom. It was performed in October 1586 in the presence of Archduke Maximilian of Austria. By then he was Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights and Administrator of the vacant Archbishopric of Fulda. As a sacred knight, St George was patron saint of the German Order. As the long title betrays, in the play the education and exemplary moral of high nobility are presented in the person of St George. It consists of five acts and is largely written in hexameters—a specialty of the Fulda theatre. In this respect there is a recognizable metrical hierarchy: the ‘serious’ parties (the speeches of the allegories, the school life, politics and war, the argument with Diocletian, and finally the martyrdom) are written in hexameters, the morally doubtful representatives of the profane world (George’s student friends) speak in iambs and sing merry songs, though in classical metres. At the beginning of the drama the allegories of divine wisdom, Sapientia, and the four cardinal virtues Prudentia, Justitia, Fortitudo and Temperantia agree to adopt the promising young man George and to accompany his life which is initially devoted to study and serving the Muses. Accordingly, the young hero proved to be successful, in several consequent gymnasium testing scenes that show the pedagogical culture of the Jesuits in an impressive way. In the second act George is exposed to the dangers of the world, which mainly result from his encountering evil friends (malum consortium). Here the unknown author has successfully presented a contrast with the frivolous life, which could relieve the audience of psychological stress by the simply unnatural seriousness of the exemplary pupil George. Sylvanus, one of his worldly-minded friends (an image of the Prodigal Son), asks: Quid mente nubilosa moesti ingemitis? Quid pectora excruciatis? Anne hilariter Licet dies traducere? Expertes laboris Et tetricae melancholiae? Quid anxij Estis? Quin sequimini vitae genus mollissimum, Ut nobiles decet? Cur non volupiae, Facetijs, otio suavi, dulcibus Indulgetis illecebris et amoribus? 160 Preserved in Dillingen, Studienbibliothek XV 237b, fol. 8r–103r.



jesuit theatre in germany, austria and switzerland237 (Why do you wear yourselves out with sorrowful sighs? Why do you torment yourselves? Is it not allowed to pass your days in cheerfulness, without toils and dark melancholy? Why are you so afraid? Why do you not choose a life full of joy, as is suitable for noblemen? Why do you not surrender to lust, fun, to pleasant idleness, sweet temptations and love affairs?)161

Of course George overcomes the earthly seductions. In the third act he proves to be a brave knight with his cohort against the hostile cohors Turchi, by which he earns the sympathy of Emperor Diocletian. In the fourth act he conquers the dragon in the Roman province of Egypt. The action of the fight of the dragon itself is left out, but George’s victory is recorded in a teichoscopy by the Egyptian King (rex è moenibus) and festively proclaimed. The fifth act is set in Rome again, where George, as a secret Christ, according to the decree of his personal Maecenas Diocletian, is forced to offer to the pagan gods. The consequent conflict is worked out by the author in scenes 2, 3 and 5. George remains loyal to his Christian faith and chooses martyrdom. His cruel execution will take place offstage and be reported by a messenger. But since George is a so-called ‘martyr of the indestructible life’ whom the torturers cannot do any harm, he returns to the stage unhurt, where a poisonous draught prepared by a magician also fails to fulfil its purpose. The magician subsequently converts to Christianity himself and the audience exclaimed: ‘Surely great is the God of the Christians.’162 There now follow two spectacular actions that may have put the stage mechanics to the test: George must immediately be bound to a wheel: Lictor: Huc accede, rotae subeas tormenta, ligatum Hunc manibus pedibusque gravi supponite moli. Ribaldus et Fuscus: Cernamus, qua te Christus virtute iuvabit. Lorarius: Nunc agitate rotam valido impetu. Omnes: Abite, perimus! O! O! Accenduntur pulveres et effringitur machina, prostratis lictoribus, fugit impe­ rator cum omnibus, manet Georgius ligatus iuxta machinam dum alij partim laesi partim exusti discurrunt.’ Executioner: Come here, you must suffer the torture of the wheel. Bind his hands and feet and place him under the heavy machine. Ribaldus and Fuscus: Let us see with what miraculous power Christ will help him. Executioner’s servant: Now put the wheel in motion with a strong swing! Now powder catches fire [it comes to an explosion] and the whole construction breaks down. The executioners fall down, the Emperor flees with all the

161 Fol. 91v. The second syllable of laboris is wrongly been presumed to be short. 162 Fol. 120r: ‘Populus exclamat: Vere magnus est Deus Christianorum.’

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fidel rädle others, George stays behind, tied next to the machine while the others—partly hurt, partly burned—flee.163

In the next scene (V, 6), George is taken up by the allegories of virtues and confesses again his faithfulness to Christ. In the seventh scene Diocletian promises George a shining career in Rome, if he would offer to the pagan gods. George seemingly accepts this and asks the Emperor to call all priests and the entire population into the temple for this ceremony, while he himself will pray in silence. Then he exclaims: ‘If your gods really exist, Caesar, then they shall display their power.’ At this moment ‘the temple together with the gods falls into ruins, lightning strikes, and while the others are buried under the ruins, the Emperor takes flight again. George on his own remains and even the demons confess Christ as their god’.164 Now Alexandra, the Emperor’s wife, also confesses faith in Christ and suffers martyrdom together with George. After a prayer full of yearning for heaven, he is beheaded backstage. The allegories of virtues conclude the drama, and they report that George’s soul has been carried into heaven by angels and his corpse has been buried, accompanied by dirges. While the Fulda George drama was performed in a politically relatively calm context and was devoted as a tribute to Archduke Maximilian, the Dillingen Comoedia de Sancto Udalrico episcopo Augustano (1611) occurs in a period of political and military threat.165 The unknown author probably wrote the play earlier, in 1610, and in the summer and autumn of 1611 when, in the Duchy of Bavaria, a decisive military confrontation took place between the Protestant Union and the Catholic League which had recently (1609) been founded by Maximilian I of Bavaria. This context determined that the patron of the Augsburg diocese who had conquered Hungary in the tenth century, was cast as the hero of a drama that can be labelled as a comoedia only because Ulrich died a saint (he was officially canonized in 993). To the Acta Universitatis Dilinganae we owe interesting details about the circumstances of the production.166 The stage for the performance that took place on 3 October in the open air and lasted for six hours was erected too late, on 24 September. When the rehearsals had already started

163 Fol. 120v. 164 Fol. 122r: ‘Si Dij sunt vestri, monstrent sua numina, Caesar’, and: ‘Templum cum Dijs ruit, fulmina iactantur, oppressis alijs fugit imperator solo Georgio manente, daemonibusque Christum Deum confitentibus.’ 165 Valentin, Répertoire, no. 652. 166 Dillingen, Studienbibliothek XV 226, 1, pp. 213–15.



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on the incomplete construction, it collapsed, and some of the actors were slightly injured. Thus the play could never be rehearsed on stage in its entirety. The players too started rehearsing too late, viz. three weeks before the performance itself.167 Furthermore, precious costumes were obtained too late from the Fugger family in Augsburg; they at first refused, but later on agreed to lend costumes. Three bishops and many abbots as well as other high-ranking clerics attended the performance. All of them were pleased by the content, the linguistic design and the performance aspect of the play, although in comparison to other judgements on successful theatre performance this assessment, a mere placuit, is rather reserved. The Bishop of Ellwangen endowed the players with thirty guilders. The noblemen among the actors as well as the most important of the other performers—forty persons in all—were invited to a splendid dinner in the College. Another fifty-seven actors of the total of seventy boys invited received a free meal. The five-act play shows a spiritual leader who, in a salutary way, connects himself with the worldly rulers against the enemies of the Church (in historical life: against the Hungarians), and simultaneously as a person lives in modesty, following the ascetic ideals of the Catholic faith. In short, it shows an ideal bishop. This was an appealing reminder of the spiritual leaders of the Counter-Reformation. Here, the education of youth in the litterae is portrayed just as strongly as in the Fulda George drama. The school period of Ulrich in the monastery of St Gallen offers ample opportunities for pedagogical reflections and massive propaganda for the gymnasia and universities of the Order. Here the students are explicitly advised against the study abroad that had come into fashion. For rich, religious, didactic, allegorical figures such as Amor Dei, Amor Proximi and Auxilium Dei, as well as the guardian angels, direct the action in secret, while on the other side, Invidia and Discordia oppose it. Moreover, popular and comic scenes are interspersed within the action, e.g. the embarrassing examination of an untalented farmer’s son who is overestimated by his father, and who applies for a stipend from Bishop Ulrich (III, 6), and the recruitment of a Misogynus, who has himself conscripted in the Emperor’s army in order to escape from the ten-year marital war with his evil wife (IV, 6). In the last scene of the play Ulrich directs a consolatory and admonitory 167 Ibidem, p. 214: ‘Nimis etiam sero actores coepti exerceri, tribus scilicet hebdomadis ante actum.’ For Stengels Triumphus Deiparae Virginis mentioned above, the time of running through the play was, according to the same source (pp. 254–55) much more expansive, viz. from 2 April to the performance on 11 June 1617.

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message from heaven to his clergy and in particular to his actual successor, on whose mind he impresses care for his flock. Legend Dramas Not significantly different, only less fixed in the arrangement of the subject than the saints’ dramas, are the innumerable dramatic adaptations of legends. Their protagonists do not a priori lead, like the saints, an exemplary life, and if they make a mistake will not ultimately be granted a blissful death. On the contrary, such legends often relate stories about people whose lives are complicated and whose salvation is in danger. These are fundamentally favourable conditions for drama. For the hero, the struggle between heavenly and demonic powers is never decided beforehand, since in Catholic doctrine man has the free choice (liberum arbitrium) between good and evil, which means that he himself is responsible for his own deeds. His offences, his sins, lead to a personal guilt that cogently lead to punishment if the guilt is not wiped out by inner conversion. His salvation is decided, so to speak, calculably and as a matter of principle in a manner different to that found in Protestant doctrine, here in earthly life. Consequently, all actions on stage have a special weight that secures the spectators’ attention. For they know what is at stake, and seeing what is happening they can also judge how it is with the hero in each situation, whether they should, till the end, be afraid for him or hope for him. The two plays that will be presented as exemplary in the following discussion present the lives of two lofty persons who are in danger because of human weakness and sin. They also present two alternatives: in the first case the hero loses the salvation of his soul after a conscious refusal to contemplate and change; in the second case the hero, who is already the Devil’s slave, converts and is saved. In both cases the audience experiences a struggle between heaven and hell for man’s soul. This is the usual constellation (not to mention the usual requested arrangement) of Jesuit drama. It makes someone who sees or has seen such a play conscious of his own worth as well as of the importance of his deeds and the responsibility for the consequences of these deeds. The response may, of course, be both impulsive and encouraging, as well as fearful and despondent. The plays at stake are the Dialogus de Udone Archiepiscopo Magdeburgensi,168 which was staged by the Mary Company in Munich on 168 Ed. Herzog, who attributed this play to Gretser. His authorship has been convincingly excluded by Bauer and Leonhardt (eds.), Triumphus Divi Michaelis Archangeli, p. 105.



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2 February 1598 at Carnival time, and Georg Bernardt’s (1595–1660) Theophilus Cilix (Theophilus of Cilicia),169 with which the Jesuits opened the school year of their gymnasium in Ingolstadt in October 1621. Both plays are based on popular legends170 oft staged by the Jesuits.171 The Theophilus was staged fifteen times in this period, apparently always in a different form. At least three different texts of dramatic adaptations of each play (pre-1650) have been preserved.172 The first play treats the horrible history of Archbishop Udo of Magdeburg, who sinned terribly during his office and for that reason was damned to eternal ruin. Corresponding to the three phases of his fatal life, the text is divided into three partes. First the blessed intellectual inspiration of the Virgin Mary for the weak pupil Udo is presented. This offers the welcome opportunity to present—in the same way as the aforementioned educational dramas—school life, i.e. Latin tuition on stage, which was represented in scenes full of action, seasoned with humour. In particular the opening monologue by the teacher Orbilius—the name brings to mind the plagosus Orbilius of Horace (Epist. II, 1, 70f.)—who despairs of the ignorance of his pupil Udo, is a masterpiece of witty parody. The second part shows Udo now elevated to the status of Archbishop. Fully conscious of his new power, he gives in to earthly temptations and becomes addicted to the vices of superbia and gula, and above all sexual excess (luxuria). The extremely delicate handicap of the source, viz. the scandalous affair of the Archbishop of Magdeburg with the Abbess of the Cistercian monastery Lilienthal nearby, from whose bed the devil would have taken Udo, was, of course, unstageable. In the play it is only referred to discretely and only once hinted at theatrically (as a matter of fact very suitably): a masked Udo leaves his palace for a rendezvous (note that the performance takes place at Carnival time). The respected advisor of the former Bishop, Timor Dei, appointed as oeconomus by Udo, stands in the doorway to warn him, but in vain. The allegorical character of Timor Dei is, as may be easily seen, a borrowing from Euripus, as is Cupido, whom Udo has assigned to be his servant. In both dramas Timor Dei is driven out of the house—a sign of the impending disaster. In addition, the theme of 169 Ed. Rädle: Georg Bernardt SJ, Dramen I: Theophilus Cilix 1621. 170 On the Udo legend see Herzog’s edition, pp. 47–78, and Rädle, Lateinische Ordensdramen, pp. 563–68 (Udo), and 575–83 (Theophilus); further Rädle, ‘Aus der Frühzeit des Jesuitentheaters’, and Rädle, ‘De Udone quoddam horribile. Zur Herkunft eines mittelalterlichen Erzählstoffes’. 171 Cf. Valentin, index of the Répertoire. 172 Another manuscript of an appealing Theophilus drama, performed in Straubing in 1655, is in the University Library of Munich, 4o Cod. ms. 503, fol. 1r–65r.

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the ‘narrow road’ (‘arcta via’, ll. 556–57) and in particular the negative role of music which leads to the frivolous life in this middle part of Udo are reminiscent of Euripus. The elated and humorous musicians (fidicines) and comedians (ludiones) whom the young Archbishop fetches to his court for his entertainment are surely a blessing for the audience. After Udo has disregarded the threefold warning of the angel,173 the catastrophe begins with the third part. Here, in a vision (experienced by the cleric Fridericus), the Archbishop is brought before the divine court in his own cathedral of Magdeburg. The patron of the cathedral, St Mauritius, reads the accusation, and Christ, accompanied by angels, passes the death sentence. Even the Virgin Mary who intervenes cannot avert it. Udo is beheaded. The sixth scene shows how Udo is received in hell and ridiculed by triumphant demons. In his despair he curses his own birth and all creatures, even God and the Trinity. Finally he is, like Euripus, thrown down into hell. It goes without saying that this deterrent and in places disgusting history was also thought to be a warning for high-ranking clergy to conduct their own lives according to the moral criteria that the Catholic Church prescribed. Only in one place is there also a polemic attack against Protestant doctrine: in the final scene (ll. 954ff.). Beelzebub expresses his elation at the sheer number of people these days who fall prey to him whilst ‘merrily rely[ing] on the effect of baptism and boast[ing] of their faith, as if life did not need further efforts’.174 In contrast to this play the second example, Theophilus Cilix from 1621, is, in spite of the tragedy of its action, ultimately relaxing and comforting. It belongs to the host of conversional dramas. These plays treat the fundamental imperilment of human life, but through divine grace and through an active inner change the hero achieves atonement in the end. This change may have several names: metánoia, poenitentia, resipiscere. In Catholic doctrine, it is the assumed active and responsible achievement of the individual who makes possible his own salvation, his eternal redemption. Theophilus is the first of four extant dramas of the Munich playwright Georg Bernardt.175 At that time, the author was a teacher of the Humanitas class at the Jesuits’ gymnasium in Ingolstadt, which belonged to the university. The subject stems from the ancient legend of the high cleric 173 ‘Cessa Udo à ludo, sat diu lusisti Udo’ (ll. 604, 663 and 676). 174 ‘[…] aqua baptismatis / qui gloriantur, et fidem iactant, quasi / Nullo labore alio foret opus’ (ll. 954–56). 175 On this long unknown author, see Rädle, ‘Zum dramatischen Oeuvre Georg Bernardts SJ (1595–1660)’.



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Theophilus, who in humility refuses the position of bishop offered to him. He is subsequently dismissed from his office as vicar-general because of unjust slander on the part of his rival. Because he cannot bear this humiliation, he concludes a pact with the Devil, directed by a magician. With the Devil’s help he ultimately becomes a bishop. But the Guardian Angel (Custos Genius) and Conscientia, one of the numerous allegorical characters of the play, confront Theophilus with his guilt. For upon the Devil’s request he had explicitly renounced God and the Virgin Mary. He deeply regrets this outrage, and finally he receives back from Mary the document signed in his own blood. The psychological conditions of the hero are designed by Bernardt with great art. A specific strength of the author is subtle humour, seasoned with masterly puns, which does not shun daring parody of spiritual texts and liturgical acts. For instance, in the second scene of the first act of five (partes) the courtiers of the late Bishop celebrate the day of the funeral, for them a day off, with exalted songs and parodying psalmody. The end of the play is particular: after the Theophilus action has ended, a parallel to the history of Faust is drawn.176 The last scene (V, 6) offers the spectator a fictitious alternative to the fate of Theophilus; it bears as a heading: ‘Faustus and Scotus end the drama, by deploring that the same crime [i.e. magic with the Devil’s help] took in their case quite another end.’177 The scene is in hell where both of the most famous sorcerers of the seventeenth century, the mysterious Faust and the Italian Jeronimo Scotto, deplore their eternal punishment for the outrage of sorcery and warn the audience: ‘Ah, be wise, you mortals, repent!’178 The Unfolding of Jesuit Theatre: Historical Context and Political Functionalization: The Example of Fulda179 Humanistic Euphoria, Moral Renewal and Tactics of Confessional Conquest The Programme From the beginnings of the Fulda Jesuit theatre an Oratio in laudem grammatices, poetices et rhetorices has survived, which was held in connection 176 The chapbook Faust was published just a few decades earlier, in 1587. In all four of his dramas Bernardt has used motifs from the Faust book, cf. Rädle, ‘“Faustsplitter” aus lateinischen Dramen im Clm 26017’. 177 ‘Faustus, Scotus inaequalem aequalis sceleris exitum deplorantes actioni finem imponunt’. 178 ‘Ah, sapite, mortales, sapite!’ 179 The choice for Fulda, which belongs to the province of Germania inferior, is deliberately made as a counterbalance to the Jesuit theatre of Upper Germany, which has been

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with the performance of the above interpreted Acolastus from 1576. It is an impressive reflection of the current vulnerable political situation of the Catholic Church, but at the same time the decisive educational programme of the Jesuits in its role in the confessional conflict is pointedly expressed. The speech was delivered in the presence of the Prince-Abbot Balthasar von Dernbach (1548–1606), who after initial vacillation had ruled his territory strictly within Counter-Reformation borders since 1570. The speech is a powerful paratext to the drama. It culminates in the following appeal: Videtis, auditores, quantum in humanioribus literis lateat utilitatis, quantum excellentiae, quantum dignitatis et honoris! Videtis et vos, adolescentes studiosissimi, quae vobis hisce studiis est adhibenda diligentia, sine quibus eò nunquam quo tenditur pervenietis, nunquam finem desideratum consequemini: Ecclesiam, inquam, afflictam, ut perditorum hominum telis impugnatam, sectis et erroribus variis dilaceratam subvenire180 nunquam poteritis! Erigamus ergo animos nostros et literis hisce non solum mentes exornemus, ingenium excolamus, ut honoribus ac dignitatibus aptissimis, sed etiam muniamus, ut hostium insulsam dicacitatem, cuius Lutherus Venereus (ut Plautus ait)181 nepotulus magnus architectus fuit, comprimere, et argumenta nefaria confutare queamus. Commoveor enim ac toto corpore perhorresco, cum obsessa parricidarum facibus Ecclesia supplex manus tendit, ut, si maternis gustati182 uberibus sumus, si iucundissimo lacte doctrinae pasti, si in hunc usque statum eius beneficio productos nos esse agnoscimus, ne telis ac armis proditorum ac latronum circumsessam deseramus. Nos qui literis operam damus, sumus, a quibus Ecclesia subsidium sperat et iure postulat, non rudes et imperiti non agricolae non mechanicis artibus instructi. Principum quidem est potentia sua ramos malorum ne nimium extendantur aliquando resecare, nostrum autem materiam omnem favoris atque discordiarum seminarium opiniones falsas exstirpare. Non itaque sinamus, non patiamur, non feramus haereditatem nobis deditam a perfidis eripi, a malitiosis foedari.183

overestimated in research (cf. for instance Pohle, Glaube und Beredsamkeit, pp. 29–30). Due also to its extremely unstable political situation, the Abbey of Fulda—with its outstanding position in the Empire and the far-reaching significance of its ruler who, ex officio, was the Primate of the abbots in Germany and Gaul—offers a more vivid view of Jesuit educational strategies than the regions of the Upper German province, which was more of a confessional unity. 180 Subvenire is, perhaps erroneously, connected with the accusative. 181 Plautus, Miles gloriosus, ll. 1413 and 1421: ‘nepotulus venereus’. Because of his marriage the former monastic Luther was often denounced in confessional polemics as a friend of sexual licence. 182 Surprisingly gustare is used transitively. 183 Fulda, Hessische Landesbibliothek C 18, fol. 33v.



jesuit theatre in germany, austria and switzerland245 (You see, dear audience, the intrinsic benefit of the litterae humaniores, and its outstanding value, dignity and prestige. You, too, eagerly studying youths, see the careful dedication you need for this study, without which you can never reach your aim, nor ever achieve the desired goal. Otherwise you will never be able to help the severely damaged Church which is attacked with the weapons of vile people and mauled by all possible sects and heresies. So let us strengthen our courage and not only decorate our minds and cultivate our intelligence with these studies, which are indeed particularly beneficial for social prestige and for outstanding positions, but equip ourselves with their help for the defence as well, so that we are able to suppress the unseemly and impudent aggression, of which the great architect is—to use the words of Plautus—Venus’s little grandson Luther, and to refute the nefarious accusations. For I become downright angry, shaking all over my body, when the Church, besieged by the torches of its murderers, raises her hands and beseeches us not to abandon her as she is now surrounded by the missiles and weapons of traitors and thieves. For we were nurtured at her breasts, and nourished by the delightful milk of her teaching, and must recognize that we have risen to our height [only] by her generosity. For the Church hopes for—and rightly summons—the support of we who are dedicated to studies, not the rough and uneducated, nor the farmers nor those trained in the mechanical arts. Although it is the duty of the princes to finally prune the branches of evil with their power, in order that they do not spread too much, it is our duty to eradicate everything that promotes and sows discord, viz. the false doctrines. So we cannot allow, tolerate or accept us being torn from our heritage by traitors and disfigured by rogues.)

This highly rhetorical text with its verbal attacks originating in fear against all enemies of the Church, testifies to the desparate mood and the seemingly hopeless political situation in which the barely settled Jesuits saw their work in Fulda threatened. Their patron, the Prince-Abbot, was near his deposition and expulsion in June of that same year 1576,184 and in the ensuing years until the strict Catholic restoration of Fulda in 1602 a high level of confessionally tactical awareness was demanded of them. In fact, from the outset the Jesuits in Fulda had to contend with a conflictual political reality more than they did elsewhere.185 In this difficult situation, their newly founded (October 1572) officially opened school, at first a gymnasium with four classes (including a rhetoric class), and above all their theatre was presented with a very delicate test. From the reform regulation of 1542 imposed by Prince-Abbot Philip Schenck zu Schweinsberg (exercising his duties from 1541 to 1550), Fulda had been home to a budding, 184 This dramatic political process is described in minute detail by Walther, Abt Balthasars Mission. 185 Cf. Merz, ‘Fulda’; cf. also Duhr, Geschichte der Jesuiten, vol. 1, pp. 128–33.

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non-denominational ecclesiastic praxis. Though it had an essentially Catholic tendency, it was continuously irritated by the influence of Protestant neighbouring States, for which the knighthood, the cities and the monastery chapter were willing to open their gates. Given the progressive decay of the ecclesiastical order and his own authority, in 1571 the Prince-Abbot Balthasar overruled the Provincial power of the Rhenish Province to earnestly request the help of the Jesuits, who were sent from Speyer, Trier and Mainz. They started their activity with the aforementioned establishment of a school, but the first widely visible appearance with which the Jesuits left their mark was a theatre performance at Easter of 1573. The event is described in detail, even celebrated in the College’s Litterae Annuae,186 and this description, with its proud and optimistic tone, tells of the original trust the Jesuits had in their humanistic education programme and the role they credited for the theatre. At first, the play had been performed in the Aula of the Prince-Abbot in the presence of the Suffragan of Mainz, the Abbot of Hersfeld and the entire court. After that, however, it was repeated on the occasion of the opening of the new school year. This performance took place for ‘several thousands of people’, who, partly from the neighbouring ‘houses, roofs and walls’, spent three hours following the performance on a ‘stage that had been newly erected for this goal and beautifully decorated’ (‘novo et pulcherrimo ad hoc Theatro constructo’). What was represented was the struggle between Wisdom and Dissoluteness.187 To the adherents of Voluptas the impending infernal fire was shown, whereas to the pupils of Sapientia the prospect of the companionship of angels and the joys of eternal life were held out (‘Dialogus […] qui pugnam sapientiae et voluptatis complectebatur, voluptatisque

186 Bibliothek des Priesterseminars Fulda, FU L 03, I/29, fol. 12v. The chronicle reports in this volume are quite disorderly in the way that they have been collected under various titles (also as Annales or Historia Collegii). 187 About the author we only learn that he belonged to the Jesuit order, which does not exclude the possibility of the play being brought from Mainz and perhaps stemming from Speier, where three years previously a ‘Struggle of Virtue and Vice’ had been performed (Valentin, Répertoire, no. 82). The text is clearly not preserved, but the play may have been closely related to the Fulda manuscript C 18, fol. 45v–56r. This is a drama transmitted without a title, in which the allegories of Amor honesti and Amor voluptatis struggle for the young men Philomusus and Philoponus, and Apollo cum tribus Gratiis pleads a case for humanistic education in several choral songs. Although the text of this drama is not dated, it is written by the same hand that only two pages earlier announced the Catalogus authorum for the school year 1578/9. This renders entirely invalid the assumption reported by Paul Bahlmann (Jesuiten-Dramen, p. 11) and doubted by Pohle (Glaube und Beredsamkeit, pp. 435–36) that it could be identical to the Philomusus Aquisgranensis of 1601. That it belongs to Fulda is proven by the mentioning of the Fuldensis schola (fol. 52r).



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sectatoribus mortem aestuantisque gehennae ignes proponebat, sapi­ entiae vero asseclas angelorum sodalitio vitaeque sempiternae gaudiis oblectabat’). It is worth noting that there is no struggle for the claim to a confessionally significant theological truth, but only for a morally responsible life and for intellectual education. At the end of the play the protagonist, a young man who is endangered by Voluptas and finally converts to Sapientia, may have received the due reward for his virtue by Iustitia who has descended from heaven (i.e. a not primarily theologically defined character!). This we read in the report, and moreover it says that the audience should be entertained and religiously strenghtened (‘quae maximam [afferebant] et recreationem et pietatem spectantibus’). Contrary to the accusations against the enemies of the Catholic Church, and especially against the ‘tiny grandson of Venus, Luther’, which denote the speech of 1576 quoted above,188 this report still sounds non-polemical, not interested in theological or confessional issues and unequivocally directed at issues of education. As can easily be shown, early Fulda Jesuit theatre in general deliberately and successfully tried to influence the people or their representatives in a solicitous, non-repudiatory way. This apparently happened in the sense of a unity of the Church that was still considered possible,189 and this entailed a certain humility, based on the awareness of the failure of the Catholic Church, which is articulated far more seldom in the confessionally more stable regions of the Upper German Province.190 Already at the opening of the academic year in the autumn of 1574 an Oratio de litterarum scientiarumque praestantia was delivered, and in a Carmen elegiacum de pietate scientiis coniungenda the message was proclaimed that the well-established religio first and foremost requires humanistic education. However, the successful collaboration of pietas and 188 They are obviously directly related to the excited mood which led to the deposition of Balthasar in the same year. 189 Such a strategy corresponded to the advice of the early Jesuit Petrus Faber (Favre), who in his Memoriale included the recommendation to encounter the ‘heretics’ with much love and win their favour by means of discussions on the common basis of faith (see Petrus Faber, Memoriale, ed. Henrici, p. 374). Already from the year 1573 the Annales of the Fulda college report (fol. 16v) that some citizens from Fulda and its surrounding area returned ad Ecclesiae unitatem and that the ‘heretically educated’ students who were generously allowed to live with the Jesuits were so impressed by their particularly careful treatment (‘pia diligentia et lenis disciplina’), that they wrote only words of praise for the Societas Jesu to their parents. 190 The notoriously immoral life of the Fulda canons, who were Catholic in name but in fact ‘religiously indifferent’ (see Merz, ‘Fulda’, p. 139), suggested a wise restraint in this respect.

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scientiae (again one of the formulas of Christian humanism) which manifests itself in a unique way in religious theatre makes the direct confessional fight (at least at the beginning) more or less dispensable. What can be deduced from these programmatic statements is much clearer in practice: as far as possible, the theatre of the Fulda Jesuits endeavours to steer clear of theologically argumentative polemic against ‘heresy’. Instead, from the outset it went to great lengths to conserve (preferably in ways that were appealing) the Latin language,191 which they almost seemed at times to have canonized, as Lorenzo Valla had done.192 Another factor of aesthetic culture that benefited the theatre, and characterized the Fulda Jesuit theatre in general, is music. We will return to this case by case on the following pages.193 Praxis: eruditio, recreatio, pietas—Repertoire to Gain Sympathy Educated entertainment and moral-religious strengthening were the main effects of the first performance according to the report already quoted. For a long time hardly anything changed in these essential aims, as can be shown from the following short journey through the repertoire of the Fulda Jesuit theatre in its most difficult years.194 In the educated entourage of the school, courteous recreatio was of course inconceivable without eruditio: a play was implicitly always a demonstrative open tribute to the very Latin language. Of all thinkable elements of entertainment the 191 No other Jesuit gymnasium mobilized such a wealth of diverse classical metres. The hexameter, which enabled the author to show off his talents with antique spolia, is one of the specialties of the formally virtuosic playwright Gottfried Lemius, and occurs at a time when we encounter the hexameter in Bavaria only occasionally. 192 In a speech of 4 November 1577 we find: ‘Agite studiosi adolescentes, […] cognoscite mecum foelicitatem vestram, qui instinctu quodam afflatuque divino ad eas potissimum artes animum appulistis, quibus sive quis utilitatem sequatur nihil fructuosius, sive oblectationem nihil suavius et iucundius, sive splendorem ac pulchritudinem nihil illustrius, aut ad struendam nominis immortalitatem firmius atque stabilius potest reperiri’ (Fulda, Hessische Landesbibliothek C 18, fol. 43v). 193 In 1574 the Lord Abbot started for the students of the convict a lectio musicae that was held daily from 11 a.m. to 12 a.m. by a well-paid Catholic cantor who in his other time taught the Fulda boys to read and write in German and the catechism. The municipal schools of the ‘heretics’ were already prohibited at the time (see Litterae annuae Soc. Jesu I, Bibliothek des Priesterseminars Fulda, FU L03/I/29, fol. 18r). On the Fulda Jesuits’ care for music, see Körndle, ‘Musik im frühen Theater der Jesuiten’ and Rädle, ‘Musik und Musiker auf der Bühne des frühen Jesuitentheaters’. 194 This reconstruction is made on the basis of the Annales or Litterae Annuae of the college (today in the seminary) and from the often dated manuscript dramatic texts of the Hessische Landesbibliothek in Fulda; in several instances, it complements the information from Valentin’s Répertoire.



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musical embellishment was decisively preferred, as was said before, especially when it could show its plausible function in a play. The demand of pietas on the other hand should be interpreted as Christian education which almost exclusively aims at moral chastening and only seldom, when politics required so, explains the Catholic view, but for the rest chooses tactical consideration towards the Protestant environment. The first play performed in Fulda that is known by title and has been preserved (after Pugna sapientiae et voluptatis of 1573) is Comoedia Elisabeth (1575).195 It is a saints’ drama that is unimpeachable due to the moving figure of the (also historically authentic) heroine. Furthermore, it manages to attain confessional consensus, with the allegory of Gratia being permitted to praise her great power, perhaps as a concession to Protestant theology. The play is almost constantly cheerful and conciliatory. Elisabeth’s father, Andrew, King of Hungary, plays the ideal role of a Christian ruler as he defends the West against the Turks. This role must have been exemplary for the sixteenth century as well. Elisabeth’s secular and spiritual education takes much space. The comical scene that is influenced by ancient comedy, in which the chef with his servants Morus and Morosophus prepares the marriage dinner for Elisabeth and Landgrave Ludwig (III, 3), was undoubtedly meant for the recreatio of the audience. Instrumental and vocal music is performed at the ceremony, at the marriage dinner and upon Elisabeth’s death. After the news of Ludwig’s death, the Requiem is sung. The Acolastus of the spring of 1576 is, as indicated earlier, devoted solely to the problem of the right education and in an almost striking manner glosses over the issue of the merit and grace of the underlying parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15, 11–32), which dominated theological discussions after Luther. The dissolute life of the protagonist Acolastus provides ample opportunity to represent wordly bustle, which has great comic potential and offers attractive appearances for musicians.196 After the major setback of the dismissal of the Prince-Abbot Balthasar in June 1576, for the following years several unspecified Dialogi are indicated, among which was a play for Epiphany in 1577. In 1579 the Jesuits gave a Dialogus de duobus vexillis Christi et Luciferi (after the Ignatian Exercitia spiritualia, second week, fourth day). The report of a performance in 1578 again contains the programmatic signal words pietas and

195 Cf. Rädle, ‘Eine Comoedia Elizabeth’ (Fig. 7). 196 See Körndle, ‘Musik im frühen Theater der Jesuiten’, pp. 218–19.

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recreatio: ‘Dialogus pulcher exhibitus in coenaculo, doctis quibusdam viris et in hac urbe dignitate consilioque facile primis praesentibus. Is sequente die non absque pietate multorum et honesta recreatione repetitus’ (‘At the meal in the evening in the presence of some learned men, who can definitely be regarded as leading men of this city in prestige and wisdom, a play was favourably performed. The next day it was repeated to edify significantly many members of the audience in matters of religion, and to recreate them in a general morally reasonable way’).197 Here you already see how after the deposition of the Prince-Abbot the Jesuits tried to build a good relationship with the main representatives of the city. A preserved play with the title Narcissus derives from the same year, 1579.198 It treats the theme of the misled youth Narcissus, lost to the world, who in a classical death dance scene (with a Chorus musicus, fol. 74v–75r) is punished for his self-love (philautia) and is taken to hell by Mors. The text, which is interspersed with reminiscences of antiquity (Ovid, Horace, Virgil), is conceptually and formally very demanding, as it works with, for instance, echo effects and decrypts itself in its enigmatic parts by using interpretes. Such ‘explanatory inclusions’ (not just interpreters for those who do not know Latin) more often occur in Fulda plays.199 This Narcissus is a purely psychological, religious, educational, and moving drama, without a political view on the outside world. In the Historia Collegii (p. 410) it is noted: ‘Datus eo quoque tempore Dialogus Narcissus dictus sic ad pietatem compositus et motum, et rara concentus et chori harmonia, ut spectatorum oculis bene multis lacrymas excusserit’ (‘At the same time a play was also given with the title “Narcissus”, which was so written for religious edification and inner shock, and for that reason was equipped with an exceptionally beautiful instrumental and vocal music, that it aroused tears in the eyes of many members of the audience’). Especially at the beginning of the 1580s, many dramatizations of Old Testament subjects followed (for instance, De Abrahamo misericorde et pio Dialogus bipartitus, probably about 1580,200 Dialogus de Manna et Petra in 1581,201 and Esther in 1584202). There were also some plays with antique subjects (for instance, De nobili pugna trium Curiorum et totidem

197 Annales Collegii Fuldensis, fol. 27r. 198 Fulda, Hessische Landesbibliothek C 18, fol. 70v–78r. 199 Also in the Dialogus de Manna et Petra of 1581, for instance. 200 Fulda, Hessische Landesbibliothek C 18, fol. 141v–53r. 201 Ibid., fol. 179r–93v. 202 Fulda, Hessische Landesbibliothek C 13, fol. 155r–79r.



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Horatiorum 1583,203 Dialogus de Catilina et nefariis pernitiosisque Romanae Reipublicae civibus 1583204). Surprisingly, we also find two dramatic confrontations with ‘heretics’, viz. a Concilium Fuldae celebratum Augusto mense Anno 1582 written by Andreas Precht from Rottenburg, in which a kind of tribunal is held against Luther,205 as well as the Pugna Haereseos Calvinisticae et Veritatis Catholicae that was produced on 8 July 1583 and written by Caspar Fleisbein from Aschaffenburg. Both plays are unattractive students’ works written in prose. They merely aimed at rhetorical argumentation and were, as the name suggests, deliberately produced for the classroom only, and courted no external attention. For the outer impact of Jesuit theatre was at the time well-calculated. The author of the Litterae annuae of the College admits in the year 1583 that is was not without embarrassment (‘non sine verecundia’) that he could relate the praise with which ‘even the Lutherans’ spoke of the great achievements of the Jesuit gymnasium. Some of the plays that had at first been performed within the school were, because of their great success, repeated publicly ‘coram Reverendissimo et civitatis gubernatore’. Many people had not been able to hold back their tears, including some of the ‘leading Lutherans who formerly had sworn that they would never come to us’ (‘quorum aliquot fuere primarii Lutherani, qui iurarant se nunquam ad nos esse venturos’).206 During the absence of the Prince-Abbot, when the administration of the diocese was in the hands of Prince-Bishop Julius Echter of Würzburg, and subsequently of the Magistri Germaniae Heinrich von Bobenhausen (until 1586) and Archduke Maximilian of Tirol (until 1602), the Jesuits tried for a short time to get the entire population on their side. And they really succeeded in their missionary task, especially in dramas with subjects that, as in the case of Old Testament stories, were part of the common property of the Christian faith and were confessionally uncontroversial, but also in the case of plays about saints or even angels, who in any case had been familiar to Christians through the visual arts for a long time. The same chronicler (fol. 35v) also stated for 1584 that the students had seen nothing comparable to the Jesuit theatrical activity at the universities of the heretics (‘[…] cum nihil huiusmodi in haereticorum academiis vidissent [scil. studiosi]’). The next year, the triumph seems to be 203 Ibid., fol. 46v–63r. 204 Ibid., fol. 126r–48v. 205 Ibid., fol. 11r–25r. 206 Annuae litterae Collegii Fuldensis Anni 1583, fol. 32r.

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complete: at Easter a play about St Catharine was brought before a huge and enthusiastic crowd, among whom were ‘distinguished and educated men’ on the occasion of the opening of the academic year.207 Many citizens who had been hostile to the Jesuits were ‘overwhelmed with joy when they saw how their sons could play their roles in the tragedy or were promoted to the next higher class with public recognition [i.e. at the prizegiving ceremony]’ (‘magna voluptate perfundebantur, quod suos filios vel personas in Tragoedia sustinere vel cum honore ad altiores classes promoveri cernerent’, fol. 39r). This experience had the effect ‘that only a few days later our school experienced a significant inflow of Lutherans’ sons’ (‘ut paucissimis post hanc actionem habitam diebus facta sit non pauca ad scholas per Lutheranorum filios accessio’, ibid.). In the same year 1585, at the actual renovatio studiorum, which traditionally was held in the autumn, the Jesuits produced on 29 September, fittingly upon the feast of St Michael, a play De Angelorum custodia, i.e. about the ‘guardian angels’ who protect people according to Catholic doctrine and act as heavenly messengers in many Jesuit dramas. At this performance the Lutheran citizens especially liked the fact that the Angels were divided into nine choruses (this number is equivalent to Catholic doctrine), and that for its completion Protestant pupils, ‘their own sons’, were attracted: ‘Lutheranis civibus vehementer placuit Angelorum in novem choros distributio, quorum numerum ipsorum filii explebant’ (fol. 39v). The next year, 1586, there followed the Georg drama that has been interpreted above. It was staged as a tribute to the master of the Teutonic Order Archduke Maximilian of Tirol (1558–1618), a brother of Emperor Rudolph II, who had been called to the administration of the Archbishopric.208 It had no anti-Protestant tendency, but a clear political message: in the third scene of Act II the allegory of Sapientia summons people to the common war of Christians against the gens barbara of the Turks and delegates a

207 Katharina was the most common saint on the Jesuit stage during the first decades (from Vienna 1563 onwards): 29 performances in total can be proven, including different ones in Innsbruck in the years 1576, 1577 and 1606; see Tilg, Die Heilige Katharina von Alexandria auf der Bühne des Jesuitentheaters. As the traditional patron of the philosophical faculties St Catharine embodied the connection between religion and science from the Middle Ages onwards. 208 Unfortunately, the cleric Maximilian was otherwise hardly interested in drama. See Tilg, ‘Die Entwicklung des Jesuitendramas vom 16. bis zum 18. Jahrhundert. Eine Fallstudie am Beispiel Innsbruck’ in Glei and Seidel, Das lateinische Drama der Frühen Neuzeit, pp. 183–99, especially pp. 190–91).



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leading role to Maximilian, the worthy successor of St George. With Virgilian pathos she exclaims: Huius erit studium regnis adiungere Christi Errantes populos, et debellare superbos.209 (He [i.e. Maximilian] will address the task of reuniting the wandering people with the Kingdom of Christ and overcoming the proud adversaries).

The Jephtes that was performed in 1588 had no polemical tendency at all.210 Poetologically it is expressly distinct from Buchanan’s tragedy of the same title,211 and typical of Fulda it has music and chant even in parts other than in the choral songs at the end of the acts. The prologue says: Nec vos putetis Buchanano schemate Prodire tantum: comicis tragoediam Novo colore soccis hanc distinximus.212 (Do not expect a play in the [tragic] robe of Buchanan, for we have equipped the tragedy with new colour and with the devices of comedy.)

In fact the deep tragedy of the event is converted in a banal way to a mere sequence of expressions of emotions, especially fear and despair, with subsequent religious consolation. Two crude comical scenes (the second with farmers fighting over stolen livestock213) broaden the action which is determined largely by the military activities of the hero. The Dialogus Arsenius, which was performed within the school at the graduation on 1 May 1589,214 is an educational drama on the right choice

209 Cf. Virgil, Aeneid 6, 852–53. 210 Fulda, Hessische Landesbibliothek C 18, fol. 323r–346v (not in Valentin’s Répertoire). 211 George Buchanan’s Jephthes sive Votum Tragoedia was printed in 1554. In contrast to Buchanan, the Fulda play avoids serious philosophical reflection on the legitimacy of an inhuman vow. See John Wall, ‘The Dramaturgy of Buchanan’s Tragedies’, in: Revard, Rädle and Di Cesare, Acta Conventus Neo-Latini Guelpherbytani, pp. 163–69. 212 Fulda, Hessische Landesbibliothek C 18, fol. 323v. Accordingly, the Epilogue includes the following text: ‘Permista laetis tristia spectastis, viri / Juvenesque studiosi. Haec vita est mortalium / Hic cursus’ (fol. 346v). 213 Interestingly, it was later deleted from the manuscript (fol. 328v-329r); in the margin another hand wrote: ‘germanica’, suggesting that this scene was replaced on the stage by a German scene. Later on, between the second and third scenes of the third act, we read the same indication in the same hand, but without a Latin scene being deleted for that purpose. 214 Preserved in Fulda, Hessische Landesbibliothek B 15, fol. 33r–58r.

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between military service and the artes215 by the two sons of Emperor Theodosius, Honorius and Arcadius, which deliberately refrains from political propaganda and anti-Protestant polemic. After this performance the Fulda Jesuit theatre fell silent for eleven years—or rather the sources known until now are silent. It is likely that the Jesuits did not explicitly disturb the relatively natural confessional politics216 of the two commissioners to whom the administration of the Imperial Abbey was transferred. The year 1601 included two messages in their Annales about a remarkable approach and attempts of reconciliation with the Calvinist Landgrave Maurice of Hessen-Kassel (1572–1632), in which the theatre played an important role. Maurice, who was appreciated for his ingenium and his doctrina, paid a visit to the Fulda College (not merely cursim, in transit) and was offered the performance of the Dialogismus de boni pastoris officio, which he praised directly after the event as being very successful and remunerated the actors with 6 thalers.217 A Drama comicum, quo, Concordiae rarissimae inter Magnates virtutis Argumento, Gymnasii Fuldensis Juventus duorum Nobilissimorum Prin­ cipum Maximiliani et Mauritii congressum prosequitur has been preserved from the same year, 1601.218 In this play, written by magister G. Meldecker, Concordia descends from heaven, which is, as the title says, ‘a rare virtue among high policymakers’. In a dialogue with the genii patriae of Austria and Hessen and the messenger of the gods, Mercury, she praises the blessings of ‘harmony’. She commits the two illustrious rulers Archduke Maximilian and Maurice of Hessen-Kassel to strive for this concordia unconditionally at their coming meeting. The short play was not performed, but on 29 October 1601 it was given as a manuscript to Archduke Maximilian for his encounter with Maurice (‘Donatum scripto, non exhibitum, Serenissimo Maximiliano Archiduci Mensis Octobris die XXIX, Anno 1601’, fol. 73v). This is a memorable document for the pacifying influential participation of Jesuit theatre in high politics.

215 Thematically, the play is comparable to the aforementioned Stratocles by Jacobus Pontanus (in both plays a wise counsellor Eubulus features who tries to win the young man tending towards military service, here Eupolemius, over to study). The problem of holding  the young students from participating in war seems to have become topical in this warlike era. 216 Metz, ‘Fulda’, p. 141. 217 Annales Collegii Fuldensis, p. 203. 218 Fulda, Hessische Landesbibliothek B 15, fol. 73v–76r.



jesuit theatre in germany, austria and switzerland255 Confessionalization? A Dramatist Moderates the Climate of Restoration Through Art and Imagination: the Case of Gottfried Lemius

The attempt to reach Concordia failed, and the next year the Catholic renewal of Fulda began with the restitution of the Prince-Bishop Balthasar who had been exiled in 1576. Of course the Jesuits participated in this attempt for re-Catholicization to the best of their abilities. As for their theatrical activities, the year 1602 brought something new, not only for Fulda, but for the entire history of early Jesuit theatre. It was here for the first time that an author made his appearance—after residing at one place for more than two decades (with an interruption of eight years). Apparently without any competition he dominated the Jesuit theatre in his own style, regarding it as his own domain. Gottfried Lemius (1562–1632), for a long time an unknown name in research, wrote at least six dramas that were completely preserved with an indication of the author in Fulda manuscript B 15. Thus it considerably expands the limited canon of Jesuit playwrights who do not, like most others, remain buried in anonymity. With the exception of Petrus Aloisius, which can be dated to 1627,219 his plays are the last evidence of the once thriving Fulda Jesuit theatre up to the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648. However, thanks to their dramaturgical inventions, they already show the way to the future, a theatre that is less interested in religion, but rather in aesthetics. While in Germania superior Jakob Bidermann, in his growing distrust of the world, darkened the scene before the Thirty Years’ War with his heavily loaded, ascetic drama where people struggle for salvation, Lemius virtuosically tested his art in language and stagecraft. With such significant differences, we can clearly distinguish how the individual talents of excellent dramatists, including Biderman (certainly) and Lemius (probably), made themselves felt more than the regulated ideological doctrine of the Societas Jesu pretended. Gottfried Lemius (1562–1632),220 from 1582 onward a Jesuit, worked mainly in Fulda (1601/2–1608, 1616–1623) as a professor of rhetoric, prefect of studies and Regens Seminarii, as well as a preacher in the cathedral. He probably spent the years 1608 to 1616 in Mainz. From 1623 until his death he was a confessor in Cologne. Lemius left six, in some cases very extensive and nonetheless unpublished plays, preserved, as already mentioned, 219 Valentin, Répertoire, no. 988. 220 Cf. Kollatz, ‘Eine Darstellung der Gründungsgeschichte Fuldas’, and ead., ‘Ästhetik der katholischen Reform am Beispiel der Dramen des Gottfried Lemius SJ (1562–1632)’, with on p. 851, n. 1, the latest data on Lemius’s biography, correcting Valentin, Répertoire, 2, p. 1076. As early as 1998 Kollatz announced a dissertation on the dramatist Lemius.

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in ms B 15. They were performed in Fulda between 1602 and 1620. The last one, an oratorio-like play entitled Episcopus, was written by Lemius at the age of 58. Thus he is likely to have been one of the oldest Jesuit dramatic authors from the period discussed here. Lemius wrote the following plays. Archaeofuldalogus seu origo rerum Fuldensium Drama (fol. 77v–97v) was performed on 22 December 1602 for the ceremonial reintroduction of the Abbot Balthasar von Dernbach. It is a three-hour history drama (almost continuously in hexameters) on the foundation of the monastery of Fulda and the last years of St Boniface. Given the confessional-political significance of the historical situation at the beginning of the ‘second CounterReformation’ in Fulda,221 the reader is surprised by the unaggressive, often genteel tone of the play. It seems as if the author wanted to calm the political atmosphere. The successfully endured affair of the dismissal of the Abbot is only vaguely mentioned in the Prologue. The Fulda school was, it says, pleased to see that he took up again ‘the reins that had been torn away from him by some stroke of fate’ (‘habenas / nescio quo fato escussas’). Immediately after that the prologue pays homage to ‘the Mecenas and sublime patron of both the tragic and the comic dramatic art’ (‘Musarum Maecoenati, augustoque Thaliae / Sive cothurnatae Patrono, sive revinctae / Tranquillis plantas soccis […]’, fol. 77v). The prologue continues its attempt at pacification, stating that since this comedy knows no malice and nobody is harrassed with arrows, everybody could participate in the performance, except for the whiners: Et quia nostra caret res comica dente, nec ullus Pungitur obliquis, quisquis fuat ille, sagittis, Quemlibet, excepto momo, patiemur adesse. (fol. 78r)

At a single point in the play the Protestant doctrine is touched upon anonymously and almost covertly, viz. when, in a dialogue with Carolomannus, the dying Pippinus hopes for their reunion in heaven and says: Id non sola fides, non sola volumina sacris Scripta notis, nec sola Dei lex cognita, nec crux Sola dabit Christi patientis visa: sed aevum Insuper infandi laudabile criminis expers, Et pulchris (operante Deo) virtutibus actum. (fol. 86r) (This reunion will be given to us not ‘by faith alone’, not only by the books written with holy words, not just by knowledge of the divine law, nor by the

221 Cf. Walther, Abt Balthasars Mission, pp. 677–85, esp. p. 680.



jesuit theatre in germany, austria and switzerland257 mere sight of the suffering Christ, but beyond that, by a laudable life that is free from sin and [with the help of God] accompanied by glorious virtues.)

Humour is one of the strong points of Lemius, who also puts on stage practices of popular religion with subtle irony. In the third scene of Act II (fol. 87r) a beggar tells a colleague that in his distress he had stolen a beehive filled with honeycombs from a rich man, and that out of gratitude for the succesful theft he had hung on the church wall an ex-voto made from the wax that had been left, which, however, in his very hands was suddenly transformed into a stone. The other beggar then strongly advises him to confess his guilt publicly, so that the people could take notice of such a miracle. Several humorous hunting scenes222 enliven the action which historically sticks rather precisely to the sources.223 The author achieves a comical, stylistic-parodic effect, especially when he introduces simple folk such as beggars or hunters who use a lofty register, and rough men at a boar hunt who give a sample of fine hexametric stichomythia.224 For a highly complex historical situation, viz. the return of a very problematic spiritual leader in a political situation full of confessional battles, Lemius has made a masterful, sovereign and relaxed drama. As a promise and as a poetological programme for his own, possibly undisciplined activity as a man of theatre, these three verses of the epilogue say: Archaeofuldalogum non uno schemate nostrum Vidistis prodisse foras: non erudit unam Scilicet aetatem: non unius ordinis omnes. (fol. 97v) (You have seen that our drama Archaeofuldalogus did not come to the stage in a uniform shape: finally its educational mission does not apply to one single age group, and not all spectators have the same rank.)

His second play, Maioflosculus drama scholasticum (fol. 98r–123r), is an educational drama in which the contrasting lives of two students are presented. The first originates in a wealthy family and degenerates into a miller’s servant; the other starts poor and achieves inner perfection by an intellectually and morally exemplary life (‘studio, virtute, doctrina’). Perhaps the author limited himself deliberately to a fictional-allegorical action in the strict school setting, in which a position in current politics 222 For instance, I, 2; I, 5; I, 8. 223 Cf. Kollatz, Ästhetik der katholischen Reform, pp. 856–62. 224 Cf. I, 5, fol. 82r. The same applies to the virtuoso dialogue between the two devils Marlocappus and Glirizebub in the Psalterium Marianum of 1605, Scene 9, fol. 133r.

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could not be expected. The play was performed on 30 October 1604 on the occasion of the opening of the school year and directly introduced the prize-giving to the best students (Distributio praemiorum). Psalterium Marianum (fol. 123v–142r) was performed on the Feast of the Annunciation (25 March 1605) by the Sodality of Mary. Its subject is the conversion by St Dominicus of the city of Carcassonne, which fell into the heresy of the Albigenses in the thirteenth century. In particular, it is about the liberation of the heretic Tolosanus from the power of the devil and about the introduction of the miraculous Rosary and the prayer connected to it in the devotional life of the Catholic Church. In the Fulda theatre, therefore, the dice have finally fallen in favour of confessional propaganda at this time (1605). The rigorous religious edict of 24 February 1603 enacted by Balthasar now finally shows its effect.225 Lemius’s play is, according to its purpose, a powerful and self-conscious demonstration of triumphal, overtly ‘anti-heretical’ veneration of the Virgin Mary, but without mentioning explicitly contemporary phenomena or even current names.226 True to the historical sources, the action is set in the Middle Ages, but every spectator is able to transfer the hostile rhetorical arguments against the Albigenses to contemporary Protestants. The last doubts are removed—incidentally, in the metre of Ambrosian hymns— by the following Chorus Daemonum: Solo Dei subnititur Verbo salus mortalium, Et huius orbis commodis: Sola obtinetur terreus Honor fide: operis inclyti Exercitatio impigra Pudenda abominatio est […]. (fol. 132v) (The salvation of mortals is solely based on the Word of God, and on the pleasures of this world. By faith alone reputation in this world is acquired, whereas tireless pursuit of glorious [good] works is a vile abomination […].)

Lemius adeptly includes a self-critical admonition even to the contemporary Catholic Church in a report by the devil Glirizebub on the former 225 In the wake of this edict, all citizens of Fulda were summoned individually before Easter 1604 and faced with the choice of either confessing their faith in the Catholic Church or emigrateing. Cf. Walther, Abt Balthasars Mission, pp. 680–85. 226 At some point the haereticus Tolosanus, who at the end of the play is converted by Dominicus with the help of the Virgin Mary, expresses his concern for the existence of his ‘reformed religion’: res ardet in ipsis / Exedris, populusque reformata anxius haeret / Relligione […]. (fol. 130r).



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inmates of hell, for in that place there are numerous spiritual and secular princes, but only a few farmers, and many greed-driven merchants (mercatores) as well as countless clergymen who ‘despise reason and God and transgress the laws and monastic obligations’ (‘qui ratione Deoque / Transiliunt leges ac iura monastica, spreto’, fol. 137v).227 The natural presence of devils on the stage is matched by the information that seventyfour witches were burned in Fulda in 1604 (sixty in 1603), who as a matter of fact all received spiritual care from the Jesuits.228 The thirteenth scene is unexpectedly cheerful and a humourous gem. In this scene, after the approbation and the establishment of the Rosary by Dominicus, merchants offer their new Rosaries of boxwood or horn, and fight for the lowest prices and the best places close to the church door. With the Psalterium Marianum Lemius seems to have met his target of confessional polemics for the time being. On 15 March 1606 Abbot Balthasar died. From 1606 to 1622 his successor Johann Friedrich von Schalbach ruled, showing a striking ‘lack of confessional zeal’ and returning to a tolerant ‘compensation policy’.229 Lemius for his part returned to his learned, language-conscious and imaginative dramatic style. His next play is a school comedy again, which opened the school year in the autumn of 1606 (with a poetically staged distributio praemiorum).230 The play Hercules Clarius comoedia scholastica (fol. 142v–69r) is based on a story of Prodicus of Ceos (5th c. bc) about Hercules in bivio, which in this case is altered in a dramaturgically original way. The written action takes place over four acts in a purely antique world. The young Hercules becomes acquainted with all ancient philosophers (Diogenes, Pythagoras, etc.), whose ascetic life lessons he follows faithfully, against the temptations of the ‘world’ (Mundus). The antique gods too, especially Apollo, undoubtedly count for Hercules. At the end of the fourth act he overcomes his adversaries and seducers (Mundus, Cupido) in a brief, at times comic turmoil.231 Although in the preserved text the prize-giving (Distributio praemiorum) follows immediately, the action does not end with the victory of the hero in his (until now fully antique) world.232 Another scene 227 Here, the reference is obviously to the notoriously lax life of the Fulda canons, upon whom Balthasar had expressly imposed the dismissal of their concubines. 228 Cf. Walther, Abt Balthasars Mission, pp. 686–87. 229 Ibidem, p. 691. 230 Although Balthasar had been dead for only a few months, not a word is devoted to him any more. 231 Some text is lost between fol. 165v and 166r. 232 This is done by the character of the fool (Morio) who—an atrocity for humanists— speaks in medieval Leonine, i.e. internally rhyming, hexameters.

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follows which gives the entire drama a Christian meaning, requiring no language. In the list of Personae one reads: Somnium Herculis Act. 4, Sc. 1 (fol. 143v). This means that in this final scene the (new) dream of Hercules is brought on the stage. Its content, however, is told in a few lines. According to this explanation, four merely pantomimically acted images appear for Hercules: ‘He sees first the crazy world’ (‘Videt 1. Mundum delirantem […]’); ‘second, three rare ornaments of youth’ (‘tria rara adolescentiae ornamenta’); third a beautiful young man in a lion’s skin who destroys the sanctuaries of the gods and sees how an angel drags the sinners into hell; and fourth and finally, he sees how this beautiful young man smiles at him, the dreaming Hercules, and recommends him to the guardian angel. All actors of this dream wear masks (‘Omnes Personae erunt larvatae’). The first images that Hercules sees in his dream stem from the popular treatise, illustrated with emblems, Veridicus Christianus of the Jesuit Johannes David. His Figura 45 (pp. 144–47) shows ‘The World’ (Mundus), ‘instar stultae mulieris’, who manipulates a balance held by a fool, so that upon the decision between true and false happiness the latter prevails and the voluptas virtutum succumbs. Some additional scenes are inserted, e.g. the Annunciation and the Fall of the angels with the archangel Michael. The inscriptio to the pictura reads: ‘Mundus delirans non sapit, quae Dei sunt’ (‘the foolish world does not understand the things that belong to God’). The subscriptio runs: At, nonne hos Mundus, mera ceu ludibria, spernit? Delirat: nec vera videt nec iudicat aequa. (Does not the world despise these [saintly] Persons, as if they were fully worthless? She is really mad: she does not see what is true, nor does she judge equal.)

Figura 46 (cf. pp. 148–51) shows three women (Oboedientia, Taciturnitas and Verecundia), who keep three crowns ready for a young man kneeling for them. The inscriptio reads: ‘Tria rara adolescentiae ornamenta’ (‘Three rare ornaments of young age’), whereas the subscriptio runs: Praetextam pueri quid Bullâ suavius ornet? Pareat: Ora premat: castus Pudor imbuat ora. (What could adorn the cloths of a boy better than the golden headdress?233 He must obey, keep silent, and bear the reverence of chastity on his face.)

233 In antiquity, this was put away when the toga virilis was assumed.



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So here Lemius for the first time uses new means of scenic emblematics, which render the word unnecessary, and points to the future of theatre. After twelve years of silence at the Fulda theatre, Lemius staged his fifth play. Its title announces its cause and content, Irene drama hospitale (fol. 169r–90r). It was performed on 8 September 1618 by the Fulda gymnasium as a gift to honour two high-ranking guests, the Bishops of Bamberg and Würzburg, in the presence of the Fulda Abbot Johann Friedrich. In this play Lemius perfected his emblematic dramatic technique,234 of which he had given a first token in the Somnium Herculis of the previous Comoedia. The allegory (‘Persona ficta’) of the homeless Peace (we are in the first year of the Thirty Years’ War) laments the ‘disastrous state of the earth’ (‘Pax calamitosum Telluris statum dequeritur’, fol. 170r) and sees in her dream as veteris discordiae exempla nine enacted scenes from the Old Testament in which Discordia was at work, for instance ‘2. Cain interficit Abelem’, or ‘6. Absolon persequitur Patrem’.235 Pax designates as causes for Discordia the capital vices of Avaritia, Superbia and Ira. Each of them gets its own pantomime schemata with subsequent explanatory textual scenes.236 Parts two and three present examples of Discordia, especially between spouses. This is followed by a series of ordinary textual scenes of great plasticity with occasionally misogynistic and anti-Semitic features. Here one finds everyday life presented in a very lively way, wittily and with typically philological delicacy. The concluding scene offers, after a virtuoso argumentative debate about war, the officially sworn reconciliation between the war goddess Bellona and Pax. This reconciliation is made possible in the wake of a messenger’s report on the military threat to Christians by an unspecified haeresis. The sixth play, Episcopus Drama Oratorium (fol. 190v–211v) was performed in 1620 to celebrate the visit of Johann Schweikhard von Kronberg (1553–1626), Archbishop of Mainz and Elector of the Holy Roman Empire. Using emblematic images and scenes, it celebrates episcopal dignity. The allegorical figures that appear, such as the three Horae (i.e. the hours of morning, noon and evening) or the four seasons, introduce themselves as speaking characters who explain their significance themselves. On the

234 The Latin-Greek terminus for such emblematic staged images is schema. 235 In each of the nine scenes of this schema veteris discordiae, the characters of Daemon and Discordia are present on stage. 236 In the Schema Irae (fol. 178v), for instance, a Furiosus appears, in great excitement and with dagger drawn, tearing his hat into pieces out of anger and suffering from an epileptic attack.

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other hand there are, as in the schemata of the Irene drama, solely pantomimic scenes (for instance, ‘Aethiops lavatur’), which are staged as visions and are interpreted afterwards. The play consists of five partes that are, as a rule, written in prose. In the centre the protagonist Episcopus is presented in dialogue with different kinds of people from all classes. The witty and funny conversations are concerned with several subjects, for instance literature from antiquity, the problem of alcoholism, poverty, court life, card playing, dicing, ambition, etc., but above all religion and especially ‘heresy’. A representative of this ‘heresy’ is the classical ‘liar’ and ‘mocker of God’, Lucianus praedicans, who at first speaks Greek,237 pretending to be an Orthodox Christian, but then, decrypted as an anagram, is unmasked as an alter ego of Calvinus, as a Jehovae minister.238 At the end of the second part citizens push him aside for his insolence—so forcefully, in fact, that he falls unconscious and needs a doctor. The Deacon of the Bishop then concludes: ‘Etiam fatui et haeretici homines sunt. Miserationi sit locus’ (fol. 198r: ‘Fools and heretics are people too. One should have mercy on them’). In spite of the dominant theme of ‘heresy’—which is no surprise in the Thirty Years’ War—the tone of this play is not fanatical, but rather mild as a result of the humour and irony. This may have appealed to the onlooking Elector, who during his reign (1604–1626) treated Protestants with respect. With its inexhaustible wealth of motifs, this intelligent drama is unusual if not unique in its literary and stylistic form. It marks the vital end in the development of Lemius’s dramatic technique towards a multimedia work of art. It seems to be especially noteworthy that he refrains from the bounded form of language. The Latin language, so long caressed, ceases to be placed in the centre of drama as it gives way to visual action. Collective Anonymity and the Problem of a Canon If one overlooks more than forty years of continuous production of the Fulda Jesuit theatre, one may be surprised to see that Lemius’s plays are the only coherent work that can be observed in its development and associated with an author known by name. All other significant plays that were produced in Fulda and have in part survived in manuscript, remain

237 The great satirical rationalist Lucian of Samosata (2nd c. ad) was a favourite author of the early modern period and his name was on the Index of the Catholic Church. 238 When rearranged, the letters of ‘Lucianus’ give the name ‘Calvinus’.



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anonymous, unrelated to each other and isolated. Not a single play, not even by Lemius, was published. This, however, is regrettably the situation for the entire, hardly manageable stock of Jesuit dramas. To a considerable extent they exist as a still disordered pile of unread literature of a therefore unknown quality. This means an extraordinary degree of difficulty for literary research, because it cannot, as in the case of the established literatures, approach its objects with an already secured stock of particular texts and with systematized knowledge. Above all else there is a lack of a reliable canon of authors and no fundamental stock of works generally available in print or electronically. For the period treated here, the canon of Jesuit dramas that was received in literary history and for a long time valid consists of those relatively few authors whose dramas have fortunately been available for several centuries in literary tradition, though hardly noticed, through contemporary or posthumous print: Pontanus, Balde, Bidermann, Masen and Avancini.239 A condition for being printed was, of course, that the dramas could be assigned to a representative author. Anonymous works were not printed at all in former times. Today there are notable exceptions, such as the edition of the Triumphus Divi Michaelis Archangeli Bavarici of Munich 1597.240 In general, though, anonymous texts have only a small chance of being edited in competition with plays for which an author can be established. The increasing interest in Jesuit theatre, especially since the second half of the last century, has brought new insight into the cultural importance, historical function and formal complexity of this particular literary genre and brought to light some authors with their individual work. Thus the canon of Jesuit playwrights known by name could be expanded. It is still sorely incomplete and objectively unfair. One should always bear this in mind, and it also applies to the attempt to present and characterize important representatives of early Jesuit theatre with their works on the following pages, in order to make available elements for a ‘literary history’ of Jesuit drama in German lands. Here the long established authors can be dealt with more briefly than those authors who were added only in the course of time. The entire list of dramatists of the Jesuit Order with respective short biographies is given by Valentin in

239 Some more names were added that, as a rule, first had to be found and classed by meticulous research. This applies, for instance, to Jakob Gretser, whose immense dramatic oeuvre had been made visible from the manuscripts by Anton Dürrwächter as early as 1912. 240 Edited by Bauer and Leonhardt, in 2000 (Fig. 6).

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the ‘Index des noms propres’ of his Répertoire.241 Summarized information on the most important authors is given at the end of this chapter. Whether the authors appear isolated as separate authors, or acting in the organized network of their Order, of course depends on their individual circumstances, but also on the often fortuitous circumstances of tradition of the relevant sources.242 Materials for a History of German Jesuit Drama To our present knowledge, some of the Jesuit playwrights were working on their own, as separate authors, but most of them acted in networks. They were interrelated as teachers and pupils, colleagues or friends. In this respect, Matthäus Rader, a rather poor playwright himself, is a key figure, who was a pupil of Jacobus Pontanus, and a teacher of Jakob Bidermann, Jeremias Drexel, Georg Stengel and Wolfgang Schönsleder, all Jesuits, all dramatists. We can see centres of dramatic activity, often related to the circumstances of individual authors. In the following we will try to give the authors their place in their networks. Two Theatre Pioneers of the Rhenish Jesuit Province Peter Michael, called Brillmacher (1542–1595), from Cologne is the first German Jesuit we know by name whose plays from the early days of Jesuit theatre are extant. He worked as a teacher, preacher and polemical theologian, and as a diplomat in the Lower German Province: in Trier, Mainz (1563–1567, 1569), Cologne, Speyer (Rector 1571–1578), at the court of the Duke of Jülich-Kleve-Berg (1585–1587) and in Münster (Rector of the newly founded College, 1588–1595).243 In 1567 Brillmacher reported to Rome that he had ‘devoted to the writing of comedies and tragedies’ the last four years in addition to his preaching and his teaching of the classical languages.244 From this phase stems Daniel, a dramatization of the most impressive stories of the Book of Daniel (on the chaste Susanna, the dream of the huge statue with feet of clay, the three youngsters in the fiery furnace, Nebuchadnezzar’s transformation into an animal).245 It was 241 Valentin, Répertoire, 2, pp. 1015–1133. 242 Useful information on their theatrical activities is primarily to be found in the authors’ correspondence. 243 Cf. Valentin, Répertoire, 2, pp. 1031–32. 244 Cf. Duhr, Geschichte der Jesuiten, 1, p. 150. 245 Ed. and transl. Michel, ‘Das Jesuitendrama Daniel von 1565 in Mainz’.



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performed in the summer of 1565 in Mainz, with more than a hundred actors, first at the court of Archbishop Daniel Brendel of Homburg, then Martinsburg, then again (probably outside) in the Burse Zum Algesheimer, and it was reprised in Cologne in 1579. In all probability Athalia (or Joas) was performed as well in Mainz in 1567; it is preserved in manuscript in Dillingen.246 Also produced at Mainz was Militia est vita hominis in 1566, at Speyer in 1574. Absolon,247 discussed above, was created in Speyer in 1571, as is evident from the local prologue, and was probably performed again in Ingolstadt in 1584 before Duke Wilhelm V. Magdalena Comoedia nova et sacra was performed in Cologne in 1579 as well as in Mainz in 1583 and is preserved in a Cologne manuscript; this play may also have been written by Brillmacher.248 These plays are characterized by a unique richness of several metres which, however, did not always originate from poetical ratio and often were intended to serve a didactic function.249 Jakob Masen in his poetics of drama in 1657 reproached such inconsistency of metres as inappropriate. Whereas in his political function Brillmacher followed a harsh CounterReformation line, in his Latin sermons, which Calvinists and Lutherans also attended, he was more constrained. In accordance with the Order’s tactical motto, Brillmacher held an argumentative contest against the Protestants instead of an aggressive confrontation. Correspondingly, in his plays without any polemic against heretics he tried to show the audience instructive and attractive scenes of exemplary Christian life from which all people could benefit. The prologue to Absolon expresses his purpose: […] Agite ergo non fabulam Obscaenis foedam iam affero sermonibus, Sed actionem sacris natam literis, Gravem, pudicam, maestam, laetam, omnium Hominum conditioni utilem […]. (Thus now I do not bring a story on stage that is distorted by obscene words, but a play that springs from Holy Writ, serious, chaste, sad and happy, and useful for the life of all people.)250

246 Cf. Valentin, Répertoire, nos. 445 and 446 (it is the same play). 247 Fulda, Landesbibliothek C 18, fol. 194v–232r. 248 Valentin, Répertoire, no. 142. 249 Cf. Michel, ‘Das Jesuitendrama Daniel von 1565 in Mainz’, p. 126. This also applies to the Absolon. The stage directions are numerous and precisely prescribe each action on stage. 250 Fol. 195r.

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The Epilogue too reiterates the message of the play that invites reconciliation of all mankind, and he ends with a self-ironic point that suits the Rhinelander Brillmacher well: Hunc [scil. Deum] non timebit, observabit, strenue et Colet, quem hoc uno cultu haud quisquam ambigat Delectari unicè, nihil aliud quoque Aversari et vindicta atroci perdere Quam flagitium: sed timeo ne videar nimis Sapere puer: si, quae barba est mihi domi, Tulissem, haberi grandis hic poteram sophos. (No one will fear that God, everybody will respect Him and worship Him sincerely, knowing well that He does not favour anything but this worship and also neither hates nor punishes anything so much as the offence of sin. But I fear now that I, being a boy, am too wise. If I had brought the beard I have at home, I could have made the impression of a great philospher.)251

The second playwright from the Rhenish Province was Gottfried Lemius. His substantial and innovative contribution to Jesuit theatre has been presented in detail above within the framework of the example of Fulda. The Theatrical Centre of Bavaria as a Network of Colleges, Teachers and Pupils from the Societas Jesu The most important and well-known representative of Bavarian Jesuit theatre, Jacobus Pontanus (Jakob Spanmüller, c. 1542–1626)252 was a magister perpetuus who can be called a ‘Jesuit Erasmus’. He was born in Brüx/Most in Northern Bohemia and worked from 1566 onwards, initially in Ingolstadt. From 1570 to 1579 he taught as a professor of humanities and rhetoric at the still young Jesuit university at Dillingen an der Donau. Here Pontanus, who was familiar with Christian Humanism in Italy through his friendships (with such figures as Marc-Antoine Muret and Franscesco Benci) and had close links with Justus Lipsius, engaged in extraordinarily varied activities that were above all dedicated to Latin lingual culture, that is, to the school. Thus he became the most influential propagator of humanist studies in the Societas Jesu. After what was apparently only a brief spell studying theology, Pontanus was ordained as a priest in 1581. In

251 Fol. 231v. 252 The latest and most competent study of Pontanus is written by Leinsle, ‘Jacobus Pontanus SJ (1542–1626). Humanismus und pietas in der Spätrenaissance’; cf. also Paul Richard Blum, ‘Jacobus Pontanus SJ’.



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1580 he had stayed in Innsbruck for some time, to stage his short Ludus de instauratione studiorum,253 which was also staged in Dillingen (1581? and again in 1587 and 1591) under the title Beani. It is one of the four dramas in which Pontanus represented problems of school life and humanist education during his time in Dillingen. The other three are Stratocles,254 1578 and 1590; the still unedited Ludus Bachanalium or Gastrophilus (performed in 1578 as an interlude during Plautus’ Mostellaria); and the Dialogus de connubii miseriis, in 1580.255 The Ludus de instauratione Studiorum shows, in a didactic way, the right or wrong relationship between students and teachers. In his other plays, too, the author operates with the dramatically effective means of contrast that is ultimately solved harmoniously, and lightened with comical elements. In Stratocles the hero decides after a harsh battle against mercenary service in favour of study. De connubii miseriis uses traditional misogynistic arguments to attempt to secure the loyalty of the youth to the good of education. The Shrovetide play also ends with the conversion of the dissipated bon vivant (Gastrophilus) to a reformed life guided by reason. Pontanus’s biblical drama Eleazarus Machabaeus (mentioned above) was staged in Dillingen in 1587 and in Augsburg in 1618 and 1619. Printed in 1600 in the Tyrocinium poeticum of the third edition of his Poeticae institutiones, it shows the steadfast struggle of the Jewish priest Eleazarus, who opposes the abolition of traditional religion under Antiochus and suffers martyrdom as a result. It is a baroque constantia drama inspired by Seneca, also in a technical sense (cf. the stichomythia). Its ‘action’ is expressed mainly in reflective language that explains conflicts, rather than in dramatical actions on stage. The cruel martyrdom is only reported by a messenger. In the Immolatio Isaac that was performed in Dillingen in 1590 and which was inserted in the Tyrocinium of his poetics in 1594 (and again in a revised version in 1600), it is Abraham’s conflict between his love for his son and his obedience to God that is presented by two allegorical figures, Ratio and Natura. The former represented the principle of good, the latter, as a seductive inner voice of Abraham, the power of evil. In 1582 Pontanus was ordered to go to the decisive place of his service, the Jesuit gymnasium St Salvator in Augsburg, which was founded by

253 Ed. Tilg, pp. 267–99. 254 Ed. Rädle, Lateinische Ordensdramen, pp. 296–365, and McCreight and Blum, Soldier or Scholar. 255 Fidel Rädle, ‘Jacobus Pontanus: Dialogus de connubii miseriis. Kritische Edition und Kommentar’.

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Pontanus and the dramatist Wolfgang Starck (1554–1605).256 In Augsburg, where he died in 1626, he wrote his extremely successful teaching and reading books (Progymnasmata Latinitatis, in three parts, 1588–1594; Attica Bellaria, 1615–1620), as well as commentaries on classical texts and poems. His Poeticarum institutionum libri tres (1594,3 1600) are a true treasure of classicist poetics. Here Pontanus employs numerous exemplary quotes to transmit the ancient and contemporary rules and standards (often following Scaliger’s Poetices libri septem) and fills critical gaps (for Christian hymns and epigraphy, for instance). However, he acknowledges that his contemporary literature, especially by dramatists of his Order who do not care about the Aristotelian unities, pursues its own poetic path. With his exceedingly rich literary production, designed above all for the schools, Pontanus is not only ‘an Upper German Lipsius’ (‘ein oberdeutscher Lipsius’),257 but has also become the Erasmus of the Jesuits.258 The dialogues of his Progymnasmata Latinitatis, which are related to the Erasmian Colloquia familiaria, are written with elegant lightness and gentle humour, and represent attractive small forms of the dramatic genre. Matthäus Rader (1561–1634) was a pupil of Jacobus Pontanus and teacher of the later dramatists Jakob Bidermann, Jeremias Drexel, Georg Stengel259 and Wolfgang Schönsleder. He was thus a central figure of the Jesuit school humanism in Bayern. His scholarly contacts (among them Justus Lipsius, Antonio Possevino and Marcus Welser) are documented in a vast corpus of correspondence.260 In matters of theatre, his pupils with whom he was in closest contact often asked him for advice and help (including borrowing his plays). Rader created numerous dramas, which nonetheless attest to a meagre talent. At least three of them are preserved. 256 Cf. Mahlmann-Bauer, ‘Jacob Pontanus in Augsburg’. 257 Cf. Barbara Bauer, ‘Jacob Pontanus SJ, ein oberdeutscher Lipsius’. 258 Erasmus’ works were on the ‘Index of Prohibited Books’ and therefore they had to be replaced for Catholic schools. 259 These three are mentioned in the often cited epigram of Rader: ‘Tres ego discipulos numero de mille trecentis;//Stengelium lepidum, Drexeliumque pium//Atque Bidermannum, qui nunc est alter Aquinas,//Alter Aristoteles, Tullius atque Maro’ (after von Reinhardstöttner, ‘Zur Geschichte des Jesuitendramas in München’, p. 165, n. 261). 260 Cf. Schmid, ‘Rader, Matthäus, Jesuit’. The correspondence of Rader offers important information on the theatre history of Bavaria. It is evaluated in the following and quoted with the numbers of the letters concerned. Two volumes of this correspondence have been critically edited. For vol. 1, cf. n. 37. We can add Bayerische Gelehrtenkorrespondenz I, P. Matthaeus Rader SJ, vol. 2.



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Ioannes Damascenus was performed in Augsburg in July 1593, and on 26 May 1619 in Dillingen.261 His second play, Cassianus Drama, De Divo Cassiano,262 was performed in Munich on the occasion of the opening of the academic year, in the presence of the Duke of Bayern Wilhelm and his brother, Archduke Ernst, who at that time was staying in Munich for a fortnight.263 The play was presented again in October 1597, in Regensburg, as appears from the version that was reworked by Wolfgang Starck for that occasion. This time the occasion was to honour the eighteen-year-old Cardinal Philipp von Wittelsbach, who was about to leave for Rome to be assigned a titular church. The journey did not go ahead, however, since Philipp fell ill and died the year after. The play is situated in school life and shows several possible relationships between teachers and students. It is based on the legend of the martyr St Cassianus of Imola, who was stabbed to death by his fanatic pagan pupils. Vigilius (Hypnomachia) was performed in Augsburg in 1595, in Dillingen on 16 October 1597 and in Innsbruck in October 1602.264 From Dillingen, Wolfgang Schönsleder wrote to his teacher Rader on 10 September 1597: Placeret nobis R[everende] P[ater] Cassianus tua [scil. fabula], nisi crudelius et παθητικώτερον esse videretur spectare turbam puerilem in suum magistrum stilis saevientem. Petimus itaque etiam atque etiam nobis aut Io[annem] Damascenum mittas aut maximè Vigilium tuum, quem gratius fore spectaculum quàm martyrem illum Cass[ianum] auditoribus existimamus. (Your Cassianus play would please us, Reverend Father, if we would not deem it too cruel and horrible to see how this group of students are raging with pencils against their teacher. Therefore we ask you again to send us your Johannes Damascenus or preferably your Vigilius, since we think that it will be a more pleasant sight for the public than the martyr Cassianus.)265

Upon receipt of this request Rader actually sent his Vigilius to Dillingen, where it was performed five weeks later. ‘Tempus urget’, as Schönsleder rightly indicated.266 The educational drama Vigilius also treats the theme of study and the right relationship between teacher and student.267 261 Cf. Valentin, Répertoire, no. 443, and the correction in Letter no. 10, n. 4. 262 Dillingen, Studienbibliothek XV 237, fol. 75r–118r. 263 Cf. Ignatius Agricola, Historia Provinciae Societatis Jesu Germaniae Superioris II (Augustae Vindelicorum: 1729), p. 82, no. 294. 264 The text preserved—Dillingen, Studienbibliothek XV 245, fol. 50r–85r—dates from the Dillingen performance: on fol. 56r Scribonius says: Tandem Dilingae sumus, ut placet urbs? Pigrinus answers: Perplacet. 265 Letter no. 10, p. 21. 266 Ibid. 267 Cf. Rädle, ‘Schulstress’, pp. 73–105.

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Besides these three preserved texts the following, apparently lost plays can be assigned to Rader:268 Aesopus venditus, repeatedly staged, in Munich at Carnival in 1593, in Augsburg in 1594, in Ingolstadt in 1595 and in Dillingen in 1597;269 Pseudoplasta (Philopseudes), staged in Augsburg in October 1599 and in Dillingen in February 1605 (at Carnival) (cf. Letter no. 44, n. 8);270 Sancta Afra, staged with great success in Augsburg in the autumn of 1600. Several letters to and from Welser deal with the slow progress of this drama, which is said to have moved both Lutherans and Catholics in Augsburg to tears. Rader declined a repeat of the performances as resolutely as he rejected the printing of the texts, although Schönsleder advised the author to have this play printed: ‘O Afram tuam! praelo subije [...]’ (cf. Letter no. 94, n. 4, and no. 212, n. 6).271 Petrus Eleemosynarius, staged in Ingolstadt under the direction of Jakob Bidermann in 1600 (written by Rader during his study of philosophy for the congregation of St Mary, cf. Letter no. 58, n. 4); Virtus exulans (date uncertain, cf. Letter no. 44, n. 7). Rader’s authorship of the Theophilus, which was given in Munich in 1596, and the Triumphus Divi Michaelis Archangeli, of Munich 1597, as well as for a Theodosius iunior, has not yet been positively verified, contrary to a long traditional belief that was propagated by Johannes Müller.272 Among Rader’s further circle of colleagues and students brief mention should be made of some authors whose dramatic activities would deserve further research.273 His first pupil to be noted is Wolfgang Starck (1554– 1605) who was born in Innsbruck in 1554 or 1555. He studied in Ingolstadt, with (amongst others) Pontanus. In 1574 he obtained the degree of magister of philosophy and entered the Order in 1578. From 1584 to 1587 he was  a colleague of Pontanus at the gymnasium of Augsburg and taught rhetoric 268 The evidence can be found mainly in the first volume of Rader’s correspondence mentioned above (n. 37). 269 Valentin, Répertoire no. 379, should be completed. On the Ingolstadt performance of 1595, the Summarium (as in n. 43), pp. 94–95) says: ‘Dedit hoc anno studiosa iuventus duas comoedias: Bachanalibus Aesopum festivum, visuque et auditu iucundum Drama, sub instaurationem studiorum Ludovicum Bavariae Principem […].’ 270 The leading roles were not played by pupils, but by magistri, and on special request, also externi including members of the Fugger family (cf. Historia Collegii Augustani, pp. 373–74; cf. also Letter no. 44, n. 8). 271 All information about this play and its production is compiled in Letter no. 323, n. 13, and no. 374, n. 3; cf. also no. 94, n. 4 and no. 212, n. 6. 272 Müller, Das Jesuitendrama, 2, pp. 12–13. 273 The following list contains only occasional and provisional additions and corrections to the respective information in Müller (Jesuitendrama) and Valentin (Répertoire). For this survey in particular Rader’s correspondence is used.



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in Dillingen from 1589 to 1601, where he functioned as official poet of the College.274 He wrote several plays: Misoponus Drama de negligentis adolescentis ad diligentiam conversione, staged in Dillingen at Carnival 1592 and in Ingolstadt in October 1596. According to Letter no. 189 to Rader, the text was part of Starck’s legacy and is preserved, contrary to n. 3, in Dillingen, Studienbibliothek XV 237, fol. 123r–54v, and XV 277 (a copy). Mundus et Contramundus(?), staged in Regensburg on 24 February 1597; the text is preserved in Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Clm 19757, 2, pp. 129– 227. Sanctus Wolfgangus, staged in Regensburg on 30 May 1599 by Wolfgang Schönsleder on the occasion of the consecration of the Bishop and performed in the open air (cf. Letter no. 33, n. 11), and produced again in Dillingen on 17 October 1602 and in Regensburg on 5 May 1612.275 Sancta Catharina, was performed in Dillingen in 1602, in Munich on 6 October 1602, in Innsbruck in October 1606. In 2005 Stefan Tilg edited this play.276 Ferdinand Crendel (1557–1614), also a pupil of Rader, was born in Munich. In 1574 he entered the Order in Hall in Tirol. He studied philosophy and theology in Ingolstadt and came to the newly opened gymnasium of Augsburg as a teacher in 1582. From 1587 he taught humanitas in Dillingen, and after that (from 1597) rhetoric in Ingolstadt, where he became Praefectus studiorum in 1599. After a further stop in Dillingen, he lived in Ingolstadt, and worked there with his friend Jakob Gretser until his death. Two dramas have been ascribed to him: Ignaviae proscriptio (Abulojatreutes), performed in Dillingen in the open air in September 1588; the text (with two interludes in German) is preserved: Dillingen, Studienbibliothek XV 221, fol. 34r–82v; S. Cassianus, written some years before 1608, is mentioned in Schönsleder’s letter to Rader of 18.7.1608 (no. 211, n. 3). Another pupil of Rader, Wolfgang Schönsleder (1570–1651), was born in Munich. Schönsleder studied at the Munich Jesuit College, and then at the University of Ingolstadt. For the majority of his life he lived and worked as a teacher in Augsburg, Dillingen, Munich and (primarily) Regensburg. In these functions he had, as is evident from his correspondence with Rader, done much for the theatre, but from this very energetic theatre man only the following titles have been ascertained:277 Pythagoras, staged in 274 This biographical data is taken from Tilg, Die heilige Katharina, pp. 40–41. 275 The performances recorded by Valentin, Répertoire, nos. 500 and 536, did not take place. 276 Tilg, Die heilige Katharina, pp. 297–413. 277 Valentin, Répertoire, does not mention any drama by Schönsleder.

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Augsburg on 18 October 1598 (under the direction of Matthäus Rader) and in Regensburg in October 1600;278 Otium, performed at the opening of the school year in Regensburg in the autumn of 1605 (cf. Letter no. 146); and Petrus Publicanus (= Petrus Eleemosynarius or Petrus Telonarius), performed in Regensburg (on the occasion of Carnival) on 15 February 1608.279 Schönsleder sent this Petrus to Rader on 22 September 1608 together with a not particularly datable Theophilus (puer martyr) (cf. Letter no. 215). Kaspar Rhey (1570–1625) was born in Muri, Switzerland, and educated in Fribourg, where he entered the Jesuit Order. He studied rhetoric in Augsburg and philosophy and theology in Ingolstadt. From 1598 to 1613 he taught grammar, humanitas and rhetoric in Augsburg. There he became a good friend of Rader, Pontanus and Bidermann.280 His numerous letters (evaluated here) to Rader give exact information about his work for the theatre. From 1613 Rhey worked as a preacher in Switzerland, where he died in 1624. At least one text of his is preserved completely: De benedictione et scala Jacob ex Genesi (Dillingen, Studienbibliothek XV 237a, fol. 1r–47r), staged on the occasion of the opening of the school year 1613 in Augsburg. The following performances of other plays by Rhey can be proved: Edmundus, performed in Augsburg in 1599 and 1612, in Dillingen on 8 February 1604 and in the autumn of 1605 (in a revised form); Simeon puer Tridentinus, performed in Munich on 1 February 1601 (the first version);281 Christophilus, performed three times by the Company in Augsburg in 1603; in 1613 this play was requested from Rhey by Graz; Eustachius martyr, performed in Augsburg on 18 October 1603, in Innsbruck in 1613, in Fribourg in Switzerland in 1617, in Freiburg im Breisgau in 1621 and probably also in Augsburg in 1648; Liberius, staged in Dillingen in October 1604, in Fribourg in Switzerland in 1618; Adrianus, performance in Lucerne in 1605, in Munich in 1606, in Augsburg in 1612; thus Bidermann is eliminated as its author (cf. the correspondence of Rader, no. 104, n. 7); Simeon puer Tridentinus, performed in Augsburg in 1605, in Innsbruck in 1610 (the second version); Sanctus Wenceslaus, performed in Dillingen in October 1607, revised by Burghardt Gatt; probably performed again in Augsburg in 1636  (Comoedia de S. Wenceslao Bohemorum rege in scaenam redire 278 Cf. Letter no. 26, n. 12 (correction of Valentin, Répertoire, no. 393, who assumes Rader as the author). 279 Cf. Letter no. 211, n. 5 (not in Valentin, Répertoire). 280 In a letter to Rader at the beginning of 1601 (no. 75) he praises the talented young Bidermann. 281 Cf. Letter no. 76, n. 6 (not in Valentin, Répertoire).



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iussa est, Historia Collegii Augustani, II, as in n. 40, p. 102); Alexander Carbonarius, performed in Augsburg in the autumn of 1610, in the presence of the principes civitatis; the Bishop of Augsburg attended a third performance; Theodosius Iunior, Arcadii Filius, performed in Regensburg in September 1613. Born in Augsburg to Protestant parents, Jeremias Drexel (1581–1638) converted to Catholicism during his school days at the Jesuit College of St Salvator and became a Jesuit. After studying philosophy in Ingolstadt, he taught from 1604, first at the gymnasium in Augsburg, then in Dillingen. In 1611 Drexel succeeded Jakob Bidermann as Rector of the Munich school, and from 1613 to 1615 he directed his former gymnasium in Augsburg. Then Duke Maximilian called him to serve as court chaplain in Munich, where he died. Drexel’s plays are by-products of his numerous sermons and ascetic treatises. It is questionable whether he himself staged his plays; most of them were apparently staged by Rader, who in two letters (nos. 484 and 491) reports about his troubles with the two performances in Augsburg in 1604 and in letter no. 499 he expresses his hope that the Miles Carthaginensis will please the audience. The following plays can be indicated: De quinquenni puero ex Divi Gregorii Dialogis (= Fusculus), produced by Rader during Carnival of 1604 in Augsburg (Historia Collegii Augustani, I, as in n. 40, p. 410), and in Dillingen in October 1606 by Drexel; in a letter to Rader (no. 190) Drexel reports an unsuccessful performance: ‘Nos Fusculum hic ex Orco reduximus, vellem sepultus mansisset etc.’; De milite Carthaginensi redivivo, produced in Augsburg in 1604 by Rader; Erithrenoterpsis, a dialogue written for Christmas 1605 in Dillingen (‘Litigant Luctus et Plausus ad Christi cunabula, an lugendum an verò gaudendum ad Christi natalem’), of which no performance was executed;282 Dialogus de cruce ferenda, performed by Rader in Augsburg in October 1606 for the opening of the school year (cf. letter Rader, no. 190); Triumphus crucis, performed in Ingolstadt on 11 and 12 October 1606 (the text is preserved in Dillingen, Studienbibliothek XV 237, fol. 155r–234r); Julianus Apostata, performed in Ingolstadt on 16 October 1608, the text is preserved in autograph in Clm 2125.283 Like Bidermann’s Belisarius and Bernardt’s Jovianus, its theme is ‘the fall of those in power’,284 or more precisely the

282 Cf. letter no. 170, where erroneously Luatus et Plautus is written. 283 See on this recently Pörnbacher, ‘”Unser Leben ist ein Comedi …”: Elemente des Theaters im Werk von Jeremias Drexel.’ 284 See Rädle, ‘Der Sturz zum Heil’.

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arrogant apostasy of Emperor Julian from faith and his eternal punishment. With Drexel, we end the list of the circle of Rader’s colleagues and students. Simon Scharl (1594–1652),285 a representative of the generation after Rader, is not connected to the Bavarian network. Scharl, who was born in Erding, became a Jesuit in 1614, and worked at the Jesuit College in Hall in Tirol from 1626 to 1628. Thereafter he taught humanities in Burghausen. He died in Biburg. Scharl is, as has become clear only recently, the author of four plays that are fully preserved in a manuscript of the College of St Blasien in the Schwarzwald (shelf number Da o 184):286 Comicotragoedia de glorioso Sanctae Caeciliae virginis ac martyris triumpho was performed on 10 May 1626 in Hall in Tirol (cf. the Periocha in Szarota, I, V, 3), and repeated in Burghausen in 1637; the manuscript contains a comprehensive musical appendix to the choruses of this play; Misologus resipiscens, an educational drama from the sphere of the school, presented in Hall in Tirol in 1626 in the presence of the Archduke and his family; for one of the choruses musical notes are added; Pietas ad omnia utilis, staged in Burghausen on 1 May 1630 on the occasion of laying a foundational stone of the local college (cf. the Periocha in Szarota, II, I, 36); Beatus Stanislaus Kostka, an at times anti-Reformation drama on the virtuous life of the modern Polish noble Saint Stanislaus Kostka; it was staged on 10 October 1630 at the Jesuits’ gymnasium of Burghausen (cf. the Periocha in Szarota, III, I, 12). Scharl is a gifted theatre man who writes a good, fluent Latin. His religious and educational messages are always well-tempered by comic scenes. Another Jesuit playwright who seems to have worked more on his own, although he certainly had read and digested other dramas, is Jakob Gretser (1562–1625).287 Alongside the clearly more liberal Pontanus and the more manageable Rader, he is the dominant figure of early Jesuit theatre in the Upper German Province. His life took several paths. Born in Markdorf (diocese of Constance), he was a student of the Jesuit gymnasium in Innsbruck, where he entered the Jesuit Order in 1578. From 1579 to 1583 he

285 Cf. Leutenstorfer, ‘Vier lateinische Jesuiten-Theaterstücke aus Hall in Tirol.’ 286 They are edited and translated by Leutenstorfer in a private print. 287 The authoritative and still exemplary monography on him is written by Dürrwächter, Jakob Gretser und seine Dramen; see also Herzog, ‘Jakob Gretsers Leben und Werk.’ On Gretser’s literary-historical position, see Valentin, Le théâtre, 2, pp. 501–36 (‘Humanitas christiana’).



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studied humanities, rhetoric, and philosophy. Then he taught humanities in Fribourg in Switzerland (1583–1586).288 From September 1586 he was Magister of arts, from 1588 Magister of Philosophy, and after 1589 as a priest, he taught philosophy (1588–1592), scholastic theology (1592–1605) and moral theology (1609–1616) in Ingolstadt, where he died. Taking with him his plays that had already been performed in Fribourg, Jakob Gretser established the Jesuit theatre in Ingolstadt. During his theological teaching he was able to experience what was perhaps its most prolific period, without writing dramas himself any more.289 As a major representative of theology in Bavaria, he composed numerous theological works (e.g. De cruce Christi, Ingolstadt 1598) and historical writings, as well as a Greek grammar (Ingolstadt 1593) that was authoritative for a long time. With seventeen plays to his credit, Gretser is by far the most productive Latin dramatist of the period covered here. It is to his merit to have overcome the gap between the unpretentious populist (saints’) drama that he had encountered in his years in Switzerland and the formally elaborate humanist drama along the lines of Jacobus Pontanus. The author personally saw to the transmission of his dramatic oeuvre, at least in manuscript, and created a list of his works (Composui), partly with dates of performance, which extends to twenty titles.290 They can be classified as two types of drama: biblical drama (Caecus illuminatus, Lazarus resuscitatus 1584 [cf. above], Naaman Syrus 1585, Iudicium Salomonis 1586) and saints’ plays (Nicolaus Unterwaldius dialogus 1586, Nicolaus Myrensis episcopus 1586, Nicolaus Unterwaldius comoedia 1586, Itha Doggia 1587). They were all written during his Swiss tenure. In addition to these the eager philologist Gretser especially fostered educational drama (the often revised comedies, De Regno Humanitatis, after 1584, and Prologus in Quintum Aeneidos, a curious dramatic sports contest modelled upon Book V of the Aeneid). Gretser began with an ancient subject, the adaptation of Lucian’s dialogue Timon.291 It is remarkable how Gretser, who as a theologian is rigid and intolerant, shows himself to be very open towards the formal ideology of

288 Many plays that had been performed for the first time there were later repeated at the Bavarian Colleges, especially in Ingolstadt. 289 His last action as a dramatist seems to have been the production of Argyrippus (Ingolstadt 1594, Valentin, Répertoire, no. 351). All later performances that are recorded by Valentin (Répertoire, 2, p. 1056) under his name are either repetitions of older plays, or plays that were falsely attributed to him. 290 Dillingen, Studienbibliothek XV 223, fol. 218rv. On the transmission see Dürrwächter, Jakob Gretser und seine Dramen, pp. 6–15. 291 Cf. Jakob Gretser, Timon. Comoedia imitata (1584), ed. Fielitz.

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Humanism and (for instance) gratefully took literary ideas from the Protestant playwright Nikodemus Frischlin.292 With their resolute linguistic awareness and their specific and somewhat grim humour, the comedies De Regno Humanitatis are precious documents of Christian-humanistic educational culture.293 Jakob Bidermann (1578–1639),294 a pupil of Pontanus and Rader in Augsburg, friend and colleague of Jeremias Drexel and Georg Stengel, is the most important figure in Jesuit drama. He studied philosophy (1597– 1600) in Ingolstadt, before teaching at his old gymnasium in Augsburg, and after his study of theology in Ingolstadt (1603–1606) taught rhetoric in Munich until 1615, albeit with interruptions. From October 1615 to 1618 Bidermann was Professor of Philosophy in Dillingen, and thereafter Professor of Theology until 1626. In 1626 he was called upon to serve as a Censor librorum imprimendorum to Rome, where he died in 1639. For a long time Bidermann was almost the only representative of Jesuit drama in general literary history. It was mainly with him that research in this area recommenced in the second half of the twentieth century.295 As a matter of fact, an epic and lyric poet, and especially a very articulate and witty narrator, Bidermann, as recent studies show, was no less talented as a dramatist.296 His fellow members of the Order published the ten collected plays of Bidermann twenty-seven years after his death.297 The most important plays now have their own modern edition: Cenodoxus, Comico-Tragoedia, performed in 1602 and 1609 in Augsburg and Munich respectively, is an ingeniously ironic tragedy, recalling the moral plays of Everyman.298

292 Cf. Dürrwächter, Jakob Gretser und seine Dramen, pp. 136–46. 293 Cf. Valentin, Le théâtre, 2, pp. 514–20. 294 Cf. Pörnbacher, ‘Jacob Bidermann’, pp. 128–50. The compilation quoted in n. 34 by Gier, Jakob Bidermann und sein ‘Cenodoxus’, gives a balanced account of modern Bidermann research. On the biography and the history of his works, see Julius Oswald S.J., ‘Jakob Bidermann—der Jesuit’, in Gier, Jakob Bidermann und sein ‘Cenodoxus’, pp. 79–96. 295 Cf. Wehrli, ‘Bidermanns “Cenodoxus”’, and Wehrli (ed.), Philemon Martyr; Tarot, Jakob Bidermanns “Cenodoxus”, Thesis Cologne 1960; Tarot, Jakob Bidermann, Cenodoxus (1963); Tarot, Jakob Bidermann, Ludi theatrales 1666. 296 Cf. Hess, ‘Der Mord auff dem Papier’; Stroh, ‘Jephtes Tochter bei Bidermann und Balde’; Jakob Bidermanns ‘Utopia’, ed. Schuster. 297 Ludi theatrales sacri, sive Opera comica posthuma à R.P. Jacobo Bidermanno S.J. Theologo olim conscripta, et cum plausu in theatrum producta, Monachii 1666, ed. Tarot, in: Jakob Bidermann, Ludi theatrales 1666. 298 Cf. the edition by Tarot, 1963. On the interpretation: Stroh, ‘Jephtes Tochter bei Bidermann und Balde’; Baumgart, ‘Jakob Bidermanns Cenodoxus. Zeitdiagnose, superbiaKritik, komisch-tragische Entlarvung und theatralische Bekehrungsstrategie’. On the



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A humanistic star professor (following the medieval Bruno legend) succumbs to the vices of Philautia and Superbia, dies like Euripus on the stage, and is then accused before the heavenly court, condemned and finally brought into hell by devils.299 Belisarius, Comico-Tragoedia (Munich 1607)300 presents the rise and deep fall of the imperial general Belisarius. It shows in the broad context of late ancient history the exemplary fate of a hero seemingly favoured by Fortune, but occasionally erring, who, in a confrontation with the godless world of Fortune, is forced to recognize his own vulnerability and weakness. In the form of many allegorical personifications the imaginary powers of the spiritual and psychological cosmos (e.g. Virtus, Conscientia, Poenitentia, Metus) intervene in the external historical events. Macarius Romanus, Comoedia (Munich 1613)301 is a conversional drama in which Macarius escapes into solitude at his wedding. However, through the Devil’s seduction he becomes untrue to his ascetic life, returns to the world and, repentant, sees the error of his ways too late. Thematically, the play resembles Bidermann’s Ioannes Calybita (Munich 1618), in which individual parts of Macarius are also adopted. The thoroughly secular scenes of family life in the first part provide ample opportunity for the employment of comic techniques. Cosmarchia, Comoedia302 was staged in Dillingen on 6 and 7 February 1617. This parable of the rule of the king in Cosmopolis, which is limited to one year, is a lesson in the gullibility of man who sets himself in an illusionary world, supposedly forever, but is brutally deposed after a short time. Philemon Martyr, Comoedia (Constance 1618),303 a conversional or transformational drama, in which, in play that is only conceived ironically, the pagan actor Philemon mimes the role of a Christian. Miraculously the game turns earnest, appearance becomes truth, and suddenly what was previously only a parody becomes reality. Philemon dies a martyr. Augsburg performance that was also attended by Marcus Welser, on the invite of Rader, cf. Rader, letters nos. 417 and 418; Rader, though, considered the play to be too long. 299 See the fundamental study by Hess, ‘Spectator—Lector—Actor: Zum Publikum von Jakob Bidermanns Cenodoxus’; further Hans Pörnbacher, ‘Das Drama von der gefährlichen Selbsttäuschung: Die Botschaft von Jakob Bidermanns Cenodoxus’. 300 Ed. Burger, Jakob Bidermanns “Belisarius”. 301 Ed. Valentin, ‘Le Macarius Romanus de Jakob Bidermann’. 302 Cf. Jakob Bidermann, Cosmarchia, ed. Best. For a long time the date of performance was unknown. Cf. Rädle, ‘Fortunas Einjahreskönige: Zu Bidermanns Cosmarchia’. 303 Jacob Bidermann, Philemon Martyr; cf. Wimmer, ‘Jesuitendrama: Jakob Bidermanns “Philemon Martyr”’.

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The hero of the play is in the centre of a struggle between supernal powers which were given a particularly manifest presence on stage in the form of angels, devils, gods and personifications. The other preserved plays (except for the undatable, probably early, feather-light educational drama Stertinius) were composed in the time that Bidermann worked as a professor at the University of Dillingen: Josephus Aegypti Prorex (1615), Ioannes Calybita (1618), Josaphatus (1619), Jacobus Usurarius (?/1661). The three latter plays are written in prose. His Cassianus (1602, 1608) has not been preserved;304 Adrianus martyr (1606), which was often assigned to him, is believed to have been written by Kaspar Rhey.305 The overarching theme of Bidermann’s dramas is the warning of the seductive confidence in the fragile world of Fortune. His characters live and demonstrate the emotional disillusionment of human self-certainty. It is a pessimism obviously fearing the emancipation of modern thought that prevails here, a pessimism that seeks assurance in the retention of the old authorities and systems of salvation. What makes the dramas attractive, with all their gruelling relentlessness, is the ability of their author to represent the freshness and appeal of non-religiously domesticated statements of life. This is primarily the function of comic techniques in Bidermann, which are later praised in the Praemonitio ad Lectorem of the Ludi theatrales of 1666. The introduction of comic scenes, which nevertheless are generally organic, guarantees for the action a vital counterweight to the detrimental fate of his heroes. There were close connections between the next playwright to be treated and the older Bavarian Jesuit dramatists. Georg Stengel (1584–1651),306 an important theological author and preacher, was for a long time virtually unknown as a playwright.307 In fact probably eleven plays can be attributed to him, of which four are fully preserved in manuscript.

304 Cf. Rader, letter no. 423, n. 6. 305 Bidermann is only mentioned as its author, obviously merely as a surmise, in the Historia Provinciae Germaniae Superioris by Ignatius Agricola, written more than one hundred years later, whom Tarot cites in the Epilogue of his new edition of the Ludi theatrales (vol. 1, p. 32*). For Agricola paraphrases the authentic report of the Annales Monacenses (p. 114) of this performance, in which Bidermann is not mentioned at all; cf. the letter to Rader, quoted above ad Rhey, no. 104, n. 7. 306 On the biography see Alois Schneider, Narrative Anleitungen zur praxis pietatis im Barock. On Stengel’s theatrical work see Rädle, ‘Georg Stengel S.J. (1585 [recte 1584]–1651) als Dramatiker’. 307 Johannes Müller, Jesuitendrama, 2, p. 23, mentions only two titles of his plays.



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Georg Stengel, whose elder brother Karl lived as a Benedictine in Augsburg,308 stems from Augsburg, where he became a page of Barbara Fugger, the wife of Philipp Fugger the Younger, at the age of ten. After attending the Augsburg Gymnasium he entered the Jesuit Order in 1601 and studied philosophy in Ingoldstadt from 1604 to 1607, followed by two years of teaching in Porrentruy in Switzerland. After a short stay in Munich, he studied theology in Ingolstadt from 1610 to 1614. From October 1614 to autumn 1617 he taught philosophy at Dillingen and from autumn 1618 to 1629 theology in Ingolstadt. In Dillingen (1629–1631), Munich (1631–1640) and Ingolstadt (1643–1647) Stengel worked as a Praefectus studiorum; in his Munich years he was also a preacher at the Church of Our Lady and a tutor to princes. He had close contact with Rader, Gretser (he became his executor), Rhey and Bidermann. Stengel’s dramatic work requires more thorough research. In the following, only the titles and dates of performance are indicated in chronological order:309 Triumphus Veritatis, Porrentruy, 28 October 1608; a revue of the religious errors and lies of all ages, preserved in Munich, Universitätsbibliothek 4o Cod. ms. 507, pp. 1–107; Valentin, Répertoire, no. 607; Mercurius (Furta), Munich, February 1609; on the tricks of thieves, successfully performed by Stengel’s class; Valentin, Répertoire, no. 625; Garzias comes, Munich, 18 February 1610; Valentin, Répertoire, no. 624 ; De ebrietatis malo, Ingolstadt, October 1611; Valentin, Répertoire, no. 657; De adolescente per Sanctum Ioannem apostolum a latrociniis revocato, Ingolstadt, 30 May 1613; Valentin, Répertoire, no. 689; De Sancto Henrico Imperatore et eius coniuge Kunegunde, Ingolstadt, autumn 1613 (performed in the open air); Valentin, Répertoire, no. 690. This three-part play was originally intended for a performance in Regensburg in honour of Emperor Matthias, and was cancelled because of a case of the plague at the Jesuit College there; Otho redivivus (seu Drama de Othone Sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae Cardinale, pontifice Augustano, proposito Elvacensi, Academiae Dillinganae conditore),310 Dillingen, 22 October 1614; Valentin, Répertoire, no. 705. The text is preserved in Dillingen, Studienbibliothek XV 236, fol. 1r–66v, and, with huge differences, XV 237, fol. 317r–360v; Triumphus Deiparae Virginis, Dillingen, 11 to 13 June 1617; Valentin, Répertoire, no. 774. 308 See Rädle, ‘Die Briefe des Jesuiten Georg Stengel (1584–1651) an seinen Bruder Karl (1581–1663)’. 309 More (albeit provisional) information can be found in Rädle, ‘Georg Stengel als Dramatiker’. 310 On this see Zäh, ‘Die Universitätsgründung auf der Theaterbühne: Georg Stengels “Otho Redivivus” 1614.’

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The text is preserved in Dillingen, Studienbibliothek XV 237b, fol. 8r–103r. The performance, in which Stengel’s sister Maria from Augsburg was also interested, took place in Dillingen on the occasion of the consecration of the new Church of the Virgin Mary. Further plays by his hand are: Pomum Imperiale, Munich, 6 February 1618; Valentin, Répertoire, no. 810, performed by order of the Bavarian Duke on the occasion of the visit of the Elector of the Palatinate; Comoedia de Sanctis Patribus Ignatio et Xaverio, with the Praeludium de oppugnatione Pompeiopolis [scil. Pampelonae], Ingolstadt, 8 to 10 May 1622; Valentin, Répertoire, no. 885; the text is preserved in Munich, Universitätsbibliothek 4o Cod. ms. 504, pp. 1–101, and, without the Praeludium, 4o Cod. ms. 511, pp. 1–86; Stilico sacrilegus, performed at Munich, 20 October 1624, Valentin, Répertoire, no. 920. The fact that Stengel was hired for two plays outside his post (namely in Regensburg, in honour of the Emperor, and in Munich, to receive the Elector) testifies to his high reputation as a dramatist. Furthermore, the invitation to write the festival-like dramas Otho redivivus (in honour of the founder of the University of Dillingen) and Triumphus Deiparae Virginis (on the occasion of the consecration of the new Church), as well as the three-day Comoedia on the occasion of the canonization of the first saints of the Order, Ignatius and Franciscus Xaverius, was undoubtedly an honour. The texts of the plays preserved convey a strong impression of the spiritual atmosphere of the era, especially of the militant triumphalism of the Counter-Reformation in Bavaria in the prelude to the Thirty Years’ War. Another member of the ‘Bavarian circle’ was Georg Bernardt (1595– 1660).311 Born and raised in Munich, he studied philosophy in Ingolstadt from 1616 to 1619 and taught poetry there from 1620 to 1622, after which he studied theology in Ingolstadt until 1626 and taught philosophy until 1629. From 1630 to 1638 Bernardt worked as a professor of polemical and moral theology in Munich at the same time as Georg Stengel, and for many years as a tutor to the sons of Duke Albrecht VI. In 1638 to 1643 he taught theology in Dillingen. From 1646 onwards he worked in Munich again, in several functions (as a Praefectus studiorum and as a prefect of the lay congregation). He died on 2 October 1660 in Landsberg. It is only recently that Bernardt has been recognized as a dramatist; he left four complete plays that are now available in modern bilingual 311 See Rädle, ‘Zum dramatischen OEuvre Georg Bernardts SJ (1595–1660)’.



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editions:312 Theophilus Cilix was performed in October 1621 at the opening of the academic year in the Academic Gymnasium of Ingolstadt. Like many other dramas with this title, the play treats the ancient legend of Theophilus who pledges his own body and soul to the Devil. However, in contrast to Faust, he is saved. The author discusses the parallels to, and the deviations from, the tragedy of Faust in an original final scene (see above under Legend Drama). Tundalus Hiberniae Miles redivivus was performed in Ingolstadt on 17 October 1622 and again in 1646. Its basis is the medieval afterlife vision Visio Tundali (Tungdali). As a deterrent punishment, it is applied to the Irish knight Tundalus who leads a desolate life despising God, and like Everyman is suddenly confronted with death, but has a lucky escape (as a result of the vision). Jovianus (Jovianus castigatus), performed by the great students’ sodality in Ingolstadt on 11 June 1623; it was repeated under the title Joviani Superbia castigata at the University of Dillingen on 15 October 1642 in a form reworked by the author himself. The play deals with the fall and the salutary inner conversion of the arrogant King Jovianus and, in an inner comedy, the baroque motif of the farmer as a king. Sanctus Thomas Cantuariensis Archiepiscopus Martyr (‘Thomas Becket’) was performed in Constance on 27 November 1626 on the occasion of the enthronement of the new Bishop. This historical tragedy on the famous ‘murder in the cathedral’ of Canterbury shows the heroic constancy of Thomas Becket who defends the rights of the Church against the King of England, Henry II, and is martyred for that (Figs. 3 and 3a). The plays of Bernardt show the fragility and falsity of life on earth. Not nearly as dark as the dramas by Bidermann, they are distinguished above all other plays by a sovereign language that does not shy away from pathos, by an occasionally surprising ironic tone and by witty comic elements.313 Apparently influenced by the later Bidermann, Bernardt uses a language that only imitates iambic rhythm and approximates prose. ‘A lyric poet writing a great drama’—thus may Jakob Balde (1604– 1668)314 be characterized. Balde was born in Alsace. From 1622 onwards he studied philosophy and later law in Ingolstadt. He entered the Societas 312 Georg Bernardt SJ, Dramen I–IV, ed. Rädle (GLB 5–8): 1. Theophilus Cilix 1621; 2. Tundalus redivivus 1622; 3. Jovianus 1623 /1642; 4. ‘Thomas Becket’ 1626. S. Thomas Cantuariensis Archiepiscopus Martyr. 313 Cf. Rädle, ‘Zu Form und Funktion der Komik in den Dramen Georg Bernardts SJ (1595–1660)’. 314 Cf. Westermayer, Jacobus Balde (1604–1668), sein Leben und seine Werke, with a rich bibliography, pp. 17*–81*; Stroh, Baldeana. New studies on Balde are compiled in: Burkard, Hess, Kühlmann and Oswald, Jacob Balde im kulturellen Kontext seiner Epoche.

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Jesu only in 1624. From 1626 to 1628 he taught humanities in Munich and after that, until 1630, in Innsbruck. He studied theology in Ingolstadt and there he taught rhetoric from 1635 to 1637. From 1638 to 1650 he worked in Munich in several offices, as a Chaplain and royal historiographer, but above all as a poet. In the years 1640 to 1654 he was a preacher in Landshut and Amberg, and finally Chaplain of the Palsgrave in Neuburg on the Danube, where he died on 9 August 1668. Balde is the only Jesuit dramatist whose poetic genius was so strong that his entire output seems to be the product of a poet who was free and accountable only to himself, independent of considerations of the Order. The dramatic genre is only a rather modest part of his enormous body of work. In Innsbruck on 1 October 1629, on the occasion of the baptism of a daughter of Archduke Leopold V, Balde staged his Iocus serius theatralis,315 a tragicomedy whose unruly and phantasmic mystery is solved by Wilfried Stroh.316 On 10 and 14 October 1637 Balde’s mighty Jephtias was given in Ingolstadt (Valentin, Répertoire, no. 1191), a martyr drama on the history of Jephthah, who, after his victory over the Ammonites, felt compelled to sacrifice his own daughter to God because of his vow (cf. Judges 11). It is related neither to George Buchanan’s Jephthes sive Votum tragoedia of 1554, nor to the Fulda Jephtes of 1588 that has been discussed above. Balde added an interpretational guide (Prolusiones) to this tragedy of more than 5000 lines in the printed editon published at Amberg in 1654.317 In these guidelines he explains (among other things) the normative typological method, according to which the daughter of Jephthah who has to be sacrificed represents a figura of the sacrificial death of Christ. However, the history, which is overloaded with physical and psychological action, moves only at the literal-historical level, without inclusion of a key for the audience or reader to decipher the latent allusiones. It is only in the last scene that the typological meaning is revealed: in fact Jephtias is Christ. Together with Bidermann’s Cenodoxus, Balde’s Jephtias is among the most interpreted of Jesuit dramas.318 315 Ed. Valentin, ‘Jakob Baldes Jocus serius theatralis (1629)’. 316 Stroh, ‘Vom Kasperletheater zum Märtyrerdrama: Jacobus Baldes Innsbrucker Schulkomödie Iocus serius (1629)’; and Stroh, ‘Balde auf der Bühne: zum dramatischen Werk des Jesuitendichters’. 317 Reprinted in: R. P. Jacobi Balde Opera poetica omnia, VI (Monachii, 1729), pp. 1–193. 318 Cf. Valentin, ‘Hercules moriens. Christus patiens’. Cf. the retort, p. 381, to Bauer, ‘Apathie des stoischen Weisen oder Ekstase der christlichen Braut? Jesuitische Stoakritik und Jakob Baldes Jephtias’; Führer, Studien zu Jacob Baldes ‘Jephtias’; Stroh, ‘Balde auf der Bühne’, esp. pp. 271–308.



jesuit theatre in germany, austria and switzerland283 Poetics and Celebration: Masen and Avancini—Two Representatives of the Transition

Jakob Masen (1606–1681),319 working as a magister perpetuus in the Rhenish Province, mostly at the Tricoronatum in Cologne and from 1647 onwards in Münster, belongs, like Georg Stengel and Georg Bernardt, to the Jesuits who were employed where representative theatre performances were needed. After he had presented his Rusticus imperans320 before the Elector of Brandenburg in Emmerich in 1647, he gave several performances with his students from the Gymnasium Paulinum in Münster before the delegates at the Peace Conference (Pohle, 2007, S. 104). The renunciation of confessional controversy in his plays fitted in very well with this role.321 In the third volume of his Palaestra eloquentiae ligatae (1654–1657) Masen published seven dramas, whose creation or performances seem to have been in the decade before 1650. These include the tragedy Mauritius Orientis Imperator, and the comedies Ollaria,322 Bacchi schola eversa, and Rusticus imperans,323 the legend drama Josaphatus as well as the parable plays Androphilus and Telesbius. Both in his dramatic theory and in his practical work for the theatre Masen represents the priority of an action that is convincingly probable, though traditional theoretical norms may be neglected. The main goal of drama for him is the arousal of emotions: in tragedy misericordia and metus; in comedy spes and gaudium, as in Comoediae familiares motus.324 For Masen the inventive and linguistically stringent design of the subject matter is important, as well as restraint in the use of optical and acoustic media. While through his doctrine of argutia he caused a growing allegorical-emblematic development in the second half of the seventeenth century, he did not contribute anything to the similarly increasing development of Jesuit drama into opera.

319 Cf. Pohle, ‘Jakob Masen als Dramatiker’; further Pohle, Glaube und Beredsamkeit, and Bauer, ‘Masen, Jacob, Jesuit.’ 320 Ed. Burger, ‘Jakob Masens “Rusticus imperans”’. See also idem, ‘Jakob Masens “Rusticus imperans”: Zur lateinischen Barockkomödie in Deutschland’. 321 On Masen’s conception of peace see Breuer, ‘Jakob Masen und die irenische Bewegung des 17. Jahrhunderts’. 322 Cf. Schoolfield, ‘Jacob Masen’s Ollaria. Comments, Suggestions and a Resumé’. 323 In contrast to the stigmatized plays by Plautus and especially Terence (cf. the quotation above, n. 91) they ought to contribute to the catharsis of emotions. 324 Cf. Palaestra eloquentiae ligatae, Liber I. Poesis dramaticae, S. 7.

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Nicolaus Avancini (1611–1686)325 is the dominant Jesuit playwright of the seventeenth century with twenty-seven extant plays.326 After his teaching (at Trieste, Ljubljana and Vienna) he was Rector of the Colleges in Passau, Vienna and Graz, visitator for Bohemia and Provincial Superior for Austria, and finally Assistens Germaniae in Rome, where he died. He was an outstanding representative of the Order for over four decades in conjunction with his permanent theatre activity. Until 1650 Avancini had produced the following seven dramas in Vienna: Zelus sive Franciscus Xaverius Indiarum Apostolus (1640), Suspicio sive Pomum Theodosii (1641), Ambitio sive Sosa naufragus (1643), Fiducia in Deum sive Bethulia liberata (1643), Curae Caesarum pro Deo pro populo sive Theodosius Pius et Iustus Imperator (1644), Jason 1648 (?, lost), Pax Imperii (1650). The latter play was staged with great expense in 1650 to celebrate the ratification of the Peace of Westphalia. The great Ludi Caesarei that competed with the opera were created only at the end of the 1650s. Their pompous genre is represented most impressively by the Constantine drama Pietas victrix, which Avancini staged on the occasion of the coronation of Leopold as German Emperor on 21 and 22 February 1659 at the Viennese court. Through his friendship with this artistic and pious Emperor Leopold I (1658–1705), the extension of the Viennese theatre of the Order into a Court theatre (from 1656) was made possible. Avancini’s lavishly embellished dramas connected the absolutist claims to power that were raised by panegyrics with the religious-politicial interest of the Catholic Church. They deal mainly with historical and biblical subject matter, designed and adapted to the political situation in an allegorizing way (indicative in this regard are the double titles connected with sive, such as Ambitio sive Sosa naufragus, 1643).

325 Cf. Valentin, Le Théâtre des Jésuites, 2, pp. 839–934: ‘L’apogée impérial Viennois. Avancini’. The most important new work is Nicolaus Avancini SJ, Pietas victrix—Der Sieg der Pietas, ed. Mundt and Seelbach, with a bibliography on pp. XXXIII–XXXIX. Another indicative study is Valentin, ‘Die Jesuitendichter Bidermann und Avancini’. See also Wimmer, ‘Constantinus redivivus. Habsburg im Jesuitendrama des 17. Jahrhunderts’; Valentin, ‘“Virtus et solium indissociabili / Vivunt coniugio”: Zu Avancinis lyrischem und dramatischem Werk’; Sieveke, ‘Actio scaenica und persuasorischer Perfektionismus: Zur Funktion des Theaters bei Nicolaus Avancini’. 326 The complete literary works appeared successively: Poesis Dramatica Nicolai Avancini, Parts I and II, Cologne 1675; Part III, Cologne 1680; Part IV, Duderstadt 1679; Part V, Rome 1686.



jesuit theatre in germany, austria and switzerland285 Epilogue

With his conspicuous celebration of the religiously excelling power of the Habsburgs, Avancini reminds us of the festivals that the Jesuits organized in the early days of the theatrical work for the glory of the Catholic Bavarian dukes. The century that lies between them, and that was essentially the subject of this investigation, has come to an end. It was determined by a twofold concern, not to say a double worry, expressed in the dramas simultaneously. On the one hand it was the strong commitment to a pedagogical direction that was covered by the humanist ideology and that consisted in the recognition of the exemplary formal culture of anti­ quity. The recognized primacy of elitist Latin language assured the Jesuit educational institutions of a high standard that was likely to qualify religious differences, and that earned the Order no small respect in the learned world. Latin drama was an ideal, widely visible means of taking care of this aureola for a long time. The second overriding concern, however, was the religious cultivation in the sense of the pastoral care of individuals. In the manner of Ignatius, it was primarily about the salvation of every man—of course within the all-embracing community of the Catholic Church. Ultimately, the dramas were always spiritual ones, even when they dealt with historical and political subject matter. They concerned every individual, since they presented existential and crucial situations as learnable and perceptible. Thus they were able to instruct the audience, but they could also terrify or provide comfort. Because Jesuit theatre addressed the individual in his personal and religious interests, and put this form of pastoral care at the service of the Catholic Church, it became an important, politically stabilizing factor of the Counter-Reformation. After the Peace of Westphalia, when the shocks of the confessional struggle had calmed down, Jesuit drama gradually lost its once muchneeded role in terms of providing pastoral care for the people, and it also lost pastoral and universal theological substance in favour of new aesthetic and political ideas. In any case it has the glory of having given the Latin language the last, quite honourable boost in its long history.

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Some general surveys are: McCabe, S.J., William H., An Introduction to the Jesuit Theater: A Posthumous Work, ed. by Louis J. Oldani, S.J. (St. Louis: The Institute of Jesuit Sources, 1983) Series 3, Original Studies, 6. Roloff, Hans-Gert, ‘Neulateinisches Drama’, Paul Merker a.o. (eds.), Reallexikon der deutschen Literaturgeschichte, 2 (Berlin: De Gruyter, 1965), pp. 645–78. Valentin, Jean-Marie (ed.), Les jésuites et le théâtre (1554–1680): Contribution à l’histoire culturelle du monde catholique dans le Saint-Empire romain germanique (Paris: Desjonquères, 2001) La mesure des choses. ——, Le théâtre des Jésuites dans les pays de langue allemande: Répertoire chronologique des pièces représentées et des documents conservés (1555–1773) (Stuttgart: Hiersemann 1983) 2 vols. ——, Le théâtre des Jésuites dans les pays de langue allemande (1554–1680): Salut des âmes et ordre des cités (Bern: Peter Lang, 1978) 3 vols. ——, Theatrum Catholicum: Les Jésuites et la scène en Allemagne au XVIe et au XVIIe siècles: Die Jesuiten und die Bühne im Deutschland des 16. und 17. Jahrhunderts (Nancy: Presse Universitaire, 1990).



jesuit theatre in germany, austria and switzerland287 Appendix Alphabetical List of the Main Authors Preamble

There are relatively few studies in English of the authors discussed here. Therefore, we give a selection of modern general works in which the subject of Jesuit theatre is treated: Eugene J. Devlin, ‘Some Notes and a Bibliography on the Jesuit Theatre in Sixteenth Century Germany and Austria’. The Laurel Review, 9 (1969), 57–65. Nigel Howard Griffin, Jesuit School Drama: A Checklist of critical litera­ ture   (London: Grant and Cutler 1976) Research Bibliographies and Checklists, 12. Nigel Howard Griffin, Jesuit School Drama: A checklist of critical literature. Supplement No. 1 (London and Wolfeboro: Grant and Cutler 1986) Research Bibliographies and Checklists 12, 1. Nigel Howard Griffin, ‘Jesuit Drama: A Guide to the Literature’ Maria Chiabò and Federico Doglio (eds.), I Gesuiti e i Primordi del teatro Barocco in Europa (Rome: Torre d’Orfeo, 1995) Centro di Studi sul Teatro Medioevale e Rinascimentale, Convegno Internazionale, 18, pp. 465–95. László Polgár SJ, Bibliography of the History of the Society of Jesus / Bibliographie zur Geschichte der Gesellschaft Jesu (Rom and St. Louis: IHSI, 1967) Sources for the History of the Jesuits, 1. Other works for further reading: Jean-Marie Valentin, Le théâtre des Jésuites dans les pays de langue allemande (1554–1680): Salut des âmes et ordre des cités, 3 vols. (Bern, Las Vegas: Peter Lang, 1978). Jean-Marie Valentin, Les Jésuites et le théâtre (1554–1680): Contribution à l’histoire culturelle du monde catholique dans le Saint-Empire romain germanique (Paris: Desjonquières, 2001). Jean-Marie Valentin, Theatrum catholicum: Les Jésuites et la scène en Allemagne au XVIe et au XVIIe siècles (Nancy, Presses Universitaires de Nancy, 1990). Ruprecht Wimmer, Jesuitentheater: Didaktik und Fest (Frankfurt a.M.: Vittorio Klostermann, 1982) Das Abendland, N.S., 13.

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Barbara Bauer, Jesuitische Ars rhetorica im Zeitalter der Glaubenskämpfe (Frankfurt a.M., Bern, New York: Peter Lang, 1986) Mikrokosmos, 18. Christel Meier-Staubach and Angelika Kemper (eds.), Europäische Schauplätze des frühneuzeitlichen Theaters: Normierungskräfte und regionale Diversität (Münster: Rhema, 2011) Symbolische Kommunikation und gesellschaftliche Wertesysteme, 34. Frank Pohle, Glaube und Beredsamkeit: Katholisches Schultheater in Jülich-Berg, Ravenstein und Aachen (1601–1817) (Münster: Rhema, 2010) Symbolische Kommunikation und gesellschaftliche Wertesysteme, 29.

The Most Important Authors Avancini, Nicolaus S.J. (1611–1686), Professor of philosophy and theology, poet, dramatist. Parallel to his outstanding career in the Order he wrote in Vienna for many decades plays for the theatre which he gave in his Ludi Caesarei a new genre of honouring drama to the house of Habsburg. Until 1650 he performed in Vienna the following seven dramas: Zelus sive Franciscus Xaverius Indiarum Apostolus (1640), Suspicio sive Pomum Theodosii (1641), Ambitio sive Sosa naufragus (1643), Fiducia in Deum sive Bethulia liberata (1643), Curae Caesarum pro Deo pro populo sive Theodosius Pius et Iustus Imperator (1644), Jason (1648?, now lost), Pax Imperii (1650). A first printed collection (Poesis Dramatica, Pars I, Vienna 1655) contains six dramas; the complete dramatic work (27 plays) appeared successively: Poesis Dramatica Nicolai Avancini, Pars I und II Köln 1675, Pars III Köln 1680, Pars IV Duderstadt 1679, Pars V Rom 1686. Works Pietas victrix (Mundt and Seelbach, 2002). Studies Mundt and Seelbach, Pietas victrix, p. ix–xxxii, 2002; Wimmer, Sieveke and Valentin, Die Österreichische Literatur. Balde, Jakob S.J. (1604–1668), Professor of rhetoric, historian, preacher, literary theoretician and outstanding poet of his time. His work includes all Latin genres, especially important is his lyrical poetry (Lyrica, Epodi 1643, Sylvae 1643, Odae Partheniae 1648), original are the satires as well as the Dissertatio praevia de studio poetico (printed as a preface to the Vultuosae Torvitatis Encomium in 1658). The dramatic genus is represented



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in the comicotragoedia Iocus serius theatralis (Innsbruck 1629) and the tragedy Jephtias (Ingolstadt 1637, printed Amberg 1654). Works Iocus serius theatralis (Valentin, 1972). Studies Stroh, ‘Vom Kasperletheater zum Märtyrerdrama: Jacobus Baldes Innsbrucker Schulkomödie Iocus serius (1629)’; id., ‘Balde auf der Bühne’. Bernardt, Georg S.J. (1595–1660), professor of philosophy and theology, dramatist, worked in Munich, Ingolstadt and Dillingen. Four of his plays have survived in complete form: Theophilus 1621, Tundalus 1622 / 1646, Jovianus 1623 / 1642 and S. Thomas Cantuariensis Archiepiscopus Martyr (‘Thomas Becket’) 1626. Works Theophilus, Tundalus, Jovianus, S. Thomas Cantuariensis (Rädle, 1984–2008). Studies Rädle, ‘Zum dramatischen OEuvre Georg Bernardts SJ (1595–1660)’. Bidermann, Jakob S.J. (1578–1639), teacher of philosophy and theology, censor of books of the Jesuit Order, outstanding writer and the most important dramatist of the Upper German Province. Bidermann wrote not only poetical works (among which Epigrammatum libri tres, 1620, Herodiados libri tres, 1621, Heroum Epistolae, 1630, Heroidum Epistolae, 1638, Silvulae hendecasyllaborum libri tres, 1647), a novel Utopia, 1640, and a collection of short stories Acroamata, 1641, but also the following preserved dramas (printed in 1666): Cenodoxus 1602/9, Belisarius 1607, Macarius Romanus 1613, Josephus Aegypti Prorex 1615, Cosmarchia 1617, Philemon Martyr 1618, Ioannes Calybita 1618, Josaphatus 1619, Jacobus Usurarius ?/1661, Stertinius (probably from Bidermann’s period as Magister). His Cassianus (1602, 1608) has not survived; the Adrianus martyr (1606) that was attributed to him, was written by Kaspar Rhey. Works Cenodoxus (Tarot, 1963); Belisarius (Burger, 1966); Macarius Romanus (Valentin, 1970); Cosmarchia (Best, 1991); Philemon Martyr (Wehrli, 1960). Studies Best, Jacob Bidermann; Gier, Jakob Bidermann und sein ‘Cenodoxus’.

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Brillmacher (= Michael, Peter) S.J. (1542–1595), theologian and preacher, teacher of humanities and rhetoric in Mainz (1563–1567), rector of the College in Speyer (1571–1578), rector of the College in Münster (1588–1595). Demonstrably, Brillmacher wrote the following dramas: Daniel propheta (1565), Militia est vita hominis (1566 and 1574), Athalia (1567), Absolon (1571 and 1584?), Sancta Magdalena (1579 and 1583). Probably more plays can be attributed to him. Works Daniel (Michel, 1987); Absolon, Athalia and Sancta Magdalena (manuscript). Studies Michel, ‘Das Jesuitendrama Daniel von 1565 in Mainz’. Gretser, Jakob S.J. (1562–1625), theologian, philologist, historian and dramatist, wrote the following dramas that have survived: Timon (1584), Caecus illuminatus, Lazarus resuscitatus (1584), Naaman Syrus (1585), Regnum Humanitatis (three Comoediae, 1585–ca. 1590), Prologus in Quintum Aeneidos (1585), Iudicium Salomonis (1586), Nicolaus Unterwaldius (Dialogus) (1586), Nicolaus Myrensis episcopus (1586), Nicolaus Unterwaldius (Comoedia) (1586), Itha Doggia (1587) (all these were performed in Fribourg or Luzern, the next ones in Ingolstadt), Dialogus de Udone Archiepiscopo (1587), Augustinus conversus (1592). Ludovicus Dux Bavariae (1591), De conversione Sancti Pauli (1592), Argyrippus (1594), and Rudolphus Habsburgius are not preserved. Works De regno Humanitatis comoedia prima (Dürrwächter. 1898); De Humanitatis Regno comoedia altera, and a fragment of the Comoedia tertia (Dürrwächter, J. Gretser und seine Dramen, pp. 147–213); Dialogus de Udone Archiepiscopo (1587) (Rädle, 1979); Timon. Comoedia imitata (Fielitz, 1994); Augustinus conversus (Weber, 2000). Studies Dürrwächter, Jakob Gretser und seine Dramen; Herzog, ‘Jakob Gretsers Leben und Werk’. Lemius, Gottfried S.J. (1562–1632), worked especially in Fulda as Professor of rhetoric, preacher and important dramatist. He left six plays that are preserved in manuscript, and are yet unpublished: Archaeofuldalogus



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(1602), Maioflosculus (1604), Psalterium Marianum (1605), Hercules Clarius (1606), Irene (1618), Episcopus (1620). Studies Kollatz, ‘Ästhetik der katholischen Reform am Beispiel der Dramen des Gottfried Lemius SJ (1562–1632)’. Masen, Jakob S.J. (1606–1681), theologian, historian, teacher of sacred oratory, literary theoretician and dramatist. Between 1640 and 1650 he wrote as a magister perpetuus in Cologne, Emmerich and Münster the following dramas: Mauritius Orientis Imperator, Ollaria, Bacchi schola eversa, Rusticus imperans, Josaphatus, Androphilus and Telesbius. They are printed in the third part of his Palaestra eloquentiae ligatae (1654–1657). Works Rusticus imperans (Burger, 1969); The Jesuit Theater of Jacob Masen (Three Plays in Translation) (Halbig, 1987). Studies Pohle, ‘Jakob Masen als Dramatiker’; Halbig, The Dramatist Jakob Masen. Pontanus, Jacobus S.J. (Jakob Spanmüller, 1542–1626). Bohemian Jesuit, teacher (magister perpetuus) of Humanitas and rhetoric in Ingolstadt and Dillingen, co-founder and director of the College of St. Salvator in Augsburg; versatile author of numerous text books, university publications and the following dramas: Gastrophilus (1578), Ludus de instauratione Studiorum or Beani (1580); Stratocles (1578 and 1590), De connubii miseriis (1580); Eleazarus Machabaeus (1587), Immolatio Isaac (1590). Works Poeticarum Institutionum libri tres. Tyrocinium Poeticum (including Stratocles, Eleazarus Machabaeus and Immolatio Isaac) 1600; Ludus de instauratione Studiorum (Tilg, 2006); Stratocles (Rädle, 1979); (McCreight, Blum, 2009); De connubii miseriis (Rädle, 1983). Studies Leinsle, ‘Jacobus Pontanus SJ (1542–1626)’; McCreight and Blum, Pontanus: Soldier or Scholar. Stratocles or War. Rader, Matthäus S.J. (1561–1634), historian, philologist and dramatist; teacher of Humanitas and rhetoric in Augsburg, Dillingen and Munich. Author of the compilation of Lives of Bavarian saints in three volumes,

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Bavaria Sancta (1615–1627), and a commentated edition of Martial (1602). At least three of his numerous plays are preserved in manuscript: Ioannes Damascenus (1593), Cassianus (1594) und Vigilantius (Hypnomachia) (1597). Studies Bayerische Gelehrtenkorrespondenz: P. Matthäus Rader SJ; Rädle, ‘Schulstress in der Frühen Neuzeit’. Scharl, Simon S.J. (1594–1652), teacher of Humaniora in Hall i. T. and Burghausen; author of the following dramas: S. Caecilia (1626 and 1637), Misologus (1626), Pietas ad omnia utilis (1630), B. Stanislaus Kostka (1630). Works All four dramas are edited in private press by P. Peter Leutenstorfer 2009, 1999, 1998, 2000. Studies Leutenstorfer, ‘Vier lateinische Jesuiten-Theaterstücke aus Hall in Tirol’. Stengel, Georg S.J. (1584–1651), theological writer, preacher and dramatist, who worked in Pruntrut (Porrentruy) in Switzerland, Ingolstadt, Dillingen and Munich. Works Stengel wrote eleven dramas, of which the following four are preserved in manuscript: Triumphus Veritatis (1608), Otho redivivus (1614), Triumphus Deiparae Virginis (1617), Comoedia de Sanctis Patribus Ignatio et Xaverio (1622); he also performed: Mercurius (1609), Garzias Comes (1610), De ebrietatis malo (1611), De adolescente per Sanctum Ioannem apostolum a latrociniis revocato (1613), De Sancto Henrico Imperatore et eius coniuge Kunegunde (1613), Pomum Imperiale (1618), Stilico sacrilegus (1624). Studies Rädle, ‘Georg Stengel S.J. (1585 [recte 1584]–1651) als Dramatiker’.

CHAPTER FIVE

NEO-LATIN DRAMA IN THE LOW COUNTRIES Jan Bloemendal The Low Countries as a Historical, Religious and Literary Melting Pot Between c. 1500 and 1750 some hundreds of Latin plays were written, staged and printed in the Low Countries from south to north.1 Some of them had a huge international resonance, witness the many e­ ditions and performances all over Europe. In the selection of ten representative biblical dramas printed by Nicolaus Brylinger in Basel in 1541, seven of them were written by authors from the Low Countries, which were a leading region in drama in the sixteenth century. However, speaking of the ‘Low Countries’ involves some geographical difficulties. The early mod­ ern  territory encompassed roughly the area that now comprises the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, small parts of Germany and some parts of northern France.2 The area was divided into rather autonomous provinces, while the cities had their own forms of autonomy. The rulers confirmed their dominion by magnificent ‘Joyous Entries’ (‘Blijde Intredes’) in  the cities, mainly in the southern provinces, which formed the economic heart in the beginning of the sixteenth century. With approximately 2.5 million inhabitants, the Low Countries were highly urbanized. The Protestant Reformation, which, starting with Martin Luther in the 1510s and 1520s, would ‘divide Europe’s House’, also divided the Habsburg rulers and the Low Countries. While both parties had conflicting interests and conflicting religious convictions, Emperor Charles V (1500–1558) and his successor Philip II (1527–1598) tried to stop the spread of ‘heretical’ 1 For a list of Dutch plays, see IJsewijn, ‘Annales Theatri Belgo-Latini’. The Low Countries were called ‘a main region for Latin drama’ by, for instance, Creizenach, Geschichte des neueren Dramas, 2, p. 70, 83. In Germany, however, religious drama was written long after a series of plays was published by the Dutch, ibid., p. 71. 2 For the historical backgrounds I have based my account on Blockmans and Prevenier, The Burgundian Netherlands; Duke, Reformation and Revolt in the Low Countries; Parker, The Dutch Revolt; Israel, The Dutch Republic; MacCulloch, The Reformation; and the intr. by Strietman and Happé in idem, Urban Theatre in the Low Countries, pp. 1–33, esp. 1–24.

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ideas by confining the autonomy of the provinces and the cities. As a consequence, the rulers had to deal with not only religious dissidence, but  also political rebellion. In these quarrels, literature written by Rhetoricians took a prominent role. Their Chambers were a place of discussion and exchange of ideas and, according to the authorities, potential centres of dissidence. The central power reacted vehemently with Edicts and other proclamations against them and against the spread of ideas through the printing press, which was a forceful agent in spreading the Reformation.3 The Low Countries’ government, comprising the States General (a collective representative body of the provinces and the main cities) and the ‘Stadtholder’ (representative of the King) William the Silent (1533–1584), reacted in the form of the ‘Dutch Revolt’ from 1568 onwards, and the ‘Act of Abjuration’ in 1581. These eventually caused a division of the Low Countries: six southern provinces—Hainault, Artois, Walloon Flanders, Tournai, Namur, Luxembourg and Limburg—submitted themselves once more to Philip’s authority and returned to Catholicism, while the Northern provinces Zeeland, Holland, Utrecht and part of Gelderland separated and became the Protestant Dutch Republic. Many Protestants from the south, including Rhetoricians and humanists, fled to the Northern provinces. The Dutch Revolt, which became the Eighty Years’ War, would last until 1648. The years of war and religious strife did not prevent economic growth in parts of the Low Countries; in fact they advanced it. One of the major events was the Fall of Antwerp in 1585, when the city was conquered by the Spaniards. This effected a shift in the economic centre from ‘south’ to ‘north’ and the rise of Amsterdam as a trading centre. Economic success is a good basis for cultural blossoming, and the Low Countries became and remained a region of much cultural activity, in painting, music, literature and humanistic learning. Both Latin schools and universities were centres of Humanism. The Low Countries had two universities. The first one was the University of Louvain, founded in 1425, which initially had a medieval, scholastic spirit, but gradually became a centre of renewal. In 1518 Erasmus was one of the founders of the Collegium trilingue or ‘Collegie der drie Tonghen’ (where ‘the’ three languages, Latin, Greek and Hebrew were taught) in the

3 See, for example, Eisenstein, The Printing Press as an Agent of Change. As she also acknowledges, besides the printed word, the spoken one was important in spreading reformatory ideas.



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same city.4 In 1575, the Northern provinces established their own university, at Leiden, which became a heart of Humanism and Calvinism, and of literary renewal. In these changing circumstances, from the beginnings of the sixteenth century the highly urbanized Low Countries, which had already been a ‘theatre state’ or even a ‘theatre society’ in the fifteenth century,5 saw a relatively short, but intense blossoming of Latin drama. The first plays were performed in the first decades of the sixteenth century, and around 1650 there was a decline, at least in the Northern provinces. In these decades they were, together with Germany, a leading region in Latin drama. This shift may partly be connected with the fact that many humanists did not yet strive for a literature in the vernacular in the sense of Renaissance poetics. In the southern part Latin drama survived for a longer period. This difference was partly a result of the division of the Low Countries between the (northern) Republic of the United Netherlands and the (southern) Habsburg provinces already mentioned. One remark has yet to be made. Often, Dutch Latin drama is seen as a part of German drama.6 Regarded in the light of the humanists’ inspiration, there are grounds for such a view. But the Low Countries certainly had their own developments and merits, and some plays were extremely successful abroad, and by then seen as products from the Low Countries. Nevertheless, there was a lively interaction between the Low Countries and the Germanic lands. The Origins of Latin Drama in the Low Countries From the last decades of the fifteenth and the first decade of the sixteenth century Latin plays were performed in the universities, in the schools, in town halls, or at market places. This custom started in the southern provinces, in the 1480s.7 For instance, in October 1484 book 1 of Virgil’s Aeneid was staged in Bruges.8 Probably, these epic texts were recited by several 4 On the history of the Collegium trilignue, see De Vocht, History of the Foundation and the Rise of the Collegium trilingue. As a matter of fact, the Collegium inspired King of France Francis I to establish the ‘Collège de France’ (1530). 5 Arnade, Realms of Ritual, and Van Dixhoorn, ‘Theatre society in the Early Modern Low Countries’, resp. 6 So, for instance, Roloff, ‘Neulateinisches Drama’; Parente, Religious Drama and the Humanist Tradition. 7 IJsewijn, ‘Theatrum Belgo-Latinum’, p. 80. 8 IJsewijn, ‘Gli inizi del teatro umanistico nei Paesi Bassi Borgognoni’.

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students. In the same year a Declamatio had been acted in Louvain: a debate about the strictness of some regulations that students of law had to observe. For instance, they had to attend lectures on poetica. The opponent replies that a lawyer can only do his job if he has some of the fluency that poetry provides. In the city of Louvain important centres of Latin theatre existed: the faculty of arts at the University of Louvain, the Collegium trilingue or Busleyden College, and the Pegagogies that were connected to it.9 Their students were inspired to write and produce Latin plays when they became teachers or headmasters. On the Sunday of Kermis, 3 September 1508, students of Martinus Dorpius (1485–1525) performed one of the less scurrilous plays of the Roman writer of comedies Plautus, Aulularia (The Pot of Gold) with a prologue and a reconstruction of the lost fifth act of that play, under the title Tomus, written by Dorpius himself.10 These performances fitted perfectly within Dorpius’s teachings. At the Pedagogy ‘The Lily’ he had explained the play so thoroughly, that a performance was almost a natural result. He had read it in an attempt to reform his teaching, no longer dealing with grammar for its own sake, but explaining literary texts. Since most authors were edited in expensive folios, he took his refuge in extracts, which he could dictate or have copied, or to dramas that were attractive for their liveliness and practical utility as examples of everyday conversation. The success of Dorpius’s teachings and performances is proved by the many editions of the Aulularia from 1512 to 1540,11 and by the activities of his friend and colleague Adrianus Barlandus (1486–1538), Latin teacher at the Collegium ‘The Pig’, who on Sunday 26 February 1514, produced with his students the Aulularia, with Dorpius’s addition and with a prologue by himself, and in September of the same year Euripides’ Hecuba in the translation by Erasmus and with an introductory dialogue in Latin. Barlandus also produced Terence’s Andria, Eunuchus, Adelphoe and Hecyra. For those performances too he composed introductions or concluding dialogues.12 The example of Dorpius and Barlandus was followed at the Pedagogies with their many groups of pupils, who were the audience.13 9 The students of the artes were lodged and educated at four pedagogia or lodgings: The Lily, The Falcon, The Pig and The Castle. 10 De Vocht, History, 1, pp. 215–16. 11 See De Vocht, History, 1, p. 217 and n. 4. 12 See Daxhélet, Adrien Barlandus, pp. 209–20. 13 De Vocht, History, 4, p. 106.



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The same Martin van Dorp wrote between 1506 and 1508 a Dialogus in prose, in which Virtus, Venus, Cupid and Hercules (in bivio) appeared.14 It has a very lively style and language, and the characters of the personages show a pleasing diversion. The majestic Virtus, the cajoling Venus, the impetuous Cupid and the severe Hercules all talk in their own way.15 The dialogue breathes a fully classical atmosphere—it contains, for instance, many quotations from Valerius Maximus—and a vernacular atmosphere as well, with some allegories that were popular in Dutch literature. The dialogue was performed at the same pedagogy, ‘The Lily’, in which he presented Hercules in bivio. In the prologue to it the humanist sets a high tone, speaking with disdain about ‘jealous enviers’ and uttering the wish to please only the small group of chosen connoisseurs, pauculis, quales est vos. Dorpius may have been inspired to write his Dialogus by the Declamatio of 1481. Another play in the same vein, Palamedes (1512), was written by Remaclus Arduenna from Florennes in the Belgian Ardennes, one of the leading humanist poets of his age (c. 1480–1524), who was educated at Liège and Cologne. In his allegorical play, mainly in prose, the choice of life is presented as a classical one: Palamedes hesitates to make a choice between Sophia (‘Wisdom’), whom he loves, and Chrysos (‘Gold’) who seduces him.16 At first he makes the wrong choice for Chrysos, but finally he turns to Sophia who will help him to use the arbitrariness of Chrysos to his and others’ benefit. It was, however, written and published in London; when the author moved to Paris, the play saw a second edition in that city, in the same year. These kinds of plays were composed in rivalry with ancient comedy, either to serve as a counterbalance to it, or because that repertoire would soon have been too small, and with an eye on allegorical drama in the vernacular. In the environment of ‘Louvain’, the Latin schools in Flanders must have played an important role. What this role was exactly, we do not know, but the oldest reports on producing classical plays, from Plautus and Terence, and performances based on the Dido episode from Virgil’s 14 Dialogus, in quo Venus & Cupido omnes adhibent versutias, ut Herculem animi ancipitem in suam Militiam invita Virtute perpellant. See De Vocht, Monumenta Humanistica Lovaniensia, pp. 331–33; De Vocht, Jerome de Busleyden, pp. 253–54. See also Creizenach, Geschichte des neueren Dramas, 2, p. 53. 15 This was how Busleyden had described them in a letter of November 1513. See De Vocht, Jerome de Busleyden, pp. 446–47; De Vocht, History 1, p. 220. 16 See CE s.v. Remaclus Arduenna [Godelieve Tournoy-Thoens] and IJsewijn, ‘The Coming of Humanism’, p. 279.

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Aeneid, stem from these places, witness the Bruges performance.17 It is in this Louvain tradition that Erasmus wrote a dialogue in three acts between Thalia, the Muse of comedy and in this text a representative of humanist style, and Barbaries (Barbary) who represents medieval Latin: the Conflictus Thaliae et Barbariei, which was printed long after Erasmus’s death.18 The dialogue, which is situated at the famous Latin school of the Dutch town of Zwolle, contains a ‘Praefatio’ in the vein of a Terentian prologue, and a short ‘argumentum’. Thus one of the sources of Latin drama in the Low Countries was situated in Louvain, a centre of performances of ancient and newly written plays. The other origin, for writing and staging original Latin dramas, was situated in Germany, where the philosopher, Hebraist and playwright Johannes Reuchlin (or Capnio, 1455–1522) lived. He inspired the Brabantic teacher Georgius Macropedius. In a preface to the literary-minded youth, added to his first printed plays Aluta and Rebelles, he states: ‘I must confess that he [Reuchlin] was the first cause for me to write plays, he was the first to inspire me.’19 He even calls Reuchlin ‘this pride of our age and of Germany […] who was the first to restore the collapsed faculty of writing comedies.’20 The Haarlem rector Petrus Nannius (1496–1557), in the dedicatory letter of his Vinctus (Bound, 1522), also acknowledges his debt to the German humanist who had written a Sergius, sive capitis caput (Sergius or Capo, written and staged in 1496, published in 1504) attacking the commerce of relics, and a Scaenica progymnasmata, better known as Henno (1498), a satire on astrologers and lawyers on the theme of the cheat hoist with his own petard.21 The length of the plays (Henno 449 lines, and Aluta 572 lines), the use of choral odes with musical notes, the name of the farmer (‘Heino’ in Aluta, cf. ‘Henno’) and other names, and verbal similarities all testify to the debt of Macropedius’s Aluta to Reuchlin’s play.22 Macropedius was an 17 See also IJsewijn, ‘The Coming of Humanism’, pp. 245–48. 18 A modern ed. has been made by René Hoven in ASD I, 8, pp. 357–67. 19 Macropedius, Rebelles and Aluta, ‘Ad pueros bonarum litterarum studiosos’: ‘Is mihi primus (ut verum fatear) ansam scribendi dedit, is me primus excitavit.’ 20 Macropedius, Rebelles and Aluta, ‘Ad pueros bonarum litterarum studiosos’: ‘hoc seculi nostri et Germaniae decus Ioannes Capnion […] qui […] conlapsum prosus artificium comicum primus instauravit.’ 21 Modern ed. by Schnur. See also in this volume the chapter by Cora Dietl, pp. 127–30. On Nannius, see Polet, Une gloire de l’humanisme belge Petrus Nannius, who assumes as his year of birth 1500. De Vocht, History of the Foundation and the Rise of the Collegium Trilingue Lovaniense, 4, p. 460, n. 57 and 2, p. 177 corrects this (with thanks to Dirk Sacré for this reference). 22 See also Macropedius, Aluta, ed. Bloemendal and Steenbeek, p. 26.



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Fig. 1a. Cornelius Crocus, Comoedia sacra, cui titulusIoseph (Antwerp: Ioan­nes Steelsius, 1536), University Library Jena Shelf number 8 Art.lib.IX,9(1) Title page.

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Fig. 1b. Idem, Dramatis personae.



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Fig. 2. Philip Galle, Georgius Macropedius, (woodcut) 1572. With thanks to Henk Giebels.

autodidact: after attending the Latin school, he entered the Brothers of the Common Life, living in the atmosphere of the Devotio Moderna. To become a priest, the members had to study, but they were not required to attend university.

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Here also the Münster teacher Johannes Kerckmeister should be mentioned. Münster in Westphalia may be counted as part of the Low Countries, because the area between Zwolle, Deventer and Münster formed one cohering cultural region. Kerckmeister staged and published a Codrus in 1485, a plea for a humanistic education in the form of a gene­rational conflict between a scholastic professor and his progressive students.23 A third ‘origin’ is the classroom dialogue. Humanists wrote dialogues (colloquia) for their pupils to read and recite. Of course, the most famous ones that were widely used at the schools were those of Erasmus, the Colloquia familiari. But the French reformer Mathurin Cordier or Mathurinus Corderius (1479–1559) also wrote colloquies that were read in the Low Countries: Colloquia scholastica. The colloquies of Erasmus were also performed24 or a few times reworked into a drama.25 In Louvain Barlandus wrote Dialogi XLII, published in 1524.26 Other arguments for the dialogue being one of the forerunners of drama is that the word ‘comedy’ is used for dialogue and that some dialogues end with the formula ‘valete et plaudite’ so common in comedy.27 The First Generation—Finding the Form in a Changing World (1500–1550) The first generation of Latin playwrights wrote mainly biblical dramas, either as a kind of critical reaction to Latin comedy, or as a logical consequence of it. Starting at the first decade of the sixteenth century, it more or less coincides with the first phase of the Reformation movements, which may determine the way they were and are read. The main centres 23 Modern ed. by Mundt; IJsewijn, in Latomus, 30 (1971), 179–81, suggested some textual emendations. On Codrus, see the chapter by Cora Dietl in this volume. 24 Holstein, Die Reformation, p. 38 and Bierlaire, Les Colloques d’Érasme, pp. 133–34. In the School Ordinance of Hamburg, 1529, and in the School Ordinance of SchleswigHolstein, both made by the reformer Johann Bugenhagen (1485–1558, it says: ‘Item idt is ock eine gude övunge, wen man se Comedien spleen leth edder ettlicke Colloquia Erasmi’ (‘Further, it is a good exercise when one has comedies played or some Colloquies of Erasmus’). See also Roloff, ‘Neulateinisches Drama’, p. 650. Bierlaire, o.c., p. 134, n. 1 gives other examples and references. 25 Holstein, Die Reformation, p. 266. The anonymous party who wrote the Lustspiel von der Weiber Reichstag (first performance Nuremberg 1537) took his subject from Erasmus’s Colloquia. 26 By the Louvain printer Dirk Martens. On Barlandus, see Daxhélet, Adrien Barlandus; ce 1, pp. 95–96 (C.G. van Leijenhorst); Meertens, Letterkundig leven in Zeeland, pp. 40–41. 27 See, for instance, Comoedia vel potius dialogus de optimo studio scholasticorum, staged in Tübingen in 1501.



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for dramatic production in Latin were the Latin schools, the authors mainly headmasters. The choice of Terence and Plautus as primary models has to do with this environment. The period ends with the publication of the Omnes fabulae by Georgius Macropedius in 1552/1553. The very first modern Latin play by an author from the Low Countries was written abroad. In Italy the Dutch humanist Hermannus Knuyt van Slyterhoven (from Vianen near Utrecht) wrote a Scornetta, published in Bologna in 1497. This play was named after a country house in the neighbourhood of Bologna, where Codrus, Lolla and Corydon have a love affair in a pastoral setting.28 This, however, is a foreign body in the history of Latin drama from the Low Countries. Within the Low Countries themselves, Neo-Latin drama started with the Bible. Whether intended to be polemical or not, the plays were often read in the light of the clash between Protestants and Catholics. The first original Neo-Latin play written and performed in the Low Countries had as its theme the Prodigal Son, from Luke 15, 11–32. Between 1506 and 1510 Brother Georgius Macropedius or Joris van Lanckvelt (1487–1558), by then working as a repetitor in ’s-Hertogenbosch in the duchy of Brabant, wrote Asotus evangelicus (‘The Prodigal Son of the Gospel’).29 The play saw its first, revised edition only in 1535. Besides paraphrasing a passage of Erasmus’s Latin translation of Euripides’ Iphigenia at Aulis (1506), in his revision Macropedius demonstrably used Erasmus’s reworking of the Vulgate translation of the Bible (1516).30 Moreover, he quoted many of Erasmus’s adages. These forms of reception show Macropedius’s debt to evangelical Humanism which was easily accommodated to Modern Devotion. The opposition between the prodigal, younger son and the ‘decent’, older one could have been a way to take a stand in the reformatory quarrels on grace and the meritorious character of good works, but 28 Modern ed. by Bolte. See IJsewijn, ‘Theatrum Belgo-Latinum’, pp. 81–82; Bahlman, Die lateinischen Dramen, pp. 23–24. 29 On the author Best, Macropedius and Giebels and Slits, Georgius Macropedius. Modern ed. of Asotus by Puttiger. See also Bloemendal, Georgius Macropedius, offering an overview of his dramas with in-depth studies of aspects thereof. A complete translation in Dutch of his dramas is found in Macropedius, Verzameld toneel. Circumstantial evidence on the date of Asotus can be found in the Apotheosis Macropedii: ‘Nam vix dum coepit doctas tractare Camoaenas, / Quin iuveni nimium sors cito acerba foret’ and ‘a ter septenis annis, podagra quia saeva / Excruciaretur’. So around his twenty-first year (in 1509) Macropedius started to write poetry. On Asotus, see Best, Macropedius, pp. 23–41; Giebels and Slits, Georgius Macropedius, pp. 225–33. 30 Puttiger’s intr. to his ed. of Asotus, pp. 25–31, esp. pp. 27–28.

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Macropedius presents it as an opposition of characters and of education. In the opening monologue Asotus’s father Eumenius (‘Well-disposed’ or ‘Gracious’) complains about modern youth, embodied now in his youngest son. Influenced by wicked friends, among whom were some of Eumenius’s own servants, Asotus goes astray. As a result of the moral and pedagogical aims Macropedius set himself as an author, he avoided the religious arena, although this turned out to be impossible: the theme of the Prodigal Son would soon figure in the controversy on grace and good works. Macropedius added a medieval and vernacular flavour to the play by interspersing it with scenes in which two devils (in the play called Astaroth and Belial), comparable to the ‘sinnekens’ in Rhetoricians’ plays, comment on the action. This play leads us to another general observation on humanist drama. While in the ancient comedy of Plautus and Terence there was no chorus, some humanists reintroduced it. One may guess at the reasons. Macro­ pedius would have been inspired to do so by Reuchlin, but another literary stimulus may have been the tragedies ascribed to Seneca that contain choral passages between the acts, even though they are not strophic like most humanist choral songs. Horace’s Ars poetica may have given a theoretical impetus, with his remark that the chorus should play the part of an actor, and suggests that it enter between the acts.31 A more pragmatic reason may have been the possibility to give more pupils a role in a performance.32 The humanists themselves wondered why the chorus was lacking in Roman comedy. Laurimanus, in the prologue to his Esthera, thinks that this has to do with the replacement of the chorus by flutes. Therefore, there is no objection to reintroducing it.33 In the Omnes fabulae edition the choruses are printed with melodies, composed by Macropedius himself. This music fitted the approach to music of the Modern Devotion34 and the Dutch fondness for singing. Another play on the Prodigal must have been written and staged by the physician, historian and theologian Renerus Snoyus or Reynier 31 Horace, Ars poetica 193–95: ‘Actoris partis chorus officiumque virile / defendat, neu quid medios intercinat actus, / quod non proposito conducat et haereat apte’ (‘Let the chorus sustain the role of an actor and the function of a man, and let it not sing anything between the acts that does not purposefully and aptly serve and unite with the action’). 32 It is telling that Macropedius, apparently troubled by the controversies of the Reformation, turned away from worldly topics as he grew older, while Schonaeus, living and working a generation later, could write farces and non-Christian plays throughout his career. 33 ‘Quid vetat igitur, cum tibiarum ratio nobis minime constet, ut chorum revocemus.’ 34 Grijp, ‘Macropedius and Music’.



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Snoy (c. 1477–1537) in Gouda, before 1529. This play, however, was probably never printed, and we know nothing about it.35 The theme of the Prodigal Son also inspired the headmaster of the Latin school at The Hague, Guilielmus Gnapheus (or Willem Claesz. de Volder or Van de Voldersgraft, 1493–1567) who had studied in Cologne and probably at Louvain University.36 He wrote an Acolastus that was printed in 1529. It was the most famous play written in the Low Countries, which was often performed, printed, translated and adapted all over Europe.37 Gnapheus kept close to the story, but elaborated on vs 13: vivendo luxuriose, with some tavern scenes in which he could imitate Roman comedy and its figures. The play may be summarized as follows: the prodigal Acolastus (‘Uncontrolled’), under the influence of his friend Philautus (‘Self-love’), leaves his father Pelargus, falls in with two rogues, Pamphagus (‘All-eating’) and Pantolabus (‘All-snatching’), is fleeced by the innkeeper Sannio and the whore Lais, dices away the rest of his money, and so is forced to work for the farmer Chremes. Meanwhile, Pelargus is persuaded by his confidant Eubulus (‘Good-advice’) to forgive his son unconditionally. Acolastus, near despair, suddenly becomes convinced that his father will accept him again. He returns home to receive a cheerful welcome.38 The play could be a Lutheran play, in which the theme of grace prevails, a play that reflects from a Lutheran standpoint the liberum and servum arbitrium controversy between Luther and Erasmus, or a play that is implicitly Protestant, making use of medieval commentary traditions, intertwining story and allegorical interpretation.39 While other playwrights confined typology and allegorical interpretations to the prologue or the epilogue,40 Gnapheus used them throughout the play. However, such an inter­ pretation would be more readily recognized by readers than by an 35 On Snoy, see Goudriaan, ‘The Gouda Circle of Humanists’, and ce. 36 On him, see recently Demoed’s doctoral thesis ‘Wie van gevaar houdt’. 37 Ed. Bolte; ed. Minderaa; English translation Atkinson. See also Parente, Religious Drama and the Humanist Tradition, pp. 43; 44–45; 72–74; Bahlmann, Die lateinischen Dramen, pp. 39–42; Atkinson tried to assess its Lutheranism; Washof, Die Bibel auf der Bühne, pp. 204–06 also opts for a confessional choice for God’s grace as the cause of salvation. 38 Cf. Macardle, The Allegory of Acolastus, p. 1. 39 For the first interpretation, see Wailes, ‘Is Gnapheus’ “Acolastus” a Lutheran Play?’, the second one in Atkinson’s intr. to his transl., pp. 51–67; for the third, see Macardle, The Allegory of Acolastus. One may also discern Erasmus in this play: In Luke 15, 17 the Prodigal asks himself, in the Vulgate translation: quanti mercenarii are in my father’s house? Erasmus annotates: quanti should be quot or quam multi. Gnapheus, l. 1161 phrases: quot mercennarii. 40 Cf. Parente, Religious Drama and the Humanist Tradition, p. 72.

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audience at a performance—the more so, since the theological treatment is very restrained, subtle and unaggressive.41 Gnapheus, unlike Macro­ pedius, stuck to classical comedy and refrained from introducing choral songs. In his letter of dedication Gnapheus shows that he was writing his play full of literary allusions for the republic of letters by stating that although the present age had produced masters in almost every literary genre, it had not produced a Menander or Terence. So the tone of this letter is not one of religious controversy, but of literary aspirations. ‘To such an audience [i.e. a European learned audience], what was most conspicuous in Acolastus was not a Lutheran message but the deeply-held humanist conviction that the classical medium is an effective one for proclaiming the unchanging Christian message.’42 Although this may be true, it is also true that some plays were written in a polemical tone, or were read as such. In 1555 he published a reworked version of his comedy.43 Acolastus is a Christian play; it is also a fully Terentian one, in which both the old father Pelargus and the young prodigal son could be portrayed after Terentian characters, and their opposition is similar to that of the severe father Demea and the liberal uncle Micio in Terence’s Adelphoe or that of the father Menedemus and his old neighbour Chremes in his Heautontimorumenos. Also the unkempt life of the son had its Terentian forerunner in Eunuchus. Gnapheus succeeded in transferring the biblical theme to a classical comedy. Gnapheus himself introduced humanistic school drama into Germany when he fled there. He performed his Acolastus in Elbing, in 1536. Among the audience was the prelate and Latinist Johannes Dantiscus, and he showed his approval. Acolastus also shows another feature of Latin drama of the Low Countries: the choice of New Testament subjects that had not been used in medieval drama. The vicissitudes of Gnapheus’s play, as well as the collection by Brylinger show the international scope of Low Countries Latin drama. Another early drama with a tremendous European resonance was the Euripus (1549) by the Antwerp Friar Minorite Levinus Brechtus (1502/3– 1560).44 Initially written for the students of the Louvain College ‘The 41 See also Kearns, ‘Pagan Wisdom, Christian Revelation’, p. 212. 42 Kearns, ‘Pagan Wisdom, Christian Revelation’, p. 213. 43 Printed in Antwerp by J. Loeus. See also Demoed, ‘Wie van gevaar houdt’. 44 See Valentin, ‘Aux origines du théâtre Néo-latin’; idem, Les jésuites et le théâtre, pp. 202–04; Wimmer, Jesuitentheater; Rädle, ‘Aus der Frühzeit des Jesuitentheaters’, and the contribution by Rädle in this volume, pp. 203–04.



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Falcon’, and performed on 1 July 1548, this tragoedia christiana was staged at Jesuit Colleges from Toledo to Vienna, from Cambrai to Munich. In Prague it was presented in German before ten thousand spectators in February 1560. Thus Euripus became one of the cornerstones of Jesuit drama in Europe, but it also united Protestants and Catholics: Lutherans attended a performance of the play by the Jesuit College in Augsburg.45 The theme of Euripus is a variation on the Everyman theme: the young man Euripus (‘Wavering’)46 personifies the young man who is easily led astray. The play starts with a dialogue between Venus and Cupid, dressed as devils. Euripus has escaped them and put his faith in Fear of God who, ‘dressed as a doctor or a philosopher’, accompanies him on his long and difficult journey. Venus and Cupid, now in a beautiful appearance, seduce him. However, he shuns admiration of the vices that Venus hides under her garment, such as adultery, murder and debauchery, and flees with ‘Time of Grace’, a young man dressed like an angel. But then the road is too hard, and he returns to the two pagan deities of love and lust. They cheer when Death and Plague visit Euripus and torture his soul after death by depicting all the punishments of hell. Brechtus introduced two choruses in his play: a chorus lamentantium (of lamenting people) and a chorus daemonum aëriorum (of heavenly spirits). One of the themes in the play is the broad way and the narrow path (Matthew 7, 13–14); whether or not these were actually shown on the stage, or merely depicted in words is unclear. Euripus treads the latter, difficult path with Timor Dei (‘Fear of God’) and Tempus gratiae (‘Time of grace’). However, after a few yards he already wishes to rest, even though Timor Dei warns him of the proximity of Venus and Cupid. When Euripus sleeps, Venus enchants him with a ‘suavis symphonia’. The play is full of allegories, thus mirroring the contemporary morality of the Rhetoricians.47 Their most famous play was the Dutch Elckerlijc (c. 1496), rendered in English in the form of the ‘morall playe’ Everyman.48 45 Wimmer, Jesuitentheater, p. 119. 46 See Erasmus, Adagia 862 (I.9.62): ‘Euripus homo in inconstantes ac moribus inaequales homines dicetur […] Ducta metaphora a maris Euripi prodigiosa quadam reciprocandi celeritate’ (‘Man’s a Euripus, is to be used to those who are changeable and of unsettled character […] The image is taken from the prodigious speed with which the Euripus ebbs and flows’, CWE, 32, pp. 215–16). 47 Meyer, ‘Zur Präsentation und Deutung von Sinnbildern auf der Jesuitenbühne’, esp. pp. 396–98. 48 Its full title runs: Den Spyeghel der salicheyt van Elckerlijc. Hoe dat elckerlijc mensche wert ghedaecht Gode rekeninghe te doen (The Mirror of Salvation of Everyman. How every

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The play portrays ‘Every man’s’ hour between the appearance of death and the actual moment of dying, representing it as a pilgrimage. It is typical of the city, because its protagonist is a rich citizen who has forgotten how he can be saved in spite of his wealth, i.e. by sharing his possessions with the poor, and it was written in the urban context of the Rhetorician’s Chambers. The play had already been remade in Latin, by the Maastricht priest and schoolmaster Christianus Ischyrius (or Stercken, d. after 1536)49 as Homulus (1536) and by Macropedius as Hecastus (1539). All these plays have as their central question: ‘what is a person’s consolation in the hour of death?’ or ‘what gives the sinful human being entrance to eternal life instead of damnation?’50 Homulus (‘Hopeless Creature’) is fully embedded in Catholicism: Homulus, abandoned by all, addresses himself directly to Mary, confesses his sins to a priest, sings the praises of the Church’s seven sacraments and is saved by them, and refers to the doctrine of transubstantiation.51 Ischyrius reworked the ‘sinnespel’ into a classical five-act comedy, increasing it with humanistic education by using classical metres and the learning of Antiquity. It contains thoughts and phrases derived from classical authors, mainly Plautus and Terence, but also Horace, Ovid and Seneca. It also echoes passages from the Bible and the Christian Fathers of the Church. Furthermore, the author added a prologue and an epilogue in which the moralization is made explicit. However, following ancient comedy, he did not introduce a chorus. In the play itself he often stays close to the original Dutch text. Ischyrius was aware of the tension between classical lore and Christian religion: ‘Here you have, dear reader, a comedy that is both pleasant and pious. Yet although it does not have man is summoned to account for his actions to God). First ed. Delft Christiaen Snellaert, 1496; second ed. Antwerp, Govaert Bac, 1501. The edition by the Antwerp printer Willem Vorsterman c. 1525 is a poor print, but the first complete edition that survived. Modern eds. in Ramakers and Wilmink, Mariken van Nieumeghen en Elckerlijc, pp. 151–223; Davidson, Walsh and Broos, Everyman and Its Dutch Original, Elckerlijc. 49 On Ischyrius, see NNBW, 8, coll. 905–06 (J.F.M. Sterck). On the Everyman theme in Latin and vernacular plays see, for example, Wiemken, Vom Sterben des reichen Mannes; Goedeke, Every-man, Homulus und Hekastus; Bolte, Drei Schauspiele vom sterbenden Menschen; Bloemendal, ‘Transfer and Integration’. 50 A similar theme can be found in Thomas Naogeorgius’s Mercator (1539) and Jacob Bidermann’s Cenodoxus (1602). See the chapter on German humanist drama by Cora Dietl, p. 153 and Rädle’s chapter on Jesuit drama, p. 276 resp. 51 The full title is Homulus Petri Diesthemii, Comoedia in primis lepida et pia, in rem Christiani hominis adprime faciens, Antverpiae quondam in publico civitatum Brabanticarum conventu vulgariter acta, palmamque adepta (‘The Everyman of Peter van Diest. A comedy that is above all pleasant and pious, contributing foremost to a Christian’s interest, once played in public in Antwerp at a meeting of the Brabantic cities and where it won the first prize’). Modern ed. by Roersch.



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the charm of Terence or the eloquence of Plautus, it depicts the life of a Christian and the frailty of this world’s wealth and weighs them as on a balance.’52 In its turn the play was translated into German by Jaspar von Gennip, who had also printed the first edition of the Latin play. The same classical learning was added by Macropedius to his famous Hecastus (‘Everyman’), which, however, was less ‘Catholic’.53 While in Elckerlijc and Homulus the priests summon their audience to good deeds and the Christian life, stressing that a sinner can be redeemed by remorse, repentance and reform, in Hecastus (published in Antwerp by Michael Hillen, 1539) things are less straightforward. Hecastus is strengthened by the sacraments, but faith in God’s grace and Christ’s redeeming death are presented as necessary (1065–66) for salvation. Mary is barely mentioned; there is no penitence, nor any giving of alms. The chorus he employs consists of three boys and three girls of the family (‘Chorus ex tribus pueris et tribus puellis familiae’), at which it should be noted that the girls’ roles were likely sung by boys too. This less strict adherence to Catholic doctrine was related to Macro­ pedius’s own education at the school of the Brethren of the Common Life in ’s-Hertogenbosch, who practised the devotio moderna of Geert Grote. Macropedius himself became a member of the Brethren, who aimed for a practical religion, faith expressing itself in good deeds, piety practised in copying sacred books and illuminating them, but also in the education of children and reading the Bible every day. They had an aversion to dogmatism. In this atmosphere, Macropedius was little concerned with the orthodox, Catholic mainstream. Although Macropedius was not that interested in Catholic doctrine, he reworked the play in 1552 and 1553 for the publication of his Omnes fabulae. Whereas, in the first version, he had the protagonist Hecastus find consolation mostly in faith, in his belief in Jesus Christ, in the second the author inserted some lines and scenes which showed that he adhered to the Church and its tenets and sacraments as the foundation of salvation and consolation.

52 Ischyrius, Homulus, preface ‘To the pious reader and the upright youth’: ‘Habes, candide lector, comoediam non minus lepidam quam piam, quae tametsi Terentij venustatem aut Plautinam redoleat eloquentiam, tamen Christiani hominis vitam, mundique huius luxus fugacitatem, tanquam ex quodam perpendiculo depingit & aestimat.’ 53 See Best, Macropedius, on Hecastus, pp. 11–24; Giebels and Slits, Georgius Macropedius, on Hecastus, pp. 252–66. Modern ed. of the play in Dammer and Jeßing, Der Jedermann im 16. Jahrhundert.

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Fig. 3. Georgius Macropedius, Hecastus (Antwerp: Michael Hillen, 1539). With thanks to Henk Giebels.



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This was connected with the repressive measures the authorities took after the Rhetoricians’ feast in Ghent in 1539.54 There, the question to be answered in dramatic form was ‘what is man’s consolation at the hour of his death?’—the same question as addressed in Elckerlijc and its imitations. Some of the plays that were performed there—and later printed— gave Reformationist answers to the question: ‘Christ’, or ‘faith’, instead of ‘the sacraments’, ‘the Church’, etc. Moreover, the Ecumenical Council of Trent (1545–1563) clearly specified Catholic doctrines on salvation and the sacraments, in reaction to the Protestant Reformation movements. Macropedius got involved in matters of orthodoxy and heterodoxy, whether he wanted to or not. There were many more biblical and other religious dramas written in this first phase in the Low Countries. Louvain, with its University, the Collegium trilingue and the Pedagogies, often were the source of inspiration. The Amsterdam schoolmaster Cornelius Crocus (Cornelis Croock, c. 1500–1550) studied in Louvain with Alardus of Amsterdam and Barlandus from 1517 on. As a Catholic priest and a rector of an Amsterdam school, he published a very successful biblical comedy (comoedia sacra) in 1536 called Ioseph, which had been performed publicly in 1535.55 It was printed at least seventeen times between 1536 and 1549—in the Low Countries, in France and Germany—and it was incorporated into the compilation of comedies by Brylinger (1540) and Oporinus (1547).56 Most likely, he was inspired by his teachers in Louvain and by the success of some other playwrights, among them Macropedius and Gnapheus. In his Ioseph he dealt with the story of the seduction of Joseph by the wife of Potiphar, his imprisonment and release from prison (Genesis 39–41), thus focusing on the seduction. Both quotations from Erasmus’s works, including one that was used as a motto for the play, and the use of pagan literature to advance Christian truth and living

54 Van Bruaene, ‘Printing Plays’; Leys, ‘L’“Hecastus” de Macropedius et le “Landjuweel” de Gand (1539)’. 55 Full title: Comoedia sacra, cui titulus Ioseph, ad Christianae iuventutis institutionem iuxta locos inventionis, veteremque artem nunc primum et scripta et edita per Cornelium Crocum Aemsterodami ludimagistrum. Ex Genesios cap. 39. 40. et 41 (Antwerp: Johannes Steelsius, 1536). On this play see Lebeau, Salvator mundi, pp. 281–82 and 301–13; Wimmer, Jesuitentheater, pp. 45–60; Spies, ‘A Chaste Joseph for Schoolboys’; ed. by Bloemendal. On Crocus himself, see ce s.v. Croock (C.G. van Leijenhorst) and ADB (Johannes Bolte). 56 Comoediae ac Tragoediae aliquot ex Nouo et Vetere Testamento desumptae (Basle: Nicolaus Brylinger, 1540) and Dramata sacra: Comoediae atque tragoediae aliquot e Vetere Testamento desumptae (Basle, Johannes Oporinus, 1547).

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Fig. 4. Comoediae ac tragoediae aliquot ex Novo et Vetere Testamento (Basel: Nicolaus Brylinger, 1540), title page.



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Fig. 5. Dramata sacra. Comoediae ac tragoediae aliquot e Veteri Testamento desumptae (Basle: Ioannes Oporinus, 1547).

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well,  wisdom being a sancta eruditio that initially comes from Christ, ­designate Crocus as an Erasmian author, who combines a Stoic and a Christian outlook in his resignation of wealth and bodily pleasures and his admonishment of his pupils to pursue wisdom. It is this combination of pagan wisdom and Christian revelation that is a major theme for Crocus.57 In the letter of dedication, he also ascribes a forceful influence of a classically embellished style on the pupils’ minds, quoting the famous passage from Lucretius that poetic form makes the content more agreeable as the honey with which doctors sweetened bitter medicines.58 Theologically, he presented Joseph’s rejection of Potiphar’s wife and his imprisonment to create a crisis so that God’s liberation of him from prison would illustrate His righteousness. Typologically, this plot shows in God’s release of Joseph from prison Christ’s redemption of man. Crocus remained an Erasmian, even after his religious development and entrance to the Jesuit order in the 1540s. In 1548 an edition appeared with some additions. A dedication to the orthodox Amsterdam burgomaster Hendrick Dircksz was added, as well as a part of a poem by Paulinus of Nola: ‘Brevis exegesis historiae’ (‘A Short Explanation of History’). Another change aimed to be of assistance to the non-Latin audience: a ‘Cantio vigilis’ (a ‘guardian song’) in Dutch, to be sung between the fourth and the fifth acts. The introduction to this song reveals that a trumpet sounded in the fifth act, one of the scarce indications of performance practices. After the 1540s, Crocus revised the play considerably, mainly for stylistic reasons. This edition, according to the title page recognita utraque et aucta per Cor. Crocum (‘both revised and augmented by Cornelius Crocus’) was published by the same Antwerp printer Steelsius. It turned out to be a failure, either for ideological reasons, or—more likely—because of saturation of the market for biblical dramas by the 1550s. In its first version, Crocus’s play had a tremendous resonance in the German-speaking countries where it was translated and imitated by Hans von Rüte (d. 1558) in Bern, by Sixt Birck or Sextus Betuleius (1501–1554) in Augsburg, by Jakob Rueff or Ruf (1500?–1558) in Zurich, all in German, and in Latin by Andreas Diether (d. 1561), for his students in Augsburg.59 In 1583 Jonas Bitner or Büttner (1520?–1590) again translated the play 57 Kearns, ‘Pagan Wisdom, Christian Revelation’, pp. 231–38. 58 Lucretius, De rerum natura 1, 936–38; cf. Quintilian, Institutio oratoria 3, 1, 4. Crocus also mentions the objections to theatre raised by St Jerome and Lactantius. 59 See the contribution by Cora Dietl.



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Fig. 6. Cornelius Crocus, Ioseph (Antwerp: Steelsius, 1536), copy annotated by a student, University Library, Jena. Invitatio.

into German, while the Polish poet Simon Simonides or Szymon Szymonowic (1558–1629) was inspired by it for his play Castus Ioseph (‘The Chaste Joseph’, 1587)60 and these would not be the last plays based on Crocus’s Ioseph. 60 See the contribution on Eastern European drama.

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Fig. 7. Cornelius Crocus, Ioseph (Antwerp: Steelsius, 1536), copy annotated by a student, University Library, Jena. Prologue.



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In the Low Countries themselves Crocus’s Ioseph inspired Macropedius to compose his own Iosephus (1544). In his lengthy play (over 2000 verses in 41 scenes). Macropedius adopted more elements of the story in his play, such as the explanation of the pharaoh’s dreams, the appointment of Josef as viceroy and his marriage with the Egyptian princess Asnath, who in his version is the daughter of Josef’s former master and mistress, in the play called Aegla (‘Radiance’).61 Rather than observing the unity of time, he wished to adhere to the biblical story, as he tells us. Macropedius’s canniness finds its expression in the prologue, which closes with the request that the audience should not be offended by Aegla’s shameless words or actions, for without them, Joseph’s chastity cannot be shown. In contrast to the prudish Crocus, who keeps the attempt at seduction offstage, Macropedius gives full exposure to the lust of his villainess.62 Showing the entire story, he could give his play a neat, comic ending. He is also more explicit about the behaviour of Potiphar’s wife than Crocus was and does not shun showing the scène-à-faire. Just like Crocus, Macropedius shows Aegla’s lack of balance in her misbehaviour towards her servants. In Act II, Scene i, Joseph compares his situation to that of Hippolytus in relation to Phaedra. The rector scholae also gave the play a Christian instructional turn, by having Asnath teach the Crede and the doctrine of Holy Trinity. It is obvious: Catholic Christianity already won the plea in Potiphar’s family. Asnath is given a prominent place at the end of the play, when she marries Joseph. Her father and mother, Potiphar and Aegle, repent and acknowledge in a kind of anagnorisis that they deserve to be punished.63 Another feature of the play is that both had ‘raised Joseph as their own son.’ Thus the story is given some resemblance to the Greco-Roman story of Phaedra who fell in love with her stepson Hippolytus.64 Next to this, the figure of Joseph as ‘Saviour of the World’ (in Greek, Σωτῆρ κόσμου, added by Macropedius several times) in this play, as in the Christian tradition of exegesis of the Old Testament, is a prefiguration of Christ, and Aegla and Asenath allegorically represent Judaism and Christianity. 61 On the play, see Best, Macropedius, pp. 137–53; Giebels and Slits, Georgius Macropedius, pp. 240–51. In Genesis 41, 45 Pharaoh gives Aseneth to Joseph; she is the daughter of Potiphar, a priest in Heliopolis who happens to bear the same name as Joseph’s master. Macropedius identifies both persons. 62 See also Best, Macropedius, pp. 137–38. 63 Perhaps an allusion to the sacrament of confession with repentance and punishment, implicitly directed against Luther with his doctrine of grace (sola gratia). 64 See also Lebeau, Salvator mundi, p. 89; 140–41 and 641. Vondel’s Joseph in Egypten (‘Joseph in Egypt’, 1640) also remains close to Seneca’s Phaedra.

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This Iosephus was performed in Antwerp in 1564 in a translation by Antoine Tiron.65 Unlike Crocus, in this play Macropedius also added a chorus, sung by ‘the family present’ (‘chorus per familiam praesentem’), by Joseph and prisoners (‘per Iosephum et Captivos’), or based on a biblical passage (‘ex Esdrae libro tertio’). One of the early biblical plays is also the Susanna (1532) by the Dominican monk Johannes Placentius (or Struyven, c. 1500–c. 1548) from St Truiden, who was educated by the Brethren of the Common Life in ’s-Hertogenbosch. He was the first to dramatize this story from the apocryphal part of Daniel in Latin.66 The action is presented in some 500 verses, in which the surprise scene in the garden, when the two elders gaze at the chaste Susanna, with agitating, flattering and threatening words, is presented in witty stichomythia. Perhaps this Placentius is the same as Eusebius Candidus, whose name is on the title of a play entitled Plausus Mortis (1532), a death-dance play in which ecclesiastical and social wrongs are exposed.67 The play is very compact, running to some 530 lines, though still having a five-act structure, but no chorus. In the ‘Epigramma’ preceding Susanna, Placentius stresses that ‘biblical stories’ (‘divinas historias’) are more appropriate for the young to present ‘than the frivolous ones of the ancients’ (‘veterum quam […] leves’). In both the title and the ‘Epigramma’, Placentius refrains from any designation of the play as comedy or tragedy. In the ‘Argumentum’, in line with ancient comedy, he gives an outline of the story, in which Susanna is opposed by ‘the highly impious old men’ (‘senes impiissimi’), unnamed in the Bible, but here called Crito and Chrisalus, ‘full of rage, lust, greed, gluttony, in short of all vices’ (‘ira, libidine, avaritia, gula, omnibus / Breviter malis foeti’). As Brown observes, ‘Placentius, as a Catholic author, might well be making a statement on the autonomy and power of the will; certainly Susanna is kept from sin through the power of her personal rejection of evil, and Chrisalus […] would not be deserving of the death sentence unless his own actions 65 See Lebeau, Salvator mundi, p. 84. 66 Daniel 13. On the play see Brown, ‘The Susanna of Johannes Placentius’. Its full title runs: Susanna Per Placentium Evangelisten lusa (Antwerp, Martin de Keyser, 1532). NK lists three other editions: (Antwerp: Martin de Keyser, 1534), (Antwerp: Michael Hillen van Hoochtstraten, 1534), and (Antwerp: Willem Vorstermsn, 1536), nos. 3734, 3735, 1728 and 3736, resp. On Placentius, see also the (unpublished) thesis by Stijn Buiter. Plays were also written on the Susanna theme in the vernacular; see Worp, Geschiedenis, 1, p. 21. 67 Three of Eusebius Candidus’s poems are published together with Susanna; Placentius had written another poem of his, Pugna porcorum, under a pseudonym and the letters of dedication reveal that Eusebius Candidus and Placentius move in the same circles, see Vanderheyden, ‘Een dodendansspel’, pp. 58, 62 and 86.



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condemn him.’68 Besides these, other characters known from the Bible appear as well, such as Joachim, Helchias and Daniel. In the end, poetic justice is done: the evildoers are punished—in the final scene the carnifices announce that the elders will be executed offstage—and the virtuous rewarded. Furthermore, Placentius adapts stock characters from the classical models, but he exploits them in the first half of his play for comic purposes. All in all, in Susanna the moral didacticism is implicitly demonstrated in the proper conduct of Susanna. A year after Susanna was published, the Breda author Jacobus Zovitius from Zeeland (1512–?) wrote a play on the Old Testament story of Ruth (1533).69 Zovitius, too, had attended the Louvain Collegium trilingue, where he may well have been inspired to use Latin plays as didactic material. In 1533, he was an assistant schoolmaster (‘hypodidascalus’) at Hoogstraten and aged just twenty-one, as he states in the dedicatory letter to his Ovis perdita (1539), in which he defends the play that had not been well received. The story of the faithful Ruth the Moabite is appealing; the author is innovative in his treatment of some episodes, for example, in the introduction of two vagabonds and in the impressive scene where Ruth decides to follow Naomi (Noemi in the play, Ruth 1, 7–17; Zovitius, Ruth II.4). Zovitius depicts the heroine as a pagan philosopher already determined as a result of her rational convictions,70 who can rebuke her sister Orpha for not making the same decision.71 In Church history the story of Ruth was loaded with many interpretations—for instance, in the adoption of a gentile in the Jewish people as an anagogical prefiguration of the ecclesia de gentibus, and in her appearance in the ancestry of David, as a foremother of Christ. Zovitius ignores these overtones, and gives the story a philosophical-ethical interpretation of Stoic calm towards 68 Brown, ‘The Susanna of Placentius’, pp. 247–48. See also Pilger, ‘Die Dramatisierungen der Susanna im 16. Jht.’. 69 On Zovitius, see the intr. to the ed. of Didascalus by Vloeimans, pp. 7–9, and Vosters, ‘Jacob Zovitius’. On Ruth, Kearns, ‘Pagan Wisdom, Christian Revelation’, pp. 217–31 and Zovitius, Didascalus, ed. Vloeimans, pp. 10–11. Ruth was published by the Antwerp printer Michael Hillen (NK, 4106). 70 For example, she does so in her reaction to Noemi complaining about her loss of property and nobility. Ruth tells her that true nobility depends on virtue and true property cannot be taken away, ll. 145–54 and 151–71. Orpha ironically interrupts: ‘Haec / Aut ex Stoa aut Academia Platonica / Prodit, quae ita in numerato habet Philsophiae / Dogmata.’ (‘She is springing from the Stoa or the Platonic Academy, since she has the tenets of philosophy ready at hand’). In the decision scene II, iv, Ruth stresses the Stoic doctrine of ‘home everywhere’: ‘Mater, solum omne patria / Est forti, ut aequor piscibus’ (‘Mother, for a virtuous person the whole earth is his fatherland, like the sea for fish’), cf. Ovid, Fasti 1, 493. 71 Kearns, ‘Pagan Wisdom, Christian Revelation’, p. 219.

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misfortune­and pagan wisdom being an ancilla to reach the Promised Land, i.e. Christian faith. Six years later, in the same year that Macropedius’s Hecastus saw the light of day, Zovitius’s second play, Ovis perdita (1539), was published, representing the parable of the lost sheep (Matthew 18, 12–14; Luke 15, 4–7).72 Zovitius was at this time teaching in the Brabantic city of Breda. This play was rather successful; it was reprinted in 1540 and 1541 and, like Ruth, included in the compilation by Brylinger in 1540. In the play Jesus Christ appears (called both Soter and Salvator, ‘Saviour’) together with his servant Helias (Elijah). All kinds of allegories make an appearance too, such as Justice, Jealousy, World and Flesh. Through this allegorical form the play is rooted in medieval and especially Rhetoricians’ drama. The printed play has a special feature in the marginal notes indicating the quotations of biblical passages or allusions to them, from the Old and the New Testament, and from the apocrypha. The Latin periocha preceding the play has the form of an acrostic, the first letters forming the title ‘OVISPERDITA’, as can be seen in more periochae in Low Countries of the time, in imitation of argumenta to plays by Terence. The play ends with a festive supper to celebrate the salvation of the lost sheep. It was found and saved thanks to the character of Eleemosyna (or Misericordia). Perhaps this was Zovitius’s reaction to the measures authorities took against heretics in the famous year 1539.73 Ovis perdita was not only reprinted, but also reworked by the German priest and teacher Jakob Schöpper under the same title (1553).74 Schöpper, however, replaced the part of Jesus with a shepherd. Zovitius’s play was also known in Spain, where in 1558 an imitation appeared, Oveja perdida, in Spanish. The schoolmaster Petrus Papaeus from Menen (in Flanders) staged another parable from the New Testament in his Samarites (1539), deal­ ing  with the Good Samaritan (Luke 10, 29–37).75 Papaeus or Papeus adapted the biblical story by depicting the ‘man who fell among thieves’ as the Prodigal; the first three acts of the play are devoted to his vicious life, thus applying the principle of ‘contaminatio’ to a biblical story, and 72 See on the play Zovitius, Didascalus, ed. Vloeimans, pp. 11–12. 73 See above, p. 311. 74 See on him the contribution by Dietl, pp. 160–61. 75 On the play see, for instance, Abbé, Drama in Renaissance Germany and Switzerland, p. 134, Worp, Geschiedenis, 1, p. 215; Washof, Die Bibel auf der Bühne, pp. 156–62, who sees the admonition against lust as its main theme. On Papaeus, see ADB s.v. Papeus (Hugo Holstein). Its full title: Samarites comoedia de Samaritano evangelico (Antwerp: G. Montanus, 1539). It was also adopted in the collection of Comoediae ac tragoediae ex Novo et Vetere Testamento (Basle: Brylinger, 1540).



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i­ ntroducing Terentian thieves, parasites and lovers. The young man, called Aegio, leaves his father-by-adoption Megadorus; the devil Leno (‘Brothelkeeper’) seduces him with the help of the parasite Gula (‘Gluttony’) and the slave Hedylogus (‘Sweet-speaker’) to love the girl Sarcophilia (‘Lovingof-Flesh’), living in Jericho. This meretrix, they tell him, is already ‘deadly in love’ with him. Similar to the first scene of Plautus’s Pseudolus, a love letter of Sarcophilia is read to him. On his journey he is robbed by the thieves Cupido, Bacchus and Death, and then helped by the Samaritan. The play, without a chorus, is fully allegorical, also in terms of the main story: Aegio represents mankind, his master Eubulus (‘Good Advice’) reason, Megadorus God, and the oil the Samaritan uses for Aegio represents the Holy Spirit’s grace. The parasite play is modelled upon Plautus’s comedies, and the story is interpreted in the sense of the old religion: the Samaritan was equated with Christ and with the Church. ‘The Samaritan’s entrustment of Aegio to the care of the innkeeper was thus interpreted by Papeus as Christ’s transmission of his church to the rule of St. Peter and his successors.’76 Thus Samarites was meant to be a Catholic response to Gnapheus’s Acolastus mirroring the act of salvation, and justifying and glorifying the power of the Church. The play was printed in five editions in the Low Countries and in Germany, and even a Spanish one, with scholia by Petrus Vanegas.77 Mystic and allegorical interpretations were also foregrounded by Johannes Sylvius (Jean du Bois, latter half of the sixteenth century), a physician from Lille, in his Isaacus xylophorus (1548, printed 1554) on Isaac’s sacrifice.78 When we talk about biblical drama, we discern plays by subject, but we could also discern the religious nature by means of presentation. Some dramas presented their Christian message by allegory only, others by ‘real’ characters. It has to be noted, however, that the connections are few and far between—for instance, a father in Acolastus representing himself and every father and God as a true-to-life character and ‘fully’ allegorical characters. Allegorical by nature are Gnapheus’s Morosophus (1541) and Hypocrisis (1544).79 Both plays were published during his period of exile in the 76 Parente, Religious Drama and the Humanist Tradition, p. 73. 77 Toledo, 1542. See Creizenach, Geschichte des neueren Dramas, p. 71. 78 Isaacus xylophorus, comoedia, Jo. Sylvio Insulensi authore (Ypris, Jodocus Destresius, 1554). On Sylvius see Foppens, Bibliotheca Belgica, 728. 79 See Demoed’s doctoral thesis on Gnapheus, ‘Wie van gevaar houdt’, ch. 7. On Morosophus see also Rädle, ‘Zum dramatischen Schaffen des Guilielmus Gnapheus im Preussischen Exil.’ A new ed. of Morosophus was made by Hoffmann.

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German countries. In Morosophus two plots are to be discerned, one of which resembles that of Rhinoceros (1959) by the Romanian-French playwright Eugène Ionesco (1909–1994), and the plot around the protagonist Morosophus (‘The Foolish Sage’). The musician Morus (‘Fool’) wants to become an astronomer or astrologist and henceforward to be called Morosophus. He predicts a special rain that will madden everybody who is touched by it. He encloses himself in his house in order to remain wise, so that he might become a wise king among the fools. The effect is the opposite: everybody ridicules him, especially two farmers. The second plot circles around Morosophus’s antagonist Sophia (‘Wisdom’) and her companions Fides, Spes and Caritas (the theological virtues of 1 Cor 13, 13) and Theophilus (‘Who loves God’ and ‘Who is loved by God’); he is sent out to spread the gospel. In the final act Theophilus meets the fools, of whom only Morosophus joins Sophia. The plot is based on a passage from Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians (3, 18): ‘If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise’ (KJV), which was added as a motto to the printed version of the play. There has been discussion about whether the criticism in Morosophus is directed against the astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543) because of Morus’s wish to become an astronomer, or against religion, especially against some forms of Lutheranism.80 As a matter of fact, Theophilus was an alias of Martin Luther, so if the Copernicus interpretation is right, the religious one cannot be ruled out; both interpretations may exist. In Hypocrisis (1544) the Catholic Church is fiercely attacked.81 The protagonist Psyche has abandoned her serious studies to live a luxurious life, of which her marriage with Cupid is a symbol. She is accused by Apollo, the Muses and the Graces of disgracing literature and the humanist educational ideal. Thus the play implicitly warns the students not to abandon their studies. She is assisted by her lawyer Hypocrisis, a personification of hypocrisy and justification by good deeds. The discussion at the trial between Apollo and Hypocrisis becomes a struggle between evangelical humanism and Catholicism. At the end of the play the character of Calliopius as an Epilogus admonishes the audience to look at the tableau vivant (‘viva pictura’) that will appear, showing Psyche at the feet 80 The latter standpoint is defended by Rädle, ‘Zum dramatischen Schaffen des Gulielmus Gnapheus im preussischen Exil’, the first—unconvincingly—by Hoffmann in the intr. to his ed., pp. 20–24. 81 On this play, see Demoed, ‘Wie van gevaar houdt, moet dat met de dood bekopen’, ch. 9.



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of God, with Graces and Muses around her. In this way, Gnapheus introduced a feature of Rhetoricians’ drama into a Latin play. With all this, Hypocrisis is a polemical drama, which Gnapheus could produce in Königsberg, in the Lutheran eastern part of Prussia. Writing and staging polemical plays was not quite harmless. In 1547 Gnapheus was accused of heresy, i.e. deviation from Lutheran doctrine. The prosecutors used the plays Morosophus and Hypocrisis as evidence. It is, however, not clear whether unorthodox remarks in the plays are the reason for the accusation, or just a means of hitting Gnapheus, who had made himself unpopular among his colleagues by accusing them of neglecting their duties. He also engaged in religious debate in other ways than drama: he wrote pamphlets in Dutch and in Latin. The Eusebia sive Religio of Antonius Schorus (d. 1552) from Hoogstraten, who visited the Gymnasium of Johannes Sturm in Strasbourg and later became a teacher at the University of Heidelberg, was performed by his students in Heidelberg on Epiphany in 1550.82 The play of Religion criticizes the rulers of this world; Charles V therefore decried it to the Archduke of the Pfalz, and Schorus had to flee. It may be for this reason that the play could not be printed. The action had indeed been clear enough. Religion appears on the stage, clothed in rags and seeking rescue from representatives of the several classes: a bishop, a prince, a physician, a jurist, a theologian. None of them wants to help her, since they are all afraid to abandon their easy life for an uncertain one. In this way, the dramas of the first period not only mirrored the religious schism of the time, but also formed and deepened it, and instilled the desired doctrine in the schoolboys’ minds: for instance, the doctrine of grace and mercy in the case of Gnapheus, and of grace and the Church in the case of Papaeus. Whether intended (as was often the case) or not, the spectators and readers were ready to interpret the plays in this manner. Thus educational drama with moral instruction was combined with polemical theatre and religious topics. Either the antagonism of Protestant and Catholic faiths was incorporated in the plays’ theme, or pagan knowledge was used to deepen Christian belief. Many of the authors felt forced to defend themselves for writing comedies in general, and biblical comedies in particular. Macropedius, for instance, poses the rhetorical question: ‘What would be more useful for the youngest pupils to obtain knowledge, for the elder ones to study 82 Creizenach, Geschichte des neueren Dramas, pp. 149–50; see also Dietl's chapter, pp. 157–58.

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literature, for the advanced students, or even for all to reach virtue, than a learned comedy?’83 Brechtus has the Prologus bid the public to be silent and do nothing: ‘that could prevent the spiritual fruit of the play’,84 thus stressing the fructus. And Ischyrius stresses that his comedy is ‘charming’ and ‘pious’.85 Georgius Macropedius, already mentioned, wrote several biblical dramas. Besides Asotus (written c. 1507, printed 1537) and Iosephus (1544), and the allegorical Christian play Hecastus (1539), he wrote Lazarus mendicus (1541) on the parable of the rich man and the poor Lazarus (Luke 16, 19–31) and Adamus (1552).86 The latter—episodic—play shows Adam and Eve with their guardian angels. They are travelling through biblical history from the ejection from Paradise to Mary’s visit to her cousin Elisabeth (Luke 1, 39), awaiting Christ’s birth. En passant we hear God giving the Ten Commandments to Moses, the annunciation, and the songs of Mary and Elisabeth. Macropedius’s Hypomone (‘Endurance’, 1554) is also episodic: Hypomone and her sister Graphe (‘Holy Writ’) console a series of unfortunate biblical figures such as Job, the blind Tobias, the poor Lazarus and finally a group of poor students who complain about hunger and their need for books. After he published his Omnes fabulae, Macropedius wrote Iesus scholasticus (1556) on the twelve-year old Jesus in the temple (Luke 2, 41–51).87 The play features fairly long monologues, prayers and lamentations on the future fate of the young Jesus. Saulus appears as Jesus’s antagonist, Nicodemus and Stephanus are his followers. Unsurprisingly, it is the Christian martyr Stephanus who tells Jesus of his prediction of the Passion.

83 Macropedius, ‘Ad pueros bonarum litterarum studiosos’: Quid enim plus pueris ad eruditionem, plus adolescentibus ad honesta studia, plus provectioribus, immo omnibus in commune ad virtutem conducat quam docta comoedia?’ 84 Brechtus, Euripus, Prologus, ll. 14–15: ‘Fructumque quicquid spiritalem fabulae / Posset […] impedire […].’ 85 Ischyrius, Homulus, ‘Ad lectorem pium et candidam iuventutem: ‘Habes, candide lector, comediam non minus lepidam quam piam.’ 86 Full titles: Lazarus mendicus (Utrecht: Borculous, 1541); Adamus, Macropedii fabula christianae pietatis plena. In qua κωμικως ostenditur, quo pacto lapsus homo post multas multorum saeculorum clamitates et miserias per Cristum ab initio promissum, tandemque mundoexhimibtum saluti restituitur in Omnes fabulae (Utrecht, Hermannus Borculous, 1552). On Lazarus, see Best, Macropedius, pp. 124–35; Giebels and Slits, Georgius Macropedius, pp. 233–40; on Adamus, see Best, Macropedius, pp. 159–65; Giebels and Slits, Georgius Macropedius, pp. 266–74; Korsten, ‘“But did they not, with it, burn the excrements as well?”’ 87 See Best, Macropedius, pp. 153–58; Giebels and Slits, Georgius Macropedius, pp. 278–85.



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So it is a confessional play, but also a moral play, for instance, in the chorus of the third act, in which the audience is told to love God more than one’s own parents. This play had an impact on vernacular drama. The Haarlem Rhetorician Louris Jansz. (c. 1540–c. 1604) wrote Gheestelick Spel van Sinnen seer leerlijck: Hoe Christus sit onder die Leeraers: Luce int 2. Cap. 20 (‘Very Instructive Spiritual Morality: How Christ is Sitting among the Scribes’), printed posthumously in 1606, which closely resembles Macropedius’s fabula.88 Religious drama was not the only genre written. School life itself was also a theme for this drama. One of the first to do this in the Low Countries was, again, Macropedius. In his Rebelles (‘Rascals’, 1535) he wrote about the ‘correction’ of naughty schoolboys who went astray because of the over­ indulgence of their mothers.89 It was no coincidence that Macropedius published his plays, written as early as c. 1515, after his assignment as Rector of the prestigious St Jerome’s school in the cathedral city of Utrecht in 1530, a centre of Humanism.90 Surprisingly, however, he did so at a printer’s office in his former residence, ’s-Hertogenbosch. It has been argued that Rebelles mirrors Macropedius’s ideas about education which he borrowed from Erasmus.91 The two rascals Dyscolus (‘Troublemaker’) and Clopicus (‘Thief’) are entrusted by their mothers Philotecnium (‘Child-Lover’) and Cacolalia (‘Curser’) to the ‘learned’ and ‘skilled’ master Aristippus. According to the mothers the master is too severe, so they take their sons from the school and give them money for trading. They spend the money, and are led astray. Fortunately, in the end it is Aristippus who saves the boys with his rod. His argument is that the

88 On this play and another Dutch play on the same theme by Robert Lawet from Roeselaere (c. 1571), Gheestelick spel van zinnen van Jhesus ten twaelf jaren oudt (Spiritual Morality of the Twelve-year-old Jesus), Van Gelder, Erasmus, pp. 103–04; 107–08. See Galama, Robert Lawet, Vanden verlooren zoone, pp. 17–19. 89 Comicarum fabularum G. Macropedii duae, Rebelles videlicet et Aluta (’s-Hertogenbosch, G. Hatardus, 1535) and Rebelles, Macropedii fabula longe iucundissima, rudibus adhuc et tenellis Traiectinae scholae auditoribus nuncupata. On the play, see Best, Macropedius, pp. 42–53; Giebels and Slits, Georgius Macropedius, pp. 193–201; Lindeman, ‘Macropedius’s Rebelles and Erasmus’s Principles of Education.’ 90 Macropedius, Rebelles and Aluta, ‘Ad pueros bonarum litterarum studiosos’: ‘Volebam iamdudum, studiosi adulescentes, nugas meas, quarum nonnullas ante annos viginti teneris meis auditoribus scribere coepi, [italics JB] prorsus supprimere.’ Circumstantial evidence in the Apotheosis Macropedii: ‘Nam vix dum coepit doctas tractare Camoenas, / Quin iuveni nimium sors cito acerba foret’ and ‘a ter septenis annis, podagra quia saeva / Excruciaretur.’ So around his twenty-first year (in 1509) Macropedius started to write poetry. 91 Lindeman, ‘Macropedius’s Rebelles and Erasmus’s Principles of Education.’

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boys are his pupils and as such entitled to his protection. The play is interspersed with Rhetorician-like scenes in which ‘sinnekens’ (devils) appear; in this play they are called Marlocappus and Lorcoballus, who seduce the boys into bad habits. The play had considerable success and was printed fourteen times in the sixteenth century. It was translated into German at least twice, in 1556 and 1557.92 Cornelius Schonaeus imitated the play some seventy years later in his Dyscoli (‘Bad Boys’, 1603).93 In 1536 Macropedius wrote a play on the same theme, Rebelles and Petriscus also with choral passages. The wise lesson in Petriscus is made explicit in the prologue: the play offers a beautiful example of boys learning from it ‘not wishing to become friends with bad boys, but rather to submit to excellent teachers.’94 Of course both plays are an oratio pro domo. While these plays were written with a keen eye on the pupils and education, Zovitius’s Didascalus (‘The Teacher’, 1540) focuses on the teacher and his miserable position in a farcical way.95 Demus (the people) criticizes Didascalus (who is almost an allegorical figure) and accuses this despot in his black gown before a trial that is held in Breda, at which Jove is the judge, Mercury his messenger and Apollo and Minerva are members of the jury. Furthermore, some allegorical characters appear, bearing Greek names: Ablabia (‘Innnocence’), Alithia (‘Truth’), Glottus (‘Tongue’), Colacoglottus (‘Flattering Tongue’), Diabole (‘Slander’) and Antisilenus (‘Hypocrisy’). Extraordinarily, the charge and the defence are added after the play in prose, while in the play itself, that is—as most of these plays are—written in iambs, it is indicated that ‘here the charge’ or ‘the defence is read.’ The charges are that the teacher does not understand the authors he teaches, and that he falls short in his own moral conduct. The defence stresses the parents’ responsibility: they should force their children to do their homework. Of course the humanists also wrote farces. Often these were meant to be staged at Carnival or Shrovetide, in competition with other, less decent forms of entertainment. The very first Latin play of this kind in the 92 Giebels and Slits, Georgius Macropedius, p. 200. 93 This play in its turn was translated into Dutch by the Delft conrector Pieter Godewyck (1593–1669) as Witte-broots Kinderen of bedorve jongelingen (White-bread Children or Spoiled Boys,1641). See Schenkeveld-van der Dussen, ‘Witte-broots Kinderen van Pieter Godewyck.’ 94 Macropedius, Petriscus prologue, l. 16–18: ‘[…] nulli velint / Rebellium parere contubernio, / Sed optimis subesse praeceptoribus.’ 95 Full title: Didascalus comoedia ut doctissima, ita et lepidissima (Antwerp, Coppens, 1540; Cologne, J. Gymnicus, 1541). Modern ed. by Vloeimans.



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Low Countries is Macropedius’s Aluta (1535), written and staged at approximately the same time as Rebelles, and printed together with it.96 A farmer’s wife Aluta (Aleida) goes to the city market to sell some birds, but in vain. She is cheated by two villains, Harpax (‘Thief’) and Sper­ mologus (‘Braggart’), who ‘buy’ the birds without payment. Then she goes to a bar to have a drink. When she returns home, drunk, her husband Heino (Henry) does not know what to do. He sends his son Paedium (‘Child’) to get the priest Mystotus (‘Complete Mystery’) who ‘exorcises’ the devil of drink: In nomine patris atque filii, sacri Quoque spiritus cede, maledicte diabole, Ab hac Dei famula et da honorem illi Deo, Qui iudicare mortuos venturus est Vivosque per flammam! (In the name of the Father, and the Son, and also of the Holy Spirit, begone, you wicked Satan, from This servant of God and give honour to the God Who will be coming to judge the dead And the living through fire!)97

The priest (bearing in mind that the Church brings salvation) then invites the husband Heino for a drink. The Grex of all players then gives the moral: do not drink too much, and do not cheat or steal. The drinking and eating scenes suit the Carnival aspect of the play, as well as the chorus of Mardi Gras celebrants. Another chorus, consisting of farmers’ wives from Bunschoten (a village less than 20 miles from Utrecht), gives a moral counterbalance of moral lessons: a warning against parasites, a repudiation of innkeepers, a warning against marrying a drunken wife, or a stupid one. Macropedius wrote two other Shrovetide plays: Andrisca (Virago, 1538) and Bassarus (1540).98 The plot of Andrisca combines two medieval farces, the Cluyte van Playerwater (‘Farce of Playwater’) and Moorkensvel (‘The

96 Full title: Aluta, Macropedii fabula admodum iucunda et lepida, denuo recognita, et Traiectinae iuventuti denuo nuncupata (’s-Hertogenbosch: Gerardus Hatardus, 1539)—a modern ed. by Bloemendal and Steenbeek; on the play, see for instance Giebels and Slits, Georgius Macropedius, pp. 188–93. 97 Macropedius, Aluta, ll. 529–33. 98 Georgii Macropedii Andrisca fabula lepidissima (’s-Hertogenbosch: Gerardus Hatardus, 1538); Georgii Macropedii Bassarus, fabula festivissima (’s-Hertogenbosch: Gerardus Hatardus, 1540)—modern eds. by Leys and Engelberts. On the plays, see Best, Macropedius, pp. 76–90 and 92–107 resp.; Giebels and Slits, Georgius Macropedius, pp. 208–15 and 215–22, resp.

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Black Horse’s Skin’). In the Latin play, Porna, the wife of the currier Byrsocopus (‘Tanner’) is sewn into a horse’s skin (like in Moorkensvel) as a punishment for her love affair with a local priest Hieronymus (‘Holy Name’). She can have her way by sending her husband to get her ‘playwater’, which has to be got from the Far East. They are the neighbours of Andrisca, who is addicted to the wine, and her husband Georgus (‘Farmer’). Georgus beats his wife to bring her to her senses again. It fits in a time when circumstances are changing from the extended family to the nuclear family and the ‘battle for the trousers’ is fought. In Bassarus by the same author, it is the village sexton Bassarus (‘Fox’) who has cheated the vicar and the bailiff and invites them to dinner. The Argumentum summarizes what follows: Custos paroecho praesidique Bassarus (Quod sordidi essent et tenaces plurimum) Lepidis dolis cum obsoniis vina abstulit Et ad illa edenda eos vocavit vesperi, Adiutus infidelitate Creobori et Larvis suorum liberorum Bacchicis. Fit interim ob tenebras, tonitru et fulgura, Primum paroecho sacram ad aedem territo, Dein Creoboro a cruce persequente aerario, Spectaculum lepidissimum. Post Bassarus Sua singulos cena soluta obsonia Magno omnium risu comesse disserit. (The sexton Bassarus has stolen meat and wine From the vicar and the bailiff, in a funny way, Just because they were too miserly and stingy. At night he invites them for this very meal With the help of the treacherous Creoborus and The Carnival masks of his children. In the mean time Because of darkness, thunder and lightning Something joyful can be seen: first the vicar is chased away From the church, after that Creoborus from the gallows, Is hunted by the coppersmith. Finally, when dinner is finished, Bassarus cheers up everybody by telling them that they Just ate their own food.)99

A distinctive feature of Bassarus is the organization of the choruses. All four odes have the same form and three strophes. The first three odes denounce gluttony, greed and ambition respectively, while each stanza of

 99 Macropedius, Bassarus, Argumentum.



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the fourth ode praises the opposite of these vices as wise.100 A second distinctive feature of the play is the use of the vernacular for comical purposes. The parasite Creoborus asks the coppersmith, in Latin and Dutch: ‘Adhunce vivis, Heino? Hein lefdi noch?’ (‘Hein, are you still alive?’), and gets the answer: ‘Quis necuerit? Wie solt my doot hebben?’ (‘Who would have killed me?’).101 With the masks, the moralizations and the festive dinner Bassarus is every inch a Mardi Gras play. These plays were related to religious or ecclesiastical issues, but the next play treats a classical subject only. It was written by the Rector at the Latin school of Gouda Petrus Nannius (or Nanninck, 1496–1557), who had studied at Louvain University and would become a professor at the Collegium trilingue.102 The comedy is called Vinctus (‘Bound’, 1522). It is a bourgeois love comedy with a setting in Antiquity and a plot borrowed from comedies by Plautus and Terence, especially Casina, Andria and Eunuchus. Unlike his predecessors, Nannius wrote his play in prose. Maybe he got his inspiration from the 1481 Louvain Declamatio or—more likely— Dorpius’s Dialogus.103 Vinctus, however, had no response: it has not been translated or imitated, and only two copies of it have survived. Perhaps the same Dialogus in combination with a folk tale inspired Johannes Placentius, who also had studied in Louvain, to write his Lucianus aulus and Clericus eques (‘A Priest on Horseback’, 1535).104 These plays are written in prose like Dialogus and Vinctus. Clericus eques consists of three acts. It may be based on a medieval story or on a fable by Heinrich Bebel (1472–1518) or a story by Johannes Pauli (1455–1530) in his Schimpf und Ernst.105 The plot of the play centres on a misunderstanding. The poor cleric Clericus, coming from Paris, cheats a woman, Columbana (‘Little Pigeon’). When she asks him where he comes from, she believes he says: ‘From Paradise.’ Perhaps, she thinks, he will know something about her deceased first husband. Clericus, of course, does have some informa­ tion: her husband needs clothing and money, and he, Clericus, can bring them  to him. She gives him the expensive coat of her second husband, 100 Observed by Best, Macropedius, p. 94. 101 Macropedius, Bassarus, ll. 774–75. 102 See also Sacré, ‘Nannius’s Somnia’. 103 See above, p. 297. 104 The latter play was the subject of an unpublished BA thesis at the University of Amsterdam by Stijn Buiter, 2007. 105 On Bebel, see ADB and NDB, s.v. (Ludwig Geiger and Heinrich Grimm), on Pauli ibid. (Hermann Oesterley and Walter Ernst Schäfer). On the relationship between Clericus eques and Bebel, see Stiefel, ‘Der “Clericus Eques” des Johannes Placentius und das 22. Fastnachspiel des Hans Sachs’, pp. 440–45.

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Oenophilus (‘Lover of Wine’). The man chases the cheating cleric, but in the third act the same cleric steals his horse. The play ends with a drinking bout involving Oenophilus, a bailiff and a farmer. This was not the first medieval subject treated. The Ghent scholarchus (school leader) Eligius Eucharius or Elooi Hoeckaert, who had been educated at Paris, took as a subject for his Griseldis (1512) one of the wellknown stories of Boccaccio’s Italian Decamerone about a prince who tests the faithfulness of his wife, which was retold by Petrarch in Latin.106 Eucharius added the names and place of origin of the boys who were actors in the play to the printed text. He expressed his humanistic position in an original way at the beginning, where the margrave of Saluzzo praises hunting above all other pleasures: some people love drinking, others finery or reading bad books like the pseudo-Ovidian Vetula and the Pamphilus. Griseldis is very well behaved, warning her husband that they should not be led by greed, but by chaste love, the decent spirit that dispelled Asmodeus to Egypt, as was told in the book of Tobith.107 The same Eucharius performed several plays at his Latin school in Ghent, including ancient comedies, Plautus’s Captivi and Stichus, as well as modern dramas: a French comedy Veterator by Alexander Connibertus, Sergius by the German author Reuchlin, and Dolotechne by the Italian writer Bartolomeo Zamberti and other Italian plays.108 Another medieval farcical play is the ‘witty dialogue, divided into acts like a comedy’, Pisander bombylius (1540; repr. 1546), of Arnoldus Madirus (16th c.).109 This is a very short play in prose, featuring merely four characters, situated near Mechelen. A farmer complains that he is strongly controlled by his wife. Now she has gone to the market, having told him to stay at home and milk the cow. On returning home she tells him that soldiers are nearby. The farmer puts on a copper pan for a helmet and a

106 See Grypdonck, ‘Eligius Houckaert’; Vroomen, ‘8 september 1512’. The theme stayed in vogue: a Wallonian Augustinian, Michael Hoyerus, adopted the theme of Grisellis in his Historiae tragicae; see IJsewijn, ‘Theatrum Belgo-Latinum’, p. 88. A facsimile of the programme of a 1775 performance of a Grisellis is printed ibid., pp. 111–14. The play was printed in Ghent, in 1516. 107 ‘… ne nos pecuniae libido / Exagitet, sed amor castus, qui pignora sera / Matribus annosis tribuit; nos spiritus ille / Ducat, qui Asmodeum connubia casta perosum / Extremae Egipti vasta conclusit eremo.’ See also Creizenach, Geschichte des neueren Dramas, pp. 53–54. 108 See IJsewijn, ‘The Coming of Humanism’, pp. 279–80. 109 Arnoldi Madiri Pisander bombylius. Dialogus iocularis, per Actus in modeum Comoediae distinctus (Antwerp: Ioannes Steelsius, 1540). See Creizenach, Geschichte des neueren Dramas, pp. 160–61.



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rusty ­cuirass that had been used to collect muck. When the soldiers arrive to steal some chickens, the farmer appears fully dressed and shouting with fear. Then the plunderers think they are witnessing an apparition and flee. Of course, when he puts his head out of the hen-house (‘e gallinario capite exerto’) in the fifth act, the farmer is sharply criticized by his wife. She herself claims the victory over the enemies because of her verbal approach. She says that henceforth she will call him Pisander Bombilius, because he behaved more cowardly than Pisander but boasted like a loudly buzzing bee.110 The play was printed in 1540, and must have been written after 1536, for in the fourth act the soldiers allude to ordinances of Mary of Hungary on 21 July and 21 October of that year.111 The play had some success and was staged in Ribe in Denmark (Jutland) in 1576. The first generation of Latin playwrights in the Low Countries performed ancient comedies and also wrote other plays on biblical stories, or on classical or medieval subjects, as a logical consequence of their interest in classical drama. The classical plays formed a limited arsenal, but by making plays themselves they could add moralizing and other edifying remarks, serve their own literary aspirations, and develop other biblical and religious themes. It was not so much out of ‘an explicit critical approach towards classical literature’—why would they have added so many licentious scenes in their dramas?—but to serve their educational principles.112 They still felt the need to defend themselves for writing and staging comedy. This was related to recent school reforms as the medieval inductive method gave way to the humanist deductive one. Moreover, the authors were finding the form, still mixing dialogue and comedy, or employing classical, medieval and Rhetoricians’ forms and themes. The plays were written in an age of religious unrest, in which the first executions of heretics took place. The Low Countries still formed a political union, under the Spanish Habsburgs. In this first half of the sixteenth 110 Ed. Antwerp (Ioannes Steelsius), 1546, fol. B3*v: ‘Quia Pisandro stupendae timiditatis homine quum sis formidolosior, ad instar bombylii magnifica iactitasti, et lingua quidem bellasti gnaviter, sed ubi res ipsa tuam posceret iactitatam audaciam, ne my quidem hiscere audebas.’ The Athenian politician Pisander was often attacked in comedy for corruption and cowardice. 111 Ibid., fol. Bv: ‘Primum quanto plausu noster ubique exceptus adventus est! Verum quantis statim in Reginae aula actum querelis, de nostris illatis iniuriis; nec cessatum donec publico edicto cautum sit, ut ab iniuria temperemus, capitis supplicio transgressori interminato’. See IJsewijn, ‘Theatrum Belgo-Latinum’, p. 74 and n. 8. 112 Parente, Religious Drama and the Humanist Tradition, p. 7; cf. Verweij in Vladeraccus, Tobias, p. 17.

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c­ entury the writing of Dutch Latin drama was at its height, with Brechtus, Zovitius, Crocus, Gnapheus and, above all, Macropedius. The Second Generation—Maturity and Confessionalizaton (1550–1600) Around 1550 the first generation of Neo-Latin playwrights in the Low Countries died or stopped writing. The next generation followed in the footsteps of their forerunners and continued the tradition, but it also went its own ways. This had to do with the acceptance of Latin comedy in society and the process of confessionalization and the division of the Low Countries. Even though the subjects were approximately the same—as was the form, in general—the treatment of them differed. For instance, although the Haarlem rector Cornelius Schonaeus based his Iosephus (1592) on the play written by Crocus, he differed from his predecessor in giving a typological explanation and another moral-ethical one.113 Just like Crocus Schonaeus stressed Joseph’s constancy, the same constancy as was seen in Christ, and his ability to endure all blows bravely and with equanimity. However, this constancy is given more elaborate treatment and is more accommodated to Stoic philosophy. In his elaboration of Stoic calm, Schonaeus belongs to the second stage of Latin drama in the Low Countries. In 1578 he had seen the ‘Haarlem None’, when the St Bavo was attacked by Protestants and soldiers of William of Orange, and other blows had also been dealt, with which people simply had to cope. Another distinctive feature of his Joseph play is the introduction of amatory language from Ovid and Terence into his charactization of the seductive wife of Potiphar. Of course, in the end the Christian values dominate the scene. Thus the superiority of Christianity—and Christian constancy—to pagan Antiquity and its concept of constancy could be shown. Also in this second period allegorical drama became a less pronounced part of dramatic production. Circumstances also changed. From 1568 onwards the Dutch Revolt gradually resulted in a separation of the northern and southern provinces, beginning with the Unions of Arras (or Atrecht) and Utrecht (1579). Now the southern provinces united with Catholic Spain, and the northern provinces opposed it. In 1581, with the proclamation of the declaration of independence or the Act of Abjuration, the Dutch Republic or the Republic 113 See the intr. to the ed. of Iosephus by Bloemendal and Groenland.



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of the Seven United Netherlands was established in the northern part. Borders changed, but were fixed in 1609 at the Twelve Years’ Truce. The southern provinces remained in Spanish hands. Many Protestants fled from the south to the north, which resulted in a re-Catholization of the southern provinces, and a further Protestantization of the northern ones. The establishment of the Jesuit order turned out to be another decisive changing circumstance. Founded in 1534 and approved in 1540, the Societas Jesu soon became one of the major orders, directed at education and mission.114 Many Jesuit colleges and gymnasia were founded, at which practical exercises were an integral part of the curriculum. These exercises included the staging of theatre plays. In the Low Countries (in Jesuit terms the Flandro-Belgian and Gallo-Belgian Provinces), where the first Jesuits arrived in the summer of 1542, the Order established its first settlement in Louvain in 1547, which became an official noviciate in 1560. Between 1560 and 1580 members of the Company of Jesus founded schools in Tournoy, Dinant, Cambrai, St Omer, Douai and Liège, and in Maastricht, Antwerp, Bruges and other places. After the Pacification of Ghent (1576) the Jesuits had to leave many places, and were able to return only after the military successes of Alexander Farnese (1545–1592). They could create new colleges in the Flemish towns Ypres, Courtroi, Ghent and St Winoksbergen, between 1585 and 1600. In the seventeenth century the establishment of schools did not come to an end in the Southern Netherlands, but in the Protestant northern provinces they had hardly any success. In the highly urbanized South, the colleges were a substitute for pre-existing centres of education, where pupils could be oriented to Catholic piety and drenched with bonae litterae. Education was free, so the Order reached every social class. In spite of these ever changing political and religious circumstances, Latin drama was written and staged. A fine example is Cornelius Schonaeus or Schoon (1540–1611).115 Born in Gouda, he was educated in Louvain and finally became a rector of the Latin school of Haarlem. It is telling for the qualities of the Catholic rector and his fame that after the conversion of Haarlem in 1578 from Catholicism to Protestantism he kept his position. This may also attest to the fact that religious quarrels could be fierce, but

114 See also the contribution by Rädle. On Jesuit drama in the Low Countries, see Van den Boogerd, Het Jezuïetendrama in de Nederlanden; McCabe, An Introduction to the Jesuit Theater; Proot, Het schooltoneel van de jezuïeten in de Provincia Flandro-Belgica. 115 An extensive biography and bibliography were made by Hans van de Venne, Cornelius Schonaeus.

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not totally dominating in every city or town. Schonaeus’s first source of inspiration was the plays by Macropedius, one of which he saw performed in 1552. Schonaeus became a very prolific author of thirteen biblical dramas (comoediae sacrae) in which he treated themes from the Old Testament (Naaman, Joseph, Judith and Daniel) from the New Testament (the conversion of Paul, the healing of one who was born blind, Ananias, John the Baptist, the resurrection, and Pentecost), and the apocrypha (Nehemia, Tobias and Susanna). Furthermore, he wrote three farces (fabulae ludicrae), a school comedy (comoedia nova) Dyscoli, which was inspired by Macropedius’s Rebelles, and a lottery play (Fabula comica). The latter— which was actually Schonaeus’s last play—was written for the great Rhetoricians’ contest held in Haarlem in 1606. A pirated edition of four of his plays in Cologne in 1591 bore the title Terentius Christianus, which was the first of a series of editions with the same title. This established his name as ‘the Christian Terence’. Schonaeus had made his debut in 1569 with Tobaeus, based on the apocryphal book Tobith. There it is told how the pious Tobith becomes blind. He has sent his son Tobias on a dangerous journey, accompanied by Azarias, who is actually the archangel Raphael. While bathing, Tobias is menaced by a big fish; his companion orders him to catch it and to preserve the liver and the gall bladder. Finally, Tobias smears the fish’s gall on his father’s eyes, and he is cured. After that the angel Raphael makes himself known and disappears. It was a consoling story about God changing misfortune into fortune. Moreover, the story was suited to comedy, because in the original version admonitions and expositions on conjugal ethics and poor relief were intertwined. Often the story was understood as a journey of the soul to God, or Tobias, who cured his father, was seen as a prefiguration of Christ. Finally, the story consoled travelling merchants. In the ‘Peroratio’ (Epilogue) to the play, Schonaeus gives his own interpretations of the story. He stresses—again—the father’s Stoic calm in difficult circumstances from the conviction that God will turn apparent troubles into blessings, and he summons the youth to chastity and aversion to wantonness (‘lascivia’), leaving aside typological exegesis.116 The play enjoyed tremendous success, and was printed over 50 times, and translated into English, German, Danish and Polish. Moreover, it was performed for the first time on 24 June, the feast of Corpus Christi, 1568.

116 Thus he was able to avoid getting into religious quarrels.



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Schonaeus’s plays were rather popular. The Juditha and Joseph, which were performed in Utrecht, the Netherlands, in 1597, would have been his, as would the Daniel that students in the province of Groningen staged in 1617. To modern eyes, they lack action, but his contemporary audience clearly had other interests.117 The Fabula comica is a rather special case in the history of Dutch Latin drama. Schonaeus had Dutch ‘Prefaces and interludes’ (‘Voor-reden ende tusschenspraken’) added, written by himself or, more likely, by one of the Haarlem Rhetoricians.118 This was a service to the members of the audience who did not know Latin. It was necessary to reach as many people as possible since the object of the Rhetoricians’ contest was to raise money for an old people’s home. This play consists of many conversations on giving alms to the poor on the basis of practical and biblical arguments, and has little or no action. The play opens with a monologue of Theophilus (‘Loved-by-God’ and ‘Loving God’) saying that he is glad he never considered giving alms, which he deems a waste of money: Gaudeo me iam inde ab adolescentia fuisse eo Animo, ut nihil minus putem perire, quam Quod confertur in egenos, atque pauperes: Tales potissimum qui aetate infirmi, ac debiles, Domi insuper ringuntur, et cruciantur inediâ. In horum subsidium ego lubenter aliquid confero: Neque id perire, sed in ipsum Deum erogati existimo. Quando ipse Christus, nostrae auctor salutis, indigenter Et fortunae tenuioris homines tam sedulo Commendarit nobis: manifestis verbis afferens: id quod In pauperes confertur, in Se esse collatum: atque huius beneficii nequaquam Se immemorem fore. (I am glad that from my early years on I tended to consider nothing is a lesser waste of money than what is collected for the poor and the needy, especially for people who are sick and tired by old age and are sulking and suffering from famine at home. To help them, I am happy to contribute something. To me, that is no waste, but spent for God himself, since Christ, our Saviour, recommended our poor and unfortunate neighbour to us, when He clearly stated that what was given to the poor, was given to himself and that he would never forget such charities.)119

117 See Verweij, ‘The Terentius Christianus at Work.’ 118 See also Van de Venne, Cornelius Schonaeus, 1 Leven en werk, p. 242–44. 119 Schonaeus, Fabula comica, ll. 1–13: ‘The reference is to Matthew 25, 40 and 45.

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A similar technique was employed by Cornelius Laurimanus, Laurimannus or Lauwerman (c. 1520–1573) in his Miles Christianus (1565).120 This playwright was taught by Macropedius in Utrecht and studied in Louvain, probably law. He became the successor to Macropedius as the rector of St Jerome’s school in Utrecht. Utrecht had a special position in the Republic, since it was a Catholic enclave in a Protestant country until its conversion in 1580. This situation brought problems to the school, for connections with the Brussels and Madrid authorities were hard to maintain and fewer pupils attended the lessons. Laurimanus took the abilities of his audience into consideration. The second choral song of his play Miles Christianus, taken from Psalm 26, is sung by the Christian soldier in Latin, while the allegory of Scripture repeats the same song in Dutch. In this play Laurimanus represented the Christian soldier, a metaphor from Ephesians 6, 10–17, made famous by Erasmus in his Enchiridion militis Christiani (‘Manual [i.e. handbook and dagger] of the Christian Soldier’, 1503). The play—in which only allegories figure, for instance Pistis, Elpis and Agape (i.e. ‘Faith, Hope and Charity’), Graphe (‘Scripture’) and Hypomone (‘Endurance’)—focuses on the struggle against heresy, for which the armour of God must be used.121 In the same vein Laurimanus explained the story of the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt in his Exodus (1562).122 In the ‘Epilogus seu Peroratio’ he tells the audience that the Israelites represent the Catholic Church, which is continually attacked by the pharaoh, i.e. the Lutheran heresy. The epilogue summons Christian rulers to protect Catholicism. A similar exegesis was attached to Laurimanus’s first play, Esthera Regina (1560), which was performed on the occasion of the consecration of an extension of the Utrecht Buurkerk.123 The story of Esther, who marries King Ahasveros to replace Vasthi and saves the Jewish people from the King’s General Haman, shows the ‘fickleness of human life’ (‘mutatio rerum’), warns against pride and praises humility. The fortune of Haman shows that pride comes before a fall. These interpretations were given to the spectators and the readers in the Prologue. In the Epilogue again a typological-anagogical exegesis is given: Ahasveros represents Christ, who repudiated his first wife Vasthi, i.e. the Jewish people, to marry another

120 On him and his plays, see Bloemendal, ‘Cornelius Laurimanus als Dramatiker.’ 121 On this play, see Bloemendal, ‘Cornelius Laurimanus als Dramatiker’, pp. 123–29. 122 Ibid., pp. 117–23. 123 Ibid., pp. 109–17 and Steven Leefers, ‘De Esthera Regina van Laurimanus’ (unpublished BA thesis).



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one, Esthera or the true Catholic Church which God had created for man’s salvation. The pupils should stay with Esthera and, he implies, not adhere to any heresy.124 Laurimanus’s plays seem to be the last convulsions of a Catholic in an increasingly Protestant, hostile world. The mutatio rerum may be wishful thinking for a return to Catholicism. The Utrecht canon Philippus Morus (d. 1578) also wrote some plays: the ‘tragicomoediae’ Naboth (1571) on the vineyard of Naboth confiscated by King Ahab and his wife Jezebel by having him stoned (1 Kings 21) and Vinea Christi (1578), both preserved in manuscript.125 Laurimanus was a Catholic teacher in the northern provinces. In 1544 a canon and teacher in the southern provinces, Petrus Philicinus, Félicinus or Pierre Campson (c. 1515–after 1574) had already written a play on the Esther theme, Tragoedia Esther sive Edissa, in 1544, which, however, was published only in 1563, dedicated to Bishop Gerard of St Omer.126 In the letter of dedication he explains the typological interpretation he wishes to give this play, Esther being a prefiguration of the Virgin Mary. This play is special, since it is one of the first tragedies in the vein of Seneca written for the Latin school and not for university. It also bears some features of Roman comedy; for instance, it is concluded by a ‘Peroratio’, which offers an explanation to the effect that the faithful suffer misfortune not by mere chance, but with God’s approval. By such adversities God wishes to bring them to repentance and strengthen their faith. If faith deepens, God will bring salvation.127 In another play, Dialogus de Isaaci immolatione (1544), Philicinus extensively explained the Christological significance of Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac (Genesis 22, 1–19), prefiguring God’s sacrifice of his Son.128 On a tropological level, Isaac represented utter obedience and trust in his father and—on the typological level—in God. In the preface to his other play, Magdalena (1544) he states that he took the licence to employ religionis nostrae vocabula. The main focus is on the dialogues of Mary. Somewhat special is the Pornius (1568) of Hanardus Gamerius Mosaeus (Van Gameren, fl. 1550s–1570s). In 1566, at the time his drama was successfully staged both in Amsterdam and in Landshut, he was a professor in 124 On Esther on the stage, see for instance Washof, Die Bibel auf der Bühne, pp. 114–40. 125 A facsimile of the Naboth ms in Geurts, De Utrechtse kanunnik Philippus Morus. 126 A new ed. in Philicinus, Esther, ed. by Bloemendal and Groenland. 127 On the tension between tragic and Christian worldviews, see below, p. 343. 128 Petrus Philicinus, Dialogus de Isaaci immolatione ad puerilem captum accomodatus (Antwerp, Ioannes Steelsius, 1544). He also wrote a Magdalena evangelica that he had written in iambic dimeters and which was shaped into the form of a comedy and published in Antwerp, 1544; see Hugo Holstein, ADB, 25, p. 742.

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Ingolstadt, where he was active as a humanist and a polemicist for the Counter-Reformatory cause.129 Duke Albert of Bavaria had encouraged him to do so. But when Jesuits took over the University of Ingolstadt, he returned to the Low Countries, where he became Rector of the Latin school at Tongres and, in 1571, in Harderwijk in Gelderland. From 1576 he was an apologist of Don Juan of Austria, by then Governor of the Netherlands for Spain. Pornius, tragoedia vere sacra (‘Wanton Man, a Truly Holy Tragedy’) was written for the defence of the Church. The morality play is an imitation of Brechtus’s Euripus (without acknowledging this debt), though Mosaeus does not employ the theme of the narrow path and the broad way. It does present the choice of Pornius between Virtue and Theophilus on the one side, and Voluptas, Amor and Venus on the other. Eventually Venus wins by flattering him like a meretrix in Roman comedy. The tragic catastrophe occurs when Pestilentia appears on stage as a precursor of Mors, and in the fifth act the audience sees the damned soul of Pornius in hell. In this second phase plays apparently are often more polemical than in the first. Also polemical is Evangelicus fluctuans (1569) of the Louvain professor and Catholic theologian Andreas Fabricius (André Lefèvre, 1520–1581).130 This play served the Counter-Reformatory cause as well, visualizing the differences between the wandering Protestant heresies and the Catholic faith that is the only means to salvation in a struggle of Virtues and Calumnies.131 This is epitomized in the figure of the ‘Wavering Christian’, looking for an orientation in the confessional confusion of his age. He goes from one heresy to the other, until he finally retrieves the ancient religion

129 Creizenach, Geschichte des neueren Dramas, p. 145–46; Rice Henderson, ‘Humanism and the Humanities’, pp. 164 and 165–66. 130 On him see for example Valentin, Les jésuites et le théâtre, p. 240; on Evangelicus fluctuans, see Janning, Der Chor im neulateinischen Drama, pp. 219–22; Rädle, ‘Frischlin und die Konfessionspolemik im lateinischen Drama des 16. Jahrhunderts’, pp. 516–17; Creizenach, Geschichte des neueren Dramas, pp. 146–47. 131 Already the title shows the content and the intention of the play: Evangelicus fluctuans, tragoedia, qua propostio erratici hominis paradigmate, haeresum vanitas, haereticorumque fraudes percurruntur, ac simul clarum efficitur, non esse ulli spem aeternae salutis relictam, qui coetui Catholiciorum se non aggregarit, quibus scilicet hoc proprium est, u doctrinae suae originem ad Apostolos, virosque apostolicos, per continuatam temporum seriem referre possint (‘The Wavering Evangelical, a Tragedy, in which the Example of an Erring Man is Shown, and the Vanity of the Heresies and the Tricks of the Heretics are Told, and in which it is Made Clear as well, that there is no Hope for Eternal Salvation Left for him who has not Joined the Congregation of Catholics, who can Trace Back the Origin of their Doctrine to the Apostles and Apostolic Men in a Continuous Series of Time’), Cologne 1569.



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through Catholicus and Sapientia. They are opposed by ‘Pandora Meretrix Babylonica’ (‘the whore of Babylon Pandora’) and her servants Cupid, Theomachus (‘Fighter against God’), Curiositas and Calvinus.132 At the end of the play, the Church gains the victory. Fabricius wrote three other, similar plays, Samson (1569), Jerobeam rebellans (1585; on Jerobeam rebelling against King Solomon, 1 Kings 11, 26–40) and Religio patiens (1566).133 In the latter play, too, the woes of the age and the main causes of the Church’s suffering are revealed.134 This generation also produced another kind of drama: hagiographic plays. The Liège theologian and humanist Gregorius Holonius or Grégoire de Hologne (c. 1531–1594) published three of these martyr plays in 1556: Catharina, Laurentias and Lambertias.135 These Senecan plays, which appear to have been originally written for the ‘Gymnasium Bartholo­ maeanum’, seem to have had some success on German Jesuit stages.136 He considered the martyrs as Christian substitutes for the immoral characters of Graeco-Roman drama, especially those of the pseudo-Senecan Octavia. Moreover, stressing the heroic qualities of the martyrs, he showed the audience examples of Christian heroes who fought for Catholicism, against the ‘seven-headed dragon of heresy’.137 Holonius thus presented the third-century martyr St Laurence of Rome, who was burned to death, St Catherine of Alexandria, who was bound to a wheel, and the sixth-­ century legendary founder of Liège St Lambert as prototypes of CounterReformation defenders.138 This was suitable for a school in Liège, which 132 Fabricius apparently uses a common metaphor for the Catholic Church, the Whore of Babylon, for the opposite party. 133 On Samson, see Valentin, Les jésuites et le théâtre, pp. 239–44. 134 See Janning, Der Chor im neulateinischen Drama, pp. 216–18. 135 Antwerp: Ioannes Bellerus. The full titles run: Lambertias. Tragoedia de oppressione B. Lamberti Trajecten[si] quondam ecclesiae, quae nunc Leodium translata est, episcopi et martyris gloriosissimi (Lambertias, tragedy on the affliction of St Lambert of Maastricht, once bishop of the church that is now transposed to Liège and a most glorious martyr); Laurentias. Tragoedia de martyrio constantissimi levitae D. Laurentii Romae sub Decio passi (Laurentias, tragedy on the martyrdom of the most persistent priest Laurence, who sufffered in Rome under Emperor Decius); Catharina. Tragoedia de fortissimo S. Catharinae virginis, doctoris et martyris certamine (Catharina, tragedy on the courageous struggle of St Catharine, virgin, teacher and martyr). The titles Laurentias and Lambertias in epic manner end in -as. 136 Parente, ‘Counter-Reformation Polemic and Senecan Tragedy’, pp. 176–80. His plays were performed and imitated by German Jesuits. Many colleges had a copy of the three plays, and at least two of them (Lambertias being of mainly local significance) were quite popular. 137 Holonius, Laurentias, fol. Aiiv: ‘Hydram illam haereseos septicipitem.’ 138 As Parente shows, in Religious Drama and the Humanist Tradition, pp. 45–46, Holonius opposed the fictionality of Seneca’s terrifying plots, and ‘was eager to replace

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was a stronghold of Catholicism, and Holonius’s plays must be viewed within the context of the Counter-Reformation. Like John the Baptist, Holonius’s bishop Lambert warns his sovereign against adultery and dies through the machinations of the offended woman. But there is more. His St Catherine, who used theology, philosophy, history and natural science to demonstrate the validity of Christianity, was a model of the education of future priests. Even though all the protagonists obtain eternal life, Holonius called his plays ‘tragoediae’. He sought to emphasize the dreadful death by the pyre. The plays, however, can also be seen as a kind of ‘mirror of princes’. Each of the three plays was dedicated to one of the three sons of Count Charles de Berlaymont, general of Charles V in the campaigns against the French, who had appointed Holonius as their tutor. Just like the first generation, this generation turned to classical literature and translated Greek plays. Georgius Ratallerus (1521–1581) published translations of the extant tragedies of Sophocles: Tragoediae Sophoclis quotquot extant (1570). Fourteen years later he added three plays by Euripides: Phoenissae, Hippolytus and Andromache (1584). Here, too, there is a difference between this generation and the first. Tiara had called Euripides’ Medea a fabula, while Ratallerus talks about tragoediae.139 In the next generation, Hugo Grotius would try his hand at Phoenissae again (1630), thus ending the Dutch highly esteemed tradition of translations from the Greek. Greek comedies were translated into Latin, too. Between 1556 and 1561 the Naarden rector Lambertus Hortensius or Van de Hove (1500/1501–1571) of Montfoort published his translations of Aristophanes’ Plutus, Nebulae, Ranae and Equites. A Latin version of Plutus had previously been published in 1533 by Adrianus Chilius (d. 1569) from Maldegem.140 The interest in classical material also increased in the choice of subjects of some authors. The Flemish poet Petrus Ligneus or Van den Houtte (b. c. 1520) from Grevelingen wrote a Dido drama (1559). The opening resembles some of Seneca’s tragedies and shows Fury to rise from hell: Adsum the immoral mythological tales of Seneca with a pantheon of historical Christian heroes.’ Cf. Holonius, Catharina, fol. Ciiv–Ciiir: ‘Nullum deorum numen esse in fictili, / Nec magis in auro muscido, quam stipite / Dignum supremo qui Deus colitur locum […] / Turbam deorum et inde vestrorum nego, / Numinaque ficta mille, tercentum Ioves: / Patres, sorores, coniuges et pellices, / Natos, parentes, et procul ab atavis genus, / Infame stupris unde coelum fluctuet.’ 139 Some of Ratallerus’s translations would be included in the volume Tragoediae selectae Aeschyli, Sophoclis, Euripidis (Paris, Henricus Stephanus, 1567). 140 The editio princeps of the Greek text of Aristophanes’ comedies had been published by Aldus Manutius in Venice, 1498.



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Tartareis Furiarum maxima claustris, while in the Dido tragedy by Aulus Gerardus Dalanthus from the North Brabantic Heusden (d. 1577), published in the same year, it is Venus who opens the scene: ‘Herbosa linquens Ideali viridis iuga / Adsum Venus’. The subject, taken from Virgil’s Aeneid IV, is a tragedy in itself: the Phoenician queen of Carthage, Dido, falls in love with Aeneas and commits suicide when he abandons her. In the seventeenth century the Leiden professor Petrus Cunaeus (1586–1638) made his own version, which was quite faithful to the original.141 Another mythological theme was taken up by the sixteenth-century Frisian poet Theodorus Euroteles (from Oosterend near Bolsward) in his Iudicium Paridis (1574), now lost. Interest in Greek literature is also attested by renderings in Latin of Greek plays. Towards the end of the century, the Catholic cleric, humanist and teacher at the ’s-Hertogenbosch Latin school Petrus Vladeraccus (1571– 1618) wrote, staged and published his Tobias (1598).142 Vladeraccus, brother of the common life and writing in the style of his precursor Macropedius— including the use and the form of chorus songs—presents the story of Tobias, and applies it to two major themes, continentia and patientia.143 In this play, he resumed a story that had been put on the stage by Schonaeus thirty years earlier. Vladeraccus, however, was more inspired by the plays of Macropedius.144 Tragedy was a literary genre, but also a genre that could be employed in topical issues. Ioannes Baptista Gramaius or Jan-Baptist Gramaye (1580– 1635) ended the century at the Joyous Entry of Albrecht and Isabella in Louvain, in November 1599.145 At this entry a wagon featuring Perseus and Andromeda was placed at the end of the procession, with signs attached containing verses that gave an allegorical explanation: Andro­ meda symbolized the Netherlands, saved by Perseus, i.e. Albrecht, riding on the horse Pegasus, who represented Isabella. The sexual connotations, of course, were diligently withheld. To mark the occasion, pupils of the Pedagogy ‘The Pig’, together with their young professor of rhetoric

141 Edited by Heesakkers. 142 See the intr. by Verweij to his ed. of the play. The full title runs: Tobias sive comice conscripta sacra Veteris Instrumenti Tobiae historia, praeter alia pietatis et virtutum documenta perspicuum quoddam coniugalis continentiae et in rebus adversis patientiae exemplar proponens, iam primum iambico versu composita et in proscenium producta per Fratrem Petrum Vladeraccum. 143 Vladeraccus, Tobias, ed. Verweij, pp. 47–48 144 Verweij, Het thema Tobias. 145 On the play, see Tournoy, ‘De blijde Inkomst van Albrecht en Isabella te Leuven’.

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Gramaye, performed a Latin ‘tragicomedy’ Andromede Belgica dicta, which was interpreted in the same allegorical way. This second generation was slightly less prolific than the first, and fewer authors made names for themselves abroad. The notable exception was Schonaeus, who was a productive author. In some cases they took up subjects of the first generation or imitated them. Yet they also differed in their approach, by adopting a more Stoic-Christian world view in some plays. In the writing of tragicomedies, Senecan patterns were adopted as new applications of old forms: Gramaye used the allegory in a political way for a political theatrical event, the Joyous Entry. These developments paved the way for the next generation. The Third Generation—Consolidation, Renewal and Relocation (1600–1650) Around 1600 the separation of the Low Countries into the northern Republic of the United Provinces and the southern Spanish provinces had been consolidated. Although there was contact between ‘north’ and ‘south’,146 both regions experienced their own individual development. At the turn of the century, Leiden University, founded in 1575, became a centre of renewal of Neo-Latin drama, just as Louvain University had been in the sixteenth century. In the southern provinces, the Habsburg Netherlands, the reign of the Archduke Albert and Isabella from 1595 to 1621 after many years of troubles gave some relief to Flanders and a revival of cultural life during the Twelve Years’ Truce. One of the main differences in the dramatic production between both regions is the fact that Jesuit playwrights continued to compose dramas on Joseph, Esther, Susanna, Judith and Tobias as examples of Christian virtues until the suppression of the order in 1773.147 Whereas Protestant poets were attracted to biblical stories in which man was rewarded for his subordination of his soul to God’s care, Catholic authors, especially the Jesuits who used theatre as a propaganda fidei and a weapon of Counter-Reformation, preferred hagiographical and historical themes in which they could show that man’s obedience to the Church guaranteed his salvation. In Leiden, Daniel Heinsius and, three years his junior, Hugo Grotius had, in mutual rivalry, set up a literary programme to bring Latin tragedy, 146 On this contact see esp. Porteman, ‘Het Spaanse spook’. 147 Parente, Religious Drama and the Humanist Tradition, p. 83.



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in the vein of Seneca, to a higher level. Both published a tragedy, in 1601 and 1602 respectively. Of course the invention of biblical tragedy and the history play had not been new, but Grotius with his tragedy on the fall of man and Heinsius with his drama on the assassination of William of Orange tried to set a new literary standard, and succeeded. Incidentally, they did not use drama for moral ends, as their forerunners had done, but for innovative variations of tragedy and to offer their country worthy pieces of literature. Grotius published his Adamus exul (‘Adam Exiled’) in 1601, and Heinsius his Auriacus, sive Libertas saucia (‘Orange, or Liberty Wounded’) the next year. Both wrote in imitation of Seneca and in rivalry with earlier plays. It is partly through their instigation, and through the changing times and fashions—for instance the growing interest in the tragedies of Seneca in general, which were seen as expressions of Stoic behaviour in times of trouble—that an increasing number of tragoediae (and fewer fabulae and comoediae) were now being written, although this seems to be a more gradual change than an absolute one. To write a tragedy, humanists had to cope with a serious problem of reconciling a tragic outlook in which the denouement was unhappy and poetic justice was not always apparent, with a Christian world view in which God governs all, is always just and turns each misfortune into good fortune. Moreover, in Christian history world history is fundamentally irrelevant. Only a few events are important: Creation, the Fall, the redemption of mankind by Christ’s birth, death and resurrection (in the past), and his Second Coming (in the future).148 Viewed thus, tragedy can hardly be conceived. Tragedians had to cope with this problem, either by showing just one part of history that had a sad ending,149 or adapting their concept of tragedy in a Christian way. A third way was to emphasize the moral outlook of tragedy by showing—as could be done in comedy—immorality as a warning. We already saw Philicinus’s solution by changing the tragic concept; we will encounter the same method in Heinsius, while some others chose the first way out.150 Another serious problem was 148 Cf. Parente, Religious Drama and the Humanist Tradition, p. 47: ‘Netherlandic humanists, eager to conjure up the horror and pessimism of Senecan tragedy, were forced by their choice of religious subject to expose the philosophical flaws of their model.’ 149 For instance, Grotius and Heinsius directed their readers’ and spectators’ attention to the philosophical differences between Christian and pagan responses to religious tragedy, and they held that sorrow was merely a temporary state of mind which would ultimately be alleviated by Christ’s promise of justice and salvation. See Parente, Religious Drama and the Humanist Tradition, p. 55. 150 Another solution was to consider some biblical stories as ‘tragic’ or ‘comic’. This is what Luther did with the Apocryphal books of Judith and Tobith: ‘Denn Judht gibt eine

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their view that in Seneca’s plays, the horrible outcome was precipitated by the characters’ inability, or unwillingness, to control their passions, while in Christianity the passion of love is a virtue instead of a vice. In any case, the humanists readily stress the gravitas and sublimitas of Seneca’s magniloquent style. Hugo Grotius (1583–1645) tried his hand at the ‘first history in Holy Writ containing a catastrophe, i.e. the Fall of Man from the intact and happy state into this misery’, thus applying the first solution.151 The edition of Adamus exul was set up as a classical text, with an index rerum regarding theological, (ethical- and natural-) philosophical concepts in the play. This makes the play, written by a Protestant author, more universal, and Grotius could write to Justus Lipsius, who had gone to Catholicism and Louvain, that he had written his play for all Christianity.152 Grotius chose as his subject the fall of Adam and Eve, confining himself to this episode. Thus he implicitly criticized Macropedius in his almost epic treatment of the story. His play is a Senecan drama in the portrayal of the characters; Satan opens it with a soliloquy from the depths of hell.153 The same, one could say, was true for Daniel Heinsius (1580–1657). His drama Auriacus, sive Libertas saucia presented William of Orange, the pater patriae, as a Senecan virtuous hero, a new Hercules, who keeps his Stoic calm and intrepidly meets his death.154 His play was not the first one written on the theme: Panagius Salius or Toussain du Sel or Sailly from St Omer had published a Nassovius: Tragoedia (1589).155 Here William of Nassau or William the Silent is portrayed as a rebellious heretic. A direct source of inspiration for Heinsius was the Princeps Auriacus sive Libertas defensa, (1599) by the Delft conrector Caspar Casparius or Caspar Casparsen Ens (1568/1570–c. 1649/1652),156 who is also known as the gute, ernste, dapffere Tragedien, so gibt Tobias eine feine, liebliche, gottselige Comedien’, Luther, Die gantze Heilige Schrifft Deudsch, ed. Volz and Balnke, 2, p. 1731. Quoted after Parente, Religious Drama and the Humanist Tradition, p. 26. Luther’s observation coincided with the chronology of Isidore of Seville who in his Etymologiae had tried to prove that Greek tragedy developed contemporaneously with the Apocrypha. 151 Modern ed. by Meulenbroek a.o. The quotation is from p. 25: ‘Historia est prima quae in Sacris occurrit Literis et Catastrophen habet, hominis ex integro felicique statu in hanc miseriam lapsus.’ On Grotius’s life, see Nellen, Hugo de Groot. 152 Grotius, Briefwisseling, no. 25, to Lipsius 01.11.1601: ‘Toto orbi christiano haec [sacra poemata in quibus Adamus exul] vigilata sunt.’ 153 See further Parente, Religious Drama and the Humanist Tradition, p. 56–58. 154 Modern ed. by Bloemendal. See also Bloemendal, ‘Willem van Oranje: een Hercules op Leidse planken’ and ‘De dramatische moord op de Vader des Vaderlands.’ 155 A modern ed., albeit full of mistakes, by Vermaseren. 156 A recent ed. was made by Bloemendal and Steenbeek. The full title runs: Princeps Auriacus, sive Libertas defensa. Tragoedia nova. On Ens, see for instance Killy, Literaturlexikon, 3, p. 266 (Kühlmann) and Ludwig, ‘Zwei spanische Romane’, pp. 131–42 and 174–75.



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German humanist who translated Spanish picaresque novels into Latin. The play is clearly Senecan in style and structure, but the antagonist, ‘Tyrannus’ (i.e. the Spanish King Philip II, 1527–1598) is advised by the allegorical figures Eubulus (‘Good Advisor’) and Ahitophel (a wicked advisor from the Bible).157 In this respect it bears characteristics of Rhetoricians’ drama, and perhaps there was contact between members of the Delft Chamber and Ens. In any case, Ens’s outlook on the murder is a Christian one: finally, God has been merciful to the Dutch by giving them William’s son Maurice (1567–1625) to defend freedom. While Ens’s play was happy in terms of its outcome, Heinsius’s play is more tragic: liberty is wounded because of the protagonist’s death. He seems to have written a timeless play in which William of Orange is a ‘classical’ Senecan hero, but there is something topical in it. A chorus of Flemish fugitives recites or sings odes—in a Senecan way composed stichically, not strophically—in which they deplore the loss of Flanders to the Spanish enemy. These choruses were written in the famous ‘ten years’ of Maurice’s military successes, in which a discussion flared up as to whether ‘the Dutch garden’ had to be ‘closed’, or if the Spanish Netherlands should be reconquered. The play of Ens, and especially that of Heinsius, inspired others. The Leiden Rhetorician and captain in Maurice’s army Jacob Duym (1547–1612/1616) wrote Het Moordadich Stvck van Balthasar Gerards (1606).158 In 1606 the discussion, now in the build-up to the Twelve Years’ Truce (1609–1621), became fiercer and Duym, born in Louvain, took Maurice’s side, favouring continuation of war over negotiating peace. In the light of this discussion, William is presented as a martyr, who—Duym implies—may not have died in vain. Another young officer in the Prince’s army and a Rhetorician, Gijsbert van Hogendorp (1589–1639), wrote his Truer-spel van de Moordt, begaen aen Wilhem by der Gratie Gods, Prince van Oraengien, etc to be staged in Delft, 1616. It was revived in The Hague and Amsterdam, where it marked the opening of the ‘Nederdutysche Academie’.159 The Truer-spel is also a—free—remake of Heinsius’s Auriacus. William is now portrayed as a Christian-Stoic hero. Heinsius’s play was a direct inspiration for his relative Jacobus Zevecotius or Jacob van Zevecote (1596–1642) to write his Maria Stuarta, a 157 The discussion they have can be seen as a demonstration of what Altman, The Tudor Play of Mind, ch. 1, calls the modern ‘explorative’ against the medieval ‘demonstrative’ paradigm of theatre, or what Spies called a quaestio disputata in ‘“Op de questye…”’. 158 Ed. by Serrarens and Wijngaards. On Duym see Koppenol, ‘Duym en de Leidse rederijkers’. 159 A modern ed. is made by Kossmann.

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Catholic play which he reworked into a Maria Graeca before publication.160 He was born in Ghent, became an Augustinian priest like his fellow Johannes Chrysostomus Loots, and a professor of eloquence (i.e. Latin) at Ghent and Brussels. But when he converted to Protestantism at the end of 1623 he fled to the northern countries, settled in Leiden for some years and ended up as a professor of eloquence and history at the ‘Veluwsche Gymnasium’ at Harderwijk in 1626.161 As a teacher, he wrote a tragedy Rosimunda (1621) and the above-mentioned Maria Graeca (1623). After his move, he wrote dramas in Dutch: the tragedy Belech van Leyden (‘Leiden Besieged’, 1626) and a tragicomedy, Ontstet van Leyden (‘Leiden Liberated’, 1630). Of the Maria Stuarta two manuscripts survive, but Zevecotius transformed the play on the Catholic Queen of Scots Mary (1542–1587), who was imprisoned for twenty years and then executed on orders from Queen Elisabeth I, into a tragedy of a Byzantine princess, the wife of the Emperor Constantinus VII. He continued revising his play for the editions of 1625 and 1640, in order to improve the style and to adapt the text to his new faith. For instance, he altered the character Haeresis (‘Heresy’) into ‘Haeresis Iconoclastarum’ (‘Heresy of the Icono­ clasts’), thus removing an allusion to Protestantism as a heresy. Of course some changes were as necessary as they were easy: changing Anglia into Graecia and the allegorical figure of ‘Fides fugiens’ became ‘Fides coniugalis’. The adaptation of Heinsius’s Auriacus remains apparent, in phraseology,162 but also in world view: Mary, Queen of Scots, expresses the same acquiescent, Stoic-Christian view as William of Orange. Both plays end with a funeral lamentation, with which the entire world and even the cosmos itself should join in. While Heinsius makes wounded Liberty express the mourning, Zevecotius gives this role to the Chorus and Fides (‘Faith’) itself.163

160 It is edited in a synoptic ed. by IJsewijn, ‘Jacobus Zevecotius: Maria Stuarta / Maria Graeca, Tragoedia’. The full title runs: Maria Graeca tragoedia, auctore P.F. Jacobo Zevecotio Ord. Erem. D. Aug. Exhibita in Coll. D.A. Bruxellis (Antwerp, Gullelmus a Tongris, 1623). In January 1612 Daniel Heinsius visited his relative, see ibid., p. 258. 161 One may speculate as to the reasons for his conversion, but they may have had to do with the possibility of studying. See IJsewijn, ‘Theatrum Belgo-Latinum’, pp. 95–96 on some letters that could serve to indicate this. 162 Cf. the opening lines of Maria Stuarta: ‘Rerum beate Genitor et magni potens / Dominator orbis, cuius aeternum tremit / Natura Numen […]’ with those of Auriacus: ‘Rerum beate rector et magni parens / Natura mundi’, both spoken by the protagonist. 163 See also Parente and Bloemendal, ‘Character Criticism and the Humanist Tradition’, on the relationship between Neo-Latin dramas on Mary Stuart and Vondel’s Maria Stuart of Gemartelde Majesteit (1646).



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Zevecotius’s play had its forerunners. Stuarta tragoedia, written by the Catholic Neo-Latin poet and Benedictine priest Adrianus Roulerius or Adrien de Roulers (d. 1597) is one of the earliest tragedies on Mary Stuart’s death.164 As a teacher of poesis at the Douai Abbey he wrote his Latin tragedy, which was performed by his pupils on 13 September 1593, only six years after the execution. In the vein of Seneca’s plays—the tragedy adopts their five-act scheme—Roulerius makes the ghost of Henry VII appear from hell. Mary is a Christian and above all Catholic martyr, dying for her faith: ‘The God who shed his blood for me, will see from heaven my blood shed for Him, and for the ancient rituals of the Church.’165 In Leiden itself, Heinsius and Grotius inspired their close friend Rochus Honerdus or Rochus van den Honert (1572–1638), councillor to the States of Holland, to write a tragedy on the story of Tamar: Thamara (1611).166 The subject was taken from Samuel 13 and Flavius Josephus, Antiquitates Iudaicae 7, 17. Honerdus does not revel in the lust of King David’s son Amnon who rapes his half-sister, but analyses the sorrow of the father for his unwitting complicitiy in the affair.167 Therefore, he presents a sympathetic picture of Amnon the betrayer, showing him at first as a man struggling with his sinful passion who is really sick. The sympathetic, tender Tamar wants to help her brother. In the fourth act Tamar confesses to her other brother Absalom what has happened to her. David believes that it is God who in this crime punishes him for his adultery with Bathsheba. Therefore, he refuses to punish his son, and the tragedy ends with Absalom’s vow to revenge his sister. This tragedy, too, is Senecan in style,

164 Roulerius, Stuarta tragoedia, ed. Woerner. The full title runs Stuarta tragoedia sive Caedes Mariae serenissimae Scot[orum] Reginae in Anglia perpetrata (Stuart, a Tragedy, or the Murder of Mary, the Most Illustrious Queen of Scots, Committed in England). See also Woerner, ‘Die älteste Maria Stuart-Tragödie’; Kipka, Maria Stuart, pp. 94–103; Phillips, Images of a Queen, pp. 193–95. The very first play was the Maria Stuarta tragoedia by Jean de Bordes, printed in Milan, 1589, and twice produced before May 1590. See Phillips, ‘Jean de Bordes’ “Maria Stuarta tragoedia”’ and Phillips, Images of a Queen, pp. 189–93. On Roulerius, see M.A. Nauwelaerts, Moderne Encyclopedie van de Wereldliteratuur, 8, p. 177; Roulerius, Maria Stuarta, ed. Woerner, pp. iii–xx; A. Roersch, Biographie Nationale de Belgique, 20, coll. 219–21. 165 Roulerius, Stuarta, ll. 811–14: ‘Qui Deus pro me suum / Fudit cruorem, fundier pro se meum / Ecclesiaeque veteribus magnae sacris / Caelo videbit.’ 166 He dedicates the play to Heinsius and Grotius, and in the preface ‘To the reader’, he openly acknowledges his debt to them. 167 See also Parente, Religious Drama and the Humanist Tradition, p. 59. Honerdus also wrote a Moses nomoclastes (Moses breaking the tablets of the covenant) and an Auriacus, but neither play made it to the press and their manuscripts are now lost. As a matter of fact, Hooft admired him and wrote a laudatory poem for the Moses nomoclastes.

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structure and rhetorical-psychological outlook.168 The tightness of the ‘Leiden circle’ under the aegis of the Leiden professor and philologist Josephus Justus Scaliger (1540–1609), who was born in France, may also be exemplified by the fact that Zevecotius dedicated his Maria Graeca to Honerdus. The ‘members’ of the circle sent each other their tragedies in order to discuss them before publication.169 Grotius and Heinsius themselves wrote other tragedies as well; Grotius composed Christus patiens (1608) and Sophompaneas (1635), Heinsius Herodes infanticida (written c. 1611, published 1632). The latter play became the reason for a serious quarrel between Heinsius and the French author Jean Louis Guez de Balzac on the mixture of pagan and Christian elements in a tragedy.170 With a fondness for horror in Senecan fashion, Heinsius had elaborated on the cruelties committed on behalf of Herod. In Holland, the town secretary of Amsterdam Daniel Mostaert (1592–1646) wrote an adaption of Heinsius’s play in De Moord der Onnozelen (‘The Murder of the Innocent’, 1639). Six years later, in 1645, the same play inspired Johann Klay (1616–1656) to write his Herodes. In Grotius’s third tragedy Sophompaneas, Senecan—timeless—drama and topicality are combined. On the one hand he completed a kind of ‘trilogy of salvation’, leading from the Fall of Man in Adam to Christ’s Passion in Christus patiens and a typology for Christ as a merciful ruler leading his people to salvation in the Joseph play. On the other hand the merciful rule of Joseph must serve as an example to the Dutch States General to grant its author, now exiled after his imprisonment in Loevestein castle because of his Remonstrant sympathies, a safe return to his home country.171 A third aspect of his drama is the strife for general peace and ancient ­religion that dominates Grotius’s work in general.172 Johannes Narssius or Johan van Naarsen (1580–1637) was also a playwright from the Leiden circle. He first studied theology in Leiden at the ‘Statencollege’ and became a vicar. During the quarrels of the Twelve 168 See also Bradner, ‘Latin Drama’, pp. 42–43. 169 See a letter to Heinsius by Grotius, 26.02.1608 (Grotius, Briefwisseling, 1, p. 97): ‘Roge te per quicquid amas, […] ut Tragoediam nostram, quam Christum Patientem inscribere Scaligero, Heroum maximo, visum est, perlegas quam diligentissime, emendes quam jliberrime, deinde quamprimum transmittas, ut ea quoque corrigam quae idem Heros admonuit.’ 170 See Bloemendal, ‘Mythology in the Early Modern Humanists’ and Rhetorician’s Stage in the Netherlands’ and idem, ‘Daniel Heinsius’s Herodes Infanticida (1632) as a Senecan Drama’. Balzac focused on three main points: belief, appropriateness and coherence. 171 Eyffinger in his intr. to Sophompaneas, pp. 67–76; Nellen, Hugo de Groot, pp. 389–95. 172 Ibid., pp. 16–21.



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Years’ Truce he, as a Remonstrant, was removed from his position. He subsequently studied medicine and became a physician in Dordrecht. In 1623 he fled the country and went to Sweden, where he worked as a court poet and historiographer for Gustaf Adolf II, and wrote a panegyrical play on this King, Gustavus saucius (1628).173 The play, dealing with the campaigns of 1627, is interesting because Narssius was personally acquainted with the people he was writing about.174 In spite of the literary activities of these alumni of Leiden University, the core of Latin drama now lay in the dominion of Albert and Isabella. There, many tragedians were active: Nicolaus Vernulaeus in Louvain, Jacobus Cornelius Lummenaeus a Marca in Ghent, Father Joannes Surius S.J. at Mons and Father Jacobus Libenus S.J. at Malines.175 The Jesuits now dominated the scene, and although many of their plays were written anonymously, we do know some of their names. A token of this Jesuit activity appeared in Antwerp in 1634; it was a compilation of tragedies by six Jesuit writers—Donatus, Stephonius, Malapertius, Petavius, Libenius, and Cellotius—entitled Selectae PP. Societatis Jesu tragoediae. It includes Bible plays, saints’ plays and secular history plays. As professors of rhetoric many Jesuit authors were obliged to write a play each year and have it performed by their students. Therefore, they used each other’s plays and adapted them to other circumstances. So the history of Jesuit theatre is the history of performance, in multimedia shows, in which dances, songs and spectacle are used. Theatre was a kind of illustrated sermon. One of the most prolific authors of this period is the professor of eloquence at the Louvain collegium ‘The Pig’, royal historiographer and President of the Luxembourg College Nicolaus Vernulaeus or Nicolas Vernulz (1583–1649). Between 1609 and 1648 he wrote fourteen history plays, and was thus responsible for the last upheaval of Neo-Latin academic drama at Louvain University. His works served the Habsburg dynasty and their Counter-Reformation politics, witness his first play, Gorcomienses sive fidei exilium (1610) on the martyrdom of nineteen Catholic priests from 173 Modern ed. by Bolte, in Coligny, Gustaf Adolf, Wallenstein. 174 See the discussion by Raija Sarasti-Wilenius in this volume, pp. 674–77. On the reception of Dutch (Latin) plays in Sweden, see also Wrangel, De betrekkingen tusschen Zweden en de Nederlanden, ch. 10. 175 Jacobus Libenus (Jacques Libens, 1603–1678) wrote three Joseph plays: Iosephus agnitus (1639); Ioseph patri redditus (1656); and Iosephus venditus (1634). Louvain library possesses the programme with an autographic dedication of a theatre play, Umfredus, which he had played at Ypres, 16 March 1624. See Ferd. Loise in BNB, 12, coll. 88–89.

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the town of Gorcum hanged by the ‘Watergeuzen’ (‘Sea Beggars’) in Den Briel in 1572. The story is fully treated from a Catholic view. Vernulaeus also wrote dramas on martyrs from the early Church, such as Divus Eustachius sive fidei et patientiae triumphus (‘St Eustachius, or the Triumph of Faith and Patience’, 1612), Divus Stanislaus: Tragoedia sacra (1618), and Conradinus et Crispus (1628),176 as well as tragedies on more recent historical events, for instance Henricus Octavus seu schisma Anglicanum (‘Henry VIII, or the English / Anglican Schism’, 1624),177 Joanna Darcia, vulgo puella Aureliensis (‘Joan of Arc, in the Vernacular the Virgin of Orléans’, 1629), and Fritlandus (1637).178 In Divus Eustachius the protagonist’s rational response to misfortunes gained him eternal life. A second Job, Eustachius lost his property, saw his wife and children abducted and was condemned to death. Instead of showing undue emotions, he used his reason to extenuate them and thank God for these tests of his faith. He keeps, in a Stoic way, his calm and his patience.179 In Fritlandus Vernulaeus took as his subject the very recent death of Wallenstein in 1634, the Duke who wanted to become king of Bohemia. His contemporaries saw in his plays one dominant theme, vanitas, as is shown by the ‘Censura’ of the collected plays: ‘These tragedies of the highly learned Nicolaus Vernulaeus show the vicissitudes of human fortune as a plaything of vanity.’180 The eight tragedies of the Benedictine Jacobus Cornelius Lummenaeus a Marca (c. 1580–c. 1628) are a special case.181 In the first place, he extended the possibilities of Senecan drama by taking their characteristics to an extreme. The choruses are an overwhelmingly dominant part of his drama, taking up nigh on seventy percent of the text.182 Six of his plays treat Old 176 On this play, see Harmsen, ‘Conradinus en de trits Vernulaeus, Oudaan, Smids’. 177 Translated into Dutch by Franciscus Guilielmus Zeebots, 1662. A modern ed. of the play has been made by Schuster. 178 Modern ed. by Plard. See also Klecker, ‘König Ottokars Glück und Ende in lateinischer Sprache’. 179 See, for instance: ‘Ut in aequor undae sic miseriae in nos cadunt, / Succedit altera, cum prior nondum perit, / Et fortiorem sors resumit impetum / Cum saeviit: quis ergo finis, aut modus? / Tamen est ferundum, nam voluntas haec Dei est, / Et quia voluntas, quicquid obtingit placet.’ Quoted after Parente, Religious Drama and the Humanist Tradition, p. 90, n. 100. 180 ‘Humanae sortis aleam uti vanitatis ludibrium exhibent hae eruditissimi domini Nicolai Vernulaei tragoediae’, quoted after Klecker, ‘König Ottokars Glück und Ende in lateinischer Sprache’, p. 75. 181 An extensive treatment of his plays features in Gruijters, An Eloquent Enigma. See also Parente, ‘The Paganization of Biblical Tragedy’, and Bloemendal, ‘Paganization or Christianization?’ 182 See Janning, Der Chor im neulateinischen Drama, pp. 269–97, ‘J. Cornelius Lummenaeus a Marca: der Chor als Hauptelement des Dramas’.



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Testament stories, among which Iephte, treating the famous story of the judge Jephthah who took a rash vow that made him sacrifice his daughter (Judges 11, 30–40), Carcer Babylonius (‘Babylonian Captivity’), on the capture of Jerusalem by the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar the blinding of the Jewish King Zedekiah and the killing of his sons,183 and Amnon (1617) on the rape of Tamar by her half-brother Ammon (2 Samuel 13), in which Lummenaeus could give vent to his enthusiasm for the violence of his model in the lust of Ammon. Another play treats the conversion of Saul into Paul (Saulus, Acts 9, 1–31), and a final one is the Dives Epulo, treating the famous story of poor Lazarus and the rich man, the ‘glutton’ or ‘epulo’ (Luke 16, 19–31). While it is a highly allegorical play, associated more with Dutch Rhetoricians’ farces or French sotties than with tragedy, this play occupies a special position. For the other plays, it has been contended that they should be considered in the light of French humanist tragedy, such as those by Robert Garnier (1544–1590).184 In the preface to Carcer Babylonius Lummenaeus mentions Garnier, who had treated the same subject in his Les Juives (1583). In Iephte he took the same subject as the Scottish humanist George Buchanan (1506–1582) in his Iephthes sive votum (‘Jephthah, or the Vow’, 1544). His plays aimed at showing emotions, and the vicissitudines humanarum rerum, as the censor of Carcer Babylonius wrote. These vicissitudines may be considered the wish of the Catholic Church for a return of the northern provinces to true religion and Spanish dominion and a reunion of the Low Countries. Jesuit drama was at its climax at this date. Its purpose still was to provide an edifying Christian alternative to the works of secular dramatists. The subject matter continued to be selected from the lives of saints or from the history of the early Church, especially during the age of persecutions under the Roman Emperors. As has been said, we know about only a portion of the plays, since most existed only in transitory manuscripts, in fragmentary periochae, and in momentary performances. Fortunately, some plays made it to the printing press, or their manuscripts are preserved. The militant Jesuit Joannes David (1546–1613) wrote a play that was inspired by the parable of the five wise and the five foolish virgins (Matthew 25, 1–13). The virgins, however, are replaced by boys: Occasio 183 It was dramatized by Malapertius in 1616. See the next page. 184 Gruijters, An Eloquent Enigma, ch. 2, ‘“Est est minoribus smaragdis sua gratia”: Lummenaeus’ dramatic principles’.

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arrepta neglecta: Huius commoda, illius incommoda (‘The Chance Taken or Missed: The Advantages of the First, the Disadvantages of the Second’, 1605).185 It is an allegorical, very anti-Protestant play based on a similarly vigorous prose treatise he had written before, in which devils typical of medieval or Rhetoricians’ drama play an important part. Father Carolus Malapertius or Karel Malapert (1581–1630) was born in Mons, Hainault.186 As a Jesuit he was a teacher of mathematics and philosophy in Mons, Lorraine, Poland and Douai, and became a rector in Arras. During his residence in Poland, he wrote a tragedy Sedecias (1616), based on 2 Kings 24–25 and Flavius Josephus’s Antiquitates Iudaicae 10, 10 on the revolt of the Jewish King Zedekiah against Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon, who is blinded and whose sons are killed.187 A typological reading of the play has been suggested, according to which King Zedekiah would represent the rebellious William of Orange and Nebuchadnezzar the Spanish king Philip II.188 This cannot be proved, but could suit the circumstances in the context of the Twelve Years’ Truce and discussions about waging war or negotiating peace. In any case, he modelled his play, like many of his confraters, on the manner of the Roman tragedies attributed to Seneca, especially to Thyestes. The play enjoyed some success, and might have been performed perhaps eleven times between 1570 and 1739.189 It was included in the Selectae PP. Societatis Jesu tragoediae of 1634. A fine example of a Jesuit playwright is Joseph Simons (Emmanuel Lobb, 1594–1671).190 He was born in Portsmouth, England, studied theology and started his career as a teacher of poetry and rhetoric at the English College in St Omer. His five tragedies were written for the school between 1623 and 1631: Vitus (1623), Mercia (1624), Theoctistus (1624), Leo Armenius (1624/1629), Zeno (1631). Like many successful Jesuit school plays, these dramas were circulated among the Jesuit colleges in manuscript by

185 See Van den Boogerd, Het jezuïetentoneel, pp. 131–36. 186 On him see Hernot, Malapert, Van den Boogerd, Het Jezuïetendrama, pp. 158– 66, François de Vriendt ‘Charles Malapert (1581–1630)’, on http://www.pequet.com/ webedition/malapert/malapert2.htm  and  www.dwc.knaw.nl/malapertius-carolus-1581 -1630/. 187 Sedecias Tragoedia aliaque poemata Caroli Malapertii e Societate Jesu ad Serenissi­ mum Vladislaum Poloniae principem (Duaci, typis viduae Petri Tela, 1624). 188 Hernot, Malapert, pp. [24]–[29]. 189 De Vriendt, ‘Charles Malapert’. 190 See McCabe, An Introduction to the Jesuit Theater, pp. 133–43; Parente, Religious Drama and the Humanist Tradition, pp. 177–78; Parente, ‘Tyranny and Revolution on the Baroque Stage’, and the DNB, s.v. Lobb (Thomson Cooper). See also the chapter on Britain by Howard Norland, in this volume, pp. 530–33.



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wandering teachers and enthusiastic visitors from other schools.191 Thus they reached Switzerland and Italy, where they also enjoyed a favourable reception. His Latin plays contain many reminiscences of vernacular English (Elizabethan and Jacobean) drama. At first sight, his tragedies are just dramas on martyrdom: that of St Vitus in the play of the same name, on that of the English martyr saints Ruffinus and Ulfadus in Mercia. But Simons paid more attention to the intrigues at court than other Latin playwrights, which is the most striking resemblance to English vernacular theatre. ‘Religious differences between tyrant and martyr (pagan versus Christian) were almost completely disregarded; the enmity the martyr incurred arose not from his defense of Christ, but from his enemies’ fears that they might lose their wealth and power because of the Christian’s influence at court.’192 Simons refrained from the ordinary militancy of Jesuit theatre and made the audiences attentive to the complexities of leading a Christian life in a deceitful world.193 His own or his order’s aversion to revolution is mirrored in his plays, where the revolutionary is portrayed as problematic and the tyrants’ victims as bearing the misfortunes with fortitude. For instance, in Leo Armenius the General Michael Balbus and his Emperor Leo the Armenian are both represented as condemnable, and tyranny and revolution are similarly abject. After all, Simons presented a pessimistic portrayal of history in which man’s sole comfort is his faith in divine justice. Simons himself was aware of his different approach to tragedy, as becomes clear from the ‘Ad lectorem’, which also points to the actual staging of his plays: I should like briefly to remind you, dear reader, that these tragedies were designed primarily to be acted on stage. Accordingly, entr’actes were used instead of written choruses. In addition, the variety of characters and events is greater than was customary among classical playwrights. In other words, I had to bear in mind the taste of a new age, interpreting the rules of ancient tragedy rather freely.194

191 Parente, Religious Drama and the Humanist Tradition, p. 177. 192 Ibid., p. 178. 193 Parente, ‘Tyranny and Revolution on the Baroque Stage’, pp. 321–24. 194 ‘Paucis te monitum volo, Amice Lector, Tragoedias has actioni potissimum ac Theatro destinatas fuisse. Hinc pro Choris data Interludia. Hinc Personarum eventorumque varietas major quam quae apud Antiquos. Ita nimirum, Veteris Tragoediae legibus benignius explicatis, novi saeculi fastidio consulendum fuit.’ Transl. by P.C. Fischer, S.J., quoted after McCabe, An Introduction to the Jesuit Theater, p. 133.

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Another Jesuit, Father Joannes Surius (1554–1631) wrote twelve tragedies inspired by episodes from the Holy Writ and early Christianity.195 His heroes in particular are Sts Augustine, Nicholas, Procopius, Ambrose and Vincent of Soignies, for instance, in his Domus evangelici patris familias (1617), presenting the good and the bad servant (Matthew 24, 45–51; Mark 13, 34–37; Luke 12, 42–48); Lucta carnis et spiritus in S. Augustini conversione (1617), in which some passages of the Confessiones are paraphrased as a fine exmaple for zealous young boys; Ambrosias (1618); B. Nicolai Maraei liberalis animus (1621); and S. Procopii conversio (1621). In his Drama iambicum de paenitentia Theophili (‘Drama in Iambs on the Penitence of Theophilus’, 1621) Theophilus is saved through the intercession of the Virgin Mary (interveniente Beatissimae Virginis Mariae patrocinio singulari), as the title indicates.196 In his Magdalena Surius showed a gardener appearing to Mary Magdalene (John 20, 15). The lesson of the play is that ‘only pure love can see Jesus in his true appearance, and any hesitation is disastrous. Woe to any young man who perseveres in his wickedness and does not emulate the example of the repenting sinner Mary Magdalene.’197 The international scope of Jesuit drama, as well as the volatility of borders, are symbolized by this playwright. He was born in Béthune (in the region of Artois, now in northern France, then in the Netherlands); he worked mainly at Mons, and died in Tournai (both in the Belgian province of Hainault). Yet Bradner listed him as one of of the ‘three most considerable Jesuit dramatists’ among the French playwrights.198 The theme—or rather, the themes—from the story of Joseph in Genesis 37–50 were quite appealing to playwrights. We already noted the Joseph plays by Macropedius, Schonaeus and Grotius. They appealed to Jesuit dramatists too. The bragging of Joseph might lead to advice on modesty, the intrigues of the wife of Potiphar and Joseph’s decency might serve as a summoning to chastity, the happy ending in which Joseph and his  brothers are reconciled might point towards mercy and grace. 195 On him see Biographie Nationale de Belgique, 24, coll. 273–74 (Alphonse Roersch); Van den Boogerd, Het jezuïetentoneel, pp. 170–221. 196 See Proot, Het schooltoneel van de jezuïeten, 2, Spectacula Iesuitica Belgica Antiqua (SIBA), 2–25 Province Flandro-Belgica, p. 587, no. FB 63: Drama iambicum de pænitentia Theophili ecclesiæ orientalis regionis, nomine Adana secundæ Cilicum provinciæ Oeconomo & impetrata suo de gravissimo peccato in Christum Dominum commisso, venia, interveniente Beatissimæ Virginis Mariæ patrocinio singulari, post quod tertio de infirmitate levi correptus in æde eiusdem Beatissimæ Virginis rebus suis ante bene dispositis beatus obijt 4. Februarij (Tournay: Adrianus Quinque, 1521). 197 Van den Boogerd, Het jezuïetentoneel, pp. 172–73. 198 Bradner, ‘The Latin Drama of the Renaissance’, pp. 51–52.



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The Antwerp Father Jacobus Libenus or Jacques Libens (1603–1678) even wrote a Joseph trilogy: Iosephus venditus (‘Joseph Sold’, 1634) Iosephus agnitus (‘Joseph Recognized’, 1639) and Iosephus patri redditus (‘Joseph Returned to his Father’, 1656).199 The last of these plays is now lost, but its subject is clear: the meeting of Joseph and his father Jacob in Egypt. The two extant plays are, as most of the Jesuit plays were, written in the style and structure of Seneca’s tragedies. Joseph venditus dramatizes the story of Joseph’s brothers throwing him into the pit and selling him to Midianites merchants (Genesis 37). Joseph, Libens tells us in the Prologue, is both a typological prefiguration of Christ and a moral model of virtue and trust in God. The tragedy aimed at arousing emotions, especially in the last scene, in which the audience saw father Jacob lamenting the supposed loss of his son and the chorus joining in the lament. The second play, Joseph agnitus, treats the gradual recognition of Joseph by his brothers (Genesis 42–45). The play centres on an anagnorisis leading from misfortune to happiness.200 A 1755 Polish translation of one of them attests to the lasting popularity of Libenus’s tragedies.201 Besides Libenus, no Jesuit from the Low Countries dramatized the story of Joseph, but its popularity is attested more by performances of the theme.202 The Jesuits were fond of the comedies by Plautus, both theoretically, as is attested by (among others) Strada, Pontanus and Neumayer, and practically, as can be concluded from several performances.203 However, they did not write many Plautine plays themselves. One of the exceptions for the Low Countries is Nicolaus Susius S.J. (1572–1619), who wrote a Pendularia (Play of the Gallows, 1620) for his pupils of the Jesuit school at

199 See, for instance, Van den Boogerd, Het jezuïetentoneel, pp. 137–58. Besides these Joseph plays, he wrote two others, of which only the periochae survive and are preserved in the University Library of Ghent: Umfredus Tragedie vertoont door de Jonckheyt der scholen van de Soc. Jesu tot Duynkercke Den (16) Maerte in het Jaer 1624, Tot Ypre, By Segher van den Berge and Bene qui latuit, bene vixit Alexius: In scenam dabitur a Rhetoribus, in aula Gymnasii Sco. Jesu Mechliniae 12 Martii 1635. The first Joseph play, Joseph venditus, appeared in the Selectae P.P. Soc. Jesu Tragoediae, vol. 2, pp. 108–35; the second one was probably written in 1638. 200 Van den Boogerd, Het jezuïetentoneel, p. 154–55 highlights similarities between Ioseph agnitus and Grotius’s Sophompaneas, but Grotius’s play is more a ‘mirror of princes’, showing the ideal statesman. 201 Ibid., p. 139. 202 Ibid., p. 157 on performances of Joseph plays in the second half of the seventeenth century. In the first half of the century, Flandro- and Gallo-Belgian Jesuits staged the Joseph theme at colleges in Tournoy (1610, 1619), Maastricht (1619), Malines (1631, 1632, 1633), Ghent (1645), Antwerp (1647) and Brussels (1650). 203 Van den Boogerd, Het jezuïetentoneel, pp. 166–67.

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Douai, where he was a professor of poesis and rhetoric.204 The title of the play is modelled after Plautus’s Aulularia (‘Play of the Pot’) and Mostellaria (‘Play of the Haunted House’). The content, the form and the characters are all more or less Plautine: the young Pistoclerus (‘Gambler’, a character from Plautus’s Bacchides) has to study under the slave and pedagogue Lydus (‘Lydian’), but instead of studying, they go to drunken friends of Pistoclerus. Both pupil and pedagogue get drunk. Therefore, all are awaiting the gallows. But in the end they are reconciled and are saved. That such a theme was deemed inappropriate for a Jesuit becomes clear from a letter, written by the General to the provincial of the Gallo-Belgian Province on 30 October 1621. He considered the play to be meek, almost sensual, unworthy of a Jesuit.205 Tragedy, then, was the Jesuit genre, and more specifically Senecan tragedy. Comedy was for the ‘others’. A curious play was written by Franciscus van den Enden (1602–1672.206 Born in Antwerp, he was sent to an Augustinian school, and became a Jesuit, but he was dismissed from the Order for unclear reasons. He married and went to Amsterdam, where he opened a Latin School. In 1657 he wrote and staged an allegorical play, Philedonius of Lusthart (‘He who loves to please’). In the same period Spinoza was a pupil of Van den Enden’s school. Van den Enden is considered as a proto-spinozist. The play, on the career and the conversion of a libertine young man, consists of three acts, in which the man, Philedonius, has a dialogue with a moral-allegorical figure, Prudentia, a religious-allegorical one, Misericordia, and an eschatological-allegorical figure, Somnium. Its motto—and starting point—were ‘the words of the Wise man’ (Jesus ben Sirach 7, 36): ‘Remember the ends of your life in all your works, and you will never sin.’ The ends are death, judgement, heaven and hell. The interpretation of the play is not univocal; it is called ‘very pious and of a good moral purport’, or ‘the natural history of human wisdom, the mind as an automatically improving reflector on what goes on in one’s heart’, ‘a comedy that refers esoterically to a saying by Jesus ben Sirach while an opposite hermetic-alchemic subtext is developed esoterically’ and ‘a subtle work of crypto-Jesuit and anti-Jansenist 204 Included in his Opuscula literaria: Poematia: Elegiae Marianae, Lusus Anacreontei, Drama Comicum (Antwerp: Heirs of Martin Nutius, 1620), pp. 241–75. On the play see Van den Boogerd, Het jezuïetentoneel, pp. 166–70. 205 Van den Boogerd, Het jezuïetentoneel, p. 170. 206 On Van den Enden see Mertens, ‘Enden’. On the play Proiette, Philodonius, containing an edition with a Latin translation, see ibid., pp. 182–289. On both author and play: http://telenet.be/fvde (a site made by Frank Mertens) [accessed 13 Jan. 2011]. See also Korsten, ‘Mundus dramaticus’.



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apologetics.’207 Whatever it may be, the play was performed at the Amsterdam City Theatre on 13 January 1657, and was reprised several times, with an abridged reworking of the play being published in Dutch as well. Epilogue In retrospect, Latin theatre of the Low Countries saw its beginnings in the first decade of the sixteenth century, in which the humanist comedies and fabulae sacrae prevailed—dramas of biblical and other religious subjects such as the Everyman theme. The plays were written for the Latin schools, and their direct source of inspiration seems to be the University of Louvain, the pedagogies and the Collegium trilingue. Most of the authors had studied there. Besides religious dramas, they also wrote Shrovetide plays and other farces. In the 1550s important playwrights of this generation published their ‘collected plays’ (Macropedius’s Omnes fabulae, 1552– 1553), stopped writing (Brechtus, 1549) or died (Crocus, 1550). The next generation continued writing plays, but expanded the way they treated the subject matter, often by adding a more thorough-going Stoic worldview (Schonaeus). In the years between 1550 and 1600 the Low Countries became more and more divided into a northern, Protestant part of the Republic of the United Netherlands and a southern one, consisting of the provinces that returned to Catholicism. In the southern provinces in particular, the Jesuits gained themselves a foothold and started performing moralizing and theologizing theatre plays. It is within this development that plays on saints’ lives were also written and staged. The turn of the century saw the rise of history plays, dealing with events that took place on their own soil, such as the assassination of William of Orange, the martyrs of Gorkum, or of Catholic subjects such as the death of Mary Stuart. Now the imitation of the plays attributed to Seneca prevailed, instead of the imitation of Plautus and above all Terence witnessed in the previous generations. Especially in the southern provinces, Jesuit drama gained more and more importance. The development from comedy to tragedy—of course not in an absolute sense—had to do with the growing importance of university drama, especially in the northern part after the foundation of Leiden University in 1575.

207 See users.telenet.be/fvde, ‘Works’, nn. 6 and 7.

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All of this should be seen in the light of the (relative) absence of a court culture in the Low Countries. Of course, in Brussels a court and a court culture existed, and the royal entries can be considered as such, but as a whole, court culture is meagre, particularly in the northern provinces, where the stadtholder served his country under the guidance of the States General. Among other aspects, it is this feature that laid more stress on school and university as places of Latin drama. However, neither these schools nor these universities existed in a vacuum: there was contact with local authors in the vernacular, themes, motifs or formal features of Rhetoricians’ plays were adopted, Latin plays were translated into vernacular languages. Latin drama in the Low Countries was a lively, respectable genre that in some cases resembled vernacular drama, reacted to it, or aroused reactions. After the 1650s Latin drama did not disappear, but fewer and fewer new plays were written and fewer old plays were staged, at least in the northern part of the Low Countries. This may have occurred because of the growing rejection of theatre in general by the Calvinist ministers in the Dutch Republic, but also because of the decline of the Latin school itself. And that had to do with the decline of the Latin language, in favour of the vernacular. In the southern provinces, Roman Catholic drama continued, in particular drama written by the Jesuits until the abolishment of the Order in 1773. Further Reading These are some general surveys of Protestant and Jesuit Drama in the Low Countries: Bloemendal, Jan, Spiegel van het dagelijks leven? Latijnse school en toneel in de noordelijke Nederlanden in de zestiende en de zeventiende eeuw (Hilversum: Verloren, 2003) Zeven Provinciën Reeks, 22. Boogerd, Leonardus van den, Het Jezuïetendrama in de Nederlanden (Groningen: J.B. Wolters, 1961) Doctoral thesis, Nijmegen. IJsewijn, Jozef, ‘Theatrum Belgo-Latinum: Het Neolatijns toneel in de Nederlanden’, Academiae Analecta: Mededelingen van de Koninklijke Academie voor Wetenschappen, Letteren en Schone Kunsten van België. Klasse der Letteren 43 (1981), pp. 69–114. Also on

McCabe, S.J., William H., An Introduction to the Jesuit Theater: A Posthumous Work, ed. by Louis J. Oldani, S.J. (St. Louis: The Institute of Jesuit Sources, 1983) Series 3, Original Studies, 6. Parente, Jr., James A., Religious Drama and the Humanist Tradition: Christian Theater in Germany and in the Netherlands 1500–1680 (Leiden, etc.: Brill, 1987) Brill’s Studies in the History of Christian Thought, 39. Proot, Goran, Het schooltoneel van de jezuïeten in de Provincia Flandro-Belgica tijdens het ancien régime (1575–1773). Doctoral thesis, Antwerpen, 2008. Worp, Jacob A., Geschiedenis van het drama en van het tooneel in Nederland (Groningen: Wolters, 1903–1907), 2 vols., 1, also (accessed 4 June 2009).



neo-latin drama in the low countries359 Appendix Main Authors

Brechtus, Levinus or Brechtanus (1515–1560), a Friar Minorite in Louvain who was born in Antwerp, wrote his play Euripus for the Louvain College ‘The Falcon’, and had it performed on 1 July, 1548. The play, which was inspired by Rhetoricians’ theatre, was printed in 1549 and had a European success, especially among Jesuits. Works Euripus (1549), ed. Rädle, Lateinische Ordensdramen, pp. 3–276. Studies Valentin, ‘Aux origines du théâtre Néo-latin’; idem, Les jésuites et le théâtre, pp. 202–04; Wimmer, Jesuitentheater, pp. 106–17; Rädle, ‘Aus der Frühzeit des Jesuitentheaters’; id. ‘Die Bühne des Euripus’. Crocus, Cornelius or Cornelis Croock (c. 1500–1550) was born in Amsterdam. A Roman Catholic Minorite priest, he was Rector of two respective Latin schools in Amsterdam. His Ioseph was staged in Amsterdam in December 1535, published in Antwerp in 1536, and had a great success. Just before his death, he entered the Jesuit Order. Works Ioseph (1535), ed. Bloemendal. Studies Kölker, Alardus Aemstelredamus en Cornelius Crocus; NNBW, 3, pp. 267– 68 CE 1, p. 362; Kearns, ‘Pagan Wisdom, Christian Revelation’; Spies, ‘A Chaste Joseph for Schoolboys’; Lebeau, Salvator Mundi, pp. 301–13 and 1003–08. Gnapheus, Guilielmus, Willem de Volder or Van de Voldersgraft, or Fullonius (1493–1568) was born in The Hague and became a Rector of the Latin School there. For his Lutheran writings he had to flee to Prussia (in Poland). His most famous work was, and is, the play on the theme of the Prodigal Son, Acolastus, that was staged and printed all over Europe; his Morosophus has as its subject a flute player, Morus, who wants to be an astronomer and calls himself Morosophus. Hypocrisis is a satire on the hypocrisy of the Roman Catholic Church. Triumphus eloquentiae is more of a dialogue.

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Works Acolastus (1529), ed. Bolte; ed. Minderaa; ed. Atkinson; Morosophus (1541); Hypocrisis (1544); Triumphus eloquentiae (1541). Studies Demoed, Wie van gevaar houdt; Rädle, ‘Theatralische Formen’, pp. 280–88; id., ‘Zum dramatischen Schaffen des Gulielmus Gnapheus im preussischen Exil’; Macardle, The Allegory of Acolastus. Grotius, Hugo or De Groot (1583–1645) a Dutch jurist and politician, who was sent to prison for his religious beliefs and went into exile. Together with Daniel Heinsius he had studied in Leiden with Joseph Scaliger; both friends set up a literary reform, for which they wrote classical tragedies in the style of Seneca. Grotius’s three dramas can be considered as a trilogy. Works Adamus exul (1601), ed. Meulenbroek; Christus patiens (1608), ed. Meulenbroek and Eyffinger; Sophompaneas (1635), ed. Eyffinger. Studies Rädle, ‘Hugo Grotius als Dramatiker’, Eijffinger, ‘The Fourth Man’, Nellen, Hugo de Groot. Heinsius, Daniel or Heins (1580–1655), was the son of Flemish refugees who went to Leiden, where he studied at the artes faculty. He was librarian, Professor of poetry, and Professor of Greek at Leiden University, royal historiographer of Gustaf Adolf of Sweden, a poet in Latin and Greek and a theologian. In competition with Hugo Grotius, he wrote two tragedies in Senecan style, Auriacus, sive Libertas saucia (1602) and Herodes infanticida (written 1611, published 1632). He also wrote an influential treatise on tragedy, De tragoediae constitutione (1611). Works Auriacus, sive Libertas saucia (1602), ed. Bloemendal; Herodes infanticida (1611/1632). Studies Becker-Cantarino, Daniel Heinsius; Meter, The Literary Theories of Daniel Heinsius; Lefèvre and Schäfer, Daniel Heinsius. Holonius, Gregorius or Grégoire de Hologne (1531?–1594) was born in Liège. He was an instructor at the gymnasium Bartholomaeanum



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(St. Barthelemy’s) in his native city and a tutor of the three sons of Charles V’s general Charles de Berlaymont. He wrote three martyr plays on St. Catherine of Alexandria, St. Lambert and St. Laurence. They were performed in Liège and printed in Antwerp; its choral songs are set to music by the composer Joannes Laetrius or Petit Jan de Latre (c. 1505–1569). Works Catharina (1556); Lambertias (1556); Laurentias (1556) Studies Parente, ‘Counter-Reformation Polemic and Senecan Tragedy’. Laurimanus, Cornelius or Lauwerman (c. 1530–1573) was a pupil of Georgius Macropedius, who earned fame as a dramatist. After he had studied in Louvain he was a Utrecht rector scholae and playwright, who remained a Roman-Catholic in a time that Protestantism spread in the Netherlands. His Latin plays were meant to be a bulwark against ‘heresy’. Lauriman(n)us wrote his plays about the Old Testament books of Esther and Exodus; the Miles christianus, on the Christian soldier, is an allegorical play. Works Esthera regina (1560); Exodus sive transitus maris rubri (1562); Miles christianus (1565); Thamar (s.d.); Tobias (s.d.); Nabath (s.d.). Studies Bloemendal, ‘Cornelius Laurimanus als Dramatiker’. Libenus, Jacobus or Jacques Libens (1603–1678) was a Jesuit playwright who was born in Antwerp and taught moral theology. He wrote three plays on the Joseph theme, of which the first one was included in the Selectae P.P. Soc. Iesu Tragoediae. The plays were written for the Jesuit schools in Antwerp and Mechelen. Works Iosephus venditus (1634); Iosephus agnitus (1639); Ioseph patri redditus (1656). Studies Lummenaeus a Marca, Jacobus Cornelius or De Marcke (c. 1580–c. 1628) was a Ghent Benedictine priest and a good friend of the humanist Erycius Puteanus. He wrote his dramas during the last twenty years of his life.

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Their main characteristic is the overwhelming length of the choral songs, bringing this feature of Senecan drama to its extreme. Works Abimelechus (1622); Absalon (1624); Amnon (1617); Anastasius (uned.); Bustum Sodomae (1615); Carcer Babylonius (1610); Jephte (1608); Sampson (1623); Saul (1628); Sedechias (1628). Studies Gruijters, An Eloquent Enigma; Parente, ‘The Paganization of Biblical Tragedy’. Macropedius, Georgius or Joris van Lanckvelt (1487–1558) was born in Gemert, near Den Bosch, and became rector respectively of the Latin schools in Den Bosch and Utrecht. For his pupils, he wrote grammar books, and twelve plays: farces, biblical plays and comedies on school life and peasants. His plays, and especially his Hecastus, were staged throughout Europe and translated. Works Adamus (1552); Aluta (1535), ed. Bolte; ed. Bloemendal and Steenbeek; Andrisca (1538), ed. Tak; ed. Leys; Asotus evangelicus (1537), ed. Puttiger; Bassarus (1540), ed. Engelberts; Hecastus (1539), ed. Bolte; ed. Verschelde; ed. Dammer and Jeßing; Hypomone (1553); Iesus scholasticus (1556); Iosephus (1544); Lazarus mendicus (1541); Petriscus (1536); Rebelles (1535), ed. Bolte. Studies Giebels and Slits, Georgius Macropedius; Macropedius, Verzameld toneel, ed. Bloemendal; Best, Georgius Macropedius; Bloemendal, The Latin Playwright Georgius Macropedius; Macropedius, Koren en liederen, ed. Dekker. Schonaeus, Cornelius or Cornelis Schoon (1540–1611) was born in Gouda. He studied artes in Louvain he was a schoolmaster and Rector of the Latin school at Haarlem. He wrote thirteen Biblical plays, three farces and a lottery play (Fabula comica). His Dyscoli is an imitation of Macropedius’ Rebelles. His fame and authority are illustrated by the fact that after Haarlem became a protestant city, Schonaeus, a true Roman-Catholic, could stay rector of the school. Works Ananias (1602); Baptistes (1603); Cunae (1596), ed. Van de Venne; Daniel (1596); Dyscoli (1603), ed. Van de Venne; Fabula comica (1607); Iosephus



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(1592), ed. Bloemendal and Groenland; Iuditha (1592); Naaman (1572); Nehemias (1570); Pentecoste (1602); Pseudostratiotae (1592), ed. Van de Venne; Saulus conversus (1570); Susanna (1599); Tobaeus (1569), ed. Verweij; Triumphus Christi (1599); Typhlus (1602); Vitulus (1596), ed. Van de Venne. Studies Van de Venne, Cornelius Schonaeus Goudanus. Simons, Joseph or Emmanuel Lobb (1594–1671) was born in Portsmouth, England. After he studied theology he went to Flanders as a teacher of poetry and rhetoric at the Jesuit College of St Omer. He wrote five tragedies. Works Vitus (1623), Mercia (1624), Theoctistus (1624), Leo Armenius (1624/1629), Zeno (1631). Studies McCabe, An Introduction to the Jesuit Theater, pp. 133–43; Parente, ‘Tyranny and Revolution on the Baroque Stage’, DNB, s.v. Lobb (Thomson Cooper); see Simons, Jesuit Theater Englished. Surius, Johannes (1554–1631), a Jesuit author of twelve tragedies with subjects taken from the Bible and early Christianity. He was born in Béthune, worked at Mons and died in Tournai (in what is now Belgium). Works Absalonis moesta catastrophe (1621); Ambrosias (1618); B. Mariae Magdalenae erotici threni (1617); B. Nicolai Maraei liberalis animus (1621); Coniugium B. Madelgarii cum B. Waldetrude (1621); Domus evangelici patris familias (1617); Drama iambicum de paenitentia Theophili (1621); Iovinianus (1618); Lucta carnis et spiritus in S. Augustini conversione (1617); S. Procopii conversio (1621); Scientissimi custodis gubernatorisque reipublicae perpendiculum (1621); Ulyssias (1621). Studies BNB, 24, coll. 273–74 (Alphonse Roersch); Van den Boogerd, Het jezuïetentoneel, pp. 170–221. Vernulaeus, Nicolaus or Nicolas de Vernulz (1583–1648) was born in Luxembourg and studied in Trier and Cologne. He became respectively Professor of Rhetoric, Professor of Eloquence and Professor of Latin in

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Louvain. He wrote fourteen historical tragedies: martyr plays and plays on tyranny; some plays treat events from very recent history. Works Conradinus (1628); Crispus (1628); Divus Eustachius (1612); Fritlandus (1637), ed, Bolte, ed. Rousseau and Plard; Gorcomienses (1609); Henricus Octavus (1624), ed. Schuster; Hermengildus (1656); Joanna Darcia (1629), ed. De la Tour; Lambertus (1656); Maximus (1630); Ottocarus Bohemiae rex (1626); Theodorus rex Italiae (1623); Thomas Cantuariensis (1631). Studies ADB, 39, pp. 628–32 (Bolte); Klecker, ‘König Ottokars Glück und Ende’; Schuster, ‘The History of the Louvain Theatre’; Depuydt, Nicolaus Vernulaeus. Zevecotius, Jacobus or Van Zevecote (c. 1596–1642) was born in Ghent. He studied philosophy and law and became an Augustinian monk. He left the Southern Provinces and went to the Northern part of the Low Countries where he became Professor of History and Eloquence in Harderwijk. He wrote tragedies both in Dutch and in Latin. He reworked his Maria Stuarta, which was inspired by Heinsius’s Auriacus, into Maria Graeca. Works Esther (1623); Maria Graeca / Maria Stuarta (1623/1625), ed. IJsewijn; Rosimunda (1621, 1625). Studies IJsewijn, ‘Maria Graeca / Maria Stuarta’.

CHAPTER SIX

HUMANIST NEO-LATIN DRAMA IN FRANCE Mathieu Ferrand Neo-Latin humanist drama in France offers a fairly modest corpus of texts compared to the production in the rest of Europe; its lifespan seems to have been limited, essentially, to the sixteenth century.1 Moreover, humanist drama composed in Latin is not very well known; Latin plays, mostly written by teachers or students in colleges, have for a long time remained in the shadow of vernacular mystery plays, farces and moralities on the one hand, and, from the 1550s onwards, of the first tragedies and comedies written in French on the other. Yet it is most often in the colleges and in Latin that these new, classically-inspired forms were first elaborated, in constant dialogue with ‘national’ drama. Our corpus therefore played a vital role in the ‘rebirth’ of the theatre in France. From Drama in the Vernacular to the First Latin Plays French dramatic writing in the sixteenth century is characterized first of all by the important place occupied by a theatre which was long called ‘popular’ and ‘medieval’, but which reached its full maturity between 1450 and 1550.2 There is a proliferation of plays at this time and the theatre is part of everyone’s life, in different guises: the religious and edificatory theatre of the mystery and morality plays, the satirical and comic theatre of the sotties and farces. Students in particular had been practising such 1 See the repertoire of plays established by Bolte, ‘Die Lateinischen Dramen Frankreichs aus dem XVI Jahrhundert’, to be completed with the tables in Stegmann, L’héroïsme cornélien, II, appendice I, ‘Le Théâtre scolaire néo-latin (1500–1635)’, pp. 663–68, and Bradner, ‘A Check-List of Original Neo-Latin Dramas’; id., ‘The Latin Drama of the Renaissance’. I am leaving aside the school debates of the fifteenth century such as the De nobilitate contentio by Germain Maciot (see Pendergrass, ‘Lettres, poèmes et débat scolaire de Germain Maciot’), and the dialogue between Pylades and Orestes mentioned by Bolte, ‘Die Lateinischen Dramen Frankreichs aus dem XVI Jahrhundert’, p. 592, n. 3. 2 While the epithet ‘medieval’ is reductive, not to say false, the word ‘popular’ is too; it takes no account of the high degree of learned elaboration in certain works nor of the true diversity of the audience.

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‘genres’3 for some time in the vernacular.4 Thus the first scholars who, in the early sixteenth century, wished to compose Latin drama turned to these forms, which owed nothing to ancient models. But the choice of Latin led them to offer texts in which Humanism is already frequently making its influence known. Latin Passion Plays and Miracle Plays Mystery plays, despite the ruling in 1548 which banned, in Paris, the Confrérie de la Passion from staging plays with a religious theme,5 continued to be written and performed in France throughout the sixteenth century.6 But only a few individuals, in holy orders, attempted to stage passion plays and miracle plays in Latin. We have a number of accounts about the theatrical activities of regular monks in the sixteenth century, but few texts.7 The De vita ac moribus atque panis miraculo sancti Nicholai de Tollentino comedia is the work of an Augustinian monk, brother Geoffroy Pierre de Bayeux.8 The text, in prose, was published in London, around 1510, by an English member of his order, Edward Soppeth, but the author is certainly French and the play must have been written in France. In an epistle to the novices of the order, the editor recommends that the play should be read—Soppeth makes no mention of performing it—and emphasizes the erudition, pleasure and usefulness to be found in it. This play, called a comedy because it has a happy ending, stages the history of Saint Nicholas of Tolentino, a thirteenth-century Augustinian. The play, in two acts, tells how Saint Nicholas overcomes disease and demons thanks to the advice of Mary and Saint Augustine, the patron of the order. This is clearly a dramatized miracle play, with angelic and divine interventions, as much as it is a sermon presented through characters, using large numbers of biblical quotations in support of the edifying message. However, Raymond Lebègue also sees in this play ‘a first flicker of the Renaissance’, identifying some borrowings from pagan authors, in particular the language of Plautus. 3 The notion of ‘genre’ is obviously problematic; cf. Knight, Aspects of Genre in Late Medieval French Drama. 4 See for example Bossuat, ‘Le théâtre scolaire au collège de Navarre (XIVe–XVIIe siècles)’. 5 Petit de Julleville, Les Mystères, 1, p. 429. 6 Mazouer, Le Théâtre français de la Renaissance, pp. 33–59. 7 Cf. Lebègue, La tragédie religieuse en France, pp. 118–19. 8 My description is based on the presentation by Lebègue, La tragédie religieuse en France, pp. 118–23.



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A few years later, another monk wrote a Latin play in the mould of contemporary religious theatre, but this time in verse. The author, Nicolas Barthélemy de Loches,9 was a humanist of some renown, with a fine appreciation of ancient literature. He belonged to the Benedictine order and as such had a number of official duties, in various religious institutions which were dependent on the Abbey of Marmoutiers. But he was also a doctor of law at the University of Orléans and a humanist teacher in Paris, in contact with Budé and the most sparkling intellectual circles. He published a number of works of Latin poetry, including a collection of epigrams. Many of his compositions are religiously inspired: the Oraison contemplative devant le crucifix by Clément Marot has its source in one of these.10 But one of his greatest successes, which was republished several times, remains his Christus xylonicus (1529), ‘Christ triumphant through the cross’,11 a play which stages the Passion.12 It comes to more than 2000 lines in a variety of metres and more than thirty characters. It opens with a long monologue by Christ, a sermon of 700 lines, delivered after the Last Supper, and it takes us up to the entombment, closely following the account in the Gospels. The subject, like the Greek title of this play, recalls the ‘tragedies’ of Quintianus Stoa, a court poet of Italian origin, who had published in France, as early as 1514, the Theoandro­ thanatos13 (‘Death of the Man-God’, i.e. Christ) and the Theocrisis14 (‘Last Judgement’). These plays picked up on themes from contemporary religious theatre but in a style and form which were reliant on the dark, emotionally-charged tragedies of Seneca.15 Barthélemy’s play seems not to be too bothered by the tragic model; imitations of the classical theatre can be read, somewhat unexpectedly, in comic interludes. Two characters in fact take their names and their roles from the theatre of Plautus, Dorus and Parmeno, servants who make their complaint heard. Such a mixture of genres is quite in keeping with the aesthetics of the 9 Cf. on this figure Lebègue, La tragédie religieuse en France, pp. 169–77; Balavoine, ‘Les débuts de la poésie néo-latine en France’; Gauthier, ‘Un professeur et poète au début du XVIe siècle: Nicolas Barthélemy de Loches’. 10 Lebègue, ‘La source d’un poème religieux de Marot’. 11 Christus xylonicus, Paris, 1529; English translation by Love, Five Sixteenth-Century Latin Plays. 12 Lebègue provides a detailed analysis, La tragédie religieuse en France, pp. 177–93. 13 Tragoedia de passione domini nostri Jesu Christi, que Theoandrothanatos inscribitur, Milan, 1508; Theoandrothanatos [in] Christiana opera…, Paris, 1514. Modern ed. by Gardenal and Selmi. 14 Theocrisis [in] Christiana opera…, Paris, 1514. 15 Cf. Lebègue, La tragédie religieuse en France, pp. 129–42.

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mystery plays, whose comic excesses Barthélemy does not pick up on, however, but it would not be practised in Neo-Latin drama in France in the future. Was this play performed? There are no indications that this was the case; Nicolas Bérauld, a well-known humanist, in an epistle in the 1529 edition, imagines that it would be taught in colleges (‘in gymnasiis praelegatur’). Another cleric—a priest—and university teacher in Paris, François Bonadus, an author of Latin sacred poetry, published with Wechel a Dialogus torturae, seu passionis D. N. Jesu Christi (1541).16 The play is a semi-narrative: the evangelist Matthew, whose account Bonadus turns into hexameters,17 comments on the action and describes events. Unlike Stoa and Barthélemy, the author does not position his work as being in rivalry with but rather in opposition to the pagan models he is rejecting; in his foreword, he claims he is refusing to compose ‘trifling tragedies’ (‘Non in nugis paro tragoedias’). Thus the play only borrows a handful of poetic expressions from the language of the Ancients. Just as the first tragedies were being written in French colleges, this play, published in 1541, clearly shows that there was no uniform progress in humanism, at least in theatrical writing.18 The choice of the Latin language, also used in the liturgy, did not always decisively affect the religious theatre which the whole of France continued, at one and the same time, to perform in French. Allegorical and Moralizing Theatre While we cannot be certain about the staging of the religious plays we have just dealt with, whether in non-religious and regular colleges or in monasteries, the Latin plays that made use of allegorical figures, such as morality plays and sotties, were performed, without any shadow of a doubt. Indeed, the authors were part of a very well-documented tradition: two French morality plays, performed at the Collège de Navarre in 1427 and 1428, have survived,19 alongside numerous regulatory documents which tried to control this theatre.20

16 Lebègue, La tragédie religieuse en France, pp. 123–28. 17 Chapters 26–28. 18 Cf. R. Lebègue, La tragédie religieuse en France, pp. 127–28. 19 Deux moralités inédites composées et représentées en 1427 et 1428 au Collège de Navarre, ed. Bossuat. 20 Ferrand, ‘Et de ne jouer n’en peut venir que bien’.



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Fig. 1. The Collège de Navarre in 1440, by F.-A. Pernot (1838). Bibliothèque Nationale de France.

The finest collection of Neo-Latin plays written in France consists of the twenty-four dialogues by Joannes Ravisius Textor. Ravisius Textor (1492–1522) dedicated his entire life to teaching, in the prestigious Collège de Navarre in Paris.21 He is known as the author of encyclopaedic and lexicographical works which enjoyed considerable success throughout Europe, first written for the use of students.22 In 1530, friends of the teacher published a posthumous collection of twenty-four dialogues and sixty-six epigrams, chosen, they said, from among many others, with the title Dialogi aliquot.23 These are short plays, on average 200–300 lines long, in

21 Istasse, ‘Joannes Ravisius Textor: Mise au point biographique’. Nathaël Istasse is preparing a full-scale biographical study on this figure, to be published by Droz (Geneva). 22 Cf. in particular Specimen Epithetorum…, Paris, Regnault Chaudière, 1518; Officina…, Paris, Antoine Aussourd and Regnault Chaudière, 1520. 23 Dialogi aliquot Joannis Ra. Textoris Nivernensis hactenus non editi, studiosae juventuti utiles et jucundi, adjecta sunt animi gratia ejusdem epigrammata aliquot non inutilia, Paris, Regnault Chaudière, 1530.

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hexameters and elegiac couplets.24 Most of them fall under the heading of exemplary morality plays. They are not concerned with presenting an event drawn from religious history or legend, imagining instead an action which was ‘neither true nor probable’ through the use of allegorical characters; for the most part, these personify abstract concepts, institutions or groups of men, and their actions are only meaningful when read nonliterally. This type of theatre shares a great deal in common with pulpit literature: the Autor or Interpres sometimes speaks at the beginning and end of the play, illustrating a sententia with the action he is presenting. This takes the place of the narrative exemplum of the sermon and allows moralizing writing to take on a pleasurable as well as edificatory form. Thus in the first play in the collection, Terra, the eponymous character bemoans her lot, reproaching Age for carrying everything away. Age then advises her to keep silent, ‘Fata volunt’ (‘fate wants it’), and to warn Man not to put his trust in vain, earthly things. When he comes on stage, his mother, Earth, presents him with examples of vainglory (Hector, Achilles, Alexander, Samson). To warn him against physical beauty, she has several famous women process before him (Helen, Laïs, Thisbe, Lucretia). Finally, she shows him the limits of knowledge, wealth and power (Virgil, Xerxes, Nero, Sardanapalus). All these characters appear on the college stage and speak in turn! But Man does not draw the expected conclusions. Discouraged, Earth concludes with the notion of the vanity of all things and the blindness of sinful mankind. The writing technique here consists of piling up around different themes a series of commonplaces which the students see embodied on the stage. Other plays give more scope for action, which becomes meaningful in itself, and the spectacular in support of the moralizing message. At times, they are essentially staged parables, mostly of biblical origin. Thus, like Macropedius in his Asotus (1507) or some authors of French morality plays,25 Textor adapts for the stage the parable of the prodigal son. In another morality play, the Dives gloriosus, the author’s prologue recalls Dionysius the Younger of Syracuse, who was abandoned in adversity by those who had claimed to be his friends; the plot sets out to illustrate in its way the lesson to be drawn from this first exemplum. Two flatterers then appear on stage and sing the praises of their master, who seems to be half 24 For a presentation of the corpus, cf. Vodoz, Le Théâtre latin de Ravisius Textor, 1470– 1524. Some plays and some passages are written in prose. Nathaël Istasse is preparing an ed., transl. and comm. of the Dialogi, to be published by Droz. 25 Aubailly, ‘Variation dramatique sur la parabole du fils prodigue’.



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asleep. But they quickly realize that this is not the case, and that their master is listening to them. They then redouble their praise. Pleasure then enters and tries to seduce the master, who has finally woken up, with the help of the flatterers. But Reason intervenes and orders the proud master not to be taken in by lies. The flatterers, on the other hand, assure their master of their devotion. Reason is finally put to flight. Pleasure then takes part in a game of dice with the rich man. Stripped of his wealth, the proud rich man is refused the aid of his former flatterers. We can see how Textor’s theatre brings together rhetoric, allegory and spectacle by setting on stage abstract entities within a psychomachia entirely in keeping with the spirit of medieval literature. But the Dialogi as a whole allow us to appreciate how, within dramatic forms which were familiar to the men of the time, humanist culture was progressing under the guidance of college teachers. Certainly, Seneca, and even Plautus or Terence, are still less important than medieval and contemporary literary models. But in his plays Textor enjoys piling up references to classical culture, reserving the lion’s share for poets such as Virgil or Ovid; they lend their words to every line and thus provide religious and moralizing language with the charms of bonae litterae. This style of writing, feeding on learned references, is not so far removed from the poetic practices of the Paris colleges, which, following Politian, were rediscovering at the same moment the learned aesthetics of the Statian silva.26 Ravisius Textor’s plays were performed at the Collège de Navarre as is shown, quite apart from the many addresses to the audience, by the dialogue Calliope. The Muse, who appears on stage, is delighted to see, on the feast of Saint-Rémi, the first day of the school year, so many important figures gathered together to watch the spectacula offered by the students. These performances were the opportunity, she tells us, to present the work of the students, who even seem to have taken part in the writing.27 Few other texts remain from the tradition of allegorical moralizing theatre in Latin. Claude Roillet, a Paris college teacher, published three in 1556 after some tragedies, which will be discussed below.28 In 147 lines, he enacts the parable of the wicked husbandmen (Matthew 21), in the characters of Aprinus (‘the wild boar’) and Vulpinus (‘the fox’). Another 26 On the reception of Statius, see Harm-Jan van Dam, ‘Reception of Statius’ Silvae / Rezeption der Silven des Statius’, H. Cancik and Chr. Walde (eds.), Der neue Pauly, Supplement Rezeption, Autoren. (Leiden: Brill, in press). 27 On the organization of the celebrations at the Collège de Navarre, cf. Vodoz, Le Théâtre latin de Ravisius Textor, 1470–1524, pp. 50–53, 113–16. 28 Varia Poemata, Paris, 1556. Cf. Lebègue, La tragédie religieuse en France, pp. 259–86.

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play, with the title In Fortunae Coniugium, is even more closely connected with the aesthetics of didactic moralizing. It presents on the stage mythological characters (Venus, Cupid) and personified abstractions. Two characters, an idle good-for-nothing and an overworked man, try to marry Fortune, following the advice and warnings of Favour or Virtue. The moralizing message is very clear. The pastoral play Diana, sive Satyri is closer to mythological bantering and the conventions of poetry; we witness the desperate struggle of Cupid and his followers, two satyrs, to seduce the beautiful Diana. Nothing suggests that these ‘dialogues’ were ever performed, or that they were even read as dramatic texts. It is nonetheless true that, in many colleges at the same moment, Latin morality plays were still being acted, sometimes alongside French ones. This was true in Bordeaux, in 1560: in that year, the Parliament authorized the performance, at the Collège de Guyenne, of a Latin morality play (unfortunately no longer extant) on the theme ‘Regnorum integritas concordia retinetur’.29 More­over, it is known that on 12 September 1572 a pastoral play was performed at the Collège de Navarre, probably in Latin; the plot, however, like that of the Bordeaux morality play, lent itself to a political rather than a moral reading. The writer who reports on the 1572 performance, in an autobiographical account, in fact invites us to identify the shepherds with the French people, and the gods with King Charles IX and his brothers, who, at the time of the St Bartholomew massacre, hunted down wolves, sea monsters and sirens who were threatening the flocks and trade.30 In fact, throughout the century, allegory often lent itself to this type of reading. Allegory, Satire and Politics Thus the theatre allowed authors to take a stand on the issues of the day, following the two epideictic divisions of praise and blame. Ravisius Textor himself, in a number of his plays, brings together satire of world states and political discourse. Some of his morality plays are clearly a product of propaganda and try to offer support for the policies of Louis XII or François I. So, in Malus Rumor (c. 1518), harmony between two nations is expressed by the staging of a symbolic marriage—an exact image, moreover, of a 29 Petit de Julleville, Répertoire du théâtre comique en France au Moyen Âge, p. 394. 30 Cf. Syssau, Abel Souris et Jean Rose à l’école du théâtre antique, 1, pp. 168–201, in particular p. 185 for the pastoral play of 1572. We shall return to the three other plays performed at the Collège de Navarre on 1 and 12 September of that year.



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planned royal wedding between Mary, the only daughter of Henry VIII, and the French dauphin François. Thus Concord, having put Rumour to flight, tries to unite the two personified nations of France and England, through the offices of Hymen and with the aid of the Common Good. Another play, Maximilianus, presents the Emperor Maximilian, who is by turns solicited by Warlike Fury and Peace, as he resolves to ally himself with the King of France. While royal power attempts to control public sentiments on stage, especially in the colleges, and does not hesitate in particular to use the services of Pierre Gringore in support of its policy against Julius II, Textor takes part, after his manner, in this propaganda policy, while maintaining, in keeping with the ethical principles underlying his theatre, his irenic convictions. Abstraction thus allows the transposition onto the general level of political, not to say ethical, ideas of the most burning questions, before the highly informed audience of the Collège Royal de Navarre. In his edifying morality plays, Textor is more critical of the world as it is, even if, as we are told by the editors of the Dialogi, the most licentious plays have been omitted. Several times, Textor launches a violent attack on courtiers, pillaging soldiers, etc. In the morality play Mundus, the Pope, the Emperor, and the King must join the procession led by Death, since the Grim Reaper makes no distinction between men; the Fates then inspect the members of this danse macabre (soldier, judge, and lawyer, college cook, drunkard, etc.) and Rhadamantes condemns them to heavy penalties. However, Textor only introduces on stage classical types and sticks to the most traditional kind of satire. Besides, neither the Emperor nor the King is called to appear at the Last Judgement, indicating, no doubt, a degree of circumspection on the part of a teacher who, in one of his letters, regretted the control to which college plays were subject;31 one of his colleagues, he tells us, was in prison at the time because of an overly licentious play. In 1516, a decree by the Parliament had forbidden attacks on the King and his family in plays performed on Twelfth Night.32 It is when criticizing the workings of the Church that Textor is at his most vehement, particularly in Ecclesia, which brings to the stage a particular character type, the fool, who invites the audience to bring a critical gaze to bear on the characters in the play. So, this work, a true satire which 31 It could also be a question of censorship by the publishers. See Vodoz, Le Théâtre latin de Ravisius Textor, 1470–1524, p. 143, n. 2. 32 Ferrand, ‘Et de ne jouer n’en peut venir que bien’.

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‘en France, a de sotie le nom’,33 is about the disorders and abuses that undermine the Church,34 who laments her fate in a long soliloquy. Soon there arrive three Hypocrites, mendicant monks who trick two bishops, who are Servants of the Church, and manage to obtain livings, on which they grow rich. The Fool, happily, is there to denounce these deceptions. The play, which is only minimally allegorical, clearly identifying the butts of the satire, had some success in Henry VIII’s England, where it was translated and read as a work of the Reformation.35 Textor was perfectly orthodox, however, and kept to criticism of the most traditional kind in academic circles against the abuses of churchmen and the workings of the institution. Indeed, these issues never ceased to be staged by masters and students alike. The texts often took on a very clearly polemical dimension when, in particular, the clergy of the University needed to defend their privileges and the Pragmatic Sanction. This text of 1438 affirmed the principle of election for some ecclesiastical offices; academics were principally concerned at the extent to which they formed the main pool for these conferments. Amongst the texts written on this subject, one, at least, was produced in Latin hexameters by an unknown author. The Dialogus super abolitione Pragmaticae Sanctionis (c. 1518),36 with eleven characters, is in fact part of the violent resistance campaign led by the University and the Parliament against the abolition of the Pragmatic Sanction, after the signing of the Concordat between Francis I and Leo X;37 the Concordat made provision for the main holders of livings henceforth to be appointed by the monarch, with the agreement of the pope. The play presents first the allegorical character of Pragmatic, who complains to Love of Freedom about the fate reserved to her by Salamander (Francis I) and the Lion or the Medic (Pope Leo X, a Medici). She asks the help of the University which refuses her.38 At this point, a new character comes on stage, the Indulgence-Seller (Praeco Veniarum). The sinner Soldier, to obtain the remission of his sins, decides to sign up for the crusade against the Grand 33 ‘… in France is called “sottie”’; Jean Bouchet, Epistres moralles et familieres du Traverseur, Poitiers, 1545. On the sottie genre, see in particular Aubailly, Le monologue, le dialogue et la sottie. 34 See Schulze, Ecclesia: A Dialogue by Ravisius Textor Translated from the ‘Dialogi Aliquot’ by his Contemporary Radcliff. 35 Ibid. 36 Bibliothèque nationale de France, manuscrit latin 8402. 37 Cf. Koopmans, ‘Mettre en scène l’élection épiscopale’. 38 In all likelihood, this is an appeal, by the students, for greater firmness in the battle led by the university, of which they are the henchmen.



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Turk who appears in turn on stage, but he is unconcerned: Europe is in such a wretched state that it cannot pose a threat. The People and the Church then come to weep over their sorry state. The blame for their misery finally falls onto the character Abuse, who is bedecked in gold, boasting to the audience of his crimes. This play has for some time been linked to two plays performed in Toulouse and printed in Paris, the Sotise à huit personnaiges and especially the Estrif du Pourveu et de l’Ellectif, de l’Ordinaire et du Nommé, which also introduces to the stage the character of Pragmatic.39 In each of these texts, the use of allegorical characters allows for the both synthetic and spectacular exposition of the complex debates which crystallized around the defence and then the abolition of the Pragmatic Sanction. In this context, it is difficult to say what exactly the place of compositions in Latin was, whose polemical impact was perhaps muffled by the choice of language. The text was maybe only intended for performance, perhaps a one-off, in some college, at a church festival such as Twelfth Night; this was the most popular time for satirical plays of all kinds. Aesthetically, one can see in the Dialogus super abolitione Pragmaticae Sanctionis an extra trace of the coexistence, in the academic world, of highly diverse dramatic forms, on which the influence of ancient literature and contemporary vernacular theatre is apparent in unequal portions. Thus Pragmatic Sanction, like Earth in Textor’s morality play, laments her fate by piling up commonplaces from pagan culture, alluding in turn to Cleopatra and Empedocles, Niobe’s children or Eurydice. But the very form of this play, which is only ever a procession of allegorical or collective characters, follows the models of contemporary vernacular theatre. As in the plays of Textor, classical culture is not so much apparent here through imitation of ancient dramatic forms as through the language and cultural references which feed into the inventio and the style. The ancient model is far more dominant in a play written shortly before, which also considers, inter alia, the fate of the French Church. Nicolas Barthélemy de Loches, whom we have already mentioned, wrote a satirical play which introduces characters from pagan mythology alongside allegorical figures. His Momiae was published in Paris in 1515 by the humanist printer Josse Bade. Pluto is worried at seeing so many souls invading the Underworld, and fears this means that Jupiter wants to invade his kingdom. He complains to his illustrious brother, who defends 39 On this text and its connections with the Dialogus, see Koopmans, ‘Mettre en scène l’élection épiscopale’.

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himself. Monarchy then weeps over her misfortunes. Ambition is singled out as being responsible. The play then is transformed into a trial of this character. The trial presents the opportunity of reviewing all the states of the world and denouncing the rule of ambition, which harms the common good. Thus we are dealing with the most traditional form of medieval satire. Ambition is finally condemned to go to the Council of Pisa, called by Louis XII in the hope of dethroning Julius II, a council which by that point had withdrawn to Lyon and from which it was hoped there would be a salutary reform of the Church. This final allusion to the Council allows us to place the social satire conveyed by the play amongst the most burning political and religious issues of the day. But we should also note that the setting of the trial gestures towards ancient literature, Lucianic satire in particular; the opening exchange, in the Underworld, between Pluto and Charon picks up a theme and characters which recur in the Dialogues of the Dead. Besides, this imitation of Lucian was promoted through the reading of Erasmus, whose Praise of Folly, published by Josse Bade in 1512, offers another intertext. Indeed, during the trial, many elements recall Folly’s indictment, while the praise Ambition provides of herself is modelled on the Encomium Moriae. The title of the play thus allows these different intertexts to be joined together in a single neologism, which evokes at one and the same time Erasmus’s Moria and Lucian’s Momus, the god of satire. It could also be a Latin equivalent of the French word momerie, a satirical parade long practised by college students, particularly for Twelfth Night. Indeed, this literary amusement was also a text for performance by the students. The prologue states it clearly: the play to be performed risks holding up the meal—for which the prologue apologizes. He is also amused at seeing the students taking on the features of the gods and imagines they will in this way escape the master’s rod, but only for a time. This play on the masks and theatrical conventions is moreover a quotation from the prologue of Plautus’s Amphitryon, as well as the final line,40 which proposes naming this hybrid play ‘with the unusual name of tragicomedy’. Certainly, in its detail, the play itself owes very little to the aesthetics of Latin comedy—though it is written in iambic verse—but it is keen to lay claim, at the start of the text, to a noble model. Bade, the editor of Momiae, had edited and written a commentary on Terence. Thus these texts show how the choice of Latin often goes hand in hand with a more or less obvious evolution in theatrical writing and inspiration, 40 Lebègue, La tragédie religieuse en France, p. 170.



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even though the authors preserve dramatic forms which had long been performed on college stages. However, some authors, with a greater awareness of the particular nature of ancient theatre, also attempted a more systematic imitatio of ancient models: soon, they were composing the first classically-inspired comedies and tragedies.41 Comedy Terence was published extremely frequently in France throughout the sixteenth century; Plautus rather less so.42 This publishing activity was accompanied, from the start, by considerable scholarly reflection on the ancient theatre. So, the humanist printer Josse Bade, in the Praenotamenta which he published in 1500 at the beginning of his commented edition of the six plays of Terence, attempts to define Roman comedy, relying in particular on the writings of fourth-century grammarians. Along with the treatise of Donatus, which opens many editions of Latin comedy, Bade’s work contributes in this way to the spread of a shared knowledge of the ancient genre, which would lead, from as early as the 1530s, to the rebirth of comedy in the colleges.43 The earliest authors were also aided, in their efforts, by other humanist works such as those of Melanchthon and, in France, Charles Estienne.44 There is little evidence remaining about the staging of Plautus and Terence’s comedies themselves in sixteenth-century France. Only a prologue published in the poemata of Etienne Dolet seems to attest to such practices: Prologus ludimagistro quidam accommodatus  in actione comoediarum Terentii.

41 Nicolas Barthélemy de Loches himself claims to have written a comedy which was stolen from him whose prologue he publishes at the end of his Epithalamium Francisci Valesii et Mariae Anglorum filiae (Regnault Chaudière, 1520). It is spoken by Guillot, the servant of a vain master. The whole thing is reprinted with the title Epigrammata, momiae, etdyllia (sic) between 1520 and 1532. Guillot now has the name Colax, a character out of Menander. 42 Lawton, Contribution à l’histoire de l’humanisme en France. Térence en France au XVIe siècle; Delcourt, La tradition des comiques anciens en France avant Molière. 43 Cf. Lawton, Handbook of French Renaissance Dramatic Theory; Lebel, Préfaces de Josse Bade (1462–1535). 44 Cf. the theoretical texts at the start of his French translations of the Andria and the Comédie du Sacrifice; ed. Zilli, La Comédie à l’époque d’Henri II et Charles IX. See also Lawton, ‘Charles Estienne et le théâtre’; Weinberg, Critical Prefaces of the French Renaissance.

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Fig. 2. Illustration to Andria I, Guidonis Juvenalis natione Cenomani in Terentium familiarissima interpretatio cum figuris unicuique scaenae praepositis (Lyon: Jean Trechsel, 1493). Bibliothèque nationale de France. Prudentis et boni secutus officium Fidemque praeceptoris, huic commissae mihi Tenerae iuventae non aniles fabulas Nugasve futiles studui inculcare; et ea visum est docere, quae et polirent eloquio linguam excolerentque mores eximie eximia morum reprehensione, nempe Terentii comoedias; quas si fuit gratum legere vobis aliquando iuvenibus, gratum sit quoque audire, dum hic aguntur […]. (Prologue adapted for the schoolmaster in the staging of Terence’s comedies Of a wise and honest tutor, I have followed the role and the credit; to these tender youths who had been entrusted to me I have completely devoted myself to not inculcating old wives’ tales or futile trifles. But I have seen fit to teach them what would adorn their language with eloquence and what



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would polish as well as possible their morals, by an excellent critique of their morals; without a doubt, this was the comedies of Terence. If once you found it pleasant to read them, young men, may you find it pleasant too to hear them, as they are performed here.)45

From the start, this text emphasizes the pedagogical ambitions of these performances: the educational aims are both linguistic and stylistic, but also, in the tradition of moralizing theatre as it had long been practised, moral. Much later, the statutes of the Collège d’Auch (1565) would refer to performances of plays by Plautus, Terence and Seneca, as well as Greek authors, by the pupils, who would need, however, to avoid spending too much time on them.46 This account is unusual. It seems, in fact, that teachers preferred to have performed original Neo-Latin comedies, offering a synthesis of their theoretical knowledge of the ancient genre, their practical knowledge of contemporary theatre, and their pedagogical and moral aims. Allegorical ‘Comedies’ Certain teachers thus composed plays which, while borrowing elements from the poetics of the comic genre as defined by the commentators on Plautus and Terence, lend themselves to an allegorical and moralizing reading, midway between morality play and comedy.47 These are the plays that we are grouping together here under the imperfect label of ‘allegorical comedy’. Early in the century there appeared a text which clearly lays claim to the Latin comic model. Remacle d’Ardenne, a Neo-Latin poet, published with Gilles de Gourmont, in 1512, his Palamedes,48 the prologue of which claims to wish to give new life to the spirit of Plautus. The play, for the most part written in prose, tells how the young Palamedes acquires the slave Chrysus and the virgin Sophia. The action unfolds against an ancient backdrop, in a setting which could be one of Roman comedy.

45 Etienne Dolet, Carmina (1538), ed. and trans. Langlois-Pézeret (Geneva: Droz, 2009), epigram II, 57. 46 Bénétrix, Un collège de province pendant la Renaissance, p. 208. 47 This method of reading, moreover, was often applied to texts of Terence himself, as shown a number of times by Josse Bade’s commentary. 48 Cf. Creizenach, Geschichte des neueren Dramas, 2, p. 63.

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However, each character and the action itself take on an allegorical meaning.49 Appreciating the relative merits of material wealth and wisdom is what is at stake. This play seems to have been written in London and the links it may have had with dramatic production in France are unknown. At the Collège de Guyenne in Bordeaux, which contractually required each of its regents to write plays for the benefit of the pupils,50 an eminent humanist teacher, Robert Breton,51 composed the De virtute et voluptate colloquium (1536), in prose. A father laments the abduction of his daughter, Livia, and asks his slave to help him find the young girl. At the same time, a feast brings together several debauchees, young men, an Epicurean philosopher, madams, etc. Many situations and characters are directly taken from ancient comedy. Nonetheless, as the title indicates, the play once again lends itself to an allegorical reading. Thus the author prefaces the second edition of his colloquy with a detailed argument which proposes an interpretation of this story as an image of the ‘virtutis vis’ (‘power of virtue’), identified with Livia, while the debauchees’ feast illustrates the ‘voluptatis regnum’ (‘the reign of pleasure’).52 The author tells us that the text was staged, ‘formerly in Bordeaux’, before being ‘reduced’ to a colloquy, and published. The very choice of the term ‘colloquy’ invites comparison with a well-known school practice, thanks in particular to the work of Erasmus. Thus, at the same time, Juan Luis Vives, for example, was writing his own dialogues, staging situations from the everyday lives of his students, who learnt in this way how to handle the sermo quotidianus. French school theatre probably shared similar ambitions. If few of these allegorical or pseudo-allegorical plays have survived, the non-literal reading of texts that presented themselves as ‘comedies’ continued to be part of the mental habits of the time, throughout the century. Thus in 1572 a Latin ‘comedy’ staging a domestic row was presented by someone describing the plot as a picture of the political tensions leading up to the St Bartholomew’s day massacre—presented as a salutary event. The reading, this time, is clearly political.53

49 Creizenach draws a comparison with the Philodoxeos by Alberti. 50 Gaullieur, Histoire du Collège de Guyenne, pp. 548–49. 51 On Robert Breton, cf. Magnien, ‘Itinéraire d’un “hussard noir” de l’Humanisme’. 52 The play is very similar, in this respect, to certain dramatized parables by Ravisius Textor which present character types such as the prodigal son. However, the presence in Textor of allegorical figures immediately calls for a figurative reading. 53 Cf. Syssau, Abel Souris et Jean Rose à l’école du théâtre antique, pp. 183–85.



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Mention must also be made of a hybrid text, published in Lyon by Sebastian Gryphius in 1550, the Latina et recens comoedia. Its author, Jacques Frachet (Frachaeus), was teaching at the time at the Collège de la Lanterne.54 In his play, he notably presents the woes of Archicholus. A penniless man, he goes to see a doctor who sings the praises to him of his various medicaments, but when the doctor announces his prices, Archicholus prefers to give up on being cured. Besides, Archicholus addresses Chronos, who wishes to lead him to Honour (Timè), but as Honour wants nothing to do with him, Archicholus tears off her gown and puts it on himself.55 While the allegorical purpose of the play clearly comes from the morally edifying morality play, the complete title makes it a ‘comedia’ which ‘presents a lifelike image of our times’ (‘nostri temporis imaginem ad vivum exprimens’ ). A liminary text recalls Cicero’s definition of the ancient genre, for whom it is ‘the imitation of life, the mirror of custom, the picture of truth’; indeed, our ‘comedy’ respects this precept by placing part of its action in a familiar setting. However, the realistic setting of the discussion with the doctor is reminiscent of the world of farce rather than ancient comedy. From Farce to Comedy The history of modern comedy is in fact closely bound up with farce, a genre practised in colleges at least since the fifteenth century, which continued to attract audiences and to fill the imagination of comic writers.56 It has long been demonstrated that comic playwrights in the second half of the sixteenth century who violently reject this model in their prologues often only write farces dressed up in the garments of antique comedy.57 Neo-Latin comedy, from that point of view, is hardly any different, at least in its early development. At first, farces were written in Latin, with no pretensions of imitating ancient comedies. Thus certain dialogues by Textor more or less fall under this heading. One of them, Thersites, follows the model of the ‘Franc archer de Bagnolet’, popularized from the late fifteenth century onwards, and presents a braggart soldier who, to test his strength, fights against a 54 He later succeeded the humanist Barthélemy Aneau at the collège de la Trinité. 55 See Creizenach, Geschichte des neueren Dramas, 2, pp. 156–57. 56 For a definition and problematization of the genre, cf. for example the critical eds. of Tissier, Recueil de farces (1450–1550), and Koopmans, Recueil de Florence. See also Tissier, ‘Sur la notion de genre dans les pièces comiques’. 57 Bowen, Les caractéristiques essentielles de la farce française.

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wretched snail, before running away from a more seasoned soldier.58 The plot is reduced to a minimum, contenting itself with developing a situation involving an exaggerated type. This type, in the medieval and contemporary tradition, owes nothing to the model in ancient comedy; the parodic theme of the battle against the snail was present in the Roman de Renart, and is the subject of an engraving in the Compost et Kalendrier des bergers. Besides, if Textor recalls, at times, the language of the Latin comic playwrights or motifs taken from Plautus’s comedies (like Pyrgopolynices, Thersites demands ‘shining’ arms at the beginning of the play), his writing draws on many other models besides, and through numerous allusions to the Iliad (in which Thersites is a character) or abundant citings of the Aeneid, in the end turns his farce, which is written in dactylic hexameters, into a mock epic.59 When farce deals with questions of marriage, domestic rows, it gradually gets close to the everyday life of ancient comedy. Thus a prose farce by

Fig. 3. The Fight against the Snail. Compost et Kalendrier des bergers (Jean Belot, 1457). Bibliothèque nationale de France.

58 Modern ed. in Axton, Three Tudor Classical Interludes, Appendix I, pp. 139–55. 59 Axton, Three Tudor Classical Interludes.



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Textor bears the name of Comedia in the 1530 collection. But this choice is not significant in itself, the Latin word comedia being at this time the most widespread translation of the French word farce.60 Indeed, the play owes very little to the Terentian model. A son, who refuses to go to university because of the violence of the teachers, decides to take a wife, while his father attempts to dissuade him, albeit in vain. Soon, the son regrets his actions: he is discovered tyrannized by his wife; he carries wood through the streets, goes to fetch water, and he is the butt of complaints and insults from the shrew. The farce is content, once again, to develop a comic situation which was often staged in the French theatre of the time. One of the first Latin texts to be called a comedia is simply the trans­ lation of the late medieval vernacular masterpiece, the Farce de Maître Pathelin. Thus, in 1512 in Paris, a certain Connibert, a doctor of law, published his Comedia nova quae Veterator inscribitur alias Pathelinus ex peculiari lingua in romanum traducta eloquium.61 While the translation is quite faithful on a detailed level, it is also an adaptation which introduces in particular an extra character, the comicus, the probable stand-in for the author, who comments on the action.62 The author does not mark the different acts, but the play is written in iambic verse and there are plenty of expressions taken from Plautus and Terence. It may have been performed in a Paris college. The famous Pathelin farce was ideal for making the transition from farce to comedy; Michel Rousse once presented it as ‘our first comedy’.63 In form and spirit, the Latin Pathelinus is not that far removed from a play which was performed, according to the manuscript, on 19 January 1533 at the Collège du Mans in Paris. The Advocatus also brings to the stage a devious lawyer, in a plot which still owes a great deal to contemporary

60 Cf. Tissier, ‘Sur la notion de genre dans les pièces comiques’. In 1530, Maturin Cordier, a teacher at the Collège de Navarre, writes in his De corrupti sermonis emendatione libellus, on drama that was sometimes published as dialogue: ‘Although, in our times, dramatic works of this kind have nothing to do with the comedy of the ancients, nevertheless, we will do better to call them “comedies” rather than “dialogues”. What do they have to do indeed with dialogues?’ And he translates, in the ed. of 1537, ‘Praeceptor noster comoediam fecit lepidissimam’ by ‘Nostre regent a fait une plaisante farce’ (‘Our teacher has written an amusing farce’). But we still need to know what Cordier understands by the latter word, if it is true, as Tissier claims, ‘that in the early sixteenth century, any comic play tends to be called [so]’. 61 There are two modern eds. of this text: Veterator und Advocatus, ed. Bolte; Comedia noua que Veterator inscribitur alias Pathelinus by Frunz. 62 Lebègue, ‘Le rôle du “Comicus” dans le Veterator’. 63 Rousse, ‘Pathelin est notre première comédie’.

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farce and makes a number of allusions to the Paris student world.64 In the absence of her husband, who is said to have become a monk, a gallant lawyer seduces the abandoned wife. But, as the astrologer had suggested, the husband returns. The lover, caught unaware, hides in a sack. The husband, on discovering the sack, decides to sell the poor man as a pig. In the end, everybody is reconciled, regardless of morality, and everything ends with a merry feast. Perosa suggests that this ‘comédie’ is simply a translation of a lost farce. However, the anonymous author precedes the play with a prologue; the play is divided up into acts and scenes, and its style borrows abundantly from the language of the classics—in particular, of course, the Latin comic writers. The slave Stilpho is in many ways a descendant of Plautus’s servus currens. Between farce and regular comedy, there are three plays in BnF manuscrit latin 8439, written in the same hand. The manuscript also contains a dialogue about rhetoric, in imitation of Cicero’s Partitiones oratoriae, which picks up on Quintilian’s developments. It is the work of Philippe Boisot, a regent and future principal of the Collège de l’Ave Maria, and he could be the author of all the texts included here. As for the subjects of the plays, they remain on the level of farce, in the world of the humble folk of Paris. But with regard to their composition and style, their ancient models are clearly flaunted. Like the Advocatus, two of the three plays in the manuscript are called comedies; they are divided into five acts, and into scenes, with Terentian prologues which clearly indicate that these texts were, or were meant to be, acted by students, before a large audience, during some college festivity; the careless nature of the manuscript, sometimes corrected in a second hand, seems to show that these were plays which were only intended to be performed on stage. They are composed in iambic verse, senarii but also septenarii and quadrati. Along with Marabeus (‘The Swarthy One’), we enter the lower depths of Parisian society, where vagrancy and prostitution go hand in hand: aged madams open a school for pimps while penniless rhetors are reduced to begging and give themselves over to lust. The play seems to take its subject from a recent event: in accordance with a decree of 1532,65 the eponymous hero, a beggar, is obliged to clean out, with his fellows, the Paris gutters. Against this backdrop, which takes a great deal from social reality as well as 64 Basle University Library, manuscript F VI 47; modern ed. by Bolte, Veterator und Advocatus; Italian translation by Perosa in his Teatro umanistico. 65 Jouanna, Hamon, Biloghi, Le Thiec, La France de la Renaissance, article on ‘Pauvreté’, pp. 997–99.



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contemporary theatre models, the author attempts to rival the Ancients. Thus, during the trial in Act IV, the speeches sometimes take on the form of bravura pieces, and are appreciated as such, appearing to follow parodically the precepts set out in the dialogue on rhetoric which closes the manuscript. Besides, on two occasions, the characters say they wish to get the better of the trickery and cunning of the pimp Ballio, or the slaves Davos and Tranio from Plautus and Terence’s comedies. Indeed, there are a number of rewritings of Latin comic models, like the lesson given by the madam to Albidulus on the art of seduction, which plays on the hunting metaphor and borrows from a famous scene in the Asinaria. The second play in the manuscript seems to be, in many ways, a more successful work. Whereas, in the Marabeus, the plot was extremely thin, the Lipocordulus (‘The Pretty Heart’?) offers a well-developed storyline which is quite well handled.66 Thus, in two long expository acts, we meet Lipocordulus, a defrocked monk who wants to reconstruct his life, and then an old madam who wants to take a husband. Eubulus, the resourceful friend, in the third act, fulfils the expectations of the two characters and the audience, by arranging a marriage between the two protagonists. In Act IV, the author denounces the shortcomings of matrimony: Lipocor­ dulus has discovered a treasure, confides in his wife, who quickly repeats it to two gossips; the guard stays awake, and Lipocordulus has to appear before the judge. And so, the last act tells of the husband’s vengeance against the blabbermouth. These last two acts link together two separate stories taken from narrative literature,67 while, in more detail, the author makes numerous borrowings, particularly in the first three acts, from the world of farce: a woman selling milk hails, in French, her customer: ‘Qui veult du laict?’ (I, iii) as in the farce Le savetier, le sergent et la laitière (three of the characters in our comedy).68 At the same time, the author tries to adapt his material to the dispositio of ancient comedy (division into five acts but also a prologue, a protasis, an epitasis and the catastrophe; the latter word is even uttered by one of the characters in the dénouement) and he rewrites entire scenes from Plautus and Terence several times. Thus, to get rid of his servant, Lipocordulus, wanting to hide his treasure,  repeats the actions and words of Syrus when, in the Adelphoe, he is trying to get rid of Demea. We find the same lines, but adapted to the 66 On this text, see Ferrand, ‘Plaute, Térence et la comédie néo-latine des collèges parisiens’. 67 Ibid. 68 Cf. Recueil Trepperel, 2, Les Farces, ed. Droz and Lewicka, pp. 30–37.

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topographical realities of the Montagne Sainte-Geneviève, the district of the University of Paris. Manuscript 8439 contains a final theatrical text, written in the same hand and probably composed by the same author, though somewhat different in form and purpose, the Dialogus longe facetissimus.69 While still composed in iambics, while still preceded by a comic prologue, it does not bear the name ‘comedy’ and the plot itself no longer follows the division into acts and scenes. The text could be linked to satirical drama which was developing, it seems, in these times of heightened political and religious tension. In the same year Marguerite, the actual sister of the King, would be presented on stage, in the Collège de Navarre, where, led astray by evangelism, she was tormenting the poor doctors of the Sorbonne; the affair caused a scandal. The prologue of our dialogus claims, however, that it does not intend to approach excessively serious topics, in particular stories involving kings, for this is a dangerous undertaking. The satire, here, only concerns two types of professor, one representing the old scholastic, the other the humanist pedant. The subject thus in many ways recalls the two polemical dialogues published in 1519 in the context of the Reuchlin Affair and which criticized the Cologne theologians.70 However, the theatrical dimension of our Dialogus longe facetissimus is much more in evidence; the author brings to the stage, in particular, two cooks who play the part of the zanni in farce. Besides, our text expels the two professors back to back, each as ridiculous as the other, and they will be chased out of Paris unceremoniously. Though we may be a long way from ancient ‘New Comedy’, we are nonetheless in the presence of a humanist work, which quotes Plato in Greek, and sets up its dénouement as a parody of the tragic catastrophe, with the appearance of a deus ex machina, who invites the ridiculous professors to join a comic Olympus, i.e. the Collège de Guyenne in Bordeaux. So, this simple bantering, a student sketch, much shorter than the two comediae, is still a work rich in learned allusions, bringing us close the spirit of Aristophanes. ‘Regular’ Comedies The Comedia recenter edita by Jean Calmus, performed, according to the published text, at the Collège du Plessis in 1544 and printed in Paris 69 On this text, cf. Ferrand, ‘Rôles et images de professeurs dans le théâtre des collèges’. 70 ‘Les funérailles de la Muse’ suivi de ‘La Conférence macaronique’, ed. Saladin.



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in 1552,71 seems to mark a decisive step in the imitation of the comic models of Plautus and Terence. The influence of ancient comedy is far clearer and more obviously highlighted, especially thanks to a rich paratext.72 In particular, we can read in it a little five-page vade mecum on the comic genre: Adiecimus pauca quaedam ex variis autoribus excerpta, quae ad scribendam et cognoscendam Comoediam poterunt conducere. (We have added a few extracts from various authors which can lead to the composition and knowledge of comedies.)

The text is not content to condense and pass on knowledge gathered from Horace, Quintilian and Donatus, it is also a call to imitatio and, as such, the comedia which follows the vade mecum is an example of what can be done; reading it will be highly profitable: Censet Fabius Comoediam inter praecipua pueris legendam ; quod ad eloquentiam conferat : cum eat per omne affectuum genus, et propter elegantiam ac venustatem ad faciendos oratores apta sit. Hinc dicebat Varro musas plautino sermone locuturas fuisse, si latine loqui vellent. (Quintilian advises people to have children read comedies in particular, because, he says, comedies contribute to forming eloquence; they go through all kinds of emotions and on account of their elegance and grace they are able to form orators. This is why Varro said that the Muses would speak the language of Plautus, if they wished to speak Latin.)

In this way, Calmus, citing Quintilian, presents the reading of comedies as an educational tool for language and rhetoric. Whereas, in the vade mecum, he is concerned with inventio (the subjects dealt with, the characters’ social status and types), with dispositio (division into parts and insistence on decorum rerum et personarum), and elocutio (an explanation of decorum verborum and metre), the prologue focuses on the last two divisions of rhetoric, which concern more specifically acting on stage: Iuvenilem vocem formant, memoriam Exercent, gestum componunt. ([Comic theatre] forms young men’s voices, exercises their memory and shows how to make the right gestures.)

71 It would be reprinted at least twice. 72 For a concise presentation of this text, cf. Ferrand, ‘Le théâtre des collèges, la formation des étudiants et la transmission des savoirs aux XVe et XVIe siècles’.

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Calmus is once more taking up Quintilian’s words, inviting a comparison between the performance of the actor and the orator. There is no doubt that such concerns, which had never previously been formulated so clearly, were already present in Ravisius Textor, who, in one of his texts, admires the qualities of one of his pupils in the field of poetic invention but also of oratorical actio: the pupil Auberianus can adapt his face and acting better than anyone to all kinds of stage performance.73 Such thoughts are what underlie the practice of drama in Jesuit colleges; we need only recall that Ignatius of Loyola attended, in the 1530s, the Paris colleges of Textor and Calmus. Finally, one last pedagogic consideration can be added to the others. The liminary epistle by Calmus to his pupils as well as the prologue insist at length on the moral aims of comedy, with, once more, the picture of comedy as a speculum vitae, following an expression attributed to Cicero and endlessly taken up by the theoreticians of ancient comedy:74 Licet magnus fructus iocis ex Comicis Capiatur, quos veteres fecere plurimi Quos Attica urbs bonarum inventrix artium Coluit, et Roma olim totius orbis caput. Nam tanquam in speculo humanos mores exprimunt. Quid expentendum, quidve fugiendum siet, Docent (Great profit may be drawn from the comic theatre. Numerous ancients practised it: Athens, which invented the liberal arts, cultivated it; and Rome, formerly capital of the world. For it shows as in a mirror human behaviour. What we should seek, what we should avoid, is taught by it.)

At last, freed from the allegorical model, the mimetic aesthetics of the ‘mirror of life’ offer new problems with respect to morality, which many theoretical discourses on comedy will henceforth pick up on. What about Calmus’s play, and its links to these principles? As far as morality is concerned, the plot contains the ambiguities of the genre; Pamphilus, the young hero, is sent to Paris to study and, provided with a church living, gives it all up to marry the woman he loves! The whole play remains, however, very decent, and suspicion of immorality actually falls on the character Bullivendus: Pamphilus, according to an arrangement 73 Specimen epithetorum, Paris, H. Estienne, 2 Sept. 1518, ff. 7 v°–8 r°; cf. my analysis in Ferrand, ‘Les exercices de composition et de déclamation poétiques dans les collèges parisiens’. 74 Cf. the partial ed. and transl. of De tragoedia et comedia of Donatus by Lawton, Handbook of French Renaissance Dramatic Theory, p. 12 and note.



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made with the young woman’s father, must cede his living to his future brother-in-law, his friend Chremes; Bullivendus, whose profession this is, offers to act as a go-between, but this unscrupulous man sells it to the highest bidder, his cook! The very amusing, if conventional, portrait of this sad character makes him the easy target of moral condemnation, borrowing from contemporary satirical literature. It is possible the author wrote this from a pre-existing farcical model, to be found, for example, in a French farce acted in Bordeaux, if we believe the cast list which is the only thing to have survived.75 But we notice especially important developments with regard to the imitation of ancient models: the author doubles up the action; there are now two young men and two fathers, with characters who, if not antithetical, are at least different, whose fundamentally contradictory aspirations allow the plot to be set up and then resolved. The action is purged of its comic interludes, or almost; for the first time, marriage is no longer the object of general ridicule, but something the whole plot moves towards; it will subsequently become one of the main markers of the comic genre. Charles Estienne, in particular, must have played an important role, for in his theoretical writings on comedy published in the early 1540s,76 he makes the love interest an essential element of comic plots. The first translator in France of Italian comedy also had in mind the model of commedia erudita. This Italian influence seems to have played an important part in the development of the comic aesthetic in France, from the 1540s onwards, not so much as an immediate model, but as an example of a successful adaptation of ancient models for contemporary concerns. If Calmus’s Latin comedy was published, it is the only known example of such a text. Hence it is the first regular comedy ever printed in France.77 Calmus himself claims to have written other plays, which he promises to have printed but which have not survived. Subsequently the comic genre, in Latin first of all, seems to run out of steam and the only traces of original compositions we have are school exercises. These still have certain qualities and interest for the history of the genre. Thus, eight years after the performance of Calmus’s comedy, but also two years after the performance of the first French plays by Jodelle, a college student, Claude Jamin, wrote at the Collège du Plessis in Paris quite an effective play, which 75 Petit de Julleville, Répertoire du théâtre comique en France au Moyen Âge, p. 394. 76 See Zilli, La Comédie à l’époque d’Henri II et de Charles IX. 77 The plot of Les Ecoliers (1589) by F. Perrin is remarkably analogous to this play. The author claims only to be drawing on French sources, thereby opposing the Italianizing fashion at that time affecting French comedy.

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takes up the theme of the aged lover, the Archaiozelotipia. The old man tries by all possible means to keep his young wife away from her suitors, but in vain: a young man manages to go off with the young beauty. There is a happy ending, however. It seems that the author had planned musical interludes. Here too, there are borrowings from Plautus: the old man laments the loss of his wife by reciting Euclio’s monologue, following the theft of his pot of gold. There is no doubt that the educated audience enjoyed such diversions, which must have contributed to the interest of these works. Besides, the theme of the aged lover, the importance once again of the love theme, seems to show the growing influence of Italian comedy, which may be acting as an intermediary between ancient comedy and college comedy. Another student, Gaston Griaeus, from the illustrious Collège de Boncourt, which saw the birth of certain plays by members of the Pléiade, also tries his hand at composing five tragedies and two comedies in the late 1560s; three of his plays were even written in Greek! This was doubtless an interesting testament to the survival of Neo-Latin comedy as a college exercise in the second half of the sixteenth century. Unfortunately, the manuscript exercise book of 319 folios was burnt in the fire at the Library in Metz at the end of the Second World War. Johannes Bolte has given a detailed description of the contents, however,78 and in particular reproduced the prologue of the Comoedia Philargyria (1568).79 The fourteen-year-old author proudly lays claim to poetic models from the Pléiade (he even cites the names of Ronsard and Baïf, who adapted Aristo­ phanes and Plautus in French80) and rejects as violently as his elders ‘medieval’ genres. No author of Latin comedy had hitherto done this. With Griaeus, Latin college comedy sets out to imitate the model offered by French poets and takes up its battles; it is no longer in the vanguard of the genre. No other Neo-Latin author subsequently left Neo-Latin comedies. Moreover, in the second half of the century, French comedy itself had mixed success, without experiencing the same dynamism as tragedy, 78 Bolte, ‘Die Lateinischen Dramen Frankreichs aus dem XVI Jahrhundert’, pp. 602–13. 79 The other comedy, Comedia Ourania, was written in the same year, in Greek. 80 On the French translation, attributed to Ronsard, of the opening lines of Plutus (and Griaeus’s words seem to confirm this attribution) and the French translation of the Miles Gloriosus by Jean-Antoine de Baïf, see the respective editions: Pierre de Ronsard, Œuvres complètes, ed. Céard, Ménager, Simonin, 2, pp. 1250–75 and the notes on pp. 1653–55; Jean-Antoine de Baif, Le Brave, ed. Maser. Le Brave was performed on 28 January 1567.



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which in particular won over the humanists. Thus, for the period 1550–1610, only around twenty comedies have survived (three in Latin) as compared to more than one hundred tragedies.81 Around ten of these tragedies were composed in the language of Seneca. Tragedy Tragedy, too, was born in the colleges and in Latin, during the first half of the century. Indeed, while it appears later than comedy, from the 1540s onwards,82 it was thought about at the same time: the works of Donatus and then Bade always defined the two genres as two sides of a coin whose registers should not be mixed up.83 The rediscovery of Aristotle’s Poetics, which only starts to be disseminated mid-century, would only intensify this separation of the genres.84 Finally, the many editions of Seneca, who became the principal model to imitate, were exemplary with regard to imitatio. Religious Themes This imitatio first took the form of an adaptation of the tragic aesthetic of the Ancients to the religious and moralizing concerns of the teachers. Indeed, in excluding any comic element—and in this they distinguished themselves from the authors of mystery and morality plays—humanist teachers found in Bible stories or saints’ lives elements suitable for comparison with the themes and structure of ancient tragedy.85 Moving in this direction, it is a Scot, George Buchanan, who was the first to provide an example. 81 Mazouer, Le Théâtre français de la Renaissance, p. 195. 82 We are leaving aside the tragedies of the Italian Quintinianus Stoa, which we have mentioned. 83 Cf. Lawton, Handbook of French Renaissance Dramatic Theory; cf. too the texts ed. by Leblanc, Les écrits théoriques français des années 1540–1561 sur la tragédie. 84 Julius Caesar Scaliger’s Poetica was published posthumously in 1561, but we shall see that his work, which played an important part in the dissemination of Aristotle’s writings, may have been known some time before its publication, in particular by the two great precursors, George Buchanan and Marc-Antoine Muret. 85 Lebègue (La tragédie religieuse en France, p. 157–67) notes that we scarcely find any ‘comédies sacrées’ in France, whereas this genre was broadly successful in Northern Europe; while the Acolastus or the Joseph were published several times in Paris and elsewhere, they were not really imitated. Only Christus xylonicus by N. Barthélemy can be compared to this mixed aesthetic, or indeed certain morality plays by Textor, such as his dialogue De puero prodigo.

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mathieu ferrand George Buchanan and the Greek Model

George Buchanan (1506–1582), a Neo-Latin poet of considerable renown,86 divided the first part of his life between Scotland and Paris, where he studied and taught in a number of colleges. He then joined André de Gouveia at the Collège de Guyenne in Bordeaux. Here he wrote and staged his two original Latin plays, in the 1540s:87 Eas [tragoedias] enim, ut consuetudini scholae satisfaceret quae per annos singulos singulas poscebat fabulas, conscripserat ut earum actione juventutem ab allegoriis quibus tum Gallia vehementer se oblectabat, ad imitationem veterum qua posset retraheret.88 (For, to satisfy the custom of the College, which required a play to be presented each year, he had written these tragedies to keep the young boys removed, through their performance, from those allegories which were so popular at that time in France, and thus bring them back to the imitation of the Ancients.)

These words confirm the importance of allegorical drama in the colleges of the time, of which we have already written at length. It is also against this drama, which shares with religious tragedy its moralizing aims, that a new aesthetic needed to be developed, ‘in imitation of the Ancients’. Indeed, throughout the first half of the sixteenth century, theoreticians continued to compare or contrast ancient and vernacular genres, with Du Bellay going so far as to claim that farce and morality plays had ‘usurped the ancient dignity’ of comedy in one case and tragedy in the other.89 George Buchanan, to restore tragedy to its ‘ancient dignity’, turned to the Greek theatre, a choice not followed by his successors. Indeed, the Hellenizing teacher had first translated Euripides’ Medea, which he staged, as the edition of this play indicates, in Bordeaux itself in 1543. This philological and translating activity, which he pursued later on with his translation of the Alcestis, informs his writing for the theatre. He would in this way adapt religious material to the constraints of the tragic genre and the structure of a Greek tragedy. The choice of theme for his first play, 86 McFarlane, George Buchanan. 87 On Buchanan’s plays, cf. Lebègue, La tragédie religieuse en France, pp. 195–254; De Capitani, introduction to her ed. of the Jephte by Claude Vessel, in Reynolds-Cornell a.o., La tragédie à l’époque d’Henri II et de Charles IX, Première série, 3 (1566–1567), pp. 326– 33; Boccassini, introduction to her ed. of Jephte ou le vœu by Florent Chrestien, ibid., pp. 409–17. See the ed. of the two Latin tragedies by Sharratt and Walsh in George Buchanan, Tragedies, and Ferradou, Traduction et commentaire de deux tragédies latines de George Buchanan, Jephte et Baptiste. 88 Vita ab eo scripta, George Buchanan, Tragedies, ed. Sharratt and Walsh, p. 3. 89 Deffence et illustration de la langue françoise, II, 4.



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composed in the early 1540s, Baptistes sive calumnia, is clearly not a fortuitous one, given his openness to Reformed ideas. When he published this text, possibly in a revised form, in 1577, the figure of John the Baptist and his death invite comparison with the situation faced by the persecuted followers of the Reformation. Much thought has been given to the possible identification of the characters of the Baptist, Herod, Herodias and Malchus with contemporary historical figures; but the question is no doubt on a more general level, both in terms of religion and politics.90 After a Terentian-style prologue,91 the play presents six episodes separated by choruses. The tragedy takes us from the imprisonment (end of the second episode) to the beheading of John the Baptist and shows us the efforts of Malchus, a Pharisee, and the Queen to convince Herod to act. The play gives prominence to long speeches and argumentative exchanges in which Buchanan shows his mastery of the dialectics and rhetoric taught in the College. The influence of dramatic theories, in particular those of Aristotle and his Poetics, which Buchanan may have known quite early on, seems more noticeable in his second play, Jephthah or the Vow (c. 1543): the plot develops and is resolved, the hero is neither entirely guilty, nor entirely innocent, and there is a greater element of pathos.92 Buchanan respects in general terms, even before their explicit formulation by the theoreticians, the rule of the three unities (this was already true, indeed, in Baptistes).93 But he may very well have taken this directly from the Greek tragedies he was imitating. In fact, intertextual allusions to Euripides are very much to the fore. The tragedy has a prologue and seven episodes separated by six choruses. Buchanan takes the story from Judges 10–11: Jephthah has received from God an order to deliver the Hebrews from the Ammonite yoke. He has vowed to the Lord to sacrifice to him the first person he sees coming out of his house, if he is granted victory; all this is recalled in the prologue. The play itself opens with the account of a threatening dream (first episode), then a messenger describes Jephtha’s brilliant victory (second episode). But the joy is short-lived: when Jephtha appears, he sees his daughter leave his house (third episode) and understands God’s design. 90 Cf. the third chapter of Ferradou’s commentary ‘La “signification” des deux tragédies’ and her conclusion, op. cit. 91 Indeed, the influence of Latin comedies is not absent, even if he rejects comic elements. 92 Ferradou, second chapter of her commentary ‘La dramaturgie dans les tragédies de George Buchanan’, op. cit. 93 Ibid.

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While he hides his grief, Iphis does not understand her father’s sudden coldness. The following episodes do not mark any progress in the action but a pathos-filled crescendo, and the dialogue often gives way to lyrical outpourings or rhetorical exchanges. Iphis is finally sacrificed, with her consent. Buchanan takes his inspiration on a number of occasions from Euripides’ Hecuba (the opening dream, in particular, picks up on the Queen’s dream) and even more, of course, Iphigenia at Aulis, his main dramatic model both for the plot and, on a more detailed level, for the composition of certain scenes (for example the confrontations between father and daughter). These two tragedies by Euripides had been translated by Erasmus, whose text Buchanan sometimes follows quite closely. He also borrows, at points, from the Latin tradition: he alludes to Plautus’s Amphitryon for the description of the battle, and we find some stylistic features typical of Seneca as well as other Latin poets.94 This ancient material is placed here in a clearly Christian perspective and the play echoes in this way contemporary religious concerns. The question of the legitimacy of Jephtha’s vow is thus the ‘ideological pivot’95 of the play, the subject of a long debate between the protagonist and a priest in the fifth episode. This questioning should be compared, if not with the fierce debate at the time on monastic vows which opposed Catholics and Protestants, at least with thinking on free will and the controversy between Erasmus and Luther. In fact, Buchanan stages a discussion on man’s responsibility to God. As for Iphis, through her sacrifice, she foreshadows the death of the Son, and the absolute confidence in the Father. Buchanan, after a difficult period in Coimbra, where he was put on trial by the Inquisition, came back to Paris in the early 1550s and resumed teaching. The poets of the Collège de Boncourt, his pupils, La Péruse, Jodelle, were among his admirers. They would soon write the first French tragedies. It was at the request of his friends and pupils that he decided to publish Jephthes in 1554. In the context of the wars of religion, the play was highly successful with certain reformers and received several French translations, including ones by Claude de Vessel in 1566 and Florent Chrestien in 1567.96

94 See Ferradou, Traduction et commentaire de deux tragédies latines de George Buchanan, Jephte et Baptiste, pp. 224 sqq. 95 Boccassini, intr. to the ed. of Jephte ou le vœu by Florent Chrestien, op. cit. pp. 409–17. 96 See the eds. of these transls. by De Capitani and Boccassini, op. cit., pp. 321–405 et pp. 407–89.



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Fig. 4. La tragédie de Jephté, translated from the Latin by Claude de Vessel (Paris: Robert Estienne, 1566). Bibliothèque nationale de France.

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Another humanist college teacher, Claude Roillet (c. 1520–after 1578), published four tragedies in the collection of his Varia poemata in 1556. Three of them take their subjects from religious history.97 There are also the three dialogues already discussed, and various pieces of Latin poetry. Roillet composed his Latin tragedies at the same time as others were composing the first tragedies in French; he does not appear as an innovator, and his theatre does not have the same influence as that of Buchanan and Muret, of whom we shall speak later, but he shows that the composition of Latin tragedies, in parallel to the composition of the first French tragedies, was clearly a vital activity in the colleges. Other authors must have written similar plays which have not survived.98 Roillet taught at the Collège de Bourgogne and the Collège de Boncourt where he probably came across other authors of tragedy, including Buchanan, but also Muret, La Péruse, Jodelle or Grévin. He introduces the text of his tragedies with a short preface, in which he proclaims that, for ‘the construction of [his] tragedies’ (‘tragoediarum nostrarum oeconomia’), he has not always conformed to the precepts of Horace and Senecan models, and has often preferred Greek models. Certainly, he seems to have published himself a translation from Greek tragedy, of the Byzantine period, the Christus patiens attributed to Gregory of Nazianzus. However, as we shall see, it is above all Seneca whom he imitates, first of all in detail—he takes numerous images from him, his vehement style, and moralistic commonplaces—but above all in the way he handles certain scenes, not to say the plot itself. In the 1,364-line play entitled Petrus, he presents Peter exposed to Nero’s hatred and led to martyrdom.99 Raymond Lebègue notes that, at the very moment Roillet was writing, performances were still being held of the mystery play The Acts of the Apostles, which describes the same events in parts eight and nine. But Roillet, in line with the spirit of tragedy, takes us at the start in medias res, focuses on Peter, and fits the plot into five acts separated by choruses. We can discern precise reminiscences of Octavia, a tragedy attributed at the time to Seneca. The exchange between 97 On this author and his tragedies, cf. Lebègue, La tragédie religieuse en France, pp. 259–85. I draw here on his analyses. 98 Amongst his epigrams, one refers to the recent death of his friend Jean Calmus, whom we have mentioned. He compares him to Plautus and Terence. Another epigram is addressed to a certain Joannes Rupellus, an unknown author of comedies and tragedies in Latin and French. 99 Lebègue, La tragédie religieuse en France, pp. 265–70.



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the old man and Nero in the first act offers the opportunity of repeating Stoic moral commonplaces developed by the character Seneca. While such imitation appears perfectly justified here, we are more surprised by the intervention, in Act III, of Poppaea rejoicing at her triumph over Octavia, when nothing, in Roillet’s play, prepared us for this scene. This female character, who feeds Nero’s hatred, is somewhat reminiscent of the role of Herodias in Buchanan’s Baptistes, and there are no doubt comparisons to be made between the two works, which present the deaths of the herald and then the successor of Christ. However, we do not find in Roillet Buchanan’s anti-Catholic background. The Book of Esther provided considerable inspiration for tragedians, from the German Naogeorgus in 1543, to Racine’s masterpiece in France, Esther, through the French tragedies of Rivaudeau (1566) or Pierre Matthieu (1589). In his Aman,100 Roillet chooses to make King Assuerus’s favourite, and enemy of the Jewish people, the eponymous hero of his play. This was already the case with Naogeorgus, whose play Roillet probably knew. Like him, the teacher simplifies the Bible story when he adapts chapters 3 to 7 of the Book of Esther. In Act I, he presents Aman’s wrath; the King issues an edict, and the Jews are doomed. In Act II, Mardochaeus persuades Esther to intervene with her husband. Act III, which consists largely of ‘padding’ according to Lebègue, presents Esther’s long prayer and an exchange with her servants. In Act IV, Assuerus lets himself be swayed by Esther. In Act V, Aman is doomed, and the Jews are saved. The chorus of Jews evokes the anxieties and then the hope that inspires them, and places the action both in the context of the history of the Jewish people and in the classical culture of the author: Esther outdoes Helen and the mistresses of Jupiter. This comparison, as Lebègue points out, is once again taken from the chorus of Octavia (ll. 762–77). The short play Catharina describes the martyrdom of St Catherine in 741 lines.101 The legend of Catherine had inspired many poets in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, authors of miracle plays but also of Latin verse. When Roillet was writing, Pierre Fauveau was working on his Costis, a Latin tragedy on the same theme. Pierre Fauveau was a member of the brilliant humanist circle in Poitiers, and his friends, including MarcAntoine Muret, as well as the young talents attracted to Poitiers at that time (Toutain, La Péruse), wrote original tragedies or translated Seneca

100 Ibid., pp. 270–75. 101 Ibid., pp. 275–78.

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into French. Unfortunately, Fauveau’s tragedies have not survived.102 Roillet’s play adapts material from the Golden Legend to the formal framework of tragedy, but there is little progression in the plot. The situation is set out by two expository characters who do not appear again: Catherine is being held in prison by Maxentius, without food; she has beaten the doctors in an argument and won over the Queen through her teaching. There follow four symmetrically arranged acts: in Acts II and IV, the tyrant engages in discussion with the heroine and attempts to sway her; in Acts III and V, a messenger reports executions and miracles. Act III informs us that Catherine has miraculously survived her execution, but the Queen and two hundred new converts have been executed. In the final act, the messenger reports, with allusions to Seneca’s Troades, the death and apotheosis of the martyred saint. In this play, and even more so in the two earlier ones, Roillet shows himself to be an industrious poet; he is able to condense his material, to divide it between each of his five acts, while composing a patchwork of centos drawn first from Seneca, but also, at points from Virgil, Juvenal and yet other poets. The style, which is quite wordy, is nonetheless effective, especially in the messenger speeches, descriptions or the argumentative exchanges.103 While we have no evidence concerning the staging of Roillet’s three plays, everything points to the fact they may well have been, as were, probably, those of the tragedians who handed down their texts in the colleges. Thus Montaigne, who acted at the Collège de Guyenne in plays by Buchanan, Guérente and Muret, admits he developed ‘an assurance of expression, and suppleness of voice and gesture, in applying [him]self to the parts [he] was playing’.104 This is just what Calmus had said. We do not have any plays by Guérente, but we will come back to Marc-Antoine Muret’s Iulius Caesar. After this, the Latin religious plays that have survived are few and far between, though their number increases in French plays, indicating a reversal, which has already been noted for comedy: Latin theatre is no longer a site of innovation. However, it is worth pointing out that in 1571, the Burgundian canon Charles Godran wrote a ‘tragicomedy’ called Susanna, in hexameters, published in Dijon; Lebègue wonders whether it may have 102 Ibid., pp. 255–58. 103 Ibid., pp. 280–84. 104 Essais, I, 26. The theatre is one of the few college exercises which find favour with him.



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been performed in the city’s college.105 Besides, there was also a Latin performance, on 1 September 1572, of a tragedy at the Collège de Navarre, of which a German student has left a description, adapting a biblical story from the Book of Joshua to current political events, justifying the Saint Bartholomew massacre; this was done, it is worth noting, in the presence of the King’s brothers, of Catherine de Médicis, and a large audience, in the great hall of the college.106 Whereas François de Chantelouve or, later on, Pierre Matthieu wrote their politically engaged plays in French, royal propaganda did not entirely reject the merits of Latin tragedy, in the particular setting of this prestigious college. Jacques-Auguste de Thou and his Christian Aeschylus One final religious play was published in France at the very end of the century, and quite a remarkable one it is. Outside of the colleges, certain men of letters appear to have tried their hand at the composition of Latin tragedies, such as Jacques-Auguste de Thou in his Parabata vinctus (1595).107 A letter from Joseph Justus Scaliger congratulates him on the literary success of the exercise. Indeed, the great parliamentarian declares proudly, in his paratext, that he is imitating Aeschylus’s Prometheus Bound. Like the pagan hero, Parabata, i.e. Lucifer, is exposed on the summit of a mountain, crucified, and is visited by various characters. He meets them all with a haughty attitude and is defiant of God. Thus a number of biblical characters take to the stage. The chorus of Oceanides, in the Greek play, has a corresponding chorus of angels in De Thou’s work. Then come Job, Moses, Elijah, John the Baptist, and finally, the archangel Gabriel, the Christian counterpart of Aeschylus’s Hermes. While closely following the structure of Aeschylus’s tragedy, De Thou shifts its purpose: Prometheus was a positive figure, praising human inventiveness and progress; in De Thou’s hands, Parabata illustrates human decadence after the Fall and man’s ineffable pride. De Thou is the first to propose the identification of the pagan hero with Lucifer. It is noteworthy that, in the opening scene, the trio of allegorical and divine characters in Aeschylus (Strength, Power and Hephaestus) has been replaced by allegories of Peace and Justice, led by the archangel Michael. Peace and Justice are two of the four characters 105 Lebègue, La tragédie religieuse en France, p. 151. 106 This is the same series of performances, already referred to. They were advertised by means of posters. Cf. Syssau, Abel Souris et Jean Rose à l’école du théâtre antique, pp. 176–82. 107 On this text, see Mund-Dopchie, La survie d’Eschyle à la Renaissance.

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that took part in ‘the trials of heaven’ in mystery and morality plays.108 Thus, at the end of the sixteenth century, the last Neo-Latin religious play is still harking back to the moralizing theatre which originated in medieval France, taking up its language, and remaining sensitive to the conjunctions that were still possible between religious and profane, ancient and modern drama. The singular choice of Aeschylus as a model, the invention of a pure fiction which recalls the aesthetics of allegorical theatre, make this religious play a one-off, at a time when, at the turn of the sixteenth century, French biblically-inspired theatre was making a comeback (a dozen such plays were published between 1595 and 1610). Secular Subjects Many other plays leave behind religious themes and thus avoid the reef pointed out by Charles Mazouer, who sees in the tragic philosophy of the pagans—which inevitably informs ancient-style tragedies—a possible contradiction with the Christian philosophy of redemption.109 College plays with ‘secular’ themes did not, however, stop questioning man’s relationship with transcendence and fate, in French as well as in Latin, while approaching, more directly at times, current political questions. Marc-Antoine Muret and Roman Historical Tragedy Latin tragedies with ancient themes were rare. Marc-Antoine Muret is the first to compose one, around 1547 when he was teaching at the Collège d’Auch or in Bordeaux.110 Montaigne himself may have acted in it at the Collège de Guyenne, according to what he says in the Essais. With Julius Caesar, we are once again before ‘the aesthetic revolution’ which the Pléiade generation were claiming to lead, of which Muret would be one of the masters. The play itself was not published until 1552, amongst the author’s Juvenilia.111 Following the practice of Seneca, Muret got rid of the prologue which we find in Buchanan and alternated dialogue sections (mostly in iambic 108 The two others being Mercy and Truth, cf. the ‘procès de paradis’ in the Mystère de la Passion by A. Gréban. 109 Mazouer, ‘Les tragédies bibliques sont-elles tragiques?’ 110 Muret claims, in his correspondence, that he wrote another play, which has not survived. 111 There was an editio princeps of the Iulius Caesar in 1549, unfortunately lost. See the excellent critical ed. of his Juvenilia by Leroux. I rely here on her conclusions in respect of this tragedy. See too the ed. and transl. by Blanchard, Julius Caesar.



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trimeters) with the chorus’s lyrical sections. He respects the unities of time and action as they might be defined from a reading of Aristotle;112 one of Muret’s teachers, Julius Caesar Scaliger, was just then beginning to study the Poetics and Muret, like Buchanan, may have profited from his work. So, the play keeps to the essentials and only has 570 lines; Muret is only interested in the Ides of March, which will not be the choice made by Shakespeare, for example, who also describes the results of the assassination. This restriction of the action produces a stylization which is not out of line with tragic suspense. Thus, while Caesar asks Jupiter to receive him into his kingdom in Act I, Brutus decides to act (Act II). Calpurnia’s dream, in which she has seen her husband covered in blood (Act III), is cleverly placed at the centre of the play. Caesar, in the next act, hesitates for a moment before finally accepting his fate. Act V brings us news of the hero’s death, which, following Horace, is not staged, and presents the laments that follow. It is then that the shade of Caesar appears, in his apotheosis. While borrowing from different sources, in particular historical and epic ones, Muret makes reasoned choices: Valerius Maximus, Plutarch or Suetonius are the sources for Calpurnia’s dream, which contribute to increasing tragic suspense. But it is especially the links between Caesar and Hercules that Muret emphasizes. Indeed, the two heroes have many points in common. Thus he bases the opening and the end of his tragedy on Seneca’s Hercules Oeteus. In trying his hand at writing a Roman tragedy, the author, following the definition of the genre, has chosen to present a character of high rank passing from good to bad fortune, from the heights of glory to death; but this death is presented as a glorious apotheosis, which the hero had claimed. The tragedy thus gives rise to admiration as much as pity and fear. Like all the college tragedies we have dealt with, the conditions of the performance no doubt emphasized the rhetorical character of Iulius Caesar, as well as the importance given to ideology and moralizing. Thus the long monologue by Caesar at the beginning of the play and Brutus’s speech on the legitimacy of tyrannicide are webs of commonplaces, sententiae and rhetorical devices (rhetorical questions, metaphors, etc.). Besides, the tragedy probably fulfils an advisory aim which has sometimes been found difficult to define; as Virginie Leroux shows, Muret develops two opposing points of view, between exaltation in and condemnation of

112 Aristotle only refers to the unity of action and time, from which theorists in the sixteenth century deduced the unity of place.

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Caesar’s murder; he concludes not with the form of government, but with the moral virtue of the leaders, proposing at the same time an ethics of power and a cure for the passions.113 By 1550, Muret was in Paris, where he became a ‘man of fashion’. It is at this time that he published his juvenilia, including his tragedy. He probably taught at the Collège du Cardinal Lemoine and above all the Collège de Boncourt. Just as he may have influenced Pierre Fauveau during his time at the University of Poitiers, he may also have had a real influence on the young Brigade and the future tragic playwrights Jodelle, La Péruse and, naturally, Grévin, the author of a Jules César.114 Amongst Neo-Latin poets, only Frédéric Morel has left us a Roman tragedy, Alexander Severus, in a somewhat different context, at a time when Latin theatre seems to be running out of steam.115 Indeed, there is nothing to show—at the time Jacques-Auguste de Thou was himself writing a tragedy which was probably only meant to be read—that the royal printer and Professor of Greek at the Collège Royal thought of staging the play that he published in his printing house in 1600; this could have been a purely literary exercise. The edition is accompanied by marginal notes to guide the reader and recall the sources of the many pieces of erudite rewriting, in particular from the Greek. The action takes place in Mainz, and the play tells how the Emperor became the victim of his own soldiers, who bring Maximinus to power. It is quite a short play; the plot is simple, not to say schematic; it is divided into five acts separated by choruses. It contains a number of expected themes, such as the premonitory dream in Act II. This portrait of a sovereign threatened in the very exercise of his power may, for its readers, have had political echoes, coming as it does just after the civil wars. Current Affairs and National History at the Collège de Navarre Indeed, ancient history was also a way of reflecting, by means of fable, the present, like biblical events. We have seen that, in 1572, a Latin play had recourse to the veil of biblical history to evoke the recent events of the Saint Bartholomew massacre. But other texts bring directly to the stage 113 Leroux, ‘Une tragédie de collège: Le Julius Caesar de Muret’. 114 On this text and its connections with Muret’s tragedy, see the ed. by Ginsberg, César, Introduction, pp. 20 sqq. 115 On this figure, see the biographical article by Lepreux, Gallia typographica, 1, pp. 427–33.



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Fig. 5. The Mountain of Sainte-Geneviève and its colleges in the sixteenth century. Map of Paris (detail). Bibliothèque nationale de France.

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the historical facts and characters themselves, in French, of course,116 but also in Latin. A few days after the performance at the Collège de Navarre which we have just mentioned, another play was performed in the same college. This time, the characters represented the different protagonists of recent events. The text has not survived.117 On the other hand, we can still read the De sinistro fato Gallorum apud Veromanduos […] by the teacher Abel Souris, also staged at the Collège de Navarre following the Saint-Quentin disaster (1557) which witnessed the death of Jean de Bourbon, comte d’Enghien.118 Its performance, on the day of Saint Rémi by the secundus ordo, was part of a movement of grief and general lamentation, in a context of high anxiety. Its 2,132 lines present the drama itself, and the different actors, from the decision taken by Henry II (who appears on stage) to recommence hostilities against Spain (upon the advice of the Connétable de Montmorency), to the report, by a messenger, of Enghien’s death to his wife. The chorus, which divides each of the five acts and does not take part in the action, then calls for general grief. The play has survived in a manuscript offered by the author to Cardinal de Bourbon, the dead hero’s brother. The paratext tells us that the play enjoyed notable but short-lived success; it was not favoured, as its author wished, with publication. As the play’s editor remarks, Abel Souris is careful to respect historical verisimilitude, to imitate tragic archetypes, and to follow the demands of rhetoric, in the context of a school exercise.119 Indeed, like Julius Caesar, the hero, in the grips of a form of hubris, falls at the height of his glory, the victim of a cruel reversal of fortune. We find the same ‘business scenes’ as in other ancient and Renaissance tragedies, such as the opening ‘dispute’ between the sovereign and his counsellor, filled with commonplaces that are marked in the manuscript by quotation marks, and painting two opposing portraits of the good Prince. In the fourth act, the hero’s wife, Marie d’Estouteville, terrified by a night vision, enters into a classic debate on the value of dreams with the old Theantropus. Eric Syssau has shown what the play owed, in the writing of the verse and the construction of certain passages, to Senecan models, but also to models from the

116 Mazouer, Le Théâtre français de la Renaissance, pp. 238–40. 117 Syssau, Abel Souris et Jean Rose à l’école du théâtre antique, pp. 187–200. 118 Ibid., quatrième partie, ‘Abel Souris, Le destin contraire des français en Vermandois et la chute affligeante du très vaillant duc d’Estouteville et comte d’Enghien (Paris, 1557, Bibliothèque nationale de France, manuscrit latin 8136)’, pp. 203–504 (vol. 2). See also, by the same author, ‘Défaite de Saint-Quentin et mort du comte d’Enghien’. 119 Ibid., p. 267.



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Neo-Latin drama of Buchanan, Muret and Roillet, from whom a great many lines are taken and imitated. This demonstrates the circulation of works which were appreciated, read and perhaps commented on in the colleges; Neo-Latin theatre also had its own classics. The Chilpericus is a tragedy from the same milieu, written by a pupil from the Collège de Navarre in the same period (1558),120 but about a subject which, this time, takes us back to Merovingian history, away from everyday reality. Indeed, according to its editor, it is impossible to find in it direct references to contemporary events. The play is taken from a manuscript notebook which its author, Jean Rose, himself calls ‘palaestra’ and which brings together Latin compositions, exercises essentially designed for leisure study. Apart from Chilpericus, this collection also contains a fragment of a Roman tragedy on Marc Antony. We thus have proof that Iulius Caesar was not the only Roman tragedy written in Latin in the colleges. Moreover, Jean Rose tells us that this unfinished tragedy was written by several hands, with his school friends, and that it was meant to be performed. This is precious evidence on the processes of dramatic composition in the colleges, which could be collective works. Unfortunately, Jean Rose has less to say about the composition of his Chilpericus, a five-act Latin tragedy with choruses, whose main originality, within our corpus, derives from the choice of subject. Indeed, it is the first known tragedy on a Merovingian theme.121 The pupil gives his sources, in the margins of the argument: he follows closely the accounts of Paul Emile (De rebus gestis Francorum) and more so of Gaguin (Compendium de Francorum origine et gestis), who describe the fall of King Chilpéric, a victim of the machinations of his adulterous wife. With regard to style and composition, and unlike Abel Souris, who owes a great deal to Neo-Latin authors, Jean Rose imitates almost exclusively Senecan theatre, of which he shows considerable mastery. The report of Chilpéric’s death, naturally in the fifth act, thus shows how the contamination of various passages from The Trojan Women allows for the transformation of Gaguin’s sober report to the tragic climax of the play. This school exercise, like others in the 1550s, gives an idea of the school productions which continued to appear in the college, in the shadow of the vernacular theatre which, henceforth, would grab the limelight.

120 Ibid., cinquième partie, ‘Jean Rose, Chilpéric (Paris, [1558], Bibliothèque municipale de Chaumont, manuscript 213 (3-1-5k))’, pp. 506–811 (vol. 3). 121 For others, in French, see Mazouer, Le Théâtre français de la Renaissance, p. 241.

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Choice of theme shows considerable diversity of inspiration122 amongst Neo-Latin poets, reflecting what we see in contemporary French tragedy. We even witness the appearance of new themes, taken from contemporary ‘gossip’, not to say novelistic fiction. Thus, in 1556, Claude Roillet, who has been mentioned a number of times, published his Philanira in Latin, before publishing a French translation of it in 1563. This play, which often departs from the principles of regular tragedy, met with a certain success in this form, since it was the only one of Roillet’s works to have been republished, a clear sign that only plays in French could lay claim to a reasonable circulation.123 Several elements of the plot are to be found in Italian short stories of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, but a trivial current event could also have inspired the teacher.124 The story, in five acts and embellished with the traditional ‘business scenes’, is about a woman from Piedmont who sacrifices her virtue to snatch her husband, Hippolytus, from the hands of a tyrant. The sacrifice will be in vain, however, since Severus does not keep his promise and has the poor man executed. Later on, Severus, who is forced by the Viceroy to marry the distraught widow in order to make reparation for his fault, is in turn condemned to death. At this point, Philanira laments the loss of her two husbands, and forgets, in the event, any resentment towards Severus. In this respect, the psychological inconsistency of the characters in the play has been noted; the editor of the French text remarks that college plays often give priority to the internal consistency of a tirade, or a scene, which functions as an autonomous whole. Indeed, in the context of the school exercise of prosopopoeia or impersonatio, it is above all important to take account of behaviour and feelings in a given situation, frequently to the detriment of the psychological consistency of the character, on the horizontal axis of dramatic progression.125 Moreover, our play already conjures up, in certain respects, the excesses of ‘baroque’ theatre, and, closer 122 Bradner also mentions a play entitled Gallia Victrix by the Scotsman W. Hegat (1598), published in Poitiers in 1598 and preserved in London. I have not been able to consult it. Cf. Bradner, ‘A Check-List of Original Neo-Latin Dramas’; ‘List of Original Neo-Latin Plays Printed Before 1650’. See also the Soliman tragoedia in the Opera poetica (Paris, 1578) by Louis Blandière de Balsac, a pupil of Dorat. 123 It seems it had a certain subsequent success in England, where it provided, no doubt indirectly, the subject of Measure for Measure by William Shakespeare. Cf. Budd, ‘Rouillet’s Philanira and Whetstone’s Promos and Cassandra’. 124 Roillet, Philanire, ed. Mauri, in Doglio a.o., La tragédie à l'époque de Henri II et Charles IX, premier série, 2 (1561–1566), pp. 131–35. 125 Ibid, p. 138.



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in time, those of ‘irregular’ tragedies of the late sixteenth century. Thus we see on stage Hippolytus’s body and decapitated head, while the final messenger speech piles up macabre details. A similar taste for the macabre and the Romanesque was also present, it seems, in the tragedies of the student Griaeus, destroyed in the fire of the Bibliothèque de Metz: while the young Boncourt student finds the heroes of Virginia (1567) in Livy, and of Pygmalion (1568) in Ovid, he also dips into Apollodorus’s Library in writing his Athamas (1567) and Polyphontes (1568),126 not to mention novelistic literature: his Erastus (1566) draws inspiration from the Histoire pitoyable du prince Erastus, a French novel recently translated from the Italian (1565). According to Johannes Bolte and Raymond Lebègue, these plays, in contravention of Horace, presented on stage murders, fits of madness and a decapitated head!127 Some decades later, our last author of Neo-Latin drama in nonJesuit colleges, Jean Portier, vicar of Saint-Hilaire du Mans and rhetoric teacher in the college of Saint-Benoît, chooses very similar, not to say identical themes. In the early seventeenth century, he publishes with François Olivier, a printer in Le Mans, four of his tragedies or tragicomedies.128 The first of them, Pantaegle (1619), presents the tragic story of a young woman besieged by hateful suitors and who, supported by her father and fiancé, ends up committing suicide; the plot recalls quite closely the story of Virginia. In Athamantis furor (1621) we find the story dramatized by Griaeus129 following the account in Apollodorus. The third play, Tennes Tragoedia, was published in 1623. It is the story of Tennes, the founder of the city of Tenedos, who was accused of rape by his stepmother and put to flight by his father. This time, the subject recalls that of Garnier’s Hippolyte. Finally, the historical tragedy Arsinoé (1624) recounts the fate of the noble wife of one of Alexander’s lieutenants betrayed by her own brother, Ptolemy Philadelphus, King of Egypt. The interest of these four plays lies above all in the presence, not of simple choruses, but, for two of the texts, of mythological interludes which counterbalance the horror caused by the action and speeches. So, between the five acts of Pantaegle, there is an interlude in dialogue form between Cupid, Diana, Pallas and Juno. There is also a veritable mythological fable, which is light, not to say licentious, between the acts of the tragedy Arsinoé, that of the projected marriage 126 These two plays were written in Greek. 127 Bolte, ‘Die Lateinischen Dramen Frankreichs aus dem XVI Jahrhundert’; Lebègue, La tragédie française de la Renaissance, pp. 88 and 89. 128 La Bouillerie, ‘Jean Portier, curé de saint-Hilaire du Mans, auteur latin’, containing detailed entries on the four tragedies on pp. 332–38. 129 Modern online ed. by Jan-Wilhelm Beck.

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between Hebe and Momus, the Momus derisus seu Hebes connubium, Diverbium tragicomicum. We discover in this way the variety of talents and sources of inspiration of our modest vicar and teacher, who prides himself on mastering Latin letters. In one of his prefaces, he has to justify his choice of Latin, thus replying to those who were inviting him to write in French and to conform to the new practices. Already inventive in its origins, even when taking over forms deriving from vernacular theatre, Neo-Latin college drama was the first to explore new genres based on antique models—first comedy, then tragedy. It thus paved the way for Renaissance French theatre in the 1550s. But in the second half of the century, the relationship appears to become reversed and a number of Neo-Latin playwrights are happy, like Griaeus—the Boncourt student who quoted the great names of the Brigade in his comic prologue— to follow the example of French theatre. Some authors, certainly quite few and far between if judged by the very small number of surviving texts, did not lack resources, in the peace and calm of a study (J.-A. de Thou) or in the shadow of a college. Besides, the survey presented here makes no claims of exhaustiveness. Other manuscripts no doubt still lie dormant in libraries.130 Nevertheless, from the 1600s, it is essentially the Jesuit fathers who would be writing in Latin, benefiting from the aesthetic and pedagogic advances of their predecessors and carrying on, with others, from this early humanist theatre to the high point of seventeenth-century French theatre. Further Reading Bolte, Johannes (ed.), ‘Die Lateinischen Dramen Frankreichs aus dem XVI Jahrhundert’, Willem August Ritter von Hartel a.o. (eds.), Festschrift Johannes Vahlen zum siebenzigsten Geburtstag gewidmet von seinen Schülern (Berlin, G. Reimer, 1900), pp. 589–614. IJsewijn, Jozef, Companion to Neo-Latin Studies: Part I: History and Diffusion of Neo-Latin Literature (Louvain: Leuven University Press, 21990 [11970]) Supplementa Humanistica Lovaniensia, 5, pp. 127–47. ——, and Dirk Sacré, Companion to neo-Latin Studies: Part II: Literary, Linguistic, Philological and Editorial Questions (Louvain: Leuven University Press 21998 [11977]) Supplementa Humanistica Lovaniensia, 14, pp. 139–64. Lawton, Harold W., Contributions à l’histoire de l’humanisme en France: Térence en France au XVIe siècle (Paris: Jouve et Cie, 1926) 2 vols. [Geneva: Slatkine Reprints, 1970]. Lazard, Madeleine, Le théâtre en France au XVIe siècle (Paris, PUF, 1980), pp. 77–92 (ch. 3 ‘Le théâtrre néo-latin’). Lebègue, Raymond, La tragédie religieuse en France: Les débuts (1514–1573) (Paris: Champion, 1929). Mazouer, Charles, Le Théâtre français de la Renaissance (Paris: Champion, 2002), pp. 147–74 (ch. 5 ‘Le théâtre scolaire’). 130 Cf. Bolte, ‘Die Lateinischen Dramen Frankreichs aus dem XVI Jahrhundert’, p. 592, n. 3.



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Appendix Main Authors Barthélemy, Nicolas (Barptholomaeus, 1478–c. 1540). French poet and humanist. A Benedictine Prior, he was also a doctor of Law from the University of Orleans and taught in Paris. He published several works of Latin poetry, both sacred and profane, including a collection of epigrams. Among his works, one should also mention the Momiae, an allegorical play inspired by Lucian, and a Mystery play called Christus xylonicus, which met with great editorial success. Works Momiae (Paris: Josse Bade, [1515]). Christus xylonicus (Paris: G. Bossozel, 1529). Epigrammata, Momiae, Edyllia ([Paris], [N. Savetier ou G. Bossozel], [1531]). Studies Lebègue, La Tragédie religieuse en France, pp. 169–93 (Ch. 9, ‘Nicolas Barthélemy’); Balavoine, ‘Les débuts de la poésie néo-latine en France: Nicolas Barthélemy (1478?–1540?)’; Gauthier, ‘Un professeur et poète au début du XVIe siècle’. Breton, Robert (Britannus, c. 1510–c. 1545). French humanist who taught, among other places, at the Collège de Guyenne in Bordeaux. This moderate Ciceronian kept up an abundant correspondence, which documents the existence of a wandering professor in the early 16th century, who was in touch with various humanistic circles. He notably wrote some Latin poems, as well as pedagogical treatises and a colloquy destined for his Bordeaux students. Works Roberti Britanni Attrebatensis Orationes Quatuor. De Parsimonia liber. Epistolarum libri III. De virtute et voluptate colloquium. Eiusdem Carminum liber unus (Toulouse: N. Vieillard, 1536). Studies Magnien, ‘Itinéraire d’un “hussard noir” de l’Humanisme: Le cas Robert Breton (c. 1510–after 1551)’. Buchanan, Georges (1506–1582). Scottish humanist and poet. He spent the first years of his life between Scotland and Paris, as a student and then

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as a teacher, before joining the Collège de Guyenne in Bordeaux. There, he finished translating two plays by Euripides into Latin, and put the final hand to two tragedies of his own. After staying in Coimbra, where he was hounded by the Inquisition, he returned to Paris in 1552. In 1561 he went back to Scotland, where he converted to Protestantism and became, in 1570, the preceptor of James VI. His abundant poetical production had a great influence over the young French poets and the Brigade. Works Buchanan, Tragedies, ed. Sharratt and Walsh; Ferradou, Traduction et commentaire de deux tragédies latines de George Buchanan, Jephte et Baptiste. Unpublished doctoral thesis Toulouse, 2001. Studies McFarlane, George Buchanan; Lebègue, La Tragédie religieuse en France, pp. 195–254. Calmus, Jean (?–before 1556). French playwright. He taught at various Parisian collèges, most notably those of Sainte-Barbe and Le Plessis. There, he staged a variety of Latin comedies, including his Comedia published in 1552, the only one to have reached us. In 1545, he was elected Rector of the University of Paris. In a laudatory epigram published after his death, Claude Roillet pictures him as a master of Renaissance comedy, comparable to Plautus and Terentius. Works Comedia recenter edita (Paris: Jean Gueulart, 1552). Studies Lebègue, La Tragédie religieuse en France, passim; Ferrand, ‘Le théâtre des collèges, la formation des étudiants et la transmission des savoirs aux XVe et XVIe siècles’. Morel, Fédéric (Morellus, 1552–1630). French humanist, printer and publisher. Upon his father’s death, he inherited his office as a royal printer. Although he had expressed some sympathies for the Ligue, King Henry IV confirmed his position, which Morel waived to his son in 1602, to dedicate himself to teaching and scholastic activities. Since 1586, he had held the chair of Latin Eloquence, as a ‘royal reader’. A talented Hellenist, he is responsible for many scholarly editions and translations, as well as a tragedy about the death of Alexander Severus (1600).



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Works F. Morel, Alexander Severus, tragoedia togata (Paris: Fédéric Morel, 1600). Studies Lepreux, Gallia typographica, vol. 1 ‘Morel (Fédéric II)’, pp. 427–33. Muret, Marc-Antoine (Muretus, 1526–1585). French poet, orator and humanist. He taught in various French colleges and universities, before settling in Paris (1551), where he taught at the Collège de Boncourt and associated with the Pléiade. His commentary to Ronsard’s Amours is famous. In 1552, in his Juvenilia, he published poems from his youth as well as a tragoedia praetexta (historical tragedy), Julius Caesar. He soon had to leave France and went to Italy. An assistant to the cardinal Ippolito d’Este, he then started his second career, as a philologist and orator. In 1563, he became a professor at the Sapienza. Works Jules César, ed. Cardinali, transl. Laurens, ed. and transl. Hagmaier Juvenilia, ed. Leroux; Iulius Caesar, ed. Hagmaier. Studies Girot, Marc-Antoine Muret: Des isles fortunées au rivage romain; Leroux, ‘Une tragédie de collège: Le Julius Caesar de Muret’. Ravisius Textor, Johannes (Tixier, 1492–1522). French humanist. He taught grammar and rhetorics at the Collège de Navarre in Paris, and published works for his students, namely lexicographical (Epitheta, 1518) as well as encyclopedic manuals (Cornucopia, 1519; Officina, 1520), which received lasting success throughout Europe. He also wrote fictitious letters portraying the life at the colleges (Epistolae, 1529), as well as epigrams, morality plays, and Latin farces (Dialogi aliquot, 1530). Works Dialogi aliquot Joannis Ra. Textoris …, studiosae juventuti utiles et jucundi, adjecta sunt animi gratia ejusdem epigrammata aliquot non inutilia (Paris: Regnault Chaudière, 1530). Studies Istasse, ‘Johannes Ravisius Textor: Mise au point biographique’; Vodoz, Le Théâtre latin de Ravisius Textor, 1470–1524.

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Remacle d’Ardenne (Remaclus Arduenna, c. 1480–1524). Belgian poet and humanist. He studied in Louvain and Cologne, and entered the service of a Brabant councillor whom he followed in Britain. He started teaching in London, where he published a Latin comedia, the Palamedes. As early as 1512, he found himself living in Paris where Gilles de Gourmont reprinted this work; he had a collection of love elegies published by Badius. Upon coming back to Brabant, he became a secretary to Margaret of Austria’s private council, in Malines. Works Palamedes (Paris: Gilles de Gourmont, 1512). Studies Bietenholz a.o., Contemporaries of Erasmus, 3, p. 140 ‘Remaclus Arduenna’. Roillet, Claude (before 1520–c. 1576). French poet and humanist. After teaching in various Parisian collèges, he was appointed Rector of the university in 1546. In the 1550s, he taught at the Collège de Boncourt, and contributed to the Tombeau of Joachim du Bellay (1560). In 1556, his Varia Poemata were published, gathering a great number of Latin epigrams as well as three allegorical dialogues and four Neo-Latin tragedies, one of which, Philanira, was translated into French in 1563. Works Varia Poemata (Paris: Guillaume Julien, 1556). Philanire tragédie françoise (Paris: Thomas Richard, 1563). Studies Grente and Simonin, Dictionnaire des lettres françaises: Le XVIe siècle, pp. 1020–21; Lebègue, La Tragédie religieuse en France, pp. 259–86 (chapter 15, ‘Claude Roillet’). Thou, Jacques-Auguste de (Thuanus, 1553–1617). French Member of Parliament, diplomat and humanist. His father was Christophe de Thou, the first President of the Parliament. A moderate catholic, he helped with the policy of conciliation spurred by Henry IV. His Histoire universelle made him one of the prominent historians in the Renaissance. He met the greatest men of his time, and tried composing Latin verse, in a variety  of genres, including a tragedy inspired by Aeschylus, the Parabata vinctus.



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Works Parabata vinctus, sive triumphus Christi, tragoedia (Paris: Mamert Patisson chez Robert Estienne, 1595). Studies De Smet, Thuanus: The making of Jacques-Auguste de Thou (1553–1617); Mund-Dopchie, La survie d’Eschyle à la Renaissance, pp. 330–44 (Ch. XIII: ‘Une imitation du Prométhée enchaîné: Le Parabata vinctus de JacquesAuguste de Thou (1595, 1599)’).

CHAPTER SEVEN

JESUIT NEO-LATIN TRAGEDY IN FRANCE Jean-Frédéric Chevalier ‘Seigneur, je Vous remercie de m’avoir ainsi attaché! Et parfois il m’est arrivé de trouver vos commandements pénibles et ma volonté en présence de Votre règle perplexe, rétive. Mais aujourd’hui il n’y a pas moyen d’être plus serré à Vous que je ne le suis et j’ai beau vérifier chacun de mes membres, il n’y en a plus un seul qui de Vous soit capable de s’écarter si peu.’ (Lord, I thank You for having thus bound me! And sometimes I have happened to find your commands difficult, and my will in the presence of Your rule troubled, rebellious. But today there is no way to be closer to You than I am, and I check each of my members in vain, there is not one left which could move away from You however little.) Claudel, Le soulier de satin (Paris, Gallimard, 1929), Première journée, scène 1.

When the Jesuit father offers up in martyrdom his life to God in the opening scene of Le Soulier de satin (1929), Claudel is not only determining already the fate of Rodrigue, but he is also placing his play at the heart of a theatrical tradition which was born in the medieval mystery plays and saw its peak in Jesuit tragedy.1 In his study of martyrdom in the age of the Reformation, Frank Lestringant has shown the extent to which this scene from Le Soulier de satin was inspired by the tradition of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century martyrologies and theatre.2 Tragedy thus becomes the expression of communion with God in history and beyond. In Claudel’s theatre, however, the hero often resists the action of Providence, seeking to realize his desires, affirm his individuality, even in opposition to the order desired by God. In Jesuit theatre, on the other hand, the hero’s will is often at one with that of God. The drama is the expression not of the death 1 I would like to thank Philip J. Ford for translating this chapter in English, Jan Bloemendal for his careful reading, and Alain Cullière for his valuable advice. This chapter places emphasis on the Latin tragedies of the Jesuits, since these are the ones with which we are most familiar due to the edition of major plays and tragedy is the genre that features most conspicuously in the Jesuits’ output. Such a focus should not give the impression that this is the only form of theatre adopted by the Jesuits. The pastoral, the tragicomedy and comedy would merit more extensive treatment. 2 Lestringant, Lumière des martyrs, pp. 187–90.

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throes of the hero’s conscience but of the inexorable violence and cruelty of princes, kings or emperors who are blinded by their own power and rebelling against the will of God. The plays normally end with the reestablishment of divine order on earth and the punishment of the guilty. To take up a cry uttered by the same Jesuit father in his prayer: […] la vendange sans doute ne pouvait se faire sans désordre, Mais tout, après un peu de mouvement, est rentré dans la grande paix paternelle. ([…] no doubt the vintage could not have been gathered in without disorder, but everything, after a little disturbance, has returned to its great paternal peace.)

Jesuit theatre illustrates the history of this ‘vintage’, of this ‘disturbance’, and finally of this ‘paternal peace’ which has at last been regained. Theatre in the Service of Teaching François de Dainville is responsible for the fundamental study of the part played by the Society of Jesus in France in the history of education and the transfer of knowledge. In La naissance de l’humanisme moderne, he shows how Jesuit colleges managed to counter the disorder in educational systems at the start of the sixteenth century, and then to compete with the teaching methods and educational system established by the Reformation. The Jesuits benefited from the rapid rise of printing, which helped disseminate ancient texts and progressively gave access to Greek culture.3 At the same time, the middle classes wished to see their children attain, through schooling, a yet more prestigious success in society.4 What was needed, then, was high-quality education, based on the rediscovery of ancient literature, which was uniquely able to guarantee learning and ­eloquence. The Jesuits succeeded in fulfilling this aspiration. Their highly structured teaching aimed at mastering the art of rhetoric by means of education based on regular exercises and public contests. Pupils were ­progressively trained to write and to deliver a speech in the light of Cice­ ro’s recommendations on inventio, dispositio, elocutio, memoria and actio. 3 Many thanks to my colleague and friend Alain Cullière, Professor of French Language and Literature of the Renaissance at Lorraine University, who gave me sound advice about the history of the Company of Jesus in France. For the transmission of classics in Jesuit schools, see Dainville, L’éducation des jésuites, pp. 167–470. 4 François de Dainville’s papers about the social background of pupils in Jesuit schools have been compiled in the volume headed L’éducation des jésuites, pp. 25–164.



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To reach this level of mastery, it was necessary to draw from secular literature from antiquity which, even if it was unenlightened by the Christian faith, did offer literary and rhetorical models. Thus Ignatius of Loyola’s successors followed recommendations set out by a number of great names such as Clement of Alexandria (late 2nd—early 3rd c.) or Basil of Caesarea (4th c.), who refused to deny all interest in pagan culture, in contrast to other tendencies in the Church. Missionary preaching and proselytizing were thus fed by this culture placed in the service of the faith. Mastery of this culture also conferred prestige which could counteract the success of Protestant schools intent on innovation. Besides, as Dainville points out, the first Jesuit colleges were often established where the Reformation was poised to win over souls: Billom (1556), Toulouse (1562), Pont-à-Mousson (1572) are significant examples of this. In Paris, the Collège de Clermont opened in 1564 and the House professed in 1580. On the opening day of the Collège de Clermont, a sacred drama entitled Hérode was staged, amongst other solemnities.5 At La Flèche in 1603, the Collège Henri le Grand was  founded, at which a number of the teachers who established the Company’s theatrical renown taught. Indeed, the Jesuits were successful in winning over their audience; the success of their plays, in particular at prize-giving ceremonies, is proof of this. Productions might originally have taken place outside the colleges, for example in a square or the courtyard of a palace. In time, the authorities wished them to be performed indoors, albeit not in the church.6 Many colleges created a ‘salle des actions’ (an assembly hall) and other locations designed for these festivities, though not exclusively. As the decades passed, the stage became increasingly rich in sumptuous scenery. Thus the Jesuits are following the heritage of the treatises on theatrical space, published particularly in Italy from the sixteenth century on, following in the footsteps of the early editions and translations of Vitruvius. This tendency provoked considerable criticism, even within the Company. Jouvancy’s De ratione docendi et discendi of 1703 picks up on this criticism.7 However, even kings, like Louis XIII and Louis XIV, often honoured these plays with their presence, at the risk of confirming the attacks of the opponents of the theatre, who only saw in it a high-class spectacle. But school 5 See Boysse, Le théâtre des Jésuites, pp. 16–18; Gofflot, Le théâtre au collège, p. 91. 6 F. de Dainville reminds us of the directive of General Father Aquaviva in 1610 asking Jesuits not to allow the stage to be too far from their school. See Dainville, ‘Lieux de théâtre et salles des actions dans les collèges de jésuites de l’ancienne France’, in id., L’éducation des jésuites, pp. 481–87; Gofflot, Le théâtre au collège, pp. 129–65. 7 See Dainville, ‘Décoration théâtrale dans les collèges de jésuites au dix-septième siècle’; Flamarion, Théâtre jésuite néo-latin et Antiquité, pp. 126–31.

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drama should not be limited to the Jesuit theatre alone: the Oratorians in particular also had recourse to the theatre. The Jesuits merely prolonged a practice which had been in evidence for some time, for example in the Collège de Navarre, anchored in the religious tradition of medieval liturgical dramas. The theatre was a perfect extension to the teaching of rhetoric. The normal handbook in use was Father Cyprian Soarez’s De arte rhetorica libri tres ex Aristotele, Cicerone et Quintiliano praecipue deprompti, a real bestseller from the 1560s onwards:8 after publication in Coimbra, and then Venice, it appeared in Paris in 1566, and was then re-edited numerous times.9 The ancient texts presented a range of plots (inuentio); the comparison of the sources with a didactic or moralizing project allowed the structuring of the plot into acts (dispositio) so that the play ended to ensure the greater glory of God; the use of imagery to express the passions corresponded to one aspect of rhetoric (elocutio). Stichomythia, dialogues staging confrontations with tyrants or communion in grief, declamations, lyrical monologues—the theatre exploited all the resources of the spoken word, and the exercise of recitatio allowed the pupil’s memory to be trained (memoria). Finally, acting presupposed the control of oneself and one’s bodily movements in a public setting (actio).10 Cicero himself compared the orator’s performance to that of the actor in book III of the De oratore. These were all essential imperatives for learning about social life. The theatre, then, was no longer, as in antiquity, a ritual involving the unleashing of dark forces and curses springing up from generation to generation, but a site for confrontation between good and evil, with the aim of moral improvement.11 The supernatural and the invisible could thus appear in it as more real than the earthly world. Staging a plot which glorified God’s people, martyrs and innocent victims allowed the broadest audience to be reached, the imagination to be struck, in short for 8 See Dainville, ‘L’évolution de l’enseignement de la rhétorique au dix-septième siècle’, in id., L’éducation des jésuites, pp. 185–208; Fumaroli, L’âge de l’éloquence, p. 245. 9 See Sommervogel, Bibliothèque de la Compagnie de Jésus, VII, pp. 1331–38; IX, p. 855; XII, pp. 282–83 and 1230. 10 For the fundamental function of actio in the formation of Jesuit eloquence, see Sophie Conte’s thesis: Action oratoire et écriture du corps de Quintilien à Louis de Cressolles. For a study of the links between Jesuit theatre and rhetoric, see Bruna Filippi’s thesis, La scène jésuite: Le théâtre scolaire au Collège romain au XVIIe siècle. 11 Cullière has shown how Jesuit theatre was the mirror of contemporary moral treatises as, for example, Jean Corneille’s Traité de l’origine et nature de l’envie (1580), Jean Benedicti’s Somme des péchés (1584) or Nicolas Coëffeteau’s Tableau des passions humaines (1620). See Cullière, ‘La représentation de l’envie dans le théâtre des jésuites’.



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hearts to be converted. The theatre led to the renewal of preaching methods. Interludes and Ballets The entertainment was not, however, limited to the play itself, whether this was spectacular or austere. It was thought appropriate to intersperse acts with danced interludes of an allegorical nature.12 Offering a moment of relaxation, as well as visual and musical pleasure, dance was part of the arts that were not only valued but also in demand. The role assigned to ballet and music thus continued to grow until the eighteenth century. Dance was part of the courtly arts, which were important for a young man to master. Thus the Jesuits took great care to develop this practice, as well as singing, particularly in the context of theatrical productions.13 They were meeting a social imperative (providing the best education) but at the same time they were satisfying the expectations of an ever increasing audience. John S. Powell, who underlines the existence of this practice in most colleges from as early as the beginning of the seventeenth century, nevertheless points out that few documents have been preserved that offer information on the music that was played, or even the names of the composers. We know, however, that Louis XIII, passing through the Collège d’Avignon in 1622, had appreciated the melodies of Sauvaire Intermet. Powell therefore hypothesizes that the tunes were imitated from melodies that were appreciated at court.14 Besides, the Jesuits were not innovating here, but rather prolonging a tradition which had already been established in colleges. The programmes, many of which have been preserved, and which are often our only source of knowledge for the ballets, provide precious information. We learn, for example, that there was a performance of Le Ballet de l’Illusion at the Collège de Clermont (Lycée Louis-le-Grand) on 3 August 1672.15 On the occasion of the performance of the tragedy 12 See Gofflot, Le théâtre au collège, pp. 114–28; Lebègue (‘La tragédie “shakespearienne” en France au temps de Shakespeare’, repr. in Études sur le théâtre français, pp. 167–208); McGowan, L’art du ballet de cour en France, pp. 205–27; Purkis, ‘Quelques observations sur les intermèdes dans le théâtre des jésuites en France’; Flamarion, Théâtre jésuite et Antiquité, pp. 141–55; Naudeix, ‘Tragédie et ballet’ and ‘Le ballet de Sigalion’, pp. 41–55; and Piéjus, Plaire et instruire and Archéologie d’un spectacle jésuite. 13 See Powell, ‘L’air de cour et le théâtre de collège au XVIIe siècle’, pp. 317–28. 14 Ibid., pp. 318–19. 15 Paris, BnF, Rés. Yf-2574. See Boysse, Le théâtre des Jésuites, pp. 162–66.

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entitled Catharina tragoedia by the Jesuit Jean Lucas, a play whose action takes place in the reign of Maximinus, there was a ballet consisting of an ‘overture’, four ‘parts’ and a ‘general ballet’. This ballet had already been danced in the same college on 3 August 1670.16 Each ‘part’ of the ballet was itself composed of five scenes called ‘entrées’, each illustrating the power of illusion. Thus, in the first part, the pupils played the parts of pilgrims, then shepherds, next of children playing blind man’s buff, then of perfume vendors, and finally sorcerers. Each entrance illustrates the illusion of one sense: sight, hearing, touch, smell, taste. Part two is given over to illusions of the imagination, part three to those of the mind, part four to those of the heart. The entertainment finished with a general ballet in which ‘Truth dispels Illusions’. The programme then gives the names of the fourteen dancers. Ballets even progressively became the main part of the entertainment. Generally, ballet opens the performance, reappears between each act, and then closes it. When the allegorical performances were linked with the plot of the play, it was said, following Father Ménestrier, that they were ‘ballets d’attache’ (linked ballets). It is indeed Claude-François Ménestrier S.J. who is responsible for the basic theoretical work on the art of ballet: Des Ballets anciens et modernes selon les règles du Théâtre (1682). Thus, far from being a simple entertainment, ballet, if it relaxes the mind of the spectator who has just experienced pity and fear, also offers moral teaching through the staging of allegories. Even if its theme is alien to the play’s plot, it prolongs the edifying prospect of the whole performance and cannot therefore be separated from the tragedy. Once again, Horace’s recommendation in the Ars poetica (the Epistle to the Pisones) not to think of the useful without the pleasurable is adhered to. Beyond the Religious Controversy over the Theatre Thus the Jesuits dared to break a taboo. Since antiquity, many Church fathers had been hostile to the theatre, or at least hesitant, blaming it for its immorality. In essence, two reasons are given: on the one hand, dramatic plots in antiquity, whether tragic or comic, afforded ample room for the passions (lust, pride, envy, etc.); on the other hand, the performance of the actors or histriones accentuated the affects. In the letters in which he replies to the virulent criticisms of the Dominican Giovannino of Mantua 16 See Desgraves, Répertoire des programmes, p. 101 (no. 79) and p. 103 (no. 90).



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in 1315–1316, Albertino Mussato asked that, by means of allegory, poetry should be dissociated from a merely literal reading.17 While the early Church fathers (Tertullian, Cyprian, etc.) condemned the immorality of the theatre, Saint Augustin, following in the steps of Plato, blamed the theatre above all for plunging the audience into a world of illusion. The impossibility of dissociating plot from reality, myth from history, held a fascination for the spectator which, instead of making him hate the passions, could make him a slave to them. This criticism calls into question the very nature of theatrical writing as one of representation. The spectacle of suffering is, precisely, not a spectacle. The Christian does not simply witness suffering, he empathizes. As men’s suffering was interpreted in relation to the suffering of Christ, it is no longer possible to represent the fictional suffering of conventional characters. There would be a confusion of the sacred and the profane. Moreover, Thomas Aquinas, placing poetry amongst the minor arts, asked that a fundamental distinction be made between scriptural metaphors—the symbolic expression of truth—and secular metaphors—whose only goal is to please. A morally improving aesthetic thus replaces an aesthetic based on pleasure, even if the phenomenon of religious theatre was not without controversy. There was the risk of causing confusion between liturgy and drama, and of presenting the sacred as a world of appearance. The wish to stage the most spectacular scenes in the life of Christ even within the monastery (in particular the scene of the discovery of the empty tomb) was derived in fact from the desire to improve an ill-educated audience, which was very impressed by scenes unfolding before their eyes. Stained glass windows, and later paintings, had the same persuasive role. The regulation of mystery plays in the sixteenth century enacts this desire for control of theatrical production when it is not mounted by churchmen. With the Jesuit theatre, however, the performance of the actor did not risk any excess. It was regulated and conceived in imitation of the rhetorical division of actio. Thomas Aquinas had in any case already said that the performance of the histriones, i.e. the jongleurs, was impermissible unless it respected morality and remained moderate.18 Charles Mazouer recalls that ‘the Jesuits based their theology on Thomas Aquinas, a disciple of Aristotle, who accorded a truth value to theatrical mimesis. All defenders of the theatre rely on this text in the Summa Theologiae (2a 2ae, quaestio 168, art. 17 See, in this volume, the pages devoted to the rebirth of Latin tragedy in Italy, pp. 25–101. 18 Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, II, 2. See Allegri, Teatro e spettacolo nel Medioevo, pp. 64–67.

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2–4) which makes absolutely no mention of the theatre and only formu­ lates, with regard to play, the need for ‘moderate recreations and amusements’.19 Jesuit poets even appreciated praising their pupils who had become actors of their drama. While it is true that the actors’ performances followed the Thomist perspective of moderate recreation, it was, however, the result of unrelenting work. Edith Flamarion has shown, on the basis of eyewitness reports, the pleasure and insistence with which Charles Porée specified the way each of the actors in his plays performed, and in her thesis Sophie Conte has shown how reading Cicero and Quintilian had allowed actio to be put to the service of sacred eloquence.20 Rhetorical actio and theatrical actio were thus indistinguishable. Thus it is precisely at the time at which the mystery plays are regulated that the Jesuits gave new life to theatrical writing within their teaching and encouraged performance to pedagogical ends. The Collège of Messina had been at the forefront in this area. The practice then spread inexorably throughout France. After the eight years of exile (1595–1603) they suffered following the assassination attempt on Henry IV by Jean Châtel, who had known the Collège de Clermont,21 the Jesuits wished to foster theatre with a high moral and educational value, carrying no politically suspect message. When Father Caussin, one of Louis XIII’s confessors, was disgraced as a result of being overzealous towards his illustrious penitant, the entire Company was shaken and had to disown him, even though he gave lustre to his order—through the publication of the Cour sainte, and through his literary and worldly renown. Thus the Jesuits once more took up this educational and theatrical tradition, which had been prematurely interrupted, when in 1603 Henry IV promulgated the Edict of Rouen, by which the Company was again allowed back in France, first in the provinces, then in Paris (but not until 1618). The distance travelled can be measured when the Collège de Clermont, which had welcomed Louis XIV with great pomp, had been renamed the Lycée Louis-le-Grand in 1683.22 From 1595 to 1603, the French-language colleges not attached to France, like those of Douai or Pont-à-Mousson, taking in many banned clerics and often, too, their own pupils, underwent a real boom. Subsequently, and until the banning of the order in France in 1762 (despite the existence of around a hundred colleges), and then its suppression throughout the 19 Mazouer, Le Théâtre français de l’Âge classique, p. 144. 20 See Flamarion, Théâtre jésuite néo-latin et Antiquité, pp. 136–41. 21 See Fouqueray, Histoire de la Compagnie de Jésus en France, vol. 2, pp. 379–409. 22 See Boysse, Le théâtre des Jésuites, pp. 19–22.



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world in 1773,23 the Jesuits’ repertoire continually developed and innovated. Almost exclusively written in Latin first of all,24 as required by the Ratio studiorum, this theatre was more accommodating to the French language later on; if the programmes were printed in French, this was to enable the middle-class audience to know the subject of the play which mostly remained in Latin. In fact, the programmes were often printed in both languages. While the plays may still have been in Latin, the ballets and other allegorical interludes were in French. It would be wrong, however, to think that the theatre was universally accepted amongst the teachers themselves. The activity was blamed for wasting time which would have been more usefully devoted to religious practice and the demands of school. Composing these plays and rehearsing them were too demanding. On the day of the performance, there were grounds for fearing that the visual effects might disguise the essential message. The richness of the scenery and the costumes could distort, not to say ruin, the moral intentions. Worse still, in the end the interludes and ballets took up more space and drew more attention than the play itself. Something that should have remained secondary was becoming the main issue. The theatre, some believed, was exactly what it seemed to be: a school for pleasure. This risk of inverted values caused the fulmination of a good number of fathers. Louis Cellot himself, despite being the author of tragedies, wrote a speech to condemn the actor’s art.25 Louis de Cressolles established a clear distinction between the moderate acting of college students and that of actors, which was unrestrained.26 Thus it was not because the Jesuits wrote and acted plays that the theatre was rehabilitated. Accordingly, while Thomas Aquinas proposed the distinction between two contradictory types of metaphor (scriptural and secular), it could be said that the Jesuits in their turn distinguished between two

23 See Plongeron, ‘Du “fanatisme” de l’Europe catholique’. 24 There are a few exceptions: for example, L’Histoire tragique de la Pucelle de DomRemy, a play composed by Fronton du Duc and published in 1581. See Cullière, ‘Jean Barnet, éditeur de l’Histoire tragique de la Pucelle de Dom-Remy’; id., ‘Premier répertoire du théâtre de Pont-à-Mousson’; Mazouer, Le Théâtre français de la Renaissance, pp. 164–65; PélissonKarro, ‘Le théâtre des jésuites à Pont-à-Mousson’, pp. 229–70. This play, performed at the Collège de Pont-à-Mousson in 1580, is one of the few plays from the sixteenth century whose text was published. However, the use of French tends to become more widespread in the eighteenth century. See Flamarion, Théâtre jésuite néo-latin et Antiquité, pp. 322–23. 25 See Cellot, Actio in histriones, in Orationes, Paris, apud S. Cramoisy, 1631. For a commentary, see Moncond’huy, ‘Le Véritable Saint Genest’, pp. 62–63. 26 Fumaroli, ‘Le corps éloquent’, pp. 237–64; Flamarion, Théâtre jésuite néo-latin et Antiquité, pp. 136–41.

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types of theatre: on the one hand, a religiously edifying theatre, with shortlived performances and no claims to literary glory, and on the other hand, everything else. The boundary between the sacred and the profane remained uncrossable. The first Jesuit plays should not then be judged in the light of the history of the performances and their reception. The Ratio studiorum, which was enacted very early and regularly updated, accorded a place for the theatre as an edifying school practice, albeit a very limited place: any subject had to be sacred and pious; the plays, developing a sacred or pious subject, with no female parts, should be infrequent. Even when taking liberties with the limits imposed on them, they all, initially, conformed to this demand for edification. Besides, while the performances became very frequent (for prize-giving, to mark the arrival of a notable guest, or for saints’ days), for the most part only the programme of the performance remained.27 The non-preservation of most of the texts, which is so frustrating for us, shows, beyond considerations of literary success and publishing strategy, that what was at stake was above all of a moral or pedagogical nature. In many cases, especially in the early decades, writing the plays, under the authority of the rhetoric teacher, could be a collective effort and even the choice of subject could lie with the whole college or be called for because of circumstances.28 Nevertheless, some authors received the honour of a swift publication, even if none of them derived any glory from it. This aspect of their career, often coinciding with an early probation, was for a long time left unmentioned. Some, however, did gain a certain literary recognition during their lifetime. On the whole, the Jesuits did not underestimate the resources of their printing, but the theatre was only a tiny part of their book production. The dissemination of their works throughout Europe, thanks to seasoned or licensed publishers such as Sébastien Cramoisy and Sébastien Chappelet in Paris, provided them with considerable influence and, in Paris in particular, it allowed them to rival the Sorbonne. But it would be going too far to claim that it was their theatrical experience that allowed them to gain their status as a teaching order.

27 See a list of the plays published by a few Jesuits when Sommervogel speaks about each of them in his Bibliothèque de la Compagnie de Jésus; Dainville, ‘Le théâtre des jésuites en France: Bibliographie’, id., L’éducation des jésuites, pp. 473–75; Desgraves, Répertoire des programmes. 28 See Cullière, ‘Jean Barnet’, pp. 48–51 and 54; Saulini, Il teatro di un gesuita siciliano, pp. 37–45.



jesuit neo-latin tragedy in france425 Poetic and Theoretical Models

To write a tragedy, the Jesuits had two ancient models: Senecan tragedy, rediscovered by the first Paduan humanists in the early Trecento, frequently commented on, and Greek tragedy, printed and translated into Latin from the early sixteenth century. They were able to follow two recent examples: Marc-Antoine Muret’s Iulius Caesar, largely corresponding to the framework of Senecan tragedy, and George Buchanan’s Jephthes, the first play to be composed in Latin following the model of Sophocles’ or Euripides’ plays. In addition to ancient models, there was also the contemporary theatre, at times still imbued with the medieval tradition (the mystery plays) or more determinedly humanist, inspired by a tradition running from Jodelle to Robert Garnier. Finally, their theatre is also defined in relation to that of the reformed poets, who were often more sensitive to the aesthetics of Greek tragedy and the plays of Buchanan. To read Senecan tragedies, medieval commentaries were no longer used (for example, those of Albertino Mussato or Nicolas Trevet). The introductions by Josse Bade at the beginning of the century in his editions of Seneca or Terence provided information, in particular on the history of the genre and the development of its form; but there was a lack of a comprehensive study to shed light on the philosophy of the genre. This indispensable tool was produced by Martin Antonio Del Rio in his Syntagma tragoediae latinae (Antwerp, 1593).29 The history of the genre of tragedy was richly illustrated, especially with fragments of Latin tragedians, but in particular each of Seneca’s plays was printed with marginal notes and a line-by-line commentary in the third and last volume. This commentary particularly drew attention to a general interpretation and explained how a Christian reader could come to terms with paganism. The most shocking point for a Christian theologian and the churchgoer was the overwhelming place Seneca attributed to fate. A single example will make this sufficiently clear. One of the choruses in Seneca’s Œdipus sings, in anapaestic rhythm, of humankind’s powerlessness, condemned to accept its fate. This fate is obviously in contradiction with the idea of free will professed by Catholicism. It was all the more unacceptable in the context of the controversies with Protestants on the question of predestination in that it presupposes astral influence determining the course of human life. Del Rio tried to reconcile the authority of the Senecan model with Christian 29 See Dréano, Humanisme chrétien; Stegmann, L’héroïsme cornélien, p. 49.

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thinking. While it was necessary to be indulgent towards Seneca, the Stoic philosopher, he added at once that Catholic theologians condemned the belief in fate as propounded by the Stoics and astrologers. In support of his claim, he mentioned a long list of authorities, both Greek and Latin. The main authority is Saint Augustine, with particular reference to book V of the City of God. Other loci taken from Seneca’s tragedies could, however, be even more scandalous. The long declaration of faith in atheism by the chorus of Seneca’s Trojan Women could only be dangerous if it were read as it stood by a schoolboy. It was therefore necessary to take a long hard look at this chorus to denounce this ‘fausse croyance’. No account, however, is ever taken of the speaker. Del Rio never dissociates the words of the chorus from Seneca’s actual thought, even though the chorus is not the author’s mouthpiece but represents the human condition. The chorus sings of its anguish in the face of the future and of death. Jesuit poets would avoid dealing with these issues. They would borrow from Seneca his imagery, his vocabulary (with no regard for their original context) and the principal characteristics of his plays (the alternation of sections of dialogue in iambic trimeters and of sung sections). On the other hand, it would have been inconceivable to take on the dramatic aesthetics of a poet whose tragedies often ended with the sacrilegious victory and monstrous jubilation of a murderer who was pleased to have been himself the author and spectator of the perpetrated crime.30 Only the plot of Hercules Oetaeus, which concludes with the apotheosis of Hercules (who appears as a deus ex machina), could fit the structure of a tragedy conceived on Christian grounds. Indeed, Providence alone could triumph. Evil, reigning on earth since original sin, must finally be conquered. The lesson must be morally improving and at the same time reassure the audience. The tragic hero becomes the incarnation of the Christian who must accept living in a frequently hostile world: if he confronts the darkness of Envy and Hate, his faith ultimately has him triumph, even at the cost of martyrdom. Pity and fear could not, then, be the only mechanisms in tragedy for the Jesuits. They took from Greek tragedy the pure figure of the innocent victim (Iphigenia, for example) and also found in Seneca scenes in which admiration added to the feelings of pity and fear. Aristotle’s definition of the tragic hero (a hero who is neither entirely virtuous, nor entirely guilty) did not, however, fit in with their view of the world. The heroes, as victims of barbarous treatment, often became saints. Their heroism, offered up to 30 See Dupont, Les monstres de Sénèque.



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God, made them perfect beings, to be imitated: it was not the hero that counted, but God. This admiration for the protagonist of biblical or non-biblical history is sometimes coupled with admiration for a contemporary character. By means of allegory, mythological figures on stage were meant to embody the values of the King or a prince. On the basis of their reading of programmes or treatises devoted to performances, François de Dainville and Jacques Hennequin have underlined the fashion for pièces à clef, especially from the second half of the seventeenth century onwards.31 Tragedy thus becomes a celebration, not to say a panegyric. The fashion for ballets would accentuate the importance of allegorical performances. Jesuit tragedy cannot be dissociated from everyday events. The old metaphor that ‘all the world’s a stage’ was thus renewed by the Jesuits at the very moment that it made a strong appearance in the vernacular theatre.32 A world given over to the whims of Fortuna or an inescapable Fatum was replaced by the concept of a world guided by Providence. Albertino Mussato’s Ecerinis, like the medieval mystery and miracle plays, reminds us that the theatre stages mankind’s salvation. So it is not surprising if the Jesuits, whose notions of spirituality and the theatre were in essence proselytizing, took up this topos of human life unfolding beneath God’s gaze. From being a victim, the hero becomes a witness to his faith and a committed actor on the world stage in the service of Truth. The world, then, is not a show at which God is present but not actively participating (he gave his Son), nor a show in which actors could be made to intervene according to his will; it is the arena for the struggle of sin against Truth. Original sin reminds everyone of their imperfection and the need for pious humility. Pride and envy, on the other hand, are the devil’s two temptations, his two principal weapons. Jesuit theatre stages this struggle, which is inherent in the human soul: it is not only a vehicle for catharsis, but above all a call to conversion and recognition on the part of each individual of their sins. Already in Mussato’s Ecerinis in 1315, the central scene sees the confrontation between the tyrant Ezzelino da Romano and Fra Luca Belludi, a companion of Saint Anthony of Padua. Recalling the Gospel parable of the lost sheep, Fra Luca Belludi invites the tyrant to convert. God is slow to strike, he adds. Ezzelino da Romano, the son of the Devil, will be punished for 31 See Dainville, L’éducation des jésuites, pp. 504–17; Hennequin, ‘Théâtre et société dans les pièces de collège au XVIIe siècle’. 32 See Fumaroli, L’âge de l’éloquence, p. 284.

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refusing to respond to God’s mercy. In Jesuit tragedies, the final act sees the just rewarded and the evil punished. Jesuit poets, following the Senecan theatre, are less sensitive to the final apotheosis of the damned (Medea, Atreus…) than to the supernatural appearance of Hercules in Hercules Oeteus. The First Jesuit Playwrights in France We will need to work on a limited corpus, since most plays were not published. Plays circulated from college to college, country to country, but without being printed.33 The repertory is limited to titles, or programmes at best. The efforts of Ernest Boysse, Louis Desgraves and André Stegmann34 to record the plays that were staged give us a glimpse of this era’s passion for Jesuit theatre. However, in the case of sixteenth-century France, we only have the titles. Stegmann has emphasized the time it took for this theatre to become established in France. Political and religious resistance was frequent.35 The first plays to be staged, like Sainte Catherine, a frequently staged plot, are plays of religious history.36 He also shows that this theatre is particularly active in the colleges of Flanders, as well as in Rouen or Pont-à-Mousson. However, after 1580 (the date of the play that Fronton du Duc wrote in French on Joan of Arc for the Collège de Pont-àMousson), it is not until 1614 that Denis Petau’s first play is published, and then 1620 for the first publication of his Opera poetica. 1620 is also the publication date of the five tragedies of Nicolas Caussin. The next year, Pierre Mousson’s plays appeared. Finally, in 1630, Louis Cellot’s tragedies were handed down to posterity. André Stegmann has pointed out that this publishing initiative corresponds to the opening and rise of the Collège de La Flèche.37 In 1634, there also appeared in Antwerp an edition of the ‘best’ Jesuit plays, not only those written in France. Thus plays staged in France should not be differentiated from those written and staged elsewhere in Europe. Father Caussin wrote, early in his career, five Latin tragedies (Solyma, Nabuchodonosor, Felicitas, Theodoricus, Hermenigildus) characterized by the designation ‘sacred’: Tragoediae sacrae. Taking their plots from the 33 See Boysse, Le théâtre des Jésuites, p. 24; Barbafieri and Naudeix, ‘Polymestor à l’épreuve du secret’, pp. 27–39. 34 Stegmann, L’héroïsme cornélien, pp. 21–65. 35 Ibid., pp. 21–22. 36 Ibid., p. 23. 37 Ibid., p. 39.



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Bible or saints’ lives, they all have as their aim moral and religious edification. They were probably written and acted as early as 1615, and were published in 1620 by Sébastien Cramoisy, then, in the same year, by Sébastien Chappelet. The success of the work, or the fame of the author (due to his Greek Thesaurus of 1612 and his Parallèles of 1619), can be gauged not only from the republishing of these five tragedies in Cologne in 1621, but also from the many influences and rewritings to which they gave rise.38 Taking their plots from religious history and using Seneca’s plays as a model, they lead the audience from the condemnation of a ‘cour infernale’ to the elaboration of a ‘cour sainte’. Caussin’s edifying tragedies offer repeated patterns to be found in the Cour sainte. Tragedy is not only the staging of an innocent’s death, it also warns about the dangers encountered by a legitimate ruler when he is surrounded by courtiers who are guided not by a desire for Christian perfection, but by envy. The theme is not new, however; envious men slandering their victims to the King were already being staged in the Jeu de Daniel in the Middle Ages. The performance should thus allow everyone to bring about this ideal of the Cour sainte on earth. The tragedies of the Cour sainte thus carry on the ideas of Saint François de Sales, expressed in the Introduction à la vie dévote, on the Christian’s duty to live in the world for the edification of the world.39 Father Cellot, five years the junior of Caussin and Petau, was principal of the Collège de Rouen and the Collège de La Flèche.40 In 1630, he published in a single volume in Paris with Sébastien Cramoisy three Latin tragedies (Sanctus Adrianus, Sapor admonitus, Chosroës) and a tragicomedy (Reviviscentes). The first tragedy derives from the lives of saints, the other two from the history of Persia. His tragicomedy meets the public’s desire for plays with a happy ending (as well as a moral one). He has an abundance of pathos-filled plots and spectacular reversals of fortune. André Stegmann states, however, that his plays do not come over as particularly original since Cellot reuses themes and plots that had already been staged.41 We shall see, however, that his plays are representative of the aesthetic tastes of his age.

38 For the historical, cultural and religious background, see Conte, Nicolas Caussin: rhétorique et spiritualité à l’époque de Louis XIII; Hocking, A Study of the Tragoediae sacrae of Father Caussin, pp. 11–23; Fumaroli, L’âge de l’éloquence, pp. 279–98, and Spica, Symbolique humaniste et emblématique, pp. 258–62. 39 See Spica, ‘La figure d’un courtisan chrétien’, pp. 169–87. 40 See Dictionnaire de biographie française, VIII, pp. 43–44; Boysse, Le théâtre des Jésuites, pp. 335–41. 41 Stegmann, L’héroïsme cornélien, p. 40.

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Father Petau, who taught the rhetoric class at the Collège de Clermont,42 wrote three Latin tragedies based on the Old Testament (Sisaras), Roman history (Carthaginienses) and Persian history (Usthazanes, sive Martyres Persici).43 The three plays, which are careful not to separate historical representation from moral improvement, present spectacular events likely to appeal to people’s consciences. Two of them have women as their main characters, although their titles give no hint of this: Sisaras and Carthaginienses. Petau was touched by female heroism, present both in the Bible and in the ancient Roman historians. While, in the first play, the prophetess Deborah and Jahel, the King’s wife, are the architects of the victory of God’s people, the decision to present Hasdrubal’s wife in the second play is paradoxical. Many of her characteristics are those of Medea! The third tragedy fits into the cycle of plays dedicated to Persian history and the persecution of the Christians. I disagree with Boysse’s view of the composition of these plays when he provides his readers with a very succinct summary of them: ‘You should not seek in his tragedies a tightly structured plot. He was writing at a time when this art was still unknown. A subject from biblical or profane history was chosen, the main incidents were arranged in conversational scenes, and people thought they had created a dramatic work. This is what Father Petau did.’44 I will insist, on the other hand, on the plot of each of the plays underlining their compositional skill. However, I do agree with his opinion of their style: ‘What is most praiseworthy in these tragedies is their firmness and elegance of style, and the lyrical inspiration of some passages.’ A special place must be reserved for the four tragedies of Father Mousson, published in a single volume in 1621 at La Flèche. All are based on ancient history with no direct link to Christianity: Pompeius Magnus, Croesus liberatus, Cyrus punitus, Darius proditus. They are arranged in five acts, but without a chorus. They are neither biblical tragedies, nor martyr plays. They are more concerned with the teaching of rhetoric. As stylistic exercises, they show the Jesuits’ interest in history teaching. But history is 42 See Vital Chatellain, Le Père Denis Petau d’Orléans; Dictionnaire de théologie catholique, XII, Paris, 1933, coll. 1313–37; Dictionnaire des lettres françaises, XVIIe s., repr. 1996, Paris, Fayard, coll. 988–90; Gallego Casado, ‘Escritura-tradicion en Petavio y Tomasino’; Hofmann, Theologie, Dogma und Dogmenentwicklung im theologischen Werk Denis Petau’s; Karrer, Die historisch-positive Methode des Theologen Dionysius Petavius; Nelles, ‘Du savant au missionnaire’; Thill, La lyre jésuite, pp. 11–18 43 See Boysse, Le théâtre des Jésuites, pp. 341–43. 44 Ibid., p. 341.



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always exploited to offer spectacular examples of the passions being condemned.45 We also know that other, unpublished, tragedies were written by Mousson. One of the features of the published collection is that it has two prefaces, one to the reader and the other to the actors, both carefully analysed by Patricia Ehl who explains the genesis of the plays, their aesthetic choices, such as the absence of a chorus between the acts, and the importance of the staging (how they were declaimed and acted out). Although we lack documents to enlighten us on the conditions of the composition and reception of Jesuit plays in the early seventeenth century, these two prefaces are exceptional documents.46 Biblical Tragedies Plots like these place Jesuit drama in the medieval tradition of the Mystery plays.47 French Jesuits also continued the inspiration of the first Italian Jesuit playwrights such as Stefano Tuccio. Biblical history is staged as it may have been depicted on historiated frescoes or medieval paintings. This religious moralizing was all the more effective because of its spectacular nature: Zedekiah and Nebuchadnezzar are the two main protagonists of this theatre who denounce excess. Contemporary theatre, in particular the plays of Robert Garnier, was a source of inspiration, especially for Nicolas Caussin.48 Nicolas Caussin’s Solyma (1620) This tragedy, the first to appear in each edition of the plays, deals with the fall of Zedekiah and the sack of Jerusalem in 587 bc.49 Caussin mentions all his sources. In 2 Kings 25, Jerusalem is besieged by Nebuchadnezzar;

45 See Petrus Mussonius, Tragoediae, ed. Rieks and Geus. See also Ehl, La réception des figures historiques dans les Tragœdiæ seu diversarum gentium et imperiorum magni principes de Pierre Mousson. Ehl is studying the rhetorical effects of literary sources in the plays and Mousson’s pedagogical aims for moral edification. She is giving the first translation of Pompeius Magnus, with the analysis of a great number of loci similes. 46 In the coming years Ehl will compare the characteristics of Mousson’s dramaturgy to those of other Jesuits and she will translate all the plays. 47 See Bordier, Le Jeu de la Passion. 48 My presentation of Nicolas Caussin’s plays will be shorter than those devoted to the plays of other Jesuit playwrights. For Caussin’s plays, I refer to Hocking’s presentation and the four articles I have written on the subject. 49 See Boysse, Le théâtre des Jésuites, pp. 343–44; Hocking, A Study of the Tragoediae sacrae of Father Caussin, pp. 24–31; Chevalier, ‘Le châtiment de la démesure’.

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the sons of Zedekiah are put to death before their father’s eyes and Zedekiah has his eyes put out before being thrown into chains; in 2 Chronicles 36, 11–13, Zedekiah disobeys God, rejects the prophet Jeremiah and betrays King Nebuchadnezzar; the book of Jeremiah (chapter 39) recounts the capture of Zedekiah, the death of his sons, Zedekiah’s punishment (his blinding) and his expulsion to Babylon. Caussin makes clear, in the Oeconomia poetica which precedes the argumentum of each act, the general structure of the plot. Act I: Jeremiah’s prophecy and the stubborn blindness of Zedekiah; Act II: battles and capture of Jerusalem; Act III: Zedekiah and his sons’ flight; Act IV: judgement of Zedekiah; Act V: dénouement, i.e. the fall of Zedekiah, the death of his sons, and his condemnation. While the plot follows the chronological order of events, it differs from the biblical account in dramatizing particular episodes. Thus the play begins and ends with the same character, the prophet Jeremiah. In Act I, a dialogue between Jeremiah and an Angel allowed the audience to hear about the misfortunes about to be unleashed on Jerusalem and Zedekiah; the last scene consists of a short dialogue between Jeremiah and Zedekiah in which Jeremiah offers a lesson that sounds like a warning: disregarding the Lord leads to disaster. Caussin’s tragedies are particularly noteworthy for the metrical diversity of the choruses. The metres are for the most part taken from Horace and, to a lesser extent, Seneca. Caussin may have drawn inspiration from the many metrical commentaries on Horace’s Odes, as well as on the metres of the tragic poets.50 Caussin may have known the tragedy entitled Sedecias by the Portuguese Jesuit Luís da Cruz (1543–1604), published in Lyon in 1605.51 There are two other contemporary plays on the same biblical episode: 50 The chorus that closes Act I consists of thirteen Third Asclepiads (three lesser asclepiads followed by a glyconic), a metrical model taken from Horace’s Odes: the chorus laments the disaster being unleashed on Jerusalem and curses ambition, which is seen as the mother of all evils. The chorus of Act II, a lament on the massacres which have followed the capture of Jerusalem, is made up of twenty-one anapaestic dimeters followed by an adonic, then six dimeters and an adonic, and finally twelve dimeters. This anapaestic rhythm is taken from Seneca’s tragedies. The chorus in Act III intones a funeral lament, consisting of seventeen anapaestic dimeters, followed by five sapphic stanzas (each stanza being made up of three sapphics followed by an adonic), typical of Horace’s lyric poetry. The chorus of Act IV (a lament on the fate of the King and his sons) consists of seven alcaic stanzas (each composed of two alcaics followed by a nine-syllable line, then a ten-syllable line), a metre much favoured by Horace. 51 See Ludovicus Crucius (Luis da Cruz), Sedecias, Die lateinische Tragödie von Luís da Cruz s. j., eingeleitet, herausgegeben und übersetz von Matthias Büttner, Frankfurt 2004 (Peter Lang, Classica et Neolatina, band 3).



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Les Juifves by Robert Garnier (1583) and Sedecias, a Latin tragedy by the Belgian Jesuit Charles Malapert, published in Antwerp in 1616, then in Douai in 1624, and finally in 1634 in Antwerp in a collective work.52 A third one is written by the Ghent Benedictine Jacobus Cornelius Lummenaeus a Marca, Carcer Babylonius (1610).53 Nicolas Caussin’s Nabuchodonosor (1620) Even in the Argumentum Caussin uses this tragedy to illustrate God’s vengeance on the insolent. The character who exemplifies excess in the Bible is Nebuchadnezzar.54 The play, which is inspired by Daniel 2–4, stages the lesson delivered by God to punish him. Caussin remains faithful to the structure of his first tragedy, at least if the order of the plays in the collection reflects the order in which they were written. The play begins with the prophecy of Daniel, followed without a break by a tirade by Nebuchadnezzar which gives free rein to his excess and will for power. A chorus, of ten alcaic stanzas, condemns the folly of atheism. In Act II, Nebuchadnezzar, terrified by a dream, tries to find out what it portends for him. A chorus of forty-one glyconics condemns luxury, arrogance and the King’s baleful pride. Act III presents the slanderous accusation made before the King against the Hebrews. Nebuchadnezzar allows himself to be persuaded by treacherous counsellors. The chorus, consisting of ten alcaic stanzas, emphasizes the fragility of blind power. Act IV presents the burning of the three Hebrew children and the miracle: the flames cannot touch them. The chorus celebrates this miracle in four alcaic stanzas followed by twelve anapaestic dimeters. Act V counterbalances Act I: while, in Act I, Nebuchadnezzar, like a Senecan hero sinking into furor, proclaimed himself to be superior to the gods; God, wishing to deliver a warning to him, plunges him into real madness in Act V (Nebuchadnezzar acts like an animal) in order to punish him, but this warning will come to an end. A chorus of princes express their grief (twenty-three anapaestic dimeters). In the final scene, Daniel returns to the stage to reveal God’s will. As in Solyma, the same character, in each case a prophet, opens and closes the tragedy. The tragedy, like a picture, serves to illustrate an episode from 52 See Hocking, A Study of the Tragoediae sacrae of Father Caussin, pp. 29–30. 53 See Gruijters, An Eloquent Enigma, pp. 137–69. 54 See Boysse, Le théâtre des Jésuites, pp. 344–45; Hocking, A Study of the Tragoediae sacrae of Father Caussin, pp. 32–37; Chevalier, ‘Le châtiment de la démesure’. In particular Hocking has drawn a parallel between this tragedy and Sidrac, Misach et Abdenago, a tragedy composed by the Jesuit Father Nicolaus Avancinus. For the medieval sources, see Le Mistère du Viel Testament, ed. Rothschild, vol. V, Paris, 1885, pp. xlvi–lxvi.

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the Bible: it presents the scene in a striking way and, at the same time, as in a sermon, delivers its message. The rebirth of a literary genre and form of spectacle inherited from antiquity is thus put to the service of a pedagogic aim. Denis Petau’s Sisaras (1620) The plot is taken from Judges 4. For rebelling against God, the people of Israel have been severely punished. For twenty years, they have been under the sway of Jabin, King of Canaan, before God hears their laments and frees them. This Old Testament story might have provided the subject matter of an epic, hardly the plot of a tragedy. But the circumstances of Israel’s victory hold a number of surprises: the victory is not the work of a great general, but the result of the joint action of two women. The prophetess Deborah manages to convince Barak, of Kedesh-Naphtali, to gather an army of ten thousand men to put to flight the army of general Sisera, with his nine hundred chariots. She herself must be present at the victory since Barak, lacking in confidence, had required her presence throughout the battle. The plot then turns to the circumstances surrounding Sisera’s death. In his flight, King Jabin’s general finds refuge with a woman, Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite. She covers him with a blanket (or a mantle) offering him milk, then she strikes him on the temples with a tent nail driven in by a hammer. Then she welcomes Barak and shows him Sisera’s dead body. The honour of the victory could not fall to Barak, since he had questioned the word of Deborah. The prophetess had revealed to him that victory would be the work of a woman (verse 9) without specifying her identity. Barak believed that Deborah was speaking about herself. So the victory is all the more striking and symbolic in that it is the work of two women of unshakeable faith. Petau saw in this episode from the book of Judges all the necessary elements for a spectacular tragedy: the sudden reversal of fortune (from absolute power to death), the prophecy, the action of Providence punishing the enemies of Israel, the trap closing round the defeated general. Petau could not have avoided thinking of the death of Pompey, murdered at the very moment that he thought he had found refuge. This tragic episode from Roman history had inspired a number of poets. In addition, women’s power, their power to give life but also death, must also have reminded him of many tragic heroines from antiquity. To construct his five-act tragedy with diverbia and cantica, Petau introduces, apart from Deborah and Jael (‘uxor Haberis Cinaei’), Barak and



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Sisera, standard tragic characters: the messenger (‘Nuntius’) and a double chorus (‘chorus Judaeorum’ and ‘chorus Chananaeorum’), as well as less predictable characters, like the archangel Michael and two Canaanites, Ieriel and Madian. As is normal in religious tragedy, the Prologue is given to a supernatural character. In fact, it is not really a prologue but the first scene of the play (Act I, ll. 1–120), in which the archangel announces the victory that Israel is about to achieve. Even the final scene is announced. The chorus then express their grief at seeing Israel brought to its knees for so long by Sisera and calls on the God of vengeance (nine sapphic stanzas followed by sixty-six sapphics with five irregularly placed adonics). At the beginning of Act II, a long monologue by an inhabitant of Canaan called Ieriel prepares the introduction of the expected theme of King Jabin’s excesses. His insatiable thirst for victory will lead to his downfall. Drawing on Seneca’s tragedies, Petau spells out through this character general truths about the blindness of kings and princes. We are not surprised to hear at the start of Scene ii (Act II, ll. 76–77) Sisera taking up the cry of challenge uttered by Atreus in Seneca’s Thyestes: ‘With head raised up, I walk on the nearby stars.’55 Such, too, is the exclamation of Nebuchadnezzar, Caussin’s eponymous hero.56 Thus, these two Jesuit plays are constructed on the same framework, derived from Seneca: an individual with too much power sinks into excess and demands to be treated as the equal of the gods. Sisera, who goes as far as to claim the right to lead his armies against the gods, places himself in the ancient lineage of the battle of the giants and gods. In Scene iii, Barak tries to convince Sisera to give up his warlike violence. Whoever takes on the role of tyrant must be given the chance to change his mind. Only his persistence in evildoing will bring about his downfall. Far from changing his mind, Sisera claims to be superior to God. In the final scene of Act II, Sisera learns from an oracle that he should beware of Jael, the wife of Heber. Petau takes from Seneca the spectacular scenes in which a damned soul, a prophetess, and a dead person, appearing in a dream, announce imminent disaster. The chorus then invites the Canaanites to renounce their thirst for conquest (fifty-five lesser asclepiads). Act III presents the sudden reversal of fortune. For the first time, the prophetess Deborah makes an appearance. She asks Barak to lead his troops against Sisera and to have faith in God. Deborah, alone on stage, 55 ‘Astris propinquis gradior attollens caput.’ Cf. Seneca, Thyestes 885–86: ‘Aequalis astris gradior et cunctos super / Altum superbo uertice attingens polum.’ 56 See Lebègue, Tragédie française de la Renaissance, p. 57.

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begs for divine assistance. The following scene fills a temporal ellipsis in the biblical account: Deborah reveals to Jael that she has been chosen by God to give victory to Israel. In the Bible, there is no explicit verse on whether Jael acts spontaneously in killing Sisera or whether she carries out this sacrifice on God’s orders. The length of the tragedy corresponds to the time it takes for God’s vengeance to be accomplished. Respect for the unity of time leads to a speeding up of Sisera’s punishment for his arrogance. The chorus invites the audience to believe in the true God and to give up the worship of idols (ninety-two iambic dimeters catalectic). Fate (no longer considered according to the Stoics’ understanding of it, but as a manifestation of God’s will, i.e. Providence) is opposed to the pagan image of the wheel of Fortune. While Act III is dominated by the figure of the prophetess Deborah, Act IV is devoted to the glory of Jael. The point is not to celebrate Jael for murdering Sisera, but for her determination, faith and courage. Jael pre­ figures the commitment of the Christian martyrs, ready to die rather than renounce God. This Act IV begins with a dialogue between Haber and his wife Jael. It is the wife who is comforting her husband, who laments the wretched state of his family. Jael, alone, proclaims her determination to follow God’s will. The chorus (seventy-seven anapaestic dimeters and two adonics) sing of the inexorable punishment that will come to the impious. In Act V a messenger announces the defeat of Sisera’s army. The tragedy could have finished on this note of victory and reversal of fortune, but the military defeat, even if it was announced in epic style, cannot on its own meet the tragic aesthetic: the pathetic fall of Sisera is required for that. Sisera’s personal fate must become emblematic. Jael reveals at this point a dream in which she sees Sisera dying while seeking refuge with her. As often happens in tragedy, a narrative speech reveals the crime that is about to be committed. But whereas, in Seneca’s plays, the crime that is announced is sacrilegious, in Petau’s tragedy the murder of Sisera is seen as the realization of God’s will. At the same moment Sisera appears, fleeing and a prey to terror. Jael reassures him and he leaves the stage to hide in her house. After a long inner debate, she decides to sacrifice Sisera. The chorus intervenes when she leaves the stage to carry out the murder. Barak, victorious over Sisera’s armies, discovers his enemy’s corpse and celebrates Jael’s courage. The play closes with a final dialogue between Jael and Deborah. The prophetess, in a transport of joy, exults and sings, in dactylic hexameters (the metre of epic poetry), of the victory. This song is inspired directly by chapter 5 of Judges. In response, the chorus celebrates in its turn the victory (twenty-eight anapaestic dimeters). The epic tone created by the choice of the hexameter gives way to the lyricism of victory.



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Sisera appears little in the play, even though he is the eponymous hero. As a follower of Seneca, Petau gives his play the name of the tyrant to offer his pupils an exemplary model of the punishment of excess. But, unlike Senecan tragedies, which most frequently end with the sacrilegious victory of the criminal hero, Act V depicts the restoration of order to the world through the workings of Providence, an order which had been temporarily shattered by the hubris of a criminal. There are no reservations with regard to Jael, who has betrayed the laws of hospitality in killing a man who had sought refuge with his people by virtue of the ties of friendship between Jabin and Heber. Petau exalts the heroic courage of a woman who is ready to sacrifice everything in order to obey God. Martyr Tragedies Martyr tragedies are an extremely important part of this morally edifying theatre. While recalling, through its heroic figures, the hagiography of late antiquity and the Middle Ages, it is also connected with contemporary reality. Frank Lestringant has shown the extent to which the Theatrum Crudelitatum Haereticorum nostri temporis of Richard Verstegan, first printed in Antwerp in 1587 and then reprinted, marked the imagination of its time.57 As a work of propaganda, martyrology becomes the theatre of the tortured body. The more awful the images, the more edifying they are. Thus there is no hesitation in showing the cruelty of the deaths suffered by Jesuits in Europe or America. The more Huguenots are portrayed as monsters, the more Catholicism feels it can strengthen its hold over believers: the visual image is used to fight heresy. Martyr tragedies, even if their plots recall the ancient world, strengthen this propaganda and take part in the fashion for a ‘theatre of cruelty’ for which recent research has shown its importance in vernacular theatre.58 Nicolas Caussin’s Felicitas (1620) The plot of Nicolas Caussin’s third tragedy is hagiographic.59 In the second century ad, Emperor Antoninus (or Marcus Aurelius—the historical circumstances are somewhat imprecise), at the advice of slanderous 57 See Lestringant, Lumière des martyrs, pp. 133–90. 58 See Biet and Fragonard, Tragédies et récits de martyres en France and also Lebègue, ‘La tragédie “shakespearienne” en France au temps de Shakespeare’, id., Études sur le théâtre français, 1, pp. 298–339. 59 See Boysse, Le théâtre des Jésuites, p. 345; Hocking, A Study of the Tragoediae sacrae of Father Caussin, pp. 45–53; Chevalier, ‘La représentation de la violence…’, pp. 215–27.

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courtiers, delivers the seven sons of Felicitas to martyrdom. The deaths of these seven brothers were recounted by John Chrysologus, then transmitted notably by the Golden Legend.60 The mother herself, called by Gregory the Great ‘more than a martyr’, is killed after her sons. Another original aspect of this play is that the prose argument is followed by an argument in dactylic hexameters. Caussin offers a number of stylistic exercises, thus demonstrating his virtuosity.61 Act I opens with the lamentation of the supreme pontiff, who calls for God’s assistance. In Scene ii, in contrast to the opening scene, the pagan pontiff plots the death of Felicitas, and then convinces the Emperor. A chorus of fourteen alcaic stanzas followed by eight dactylic hexameters ‘celebrates the triumphs of the Roman Church under the direction of St Peter and St Paul’. This could be a clue dating the staging of the play in the liturgical year. Act II, preceded by a summary (perioche) which may have been on the programme, sees Felicitas ‘pleading her case before the emperor’. Antoninus tries in vain to turn the seven sons away from their faith. The chorus is another exercise in metrical virtuosity inspired by Greek tragedy (whose choruses are made up of strophes and antistrophes). After seven sapphic stanzas, a heavenly chorus of fourteen anapaestic dimeters sings of the glory that awaits Christians in heaven. Finally, the Church militant, in seven sapphic stanzas, proclaims that her suffering on earth destines her for an even greater glory in heaven. It is important to note the symmetrical effects in the composition of this chorus: two songs with the same metre and length frame the song of the heavenly chorus, where the number of lines corresponds to the total number of stanzas of the two songs that frame it. This symmetry underlines ordering of the world by divine Providence in the face of the chaos which the Emperor and his counsellors are trying to create. Act III, preceded by a synopsis (another likely leftover from the programme), sees the Emperor decide to deliver up the seven sons and their mother to execution. The chorus of the Church militant ‘celebrates the constancy of martyrs’ (ten stanzas of first asclepiads). Act IV, preceded by a praelusio (like the synopsis, the perioche and the hexameter argumentum), introduces the supreme pontiff who 60 See Jacobus de Voragine, La Légende dorée, ed. Boureau, pp. 483–84 and 1279–80, in which literary sources are mentioned (Gregory the Great, Jean de Mailly, Vincent de Beauvais, Barthélemy de Trente) about the ‘legendary’ story of the seven sons of Felicitas. In reality, these martyrs were not brothers; the story of the seven Maccabee brothers is the religious model (2 M, 7). See also Baronius, Annales ecclesiastici, 2, Antwerp 1617, pp. 191–92 (175 ad). 61 See Hocking, A Study of the Tragoediae sacrae of Father Caussin, p. 50.



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brings comfort to future martyrs in their prisons. A chorus comprising cantica polymetra (four sapphic stanzas, then sixteen anapaestic dimeters sung by the heavenly chorus, then twenty-eight glyconics, and finally five lesser asclepiads) laments the suffering inflicted on martyrs. Act V, also preceded by a perioche, reports the final moments and final words of the martyrs. A number of choruses emphasize the lyricism in celebrating the martyrs. Nicolas Caussin’s Theodoricus (1620) The eponymous hero of the fourth tragedy is the Ostrogoth King Theodoric the Great who entered Rome in 500.62 The action takes place between 523, when the philosopher Boethius, who had the prestigious role of magister officiorum, was falsely accused of treason, and 525, when he was executed in Pavia.63 Boethius writes his Consolation of Philosophy in his prison cell, a prosimetric transcription in five books of a dialogue between Philosophy and the author. In Act I, Nemesis, goddess of vengeance, calls for the punishment of Theodoric; divine Justice hands over to the shade of Pope John the sword of vengeance. It is interesting to note the similarities between this scene and that of the first act of Cellot’s Chosroës, where the shade of Hormisdas receives the sword of divine vengeance so that Chosroës can be punished. Theodoric’s excesses recall those of Nebuchadnezzar in the play of the same name by Caussin. The eight alcaic stanzas of the chorus remind us that all power that lapses into excess becomes blind. Act II is where the slanderers Cyprianus and Basilius accuse Boethius and his father-in-law Symacchus of treason against Theodoric. A letter purporting to have been written by Boethius is used as evidence. We also see the wife and children of Boethius who visit him in his cell. Their presence increases the pathetic aspects of a play which is all the more lyrical in that it has Boethius sing verse from the Consolation of Philosophy.64 The chorus ‘praises the strength of spirit’ of the condemned man (six stanzas of second asclepiads). Act III takes from Senecan tragedy the scene of the prophetic dream: Amalasunta, 62 See Boysse, Le théâtre des Jésuites, pp. 345–46; Hocking, A Study of the Tragoediae sacrae of Father Caussin, pp. 38–44; Chevalier, ‘Nicolas Caussin héritier de Sénèque et de Boèce dans Theodoricus’. In particular, Hocking has drawn a parallel between this tragedy and one, with the same title, composed by Nicolas de Vernulz and published in 1631 in Louvain in a volume which contained the author’s ten tragedies. 63 See Baronius, Annales ecclesiastici, 7, Antwerp 1658, pp. 107–17. 64 For the spiritual context of the poem, see Zarini, ‘Un Orphée aux Enfers néoplatonicien’.

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Theodoric’s daughter, dreams that some misfortune will fall upon her father. Act III is where Boethius and Symmachus are put to death. The chorus, made up of twenty-four anapaestic dimeters, sings that ‘judgements from God must be feared’. In Act IV, Theodoric lapses into madness before dying. The chorus ‘threatens the impious with eternal punishment’ (twenty-three lesser asclepiads). Act V mirrors Act I: Theodoric is summoned before the heavenly court. Nemesis and divine Justice accuse him of having shed Christian blood. Theodoric is condemned to everlasting punishment. Louis Cellot’s Sanctus Adrianus (1630) This tragedy is based on the life of St Adrian,65 known from accounts in a Passion play (Bibliotheca Hagiographica Latina, 3744), from Jean de Mailly (Abbreviatio in gestis sanctorum, ch. 135), Vincent de Beauvais (Speculum historiale, XIII, 81–83), Jacobus de Voragine (Golden Legend, 128)66 and Bartholomew of Trent (Liber epilogorum in gesta sanctorum, 290). The story would continue to inspire other playwrights such as Francesco des’ Lazari in 1693 in the context of the Roman Seminary.67 At the end of the third century, Adrian, an officer in the Roman army, converted, inspired by the fervour of the Christian martyrs.68 His wife Nathalie had already become a Christian, albeit without announcing this openly. Adrian discovers his wife’s faith when he is imprisoned. He is condemned to death on the order of Emperor Galerius Maximian in the city of Nicomedia. His passion play is made up of an account of all the tortures he suffered, sustained by his wife’s faith. José Sanchez has shown 65 An edition with a French translation by C. Barataud and J. Sanchez, Mont-de-Marsan 1991 (Éditions José Feijóo, collection ‘Texte’) has been advertised, but we have been unable to locate it in any library. See also Gaiffe, ‘Quelques notes sur les sources du “Saint Genest” de Rotrou’. 66 See Jacobus de Voragine, La Légende dorée, o.c., pp. 743–48 and 1375–76, from which I take the references to the sources. P. Pasquier has underlined the influence of Jesuit hagiography, for example Pedro de Ribadeneira’s Flos Sanctorum, published in Madrid, in two volumes, in 1599 and 1600, and translated into French in 1609 by René Gaultier. See Rotrou, Théâtre complet, 4, p. 170. 67 See Filippi, Il teatro degli argomenti, pp. 390–93. For an analysis of the influence of this play on Le Véritable Saint Genest of Rotrou, see Scherer, Théâtre du XVIIe siècle, p. 1330; Rotrou, Le Véritable Saint Genest, Tragédie, ed. Sanchez, pp. ci–cviii; Rotrou, Théâtre complet 4, pp. 170–73. 68 For a presentation of the plot of the play, see Boysse, Le théâtre des Jésuites, pp. 335– 37; Gofflot, Le théâtre au collège, p. 103. The Argumentum was edited and translated by J. Sanchez in Jean Rotrou, Le Véritable Saint Genest, Tragédie, pp. 199–206. The translation has been reprinted by P. Pasquier in Jean de Rotrou, Théâtre complet, 4, pp. 361–65.



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the extent to which the play was inspired by Christian apologetics, in particular Minucius Felix’s Octavius or Tertullian’s Apologetics.69 Cellot structures his tragedy in five acts. Act I presents Adrian’s conversion. In the first scene, the author does not introduce a personnage protatique, but Adrian himself. This scene, then, does not act as a prologue or exposition, but as a revelation. An Argumentum of several pages having already summed up the plot, the action can begin in medias res. Adrian, who is full of admiration for the courage of the early Christians (especially the children and virgins), announces his desire to obtain the martyr’s palm. Scene ii presents the opposition between the Christian and pagan religions: Adrian discusses with Metellus, a flamen of Jupiter, what interpretation to put on a sacrifice. Adrian calls the haruspex’ art ‘naenias’ (a term meaning magic chant, but also trifle). The haruspex warns Adrian that it is dangerous to refuse to believe in his art. In Scene iii, Flavius, a tribune sent by Galerius Maximian, exhorts Adrian to convert. This scene is to be understood as a contrast to those, in Seneca’s tragedies, where a character tries to bring back to reason a hero who is lapsing into a destructive madness. The main character is not the executioner, but the victim. Trying to make him renounce his faith is, by contrast, a way of celebrating the Christian’s constancy in the face of martyrdom. Scene iv carries on Scene iii: a dialogue confronts Adrian, not with the tribune, but with Galerius himself. This scene allows Adrian to proclaim his faith once more. Galerius then has him thrown in prison. In Scene v the consul Titianus intercedes in favour of Adrian and asks Galerius to grant a stay of execution. The chorus, consisting of forty-one pherecrateans, admires the steadfastness with which Christians refuse the good things of this world. While Act I is a celebration of Adrian, Act II celebrates the courage and ardent faith of his wife Nathalie. On learning of Adrian’s conversion, she is torn between fear and joy. She is afraid in particular that it is just a false rumour spread by the craftiness of a demon. She prays to the Lord to grant her husband martyrdom and to allow her to accompany Adrian in glory. She learns from the tribune Flavius, in the following scene, that her husband has indeed been imprisoned for becoming a Christian. The tribune promises to fetch her husband so that she can persuade him. Nathalie, alone, thanks God for her husband’s conversion. In Scene iv, she is reunited with Adrian. Each of them, as Christians, promises each other help in the face of the trials that await them. This ‘love duet’ proclaimed before God is 69 See Sanchez in his edition of Jean Rotrou, Le Véritable Saint Genest, Tragédie, pp. cxxii–cxxiii, 150–53.

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significantly one of the longest. We can speak of a ‘duet’, even if a third person, Anthimus, who has also been condemned to die for his faith, is present on stage. He witnesses the mutual love of the couple, which is a reflection of their love of God. In the following two scenes, friends try to dissuade Adrian. The chorus (cantica polymetra, largely made up of anapaestic dimeters and adonics) then goes on to praise Christ. While Act I presents the conversion of Adrian, the second act presents the couple united in faith, and Act III will present the trial and judgement. The central act is where the hero definitively chooses death. Adrian asks to be allowed first to go to see his wife, alone and unshackled, and to receive from her a last kiss before dying. Then, in prison, he sings of his joy in being aided by the Lord who brings him strength and hope. In Scene iii, he hears that his wife has smashed the statue of the Penates in their home. Scenes iv and v present a misunderstanding. Adrian returns to his wife to announce his imminent martyrdom; she, on the other hand, believes he has been released for renouncing his faith. Once the misunderstanding has been cleared up, Nathalie prays to Christ to offer his aid to Adrian at the moment when the guards come to fetch him. In Scene vi, Adrian once more proclaims his Christian faith before Galerius, the priest of Jupiter. Anthimus proceeds to give a long defence of Christians. A debate takes place with Metellus. The martyrs are imprisoned again and Nathalie is forbidden from visiting them. This is aimed at preventing Adrian’s being encouraged by his wife to persist in choosing martyrdom. The chorus, made up of twelve alcaic stanzas, complains that truth is called into question by so many false beliefs. Act IV presents Nathalie’s trick of dressing up as a man in order to visit her husband (Scenes i and ii). Her subterfuge is discovered (Scenes iii, iv and v). Far from expecting the Emperor’s mercy, she asks to be allowed to return to the prison to receive her husband’s last breath. The chorus of ninety lines (anapaestic dimeters and adonics) celebrates women’s courage. Act V features the martyrdom. Nathalie demands for her husband the right to be executed first and she helps Adrian suffer the tortures (Scenes i and ii). In Scene iii, she sees Adrian being received into heaven. The tragedy ends not with a chorus, but symbolically with Nathalie’s wish to join Adrian (Scenes iv and v). Louis Cellot’s Sapor admonitus (1630) The plot of Cellot’s Sapor admonitus (1630) is taken from the Summa theologica of Antoninus, Archbishop of Florence in the fifteenth century.



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In Act I, the King of the Persians, Sapor, has conquered Egypt and is preparing to enter his capital in triumph.70 In Act II, Sapor lapses into madness during a hunting expedition when he learns that his capital has given a heroic welcome to a usurper who has taken on his identity. His son orders Amyntas, a Christian soldier who had been arrested, to come so that his eloquence can assuage his father’s madness. But Sapor refuses to abandon his arrogance. In fact, this is an angel who has taken on his appearance because God wishes to give the King a lesson in humility. In Act III, the angel gives back to Ptolomaeus, the King conquered by Sapor, his kingdom and he unleashes his wrath against the magi. In Act IV, confusion grows when Sapor’s son wonders who his real father is. In Act V, Sapor, mistaken for a usurper, is thrown into chains. Surena condemns him to death. Amyntas arrives and reveals to the King that God wanted to give him a lesson in humility. Sapor accepts the lesson, and the angel, in the theatrical tradition of the deus ex machina, reveals the truth. In this way, the play’s title is justified: Sapor has been warned by God. But it is not a simple warning: the lesson must be accepted. The kingdom’s leaders then return to Sapor his royal insignia. The choruses have the following forms: a refrain of one line, then seven stanzas of five anapaestic dimeters, of which the last is the refrain (Act I), sixty-three sapphic and two adonic lines (Act II), forty-nine lesser asclepiads and three glyconics (Act III), thirty-two glyconics (Act IV). This highly moral lesson freely takes its inspiration from Plautus’s Amphitryon.71 Indeed, Cellot exploits dramatic devices (disguise, mistaken identity, numerous peripeteia, deus ex machina etc.) to serve the cause of Providence. The risk of madness, which threatened both Amphitryon and his slave Sosia in Plautus’s play, is found here in a form of tragic parody. Indeed, the illusion, while existing for Sapor, never threatens the audience, who are in the know from the beginning of the play. Thus there is a pathetic reversal of power, which itself is only illusory. The King, far from losing his power, in the end places this under the authority of God. It is, however, true that, unlike the model provided by Plautus, female characters are absent from the story. Cellot’s play, following Horace’s recommendations in the Ars poetica, seeks the pleasure provided by a spectacle while delivering a moral message: it condemns the King’s excesses when he refuses to recognize that he derives his power from God. 70 For a summary of the play, see Boysse, Le théâtre des Jésuites, pp. 337–39. For the context of a tragedy about the Sapors’ dynasty, see the notice about Usthazanes, a play written by Denis Petau. 71 See Boysse, Le théâtre des Jésuites, p. 337.

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The choice of a Persian king, in the tradition of Aeschylus’s Persae, but also in that of the denunciation of Nebuchadnezzar’s excesses, calls attention to Sapor’s fault. The subject of this play was frequently taken up in imitation of Cellot.72 Louis Cellot’s Chosroës (1630) The action of Choroës takes place in ad 628 in the reign of the Eastern Emperor Heraclius, at the court of the Sassanid King Chosroes II (Khosrau II, Khosraw II or Khosro II), who reigned from 590 to 628.73 After a series of victories, especially in Syria and Egypt, Chosroes was beaten by Heraclius, then overthrown by a conspiracy and condemned to death by his son Syroes. Baronius’s Annales are the main source.74 In Act I, St Anastasis, a Persian soldier who suffered martyrdom in 628 for converting to Christianity, when the Holy Cross was taken by Chosroes II, and for proselytism,75 leaves the heavenly heights to announce that a divine decree condemns the tyrant Chosroes to death for his crimes (violence in war and persecution of the Christians).76 He then summons from hell the shade of Hormisdas IV (Hormizd IV), Chosroes’ father who reigned from 579 to 590, to hand over to him the sword of divine justice.77

72 Filippi called attention to the influence of this tragedy on an Italian play, Sapore emendato, in the second half of the seventeenth century in the Collegio Romano. See Filippi, Il teatro degli argomenti, pp. 464–66. 73 See Garsoïan, ‘La Perse: l’Église d’Orient’. See P. Peeters (ed.), Bibliotheca hagiographica orientalis, (Brussels 1910, repr. 1954, 1970). See Theophanes Confessor’s Chronicle composed at the beginning of the ninth century (PG, 108, col. 55–1009; see also ed. de Boor). See The Chronicle of Theophanes Confessor, ed. Mango and Scott, pp. 458–63. See also Actes des martyrs de Perse and Analecta Bollandiana (22 January: Saint Anastasius). 74 Cardinal Baronius indicated, for the year 628, that the Persian kingdom collapsed ‘quand Chosroës a commencé à manifester sa folie à l’encontre de la religion chrétienne et à vouloir être le maître de la Croix du Seigneur; lui-même en même temps que ses successeurs ont péri et le royaume de Perse a été profondément anéanti’ (Annales ecclesiastici, vol. VIII, pp. 293–94 in the edition revised and enlarged by the author himself, published in Antwerp in 1611). The Emperor Heraclius, in fact, had brought back the Holy Cross to Jerusalem. Chosroes’ death is related in the year 627 (Annales ecclesiastici, 8, pp. 287–88). For a brief presentation of the plot of the tragedy, see Boysse, Le théâtre des Jésuites, p. 337. For an analysis of the literary sources of Rotrou’s Cosroès and the influence of Baronius, see Scherer, Théâtre du XVIIe siècle, p. 1362; Rotrou, Cosroès, ed. Delmas, pp. 397–98. For a parallel between Cellot’s play and Rotrou’s tragedy, see Rotrou, Cosroès, ed. Delmas, pp. 403–10. Delmas drew attention to possible parallels with contemporary plays in Italy, Spain or Germany (o.c., pp. 403–04). 75 See Flusin, Saint Anastase le Perse et l’histoire de la Palestine au début du VIIe siècle. 76 On Saint Anastasius’s martyrdom, see Baronius, Annales ecclesiastici, 8, pp. 284–87. 77 Baronius, who referred to Evagrius (The Scholastic), VI, 15 and to Theophanes, placed Hormisdas’ death in 592 (Annales ecclesiastici, 8, p. 43).



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Syroes, one of Chosroes’ three sons, is to be the one who strikes the tyrant. Chosroes II had himself condemned Hormisdas, his father, to death! The same curse will fall on him: he will be killed by one of his sons. A chorus sings that criminals are inexorably punished (seventy-eight lesser asclepiads). In Act II, Chosroes, fleeing after being beaten by Heraclius near Niniva, tries to crown one of his sons, Mardesanes, with a diadem, while persisting in his blasphemy and pride. A chorus recalls that God strikes down those who persist in sin (sixty-two anapaestic dimeters). His eldest son, Syroes, then refuses, in Act III, to give up the throne for one of his brothers. A chorus sings of how sweet it is to find peace after having been in darkness (ninety-eight glyconics). Act IV has Syroes imprison Chosroes and his two brothers, Mardesanes and Vologeses, so that he can sit on the throne alone. The chorus celebrates the power of Providence in Chosroes’ punishment (ten alcaic stanzas). Act V is given over to punishment: Mardesanes is condemned to death, Vologeses has his eyes put out and Chosroes is executed after being forced to witness Mardesanes’ beheading. Rotrou put on, then published in 1649, a play with the same subject, in turn taking his plot from Baronius’s Annales, but also from Fr Cellot’s play.78 A tragedy called Cosroës had already been written by Father Thomas Le Blanc and staged in Pont-à-Mousson in 1629.79 A Heraclius, vainqueur de Chosroès was put on in the Collège de Carpentras in 1616 and the Collège de Dunkerque in 1669. Fr Cellot’s play was staged again at the end of the seventeenth century, being put on at the Jesuit College in Caen on 20 August 1693, with interludes made up of a comedy interspersed with dancing called Diogenes.80 On 6 August 1696, in the Jesuit College in Paris, a play entitled Chosroes, whose author was Father Joseph de Jouvancy, was performed, at the prize-giving ceremony. The Ballet de Mars ou de La Guerre was performed on this occasion.81 Cellot’s play may have inspired the Italian tragedy by Ignatio des’ Lazari in 1662, Cosroe, performed at the

78 See Pasquier, Le Théâtre de Rotrou; Jean de Rotrou, Cosroès, ed. Delmas, pp. 373– 546. For a literary study on spectres and shades in the tragedy, see Lavocat and Lecercle, Dramaturgies de l’ombre, esp. p. 49. For a study of monologues in Jesuit tragedies in relation to plays composed in French, see Cuénin-Lieber, Corneille et le monologue, p. 67, n. 139. 79 See Desgraves, Répertoire des programmes, p. 135. 80 Ibid., 39. 81 See Boysse, Le théâtre des Jésuites, p. 206, and Desgraves, Répertoire des programmes, p. 117. Boysse indicated that in 1688 this tragedy had already been staged with the title Heraclius sive Crux recepta.

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Seminario romano.82 In keeping with the taste of the second half of the seventeenth century for allegories, this added a prologue, in which the three Parcae, Atlas and Mercury appeared. Denis Petau’s Vsthazanes, sive Martyres Persici (1620) The plot of Petau’s Vsthanazes is taken from Sozomen’s Historia ecclesiastica (II, 9), a work written in the first half of the fifth century.83 The action takes place in 341 or 343 ad, when Sapor II, King of the Persians, starts to persecute the Christians. In the face of the expansion of Christianity in Persia, the magi, as guardians of traditional religion, accuse the Archbishop of Seleucia and Ctesiphon, Symeon, of being a friend of the Roman Emperor. Symeon, condemned to death, comes across Usthazanes as he is being led away and severely criticizes him. Usthazanes, in fact an already aged and highly respected eunuch (who had helped educate Sapor and become superintendent of the palace), had converted to Christianity but, to avoid persecution, was again worshiping the sun. Moved by his reproach, Usthazanes publicly renounces his worship of the sun. In a fit of wild anger, Sapor orders him to be beheaded. Usthazanes requests, in his final wishes, that it should be stated publicly that he was condemned to death not for having committed a fault in his duties but for having become a Christian. In this way, his death will constitute martyrdom. The play is unusual in having two choruses in the first act: a chorus of magi celebrating Fire and Mithra, then, at the end of the act, a chorus of Christians, in counterpoint. Each of the five acts finishes with a chorus of Christians. In Act I, Usthazanes and Dathys, two Christians, admit their fear of the worship of Fire and Mithra practised by the King and take flight on hearing the chorus of the magi. This scene is a fully expository one. Usthazanes’ fear at the start is in proportion to the courage he shows at the end of the play when he chooses martyrdom. King Sapor and the leader of the magi then enter. The King rejoices at all the blood offerings he has just made in

82 For the tragedy Cosroe written in Italian by Ignatio des’ Lazari in 1669 and acted in the Seminario Romano, see Filippi, Il teatro degli argomenti, pp. 274–77. Corneille himself took his inspiration from Baronius’s Annales ecclesiastici to write Héraclius, empereur d’Orient (1647). See also Gregory the Great, Paul the Deacon (Diaconus), Zonaras and Flavio Biondo. 83 Sozomenos, Historia ecclesiastica II, 9. See Sozomenos, Histoire ecclésiastique, books I–II, ed. Bidez. See also PG, 67; Baronius, Annales ecclesiastici, 3, Antwerp 1623, pp. 573–75. See also the Roman Martyrology for the date of 21 April.



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the temple of the Sun. These words foreshadow the cruelty he will show to the Christians and the blood of the martyrs he will spill. The head of the magi encourages the King to be ruthless against the Christians, whom he calls ‘rebels’, thus increasing his violence. Usthazanes then undergoes an interrogation where he is asked to say openly which god he believes in. The King has Usthazanes tortured to terrorize him into recanting his faith. In Act II, an angel appears to Symeon in prison and exhorts him to stand firm in his faith. Act III sees the confrontation between the king and Symeon, who is finally condemned to death. On leaving the room, Symeon refuses to allow Usthazanes to approach him because he continues to worship Mithra and Fire. This scene persuades Usthazanes to declare his faith in the God of the Christians. In Act IV, Usthazanes spontaneously admits his Christian faith to Sapor. Symeon thanks God for this conversion. Act V has the execution. The five choruses consist of twenty-three sapphic stanzas (Act I), seventy-five anapaestic dimeters and two adonics (Act II), fifty-four lesser asclepiads followed by forty-five glyconics (Act III), eighty-one mixed metre lines (‘cantica polymetra’) featuring glyconics in particular (Act IV), and seventeen lines based on anapaestic dimeters (Act V). Tragicomedy: The Example of Louis Cellot’s Reviviscentes (1630) This play, derived from history, portrays a family in which criminal passions will be played out.84 As is stated in the 1630 edition, Cellot loosely follows the first chapters (2 to 12) of book X of Apuleius’s Metamorphoses, in which Lucius tells of an attempted poisoning organized by an evil stepmother, aided by a no less evil slave. The attempt fails because the potion was just a simple drug. Apuleius was inviting his reader to read ‘a tragedy, not a story’, to rise ‘from the sock to the buskin.’85 The sock was the footwear of the comic actor in antiquity, as stated by Horace, the buskin that of the tragic actor.86 Apuleius, not without humour, had a mixture of tones in his narration: the amusing and unfortunate incidents

84 Boysse has made a summary of the play in his Le théâtre des Jésuites, pp. 340–41. 85 See Apuleius, Metamorphoses, X, 2: ‘Iam ergo, lectore optime, scito te tragoediam, non fabulam legere et a socco ad coturnum ascendere’; ‘Hereafter, excellent reader, know that you are reading a tragedy, not a tale, and that from the clog you rise up to the cothurnus.’ 86 Horace, Epistles, II, 1, 174; Ars poetica, 80 and 90.

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experienced by Lucius when he has been turned into an ass are found side by side with the gravitas of tragedy. Unlike earlier tragedies by Cellot, the play begins with a prologue, as was traditional in Roman comedies. Not only does this prologue set out the situation and clarify for the audience at the Collège de La Flèche that the action takes place in Thessaly, a mythical region for poisons and potions, but it advises that good morals are preserved. This play, which is not a tragedy, will have no courtesans, pimps or young lovers, as in Plautus and Terence’s comedies. Three values are at the heart of the plot: uirtus, probitas, fides. A man, Sosipater, has two sons: Eumenes, from a first marriage, and Charilaus, from a second. The play opens with a dialogue between the two young men who are about to indulge in their favourite pastime, hunting. In Act II, Charilaus’s mother, Cleostrata (a name taken from Plautus’s Casina), at the advice of a treacherous servant, Toxilus (a loaded name!), attempts to poison her husband’s first son. However, in Act III, it is her own son who, on his return from hunting, discovers the poison and, taking it for a thirst-quenching drink, swallows it. In fact, the doctor, Philander, who had provided the poison, had only given a powerful sleeping draught. Not only do neither of the two sons die, but a brother of their father, believed to have been killed by brigands, makes a reappearance. Several plots are interspersed in a way that is at times more redolent of the novel than the theatre. It is obviously in Act V that all is revealed and that Toxilus’s machinations are foiled. The author celebrates virtue and medicine. The character playing the head of the troupe (grex), taken from Roman comedy, comes on stage to address the audience asking them to applaud, and draws a moral from the plot. The play, which has no choruses, fits in with the criteria of tragicomedy: fictional middle-class characters, a plot that skilfully maintains suspense (combining several stories, many changes of fortune, and at least two characters at mortal risk), and a happy ending.87 A Prose Tragedy: Nicolas Caussin’s Hermenigildus (1620) Caussin’s tragedy Hermenigildus about the death of a martyr had a considerable impact.88 It was also the only play by Caussin (and also the only one 87 See Bray, La Formation de la Doctrine Classique en France, pp. 329–30; Mazouer, Le Théâtre français de l’Âge classique, pp. 59–71 and 443–97. 88 See Hocking, A Study of the Tragoediae sacrae of Father Caussin, pp. 54–66; Filippi, Il teatro degli argomenti, pp. 178–84, 314–17; Valentin, Les jésuites et le théâtre (1554–1680), pp. 489–502.



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of the whole tragic repertory recorded before 1630) to have been written in prose. The preface, addressed to the bishop of Paris Henri de Gondi (uncle of the future Cardinal de Retz), lays the foundations for a debate over the relative merits of prose and verse.89 Marc Fumaroli points to the reference in this dedication to Pierre Matthieu, a contemporary historian and tragic playwright.90 The beginning of Caussin’s dedication is moreover reminiscent of Cicero’s De inventione.91 In what appears to play down the effort needed to write the four earlier tragedies, Caussin admits the superiority of prose.92 In this way, he picks up one of the three aims of rhetoric (movere), but moves definitively away from verse to focus on history and eloquence. This is what he will do when he publishes the Cour sainte. Caussin’s final tragedy was probably performed in 1619. It was published with the others in 1620, the same year Caussin joined the Maison professe in Paris. He is no longer aiming at a school audience, but at the court. The decision to abandon poetry for ‘sacred’ prose was a turning point in his career. Besides, the Cour sainte, a gallery of portraits to imitate or reject, takes up historical figures present in the tragedies. The way they are presented differs: theological preaching, based on historical exempla and the tools of rhetoric, cannot limit itself to school tragedies. Prose is more likely to impress worldly minds, as it appears more natural: the expression affectatae industriae in fact refers to the effort needed to respect ancient versification; prose, on the other hand, is immediately accessible, and has a ‘more efficient’ effect on people’s minds. The tragedy Hermenigildus, referred to as an actio oratoria (a rhetorical representation) conveys noble intentions, beyond simple school work. The plot of the play,93 taken from the Histoire des Francs by Gregory of Tours (and also Gregory the Great and Baronius),94 presents the conversion to Catholicism in 579/580 and then the death of Hermenegild (in Tarragona in 585), one of the two sons of the Goth King Leovigild, 89 Boysse has translated this dedicatory letter in Le théâtre des Jésuites, p. 346. 90 See Fumaroli, L’âge de l’éloquence, pp. 284–85. 91 ‘Dubitavi saepe (Cardinalis Illustrissime) quo telo potentius feriret animos Eloquentia, num vincta, num soluta oratione’; ‘I have often wondered, illustrious Cardinal, with what weapon Eloquence could astonish more powerfully one’s mind, whether in poetry or in prose’. 92 ‘Est enim Eloquentia flumen mentis, quod profecto sine istis numerorum vinculis fluit liberius, et quo minus habet affectatae industriae, movet efficacius’; ‘Eloquence, in fact, is the river of the mind, which surely flows more freely without these chains imposed by scansion and moves all the more efficiently in that it shows less affected ardour.’ 93 This plot met with great success until the eighteenth century. See, for example, the plays written by Vernulz and Avancini. 94 See Baronius, Annales ecclesiastici, 7, Antwerp 1658, pp. 648–49 and 656–57 (constantia et martyrium Hermenegildi, in 584 ad).

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a follower of Arianism and King of Spain.95 Hermenegild has married Ingundis, the daughter of Sigebert I, King of the Franks. The action takes place in Seville. Against the expectations of his father and stepmother, Grosuinda, Hermenegild was converted to Catholicism by his wife. Refusing to recant his new faith and obey his father’s demands, he was finally arrested and put to death. As in the plot of Theodoricus, Caussin introduces slanderers who present the King with letters proving his treason, which Hermenegild is alleged to have sent to the Greeks.96 Leovigild, like Theodoric in Theodoricus, allows himself to be deceived. Once again, a basically religious tragedy doubles up with a political message: the King, blinded by fury, has his son killed. He only learns at the end of the play of his innocence. One could point to a parallel with Hippolytus in ancient tragedies about Phaedra. Theseus hastily condemned his son to death on the basis of mere appearances. Because the play is in prose, it cannot be divided into acts but into partes. It is unusual in not having any female characters, perhaps in obedience with the recommendations of the Ratio studiorum. However, this decision is all the more surprising in that Caussin did not follow them in his earlier plays, and the plot could have made the most of Leovigild’s wife, an Arian, and Hermenegild’s wife, a Catholic. Tragedies Inspired by Ancient History Plots taken from ancient pagan history distinguish the lessons provided to students. For the most part highly rhetorical, they present historical characters according to ancient sources handed down by historians. Dialogues, monologues and declamations are thus the rhetorical development and application of ideas taken from ancient sources. Desgraves’ index records all the plays about mythical or historical heroes from antiquity acted in the seventeenth century that have survived as programmes. Even if these plays do not have the immediate aim of the religious edification of the audience, the plots underline the moral values of the ancient texts. In presenting generals, princes or kings, they teach, for example, which lines of conduct to follow or avoid. We only have complete versions of four plays by Pierre Mousson and one by Denis Petau. The most famous Jesuit 95 See Fontaine, ‘L’Espagne’; Deswarte, ‘La rumeur de sainteté: Herménégilde (VIe–XIIIe siècles)’. 96 Hocking, A Study of the Tragoediae sacrae of Father Caussin, pp. 57 and 61.



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tragedy taken from Roman history is perhaps Brutus by Charles Porée.97 The Jesuits, by placing themselves in the tradition of the first Latin tragedy of French Humanism, Muret’s Iulius Caesar, are associating themselves with their contemporaries’ taste for historical plays. Garnier’s plays offer a model for anyone wishing to draw on ancient history. Pierre Mousson’s Pompeius Magnus (1621) The Pompeius Magnus (‘Pompey the Great’) of Pierre Mousson presents the fall of Pompey, conquered by Caesar. Drawing on Greek and Roman historians, on Lucan’s Civil War, but also the staging of the civil wars in Rome in contemporary theatre, such as Robert Garnier (in Marc Antoine, Porcie or Cornélie),98 Mousson deals with one of the most famous tragic themes: the fall of a great name from Roman history. Whereas in the next three plays the titles of the plays clearly show the nature of the plot (liberation, punishment, treason), the decision to use Pompey’s nickname (magnus) allows the author to emphasize the frailty of any greatness that does not derive from God. The reversal is all the more striking in that the hero is bathed in glory. Besides, the audience know the fate that awaits his victor. In fact, Pierre Mousson took his inspiration from Marc-Antoine Muret’s Iulius Caesar for the structure of the tragedy and the portrayal of the main characters. But, while in Muret’s tragedy Julius Caesar doesn’t care what his close relations (particularly Calpurnia) say about portents, Mousson’s drama begins with the protagonist’s distress after a disquieting dream. So when in Muret’s tragedy Julius Caesar braves alone his fate, Pompeius must face his doubts in Mousson’s tragedy. Pierre Mousson’s Croesus liberatus (1621) For his Croesus tragedy Croesus liberatus (‘The Freeing of Croesus’) Father Mousson follows Herodotus’s Histories (I, 29–91) to show, by a spectacular  reversal of fortune, how unwise it is to declare oneself blessed.99 The theme takes up the ancient topos, often played out (in Ovid’s Metamorphoses, for example), of the weight of destiny and the jealousy of 97 On the interest aroused by ancient history in the early eighteenth century, see Flamarion, Théâtre jésuite et Antiquité, pp. 237–89. 98 See Petrus Mussonius, Tragoediae, ed. Rieks and Geus; Ehl, La réception des figures historiques; Ehl, ‘Les couleurs de l’Envie dans Pompeius Magnus de Pierre Mousson’; Ternaux, Lucain et la littérature de l’âge baroque en France, pp. 316–72. 99 Ehl, after Rieks, gives in her La réception des figures historiques many details about the sources of each act.

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the gods. Croesus, King of Lydia, prides himself on his renown. Solon urges him to adopt a more measured behaviour. Croesus, despite being warned in a dream about the imminent death of one of his sons, is unable to prevent this brutal misfortune. The tragic irony is that his son is accidentally killed by a man Croesus himself had purged of the contamination of an earlier crime. This man bears a revealing name: Adrastus, that is ‘the Inevitable’. Then Croesus, incorrectly interpreting an oracle of Apollo, goes to war against the Persian King Cyrus. He overthrows, as he had learnt from the oracle, a vast kingdom, but it is his own. Beaten, he realizes that his pride has led to his downfall and only escapes death at the stake through the final intervention of Solon. The first book of Herodotus’s Histories, which mostly deals with the reign of Croesus, showed how frail and blind is the power of the great, who are always exposed to temptation and excess. Cyrus punitus by Pierre Mousson (1621) The tragedy Cyrus punitus (‘The Punishment of Cyrus’) presents the King of the Persians100 punished by Tomyris, the Queen of the Massagetae, for causing the death of Spargapises. In fact, when she learns the conditions under which her son Spargapises had lost his life, the Queen sends her troops against Cyrus. At the end of the battles, Cyrus’s body is found and the Persian King’s head is plunged into a wineskin. Once again Mousson takes the basis of his plot from Herodotus’s Histories (I, 201–14). Cyrus was massacred and his body mistreated for treacherously conquering Queen Tomyris’s son. He had laid a trap for him by allowing some of his troops to be beaten by the Massagetae, while leaving, in the recently captured camp, an abundance of food and wine. When the troops of the Massagetae were drunkenly celebrating their victory, Cyrus returned with his best troops and massacred the whole enemy. Ashamed at having been tricked in this way, Spargapises, whose life had been spared, killed himself when he sobered up. By calling his tragedy Cyrus punitus Mousson is able to emphasize the inexorable punishment which awaits a king whose conduct is guided by treachery. But the punishment of having his head plunged into a vessel of blood culminates in inflicting on Cyrus a shame worse than that suffered by Spargapises. If the lesson is once more a moral 100 A. Cullière has told me that Jean-Henri Aubery S.J. (1572–1652) published a play, Cyrus, in 1619 (Toulouse, Veuve Jacques Colomiès, 4°, 174 p.), two years before P. Mousson. See Sommervogel, Bibliothèque de la Compagnie de Jésus, I, p. 619; VIII, p. 1703.



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one (the vessel of blood symbolizes Cyrus’s monstrous cruelty), the tragedy also shows the raging madness of a mother. Experiencing dreadful grief when she hears of her son’s death, Tomyris is in the tradition of heroines who in the horror of their crimes outdo the darkest deeds committed by men. A revenge tragedy, Cyrus punitus, contrary to the recommendations of the Ratio studiorum, presents on stage a woman who could have been the eponymous protagonist of the play. Pierre Mousson’s Darius proditus (1621) In his Darius proditus (‘Darius Betrayed’, 1621) Mousson follows closely the story in Quintus Curtius (History of Alexander the Great, III–V) to present the fall of Darius, the Persian King conquered by Alexander the Great. Darius does not die facing Alexander in battle, but is betrayed through a plot instigated by Bessus and Nabarzanes. While the play underlines the pathetic downfall of a king following a reversal of fortune, it particularly denounces the treachery of the King’s entourage. It is thus part of a rich tradition of plays which reveal the evil part played by bad, scandalmongering counsellors or traitors inspired by the hope of a reward. Denis Petau’s Carthaginienses (1614) This play, sometimes inappropriately called Dido,101 was probably staged at the Jesuit College in Reims in 1608 or 1609.102 The action takes place in Byrsa, the Carthaginian citadel,103 when the town is being besieged by the soldiers of Scipio Aemilianus at the end of the Third Punic War. The Argumentum shows that the plot, taken from the Greek historian Appian (Roman History, VIII, 610–30),104 tells of the betrayal of Hasdrubal, who has surrendered to Scipio, and the pride of his wife, who killed her children and leapt with them into the flames, rather than surrendering to the enemy.105 Another version of events reported that Hasdrubal’s wife had 101 See the summary of the Opera Poetica published in Paris by Sébastien Cramoisy in 1624; Fumaroli, ‘Aspects’; I discovered this study after submission of the text. 102 See Desgraves, Répertoire des programmes, p. 140. 103 See Strabo, Geography, XVII, 3, 14. 104 See Appian, Histoire romaine, vol. IV, book VIII (Le livre africain), ed. Goukowsky, pp. 116–20. For the account of the heroic death of Hasdrubal’s wife, Goukowsky has also referred to Florus, Epitome of Roman History, I, 31, 17 and Orosius, Historiae adversum paganos, IV, 23, 4. Florus and Orosius established the parallel between Hasdrubal’s wife and Dido. 105 See also Polybius, The Histories, XXXVIII, 20 and Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca historica, XXXII, 23.

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attempted to seek refuge with the enemy.106 Petau introduces this episode into his plot. The appearance of the shade of Dido in the first scene— which justifies the title Dido sometimes given to the play—offers a parallel between the suicide of Hasdrubal’s wife and that of the Queen of Carthage.107 One also inevitably thinks of Sophonisba’s suicide at the end of the Second Punic War.108 Petau takes from Seneca, then, the return to earth of a damned soul in the opening scene. This is usually to spread misfortune or to fulfil a curse, often linked with its own fate. This Dido, the founding Queen of Carthage, announces the downfall and final destruction of the city she had built. And if Carthage was marked by the suicide of its first queen, it will be so again by the suicide of Hasdrubal’s wife. A double female suicide then marks the birth and destruction of a city. The appearance of Dido’s shade is modelled on that of Tantalus or Thyestes in Seneca’s plays. This exposition scene also serves to indicate the unity of time and the model to be followed: not the example of Dido, but of Medea, the infanticide mother. The chorus of Carthaginians then laments the impermanence of glory (forty-seven glyconics). Act II begins with a long pathos-filled monologue from Maharbal, a Carthaginian senator, who fills in the necessary information. In the next scene, Hasdrubal’s intransigence is met with his wife’s complaints. Hasdrubal refuses to ask the Romans for mercy. He then persists in his excessive behaviour before the senators, Maharbal and the deserters. The same chorus intones, to finish with, its prayers (seventeen sapphic stanzas). Act III presents the action in the Roman camp. Marcus Aemilius, back from Rome, announces to Scipio that the Senate is calling for the complete destruction of Carthage. Carthaginian envoys come to seek mercy from Scipio. After he has spoken to his troops, the Carthaginian envoys return. A chorus of Carthaginians complains at having to leave their country for ever (sixty-five anapaestic dimeters and an adonic). While Act IV presents the Roman victory and the surrender of Hasdrubal (ending with a chorus of sixty-six lesser asclepiads), Act V is entirely given over to the grim heroism of Hasdrubal’s wife, who is compared to the infanticide Medea. 106 See Livy, History of Rome, Periochae, ex libro LI, 5 and Zonaras, Roman History, IX, 30, 468 c–d. 107 See Lancel, Carthage, pp. 36–37; Poinsotte, ‘L’image de Didon dans l’Antiquité tardive’. 108 See Livy, History of Rome, XXX, 12–17.



jesuit neo-latin tragedy in france455 The Influence of Seneca’s Tragedies

French Jesuit poets followed the example of Italian Jesuits in their choice of Seneca as a model for tragedy. Bernardino Stefonio, in his Crispus, had opened the way. The example of Denis Petau’s Carthaginienses will illustrate the importance of the Senecan model. Thus right from the beginning of the play, whose plot takes place in the Third Punic War, Dido, like a cursed Senecan character, returns from hell to announce that a new crime will be committed in her kingdom: Quae me profunda sede ab inferni Iouis Vmbris negati spatia relegentem aetheris, Excepit orbis regio? Quae tellus habet? Agnosco. Libyae uideo feruentes plagas, Et adusta sole regna.109 (I come from the deep abode of infernal Jupiter, wandering again through the space of air that shadows are forbidden to go through; what area of the world has welcomed me? What ground has me in its possession? I recognize it. I see the burning tracts of Libya and the sun-baked kingdoms.)

And Hasdrubal’s wife, far from merely resembling Dido, experiences the same hesitation as Medea before murdering her children. In Act V, Scene iv, alone on stage with her children, she exclaims: Coniux Puer Coniux

Puer Puer

Adeste gnati. Mater. Ah! pectus fodit Vincitque mater. Viuite. Ego stirpis meae Spargam cruorem? Quid doles? Quid fles, parens?

109 Dionysii Petavii Aurelianensis e societate Iesu Opera Poetica, Editio tertia auctior et emendatior, Parisiis: apud Sebastianum Cramoisy, MDCXXIV, 1. Lines 1 and 2 of the quotation are a rewriting of Seneca, Thyestes, 1; Hercules furens, 47; Agamemnon, 574 and 993. Line 3 is a rewriting of Virgil, Aeneid, IX, 490–91. Lines 4 and 5 are a rewriting of Seneca, Hercules furens, 235–36.

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Puer Coniux

Flenda et dolenda patimur. Ætati, puer, Inuideo uestrae; quod mala haec nondum rudis Persentit animus. Vtinam et hoc quiret parens! Vbinam est pater? Quid, gnate, sopita excitas Rursum et reponis odia? Quid patrem cies? Vrit paternum nomen et matrem asperat Stimulatque: ut acres iacula proritant feras: Iterum furori reddor. In facinus male Compressa rabies gliscit.110

(The wife: Be with me, my children.111 A child: O mother! The wife: The love felt by a mother tears my heart to pieces and wins.112 Live! How could I shed my own flesh and blood! A child: Why do you feel pain? Another child: Why do you weep, mother? The wife: I have only tears and pain about what I feel. I envy you your age, my child; because your heart, very young, doesn’t yet feel these misfortunes. May your mother be like you! A child: Where is our father? The wife: Why, my child, do you rouse and remind me of my hatred? Why do you call your father? That name of father burns and inflames the mother I am and it stirs me up: as seeing weapons urges violent animals forward: again I have surrendered to my frenzy. Rage, which I can barely retain, is increasing into crime.)113

The wife is conquered first of all by her motherly heart, but the innocent allusion, to the ‘father’ by a child rekindles and exacerbates the criminal hatred of the mother. Alone on the stage (Scene v) she decides, in a long soliloquy, to take revenge on her husband (‘Ulcisci cupis?’114 ‘Do you wish to be avenged?’) and she calms her hatred by killing her children because, although they are certainly hers, they have, in her eyes, become merely her husband’s: ‘En gnatos habes. / Tua sunt, tua illi uiscera’115 (‘Here are your children. It’s your flesh, yes, yours’). This cry, even if Hasdrubal’s wife is alone on stage, is an echo of Medea to Jason in Seneca’s Medea, line 500: ‘tua illa, tua sunt illa’ (where illa refers not to the children, but to the 110 Ibid., l. 77. 111 Borrowed from, Thyestes, l. 1002: ‘adeste, nati.’ The borrowing is striking since Thyestes’ sons are already dead when their father summons them. 112 Cf. Seneca, Agamemnon, l. 239: ‘amor iugalis uincit.’ 113 There is a similar iunctura (gliscit rabies) in Plautus, Captiui, l.. 558. Cf. Lucretius, De rerum natura IV, l. 1069 and Virgil, Aeneid, XII, l. 9. Cf. Ps.-Seneca, Octauia, 944, ‘ruit in facinus.’ 114 Dionysii Petavii … Opera Poetica, p. 78. 115 Ibid.



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crimes he has committed). In Act V, Scene x, following Medea’s example, she kills her two children in front of their father, but also in front of Scipio, then kills herself with a final taunt to her husband: ‘exemplum cape’116 (‘Follow my example’). Joining the ranks of filicidal mothers (Medea, Procne), the wife creates the dramatic intrigue and transforms those whom she hates (her husband and Scipio) into powerless witnesses and spectators of her tragic crime. A messenger then announces to Scipio that Hasdrubal has taken his life with his sword. Such an unfolding of cruelty traps the characters in a fatal mechanism which is a long way away from Christian edification. However, this is a school exercise in rewriting which is not devoid of some moral: the tragedy, by inspiring pity and fear, must inspire the horror of violence. One can imagine how much the increasingly large audience who came to watch Jesuit plays acted in colleges might be impressed. From the single scene in Act I, Petau was already openly rivalling his Senecan tragic model, showing on stage an even more monstrous abomination when the shade of Dido exclaims: Quid leuia querimur? maius haec quanto dies Monstrum uidebit! Quale Phasiacae nefas Ephyrea tellus uidit: arreptam uiro Spectante prolem mater (horrendum loquor) Furibunda mater perimet. Ergo unum malis Restabat illud, sceleris ut tanti capax Cartago fieres? Labe pollutam impia Eadem, et cadentem summa respiceret dies?117 (Why do we lament over slight sorrows? This day will see a monstrosity still more outrageous! like the sacrilege of the wife of Phasis at which the ground of Ephyra was present: the mother, getting into a fury, will catch and murder (what an awful act I am announcing!) her children in front of her husband’s eyes. So was this the only remaining one of your evils: that you, Carthage, should be burdened with such a crime? That the final day should see Carthage at the same time being sullied with a sacrilegious stain and falling into destruction?)

The first verse of the quotation is inspired by Seneca, Hercules furens, 63; the expression sceleris… tanti capax is imitated from Hercules Œtaeus 1419, Œdipus 930 and Phoenissae 159. The scene in which the boys are caught by their mother reminds us of the one where Medea sacrificed her children.

116 Ibid., p. 88. 117 Ibid., p. 4.

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The word Phasiacae comes from Seneca, Agamemnon 120 or Hercules Œtaeus 950. Jesuit tragedy, like many vernacular plays, in this way becomes a workshop for the writing, or rather rewriting, of Senecan theatre. An Outline of Jesuit Theatre in the Second Half of the Seventeenth and Early Eighteenth Centuries Around 1630, an initial period corresponding to the birth of Jesuit theatre comes to an end. After this, there were more and more productions, as well as treatises and arts of poetry; the taste for spectacle and scenery, and the influence of secular vernacular theatre helped renew the repertory in the colleges.118 A number of studies have been written on this second phase of the history of Jesuit theatre. Edith Flamarion has analysed the links between the Jesuit theatre and antiquity in relation to Charles Porée’s Brutus (1708) and Anne Piéjus has edited the Proceedings of a colloquium devoted to spectacle in the colleges of the Ancien Régime. The first of these two works has allowed the definition of the characteristics of Jesuit theatre in the early eighteenth century and the second has brought to light an aspect of this theatre which has long been misunderstood: its predilection for the spectacular. I will limit myself here to mentioning the greatest names of the Jesuit poets whose works we still have. Charles de La Rue (1643–1725), well known for his preaching skills,119 continued the tragic vein of ancient history. He is the author of a tragedy called Cyrus, inspired by Herodotus’s Histories (I, 107–30) and acted at the Collège de Clermont for the prize-giving ceremony on 2 August 1673.120 The play, which has no chorus, is about the prediction made to the King of the Medes, Astyages, that he would one day be overthrown by the son of his daughter, Mandane. But Cyrus arouses admiration and Astyages, in Act V, gives him part of his empire to govern. A prologue and a final eulogy of the King were written by Jean Baptiste de Pomereu de la Bretesche. In the list of the actors’ names in the programme figure is that of Gabriel François Le Jay, at that time aged sixteen, who would become one of the

118 Lebègue, ‘Les ballets des Jésuites’ (1936, repr. in 1978), pp. 167–208. 119 See Sommervogel, Bibliothèque de la Compagnie de Jésus, III, col. 415–25; Boysse, Le théâtre des Jésuites, pp. 26, 77, 92, 103, 153. 120 See Paris, BnF: Yf-1076 (1); Desgraves, Répertoire des programmes, p. 103.



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great playwrights of the Company. He played the part of Pedranes, a favourite of Astyages. On this occasion, the ballet entitled L’Empire du soleil was performed. This was a linked ballet, since the name Cyrus means Sun in Persian, as the programme points out. Each part of the ballet is made up of five entrances. The four parts of the ballet cover the sovereignty of the Sun over the heavens (1), the seasons (2), the elements (3), and time (4). The general ballet represents the victory of the sun ‘in the midst of the planets and stars’. Fourteen dancers made up the troupe. The full title of this tragedy was Cyrus restitutus. Charles de La Rue wrote a second tragedy called Cyrus, inspired by Herodotus and Justin, which was performed on 17 August 1679 at the Collège de Clermont, still for the prizegiving, but with a different plot.121 It is this second tragedy that appears with the title Cyrus in the 1680 edition: Astyages, scared by a dream which causes him to fear that he will be dethroned by the son of his daughter Mandane, marries her to Cambyses, a Persian. As soon as he learns of the birth of his grandson, he orders Harpagus to kill the child. When he learns much later that the child is still alive, Astyages takes revenge by killing Harpagus’s son and having his father eat his son’s flesh. Astyages is then conquered in a war waged against him by Cyrus and Harpagus. Other events in the life of Cambyses or Cyrus are mixed into the plot. Another tragedy by Charles de La Rue has been handed down: Agathocles122 printed with the title Lysimachus.123 This tragedy, under the title Agathocles, was staged at the Collège de Clermont on 8 February 1668.124 It was acted with the title Lysimachus on 27 August 1670 at the Collège de Caen and on 5 August 1677 at the Collège de Clermont (with the ballet Persée).125 Also without a chorus, this tragedy takes its historical context from Pausanias (Description of Greece, I (Attica), 10) and Justin (Historiarum Philippicarum libri XLIV, XVII) and follows the poetic model of Seneca’s Hippolytus. At the beginning of the third century bc, the King of Thrace and Macedonia, Lysimachus, listening to the scandals spread by his second wife, Arsinoé, has his son from a former marriage, Agathocles, poisoned. This plot, then, follows the tradition of Bernardino Stefonio’s Crispus.

121 See BnF Rés. Yf-2648; see Boysse, Le théâtre des Jésuites, p. 171–77. 122 See Boysse, Le théâtre des Jésuites, pp. 153–56, 169–71; Valentin, ‘Collège royal, collège épiscopal’, pp. 307–08. 123 He may also be the author of a tragedy, Sylla, written in French. 124 See Desgraves, Répertoire des programmes, p. 100. 125 Ibid., pp. 38 and 105.

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jean-frédéric chevalier Other Jesuit Playwrights: Jouvancy, Le Jay, Porée

Joseph de Jouvancy, or Jouvency (1643–1719), a rhetoric teacher at the Collège de La Flèche and then at Louis-le-Grand, put on in the latter college eleven tragedies between 1674 and 1697. But he is above all known for publishing the Ratio docendi et discendi, a pedagogical treatise emphasizing the importance of a theatre of moderation (no female characters, no plays in French, no extravagant scenery).126 Anne Piéjus has produced the most recent study of his theatrical work and the influence of his Ratio docendi et discendi.127 Even if we no longer have his tragedies, we can know their plots thanks to the programmes:128 historical or mythological plays like Polymestor (1689), Posthumius dictator (1697) or Charlemagne (1698); martyr tragedies like Chosroes (1696); or plays on the early years of Christianity, like Heraclius sive Crux recepta (1688). A full list of plays including details about their staging has been made by Anne Piéjus.129 Gabriel-François Le Jay (1657–1734) was also a rhetoric teacher at Louisle-Grand.130 He wrote a martyr tragedy (Eustachius martyr on the martyrdom of Eustachius in the reign of Hadrian), four tragedies based on biblical history (Josephus fratres agnoscens from Genesis 45, Josephus venditus from Genesis 37, Josephus Aegypto praefectus from Genesis 41, Daniel seu verus Dei cultus in Oriente restitutus from Deuteronomy 6),131 three plays from ancient history (Croesus following Herodotus, I; Abdolominus following Quintus Curtius; Damocles sive Philosophus regnans following Cicero, Tusculan Disputations, and Horace, Odes, III, 1)132 and several other dramas. Le Jay speaks of the aesthetic aspects and the reception of his plays in each of their prefaces. He was particularly proud of their success and the tears shed by the audience (‘nec sine piis spectatorum lacrymis’).133 All his plays are illustrative of virtues. In Abdolominus, for example, the 126 See Boysse, Le théâtre des Jésuites, pp. 26–27 and passim. 127 See Piéjus (2008), pp. 9–17 for a presentation. All the papers in the review turn on Jouvancy’s tragedy Polymestor and Pascal Collasse’s ballet called Sigalion ou le secret. Anne Piéjus has published the French programmes of the tragedy and the ballet in an appendix (2008, pp. 109–15). See also Flamarion, Théâtre jésuite et Antiquité, p. 130 and passim. 128 See Desgraves, Répertoire des programmes, pp. 108–22. 129 See Desgraves, Répertoire des programmes, pp. 103–19; Piéjus (2008), pp. 11–12. 130 See Flamarion, Théâtre jésuite néo-latin et Antiquité, p. 129 and passim. See also Boysse, Le théâtre des Jésuites, pp. 28–29, 37–38, 42–46, 51–54, 60–62, 70, 94–97, 122, 138, 185–87, 198, 208, 212–15, 221–25, 231, 254, 259. 131 See Boysse, Le théâtre des Jésuites, pp. 201–04, 215–20, 226–29, 233–39, 242–51. 132 See ibid., pp. 229–33. 133  Le Jay, Bibliotheca rhetorum praecepta et exempla…, II, p. 125.



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action takes place in Sidon when Alexander the Great appoints as the head of the city one of his distant relatives, Abdolomines, who preferred to live a simple life, corresponding to the topos of aurea mediocritas (the golden mean). In Damocles, the King of Syracuse Dionysius gives up his place to the philosopher Damocles to show how unenviable the state of kingship is. Le Jay is also the author of a number of ballets, a liber de choreis dramaticis, and of several comedies illustrating moral values.134 Charles Porée (1676–1741) was, in the early eighteenth century, one of the greatest names in the French Jesuit theatre. He wrote seven tragedies (including a Hermenigildus) and seven comedies, and was one of the best known teachers at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand. Since a recent monograph has been devoted to him,135 we will confine ourselves to referring briefly to his theatrical output as well as to the polemic with the Jansenists on the status of the theatre. The tragedy Brutus, in five acts, inspired by Livy (Roman History, II, 1–5) and Aurelius Victor (De viris illustribus, 10), deals with a well-known event in Roman history. After the expulsion of the Tarquins and the fall of the monarch in 509 bc, the first consul of Rome, Lucius Junius Brutus, has his two sons put to death, because they had tried to bring the Tarquins back to Rome.136 The tragedy shows the protagonist’s internal dillemma of being a father to his country and putting his two sons to death - or being a father to his sons and saving their lives: Hortatur inde Consulem patria, hinc patrem amor paternus retinet; ultricem manum patria reposcit, sistit ultricem manum natura, victrix utra cor victum reget? Consulne patrem, an Consulem vincet pater? (On the one hand, the country urges the consul, on the other hand the father’s love retains the father; the country demands an avenging hand, nature holds the same avenging hand, which of both will victoriously control my overwhelmed heart? Will the consul prevail over the father, or the father over the consul? Brutus ll. 1202–06)

Porée’s most famous pupil, Voltaire (1694–1778) was inspired by this play to write his own tragedy, Brutus (1730), with the same theme.137 134 See Boysse, Le théâtre des Jésuites, pp. 347–52 and passim. 135 See Flamarion, Théâtre jésuite néo-latin et Antiquité. 136 See Boysse, Le théâtre des Jésuites, pp. 239–42, 278–81. 137 Our thanks to Lien Bulens, who wrote a master’s thesis on the comparison between Porée’s and Voltaire’s Brutus and pointed to these crucial lines.

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In the tragedy Hermenigildus, also in five acts, the son of the King of the Goths, Leovigildus, embraces Catholicism and ventures to revolt against his father. Betrayed by his Greek soldiers, he takes refuge in a temple and then surrenders to his father. As he refuses to renounce his faith, he is put to death on his father’s orders.138 Mauricius Imperator is a five-act tragedy, inspired by Baronius’s Annales ecclesiastici (ad 602).139 The eastern emperor has had thousands of prisoners murdered. He repents and asks God to punish him. God tells him that his wish is granted. At the same moment Phocas enters Constantinople and takes power. Emperor Mauricius and his two sons are put to death. Sennacherib is set in Nineveh in the palace of the King of the Assyrians. This five-act biblical play, inspired by II Kings 19 and Tobit 1, 15–22, concerns the madness and death of King Sennacherib.140 In Sephoebus Myrsa, in Persepolis, Abases, King of the Persians, on hearing the slanders of one of his satraps (Barsanes), orders the death of his son Sephoebus Myrsa. Broken with grief on hearing that his son was innocent, he orders the man responsible for his death to have his own son killed. Each of the three acts of this play is followed by an interlude in French.141 Agapitus Martyr is a three-act Latin tragedy with French interludes. The prologue consists of four scenes which make up the first interlude (a chorus of young idolaters); the second and third interludes are made up of three scenes; the fourth interlude, also of three scenes, ends the play. Inspired by Baronius, it tells of the martyrdom of Agapitus, a fifteen-yearold Christian in the reign of Aurelian.142 Apart from these tragedies, Porée also wrote several comic dramas to illustrate vices and virtues in scenes of everyday life,143 and a speech on the theatre read in public at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand on 13 March 1733 (De Theatro), at a time when the querelle du théâtre was becoming current again.144

138 Ibid., pp. 272–73, 315–18. 139 Ibid., pp. 251–52, 268–71, 287–88, 305–06. 140 Ibid., pp. 283–87, 291–93 and 306–07. 141 Ibid., pp. 29–30 and 282–83. 142 Ibid., pp. 267–68. 143 See ibid., pp. 60–61, 100–03, 310–15 and passim. 144 The text has been edited in: Porée, De Theatro (1733), ed. Flamarion.



jesuit neo-latin tragedy in france463 Jesuit Plays: Spectacle and Rhetoric in the Theatre

While the Jesuits were the heirs of the medieval tradition that, founded on the authority of the opening pages of Aristotle’s Metaphysics, linked poetry to theology, they also subscribed to a more recent tradition of giving a literary framework drawn from ancient tragedy to a plot taken from religious history (the Old Testament, the New Testament or saints’ lives). It is also unnecessary to insist on the edifying aims of the Jesuit theatre in French colleges and others near the kingdom of France in the early seventeenth century, from L’Histoire Tragique de la Pucelle de Dom-Rémy aultrement d’Orléans (1580) by Fronton du Duc to the plays of Louis Cellot (1630). We could also underline the influence of medieval mystery plays and note the extent to which the early Jesuit theatre in Sicily fell into the tradition of medieval religious plays. This sort of theatre illustrated, indeed, the Society of Jesus’s monogram: the nails of the cross. As school dramas, Jesuit tragedies above all fitted into a spectacle made up of interludes, ballets, dance and music. In aiming to illustrate lessons in rhetoric and the humanities, they nowadays suffer comparison with the contemporary vernacular theatre. Significantly, Boysse opens his chapter on the ‘Répertoire du théâtre du Collège Louis Le Grand’ by reporting the view of Dreux du Radier (Récréations historiques) who was present at the performance of two Latin tragedies at the Collège de Clermont in 1635, in particular Neanias or Procopius martyr: ‘It is a historical event in dialogue form’, he reports.145 And he justifies his judgment by insisting that it is a play that has neither ‘exposition, nor intrigue, nor dénouement’. It is not for nothing that he sums up the plot in this way: the hero becomes a Christian in the first act; he publicly proclaims his new faith in the second; he is judged by the Emperor in the third; he refuses to recant his faith in the fourth; he suffers martyrdom in the fifth. Even if this tragedy is otherwise unknown to us today, such an analysis corresponds to the plots of a good many extant martyr plays. It may well be illusory to expect to find in this theatre the expression of a troubled conscience: the martyr spontaneously offers his life to God.146 In all of these largely apologetic plays, the

145 See Boysse, Le théâtre des Jésuites, pp. 113–14. 146 See Valentin, Les jésuites et le théâtre (1554–1680), p. 494: ‘Les drames de martyrs se situent tous dans l’atmosphère glorieuse de la résurrection et de la victoire sur la mort.’ On the history and themes of hagiographic plays in France and Spain in the seventeenth century, see Teulade, Le théâtre hagiographique en France et en Espagne au XVIIe siècle. Essai de poétique comparée.

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hero does not possess the characteristics recommended by Aristotle as being necessary to inspire pity. Jesuit plays prefer, rather, to set in opposition totally good characters with those who are totally envious, slanderous or blinded by passion. Pity and fear are certainly experienced, but the entire theatre relies essentially on the principle of admiration. The influence of Jesuit plays is thus explained in the contemporary theatre, particularly the plays of Corneille.147 But another major quality of the Jesuit theatre, apart from the ballets, is in the Latin writing of tragedy inspired by the formal framework of Seneca’s plays. Work on the iambic trimeter or the lyric metres confirms the virtuosity of Jesuit poets in imitating ancient models. The slightest scene is so full of learned references that it can be thought of as a writing workshop. The dramatic plot, inspired by sacred or Roman history, thus reveals which books, which interpretations of antiquity, were practised by the Jesuits. The best example of these praelectiones is provided by the monumental work that Martín Antonio del Rio dedicated to the tragedies of Seneca. The ancient heritage is taken up for the values he is asked to represent: the reception of literary models from pagan antiquity paradoxically allows the celebration of Christian Providence. Further Reading Some general works on French Jesuit Theatre are: Boysse, Ernest, Le théâtre des Jésuites (Paris: Henri Vatton, 1880; repr. Geneva: Slatkine, 1970). Conte, Sophie (ed.), Nicolas Caussin: Rhétorique et spiritualité à l’époque de Louis XIII: Actes du colloque de Troyes (16–17 septembre 2004) (Münster: LIT Verlag, 2007) Ars Rhetorica, 19. Dainville, François de, l’Éducation des jésuites (XVIe–XVIIIe siècles), ed. by Marie-Madeleine Compère (Paris: Les Éditions de Minuit, 1978; repr. 1991). Fumaroli, Marc, L’âge de l’éloquence: Rhétorique et ‘res literaria’ de la Renaissance au seuil de l’époque classique (Geneva: Droz, 1980; repr. Paris, Albin Michel, 1994; Geneva: Droz, 2002). Gofflot, L.-V., Le théâtre au collège: Du moyen-âge à nos jours (Paris: Champion, 1907). Naudeix, Laura, ‘Le ballet de Sigalion: La tradition au service de la jeunesse’, XVIIe siècle, 238 (2008), 41–55. Piéjus, Anne (ed.), Plaire et instruire: Le spectacle dans les collèges de l’Ancien Régime (Rennes: Presses Universitaires de Rennes, 2007).

147 Stegmann, L’héroïsme cornélien, pp. 5–100; Fumaroli, Héros et orateurs.



jesuit neo-latin tragedy in france465 Appendix Main Jesuit Playwrights in France

Caussin S.J., Nicolas (1583–1651), native of Troyes, taught at the Colleges of La Flèche and Clermont before entering the Jesuit order. Although he wrote sixteen books on the Eloquentiae sacrae et humanae parallela and five tragoediae sacrae, he was mainly known for being the author of Cour sainte and for being one of the confessors of King Louis XIII from March to December 1637. By defending the cause of peace to the king, Caussin gave Richelieu the impression of criticizing his policy. The Cardinal was highly irritated and managed to get him exiled. The Company was anxious and concurred with Richelieu. Works Tragoediae sacrae (Paris: Cramoisy, 1620); (Paris: Chappelet, 1620); (Cologne, 1621); (Paris, 1629); (Rouen, 1634); (Paris, 1654). Studies Sommervogel, Bibliothèque de la Compagnie de Jésus, 2, pp. 902–27; 9, pp. 14–15; 12, p. 394; Chevalier, ‘Nicolas Caussin héritier de Senèque’; ‘Le châtiment’; ‘Contextualizing’; Hocking, A Study of the Tragoediae sacrae Conte, Nicolas Caussin; Fumaroli, L’âge de l’éloquence, pp. 279–98; Hénin, ‘Écriture et vision tragiques dans la Cour sainte’; Lécrivain, ‘L’éloquence sacrée à l’épreuve de la politique’; Mazouer, ‘La Cour sainte’. Cellot S.J., Louis (1588–1658) entered the Order in 1605. He was professor of rhetoric at several colleges among which was La Flèche, before he became rector of the Jesuit college of Rouen and after that Provincial of France. His De Hierarchia et Hierarchis which professed a triple hierarchy within the Roman Catholic Church was censured by the Sorbonne. Louis Cellot had to publish a retractatio in the same year, 1641. His work aimed in particular at refuting theses directed against the Jesuits. The edition of his poetical works of 1630 not only contained plays, but also both short and long poems. Works Opera Poetica (Paris, 1630): S. Adrianus Martyr, tragoedia, pp. 1–100; Sapor admonitus, tragoedia, pp. 101–237; Chosroës, tragoedia, pp. 238–318; Reuiuiscentes, tragico-comoedia, pp. 319–430; the three tragedies are also published in Selectae PP. Soc. Iesu tragoediae (Antverpiae, 1634), vol. 2: S. Adrianus, pp. 136–208; Sapor, pp. 209–296; Chosroës, pp. 297–348; editions: Duroux, Pasquier and Delmas (2001); Sanchez (1988).

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Studies Sommervogel, Bibliothèque de la Compagnie de Jésus, 2, pp. 948–52; 12, pp. 1000–011 Delmas, Jean de Rotrou, Théâtre complet 4, pp. 397–98, 403–10; Gaiffe, ‘Quelques notes sur les sources du ‘Saint Genest’ de Rotrou’; Pasquier, Jean de Rotrou, Théâtre complet 4, pp. 170–73, 361–65 and passim; Sanchez, Jean Rotrou, ‘Le Véritable Saint Genest, Tragédie’, pp. ci–cviii, 199–206 and passim. de Jouvancy (or Jouvency) S.J., Joseph (1643–1719) was professor of rhetoric at La Flèche and Louis the Great. He was known for his talents in hellenistic studies (he was the author of a Novus apparatus graeco-latinus and of a Latin translation of the Philippics of Demosthenes), for his editions of Latin classical authors (for instance, the Satires of Persius and Juvenal, comedies of Terence, Cicero’s De officiis and Ovid’s Metamorphoses, accompanied by an appendix on the gods and heroes), and for a manual on rhetoric. The author of numerous speeches, he also composed a history of the Company of Jesus, that was forbidden by the Parliament of Paris in 1713. He wrote many plays that have not survived. Studies Sommervogel, Bibliothèque de la Compagnie de Jésus, 2, pp. 363–78; 4, pp. 830–59; 12, pp. 22–23 and 224; Piéjus, ‘Archéologie d’un spectacle jésuite’, pp. 3–163. de La Rue S.J., Charles (Carolus Ruaeus, 1643–1725), Jesuit preacher, has not only written two tragedies, but also idylls, odes, annotated editions of classical poets (Virgil, Horace), several funerary orations of which one in honour of Henri de Bourbon, Prince de Condé, and a panegyric in honour of Louis XIV after the King’s victory in Flanders (translated by Corneille in 1672). He dedicated his four books of poetry, of which the first contains the dramatic works, Lysimachus and Cyrus, to Ferdinand of Furstenberg, Bishop of Paderborn. This volume was reprinted several times. Works Carminum libri quatuor (Paris, 1680): Lysimachus, pp. 1–51; Cyrus, pp. 52–102: (Paris, 51688): Lysimachus, pp. 6–47; Cyrus, pp. 48–87; (Antwerp, 1693); (Paris, 1754); Sylla (Paris, 1805; the play was atrributed to Corneille for some time); Duae tragoediae (Lysimachus, Cyrus) (Ingolstadt, 1722); Ignazens Weitenauer und Karls de La Rue Trauerspiele: I. Hannibal, II. Hermann, III. Cyrus, IV. Lysimachus: editions: (Augsburg, 1777); Klein (1781).



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Study Sommervogel, Bibliothèque de la Compagnie de Jésus, 3, pp. 415–25; 7, pp. 290–307; 11, p. 228. Le Jay S.J., Gabriel-François (1657–1734), professor of rhetoric, wrote numerous (pastoral) Latin poems, a manual of rhetoric and poetics in two volumes, for the pupils and professors, of which the second volume contains the drama, as well as an annotated translation of the Roman Antiquities of Dionysius of Halicarnassus. Works Bibliotheca rhetorum praecepta et exempla complectens quae tam ad oratoriam facultatem quam ad poeticam pertinent (Paris, 1722); vol. 2 contains: Eustachius Martyr (1695), pp. 75–121; Josephus Fratres Agnoscens (1695), pp. 122–64; Josephus venditus a Fratribus (1698), pp. 165–90 (with a French translation: Joseph vendu par ses frères, pp. 191–231 and French interludes, pp. 232–40); Josephus Aegypto praefectus (1699), pp. 241–76; Daniel seu verus Dei cultus in Oriente restitutus (1701), pp. 277–312; Croesus (1705), pp. 313–50 (with interludes in French, pp. 351–58); Damocles sive philosophus regnans (1694 and 1702), pp. 359–82; Abdolominus (1696 and 1700), pp. 383–406 (with French interludes, pp. 407–12); Curiositas multata, seu Gygis Annulus (1696), pp. 413–38; Philochrysus seu Avarus (1698 and 1708), pp. 439–66 (with interludes, pp. 467–74); Timandre, pastorale (in French) (1701), pp. 475–89; two drama in prose: Vota and Revocata Virtutem inter et Fortunam concordia, pp. 490–520 (= Paris, 1725; Munich, 1725; Ingolstadt, 1726). Recueil de tragédies latines de Le Jay (Paris, 1703), contains: Daniel, Damocles and Abdolominus. Josephus venditus … (et aliae tragoediae) (Paris, 1698) contains: Josephus venditus, Josephus Aegypto praefectus, Josephus Fratres Agnoscens). Study Sommervogel, Bibliothèque de la Compagnie de Jésus, 2, pp. 341–50; 4, pp. 765–83. Mousson (or Musson) S.J., Pierre (c. 1561–1637) was professor of rhetoric in Pont-à-Mousson and La Flèche, and then, until the end of his life, master of studies at the College of Orleans. Father Mousson, who dedicated himself to the education of his pupils, is only known for his theatrical work; witness the publication of the highly rhetorical tragedies. He had

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the intention to publish more of his tragedies, but they were, as Sommervogel indicates, ‘probably’ never printed. Works Tragoediae sev diversarum gentium et imperiorum magni principes: Dati in Theatrum Collegii Regii Henrici Magni (La Flèche, 1621; edition: Rieks and Geus (2000). Studies Sommervogel, Bibliothèque de la Compagnie de Jésus, 2, p. 1437; 5, pp. 1473– 74; Ehl, La réception des figures historiques dans les Tragœdiæ seu diversarum gentium et imperiorum magni principes de Pierre Mousson (with an annotated edition and translation of Pompeius Magnus). Petau S.J. Denis (1583–1652), entered the Societas Jesu in 1605. He frequented the colleges of Pont-à-Mousson, Reims, La Flèche, and Clermont. He became professor of rhetoric and then of positive theology. He is mainly known for his edition of works of the Christian authors Synesius of Cyrene, Themistius or Epiphanius and his theological writings (Theologica dogmata), especially devoted to the Trinity. His first tragedy, Carthag­ inienses, was published after 1614 in La Flèche. In 1620 an edition followed that also included two other Latin tragedies, Usthazanes and Sisaras. Works Carthaginienses (La Flèche, 1614); Opera poetica (Paris, 1620); (Paris, 1622); (Paris: Cramoisy, 1624); (Paris: Chappelet, 1624); (Paris, 1642); Orationes et opera poetica (Cologne, 1621, with some speeches by Bernardinus Stephonius). Some plays were also included in Selectae PP. Soc. Iesu tragoediae (Antwerp: apud Joan. Cnobbarum, 1634), 1, pp. 327–67; Carthaginienses, 2, pp. 3–59; Usthazanes, pp. 60–107; Tragoediae Selectae Latinorum Recentiorum (Petavii Sisaras, Malapertii Sedecias, et Grotii Christus Patiens ac Sophompaneas) (Munich, 1845). Studies Detilloux, ‘Les Carthaginienses’; Sommervogel, Bibliothèque de la Compagnie de Jésus, 2, coll. 1891–1909; 6, coll. 588–616; 12, coll. 584, 649 and 1186–87; Fumaroli, L’âge de l’éloquence, pp. 392–407 and passim; id. 'Aspects', pp. 245–93. Porée S.J., Charles (1676–1741), professor of rhetoric at the College Louis the Great, had many theatre plays performed at this college. He is mainly



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known for his funerary oration of Louis XIV and for his treatise De Theatro in which he praised the genre when it was the target of virulent criticism. Works Tragoediae, ed. by Claudius Griffet (Paris, 1745), contains the tragedies Brutus, pp. 1–70; Hermenigildus, pp. 71–144; Mauricius, Imperator, pp. 145– 237, Sennacherib, pp. 239–309; Sephoebus Myrsa, pp. 311–78; Agapitus, Martyr, pp. 379–477; Fabulae dramaticae (Paris, 1749), contains: Paezo­ philus sive Aleator, drama-comicum, pp. 1–118; Pater amore, vel odio, erga liberos excaecatus, Fabula, pp. 119–202; Misoponus sive Otiosus, dramacomicum, pp. 203–342; Liberi in deligendo vitae instituto coacti, fabula, pp. 343–440; Philedonus sive Juvenis voluptarius a liberiore vita revocatus, pp. 441–508. Brutus, edition and translation: Flamarion in Théâtre jésuite et Antiquité, 9–119. Mauricius Imperator, internet edition by Jan-Wilhelm Beck (www .uni-regensburg.de/Fakultaeten/phil_Fak_IV/Klass_Phil/Latein/Beck/ Fabulae/Poree,20%Mauricius.pdf). Studies Sommervogel, Bibliothèque de la Compagnie de Jésus, 2, coll. 2081–87; 6, coll. 1021–33; 12, col. 1196; Flamarion, Théâtre jésuite et Antiquité; Porée, De Theatro, ed. Flamarion; de La Servière, Le Père Charles Porée S.J. (1676–1741).

CHAPTER EIGHT

NEO-LATIN DRAMA IN BRITAIN Howard B. Norland Although about 150 Neo-Latin plays from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in England may have survived, only a small number were printed; the vast majority remained in manuscript until the twentieth century when under the editorship of Marvin Spevack and J.W. Binns sixty-eight of the plays associated with the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge were published in facsimile editions.1 In addition Dana Sutton has made available several Neo-Latin Humanist Texts with translations in eBooks (http:// www.digitalbookindex.com and http://www.philological.bham.ac.uk/library .html) at no charge. The increased accessibility of a larger number of plays may improve our knowledge of a lively academic tradition, but we must recognize that we have only a small sampling of the thousands of productions of Neo-Latin drama performed in the schools and universities in the English Renaissance. The plays that have survived may have been among the best produced, but the titles of scores of lost plays identified in school and college records suggest the dimensions of the dramatic resources that cannot be recovered. The proliferation of Neo-Latin drama resulted from the belief that plays were an effective means of instructing students in rhetoric and morality. Classical Latin comedy, particularly the comedies of Terence, had been adopted as a central school text throughout central and western Europe by the early sixteenth century, and in Britain recitation of dramatic dialogue was perceived as an effective tool in the mastery of the Latin language and in the skills of oratorical delivery. The production of full-length classical plays became an approved activity in grammar schools and universities, where individual colleges achieved recognition for their dramatic efforts. Trinity College, Cambridge, appears to have produced the largest number of plays during this period, regularly five plays annually in the 1550s, and in 1559–1560 amended its college statutes to mandate the production 1 Renaissance Latin Drama in England, First Series, Thirteen Volumes, Plays Associated with Oxford University, and Second Series, Nineteen Volumes, Plays Associated with Cambridge University.

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of five plays each year.2 St John’s College, the second most prolific in the performance of plays at Cambridge, revised its statutes in 1544–1545, making annual performances mandatory. Queens’ College also adopted a similar statute requiring dramatic performance.3 Surviving records and extant dramatic texts from Oxford suggest less dramatic activity than at Cambridge, but some colleges at Oxford, particularly Christ Church and St John’s, appear to have supported dramatic performance with some regularity. Although the bulk of Neo-Latin drama was produced in the universities, some schools, such as Westminster and Hitchin, where Ralph Radcliffe presided over student performances of his own composition, incorporated drama in the academic curriculum. Dramatic composition and performance were perceived as essential elements in the instruction of youth by the Jesuits when they established schools for English Catholics on the Continent during the Protestant reigns that followed Queen Mary’s death in 1558. Jesuit colleges at Douai, St Omer and Rome produced plays at a frequency that rivalled Oxford and Cambridge. The authors of the plays were for the most part fellows in their respective colleges, and the actors were usually the students and fellows in the college where the play was performed. The participants may have been amateurs, but accounts of particular performances indicate that some students developed considerable skill in their acting, and some of the fellows, such as Samuel Brooke, William Gager, Thomas Legge and George Ruggle, gained a reputation for dramatic excellence that extended far beyond their universities. Francis Meres, for example, in his gossipy Palladis Tamia (1598) compares several Neo-Latin authors with Shakespeare and other popular playwrights; he places Legge, who wrote two very long trilogies among ‘the best for Tragedie’,4 and Thomas Fuller singles out the dramatic power of the end of Alabaster’s Roxana as being so terrifying that a gentlewoman in the audience ‘fell distracted and never after fully recovering her senses.’5 A distinguishing feature of the Neo-Latin plays as compared to the developing commercial theatre was the large casts used in performance. Not only were choruses and crowd scenes readily accommodated, but the number of individual roles could also be quite extensive because of the large number of students available for acting. David Greenwood points out, for example, that twenty parts are indicated in Nicholas Grimald’s Christus redivivus, not including a Chorus of Galilean Women, 2 Nelson, REED: Cambridge, 2, p. 774. 3 Ibidem, 2, p. 769. 4 See Norland, Neoclassical Tragedy, p. 44. 5 Ibidem, p. 153.



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several spirits of the Blessed, and a Chorus of Disciples; the production of Thomas Legge’s Richardus Tertius, produced in three parts on three successive nights may have involved hundreds of performers.6 The productions appear to have been quite elaborate, especially those performed on special holidays and for royal visits. Stage construction was often required to suit the circumstances of the setting, and special effects were created, as, for example, in William Gager’s Dido, performed for the Earl of Leicester, Sir Philip Sidney, and the Polish prince, Albertus Alasco, a suitor of Queen Elizabeth, where not only did rosewater rain on the actors along with artificial snow to represent a storm, but also Mercury and Iris descended onto the stage from a high place, according to Holinshed’s description of the event.7 This production also featured hunters in their customary attire as well as a full cry of hounds. Apparently no expense was spared on such occasions. Queen Elizabeth, King James and King Charles I visited both of the universities several times during their reigns and were traditionally entertained by performances of plays produced by particular colleges, but, of course, the bulk of the audience must have been the students and fellows of the university. Local townspeople also attended; however, because the performances were in Latin perhaps only the more educated made the effort. Elaborate costumes were made available for the actors, though historical accuracy appears not to have been a major concern. Ancient Greeks and Romans seem not to have been represented in the dress of their era but rather were attired in contemporary dress appropriate to their station. The subjects of the drama were initially religious at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge and were generally based on Biblical material, but they became more varied as time passed, as we shall see. Greek and Roman legend and history familiar to the students from their study of the classical authors provided a wealth of characters, plots and situations for the composition of both comedy and tragedy. In the reign of Elizabeth the playwright fellows began to represent key figures and events in English and European history, as demonstrated by Legge’s Richardus Tertius, and by the 1580s they had discovered the mine of intriguing stories available in Italian novella and drama. For the next half-century plots from Boccaccio, della Porta, Groto, and other Italian sources made their way onto the Neo-Latin stage. Also by the end of Elizabeth’s reign contemporary issues and persons had become objects of examination and targets of satire in the college theatre. From trading at the Royal Exchange and dishonest 6 See Greenwood, ‘The Staging of Neo-Latin Plays’. 7 See Norland, Neoclassical Tragedy, pp. 167–68.

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schemes created by conmen to bilk a foolish public to pedantry and pretentious rhetoric, satire flourished in the Neo-Latin productions of the Jacobean and Caroline periods. Classical dramatic models were generally followed by the academic playwrights with the Roman traditions in both comedy and tragedy providing the essential structure as well as character types and plot motifs. Plautus and Terence offered the most available examples of comedy to imitate since they were central to instruction in Latin in the schools, and Seneca was the most familiar writer of tragedy. The Greek tragedians were lesser known and less often emulated, but as the sixteenth century ended and the seventeenth century began, Italian examples of both comedy and tragedy were adapted for the college performances, and the popular contemporary theatre increasingly influenced the plays produced on the college stage. The five-act structure generally prevailed, and other classical features such as choruses providing responses and commentary on the dramatic action were adopted. The lengths of the individual plays varied from 650 to over 5,000 lines. The two trilogies written by Thomas Legge exceeded 9,000 lines each, but the plays usually ranged between 1,000 and 2,500 lines, which indicates the performances must have been between one and three hours long. Some of the productions would have lasted much longer when courses of a banquet accompanied the performance during the attendance of royal guests. There are several references to performances lasting until 1 a.m. for command performances. Also we learn from observers that guests, including King James, sometimes fell asleep during the performance, which might suggest faults in the performance or an overindulgence in food and drink. The genres represented in the repertory of Neo-Latin drama included a majority of plays that would have been recognized as comedies and tragedies, but other types of drama, including moralities and saints’ plays as well as pastorals, histories and satires can be distinguished. Also, as on the contemporary public stage, various types of drama are at times combined, creating tragicomedies, pastoral comedies, satiric comedies, tragical histories, or comical histories. As a matter of fact, as the decades progress, the contemporary vernacular drama appears to play a larger role in the university theatre. Not only are professional companies invited to perform in some of the colleges—the King’s Men, for example, performed popular plays by Shakespeare and Jonson on college stages—but also an increasing number of plays were written by university fellows in English for college production. The Christmas Prince, a collection of plays performed at St John’s College, Oxford, between 30 November 1607 and 13 February 1608



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included five plays in Latin and three in English, and by the 1630s Edward Hausted and Thomas Randolph find themselves competing for audience approval in plays written in English as well as plays written in Latin. Early Tudor Britain (1535–1558) The first Neo-Latin play to have survived that was written in England was Peregrinatio by Titus Livius Frulovisi, composed during his residence in England from about 1436 to 1440; he also wrote a second play, Eugenius, before returning to Venice, where he had previously written five Latin comedies performed there, though neither of his British compositions appears to have been produced. As Grady Smith, who has edited and translated the play, declares, Peregrinatio is a ‘humanistic imitation of classical comedy […] unequivocally a stepchild of Plautus and Terence.’8 The play is not divided into acts, though some fifteen scenes are indicated as the action moves from Rhodes to Britain and then to Crete. Ignoring the classical unities of place and time as well as action, Frulovisi represents the power of money as the complicating factor in human relations, which leads a man to desert the wife he has impregnated and to seek a life abroad. However, the play ends happily as the errant father is reunited with his abandoned son who marries his stepdaughter. Frulovisi freely mixes comedy and pathos and is particularly noted for his development of female characters far beyond the ancient Roman comic tradition. This surprising dramatic effort by a visiting Italian writer seems to have provoked no immediate interest in Neo-Latin plays in England, though it anticipates Italianate influence on the Neo-Latin plays produced some one hundred years later in Elizabethan and Jacobean Britain. Neo-Latin drama appears to have emerged at the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford during the last decade of Henry VIII’s reign. Exact dates of composition and performance as well as the order of development are difficult to determine. However, Thomas Watson (1513–1584) seems to be the first Englishman to compose a Neo-Latin tragedy, Absolom (1535–1544). This play, which survives in a single manuscript written in the hand of its author, was linked to George Buchanan’s Jephthes by Roger Ascham, who declared that these two plays were the only contemporary tragedies that ‘abyde the trew touch of Aristotles precepts and Euripides 8 For an account of Frulovisi’s career and the text of Peregrinatio, see Travel Abroad: Frulovisi’s ‘Peregrinatio’, ed. Smith.

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examples’,9 but in fact, Watson followed the model of Seneca and the critical theory of Horace and Donatus expressed in the commentaries on Terence, which were included in most of the sixteenth-century editions of his plays used in the schools in England as well as on the Continent.10 Though Absolom was clearly designed for performance by students at St John’s College, Cambridge, no record of a production exists. Focusing upon the rebellion of Absolom against his father David, Watson portrays a tragedy in which anger and sexual licence create guilt and retribution; the moral is underlined by a chorus that interprets the Old Testament story from a Christian perspective. David recognizes his sins and his role in provoking the tragic developments, but he follows the example of a loving God by offering redemption to his erring son who rejects his father’s mercy and suffers a providential death. Absolom is a tragedy that evokes the emotions of pity and fear required by Aristotle at the same time that it provides a didactic lesson on the nature of sin and redemption.11 So far as we know Watson wrote no other plays but instead pursued a clerical career that culminated in his appointment  as Bishop of Lincoln under Queen Mary; however, his refusal to endorse the Oath of Supremacy upon Elizabeth’s accession resulted in his impriso­nment. Another Neo-Latin author at Cambridge whose career paralleled in some respects Watson’s was John Christopherson (d. 1558), who became Master of Trinity College and was appointed Bishop of Chichester by Queen Mary. Between 1543 and 1547, while a fellow at St John’s College, Christopherson apparently wrote the tragedy Jephthah in Greek and then translated it into Latin. It may have been performed in 1554/5 and perhaps repeated at Trinity College in 1566,12 though like Watson’s Absolom it was not published until the twentieth century. Jephthah survives in two Greek manuscripts dedicated to the Earl of Essex and the Bishop of Durham, Cuthbert Tunstall, and in one Latin version addressed to King Henry VIII. Modelled upon Euripides’ Iphigeneia at Aulis, Christopherson’s tragedy is often compared to Buchanan’s Jephthes, which was apparently written at about the same time, though neither play seems to have influenced the other. Unlike Buchanan’s tragedy which makes ‘Iphis a symbol of Christ, 9 Roger Ascham, The Scholemaster, ed. Arber, p. 139. 10 For a discussion of the Terentian commentaries, see Norland, Drama in Early Tudor Britain, pp. 65–83. 11 For a more extended critical examination of the tragedy, see Norland, Drama in Early Tudor Britain, pp. 295–306. 12 See Norland, Drama in Early Tudor Britain, pp. 307–08.



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Christopherson demonstrates the irrevocability of one’s commitment to God, implying his own unshaken Catholic faith.’13 Jephthah is intended, according to Christopherson’s dedicatory letters, to represent the truth of Scripture in offering a moral lesson, which justifies its composition and performance. Although the play is not divided into acts or scenes, it is divided into six parts or episodes that are separated by choral interludes as in Euripidean drama. Ignoring the classical unities of time and action, Christopherson represents the biblical narrative in a chronological sequence that highlights the emotional responses of the principal characters, Jephthah, his wife Storge, and his daughter, who bewails her virginity before willingly accepting her role as a sacrificial fulfilment of her father’s vow. The poignancy of the daughter’s death is very moving. A Neo-Latin tragedy also based on the Bible and written at about the same time was Archipropheta by Nicholas Grimald (1519/20–1562?), which may have been performed in 1548 at Christ Church College, Oxford. Influ­ enced by Jakob Schoepper’s Ectrachelistes, sive decollatus Ioannes, published in Cologne two years earlier, Grimald creates a neoclassical tragedy modelled upon Seneca but incorporating the elements of the contemporary saints’ play. Like Buchanan’s Baptistes, which was written and performed at Bordeaux in the 1540s but not printed until 1577, Grimald focuses upon the beheading of the saint as an attestation of his faith. Representing the mission and martyrdom of John the Baptist in a most dramatic fashion, Grimald conveys the context as a decadent and corrupt court ruled by an incestuous Herod and Herodias who delight in perversions of sensuality and revenge. Though Grimald drew the plot from Josephus’s Antiquities of the Jews, he elaborated the passion between Herod and his brother’s wife in what L.R. Merrill describes as a quite ‘modern’ fashion,14 but what we may call romantic love that emphasizes the mutuality of their feelings. Much more representational than most contemporary Neo-Latin tragedies, Archipropheta provides an emotional dimension that is comically counterpointed by Gelasimus, a court fool borrowed from Schoepper. The daughter of Herodias, called Tryphera (meaning ‘voluptuous’ in Greek) rather than Salome as in Josephus, performs her hypnotizing erotic dance in a banquet scene characterized by extravagance. Although the beheading of John the Baptist is narrated, its context is spectacularly dramatic. John the Baptist is represented as a heroic saint and a defender of the 13 Norland, Drama in Early Tudor Britain, p. 318. For an extended discussion of the tragedy, see pp. 307–18. 14 Merrill, The Life and Poems of Nicholas Grimald, pp. 225–26.

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truth ‘on behalf of religion and ancestral laws’,15 which for Grimald’s Prot­ estant audience implied the apostolic church before its corruption by Catholicism.16 Grimald appears to have written at least three other Neo-Latin dramas while at Oxford, but only one other, Christus redivivus, has survived. This play, performed at Brasenose College in 1540, represents the resurrection of Christ ‘as the central fact, the turning point, of Christian history’, according to Kurt Tetzeli von Rosador.17 Published in Cologne in 1543 and 1548, this play, called both a sacred comedy and a tragicomedy by Grimald in his dedicatory letter to Gilbert Smith, explains why the terms are appropriate by citing classical comparisons. It is a more youthful work and less dramatically effective than Archipropheta, but it is a very self-conscious attempt to merge the Christian and classical traditions. Grimald cleverly adapts the biblical account to classical form as he represents central historical figures, including Mary Magdalene, Caiaphas, and disciples of Christ before and after the crucifixion, but he also adds a choral narrator and choruses of Galilean women and disciples to focus the crisis.18 This adaptation of religious subject matter to classical form characterizes the Neo-Latin drama written and performed at the English universities before the accession of Elizabeth I. However, it takes a more radical turn in the hands of John Foxe (1516/17–1587). Educated at Oxford, Foxe, refusing to enter holy orders, resigned his fellowship at Magdalen College in 1545. After Mary Tudor became Queen and reinstituted Roman Catholi­ cism as the religion of the realm, Foxe joined the English reformer exiles on the Continent in 1554, and it was during his residence in Basle that Foxe wrote his ‘apocalyptic comedy’ Christus triumphans, which was published there in 1556. Though clearly designed for performance, the play was apparently not acted at Basle, and in spite of Foxe having given permission for a performance at Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1562/3, after his return to England, no details of production have survived. Recognition of the play’s significance is attested by its translation into French by Jean Bienvenu of Geneva in 1561. Inspired perhaps by Thomas Kirchmeyer (Naogeorgus), who represents the same apocalyptic subject matter in Pammachius (1536), Foxe includes 15 Ibidem, p. 164. 16 For a more developed critical discussion of the play, see Norland, Drama in Early Tudor Britain, pp. 319–34. 17 Nicholas Grimald, Christus redivivus; Archipropheta, ‘Introduction’, p. 10. 18 Norland, Drama in Early Tudor Britain, pp. 322–23.



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a number of incidents that parallel the earlier play, but as John Hazel Smith notes, there are almost no verbal echoes.19 Foxe seems intent on pursuing his own direction rather than slavishly imitating an earlier wellknown dramatic version of the Apocalypse. The Apocalypse was at this historical moment seen to be especially relevant because of ‘the Turkish threat to Europe, the sack of Rome in 1527, the discovery of the New World, and above all the Protestant Reformation’, as Richard Bauckham explains.20 Foxe drew upon the biblical texts of Daniel and the Book of Revelations as well as upon the Prophecy of Elias, but he represented the conflict between good and evil and the threatened end of the world from his particular reformist perspective. Luther, John Bale, and Heinrich Bullinger had expressed views of the apocalypse and the Antichrist, which they identified with the Turk and the Pope, but Foxe interestingly makes Satan more comic than fearsome. Although he identifies the evil forces with Queen Mary’s persecution of the reformers Latimer, Ridley, and Cranmer, Foxe promises that divine providence will in the end prevail as Christ returns in triumph at the apocalypse.21 It is not surprising that Foxe, who is best known for his Acts and Monuments, later called The Book of Martyrs, should write a reformist play in Latin, but what is astonishing is that his first dramatic composition written some ten years earlier was a Latin comedy based on a tale from Boccaccio’s Decamerone (1353) that had been narrated as an exemplum of friendship in Thomas Elyot’s The Boke named the Governour (1531). Foxe apparently designed this comedy (Titus et Gesippus) for production at Magdalen College, Oxford, where he was a fellow. He says that he drafted the play in 1544 and intended to give it a ‘second polishing’ during Lent in 1545, but no record of performance exists.22 Foxe adopts the five-act structure imposed on Terence’s comedies in Renaissance editions of his plays as well as the internal structure described by Donatus: protasis, epitasis, catastasis (or summa epitasis), catastrophe. Whether this text was intended to be a moral alternative to Terence’s comedies, which were regarded by some churchmen and schoolmasters to be inconsistent with Christian ethics, it placed a heavy emphasis on virtue.

19 Two Latin Comedies by John Foxe the Martyrologist, ed. Smith, pp. 43–44. 20 Bauckham, Tudor Apocalypse, pp. 11–12. 21 For a more detailed discussion of Christus triumphans, see Norland, “John Foxe’s Apocalyptic Comedy”. 22 For a more fully developed examination of the context of this play and its critical implications, see Norland, ‘Terence ‘Improved?”

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Drawing upon Cicero, Quintilian, and other commentators, Foxe represents the traditional characteristics of true friends as being so alike that not only are they similar in appearance but they share the same wills and appetites. The true friend is ‘another self.’ It is not surprising then that Titus and Gesippus fall in love with the same woman, which provides in the play the crucial test of friendship. In his resolution of the friends’ dilemma Foxe offers a significantly different conclusion than either of his predecessors, Boccaccio and Elyot. Foxe’s Gesippus follows the traditional friendship code by putting his friend above his intended bride as he conspires to deceive the bride and her family by allowing Titus to take his place in the marriage bed. However, Foxe seeks to mitigate the deception by introducing Titus’s pledge of his love to Sempronia before consummation and by suggesting that because Titus’s wealth and social station are greater than Gesippus’s the resulting alliance is better for the bride than the original planned marriage. Furthermore, Foxe adds a witty slave who suggests and manipulates the deception, which may remove part of the responsibility for the dishonesty from the two friends, and Foxe develops more fully Titus’s reciprocal effort to prove his friendship by offering his life to rescue his friend. Foxe also provides a wife for Gesippus at the end in compensation for his generous gift of his intended bride to his friend. A more complicated drama emerges in Foxe’s Latin version of the plot, but considerable moral ambiguity remains. This secular adaptation of an Italian story offers a distinctively different image of Neo-Latin university drama than the religious plays of Watson, Christopherson, and Grimald; in making comedy his genre of choice, Foxe adopts Terence as his model, but he expands Terentian form to accommodate a serious examination of friendship. Although his reputation as a religious reformer and martyrologist has overshadowed his initial creative efforts in Neo-Latin drama, Foxe was in fact a harbinger of the secularization of Neo-Latin drama in Elizabeth’s reign and the use of Italian plots and motifs in the proliferation of both tragedies and comedies in the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. The Reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1559–1603) Religious themes continued to inspire some of the plays written and performed in the colleges, but they were quickly outnumbered by plays on a variety of other subjects including classical myth, ancient Greek and Roman history, English history, rhetorical issues, academic satire, and



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plays based on Italian narratives and drama. Elizabeth, the last Tudor monarch, and the Stuart kings that succeeded her, all seemed to have a particular interest in the Neo-Latin drama produced in the universities. Not only were they specially entertained with performances of college plays, but royal visitors and important courtiers were honoured with productions selected to impress and at times to flatter the monarch and other guests, as, for example, when the Earls of Leicester and Pembroke, along with Sir Philip Sidney, brought the Polish Prince Albertus Alasco to Oxford and were treated to a performance of Gager’s Dido in 1583. Elizabeth made three documented visits to Cambridge and Oxford where she was entertained with Neo-Latin plays. She visited Cambridge in 1564, and two years later in 1566 she was a guest at Christ Church at Oxford, where she saw a production of Calfhill’s Progne. Although she was fond of making stately progresses through the countryside, she did not return to either university until 1592 when she was again hosted by Christ Church in Oxford and was presented with a performance of Leonard Hutton’s Bellum Grammaticale. However, in the late 1590s various colleges were invited to perform their Neo-Latin plays in Elizabeth’s court. Meanwhile Neo-Latin drama flourished in the universities. One of the more effective plays demonstrating a continuing interest in biblical history in the early Elizabethan period was Herodes tragoedia, by William Goldingham (b. 1552–?), written between 1567 and 1579 apparently at Trinity College, Cambridge, where Goldingham was a fellow, though there is no record of its performance. Based on Josephus’s Bellum Iudaicum, Book I, or his Antiquitates Iudaicae, Book XVII, which deal with the same series of events,23 the play confronts the question of whether Herod’s misfortunes are caused by God or by Fate. Focusing upon the relationship between Herod and his son Antipater, Goldingham reminds his audience of the complicated relationships between David and Absolom and between King Arthur and Mordred. The suicides of Antipater and his mother Doris as well as Herod’s desire for death create an emotional dimension that is quite impressive. Earlier scholars—Churchill, Keller and Boas—questioned the completeness of the play, but Upton argues that the ending surviving in the unique manuscript is ‘dramatically […] more appropriate’ than endings conjectured by earlier scholars. Upton declares, ‘In removing Salome from the story and incorporating Mariemma

23 For a discussion of Goldingham’s adaptation of Josephus, see Goldingham, Herodes, ed. Upton, p. 11.

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as a vengeful ghost, the author has unified a disparate and fragmented narrative into an acceptable drama of revenge.’24 Another Neo-Latin drama of particular merit completed at about the same time was a translation of Sophocles’ Antigone by Thomas Watson (1555/6–1592) published in 1581. Watson attended Oxford, but left without a degree and went on to Paris to study law. The circumstances of his translation of Sophocles are not known; nor is it known whether his Neo-Latin version was acted. No record of performance has been found at either Oxford or Cambridge, though Gabriel Harvey claims to have seen it performed.25 Watson appears to follow the Greek text line by line in his translation, but he imposes the five-act structure characteristic of Renaissance renderings of classical drama. This single effort in Neo-Latin drama has been overshadowed by his Latin epic Amyntas, published four years later, and by his lyrical sonnets, but like his namesake, Thomas Watson the bishop and author of the Neo-Latin Absolom (1535–1544), Thomas Watson the poet created a remarkably effective dramatic version of ancient myth. The English translator of Watson’s Amyntas, Abraham Fraunce (1559?– 1592/3), also appears to have composed two Neo-Latin plays that were performed at Cambridge. The first, Hymenaeus, produced at St John’s College probably at Candlemas 1578, transforms a tale of adultery focusing upon a physician’s wife from Boccaccio’s Decamerone (IV, 10) into a more complex competition of suitors for the love of the daughter of an autocratic father rather than the wife of a cuckolded husband as in the original. Two rivals are added to complicate the role of Boccaccio’s lover, who Fraunce makes a student, and three servants are introduced to provide witty exchanges in the academic context of Padua rather than Boccaccio’s setting of Salerno. Although neither of the two surviving manuscripts identifies the author or gives the play a title, it has become known as Hymenaeus, perhaps because the prologue is delivered by Hymenaeus, the god of marriage, though it may also be regarded as quite appropriate since the plot of the adapted play is directed toward marriage, which is celebrated at the end. The prologue identifies its Italian source, but its skilful adaptation complicates the plot as it elevates the moral context of the action. In his edition of 1908, G.C. Moore Smith did not believe there was sufficient evidence to declare Fraunce to be the author,26 but Dana 24 Ibid., p. 12. 25 See Thomas Watson, Antigone, ed. Coldewey and Copenhaver, p. 2. 26 Hymenaeus: A Comedy Acted at St. John’s College, Cambridge, intr. and n. Moore Smith, p. 10.



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Sutton argues that the most probable author is Abraham Fraunce, who acted in the production, because of his composition of Victoria, a NeoLatin comedy, at roughly the same time (1576–1583), even though the two plays are very different.27 Fraunce’s Victoria was apparently designed for performance at St John’s College, Cambridge, where Fraunce was a fellow, but no evidence of its actual production has been found. The only extant version is an autograph manuscript dedicated to Sir Philip Sidney before he was knighted in 1583. Adapted from Luigi Pasqualigo’s Il Fidele, which was first printed in 1579, Victoria has the distinction of being the first Neo-Latin play to be based on an Italian commedia erudita. As David Orr notes, Fraunce introduces three new characters and adds two new scenes to ‘provide extra amusement for the play’s auditors, but do not affect the plot of the Italian original’, and he omits five scenes from Il Fidele, though ‘no significant changes have been made either in plot or character.’28 Modern scholars have not, however, found Fraunce’s adaptation very successful. G.C. Moore Smith in 1906 complains: ‘it cannot be said to be a work of much intrinsic value. It is inordinately long, its plot is complicated and absurd, its characters uninteresting, and though it is crammed with quotations and allusions, they are introduced with little point or humour: and only confirm our impression that Fraunce was a “dull dog”.’29 Horst-Dieter Blume in 1991 dismisses the play as ‘a juvenile exercise in Latin style’ and following Moore Smith, declares that Victoria ‘is a very long play with a complicated and rather absurd plot’, and he also finds the setting unclear, the plot inconsistent, and the dialogue lacking in humour.30 Dana Sutton in 2001 attempts to defend Fraunce’s dramatic efforts by comparing the comedy with other contemporary Neo-Latin plays and concludes that ‘it does not require a very great leap of the imagination to see how a Cambridge audience could have valued it more highly’ in 1583. Perhaps one could say the same about most of the Neo-Latin plays produced in the Renaissance, but the length of the comedy and inconsistencies in the plot are indeed off-putting for the modern reader.

27 Abraham Fraunce (?), Hymenaeus (1578), hypertext ed. Sutton, Intro. 2–4. 28 Orr, Italian Renaissance Drama in England before 1625, p. 27. 29 Abraham Fraunce, Victoria, A Latin Comedy, ed. Moore Smith, p. ix. 30 Abraham Fraunce, Victoria, ed. Blume, pp. 29–33.

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Fig. 1.  Edward Forsett, Pedantius (performed 1581 and published 1631), engraving Pedantius. Reproduced by permission of the Huntington Library, San Marino, California.



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Fig. 2. Edward Forsett, Pedantius (performed 1581 and published 1631), engraving Dromodotus. Reproduced by permission of the Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

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More successful was Pedantius, by Edward Forsett (1553/4–1629/30) performed at Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1581. Interpreted by Thomas Nashe a decade later as a satiric attack on Gabriel Harvey31 and revived for at least one performance in the 1590s, this Neo-Latin comedy was also singled out for printing in 1631, some fifty years after its premier performance. The extended satire on the pedantic schoolmaster, which was reinforced by his foil Dromodotus, a caricature of the medieval academic devoted to Aristotle, clearly appealed to the student audience. The satiric romantic plot represents the narcissistic pedant attempting to woo Lydia, a young slave girl who has fallen in love with a newly freed servant, Crobolus. Pedantius’s affected rhetoric makes him an inept and ridiculous lover whose flights of fancy frequently fail because of the inappropriateness of his metaphors. For example, in his discussion of love with Dromodotus, Pedantius, after repeating the cliché ‘omnia vincit amor’, adds redundantly ‘et nos cedamus amori’ (love conquers all, and we yield to love); he then elaborates: Amor tanquam milvus rapax, me tuum (o Pallas) pullum abripit iam nunc e sapientiae nido: unde sicut terra teritur pedibus (inde enim dicitur), sic animus meus conculcatur curis. Ego, ego inquam, qui Leonidae mei olim amoribus opposui me velut murum aheneum, nunc figor et perfodior ipse ferro flammisque concupiscentiae. (Love is like a greedy crow, and snatches me, your chick, o Minerva, from Wisdom’s nest. And just as they way [sic, say] that ‘the terrain is trodden by feet’, so my mind is trampled by cares. I, I say, who once set myself in opposition, like a brazen wall, to the loves of my friend Leonidas, am now myself pierced and transfixed by the sword and flames of desire.) (Forsett, Pedantius, I.iii, ll. 275–79)32

Seeing himself first in the position of a newly hatched chick vulnerable to a rapacious bird of prey, Pedantius changes the metaphor to himself as a wall penetrated by sword and flame. His exaggerated imagery transforms the emotion of falling in love to ludicrous hyperbole. He goes on to explain the six main causes of love, which are refuted by his philosopher friend Dromodotus, and the two engage in a dispute about the comparative 31 Thomas Nashe in Have with you to Saffron-Waldon says that in Pedantius, ‘that in exquisite Comedie in Trinitie Colledge; where vnder the cheife part, from which it tooke his name, as namely the concise and firking finicaldo fine School-Master, hee was full drawen & delineated from the soale of the foote to the crowne of his head’ (sig. M4, III.116 Grosart ed.). 32 Edward Forsett, Pedantius (1581). A hypertext ed. by Sutton. This quotation plays with a notorious etymology from Varro’s De lingua latina, e.g. 5, 4, 21: ‘Terra dicta ab eo […], quod teritur.’



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merits­of the courtly life versus the academic life. Although Pedantius identifies with Cicero, he demonstrates that he is a foolish naïve fraud who is easily duped by Crobolus into providing the thirty minas to purchase Lydia. At the end the cheated Pedantius bids farewell to the academic life while Crobolus looks forward to his wedding ceremony with the freed Lydia. E.F.J. Tucker, reducing the play to a simple formula, says, ‘the plot lacks genuine action and consists basically of three sophomoric tricks played upon a rather pompous and gullible victim’, but, he declares: ‘Nevertheless, for its verbal ingenuity and its interest for a learned audience, Pedantius is an entertaining comedy that deserves high ranking among university plays.’33 This praise may be excessive, but the play is memorable because of its supposed academic target. A much more impressive and more ambitious drama was Richardus Tertius by Thomas Legge (1535–1607), a drama in three parts, which he called ‘actios’, performed over three successive evenings at St John’s College, Cambridge, in 1579. Based principally on the historical accounts of Edward Hall, Thomas More and Polydore Vergil, Legge’s Latin tragedy of the last Plantagenet king of England has been eclipsed by Shakespeare’s famous representation of evil incarnate in the Machiavellian Richard III, which followed some fourteen years later. In contrast with Shakespeare’s image of a deformed cripple, from whom England is rescued by the heroic Earl of Richmond, Legge’s tyrant is modelled on the Senecan tyrants, Atreus and Nero. An elaborate production involving perhaps at least one hundred students and fellows cast in the dramatic roles, choruses, musicians and ‘extras’ needed for the crowd and battle scenes, Richardus Tertius must have required considerable expenditure of money as well as time, and unusually the preparation and performance may have involved the cooperation of several colleges. The identified author, Thomas Legge, was the master of Caius College, but in his earlier years he had been associated with several dramatic productions at Trinity College; however, this 1579 performance was presented at St John’s College, which had the strongest tradition in acting, and it had the largest hall. The success of the production is suggested by the eleven manuscripts of the text that have survived; the play was also prepared for publication in 1582/83, but its printing was apparently blocked when the London Stationers confiscated the presses of the appointed University printer Thomas Thomas.34 Why the play was not published later is unknown.

33 Edward Forsett, Pedantius, ed. Tucker, 12. 34 Thomas Legge, Richardus Tertius, ed. Lordi and Ketterer, 2.

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In his trilogy, Legge focuses on the short reign of Richard III. Ignoring Richard’s role in the War of the Roses between the Yorkists and the Lancastrians, Legge begins Actio 1 with the central conflict between Richard and his brother’s widow, Queen Elizabeth, over the control of the kingdom. Aspirant Richard achieves his initial goal by isolating the Queen and gaining possession of her sons, but he demonstrates his power and his tyrannical nature most emphatically by summarily executing Hastings, and then sentencing Mrs Shore, Edward IV’s and Hastings’ former mistress, to ceremonial penance. This celebratory demonstration of the end of the old order provides the climax to the first evening’s entertainment. Actio 2, performed the following evening, represents Richard’s ascent to the throne by discrediting the perceived heirs’ legitimacy—the sons of Edward IV and the former King himself, who is said to be the product of his mother’s infidelity. Having the shortest text of the three actios, the second elaborates the preparation and spectacle of Richard’s coronation. This segment demonstrates the attempted manipulation by Buckingham and Dr Shaw of the King’s subjects who remain unconvinced of Richard’s piety or his reluctance to accept the crown. Actio 3 portrays Richard’s tyrannical reign beginning with the murder of his nephews and continuing with actions taken to retain control of the kingdom. His failure to do so ends with his defeat at Bosworth field and the triumph of Richmond, who brings the Wars of the Roses to an end and reunites the country by marrying the daughter of Edward IV, Elizabeth.35 Legge is thought to be ‘the only English Latin dramatist known to have written trilogies on historical subjects.’36 His second trilogy, Solymi­ tana  clades, was written between 1579 and 1607 but apparently never performed and never printed. Twice the length of Richardus Tertius, Soly­ mitana clades, at over 9,100 lines, deals with the destruction of Jerusalem, but unlike his other trilogy, which focuses upon the character of Richard as a unifying force, this later endeavour ‘lacks a single dominating character who might serve as a focus of interest and a source of unity’, while recounting ‘all the major events of the Jewish uprising from its outbreak in 66 to the fall of Masada in 73’, as Dana Sutton notes.37 Basing his rendition on Josephus’s Jewish Wars, Books II–VI, Legge shifts the audience’s attention to different historical figures and different aspects of the struggle. 35 For a more fully developed discussion of Richardus Tertius, see my Neoclassical Tragedy, pp. 125–41. 36 Legge, The Complete Plays, ed. Sutton, II.vi. 37 Legge, The Complete Plays, ed. Sutton, II.xviii–xix.



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Sutton points out that Actio 1 is ‘dominated by the depraved Florus and the virtuous Anani’, while Actio II ‘focuses on the three leaders of the rebellion, Eleazer, Jehochanan, and Schimeon’, and Actio 3 ‘is centred more firmly on one figure, Titus.’ The first two actios appear to be relatively complete, but the third actio, which is more than four thousand lines in five acts, could be much improved by careful pruning. The impression left on the reader is of a work in progress, not yet ready for performance or printing. Francis Meres regarded Legge as among ‘our best’ for tragedy along with Shakespeare and a few other contemporary popular playwrights;38 if modern scholars find his Solmytana clades too long and ­somewhat tedious, we must recognize that his reputation appears to be based primarily on Richardus Tertius, and its success has been overshadowed by Shakespeare’s fascinating image of Richard as an evil tyrant. Certainly Legge stands out as ‘the best’ Neo-Latin playwright at Cambridge University in Elizabeth’s reign. Legge’s major rival was the foremost Neo-Latin dramatist at Oxford University, William Gager (1555–1622) of Christ Church College, who completed three tragedies between 1583 and 1592. Curiously Meres placed Gager alongside Shakespeare as among ‘our best for comedy’ apparently on the basis of Rivales, which was performed in 1583 but has not sur­ vived.39 Gager’s first tragedy was Meleager, performed at Christ Church, in 1582, with such success that it was chosen for a second performance in 1585 to entertain Sir Philip Sidney as well as the Earls of Pembroke and Leicester. He later dedicated the play to the Earl of Essex when the play was printed in 1593. Using Seneca as his model, Gager transforms Ovid’s narrative version of the Meleager myth into a five-act tragedy. Individu­ alizing the principal characters of the plot, Gager intensifies the tragic conflict. Oeneus is not just disrespectful or careless in failing to honour the goddess Diana, he is an impious atheist who regards himself as equal if not superior to the gods. Atalanta’s role is expanded by her aversion to marriage as she follows the model of Diana in her love of hunting and her rejection of traditional female concerns. Meleager is also made more complex by his impulsiveness and his persistence which lead to his tragic end, and the divided loyalties of Althaea as mother and sister remind us of Medea’s debate over her love for her sons and her desire for revenge. This expansion of individual characters complicates as it clarifies the dimensions of the tragedy. 38 Meres, Palladis Tamia, Wits Treasury in Elizabethan Critical Essays, ed. Smith, 2, p. 319. 39 Meres, Palladis Tamia, ed. Smith, 2, p. 320.

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Gager retains the Senecan chorus as a narrative and didactic device to explain and emphasize the implications of the action presented on stage, but he also dramatizes actions that would have been narrated in Senecan tragedy, such as the climactic scene in which Meleager stabs his uncles when they oppose his attempt to honour Atalanta after the destruction of the Calydonian boar and the scene where Meleager painfully suffers as his mother burns the brand upon which his life depends. As I explain in my earlier discussion of this play, ‘[t]he emotional moment is prolonged by Althaea’s temporarily removing the brand from the fire and then thrusting it back in, but the audience is spared the final death throes of Meleager who, believing that he is pursued by the Fury Megaera, desperately runs off the stage. Gager returns to conventional neoclassical form in the final act by having the deaths of Althaea and Oeneus narrated.’40 Gager also departed from his Senecan model by introducing a Christian dimension to the tragic themes. Following the Elizabethan translators of Seneca, who often introduced a Christian perspective and whose collected edition of the tragedies was published in 1581, a year earlier, Gager reassesses Seneca’s interpretation of fate and fortune as malevolent forces inflicting suffering and death on their victims. Instead Gager emphasizes the personal responsibility of individuals for their actions that can lead to tragedy, but in the end he believes that it is divine providence that determines what happens in the world. He thus applies a didactic message to the classical past. His second Latin tragedy, Dido, was performed some fifteen months later apparently for the ceremonial visit of the Earl of Leicester, who was Chancellor of Oxford University, again accompanied by Sir Philip Sidney, but also by a royal guest, Albertus Alasco, Prince Palatine of Poland, a potential suitor to Queen Elizabeth. The subject may have been chosen to reflect on the Queen’s romantic circumstances, for Gager implicitly offers a warning to Elizabeth in his representation of Dido, and in the epilogue he directly compares the Queen to Dido and the Prince to Aeneas. Drawing especially upon Virgil’s Aeneid for the details of the story and the attitudes of the principal figures, Gager elaborates the emotions of Dido by developing the inner feelings expressed by her in Ovid’s Heroides 7. Gager’s representation of Aeneas is essentially negative. Virgil’s epical hero is reduced at the end to an exploitive ungracious deserter as his love submits to his piety, while Acts 4 and 5 focus on Dido as a tragic victim of male opportunism and the gods’ manipulation. In contrast with classical dramatic practice and contemporary imitators of Seneca, Dido represents rather than 40 Norland, Neoclassical Tragedy, p. 165.



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narrates the suicide of its tragic heroine who in her dying words regrets ever meeting Aeneas as she welcomes death and hopes that Aeneas will suffer impiously for causing her death. The tragic dimensions of her end are reinforced by her sister Anna’s suicide, a ritual sacrifice to honour Dido. The dramatic effectiveness of Dido is attested by Holinshed’s Chronicles, which describes the stage spectacle: ‘there was […] [a] goodlie sight of hunters with a full crie of a kennel of hounds. Mercurie and Iris descending from and to a high place, the tempest wherein it hailed small confects, rained rosewater, and snew an artificial kind of snow, all strange, marvelous, and abundant.’41 The development of staging techniques associated with the elaborate productions of court masques was clearly finding its way into the university plays, perhaps particularly when they were performed for royal or illustrious visitors. Gager by this time had established a reputation in writing Neo-Latin drama at Oxford by being selected to prepare productions for special occasions such as this one and by having at least two of his plays repeated for later performances. Yet his early plays were not published, perhaps because there was nothing to be gained by the college if printed copies were made available. Gager’s third Neo-Latin tragedy, Ulysses redux, was performed at Christ Church College, Oxford, at Shrovetide in 1592, the first of three plays performed on successive evenings. The second play was a revival of his Rivales, performed initially in 1583, and the third was Seneca’s Hippolytus, to which Gager added 339 lines that emphasized Hippolytus’s chastity. The preLenten celebration was thus dominated by Gager who dedicated his ‘tragoedia nova’ to Thomas Sackville, the Chancellor of Oxford University and co-author of Gorboduc, the first extant dramatic tragedy written in English, and to Mary Sidney, Sir Philip Sidney’s sister and the translator of Robert Garnier’s Marc Antoine.42 However, the production provoked a controversy with John Rainolds, a Puritan academic at Oxford, who condemned the play’s immorality; he objected to the actors wearing women’s clothes, to the performance on the Sabbath, and to the waste of time and money in the staging of academic drama. Gager responded by justifying academic  performance on the bases of recreation and rhetorical training. He explains:

41 Raphael Holinshed, Chronicles (London, 1587), 3, p. 1355. 42 For a more extended discussion of Gager’s relationship to Mary Sidney’s position and her role in the development of tragedy in late Elizabethan England, see Norland, Neoclassical Tragedy, pp. 180–81 and 204–18.

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Fig. 3. William Gager, Ulysses redux (performed 1591–92; Oxford: Iosephus Barnesius, 1592), title page.



neo-latin drama in britain493 We […] doe it to recreate owre selves, owre House, and the better parte of the Universitye, with some learned Poeme or other; to practyse owre owne style eyther in prose or verse; to be well acquainted with Seneca or Plautus; honestly to embowlden oure yuthe; to trye their voices, and confirme their memoryes; to frame their speeche; to conforme them to convenient action; to trye what mettell is in evrye one, and of what disposition they are of; whereby never any one amongst us, that I knowe, was made the worse, many have byn muche the better.43

Following Erasmus and other earlier defenders of student drama, Gager embraces the humanist tradition particularly associated with the teaching of Terence,44 but in the prologues, epilogues and letters published with the text of Ulysses redux later in the same year, 1592, Gager explains various aspects of his artistic choices in the tragedy.45 One of the most interesting elements of Gager’s view of tragedy represented in this play, his last, is his representation of the principal actions of the plot. Unlike the typical neoclassical drama which depends on a series of narrations to convey the action, Gager here shows rather than narrates. From the beginning, when Ulysses awakens on the stage to discover he has been returned to his native land, to the end when he takes vengeance on the suitors who had plundered his wealth and corrupted his servants, Gager’s portrayal of the heroic Ulysses demonstrates the qualities that made him famous. The theme of fidelity, which pervades the play, not only characterizes Penelope but serves as a touchstone to evaluate the servants, and in the end the unfaithful Melanthius, along with his female counterpart Melantho, suffer appropriate punishment while the faithful Eumaeus and Philaetius are rewarded. As Gager declares in answer to Rainolds’ charges of immorality, Ulysses redux offers a moral lesson, which he no doubt believed conformed with Christian justice. William Gager may be regarded by modern scholars as one of the most effective Neo-Latin dramatists in Renaissance England, but one of the most famous plays of the period, which coincidentally was written and performed at virtually the same time as Gager’s last tragedy, was Roxana by William Alabaster (1568–1640). Performed at Trinity College, Cambridge in 1591–1592, Roxana was reported by Thomas Fuller, to have been so powerful in its conclusion that a gentlewoman in the audience ‘fell distracted and never after fully recovered her senses.’46 Although the play was not 43 Gager, The Complete Works, 4, p. 263. 44 See Norland, Drama in Early Tudor Britain, pp. 84–94. 45 For a more detailed discussion of these aspects, see Norland, Neoclassical Tragedy, pp. 182–83. 46 Thomas Fuller, The History of the Worthies of England, 3, p. 185.

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Fig. 4. William Alabaster, Roxana (performed 1591-92 and published 1632), title  page. Reproduced by permission of the Huntington Library, San Marino, California.



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published until forty years after its first performance, two editions appeared in 1632, one pirated by Andrew Crook and an authorized version by Alabaster. An anonymous contemporary translation has survived in manuscript at the Folger Shakespeare Library, but the play seems to have been largely forgotten until a century later when Samuel Johnson remarked that Roxana was an example of the most elegant Latin style before Milton’s elegies.47 Based on Luigi Groto’s Italian play, La Dalida (1572), a five-act tragedy of nearly 4,400 lines, Alabaster’s version reduces the drama to hardly more than one quarter of the original text. Boas dismissed Roxana as little more than plagiarism of Groto,48 while Dana Sutton claims Alabaster turned a ‘bad play into a good one by recasting it in the mold of Senecan tragedy, replacing Groto’s flaccid turgidity with neoclassical economy and urgency.’49 However one evaluates the final result, Seneca’s Medea and Thyestes lie behind Groto’s version as well as Alabaster’s, but the Neo-Latin play more fully develops the vengeful Queen Atossa who boasts that she has outdone her model, Medea, and it intensifies the horror of the revenge by a graphic description of Roxana’s whipping and her forced participation in the slaughter of her children. The final horror is presented on stage as the King and Queen, who are poisoned by each other, die. As I indicate in my earlier discussion of Roxana, ‘[t]heir reciprocal poisonings may be interpreted as a kind of poetic justice, though Alabaster in presenting their deaths on stage emphasizes the differences in the two. The pitiful, wretched king is freed from his misery through death, while the manic queen glories in her triumphant revenge that has excelled both Atreus and Medea.’50 Roxana may be the first Neo-Latin tragedy in England based on an Italian drama, though Italian stories, collected and translated by Painter and Pettie some twenty-five years earlier from Boccaccio, Giraldi Cinthio and others had provided the plots for plays performed in the popular theatre. However, as Louise Clubb points out, by the mid 1590s, the English writers of Neo-Latin drama had discovered that commedia erudita offered a mine of plots and rhetorical dialogue that could be adapted to the academic circumstances of college production. Some of these plays were translated directly from an Italian source, while others were reworked from an intermediate translation. For example, Laelia, an anonymous 47 Lives of the English Poets, The Works of Samuel Johnson, 8, pp. 15–16. 48 Boas, University Drama in the Tudor Age, pp. 186–88. 49 William Alabaster, Roxana, hypertext crit. ed. Sutton, p. 2. 50 Norland, Neoclassical Tragedy, p. 152.

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comedy acted at Queens’ College, Cambridge, probably on 1 March 1595, ‘was based on a French play, Les Abusez, which was itself a translation of Gl’Ingannati’, as G.C. Moore Smith notes.51 Gl’Ingannati was also the indirect source of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night written some five years later. Whether Shakespeare knew or was influenced by Laelia remains an open question. Dana Sutton finds ‘a distinct undertone of homoeroticism in the strange power of attraction that the disguised Lelia [sic] exerts over Flaminio, no less than in the attraction of the disguised Viola for Orsino, and the lesbianism implied in the Viola-Olivia relationship is fully prefigured in the ‘Fabio’-Isabella relationship […]. Hence the themes of gender ambiguities and homoeroticism provoked by Viola’s transvestism are already present in Gl’Ingannati.’52 Whether Shakespeare knew the Neo-Latin version is not as important as the influence of Italian comedy on the Neo-Latin drama being developed particularly at the University of Cambridge. The anonymous Laelia is in fact characteristic of the themes and motifs to be found in the romantic comedies that were derived from the Italian dramatic tradition. Transvestism occupies a central position in the plot; it creates confusions and misunderstandings that provide the dramatic tension and the comedy, but the English Neo-Latin adapter enhances the effectiveness by sharpening the focus and altering the emphasis. The change in title from the intermediate French source, Les Abusez, to Laelia in the Neo-Latin version indicates her central role. Determined from the beginning to reject her father’s plan to marry her off to an old man for money, Laelia takes charge of her own life by adopting a male disguise in order to pursue the man she has chosen and to prevent him from marrying another woman. Her independence is made more sympathetic by her aged suitor’s comic delusions of youth, though her cross-dressing creates ambiguity when the aggressive Isabella displays a strong physical attraction toward Laelia. They exchange kisses on stage, and when the servant describes this meeting to his master, the sexual dimension is emphasized through exaggeration. The cheeky servants contribute to the comedy, and as a result the confusions of identity never become too threatening when Laelia’s brother appears, but as in the original Italian version, the French translation, and Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, Laelia gets her man, Flamineo, Isabella gets Laelia’s brother, Fabricius, and the comic aged suitor, Gerardus, recognizes that an older widow would suit him better. The misunderstandings are resolved, and everyone is happy, but the 51 Laelia, A Comedy, ed. Moore Smith, p. xvii. 52 See the introduction to the hypertext critical edition of Laelia by Sutton, pp. 3–4.



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foolish Gerardus remains comic to the end. The anonymous college adapter has created a remarkably effective and entertaining Neo-Latin play that must have titillated the student audience as it amused them. Two more Neo-Latin comedies based on Italian sources quickly followed at Cambridge. Walter Hawkesworth (c. 1573–1606) produced for performance at Trinity College Leander in 1599 and Labyrinthus in 1603. Leander, based on Sforza D’Oddi’s Erofilomachia (1572), closely follows its Italian source in its last three acts, but its new first act precedes the action of the source text, and Act II compresses and combines elements in Erofilomachia with added elements of farce. Although Leander has the distinction of being revived for a second performance some three years after its first, suggesting some measure of success, David Orr waspishly comments that ‘Hawksworth would doubtless have been better advised to translate the play and make no additions to it.’53 A more successful adaptation of an Italian commedia erudita was Hawkesworth’s Labyrinthus, a translated reworking of Giambattista della Porta’s La Cintia (1572). First performed at Trinity College, Cambridge, in March 1603, Labyrinthus offers an interesting example of a skilful adaptation of a romantic comedy for an undergraduate audience. Susan Brock examines Hawkesworth’s text in detail, and in the forty-nine scenes that she identifies, she finds twenty-eight to be closely based on La Cintia, nine scenes loosely based on della Porta, two as parallel renderings, two more as recastings, and only the prologue and eight scenes to be new and original.54 However, Hawkesworth renames all but two of the dramatis personae, and he changes radically two of the characters; Pedofilo, a stock senex in La Cintia, is transformed into a permissive, self-satisfied, goodhumoured parent called Tiberius, who resembles Periplectomenus in Plautus’s Miles gloriosus, and the tolerant Micio in Terence’s Adelphoe, thus providing a contrast with the other two conservative fathers in Labyrinthus. The other character who is radically changed is Capitano who is renamed Don Piedro Pacheco D’Alcantara and recast as a proud Spaniard preoccupied with honour but so poor that he depends on his begging servant to scavenge food. Drawing upon Lazarillo de Tormes, the popular Spanish novel, which appeared in 1554 and was published in a French translation in 1560 and in an English translation in 1576, Hawkesworth introduces a new comic dimension to his Italian source.

53 Orr, Italian Renaissance Drama in England before 1625, pp. 29–30. 54 Brock, Walter Hawkesworth’s Labyrinthus, 2, pp. 829–86.

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He also reduces long speeches, which increases dramatic intensity, and he occasionally expands speeches for comic effect. In addition he attempts to  classicize the play by changing della Porta’s setting of contemporary Naples to Florence, though the street scene conveys an ancient Roman comedy setting as the dialogue adopts lines from Plautus and Terence as well as archaic terms and grammatical constructions. Most important for his original audience of students and fellows Hawkesworth transforms della Porta’s romantic comedy into an erotic comedy of suspense and deception featuring transvestism and rape set in a permissive society over which the pleasure-loving father, Tiberius, presides. This moral orientation was judged to be against good manners by an unnamed writer in Retrospective Review in 1825, but he recognizes the skill of the adaptation: ‘The fable of the play [Labyrinthus] is very obscure and occasionally so decidedly contra bonos mores, that we may almost wish it were more so. There is however, much talent displayed in the conduct of it, and part of the dialogue would not disgrace writers of a far more classical age.’55 F.S. Boas in 1914 also found the moral perspective wanting, but he reckoned that ‘[t]he only plea in the comedy’s favour is that confusion of sex had an inexhaustible attraction for Renaissance audiences, and that the resulting imbroglio is worked out with much mechanical dexterity.’56 However, in 1970 David Orr indicates a change in attitude. Orr believes that Hawkesworth ‘can be said definitely to have improved’ della Porta’s original version. He explains that ‘[t]he intrigue of the Italian gives way to the farce of the English and, assuming farce to be funnier than simple intrigue, the play is better as comedy.’57 However one judges the moral dimensions of the play, the erotic element no doubt contributed to its contemporary success, and even the more fastidious moralists recognize the play’s dramatic qualities. The dramatic skill of the adapter together with the erotic dimension may explain the revival of the play during one of King James’s visits to Cambridge.58 The fact that the play was chosen for a royal performance more than a dozen years after its initial production is noteworthy, but its continued interest is further attested by its publication in 1636. Finally, it appears to be one of the few university Neo-Latin 55 Retrospective Review, 12, 1 (1825), p. 35. 56 Boas, University Drama in the Tudor Age, pp. 317–20. 57 Orr, Italian Renaissance Drama in England before 1625, pp. 31–32. 58 It has been suggested that the royal performance probably occurred during the King’s second visit, in 1615, but more recent scholars favour a repeat performance during the King’s third visit in 1622. So far the question remains unresolved. For a discussion of the date of this revival, see Brock, Hawkesworth’s Labyrinthus, 1, pp. 44–55.



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plays to have been acted on the popular stage, though according to Samuel Pepys not successfully. In his Diary he describes a performance of the play at the Theatre Royal on 2 May 1664: it was, he writes, ‘the poorest play methinks that ever I saw, there being nothing in it but the odd accidents that fell out by the lady’s being bred up in man’s apparel and a man in woman’s.’59 This may conclude the stage history of Labyrinthus, but its dramatic effectiveness and its rather ambiguous morality explains its attraction for seventeenth-century audiences as well as for the modern reader. A much more ambitious undertaking was Nero by Matthew Gwinne (1558–1627), which was entered in the Stationers’ Register on 23 February 1603 and printed later in the same year, but it was apparently never performed. Gwinne indicates in his dedicatory letter that it was offered for performance at St John’s College, Oxford, but it was rejected. Given its more than 5,000 lines of text and some eighty speaking roles, it is no wonder that the college officials turned it down, if simply on the grounds of production expenses, regardless of questions of quality or casting requirements. As the title page points out, the play is taken ‘e Tacito, Suetonio, Dione, Seneca’; more specifically it is based on Tacitus’s Annals 13–16, Suetonius’s life of Nero, parts of Dio Cassius’s Roman History, and Seneca. Whether Gwinne is referring to Octavia, the pseudo-Senecan tragedy people of his time believed had been composed by Seneca and which had been translated into English by Thomas Nuce some forty years earlier, or to the dramatic model he is imitating is not clear. He may mean both. Although he does not acknowledge it, he may also have been influenced by Ben Jonson’s Sejanus, which was being performed by the King’s Men at the Globe in the same season and was published in the same year. Jonson focuses upon the relationship between the emperor Tiberius and his favourite, Sejanus, but the future Nero will ultimately emerge from the political conspiracies that follow Sejanus’s fall. Whether Gwinne knew Jonson’s portrayal of Roman history is not as important as the fact that both playwrights at the end of Elizabeth’s reign and the beginning of James’s chose to write about a bloody and corrupt period of Roman history, in which evil tyrants struggled for power. Clearly both writers must have intended these images of terror at the heart of government to be warnings of the potential for corruption as a new monarch ascends the throne.

59 The Diary of Samuel Pepys, ed. Latham and Matthews, 5, p. 139.

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Gwinne’s Nero follows historical sources quite closely as Gwinne focuses on the character of the Emperor, but it is not a unified study of a tyrant or of a man driven by a lust for power or a delight in evil like Shakespeare’s or Legge’s Richard III. Instead Nero seems to be a character without a centre who is easily manipulated by people who gain his attention, though his attention span is somewhat limited. He listens to Seneca, his counsellor, but is easily distracted when a new issue is introduced. The most influential of his guides at the beginning of the play is his mother Agrippina who plots the murders of Claudius and his son Britannicus in order for Nero to become Emperor, but it is Poppaea, who emerges in the latter part of the play, who leads Nero to kill both his wife Octavia and his mother. Gwinne represents Nero as malleable, particularly when his desires or his fears are aroused, but he is essentially a man who epitomizes selfishness as he pursues his cruel, perverted career. Without a single redeeming quality, he is all that a ruler should not be. The dramatic structure of the play may be modelled upon Senecan tragedy, though the execution of the design is seriously flawed. A motif that was especially popular among the Senecan imitators writing Neo-Latin drama in Renaissance England was the introduction of ghosts of departed figures whose lives had been cut short by accident or murder. In Nero the ghosts of Messalina and Silius, who had been led off the stage for execution in the dumb show that serves as a prologue, return at the beginning of Act I to explain the historical context of their situation and to introduce the motive of revenge that recurs again and again to the end of the play. The first fruits of revenge follow almost immediately as Claudius is marked for murder by Agrippina, and the act ends with a choral comment that expresses a major theme of the play: En vocat caedes violenta caedam Flagitant manes queruli, inquieti, Caesus occisor cadat, expietur Sanguine sanguis. (Lo, violent murder invites murder. The querulous, restless shades demand that the murderer be stricken and die, that blood be expiated by blood.)60

The Chorus goes on to consider the issue of the just and the unjust but concludes that punishment inevitably follows, for ‘Neminem fallit Nemesis; nec ulli/ Fallitur illa’ (Nemesis cheats nobody, nor does anybody cheat her) (Chorus 1, 631–32). Gwinne emphasizes this cause-effect 60 Matthew Gwinne, Nero, hypertext crit. ed. Sutton, Chorus I, ll. 605–08. All future references to this play are to this edition.



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pattern by repeating it in each of the following acts. Act II is introduced by the ghost of Claudius who complains that he has been murdered by Agrippina, and he fears that his son Britannicus will be killed to clear the way for the false Nero to become Emperor. Claudius’s fears are realized in Act II when Britannicus drinks poison, fulfilling Nero’s plot. Gwinne continues this repetitious pattern by having the ghost of Bri­ tannicus, accompanied by Charon, introduce Act III. However, because Britannicus is an innocent victim of a conspiracy, his entrance to the Underworld and his suffering on the funeral pyre are pathetically described in detail. Act III is somewhat more complex as it focuses on the removal of Agrippina, Nero’s mother as well as his evil genius. Replaced by Poppaea, Nero’s new partner in crime, Agrippina is subtly tricked into boarding a ship that is designed to sink as if by accident, but when she manages to survive the shipwreck, she is unceremoniously beaten to death by Nero’s henchmen. Awaiting news of his mother’s death, Nero fears her revenge, and her ghost appears at the beginning of Act IV to complain of Nero’s ungrateful treatment of her and to predict Nero’s and Poppaea’s future suffering. The pattern has become quite predictable as Gwinne orders the action, but first Nero must be given time to follow his evil destiny to its inevitable end. His letter to the Senate justifying the death of Agrippina as punishment for her plotting and his expulsion of his wife Octavia at the insistence of Poppaea are part of the preparation for Gwinne’s portrayal of Nero’s end, but it seems here that Gwinne had a structural problem in finishing the drama. There was still much to be represented to give the tragedy of Nero a satisfying end, and he had only one act left to write for the traditional five-act production. He could have written a second play, a sequel, as Shakespeare did in his representation of Prince Hal’s relationship with Falstaff in Henry IV, Part II; but instead Gwinne chose to put the sequel in his final act, thus making the act unwieldy and extending the performance time by perhaps as much as two hours. Beginning Act V with the ghost of Octavia complaining of her suffering as she recounts her tragic fate for which she blames Nero and Poppaea, Gwinne then represents in 1,881 lines Nero’s end. As Dana Sutton notes, the final act is ‘as long as a normal play’ and suggests that the numbering of the scenes imply a plan for making Act V a separate play.61 However, such a scheme was not carried out in the version printed in 1603. What Gwinne focuses upon in the last act is a more personalized view of Nero’s 61 Gwinne, Nero, ed. Sutton, Intro., par. 26.

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downward spiral. He is shown playing a lyre and singing of the sack of Ilium while Rome burns in the background. Warned of conspiracies gathering against him, Nero then experiences the individual losses of his supporters. Epicharus strangles herself; his long-time counsellor Seneca and his wife Paulina commit suicide; his heroic nephew Lucan slits his veins as he welcomes death as a release; and several other followers face death bravely by also slitting their veins. The ghost of Agrippina reappears, but she is upstaged by a diatribe from Aenobarbus, governor of Gaul and the first of Nero’s generals to rebel against him, which is read aloud to Nero: … praedo, non princeps regit, Imo rapit orbem, praeco, non princeps, nec est Augustus, at cinaedus, auriga, histrio; Nec vir, viro qui nupsit, et duxit virum. Monstrum viri, cruore maceratum lutum. Quidvis magis quam musicus, et illud tamen (O principis laus magna) quam princeps magis. Iste Nero quid agat, si rogas, audi; furit Ligatur, obcaecatur, insanit. parit Oedipus, Orestes, Hercules, quod non nefas? Medaea, Canace, Phaedra, Helena, quod non nefas? Mala male cantat illa, male perdit sua Bona citharaedus malus, inexpertus, rudis Fert Roma sed an haec Gallia, an Vindex ferit? (Gwinne, Nero V.iv, ll. 4521–34) (A robber, not a ruler, governs the world, an auctioneer rather than an Augustus. He is no Augustus, but a bugger, a charioteer, an actor. Nor is he a man, who has been taken by a man for his bride. A monster of a man, mud stained with blood. Anything at all more than a musician, yet even that [oh what great praise for a ruler!] more than a prince. If you wish to know what this Nero is up to, give ear. He rages, he has to be bound and hidden away in darkness, he is crazy. To what wickedness does this Oedipus, this Orestes, this Hercules not give birth? To what wickedness does this Medea, this Canace, this Phaedra, this Helen not give birth? He badly sings bad verses; this rotten, untrained, maladroit zither-player wickedly squanders his fortunes. Rome bears him: will Gaul bear him, or shall Vindex bear him away?)

This account of Nero which Gwinne has taken from Suetonius and Dio Cassius sums up the popular view of Nero as he approached his end. Galba is declared the new Caesar, and Nero is given a spectacular farewell punctuated by an earthquake and lightning. Finally in the presence of only Sporus, his male lover, and Epaphroditus, a former supporter, Nero stabs himself, prompted by the sound of horses, coming he thinks to rescue him. Playing the actor to the end, he alludes to the deaths of Antony and Brutus,



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and in his last words, congratulates himself for his artistic demise: ‘Heu pereo, qualis artifex! Quantus Nero! (Alas I perish—what an artist! What a Nero!)’ (V.iv.4966). The tragedy concludes with a chorus spoken by the Three Furies who proclaim that all great things must be understood to have been done by great powers. Affirming providence, Gwinne brings Nemesis back on stage to deliver the epilogue, which declares that the evil Nero was brought to an appropriate end, and he then compliments the English monarch, Elizabeth, for being such a contrast to the wicked Roman Emperor, and finally he invites the audience to applaud its good fortune in having such a goddess as their ruler. Gwinne may be a bit extreme in his flattery of the ageing Queen as he seeks to turn his cynical image of tyrannical misrule into positive support of the royal sovereign, but it emphasizes the contrasting paths that await Elizabeth’s successor. Gwinne’s Nero may be the last major Neo-Latin play to be written in Tudor England, and even if it was never produced, it was so highly regarded as to have been published in at least two editions: in 1603, when it first surfaced, and again in 1638/39. Though perhaps overly ambitious in its design and flawed in its execution, it is a very learned and dramatic account of one of the world’s most spectacular villains. Gwinne went on to compose Vertumnus sive Annus recurrens, which was performed at Christ Church College, Oxford, in 1605 and printed in 1607, and he wrote a poem entitled Tres Sibyllae, which was recited to James I on 27 August 1605 as he passed near St John’s College on his journey from his palace at Woodstock to Oxford. Gwinne resigned his professorship in 1607 and appears to have devoted the rest of his life to the practice of medicine. The Reign of King James I (1603–1625) During his twenty-two-year reign King James visited the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge at least five times, and on every occasion he was entertained by plays performed in Latin. His interest in theatre, manifested by his adoption of the premiere acting company in London, the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, shortly after his accession, was made evident at both universities. He seems to have particularly enjoyed satiric comedy; as we shall consider later, he was especially impressed by George Ruggle’s Ignoramus, which he is said to have enjoyed so much that he demanded a repeat performance. He is reported to have fallen asleep at times during performances, but the King’s fatigue is often explained by the generous servings of food and drink, the excessive lengths of the plays, and the

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lateness of the hour. What is important to note is the general royal support the plays received at Oxford and Cambridge. What we observe in academic plays performed at the universities during the reign of James is a decrease in religious plays and an increase in plays on secular subjects. More plays are based on Italian sources and feature romantic love, deception, cross-dressing, and reunions with long-lost children, adapted from motifs in the classical comedies of Plautus and Terence, and more plays focus on contemporary issues related to courses of study, especially rhetoric, and caricatures of pedants and other academic types. Student behaviour in the university and in towns and villages nearby is also represented usually in a comic rather than a moralistic vein. Many of these plays contain a strong element of irony and satire in their development of humorous motifs borrowed from Roman comedy and the popular theatre. It is perhaps no wonder that this academic drama was appreciated by the majority of the academic community and perhaps certain members of the aristocracy who had some understanding of Latin, but the more puritanical educators and clergy found it morally offensive and a waste of time. Following in the tradition of attackers and defenders of dramatic performance from the Early Church Fathers onward, the debate was revived by moralists and humanists in the early sixteenth century with Erasmus, More and Vives expressing their views along with other scholars and reformers.62 Later, during the reign of Elizabeth, Gosson, Munday and Stubbes carried on the attack on drama, but they were answered by Lodge and by Sir Philip Sidney, whose elegant defence of poetry offered a critical defence of plays. Finally, in the last decade of the century, Dr John Rainolds of The Queen’s College, Oxford, attacked Gager’s Ulysses redux, as discussed above, on moralistic grounds. This criticism of a particular NeoLatin play provoked a defence by Gager and later by a colleague, Gentillet. Rainolds went on to publish a distorted representation of the controversy in Th’overthrow of Stage Playes in 1599,63 but the conflict between critics and supporters of drama continued sporadically through the first half of the seventeenth century with Thomas Heywood’s An Apology for Actors (1612), which provoked a response three years later, and near the end of James’s reign with Robert Ward’s Fucus sive Histriomastix (1623), a comic 62 For a discussion of this moral controversy, see Norland, Drama in Early Tudor Britain, pp. 84–145, and Barish, The Antitheatrical Prejudice. 63 For a detailed discussion of this controversy, see Norland, Neoclassical Tragedy, pp. 40–42 and 180–92.



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representation of the matter, which we will consider later. Anti-theatrical prejudice reaches a culmination in William Prynne’s Histriomastix: The Player’s Scourge, or Actor’s Tragedy (1632), which at over a thousand pages collects the criticisms of dramatic performance that have been voiced through the ages.64 However, in spite of negative attitudes expressed particularly by the growing Puritan movement, Neo-Latin drama flourished at both universities during the reign of James I. It is impossible to provide a survey of the more than thirty Neo-Latin plays that have survived from the Jacobean period at Oxford and Cambridge, but an examination of examples of the types and subjects of the drama will perhaps provide some indication of the variety of performances available. Among the earliest plays performed after James was crowned King of England was Pastor fidus, a Latin adaptation of Guarini’s Il Pastor fido, the famous Italian tragicomedy written by 1590. This NeoLatin version, which survives in two manuscripts, identifies neither its author nor its date of composition, but the prologue claims it is the first tragicomedy to be performed by King’s College actors on a Cambridge stage. Because the Latin text echoes Guarini’s defence of his play, which was published with the 1602 edition of Il Pastor fido, the performance date of Pastor fidus is generally thought to be between 1602 and 1605. As Margaret J. Arnold points out, the Cambridge author shortens some of Guarini’s longer speeches and substitutes action for Guarini’s verbal descriptions as the play moves from a mix of tragedy and comedy to a ‘conventionally Roman comic’ mode. As Arnold goes on to explain, ‘The Cambridge Pastor fidus […] is a successful dramatic comedy with strongly muted tragic overtones. The author loses the lyric longing and meditation of his original but retains an entertaining, well-structured drama, which conveys the essentials of character and theme.’65 This transmission of a favourite Renaissance Italian narrative to the academic stage is a remarkable achievement. A more ambitious endeavour was launched at St. John’s College, Oxford, in 1607–1608. Called The Christmas Prince, a cycle of seventeen parts, consisting of eight plays and nine narratives interspersed between them, were performed in separate units on key holidays beginning on 30 November 1607 (St Andrew’s Day) and ending on 13 February 1608 (four days after Shrove Tuesday). This series of entertainments marked the reign of 64 See Barish’s consideration of this work in its historical context in The Antitheatrical Prejudice. 65 Pastor fidus, Parthenia, Clytophon, facs. ed. and intr. Arnold.

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the Christmas Prince from his coronation to his resignation. Five of the plays were performed in Latin and three in English; the nine narrative links were also recited in English. The full text totals 9,337 lines. The authorship is generally regarded as ‘collective’ with the segment called Saturnalia attributed to Owen Vertue and John Adler, and Periander to John Sandsbury; the choral passages of Philomathes are thought to have been ‘inserted by committee.’ ‘The collaborative composition’, according to Earl Jeffrey Richards, ‘is framed by what appears to have been two plays, Ara Fortunae and Ira Fortunae, in which the Prince of the Revels is respectively elected and dethroned.’66 A contemporary manuscript preserved in St John’s Library by Griffin Hines entitled A true and faithfull relation of the rising and fall of Thomas Tucker, Prince of Alba Fortunata, Lord St. Johns &c., with all the occurrents which happened throughout his whole domination is represented in some detail in F.S. Boas’s chapter on ‘University Plays’ in The Cambridge History of English and American Literature, Volume 6, Part 2 (1907–1921). This description provides a very revealing insight into the nature of student productions on the academic stage. Meanwhile at Christ Church, Oxford, Robert Burton (1597–1640) who became famous for his Anatomy of Melancholy (1621) wrote a Neo-Latin comedy called Philosophaster in 1606, revised it in 1615, according to its prologue, and had it performed on 16 February 1618 in the Hall of Christ Church. A topical satire in the tradition of the Parnassus plays, performed in English on the public stage a few years earlier, Club Law also in English, and the Neo-Latin Pedantius, performed in 1581 and again in the 1590s, Burton’s play is a collection of borrowings from contemporary and classical texts. Noting that Burton ‘uses more than sixty quotations from classical authors and more than thirty Latin maxims and proverbs which were collected by Erasmus in his Adagia’, Connie McQuillen suggests that the play exemplifies ‘self-parody: it is a play about pedants which is rather pedantically stuffed with quotations, borrowings and allusions.’67 In his Anatomy of Melancholy published later Burton defines ‘philosophasters’ as those ‘licentiantur in artibus, artem qui non habent, eosque sapientes esse jubent, qui nulla praediti sunt sapientia, et nihil ad gradum praeterquam velle adferunt’ (‘licensed in the arts who have no art, those judged to be wise who have no wisdom and have no qualifications for a

66 The Christmas Prince, facs. ed. and intr. Richards, pp. 5–6. 67 Robert Burton, Philosophaster, ed. McQuillen, p. 5.



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degree except desire’).68 Although the play is set in Osuna, Spain, there is no doubt that Burton is representing a satiric image of contemporary Oxford. The action begins with Polupragmaticus instructing other prospective academics on how to feign knowledge, which concludes with the announcement that he is going to pretend to be a Jesuit, thus representing the epitome of dishonesty and deception. University instructors are described as gluttons and ‘vigorous drinkers’. The search to find a wise man, a dialogue borrowed from Pontano, reveals that the arts and philosophy have been banished from the university, and although the lawyers are making plenty of money, the rest of the academic community are viewed as of no account. Various pseudo-intellectuals demonstrate their false learning and their skills in conning the gullible. Echoing Sir Epicure Mammon in Jonson’s The Alchemist (1610), Polupistos, a nobleman conned by Pantomagus, fantasizes about the opulent life he will lead with the gold he expects from the alchemy. Pedanus, a pedantic grammarian, is after a doctoral degree while pretending to be a duke’s chaplain, and Theanus after posing as a rhetorician becomes a ‘theologaster’ or pseudo-theologian. However, perhaps the most critical and most topical satire is the Jesuit Polupragmaticus’s advice to the Sophist, Simon Acutus, on how to succeed in the university world: publish the work of someone else with certain notes and additions in your own name, dedicate it to some powerful man, flatter him, oppose a famous writer, or found a new sect (IV.1295). This cynical explanation of academic success smacks of bitter experience. The plot of Philosophaster is essentially linear with little integration between the individual parts. The least integrated element is the introduction of a love plot that leads to marriage at the end of the play. We learn in Act III that Antonius is in love with Camaena, who has rejected him because of his impudence, but in Act V it is reported that the woman Antonius has made pregnant is the lost daughter of a nobleman and thus an eligible wife for the young student. The romantic element is given rather short shrift as the academic satire prevails. The separate actions are brought together at the end as the various thieves and conmen receive justice; the ill-gotten goods are returned to their original owners; the imposters and hypocrites are exposed and then branded with signs of the wolf or the ape, stripped of their degrees, and expelled. The University has thus been reformed, and a final song praises true philosophy, which triumphs. 68 Burton, Anatomy of Melancholy, 1.2.mem.3.subs.15.

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Also at St John’s College, Oxford, a series of short plays representing episodes in Ovid’s Metamorphoses were performed over a period of some twenty years. Each of the five plays survives in single manuscripts prefaced by letters dedicating the drama to the president of St John’s at the time of performance. As Dana Sutton suggests, these plays appear to have been written for particular occasions requiring a shorter performance than the usual college productions,69 but the exact nature of the occasion is not clear. The five plays in this category include Physiponomachia (1609– 1611) by Christopher Wren (1589–1658), 611 lines based on Metamorphoses 9, 1–88 (the competition between Hercules and Achelous for the hand of Deianera); Atalanta (1612) by Philip Parsons (1594–1653), 819 lines based on Metamorphoses 10, 560–680 (the race for Atalanta won by Hippomenes); Homo (1615–1621) by Thomas Atkinson (1599–1639) 580 lines based upon the myth of Prometheus, upon which the Christian allegory of Everyman is superimposed; Iphis (1621–1623) by Henry Bellamy (1604–?), 1,240 lines based upon Metamorphoses 9, 666–797 (the ambiguous relationship between Iphis and Ianthe, involving lesbianism and a moralistic perspective that leads some modern commentators to view the play as a tragicomedy);70 and Cephalus and Procris (1626–1628) by Joseph Crowther (1610–1689), 1,232 lines based on Metamorphoses 7, 694–756 (Cephalus’s test of Procris’s fidelity). These plays take various forms; the shortest ones are divided into scenes, though Iphis and Cephalus and Procris, the two longer plays, are set out in five acts each. In all five plays the Ovidian episodes are fleshed out with motifs drawn from contemporary conventions and traditions with sometimes surprising results, as, for example, in Iphis, Cephalus and Procris, and Homo. The individual authors adopt the outlines of Ovid’s narratives, but they impose their own perspectives on the material that they adopt. During this same period at Cambridge several new Latin playwrights emerged. Between 1611 and 1615 Samuel Brooke (c. 1575–1631) wrote three plays for performance at Trinity College. The first, Adelphe, was performed in the winter of 1611/12, perhaps twice, and it was revived for performance  during the visit of Prince Charles, Princess Elizabeth, and the Elector Palatine in early March 1613. Count Palatine is reported to have slept through ‘the greater part of the performance’, though the rest of the royal party appeared to have been quite satisfied with the production.71 69 Christopher Wren, Physioponomachia, hypertext crit. ed. Sutton, Intro., par. 4. 70 See Sutton’s intr. to his edition. 71 See Samuel Brooke, Adelphe, Scyros, Melanthe, ed. Schmitz, p. 2.



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Unusually this play was performed again some fifty years later in 1662, and two more times in 1669. Based upon della Porta’s La Sorella, Adelphe follows the Italian source quite closely, while doubling the scenes in Act II and reducing the number of lines in the play by about one third. As Götz Schmitz points out, Brooke does this by cutting many rhetorical and sentimental elements and adding ‘good-humoured comedy on the lower level.’72 It seems to have been a trade-off more suited to his college audience. Brooke’s second play, Scyros, was first performed during the visit of Prince Charles, his sister Elizabeth, and the Elector Palatine to Cambridge probably on 3 March 1613, whether before or after Adelphe is not clear. A second performance was probably given in 1613. An adaptation of the pastoral Filli di Scoro by Guidobaldo Bonarelli della Rovere (1607), Scyros takes up the story after the near rape by a centaur of the most beautiful woman on the island. As in his earlier play, Brooke reduces the emotional protestations and lamentations in the Italian text and introduces scenes from the rustic world instead. As Schmitz notes, Brooke also ‘expands the happy ending by adding two couples’ to the marriage celebrations.73 This accentuates the crowd-pleasing nature of the play following the terror of the bestial near rape reported at the beginning. Brooke’s third play in as many years, Melanthe, appears to have been original; at least no direct source has been discovered, though the play does incorporate several elements from his earlier works, such as the stupid Nicander from Coccadorus in Scyros. Melanthe was first performed for the royal visit of James I on 10 March 1615. During his five-day stay at Cambridge, the King was treated to the performance of four Latin plays, among them George Ruggle’s famous Ignoramus, which we shall discuss later. There is no evidence of a second performance, but Melanthe was printed later in 1615 by the Cambridge University printer. One of the most entertaining plays produced at Oxford was Mercurius rusticans, written between 1605 and 1618. The author was obviously a student or former student who knew the jargon and attitudes of college life, but his particular identity is not known. Like Gammer Gurton’s Needle, performed in English at Cambridge a couple of generations earlier, this Neo-Latin college comedy represents students on holiday in a village near the university. The humour in the play is generated by their duping

72 See Schmitz’s intr., p. 3. 73 Schmitz’s intr., p. 10.

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the simple rustics into doing and saying things that make them appear ridiculous. In a series of tricks and deceptions, the more sophisticated students lead us to laugh at the gullibility of the hen-pecked blacksmith who believes that a ring can make him invisible and his harridan wife who thinks that a potion concocted by one of the students will make her more fertile. The students also arrange rendezvous with the chambermaid, which they do not keep, but perhaps the episode most enjoyed by the college audience was the trick played on Joanna, the daughter, who is given Venus’s powder that provokes flatulence. In a rather extended scene (IV.3) her wooing is interrupted several times by her farts. Several drinking songs add to the merriment as well as a spectacle of satyrs and little devils performed by the smaller boys. The play ends with a song celebrating the students’ visit and reminding the audience that they enjoyed the hospitality of the village without paying their bill. This play appears to have no other motive than to entertain. Ann Cotton sums up its effect most succinctly: ‘Mercurius Rusticans […] is pure farce from start to finish: it is a mélange of comic characters, ridiculous situations and humorous language. What a welcome change this play must have been from the dull routine of college life!’74 Perhaps the most famous Neo-Latin play of the Jacobean period was Ignoramus by George Ruggle (bap. 1575–1621/2), performed at Clare Hall (later called Clare College) during King James’s visit to Cambridge in March 1614. One of four plays performed for the King’s entertainment, Ignoramus so impressed James that he requested a repeat performance when he returned a year later. It was performed again on 6 May 1615 for the King and his guests. This was apparently a more expensive production with more lavish sets and costumes, and it involved actors from other colleges besides Clare. First published in 1630, the play went through seven additional Latin editions before 1787, and it was translated three times in the seventeenth century: by Robert Codrington in 1662, by Ferdinando Parkhurst in 1660–1662, and by Edward Ravenscroft in 1678. In addition eight manuscript versions of the play are extant. Parkhurst’s English translation was performed at the Cock Pit on London’s Drury Lane in 1662 and Ravenscroft’s version under the title The English Lawyer A Comedy in 1678 at the Royal Theatre. Performances of the original Latin play at Bury St Edmunds as well as at the Merchant Taylors’ School and the Westmin­ ster school continued well into the eighteenth century.75 As E.F.J. Tucker 74 Mercurius Rusticans, ed. Cotton, p. xliii. 75 George Ruggle, Ignoramus. A hypertext ed. by Sutton, intr., par. 1.



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Fig. 5. George Ruggle, Ignoramus (performed 1614–15 and published 1630), title page. Reproduced by permission of the British Library, London.

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Fig. 6. Engraving from Ignoramus. Reproduced by permission of the British Library, London.



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comments, ‘[n]o university play has enjoyed quite the popularity of Ignoramus, or its notoriety’; the play provoked ‘a veritable riot of satirical responses from angry Inns of Court men and jealous Oxonians.’76 Based upon Giambattista della Porta’s La Trappolaria (1596), a comedy cast in the Plautine mode, Ignoramus makes several significant adaptations to its Italian source. Introducing several new characters and new scenes, Ruggle shifts the perspective to a satire on legal jargon, pedantry, and ignorance as well as ridiculing Jesuit books that are said to justify oath-breaking and tyrannicide as well as the ritual of exorcism mocked on stage. Completely altered from della Porta’s Dragaleone, Ignoramus is a ludicrous wooer from the beginning with his spouting of legal terms and his unawareness of the contempt in which he is held by the romantic heroine Rosabella. Ignoramus is cast into several comic situations during the course of the play. When threatened with castration by his rival Antonius, he tries to hide himself, and when found, he falsely promises that he will no longer seek to purchase Rosabella from her guardian, a pander. Ignoramus’s fear engenders much laughter as he demonstrates that he is a coward as well as a fool. Later Ignoramus is subjected to an exorcism ritual after he is claimed to be possessed by the devil. The mock exorcism, carried out by friends of Ignoramus’s rival, Antonius, is one of the many deceptions in the play that are introduced by Ruggle for comic or satiric purposes. The plot of the comedy is in fact quite intricate; depending upon false identities, misapprehensions, and trickery, Ruggle extends the conventions of contemporary Italian comedy, but he also harks back to the traditions of Roman comedy by using the witty servant to engineer the plot and the revelation and reunion of lost children to resolve the conflicts. Ruggle proves to be a very skilful dramatist in integrating the many diverse elements in the performance while maintaining a lively comic tone. Many modern scholars have recognized Ignoramus as unique in its success beyond the university, but the dimensions of the comedy are perhaps best summed up by E.F.J. Tucker, who writes: ‘In its vivacious and racy Latin, its witty and often brilliant macaronics, and its cavalier treatment of pedantry and ignorance, Ruggle’s Ignoramus is a work of considerable literary merit.’77 One criticism of the play made by a contemporary that has been noted by several recent commentators pertains to the play’s length. In the 76 For a discussion of the play’s popularity, see George Ruggle, Ignoramus, ed. Tucker, pp. 2–5. 77 Ruggle, Ignoramus, ed. Tucker, p. 9.

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facsimile Latin edition prepared by Tucker it has been calculated to  be 4,337 lines; in Sutton’s critical edition it is represented as 3,370 lines. But however the length is measured it must have required at least five hours to perform. It may have been pruned a bit in production, and a number of the comic scenes could certainly be seen as expendable, though given King James’s known impatience with long productions, his request for a second performance must be seen as a tribute to Ruggle’s dramatic skill. Another satiric comedy presented for King James, but only half as long and less complex was Fucus sive Histriomastix, first performed 26 February 1623 at Queens’ College, Cambridge, and repeated for the King at Newmarket about 12 March 1623. The author is generally believed to have been Robert Ward (c. 1595–c. 1640) who played the leading role in the production, but his authorship is not clearly proven. An allegorical comedy representing a Puritan who hates the theatre and is trying to stop academic performances, Fucus sive Histriomastix takes up the traditional anti-theatrical arguments of Gosson, Stubbes and Rainolds discussed earlier, but by focusing on the character of the Puritan critic, the playwright emphasizes his hypocrisy along with his old-fashioned views which make him appear particularly ridiculous. The Puritan Fucus is established at the beginning of the play as extreme in complaining about heathen maypoles in the villages, the playing of bagpipes, and the performance of comedy, which he argues ‘is a whore and a corrupter of youth’.78 Fucus vows to turn comedy into tragedy, and in an extended dialogue with Ingenium (Wit), Fucus declares that he ‘regards all stage-plays to be illicit’, and he then marshals the old arguments used by his Puritanic forebears: that it was sinful for men to dress in women’s attire and adopt female gestures, that it provoked wantonness, and that it was a great waste of time, to which he adds that the dances in the plays are silly. Fucus’s authority is repeatedly undercut by his hypocrisy. His favourite justification of his personal variance from his strict regime is that it is not a sin if is not observed. In other words it is not a crime to guzzle wine providing it is done furtively. Fucus is more than just a killjoy; he is malicious and destructive and is, therefore, deserving of the physical abuse to which he is subjected, as when a pisspot is poured over his head. The comedy goes forward with a vengeance, including lively songs and dances, in spite of Fucus’s efforts to drive them off the stage, and he is exposed as a hypocritical ass who is made the laughing stock of the production. 78 Robert Ward, Fucus sive Histriomastix, ed. Sutton, I.2, l.220: ‘esse prostibulum et adolescentium perniciem’.



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The performance appears to have been a success. The second epilogue, addressed to King James, invites the King and the audience to express their approval with applause, as we would expect, but the appeal is cast in the form of a plea for the King’s support in the battle against the Fucuses, the false critics who seek to bring down dramatic performance. King James’s response is not recorded, but the author’s awareness of the growing Puritan tide that would within twenty years close the public theatres and end the college productions at Oxford and Cambridge is clearly expressed. The Reign of Charles I (1625–1642) James’s successor, Charles, appears not to have been as enthusiastic a supporter of the theatre as his father, though as a youth in 1613 he attended college performances at Cambridge with his sister Elizabeth and the Elector Palatine. Charles was also honoured with the production of a NeoLatin play on his visit to Oxford in 1636, but university plays did not take on the significance for him that they had for Elizabeth or James. Perhaps this waning of royal interest in academic drama resulted from less interesting subject matter as well as less talented writers. What we observe in the plays that survive from this period is a repetition of stock characters, stock motifs and comic situations drawn from Italian plays that provided the raw ingredients of Neo-Latin drama. Plautus and Terence continue to supply models of dramatic structure and snappy turns of phrase. We also perceive a growing influence of drama from the popular stage on the university plays. Satire of academic types—especially pedants, false scholars and ignorant fools who are easily deceived by charlatans—is a common theme in the college comedies, but as the period progresses, social institutions such as the Royal Exchange and the development of the insurance industry are represented. Most noticeable is the coarsening of the comic situations toward the end of Charles’s reign as physical comedy and vulgar farce often prevail. The hypocrisy of the growing Puritan movement is treated more harshly, and the atmosphere of disease intensifies the criticism of contemporary society. Fewer university Neo-Latin plays have survived from the Caroline than from the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods, and none measures up to the historical significance or dramatic effectiveness of the earlier Neo-Latin plays. Of the extant university plays from this last segment of Renaissance academic drama we shall examine representative texts from Cambridge ­ ritten and Oxford. Pseudomagia by William Mewe (1603–1669), a comedy w

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between 1625 and 1627 survives in three manuscripts found at Emmanuel and Trinity Colleges, Cambridge, and at the Folger Shakespeare Library; full stage directions are indicated in the manuscripts, though no record of its production has been discovered. Its Latin has been described by J.W. Binns as ‘lively and witty’, and he calls the play ‘one of the best and most representative plays of the Academic Latin comedies’. John C. Coldeway and Brian P. Copenhaver declare it to be ‘a highly-crafted play, one that could hold its own against any number of its better known contemporaries on the popular stage’,79 yet it seems not to have attracted notice in its own time. A variant on the Prodigal Son tradition, the play carries on many motifs from classical comedy, but it is perhaps most notable for its elaboration of deception as its central theme. Mease creates a false magician in the guise of a Persian, a world of false learning, false parents, false offspring, false servants, false lovers, false dukes, and a false ghost, but in the end the elder son is reformed, the lovers are joined and the true world prevails. Performed at about the same time, on 3 March 1627, at Trinity College, Cambridge, was Thomas Vincent’s Paria, an Italianate comedy of more than 5,000 lines based on Eusebio Luchetti’s Le due Sorelle rivali (1609), a prose comedy indebted to Plautus’s Menaechmi. As Steven Berkowitz points out, Vincent combines ‘components of romance, satire, and farce into city comedy […] distinguished by the determined, high-bourgeois integration of its characters.’80 Requiring more than four hours to perform, the complicated comedy represents twin brothers who grew up separately and are mistaken for each other by sisters who love them, and in the end their true identities are clarified and they are married. A pedantic tutor, whose role in Luchetti’s play is satirically expanded by Vincent, is married to a prostitute, and a Jew, who had stolen one of the twins and sold him, is exposed, but he escapes punishment by choosing to break a dietary law rather than facing the magistrates. A more effective comedy that merges elements from classical comedy with characters and motifs from the contemporary popular stage was Senile odium by Peter Hausted (c. 1605–1644), performed at Queens’ College, Cambridge, probably in 1630/31. Published in 1633 by Cambridge University Press, Hausted’s play, three times longer than the typical Roman comedy, extends the cast to nearly twenty characters and complicates the traditional conflict of sons pursuing their pleasures in opposition to their

79 William Mewe, Pseudomagia, ed. Coldewey and Copenhaver, pp. 13–15. 80 Thomas Vincent, Paria, ed. Berkowitz, p. 7.



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fathers’ designs. The recognition and reunion of parents with long-lost children associated with Plautus but continuing to be popular on the public stage is combined with the conflict between friendship and love as an attractive potential lover turns out be a new-found sister. The dramatic structure along with its street staging owes much to Roman comic form, but popular comic motifs are introduced to enliven the action and to add a satiric dimension. The exposure of the affectations and stupidity of gulls, a common target on the public stage, here focuses upon pedants and false teachers as in conventional academic plays. Hausted demonstrates one of the most common types of satiric parody of affected and pretentious speech in the figure of Euphues, whom John Lyly had created some fifty years earlier as a model of rhetorical elegance. Hausted’s ingenious imitation in Latin of Lyly’s English style is represented in Euphues’ attempt to teach his rustic pupil, Gorgonius, the language of courtship. A more fully developed comic convention created by Hausted results from mistaken identity, of which he offers several variations ranging from a reworking of Christopher Sly’s confusion and opportunism when he is treated as a lord in Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew to two men who have drunk themselves into a stupor awakening to find themselves dressed in each other’s clothes. This exchange of identities thrust upon them by young wits for their merriment is reminiscent of Ben Jonson’s popular comedy, Epicoene, particularly when the comedy takes a misogynist turn in the portrayal of a shrewish wife who tricks and beats her husband. The drunken and dishonest husband may deserve his harsh treatment, but the physical farce becomes rather crude. More dramatically effective is Hausted’s resolution of the comedy, which resembles Jonson’s judgemental conclusions to Volpone, Epicoene, and The Alchemist, where the delusions of the major characters are formally exposed and they are forced to face the reality of their actions, though Hausted does not manage the ironic dimensions as effectively as his predecessor. The romantic complications are resolved as are the particular comic plots. It is a remarkably entertaining play that clearly impressed the university authorities sufficiently to warrant publication within a year or two of performance. It draws heavily on comic conventions, but it employs them creatively as it integrates the worlds of ancient Rome and contemporary England. As L.J. Mills comments, ‘Senile Odium is Terentian and Caroline; it smells both of the lamp and of the alehouse.’81 81 Peter Hausted, Senile odium, ed. Mills, p. 9.

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Another Cambridge comedy written in the early 1630s that owes something to Ben Jonson, then in the final years of his life, was Cornelianum Dolium, associated by previous scholars with Trinity College, though a record of its performance has not been found. It was printed in 1638, and the author is identified only by the initials ‘T.R.’ C.G. Moore Smith has argued that this refers to Thomas Randolph (bap. 1605–1635) who had written a couple of comedies not in Latin but in English, though he may have been assisted by Richard Brathwaite in preparing the Latin text. Dana Sutton disputes this conjecture and suggests that ‘T.R.’ points to Thomas Ryley, a contemporary at Trinity who had performed roles in other academic plays, including Randolph’s The Jealous Lovers.82 Not enough evidence survives to resolve the question of authorship, but the fact that it was singled out to be published suggests that it received a positive response when it was performed, which led the printer and/or bookseller to expect a profit from its publication. The dramatic circumstances of an ailing whoremonger determining to take revenge upon the sluts and thieves who have abetted his self-destructive path offers a new spin on Agrippa’s famous tub developed to treat venereal disease. The dramatic action also draws upon contemporary comic motifs from Volpone’s feigned illness to trick his would-be heirs as well as the gulling of grave-robbers. A further Jonsonian influence was the motif of the haunted house as a protective cover for chicanery from The Alchemist, which Jonson adapted from Plautus’s Mostellaria. The comedy is at times clever and entertaining, but it frequently degenerates into crude farce. Eumorphus sive Cupido adultus by George Wilde (1610–1665), performed at St John’s College, Oxford, in February 1635, may also owe something to Ben Jonson. Eumorphus resembles Narcissus in Cynthia’s Revels, and when he puts on female attire as he assumes the role of his sister, the main theme of the play, ‘misogyny, and the idea of self-love and its consequences’ are brought out, as Heinz J. Vienken notes.83 The play is somewhat unusual in that of a cast of thirteen, four of the roles are women, though, of course, played by boys, in addition to the cross-dressing of the central male character. The misogynist’s contempt in the play for women’s intellect implies that the role of women in society was becoming a more sensitive issue.

82 For a more detailed discussion of the authorship, see Thomas Ryley, Cornelianum Dolium, ed. Sutton, intr., pp. 1–6. 83 George Wilde, Eumorphus sive Cupido Adultus, ed. Vienken, p. 55.



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Another university play that focused on the contemporary world was John Rickets’ Byrsa Basilica seu Regale Excambium, and based on internal evidence, was probably performed in 1633 at Jesus College, Cambridge. This comedy, which represents commercial life in London, is set in the Royal Exchange, founded in the 1570s. No direct source for the play has been discovered, but it appears to be generally modelled upon Plautus, as Helen Higbee suggests.84 One of the characters, Rialto, who appears to stand for Thomas Gresham, may be ‘an ideal of the merchant prince’ who ‘emerges as the stable centre of the Exchange’,85 but the image of the Exchange that the choric Mercury describes is most negative: O vita mercatoria! Fortuna praelium! Technarum gymnasium! Humanitatis speculum! Lucupeta hic sudat in dolosis pactibus; Ille in pecunia recuperanda debita: Luitque incautus creditor caecum diem. Pars maxima haeret, stupet, friget torpida; Inter spei metusqueoscillationem pendula: Quos cruciat mercatura audaces exotica, Et nummus exul; ad omnen Aeolium impetum Mortui redivivi. (Oh merchant’s life! A battle of Fortuna! A school for trickery! A mirror of humanity! One profiteer toils at deceitful bargaining, another in recovering money owed to him, and the incautious lender suffers from advancing credit. The greater part hang on, benumbed, lifeless, swinging and swaying between hope and fear. Foreign merchandise and foreign money torment the venturesome traders; but at every gust of wind the downcast take on new hope.)86

In the end Rickets falls back on the conventional romantic conclusion with Virginia, who had determined earlier to join the Amazons when she feared her lover had let her down, marrying Emporius and Ursula wedding the father of her bastard child. The uncertainty and attraction of gambling that drive the Exchange give way to the natural patterns of life. In the epilogue Mercury compares the ups and downs of merchants’ luck to life’s changing fortunes and the scholar’s fate. Although comedy dominates the academic stage during the reign of Charles I, tragedy does occasionally make an appearance. One example is Thibaldus sive Vindictae ingenium by Thomas Snelling (1614?–?), which 84 Higbee, ‘Cambridge at Sea’, p. 153. 85 John Rickets, Byrsa Basilica seu Regale Excambium, ed. Bückmann-de Villegas, p. 2. 86 John Rickets, Byrsa Basilica seu Regale Excambium, ed. Bowers, III, ll. 1778–87.

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may have been acted at St John’s College, Oxford, sometime between 1634 and 1640, though there is no specific evidence that it was. In a note addressed to the Reader in its publication at Oxford in 1640, the author defends the play’s departure from ancient tragic practice by saying ‘cum enim privato tantum theatro destinata fuerit spectaculum, par erat, ut patrii genio theatri morem gererem’ (‘my play was intended only for the private theatre, it was reasonable for me to accommodate myself to the genius of my national theatre’).87 He thus claims theoretical licence on the basis of contemporary practice, which may explain why, while imitating Senecan pathos and rhetoric, he represents on the stage the enactment of the crimes, and the action concludes with a dance that becomes the final revenge as the perpetrators of evil actions are punished. He is clearly following the practice of his contemporary public theatre, where revenge tragedies from Kyd’s Spanish Tragedy and Shakespeare’s Hamlet to the Jacobean and Caroline tragedies of Tourneur, Webster, Middleton and Ford celebrate acts of violence with a realistic enactment. Snelling also imitates conventional tragic practice on the English public stage by including comic characters in the context of the tragedy. The hired assassins, Gryphius and Strumbus, as well as Erfila the witch, play prominent roles in the action, and as Dana Sutton points out, their speech is written in ‘a radically different style of Latin.’ While the other scenes ‘are written in the iambic senarii traditional to Latin tragedy’, the scenes involving these comic characters are ‘redolent of the comedies of Plautus and Terence, and they speak in prose.’88 Incorporating a romantic relationship and a Machiavellian villain in a revenge plot, Snelling creates a suspenseful and sensational drama, but as Lothar Cerny comments, ‘[i]n the end, justice and love overcome the assaults of evil. Political and moral order prevails, the ambitious are punished, divine kingship is restored.’89 This providential view of the world is particularly interesting when one considers that the play must have been written as England was moving toward civil war. The play’s relevance to the time is indicated by its reprinting in 1650, after Oliver Cromwell had succeeded in executing Charles I and establishing the Commonwealth government. Probably the most highly regarded of the Caroline Neo-Latin plays is Naufragium ioculare by Abraham Cowley (1618–1667), performed at Trinity College, Cambridge, on 2 February 1638 and published in the same 87 Thomas Snelling, Thibaldus sive Vindictae ingenium, ed. Sutton. 88 Snelling, Thibaldus, introd., par. 8. 89 Thomas Snelling, Thibaldus sive Vindictae ingenium, intr. Cerny, p. 14.



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year. C.H. Herford in the late nineteenth century singled it out as ‘certainly one of the most brilliant of English Latin comedies’,90 and a century later Hans-Jürgen Weckermann declares the play ‘can without doubt be reckoned among the best representatives of its genre in the Neo-Latin drama of England’, even though he lists several structural faults he finds in the text.91 Because of Cowley’s contemporary popularity, his Latin play was reprinted along with his English works later in the seventeenth century. Arthur H. Nethercot has considered in some detail the sources of the play,92 but apart from editors’ introductory comments, the comedy has not received much critical attention. Cowley’s play is in fact quite entertaining in spite of its reliance on conventional motifs. Led by a deceitful servant, Dinon, a variation on the witty slave of Roman comedy, the action abounds in practical jokes and tricks beginning with two students who, in a drunken state, are led to believe they are on a ship at sea. Their discomfort is alleviated only by their vomiting on stage and then falling asleep. At the end of Act I Aemylo, who had helped to carry out the trick, observes: ‘An audience would have to die from laughter, if somebody dramatized this as a comedy.’93 Perhaps this self-congratulatory comment was intended by the author to guide audience response, but it also points to the major concern of the play which is to provoke laughter. A discussion of the ‘art of joking’ by Dinon and Aemylo examines what makes people laugh and the importance of jokes in conversation. According to Aemylo, ‘[n]owadays all men want to appear witty and elegant, they strive for that any way they can. I know men who prefer to lose their friends and their lives than to lose a joke.’94 They determine that the major source of humour is mockery, which is illustrated in various forms as the play proceeds. The pedant Gnomicus constantly quoting lines from the classical authors is held up to scorn, the institution of marriage is made light of by a cavalier attitude, and witticisms are bought by a wife to be used against her husband. A school of jokes is proposed to provide laughter on all possible occasions, and the motif of the haunted house, a popular device derived from Plautus, offers 90 Herford, Studies in the Literary Relations, p. 74n. 91 Abraham Cowley, Naufragium ioculare, ed. Weckermann, p. 5. 92 Nethercot, ‘Abraham Cowley as Dramatist’. 93 Abraham Cowley, Naufragium ioculare (1638) and Charles Johnson, Fortune in her Wits (1705), ed. Sutton, I.vi, ll.466–67: ‘Necesse est risu spectatores emorior, si rem transferret istam in comaedium quispiam.’ 94 Naufragium, III.iii, ll.1018–19: ‘Recte, hoc est iocari nunc dierum. Praeterea quis est qui nequit in cognatione verborum, et sympathia quadam ludere?’

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a final opportunity in the play to make fun of the gullible. However, as previous scholars have pointed out, the romantic elements which lead toward marriage and the reunion of lost children with their father emerge only near the end of the play, and seem to have no relationship with the author’s earlier preoccupation with satiric humour. Academic comedy at Cambridge appears to have degenerated from serious, morally oriented instruction for the students at the University to crowd-pleasers appealing to the lowest common denominator in the audience. On 6 February 1638, just four days after the performance of Cowley’s Naufragium ioculare, Valetudinarium by William Johnson (1610–1667) was produced at Queens’ College, Cambridge. The author played the role of Magneticus, the major manipulator of the action, which is set at St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London. Not printed in the seventeenth century, the play survives in three manuscripts and fragmentary remains preserved in Cambridge libraries. ‘A motley mixture of traditional elements’, but ‘totally unoriginal’, according to Weckermann,95 the comedy has been largely ignored by modern scholars, yet its setting is quite unique and the pervasive atmosphere of disease is skilfully conveyed. Grounded in the contemporary world, the comedy has an immediacy rarely represented on the academic stage. Featuring cripples from the hospital as well as a bawd and whores from a brothel, the play exposes the seamier side of London life. A key figure satirized in the play is Ipswichus, a hypocritical puritan tutor. Ipswichus, who has impregnated a Holy Sister, is revealed to be a reprobate guilty of the sins he warns the student Pythiolus to shun, particularly drinking and whoring. The two, overcome by drink, vomit on stage, and are robbed by a bawd and her daughter as the comedy at times becomes particularly gross. The beating of servants occurs with some frequency, and a fat beadle is tricked into drinking urine. Clearly the comic dimension has degenerated on the academic stage before the plays were banned by the Puritan government following the deposition of Charles I. These last Neo-Latin plays illustrate another development in university drama: an increasing number of women’s roles. Although still played by boys, these parts may point to the growing significance of women in contemporary society. In Valetudinarium five characters are women; one romantic part is the conventional attractor of suitors, but the other potential bride aggressively pursues her choice of husband, and a third female role is the pregnant Holy Sister, who is to be married to her seducer, Ipswichus, whose plan to send her to New England alone is foiled. The 95 William Johnson, Valetudinarium, ed. Weckermann, pp. 12–13.



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remaining two women, the bawd and her daughter, demonstrate the commercialization of sex in the Caroline underworld. Johnson’s comedy ends with the exposure of the hypocritical puritan Ipswichus, the traditional reconciliation of fathers to their children’s choice of mates, and the celebration of multiple marriages. After approximately one hundred years of Neo-Latin drama at Oxford and Cambridge, the tradition appears somewhat depleted. English Jesuit Neo-Latin Drama on the Continent In 1540 the Society of Jesus was founded in Rome, and by 1600 ‘about 300’ Jesuit schools had opened in Europe; the number grew to approximately 500 by 1650.96 Jesuit education on the Continent became an attractive alternative for English Catholics as the country embraced Protestantism more aggressively after the death of King Henry VIII and the government of Edward VI, which sought to prohibit Catholic worship. When Queen Mary came to the throne and re-established the Catholic creed and hierarchy, the Church of Rome in England was rejuvenated, but after only five years (1553–1558), Mary died and Elizabeth returned the country to Protestantism; repression of Catholicism quickly followed. Enrolment of English students across the channel at the nearest Jesuit colleges, St Omer and Douai, increased, and the Society of Jesus recruited a growing number of English priests to teach them. These schools helped to sustain the Catholic faith in Protestant England because a large number of the students returned to England upon completion of their studies, some as Jesuit missionary priests. The curriculum of the Jesuit colleges emphasized classical texts, particularly the Latin works that had been selected by Erasmus, Vives and other humanists who had emerged in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Featured among these works were the Latin comedies of Terence, a standard school edition used in language instruction, as well as Plautus’s comedies and Seneca’s tragedies. However, perhaps because these pagan dramatists did not provide the moral orientation the Jesuit leaders desired, they appear to have encouraged drama that would reinforce their religious indoctrination, for the composition and performance of plays became a regular feature of Jesuit instruction. The earliest Jesuit Neo-Latin play that has been discovered has been traced to Messina, Sicily, where it was 96 McCabe, An Introduction to the Jesuit Theater, pp. 7–11.

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staged in 1551. As Louis J. Oldani points out, by 1586 when Jesuit educational policy was formalized in Ratio atque institutio studiorum it was recognized ‘that theater could be a forceful agent for stirring pupils’ interest in learning, a strategy in an educational program of self-help and development of talent, an aid to the study of the humanities or a tactic, at least, for enlivening instruction in grammar and rhetoric.’97 The plays were performed on prize day as well as on religious festivals, including Carnival, Corpus Christi, Epiphany, Easter, and patron saints’ days. The audience was made up of students, faculty and other ecclesiastics, as well as benefactors, noble and royal guests.98 Usually performed in the early afternoon in a large hall, the plays typically ranged in length from 500 to 1,500 lines, which would have required thirty to ninety minutes for performance. However, some plays were considerably longer; Joseph Simons’ wellknown printed tragedies vary from 1,800 to over 3,000 lines. Only a small percentage of the texts have survived and even fewer were printed. The authors are rarely identified, perhaps because of the collaborative nature of the production, but also because of the Jesuit attitude toward cooperation and spiritual humility. Although some of the Jesuits who taught and served as administrators in the Jesuit schools had themselves been educated at the English universities, they adopted a quite different perspective from the drama at Oxford or Cambridge. Perhaps the most notable difference is the fundamental didactic purpose of Jesuit theatre; whether the drama represents biblical events, lives of saints, martyrdoms or histories of famous men, the staged action is designed to teach by example. Comedy is somewhat rare; tragedy and tragicomedy are the dominant dramatic forms. Furthermore, women are virtually excluded from the theatre; according to the revised Ratio Studiorum issued in 1591: ‘No women are to be admitted as spectators; nor may female dress be used on the stage—at least, if it cannot be avoided, let it be decorous and dignified.’99 The most famous English Jesuit playwright, Joseph Simons—whose tragedies were performed several times at various Jesuit colleges and collected and printed several times—does not include any female parts except for the mute roles of the Virgin Mary and Mary and Elizabeth. Romantic love is not a motive in any of Simons’ plays. McCabe argues that ‘the banishment of women from the college theater was the result of a deliberate emphasis placed on masculinity—a neglect 97 McCabe, An Introduction to the Jesuit Theater, p. v. 98 Ibid., pp. 37–38. 99 Ibid., p. 13.



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of the feminine rather than a positive expression of fearfulness of it.’100 Other distinguishing characteristics of Jesuit Neo-Latin drama are the emphasis on music and the use of dance as stage spectacle, perhaps to enliven the action, but also, in the absence of a formal chorus, it offers a non-verbal dimension that functions as a chorus in expressing character and emotion.101 The first significant English Jesuit playwright to emerge on the Continent was Edmund Campion, who wrote three Latin plays during his residence at Clementina, the Jesuit Academy in Prague, between 1574 and 1580. The first two represent traditional stories from the Old Testament: The Sacrifice of Abraham and King Saul or Saulus, both written in 1577. His third drama, Tragoedia Ambrosiana, was performed in October 1578. None of these plays was published, but Saulus was produced to inaugurate a new stage in the courtyard and was attended by the Emperor and his court in 1577. Ambrosia ‘was such a success that it was acted a second time’ at Munich in 1591, according to the modern editor and translator, Joseph Simons.102 A variant on the medieval saint’s play, Ambrosia begins with the conflict between St Ambrose, the Bishop of Milan, and the Empress Justina, who championed Arianism. The play focuses on Church history rather than being simply the celebration of a saint. It links martyrdom with miracles and introduces St Augustine with his mother Monica, who cheers his renunciation of worldliness and his avowal of chastity, as he converts to Christianity. However, the major action of the drama becomes the relationship between St Ambrose and the emperor Theodosius, who is refused entry to the Basilica because of his guilt for massacring 7,000 ­soldiers. Citing King David as a precedent of contrition Theodosius convinces Ambrose to liberate him but Ambrose denies him holy sanctuary. In the end, with God’s help, Theodosius defeats his enemies. Tyranny and idolatry are destroyed, the play concludes, and Theodosius, accompanied by Ambrose, enters the church where the two together offer their souls and themselves as sacrifices to God. The moral lesson is thus illustrated for the sinner. The play also demonstrates the power of Ambrose over the Emperor with the implication that the Church should prevail over the state, or in the contemporary world, that the Pope should be given priority over the monarch.

100 Ibid., p. 180. 101 Cf. McCabe, An Introduction to the Jesuit Theater, p. 208. 102 Edmund Campion, Ambrosia, ed. Simons, pp. ix–xv.

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The Jesuit English College at Rome takes up the political implications of history even more directly in four plays representing the conflict between Church and state performed in the early seventeenth century. Thomas Morus was performed three times according to the manuscript that preserves the play, but archival evidence points to six presentations during Carnival 1612.103 Representing the martyrdom of Thomas More in the court of Henry VIII, the play focuses upon the conflict between the Church and the state, as it emphasizes the pathos of More’s end through the portrayal of his son John. In what appears to be a later revision of the text, the role of John More is greatly reduced as the text is cut by about ten percent, and the music is eliminated except for the instrumental music which accompanied the dance in Act II.104 The author of the tragedy is not identified, but his mission is clearly to repudiate the anti-Catholic propaganda in the court of James I and his predecessor, Queen Elizabeth, who is personally attacked rather confusedly as a product of incest. Describing the ‘whore’, Anne Boleyn, who will bear the child Elizabeth, the Devil says: …. Dubia sobole perturbat domum, Dum sibi sororem parturit, neptim viro. Horrere monstri vulgus attonitum stupet, Horrent amici. (I.ii, ll.79–82)105 (She throws his [the King’s] household into confusion with her questionable offspring, as she gives birth to a sister for herself, a niece for her husband. The astonished common folk are amazed by the horror of this monstrosity, your friends shudder.)

This claim of incest in the conception of Elizabeth is indicative of the depths to which religious propaganda sunk on both sides of the English Channel. A second play representing English martyrdom was produced a year later, in 1613, at the English College in Rome. Thomas Cantuariensis focuses upon the assassination of Thomas Becket, but resembles Thomas Morus in so many aspects that the editor Dana Sutton believes that it was probably written by the same author, though he is not identified in the manuscript which is bound with Thomas Morus. As Sutton suggests, the audience is invited ‘to regard Thomas’ contention with Henry II as a prototype for the contemporary struggle against Protestantism, or at least against what the 103 Gossett, ‘Drama in the English College, Rome’, p. 91. 104 For a discussion of the revision of the text, see The Jesuit Tragedy Thomas Morus, ed. and transl. Sutton, a hypertext ed., intr., pp. 1–5. 105 Thomas Morus, ed. Sutton.



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Church regarded as the illegitimate claims of the English state, including its assertion of independence from Rome.’106 This implication is clearly made by the Angel who describes for Thomas Becket the future history of the English Church, focusing upon the roles of Wycliffe, Martin Luther, Queen Elizabeth and her Privy Council, as well as the martyrdoms of Thomas More, John Fisher and the Jesuit martyrs in the reigns of Elizabeth and James I.107 Dramatically quite effective, the play not only provides a warning about contemporary England, it also celebrates the martyrdom of England’s most famous saint, and it ends with a demonstration of Christian redemption as the four assassins realize their guilt and attempt suicide, but failing that, they surrender to divine justice as they begin a pilgrimage to Rome (V.ii). In 1614 Captiva Religio was performed at the English College in Rome. Designated as a Comaedia-Tragaedia, it claims in the prologue to be a representation of both the tears and the laughter of languishing England. In fact it is rather a long play (2,769 lines) which took some five hours to perform according to one member of the original audience, who found the play tedious even though he regarded the acting as well done.108 The comedy is comprised of borrowed lines from Plautus and Terence as well as ‘stock comic characters’, as Dana Sutton points out.109 A lawyer, a doctor and a parson provide much of the humour in a city that is governed by Archophylax, apparently intended to represent King James who enjoys the wit of his jester, Joculus, as James was known to delight in his court fools. The hypocrisy of the Puritan Prurio and other clergymen who participate in a dance while in their disguise as satyrs, as well as Prurio and Similus’s declaration that the pastor’s main business is fleecing his flock, satirize the Protestant movement. However, the serious dimension of the play is the portrayal of the Catholic faith being badly mistreated. The happy ending expected in tragicomedy is contrived and, when considered in the light of the harsh treatment of Catholics in contemporary England after the Gunpowder Plot, completely unrealistic. The fourth Jesuit play representing the English world was Roffensis, which may have been performed in 1618 at the English College in Rome. Like the previous four depictions of the English scene, no author is identified, and though it is similar in some respects to Thomas Morus and 106 Thomas Cantuariensis, ed. Sutton, introd., p. 1. 107 Thomas Cantuariensis, IV.ii, ll.1208ff. 108 Gossett, ‘Drama in the English College, Rome’, p. 91. 109 Captiva Religio, ed. Sutton, intr., p. 1.

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includes some of the same historical characters, this portrayal of the martyrdom of John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, appears to be an imitation of the earlier play on Thomas More rather than a work by the same author, as Dana Sutton argues.110 Introduced in a prologue by Madness and Heresy, who interact with Cromwell, Cranmer, and other supporters of the English reformation, the tragedy focuses upon Henry VIII as a tyrant under the control of evil forces. Rochester is portrayed as a brave and resolute man of faith who meets death without flinching. When his severed head is brought onto the stage, Henry is astonished to see that the signs of old age have disappeared and the features have been rejuvenated as proof of his saintliness. In the final scene Heresy and Madness embrace each other as they claim victory, but we have been led to expect from Henry’s guilty conscience expressed a bit earlier that the martyrdom of Fisher has not brought an end to the conflict. British history was also the subject of a play performed at the English College at Douai. Published in 1593, Adrian Roulerius’ (Adrien De Roulers) Stuarta Tragoedia represented the last days of Mary Stuart which culminated in her execution. The cast includes the Ghost of Henry VIII, Elizabeth, the Earl of Leicester, Mary Stuart and other historical figures. The tragedy is 1,576 lines long, and divided into five acts; it includes two choruses. More important in the Jesuit theatre at Douai was William Drury (bap. 1584–1643?), an English priest who after attending the Jesuit College at St Omer and the English College at Rome, became a professor of rhetoric at the Jesuit College at Douai, where he wrote several plays, three of which were performed and subsequently published. Mors comoedia, produced in 1619 and printed in 1620, appears to have been a great success; according to Albert H. Tricomi, it is ‘attested to be the best of Drury’s plays, swiftly paced, admirably constructed and thoroughly stageworthy’; it ‘combines stock characters from Latin comedy and the commedia dell’Arte with native dramatic traditions.’111 Translated into English in the seventeenth century by Robert Squire under the title Death, A Comedie, the play offers a serious message under the guise of humour. Written and produced at about the same time as Mors comoedia and published in the same year, 1620, Aluredus sive Alfredus glorifies King Alfred as an English hero and the model of Christian virtue. Drury draws upon Holinshed’s Chronicles as well as Bishop Matthew Parker’s Latin 110 Roffensis, ed. and transl. by Sutton, introd., p. 1. 111 Robert Knightley, Alfrede ot Right Reinthron’d, A Translation of William Drury’s Aluredus sive Alfredus, ed. Tricomi, pp. 8–9.



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­edition, Alfredi Regis res gestae (1574) and upon hagiographical sources for  St Cuthbert and St Neot. The play was translated in 1659 by Robert Knightley, who added ‘Right Reinthron’d’ to the title, thus emphasizing the fortitude of Alfred as well as the providential power of God. The didactic purpose of the drama is amply fulfilled by Knightley, who was educated at Douai, where Drury taught, but as Tricomi points out, the translation is ‘close’ though ‘not slavish. Knightley renders the original Latin with fresh English dialogue and images.’112 The play represents the Christian virtue of Alfred after his defeat by the Danes in 878 and his subsequent restoration after defeating Gothurnus, the Danish King. Although Strumbo and Bragadocia provide some comic relief, the didactic nature of the play emphasizes the role of St Cuthbert in the restitution of King Alfred. St Cuthbert in the epilogue declares that the present state of England is wretched, ‘Shipwrakt upon the Rockes of Herisy’ as Knightley translates the final lines, which he refocuses by emphasizing Drury’s reminder that conquering occurs by enduring. Deliverance will come in the end, promises St Cuthbert.113 The last extant play by William Drury was Reparatus sive Depositum tragicomoedia, prima pars, which was performed at Douai in July 1621. Whether a second part was written is unclear, though none has been found. The very long text (3,749 lines) was published in 1628 in a volume entitled Dramatica poemata, which also contained his two previously published plays. Reparatus sive Depositum represents the leader of a gang of robbers who has become disenchanted with his evil ways, and when he is unable to kill a young man who had been shipwrecked, but feels compelled to help him, he is so upset that he contemplates suicide. He becomes a source of good in spite of himself. He encounters a Gnostic, who represents a sophistical Protestant, with whom he debates and finally defeats by using a crucifix as a weapon. Reparatus goes on to defend a Christian woman, Sophronia, from her husband who mistreats her, and in the end appears to be moving toward a complete change of character. However, the full redemption does not occur in the extant version. Dana Sutton imagines that a Part II, a sequel which may or may not have been written, would include a reuniting of various family members, a Christian marriage or two, and ‘the crowning event of the play would be the arrival of St. John, come to intervene in Reparatus’ redemption in person.’114 In other 112 Knightley, Alfrede, p. 23. 113 Knightley, Alfrede, epil., pp. 152–53. 114 William Drury, Reparatus sive Depositum, ed. Sutton, intr., pp. 7–8.

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words, he assumes that the two parts would have combined a celebration of a saint with traditional motifs derived from Roman comedy and directed toward a didactic purpose. The largest number of plays that have survived from the English Jesuit colleges on the Continent come from St Omer. Founded by Robert Parsons in 1593, the College of St Omer also produced the most famous and most effective Neo-Latin dramatist in the English Jesuit theatre. He was Joseph Simons (1594–1671), originally named Emmanuel Lobb, but after his conversion to the Catholic faith he adopted the name Joseph Simons. Following his attendance at the Jesuit English College at St Omer, he pursued his education at the English College in Rome and became a member of the Society of Jesus at Liège in 1619. He served as a professor of rhetoric and belle-lettres for eight years (1623–1631) at St Omer, where he wrote at least five plays, for performance there. The first, Vitus sive Christiana Fortitudo, performed in 1623, represents Diocletian’s execution of St Vitus, who had freed the Emperor’s son from possession by an evil spirit but refused to be alienated from Christ in spite of pressure from the Emperor and Vitus’s father, Hylas, to honour the pagan gods. Envious courtiers succeed in turning the Emperor away from Vitus’s influence, but when an actor is brought in to mock Christianity, he is instead converted, and when Vitus is in prison awaiting execution, he is consoled and encouraged by Christ in the form of a young boy. At the end of the play as Vitus faces death, Diocletian fears portentous thunder, Hylas goes mad, and Vitus and Modestus are rescued by an angel. In the last scene they are standing amid the clouds. Simons wrote two other martyr plays which were produced at St Omer the following year: Mercia sive Pietas Coronata, performed 7 February 1624, and Theoctistus sive Constans in aulus virtus on 8 August 1624. Mercia, which is set in England in the seventh century, represents a conflict between the pagan past and emerging Christianity. The drama is introduced by the Spirit of Madness and an entourage of six other spirits showing by their dress, behaviour and facial expressions to be various forms of madness. Visions, pageants, songs and dances enhance the stage spectacle, but the action centres on a king, who supports Jove, and his sons, who are converted to Christianity. The tragedy ends with the King killing his son, but stricken with guilt, he also is converted and is promised by the bishop that his soul will be cleansed. Theoctistus also illustrates a didactic lesson in the form of the martyr play. Amid magic rituals, Stilbo, an evil counsellor to the Emperor, dedicates himself to Hircaean Jove and instructs the boy Emperor Michael in all the worst rules for governing: be



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severe and pitiless in dealing with the citizens, raise high taxes and conquer other kingdoms. Genii, identified as Ambition, Perfidy, Envy, Cruelty, Terror and Despair, appear on stage and, after singing and dancing, enter the royal court. The plot focuses upon Stilbo’s plot to manipulate the Emperor and kill the Christian Theoctistus, who threatens Stilbo’s evil influence over the young ruler. After Theoctistus is killed by Stilbo and his ally, Bardas, the innocence of Theoctistus is revealed; the Emperor is apprehended and forced to abdicate, for which Stilbo is blamed. In the last scene the shade of Theoctistus appears and accuses Bardas of treachery; atonement is made by the blood of Bardas. As the subtitle of the play, Constans in Aula Virtus, indicates, Theoctistus demonstrates that he exemplifies Steadfast Virtue at Court. The remaining two plays ascribed to Joseph Simons portray the overthrow of Byzantine emperors for persecuting Christians. The first, Leo Arminus sive Impietas punita (Ulta divina), performed between 1624 and 1629 at St Omer, portrays the Armenian Emperor Leo asking his courtiers to debate the question: ‘In human life which is the most powerful—a king or wine or truth?’115 They debate, a dance follows, and the Emperor falls asleep; in his dream, Tarasius, who had died in exile eight years earlier, warns Leo that for his crimes he will be killed by a man called Michael. Three Michaels are perceived as possible assassins. The play evolves around the resolution of these two issues as conspiracies in the royal family and fears in the court are intensified. Leo’s evil sons promote the condemnation of Michael Balbus, a just man identified with Christians, while the Empress pleads for postponement of his execution in order not to profane Christians. The play concludes with Balbus praying for good fortune, Leo being killed before the altar while participating in divine services, Balbus being chosen Emperor, and Leo’s evil sons being punished with perpetual exile. Truth proves to be more powerful than a king or wine, and in the end God is celebrated. The epilogue proclaims: ‘O justa Coeli poena! proh vindex Deus!’ (‘How just are heaven’s punishments. Oh God, what a vindicator you are!’)116 The last play of which Simons is identified as the author is Zeno sive Ambitio infelix (Fratrum concordia saeva), produced at the Jesuit College at St Omer in 1631. Also set in the court of a Byzantine emperor, the drama 115 Joseph Simons, Leo the Armenian or Impiety Punished, transl. Fischer in Jesuit Theater Englished, p. 325. 116 Josephi Simonis Angli, Leo Armenus sive Impietas punita in Tragoediae quinque (Leodii, 1657) p. 512; Fischer’s translation in Jesuit Theater Englished, p. 378.

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demonstrates the power of God that triumphs over man’s selfish aims. Beginning with a narrative by the ghost of Basiliscus, a tyrant who had been captured in war and put to death by Zeno, the Emperor, the play focuses upon its didactic message, and although long speeches imply the action as the play proceeds, stage spectacle is also a high priority. A dumb show portraying Fortune and a dance featuring the principal characters follow a musical interlude at the end of Act I. In Act II a choir of boys provide musical entertainment as they interact with major cast members, and thirty soldiers march onto the stage later. Musical interludes rather than choruses separate the individual acts, and ballet is used to enhance the stage spectacle as, for example, in Act III when a chariot is drawn onto the stage by four tigers. The play represents Zeno and his courtiers plotting against one another as they jockey for positions of power. The action is summed up by the Ghost of Basiliscus at the end of the play: Haec fata Regum. Tollit ambitio gradum, Quem sors ruina sternat. Imperio impotens Expurgit animus, inque sydereas volat, Superbus arces, unde sub Stygis vada Ultima relapsus, solvat aeternum nefas. (Such is the lot of kings. Ambition drives them onward and upward; fortune pulls them downward and lays them low. Unable to control itself, the human spirit rises aloft and soars proudly to the pinnacle of the stars, but from there it is hurled down into the lowest depths of the Stygian pit to suffer an eternal penalty for its sin.)117

To illustrate the point the audience is shown nine graves with the corpses of Zeno and the plotting courtiers. The didactic message is emphatic. However, as James A. Parente argues, ‘[t]he five tragedies of the English Jesuit Joseph Simons (written in the 1620s and first printed together in 1656) exemplified the transformation of religious theater into political drama. The popular tyrants and martyrs of the preceding decades were no longer regarded as exempla of moral or immoral behaviour but as the tragic victims of courtly intrigues.’118 Parente explains that ‘[b]y the 1620s the Jesuits had realized that insurrection was not the best means for them to secure a lasting political influence in consolidated European states like  France and England. Simons’ political tragedies on the follies of 117 Simons, Zeno sive Ambitio infelix in Tragoediae quinque, p. 102, transl. by Hayworth in Jesuit Theater Englished. 118 Parente, ‘Tyranny and Revolution on the Baroque Stage’.



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revolu­tion  were most likely written to promote this newly formulated conservatism.’119 This perspective is particularly significant because of Simons’ reputation. Unlike the majority of Neo-Latin plays performed at the English Jesuit Colleges, which were acted only once or twice, some of Simons’ tragedies were apparently performed several times and not only at St Omer but at other Jesuit institutions as well. They also became widely available in printed form. Mercia was first printed in 1648 and Theoctistus in 1653, but in 1656 the five plays discussed above were collected and published in a single volume. This collection was republished in 1657, 1680 and 1697. Dana Sutton has suggested that two additional plays performed at St Omer may have been written by Simons: Sanctus Pelagius Martyr, acted in 1623, and Sanctus Damianus in 1626. These plays were apparently produced during the period in which Simons’ other plays were produced, but this circumstantial evidence does not provide a compelling argument.120 Simons was not the only playwright offering texts for performance at St Omer, and the difference in quality between Simons’ acknowledged texts and these two anonymous manuscripts is clearly evident. Dramatic activity seems to have become a lively tradition at St Omer within twenty years of its founding, and of the twenty-nine English Neo-Latin plays at Jesuit colleges that have survived, eighteen are from St Omer, and most of them are anonymous. This tradition continued long after the Neo-Latin plays were suspended at Oxford and Cambridge by the government of the Commonwealth under Oliver Cromwell. Further Reading Alton, R.E. (ed.) ‘The Academic Drama in Oxford: Extracts from the Records of Four Colleges’, Malone Society Collections, 5 (Oxford, 1959), 29–95. Bentley, Gerald E., Jacobean and Caroline Stage. 7 vols. (Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1941–1968). Binns, J.W, Intellectual Culture in Elizabethan and Jacobean England: The Latin Writings of the Age (Leeds: Francis Cairns Publications Ltd., 1990). ——, ‘Seneca and Neo-Latin Tragedy in England’, C.D.N. Costa (ed.), Seneca (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1974), pp. 205–34. Boas, Frederick S., University Drama in the Tudor Age (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1914). Bradner, Leicester, ‘The Latin Drama of the Renaissance (1340–1640)’, Studies in the Renaissance, 4 (1957), 31–70. 119 Parente, ‘Tyranny and Revolution on the Baroque Stage’, p. 323. 120 See www.philological.bham.ac.uk/pelagius/intro.html and Www.philological.bham .ac.uk/damianus/intro.html.

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Brooke, C.J. Tucker, ‘Latin Drama in Renaissance England’, English Literary History, 13 (1946), 233–40. Chambers, Edmund K., The Elizabethan Stage. 4 vols. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1923). Churchill, George B. and Wolfgang Keller, ‘Die lateinischen Universitäts-Dramen Englands in der Zeit der Königin Elisabeth’, Jahrbuch der Deutschen Shakespeare-Gesellschaft, 34 (1898), 221–323. Clubb, Louise, Giambattista Della Porta: Dramatist (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1965). Dewey, Nicholas, ‘The Academic Drama of the Early Stuart Period (1603–1642): A Checklist of Secondary Sources’, Research Opportunities in Renaissance Drama, 12 (1969), 33–42. Elliott, John R., Jr. et al. (eds.) Records of Early English Drama: Oxford. 2 vols. (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2004). Five Sixteenth-Century Latin Plays, From the collection of Comedies and Tragedies, ed. by Nicholas Brylinger (Basle, 1540), transl. by C.C. Love (Toronto, 1992). Freeburg, V. Oscar, Disguise Plots in Elizabethan Drama: A Study in Stage Tradition (New York: Columbia University Press, 1915; repr. 1965). Gossett, Suzanne, ‘Drama in the English College, Rome, 1591–1660.’ English Literary Renaissance, 3 (1973), 60–93. Greenwood, David, ‘The Staging of Neo-Latin Plays in Sixteenth Century England’, Educational Theatre Journal, 16 (1964), 311–23. Greg, Walter W., Pastoral Poetry and Pastoral Drama: A Literary Inquiry, with Special Reference to the Pre-Restoration Stage in England (Oxford: Horace Hart, 1906; repr. New York, 1959). Harbage, Alfred, ‘A Census of Anglo-Latin Plays’, PMLA, 53 (1938), 624–29. Herford, Charles H, Studies in the Literary Relations of England and Germany in the Sixteenth Century (Cambridge: University Press, 1886; repr. New York, 1966). IJsewijn, Jozef and Dirk Sacré, Companion to Neo-Latin Studies, Part II Literary, Linguistic, Philological and Editorial Questions (Louvain: Leuven University Press, 1998). Kantrowitz, J.S., ‘Oxford Additions to Bradner’s List of Neo-Latin Drama’, Neo-Latin News, 19 (1971): 54, N-27 [in Seventeenth-Century News, 29 (1971)]. Kermode, Lloyd E. et al. (eds.), Tudor Drama before Shakespeare, 1485–1590: New Directions for Research, Criticism, and Pedagogy (Hampshire and New York: Palgrave Macmillan and St. Martin’s Press, 2004. ‘Latin Plays Acted before the University of Cambridge’, Retrospective Review, 12 (1825), 1–42. McCabe, William H., An Introduction to the Jesuit Theater, ed. by Louis J. Oldani (St. Louis: The Institute of Jesuit Sources, 1983). Mills, L.J., ‘The Acting of University Comedy of Early Seventeenth-Century England’, Josephine W. Bennett, Oscar Cargill, and Vernon Hill, Jr. (eds.), Studies in the English Renaissance Drama in memory of Karl J. Holzknecht (New York: New York University Press, 1959), pp. 212–30. Miola, Robert S., ‘Jesuit Drama in Early Modern England’, Richard Dutton (ed.), Theatre and Religion (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2003), pp. 71–86. Morgan, Louise B., ‘The Latin University Drama: By Way of Supplement to the Article by George B. Churchill and Wolfgang Keller in Jahrbuch 34’, Shakespeare Journal, 47 (1911), 69–91. Motter, T.H. Vail, The School Drama in England (New York: Longmans, Green and Company, 1929). Nelson, Alan H., ‘Cambridge University Drama in the 1580s’, A.L. Magnusson and C.E. McGee (eds.),The Elizabethan Theatre, 11 (Port Credit: P. D. Meany, 1990), pp. 19–31. ——, ed. Records of Early English Drama: Cambridge 2 vols. (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1989). Norland, Howard B., Drama in Early Tudor Britain 1485–1548 (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1995).



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——, Neoclassical Tragedy in Elizabethan England (Newark, Del.: University of Delaware Press, 2009). Norman, Edward, Roman Catholicism in England from the Elizabethan Settlement of the Second Vatican Council (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1986). Orr, David, Italian Renaissance Drama in England before 1625: The Influence of Erudita Tragedy, Comedy, and Pastoral on Elizabethan and Jacobean Drama (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1970). Parente, J.A., Jr., ‘Tyranny and Revolution on the Baroque Stage’, Humanistica Lovaniensia, 32 (1983), 309–24. Prynne, William, Histriomastix. 1633. Shell, Allison, ‘Autodidacticism in English Jesuit Drama: The Writings and Career of Joseph Simons’, Medieval and Renaissance Drama in England, 13 (2001), 34–56. Shuster, Louis A., and Leicester Bradner, ‘Neo-Latin Drama: Two Views of Opportunities, (1) Pioneering in Neo-Latin Drama. (2) Desiderata for the Study of Neo-Latin Drama’, Renaissance Drama, 6 (1963), 14–20. Simons, Joseph, Jesuit Theatre Englished: Five Tragedies of Joseph Simons, transl. by L.J. Oldani and P.C. Fischer (St. Louis: Institute of Jesuit Sources, 1989). Smith, G.C. Moore, College Plays Performed in the University of Cambridge (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1923). Stratman, Carl Joseph, ‘Dramatic Performances at Oxford and Cambridge, 1603–1642’, Diss. University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois, 1947. Vienken, Heinz J., ‘Academic Drama at Oxford, 1603–1642’, George Wilde, Eumorphus sive Cupido adultus: A Latin academic Comedy of the Seventeenth Century, ed. by Heinz J. Vienken (Munich: W. Fink, 1973) Humanistische Bibliothek, Reihe 2, Texte, pp. 6–39. Walker, Jonathan, and Paul D. Streufert (eds.), Early Modern Academic Drama (Aldershot, England: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2008). Watson George (ed.), ‘University Plays (1500–1642)’, The New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature, 1, col. 1761–80 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1974). Wickham, Glynne, Early English Stages 1300 to 1600 (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1959–1979).

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howard b. norland Appendix I Main Authors

Alabaster, William (1568–1640) was educated at Westminster School and then at Trinity College, Cambridge. He was a poet, a playwright and a theological author. His play Roxana was performed at Trinity College, Cambridge in 1591–1592 and printed in 1632. Works Roxana, ed. Sutton; ed. Kaplan. Studies Story and Gardner, The Sonnets of William Alabaster, xi-xxiii; Hill, A Study of William Alabaster’s Roxana; Sutton’s introduction to his hypertext edition. Drury, William (bap. 1584–1643?), an English priest, who, after attending the Jesuit colleges at St Omer and Rome, was a professor of rhetoric at the Jesuit college at Douai; he wrote several plays, at least three of which were performed and published. Works Mors comoedia (1619); Aluredus sive Alfredus tragicomoedia (1619); Reparatus sive Depositum tragicomoedia (1621) Studies Sutton, intr. to ed. Forsett, Edward (1553/4–1629/30 was a political author. Pedantius, performed at Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1581. Works Pedantius (1581), ed. Sutton; ed. Tucker; ed. Moore Smith. Studies Sutton, ‘Introduction’ to his online text; Churchill and Keller, ‘Die lateinischen Universitäts-Dramen England in der Zeit der Königin Elisabeth’. Foxe, John (1516/17–1587) the historian and martyrologist, was educated at Oxford. During his residence in Basle Foxe wrote his comedy Christus triumphans, which was published there in 1556



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Works Titus and Gesippus (1550), ed. Smith; Christus triumphans (1551), ed. Smith. Studies Smith, Two Latin comedies by John Foxe the Martyrologist; Norland, ‘Terence ‘Improved’?’ Form and Function in Foxe’s Titus et Gesippus’; Norland, ‘John Foxe’s Apocalyptic Comedy, Christus Triumphans’. Gager, William (1555–1622) was an English jurist at Christ Church College, who completed three tragedies between 1582 and 1592. His comedy Rivales has not survived. Works Meleager, performed at Christ Church in 1582 and printed in 1593; Dido, performed 1583; Ulysses redux, performed at Christ Church College, Oxford, at Shrovetide in 1592. Studies DNB (J.W. Binns); Gager, The Complete Works, ed. Sutton, 4 vols.; Norland, Neoclassical Tragedy in Elizabethan England. Grimald, Nicholas (1519/20–1562?), was educated at Christ’s College, Cambridge and became a probationer fellow at Merton College, Oxford. He wrote two plays, Archipropheta, which may have been performed in 1548 at Christ Church College, Oxford, and Christus redivivus, performed at Brasenose College in 1540. Works Archipropheta (1548?); Christus redivivus (1540). Studies Mikeska, Nicholas Grimald; Merrill, The Life and Poems of Nicholas Grimald; Norland, Drama in Early Tudor Britain. Gwinne, Matthew (1558–1627) was educated at Merchant Taylors’ School and St. John’s College, Oxford, where he was appointed Gresham Professor of Physic in 1597; he resigned his professorship in 1607 and pursued a larger professional practice. He wrote two Neo-Latin plays as well as one medical work and several Latin prose orations. Connected to the circle related to Philip Sidney, he collaborated with Fulke Greville on the 1590 edition of Arcadia.

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Works Nero (1603, 1638, 1639); ed. Sutton; Vertumnus sive Annus recurrens (1605). Legge, Thomas (1535–1607) matriculated to Corpus Christi College and Trinity College, Cambridge. After his studies he was appointed master of Caius College. He was most famous for his Richardus Tertius, a tragedy in three parts, performed at St John’s college, Cambridge, on three successive evenings in 1579 or 1580. It was not printed, but survived in manuscript. His second play, Solymitana clades, was written between 1579 and 1607 but apparently never performed and never printed. Works Richardus Tertius, ed. Lordi; ed. Sutton; Solymitana clades, ed. Lordi; ed. Sutton. Studies DNB (W.A.J. Archbold); Norland, Neoclassical Tragedy in Elizabethan England. Ruggle, George (1575–1622) matriculated at St John’s College, Cambridge, and went to Trinity College, where he became a fellow. He wrote a college farce Ignoramus (1615) for Clare College, Cambridge, which became the most famous academic play of English Renaissance drama. Works Ignoramus (1615); ed. Tucker; ed. Sutton. Studies Tucker, ‘Ruggle’s Ignoramus and Humanistic Criticism of the Language of Common Law’; Ryan, ‘An Ignoramus about Latin?’ Simons, Joseph (Emmanuel Lobb) (1594–1671), following his conversion to the Catholic faith and his education at the Jesuit colleges at St Omer and Rome, became a professor of rhetoric and belle-lettres at St Omer. Between 1623 and 1631 he wrote at least five plays that were performed at his college; in 1656 they were published together and were performed at many other Jesuit colleges in early modern Europe. Focusing on martyrdom in his first three plays, Simons in the final two represents the overthrow of Byzantine emperors for persecuting Christians. Works Leo Arminus sive Impietas punita (Ultia Divina (1624); Mercia sive Pietas coronata (1624); Theoctistus sive Constans in aula virtus (1624); Vitus sive



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Christiana fortitudo (1623); Zeno sive Ambitio infelix (Fratrum Concordia Saeva) (1631). Studies Jesuit Theatre Englished: Five Tragedies of Joseph Simons, transl. by L.J. Oldani and P.C. Fischer (1989). Watson, Thomas (the bishop) (1515–1584) was born near Durham and educated at St. John s College, Cambridge, where he became a lecturer and later dean of the college. Arrested and imprisoned in Edward’s reign, he was released when Queen Mary came to the throne and was appointed Bishop of Lincoln in 1557, but he was again arrested and imprisoned soon after Queen Elizabeth’s accession in 1559 and later was transferred to Wisbech Castle where he died in 1584 and was buried in an unmarked grave. He appears to have written only one play, Absolom, but it is highly regarded as an example of Neo-Latin drama. Works Absolom (ca. 1535–44), ed. J.H. Smith Studies A Humanist’s ‘Trew Imitation’: Thomas Watson’s Absolom, ed. and trans. J.H. Smith; Norland, Drama in Early Tudor Britain, pp. 295–306

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howard b. norland Appendix II Neo-Latin Plays in Britain to 1642

Alabaster, William, Roxana. Trinity College, Cambridge. Performed 1591–1592, printed 1632. Modern editions: Renaissance Latin Drama in England, II.4 (1987); eBooks: Neo-Latin Humanist Texts, ed. and transl. by Dana F. Sutton. Alphonsus. Trinity College, Cambridge. Performed 1617–1619(?) Modern edition: Renaissance Latin Drama in England, II.17 (1987). Antonius Bassianus Caracalla. Christ Church College, Oxford. Performed 1617–1619. Modern editions: Ed. (with translation) by W. Mahaney and W.K. Sherwin, Salzburg Studies in English Literature, 52 (1976); Renaissance Latin Drama in England, I.7 (1983). Atkinson, Thomas, Homo. St. John’s College, Oxford. Written 1615–1621. Modern editions: Ed. (with translation) by W.E. Mahaney, W.K. Sherwin, J. Freyman, and E. Parrish, Salzburg Elizabethan Studies (with translation) (1973); Renaissance Latin Drama in England, I.4 (1981). Bellamy, Henry, Iphis. St. John’s College, Oxford. Performed 1621–1623 (?). Modern editions: Renaissance Latin Drama in England, I.10 (1982); eBooks: Neo-Latin Humanist Texts, ed. and transl. by Dana F. Sutton. Bernard, Samuel, Andronicus Comnenus (Alexius Imperator). Magdalen College, Oxford. Performed 1617/8. Modern edition: Renaissance Latin Drama in England, I.6 (1986). Blencowe, John. Mercurius sive Literarum Lucta. St. John’s College, Oxford. Written c. 1628– 1630. Modern edition: Renaissance Latin Drama in England, I.3 (1981). Brathwaite, Richard, Mercurius Britannicus. Performed 1641 or earlier, translated 1641, printed 1641—in both English and Latin: Mercurius Britannicus or the English Intelligencer, A Tragic-comedy at Paris—4 acts only. Brooke, Samuel, Adelphe. Trinity College, Cambridge. Performed 1611/2, 1612/3, 1662, 1669. Modern edition: Renaissance Latin Drama in England, II.15 (1991). ——, Melanthe. Trinity College, Cambridge. Performed 1615, printed 1615. Modern editions: Ed. by J.S.G. Bolton, New Haven, 1928; Renaissance Latin Drama in England, II.15 (1991). ——, Scyros. Trinity College, Cambridge. Performed 1612/3. Modern edition: Renaissance Latin Drama in England, II.15 (1991). Buchanan, George, Baptistes. Collége de Guyenne, Bordeaux. Performed 1540s, printed 1577, 1578, 1579. Modern edition: Tragedies (with translation), ed. by Sharratt and Walsh (1983). ——, Jephthes. Collége de Guyenne, Bordeaux. Performed 1540s, printed 1554, 1557, 1575. Modern edition: Tragedies (with translation), ed. by Sharratt and Walsh (1983). Burton, Robert, Philosophaster. Christ Church College, Oxford. Written 1606, performed 1617/8. Modern editions: Ed. (with translation) by Paul Jordan-Smith, Stanford UP (1937); Renaissance Latin Drama in England, I.8 (1984); Ed. (with translation) McQuillen, MRTS (1993). Cancer. Trinity College, Cambridge. Performed ca. 1611–1613, printed 1648. Modern edition: Renaissance Latin Drama in England, II.2 (1987). Chappel, John (?), Susenbrotus, or Fortunia. Trinity College, Cambridge. Performed 1615/6. Modern edition: Renaissance Latin Drama in England, II.14 (1991). The Christmas Prince. St. John’s College, Oxford. Performed 1607/8. Modern editions: Ed. by Frederick S. Boas, Malone Society Reprints, 1922; Renaissance Latin Drama in England, I.11 (1982)—a collection of plays (5 in Latin and 3 in English). Christopherson, John, Iephte. St. John’s College, Cambridge. Written 1543–1547, performed 1554/5 (?), 1566/7 Trinity College (?). Modern editions: Ed. (with translation of the Greek text) by Francis Howard Fobes, University of Delaware Press (1928); Renaissance Latin Drama in England, II.7 (1988). Clytophon. Emmanuel College, Cambridge. Performed 1625(?). Modern edition: Renaissance Latin Drama in England, II.10 (1987).



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Cowley, Abraham, Naufragium ioculare. Trinity College, Cambridge. Performed 1638, printed 1638. Modern editions: Alexander B. Grosart (ed.), Abraham Cowley: The Complete Works in Verse and Prose (Edinburgh, 1881), repr. Hildesheim, 1969; Renaissance Latin Drama in England, II.18 (1991). Crowther, Joseph, Cephalus et Procris. St. John’s College, Oxford. Performed 1626–1628. Modern edition: Renaissance Latin Drama in England, I.10 (1982). Cruso, Aquila, Euribatus Pseudomagus. Caius College, Cambridge. 1615/6. Modern editions: Renaissance Latin Drama in England, II.14 (1991); eBooks: Neo-Latin Humanist Texts, ed. and transl. by Dana F. Sutton. Fanshawe, Richard, La Fida Pastora. Printed 1658. Transl. of Guarini’s Il Pastor Fido (early 1640s, printed 1647)—Latin translation of Fletcher’s Faithful Shepherdess. Forsett, Edward, Pedantius. Trinity College, Cambridge. Performed 1581, c. 1590–1599, printed 1631. Modern editions: Ed. by G.C. Moore Smith (Louvain, 1905); Renaissance Latin Drama in England, II.9 (1989); eBooks: Neo-Latin Humanist Texts, ed. and trans. Dana F. Sutton. Foxe, John, Christus triumphans. Basle. Trinity College, Cambridge. Performed 1562/3, printed 1556, 1590. Modern editions: Ed. (with translation) by John Hazel Smith, Cornell UP (1973); Renaissance Latin Drama in England, II.5 (1987). ——, Titus et Gesippus. Magdelene College, Oxford. Performed 1544–1545. Modern editions: Ed. (with translation) by John Hazel Smith, Cornell UP (1973); Renaissance Latin Drama in England, I.6 (1986). Fraunce, Abraham (?) Hymenaeus. St. John’s College, Cambridge. 1578/9. Modern editions: Ed. by G.C. Moore Smith, Cambridge UP (1908) ; Renaissance Latin Drama in England, II.13 (1991); eBooks: Neo-Latin Humanist Texts, ed. and transl. by Dana F. Sutton. ——, Victoria. St. John’s College, Cambridge. Written 1576–1583. Modern editions: Ed. G.C. Moore Smith, Louvain, 1906; Renaissance Latin Drama in England, II.13 (1991); eBooks: Neo-Latin Humanist Texts, ed. and trans. Dana F. Sutton. Fisher, Jasper, Fuimus Troes, or the True Trojans. Magdalen Hall, Oxford. Performed 1625. Printed 1633. Fraus Pia. Oxford or Cambridge (?). 1640 (?) Frulovisi. Peregrinatio. Written 1437. Modern edition: Ed. (with translation) by Grady Smith, MRTS, 2003. Gager, William, Dido. Christ Church College, Oxford. Performed 1583. Modern editions: Ed. (with translation) by J.W. Binns, Humanistica Lovaniensia, 20 (1971); Renaissance Latin Drama in England, I.1 (1981); Ed. (with translation) by Dana F. Sutton, Works, 1994. ——, Meleager. Christ Church College, Oxford. Performed 1582, 1585; printed 1593. Modern editions: Renaissance Latin Drama in England, I.2 (1981); Ed. (with translation) by Dana F. Sutton, Works, 1994. ——, Ulysses redux. Christ Church College, Oxford. Performed 1592; printed 1592. Modern editions: Renaissance Latin Drama in England, I.2 (1981); Ed. (with translation) by Dana F. Sutton, Works, 1994. Goldingham, William, Herodes Tragoedia. Trinity College, Cambridge. Written 1567–1679. Modern edition: Renaissance Latin Drama in England, I.9 (1988). Grimald, Nicholas, Archipropheta. Christ Church College (?), Oxford. Written 1546/7, performed 1548, printed 1548. Modern editions: Ed. (with translation) by L.R. Merrill, Life and Poems of Nicholas Grimald, Yale UP, 1925; Renaissance Latin Drama in England, I.9 (1982). ——, Christus redivivus. Brasenose College, Oxford. Performed 1540, printed 1543, 1556. Modern editions: Ed. (with translation) by L.R. Merrill, Life and Poems of Nicholas Grimald, Yale UP, 1925; Renaissance Latin Drama in England, I.9 (1982). Gwinne, Matthew, Nero. St. John’s College, Oxford. Printed 1603, 1638, 1639. Modern editions: Renaissance Latin Drama in England, I.9 (1983); eBooks: Neo-Latin Humanist Texts, ed. and transl. by Dana F. Sutton.

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——, Vertumnus sive Annus Recurrens. St. John’s College, Oxford. Performed Christ Church College 1605, printed 1607. Modern edition: Renaissance Latin Drama in England, I.5 (1983). Hackett, John, Loiola. Trinity College, Cambridge. Written 1616; performed 1622/3; published 1648. Modern edition: Renaissance Latin Drama in England, II.6 (1988). Hausted, Peter. Senile odium. Queen’s College, Cambridge. Performed 1630/1; published 1633. Modern editions: Ed. (with translation) by L.J. Mills, Indiana UP, 1949; Renaissance Latin Drama in England, II.17 (1991). Hawkesworth, Walter, Labyrinthus. Trinity College, Cambridge. Performed 1603, 1622/3; printed 1636. Modern editions: Renaissance Latin Drama in England, II.3 (1987); Ed. (with translation) by Susan Brock, Garland Publishing, 1988. ——, Leander. Trinity College, Cambridge. Performed 1599, 1602. Modern editions: Renaissance Latin Drama in England, II.3 (1987); Ed. (with translation) by L.M. Caylor, Garland Publishing, 1993. Hutton, Leonard (?), Bellum Grammaticale sive Nominum Verborumque Discordia Civilis. Christ Church, Oxford. Performed 1593, printed 1635, 1658, 1698, 1718, 1726, 1729. Modern edition: Renaissance Latin Drama in England, I.12 (1982). See Boas, University Drama, p. 256. Johnson, William, Valetudinarium. Queen’s College, Cambridge. Performed 1638. Modern editions: Renaissance Latin Drama in England, II.18 (1991); eBooks: Neo-Latin Humanist Texts, ed. and transl. by Dana F. Sutton. Laelia. Queen’s College, Cambridge. Performed 1595. Modern editions: Ed. by G.C. Moore Smith, Cambridge, 1910; Renaissance Latin Drama in England, II.13 (1991); eBooks: NeoLatin Humanist Texts, ed. and transl. by Dana F. Sutton. Legge, Thomas, Richardus Tertius. St. John’s College, Trinity, and Caius, Cambridge. Performed 1579. Modern editions: Ed. (with translation) by T.J. Lordi and R. Ketterer, Garland, 1979; Renaissance Latin Drama in England, II.8 (1989); Ed. (with translation) by Dana F. Sutton, Complete Plays, II, 1993. ——, Solymitana clades. Cambridge. Written 1579–1607. Modern edition: Renaissance Latin Drama in England, II.8 (1987); Ed. (with translation) by Dana F. Sutton, Complete Plays, II, 1993. Mease, Peter, Adrastus Parentans sive Vindicta tragoedia. Jesus College, Cambridge. Performed ca. 1622. Modern editions: Renaissance Latin Drama in England, II.4 (1987); eBooks: Neo-Latin Humanist Texts, ed. and transl. Dana F. Sutton. Mercurius Rusticans. Oxford. Written 1605–1618. Modern editions: Ed. (with translation) by A.J. Cotton, Garland, 1988. Renaissance Latin Drama in England, I.7 (1983). Mewe, William, Pseudomagia. Emmanuel College, Cambridge. Performed (?) ca. 1625–1627. Modern editions: Ed. (with translation) by J.C. Coldewey and B.P. Copenhaver, Bibliotecha Humanistica & Reformatorica, 28, 1979; Renaissance Latin Drama in England, II.14 (1991). Microcosmus. Trinity College, Cambridge. 1612 (?). Modern edition: Renaissance Latin Drama in England, II.11 (1991). Morrell, Roger (?), Hispanus. St. John’s College, Cambridge. Performed 1596/7. Modern edition: Renaissance Latin Drama in England, II.19 (1991). Parsons, Philip, Atalanta. St. John’s College, Oxford. Written 1612. Modern editions: Ed. (with translation) by W.E. Mahaney, W.K. Sherwin, J. Freyman, and E. Parrish, Salzburg Elizabethan Studies, 16 (1973); Renaissance Latin Drama in England, I.4 (1981). Parthenia. Emmanuel College, Cambridge. 1625–1630(?). Modern edition: Renaissance Latin Drama in England, II.10 (1990). Pastor fidus. King’s College, Cambridge. Performed 1602–1605. Modern edition: Renaissance Latin Drama in England, II.10 (1990). Perfidus Hetruscus. 17th Century. Modern edition: Ed. (with translation) by Wittman, Ph.D. diss. 1969. Bodley: Rawlinson c.787.



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Randolph, Thomas, (Ryley?) Trinity College, Cambridge. Cornelianum Dolium (with Richard Brathwaite). Printed 1638. Modern edition: eBooks: Neo-Latin Humanist Texts, ed. and transl. by Dana F. Sutton. Rickets, John. Byrsa Basilica seu Regale Excambium. Jesus College, Cambridge. Performed 1633 (?). Modern editions: Ed. (with translation) by R.H. Bowers, Materials for the Study of Old English Drama, n.s., 17 (1939); Renaissance Latin Drama in England, II.12 (1991). Risus Anglicanus. Cambridge (?). 1614–1625. Modern edition: Renaissance Latin Drama in England, II.6 (1988). Rollinson, Francis (?), Sylvanus. St. John’s College, Cambridge. Performed 1596/7. Modern edition: Renaissance Latin Drama in England, II.19 (1991). Ruggle, George, Ignoramus. Clare Hall, Trinity College, Cambridge. Performed 1614, 1615; printed 1630, transl. by Parkhurst 1660–1662, Codrington 1662, Ravenscroft 1678. Modern editions: Renaissance Latin Drama in England, II.1 (1987); Parkhurst’s translation ed. by E.F.J. Tucker, Garland Publishing, 1987; eBooks: Neo-Latin Humanists Texts, ed. and transl. by Dana F. Sutton. Salterne, George, Tomumbeius sive Sultanici Aegypto Imperii Eversio. 1580–1603. Sanctus Edwardus Confessor sive Mitis Terram Possidebunt. Magdalen College, Oxford. Sanguis Sanguinem sive Constans Fratricida Tragoedia. Ca. 1600. Senilis Amor. Queen’s College, Cambridge. 1635/6. Modern edition: Renaissance Latin Drama in England, II.17 (1991). Snelling, Thomas, Thibaldus sive Vindictae Ingenium. St. John’s College, Oxford. Performed 1634–1640, printed 1640, 1650. Modern editions: Renaissance Latin Drama in England, I.12 (1982); eBooks: Neo-Latin Humanist Texts, ed. and transl. by Dana F. Sutton. Solymannidae tragoedia. Performed 1581 (?). BL: MS Lansdowne 723. Sparrow, Thomas. Confessor. Vtinam Feliciter Nata Comedia. St. John’s College, Cambridge. Written 1630–1640 (?). Modern editions: Renaissance Latin Drama in England, II.12 (1987); eBooks: Neo-Latin Humanist Texts, ed. and transl. by Dana F. Sutton. Stoicus vapulans. St. John’s College, Cambridge. Performed 1618; printed 1648. Modern editions: Renaissance Latin Drama in England, II.11 (1987); eBooks: Neo-Latin Humanist Texts, ed. and transl. by Dana F. Sutton. Stubbe, Edmund, Fraus Honesta. Trinity College, Cambridge. Performed 1618/9, 1629; printed 1632. Modern edition: Renaissance Latin Drama in England, II.2 (1987)). Tomumbeis. 1516. BL: MS Rawlinson poet.75. Vincent, Thomas, Paria. Trinity College, Cambridge. Performed 1627/8. Modern edition: Renaissance Latin Drama in England, II.16 (1990). Ward, Robert (?), Fucus sive Histriomastix. Queen’s College, Cambridge. Performed 1622/3. Modern editions: Ed. by G.C. Moore Smith, Cambridge, 1909; Renaissance Latin Drama in England, II.11 (1991); eBooks: Neo-Latin Humanist Texts, ed. and transl. by Dana F. Sutton. Watson, Thomas (the bishop), Absolom. St. John’s College, Cambridge. Written ca. 1535– 1544. Modern editions: Ed. (with translation) by J.H. Smith, Illinois UP, 1964; Renaissance Latin Drama in England, II.5 (1987). Watson, Thomas (the poet), Antigone. Oxford. Printed 1581. Modern edition: Renaissance Latin Drama in England, I.4 (1987). Wiburne, Nathaniel. Machiavellus. St. John’s College, Cambridge. Performed 1597. Modern edition: Renaissance Latin Drama in England, II.19 (1991). Wilde, George. Eumorphus sive Cupido Adultus. St. John’s College, Oxford. Performed 1635. Modern editions: Ed. (with translation) by H.J. Vienken, Humanistiche Bibliothek, Munich, 1973; Renaissance Latin Drama in England, I.3 1981). Worseley, Ralph, Synedrium sive Consessus Animalium. Trinity College, Cambridge. 1554/5—incomplete. Wren, Christopher, Physiponomachia. St. John’s College, Oxford. Performed 1609–1611. Modern editions: Renaissance Latin Drama in England, I.4 (1981); eBooks: Neo-Latin Humanist Texts, ed. and transl. by Dana F. Sutton.

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Zelotypus. St. John’s College, Cambridge. Performed ca. 1605–1607. Modern edition: Renaissance Latin Drama in England, II.14 (1991).

English Jesuit Neo-Latin Drama on the Continent Ambitio Infelix sive Absalon. St. Omer. 1622. Ananias, Azarias, Mizael sive Pietas de Impietate Victus. St. Omer. Early 17th century (?) Campion, Edmund, Ambrosia. Clementina Academy, Prague. Performed 1578, 1591. Modern edition: Ed. (with translation) by J. Simons, Assen, Netherlands (1970). Captiva Religio. English College, Rome. Performed 1614. Modern edition: eBooks: Neo-Latin Humanist Texts, ed. and transl. by Dana F. Sutton. Carleton, Thomas, Fatum Vortigerni. English College, Douai. 1619. Crux Vindicata. St. Omer, 1656. Drury, William, Aluredus sive Alfredus tragicomoedia. English College, Douai. 1619. Printed 1620, 1641. Modern edition: Ed. (with R. Knightley’s 1659 translation) by A.H. Tricomi, MRTS (1993). ——, Mors comoedia. English College, Douai. 1612, 1619. Printed 1620, 1641. ——, Reparatus sive Depositum tragicomoedia, Prima Pars. English College, Douai. Performed 1621. Printed 1628. Modern edition: eBooks: Neo-Latin Humanist Texts, ed. and transl. by Dana F. Sutton. Felix Concordia Fratrum sive Joannes et Paulus. St. Omer. 1651. Fortunae Ludibrium sive Belisarius. St. Omer. 1651 Modern edition: eBooks: Neo-Latin Humanist Texts, ed. and transl. by Dana F. Sutton. Homo Duplex sive Funestum Corporis et Animae Duellum. St. Omer. 1655. Innocentia Purpirata seu Rosa Candida et Rubiconda (Henry VI). St. Omer. 1623 (?) Magister Bonus sive Arsenius. St. Omer. Performed 1614. Marcus et Marcellianus. St. Omer. 1648. Montezuma. St. Omer. Roffensis. English College, Rome. 1618? Roulerius, Adrianus (Adrien de Roulers), Stuarta Tragoedia. College of Douai. Printed 1593. Modern edition: Ed. by R. Woerner, Berlin, 1906. Sanctus Damianus. St. Omer. Performed 1626. Sanctus Edoardus Confessor sive Mites Terram Possidebunt. St. Omer. 1653. Sanctus Pelagius Martyr. St. Omer. 1623. Sanctus Thomas Cantuariensis. English College, Rome. 1613. Simons, Joseph (Emmanuel Lobb), Leo Arminus sive Impietas Punita (Ultia Divina). St. Omer. Performed 1624–1629, 1645. Printed 1656, 1657, 1680, 1697. ——, Mercia sive Pietas Corunata. St. Omer. Performed 1624, 1645. Printed 1648, 1656, 1657, 1680, 1697. ——, Theoctistus sive Constans in Aula Virtus. St. Omer. 1624. Printed 1653, 1656, 1657, 1680, 1697. ——, Vitus sive Christiana Fortitudo. St. Omer. Performed 1623, printed 1656, 1657, 1680, 1697. ——, Zeno sive Ambitio infelix (Fratrum Concordia Saeva). St. Omer. Performed 1631. Printed 1648, 1656, 1657, 1680, 1697. Thomus Morus. English College, Rome. 1612. Vernulaeus, Nicolaus, Henricus Octavus seu Schisma Anglicanum Tragoedia. Louvain. Performed (?), printed 1624. Modern edition: Ed. (with translation) by Louis A. Schuster, University of Texas Press, 1964.

CHAPTER NINE

NEO-LATIN DRAMA IN SPAIN, PORTUGAL AND LATIN AMERICA Joaquín Pascual Barea Introduction In the Hispanic Neo-Latin theatre, ancient drama converged with cultured and popular medieval genres such as elegiac comedy, debates and religious performances, as well as humanistic comedy from Italy and from the Low Countries, and other dramatic, poetic and oratorical genres from the Modern Age. Before offering a historical survey, we shall also analyse the influence of Aristotle’s and Horace’s poetics and of ancient drama on Neo-Latin drama, paying particular attention to the structure, the number of acts, the characters, the use of prose or verse, and the main dramatic genres. The history of Neo-Latin drama in Iberia and Latin America has been divided into four periods. During the reign of the Catholic Kings (1479– 1516), the first Latin eclogues and dialogues produced in Spain, and the works of Hercules Florus and Johannes Parthenius de Tovar in the Kingdom of Aragon deserve our interest. Under the King and Emperor Charles (1516–1556), we consider the main authors of Neo-Latin drama: Joannes Angelus Gonsalves and Joannes Baptista Agnesius in Valencia, and Franciscus Satorres in Catalonia; Joannes Maldonatus in Salamanca and Burgos; Joannes Petreius at the University of Alcalá de Henares, and Franciscus Cervantes de Salazar in Mexico, as well as Didacus Tevius in Portugal under John III (1521–1557). A few months before the reign of King Sebastian in Portugal and King Philip in Spain (1556–1598), the Society of Jesus started their dramatic activity in the different provinces of Iberia: Portugal, Andalusia, Castile, Toledo and Aragon. We shall study the peculiarities of each province: the dramas of Michael Venegas, Ludovicus Crucius, Petrus Paulus Acevedus,

* The research carried out for the writing of this chapter was supported by the Ministry of Education (Project PR2010-0317), and by the Ministry of Science and Innovation of Spain (Project of I+D+i FFI2012-31097 of the DGICYT).

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Joannes Bonifacius and other Jesuits; the conflict between the Society and the humanists and dramatists Joannes de Mallara in Sevilla, Tevius in Lisbon, Franciscus Sanctius Brocensis in Salamanca, Joannes Laurentius Palmyrenus in Valencia, and Jacobus Romagnanus in Palma de Mallorca; Bernardinus Llanos’ eclogues and Joannes Cigorondo’s tragedy in Mexico; the pieces of a few professors of the University of Barcelona from 1571 to 1575; and other works. We shall then consider Neo-Latin theatre as a practice of language learning; the ideological, religious and political motivations of Jesuit theatre; its biblical and other religious themes; the female and other real and mythological characters or allegorical representations appearing in Jesuit school dramas; the occasions for the performances and the scenic art of these plays. During the last decades of the 16th century, vernacular languages became increasingly relevant, and other registers of Latin were also used along with other ancient and modern languages to describe a character. In the 17th century, scholarly dramas are usually largely written in the vernacular, like Michael Henriquez’s Iosephea in Lleida, Antonius de Sousa’s Real Tragicomedia and Dom Affonso in Lisbon, and other pieces that are also described in this chapter. Neo-Latin eclogues enjoyed greater success than classical dramatic genres, particularly in Portugal, and the subgenre of funeral eclogue was also staged at the University of Salamanca. Finally, we will consider how Spanish and Portuguese dramas show the influence of Neo-Latin theatre, since their authors had studied in Jesuit schools. The list of works for further reading is followed by two appendices on the main studies and editions, and on the pieces still needing to be edited and studied. The Influences of Ancient, Medieval and Modern Dramas The Influence of Ancient Drama The obscenities and archaisms in Plautus’s comedies led to them being read and imitated less often than works by Terence who, thanks to his moral judgements, was always preferred for the purpose of educating young people. Spanish libraries preserve twice the number of manuscripts by Terence than Plautus and other ancient dramatists. Printed works tended to come from abroad, but there were also Spanish incunabula of Terence’s comedies with Donatus’s and Joannes Calphurnius’s commentaries (Barcelona, 1498), and about twelve sixteenth-century Iberian editions of these comedies, which reached Peru before 1542. Plautus’s twenty



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comedies were printed in two volumes (Alcalá de Henares, 1517–1518); Aulularia, Captivi, Stichus and Trinummus (Coimbra, 1568) and Menaechmi (Salamanca, 1581) were printed in expurgated editions, which were allowed by Nadal for Jesuit schools in 1561. Nevertheless, the head of the order in Andalusia was refused permission to expunge Terence’s comedies and print them for class in 1575, since in 1553 Ignatius of Loyola had forbidden to teach them. Seneca’s tragedies were printed in two volumes (Alcalá, 1517 and 1552), whereas Thyestes, Troades, Hercules furens and Medea were issued for the Jesuit schools (Coimbra, 1559 and 1560), the same years that Venegas composed his own tragedies.1 In 1473, students in Salamanca preferred to use the book Tobias instead of Terence’s comedies, but Terence rapidly attained wide popularity at the Iberian universities. In Alcalá, Adelphoe, Hecyra and Heautontimo­ rumenos  were recommended; only Eunuchus was censored. Martinez taught Andria, Phormio, Adelphoe, Heautontimorumenos and Eunuchus at Salamanca from 1560 to 1578, when the attacks by the Jesuits worsened. As in Montilla and Seville, the municipal authorities of Valladolid protested against the suppression of Terence when the Jesuits took over the teaching  of the humanities at the University. But Bonifacius argued that he chose flowers and rejected Terence’s thistles and thorns so that children would learn his language without reading his works. Taking advantage of other school commentaries, Pedro de Figueroa published Enarrationes in Andriam et Eunuchum (Valencia, 1569) to teach colloquial Latin, but the commentary on Andria by Sevillan canon Juan de Fonseca y Figueroa in 1606, and Dissertationes criticae by Esteban Manuel de Villegas (1589– 1669), were never printed.2 At Salamanca, Spanish versions of Amphitruo were written by Franciscus Lupius de Villalobos (1473–1549) as a student (Alcalá de Henares, 1515 and 1517), and by Fernandus Peresius de Oliva (1494–c. 1532). The translations, Amphitruo (Toledo, 1554) and Los menechmos and El milite glorioso

1 Cf. Kindermann, Das Theaterpublikum, 2, pp. 129–32; Webber, ‘Manuscripts and Early Printed Editions’, pp. 29–36; id., ‘The Literary Reputation of Terence and Plautus’, pp. 195– 96; Gil, ‘Terencio en España’, pp. 95–106, 111–13; Bernal, ‘Plauto y Terencio’, pp. 356–57; Lohmann, ‘Huellas renacentistas’, pp. 119–23; Griffin, ‘Plautus castigatus’, pp. 279–84; Frèches, Le théâtre néo-latin au Portugal, pp. 94. 2 Cf. Framiñán, ‘Actividad dramática en el Estudio salmantino del Renacimiento’, pp. 1187–92; Gil, Panorama social del humanismo español, pp. 499–507; id., ‘Terencio en España’, pp. 109–11, 116–18; Castro de Castro, ‘El comentario a la Andria’, pp. 182–84; Amo and Beltrán, ‘Algunas variantes textuales’, pp. 147–65; Griffin, ‘Plautus castigatus’, pp. 275– 79; Marqués, ‘Plauto en las Dissertationes criticae de E. M. de Villegas’, pp. 133–51; Flores, ‘Teatro escolar latino del siglo XVI’, pp. 1184–86; Menéndez, ‘El teatro jesuítico’, p. 37.

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(Antwerp 1555), were followed by The Comedy of Amphitrion (Valencia, 1559), freely translated by Juan de Timoneda so that it could be performed. In his abbreviated version in prose of Los Menennos, Timoneda located the action in Seville and Valencia. He imitated La Celestina and introduced the pedantic doctor Averroes with his servant, who converses in Latin with his brother Lazarillo de Tormes. After the lost translation by the prebendary Bernardino at Salamanca around 1539, Petrus Simon Aprilis (1540–1595) published his Spanish translation of Terence, Las seys comedias de Terencio (Saragossa, 1577), together with the original Latin text; his revised version was printed together with Faerno’s edition and Cornutus’s Tratado sobre la tragedia y comedia (Alcalá de Henares, 1583; Barcelona and Valencia, 1599). Antonius Vilaragut had translated Seneca’s tragedies in Valencia in the late fourteenth century, and Cristophorus Colon’s son owned another translation from the late fifteenth century.3 Ephigenia, written in prose by a poet called Vulgonensis (Barcelona, 1503), disappeared in 1871. In 1536, Anrique Ayres Victoria published his Portuguese translation of Sophocles’ Electra from the previous Spanish translation by Peresius de Oliva, which had reached Santo Domingo before 1536,4 and was reprinted in 1555 and again in 1586 along with Peresius’s translation of Euripides’ Hecuba by his nephew Ambrosius Morus. Morus translated Andromacha literally in Latin verse for his Greek classes at Alcalá in 1560.5 Buchanan’s Latin translation of Euripides’ Alcestis appears alongside the 1577 edition attributed to Petrus Joannes Nunnesius reprinted in Valencia in 1581. Simon Aprilis published his Spanish translations of Euripides’ Medea and Aristophanes’ Plutos at the end of the century. The comedies of this Greek playwright were taught at Valencia by Palmyrenus, who imitated a scene from Las Nubes in Octavia.6 Neo-Latin tragedies may even imitate Greek tragedies, but they are much closer to Seneca’s Stoic conception, who was their main dramatic 3 Cf. Sito, ‘El teatro en el siglo XVI’, p. 274; Grismer, The Influence of Plautus in Spain, pp. 187–204; Blüher, Séneca en España, pp. 126–28. 4 Cf. Briesemeister, ‘Das Mittel- und Neulateinische Theater in Spanien’, p. 7; Alcina, ‘La tragedia Galathea de Hercules Florus’, p. 17; Gil and Varela, Cartas de particulares a Colón, p. 345; La Vengança de Agamenón: Tragedia que hizo Hernán Pérez de Oliva, cuyo argumento es de Sóphocles, poeta griego. Burgos 1528 and 1531, Seville 1541. 5 Cf. Peale, Fernán Pérez de Oliva; Pérez Ibáñez, ‘La traducción de Anfitrión’, pp. 155–76; ead., ‘El Anfitrión de Pérez de Oliva’, pp. 827–32; Bertini, ‘Il rifacimenti spagnoli dell’Amphitruo’, pp. 221–39; Bécares, ‘Ambrosio de Morales’, pp. 273–77. 6 Cf. Morreale, Pedro Simón Abril, pp. 57, 299–300, 319; Miralles, ‘Pedro Simón Abril’, pp. 209–18; Alcina, ‘El comentario a la Poética de Aristóteles de Pedro Juan Núñez’, pp. 25–26; Gil, Panorama social del humanismo español, p. 536; id., Formas y tendencias del humanismo valenciano quinientista, pp. 136, 149–50.



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and literary source by determining a work’s pathos, sententious style and exuberant expression. The protagonist’s unhappy ending was not imposed by a blind fatum, but was rather a consequence of human behaviour and free will or of Divine Providence. Prophet Elijah’s character in Venegas’ Achabus also featured reminiscences of Sophocles’ seer Tiresias. But the biblical stories of Jephthah sacrificing his daughter to fulfil his vow, and of chaste Joseph rejecting Potiphar’s wife’s love were equivalent to Iphigenia’s sacrifice by her father Agamemnon dramatized by Euripides, and to Hippolitus’s rejection of Phaedra’s love, stories mainly known through Seneca’s tragedies.7 In Saul, Venegas imitated Seneca’s tragic conception, themes, language, sentences and rhetoric by inserting speeches and poetic soliloquies among the dialogues that prevailed over the slow progress of the action; the violent final scene has echoes from Oedipus Rex and from Nero’s death, with the tragedy as a whole featuring characters inspired by Thyestes and other Senecan tragedies, in addition to Horace and Virgil’s Aeneid, which Venegas explained in class. These three authors also influenced Achabus, and along with Plautus and Terence provided Crucius and the author of Ionas with a raft of literary sources and poetical motifs. Agamemnon’s first verse figured in this anonymous tragicomedy, whose second act contains amusing scenes, featuring a rustic character on a boat who doubted his own identity upon wobbling, like Sosia in Plautus’s Amphitruo, or the following scene, in which his ignorance in pretending to know about astrology causes laughter. The first chorus imitated Horace’s famous twenty-second ode. Sedecias showed influences of Euripides, of popular drama, and of well-known passages like the beginning of Cicero’s Catilinariae in Jeremiah’s first prayer; after seeing his children killed, the king ends up with his eyes torn out like Oedipus.8 In Lucifer furens, Acevedus imitated the title, the first speech, the references to Etna and to the battle of Hercules with Cerberus and other beasts, and the invocation to the Furies of Seneca’s Hercules furens. There are clear similarities between the characters playing the role of antagonist in these two tragedies; their protagonists are Hercules and Christ, who, according to a traditional comparison, appeared characterized as a tamer of monsters, although without the classical hero’s sins. The influence of

7 Cf. Frèches, Le théâtre néo-latin au Portugal, p. 207; Miranda, ‘Miguel Venegas S.I.’, p. 296; Canavaggio, ‘La tragedia renacentista española’, pp. 185–95. 8 Cf. Frèches, Le théâtre néo-latin au Portugal, pp. 175–90, 195, 205–09, 302, 348–53, 358– 59, 413–14, 419; Griffin, ‘Miguel Venegas’, pp. 800–03; Miranda, ‘Nas origens do melodrama’, pp. 252–53; Barbosa, Luís da Cruz, teatro, pp. 28–31.

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Seneca was especially strong in the first and fifth acts, which ends with Lucifer defeated. It is written largely in Latin prose, but contains more Latin verses than Acevedus’s comedies, a more serious, bombastic language and Lucifer’s hapless ending; it lacked a plot, summaries of the acts and other passages in Romance. In addition to Lucifer, Messenger and the Furies, Dolor, Gaudium, Charitas, Humilitas and other allegorical characters are also typical of the tragedy genre. The plot was similar to the one in Auto de la circuncisión and in another auto about La Caída de Lucifer acted in Seville in 1560 and 1561. Narcissus sang several hexameters inspired by Virgilian eclogues, and it concluded with a four-line refrain in Romance mocking the devil by way of a Christmas carol, since the main events celebrated the feast of the circumcision of Jesus on the first day of 1563 (Luke 2, 21–24).9 The statutes of the University of Salamanca from 1538 set a bonus for the professor of Rhetoric who best staged Plautus’s and Terence’s comedies, classical tragedies or tragicomedies on the three Sundays following Corpus Christi. John III of Portugal set the reward for professors who performed dramas annually with their students at the University of Coimbra, although a Plautine comedy, probably Amphitruo, seemed too coarse in 1550. Aulularia and Trinummus were expurgated and then staged in the 1590s. The University of Barcelona ordered its students to perform Seneca’s tragedies or pious dramas twice a year from 1559. The universities of Valladolid, Santiago de Compostela, Palencia or Huesca established similar rules.10 The Influence of Medieval Drama Medieval liturgical dramas continued to be popular in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Several examples are ludi, mysteries like the Mystery of Elche, autos of the Passion, the planctus of the Virgin during the Mass on Good Friday, and tropes such as the dialogue between the angel and the three Marys in the visit to the tomb, which were usually sung by 9 Cf. Torrego ‘Lucifer Furens de P. de Acevedo’, pp. 677–83; ead., ‘Introducción’, in Picón a.o., Teatro escolar latino del s. XVI, pp. 45–119; Pociña, ‘Le tragedie di Seneca nel teatro dei gesuiti’, pp. 400–04; Domingo, La producción escénica del Padre Pedro Pablo de Acevedo, pp. 183–90, 194–96. 10 Cf. García Soriano, El teatro universitario y humanístico en España, p. 226; Esperabé, Historia de la Universidad de Salamanca, 1, p. 203; Fuentes, Estatutos de la Universidad de Salamanca, pp. 77–84, 171; Framiñán, ‘Actividad dramática en el Estudio salmantino del Renacimiento’, pp. 1192–95, 1198–99; Griffin, ‘Plautus castigatus’, pp. 282–85; Durán Gudiol, Estatutos de la Universidad de Huesca, p. 151.



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appropriately dressed boys of the choir. These and other dramatized episodes in Latin or the vernacular—such as the Song of the Sibyl, Adoration of the Magi and Flight to Egypt, which were usually staged at Christmas, Carnival, Easter, Corpus Christi and feast days of the Virgin Mary and saints—determined the themes and characteristics of Neo-Latin dramas, e.g. biblical, hagiographical and Eucharistic subjects, doctrinal purposes, festivities, and other occasions for the performances, and characters absent from ancient literature. Neo-Latin dramas, however, adopted a more classical dramatic form typical of the Renaissance.11 The Influence of Neo-Latin Pieces from Italy and the Low Countries Erudite comedy from Italy both in Latin and in the vernacular was the initial model of Spanish Neo-Latin drama. Carolus Verardus’s Historia Baetica (Rome, 1493), about the conquest of the Kingdom of Granada, was reprinted in Spain with the tragicomedy Fernandus servatus (Salamanca, 1494; Valladolid, 1497), versified by his nephew Marcellinus Verardus, which dramatized the failed attack on King Ferdinand on 7 December 1492. Leo Baptista Albertus’s Philodoxeos fabula (Salamanca, 1501) was used by bachelor students of ‘Quirosius’, probably Franciscus de Quiros, who was a professor of Poetry until 1503. His professor, Lucius Marineus Siculus, praised Didacus Ramirez de Villaescusa for his mastery of Latin, and dedicated to the Queen of Castile a brief grammar in 1496. It served to lead de Quiros’ disciples down ‘the shortest and easiest path for enjoying both the Latin books and the sweetness and facility of speech’ (Seville, 1501; Alcalá de Henares, 1532). In Seville and Salamanca, Lucius Flamminius Siculus was engaged with that active pedagogy and with drama as an instrument to learn Latin; he told Maldonatus around 1505 that he took a few weeks to learn several brief grammatical rudiments before reading Terence and Sallust, and learning Rhetoric and Poetics with Pomponio Leto in Rome, where he performed comedies by Plautus and Terence in the days of Pope Alexander VI (1492–1503).12 11 Cf. Surtz, ‘El teatro en la Edad Media’, pp. 126–27; Castro Caridad, Introducción al teatro latino medieval, pp. 9–15, 27, 65–66; Rebello, O Primitivo Teatro Português, pp. 28–37; Menéndez, ‘El teatro hagiográfico en el Siglo de Oro español’, pp. 723–24; Donovan, The Liturgical Drama, p.119. 12 Cf. Rincón, Historia Baetica de Carlo Verardi, pp. 44–51, 105–06; Briesemeister, ‘Literatura épico-dramática del Siglo de Oro’, pp. 936–50; Asensio and Alcina, “Paraenesis ad litteras”, pp. 6–7, 64–78, 117–18, 141–42; García García, El pensamiento comunero y erasmista de Juan Maldonado, pp. 17–18, 397–409; id., ‘Esbozo biográfico y literario de Juan Maldonado’, pp. 331–34.

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Ferdinandus Colon bought Johannes de Vallata’s Poliodorus in Barcelona in 1513 shortly after it was printed in Paris. In Padua in 1531 he bought Leonardus della Serrata’s Poliscena, an antecedent of Rojas’ La Celestina and also of Maldonatus’s Hispaniola, with which it shares a happy ending. He also bought Florus’s plays in Barcelona in 1536, and a manuscript from the first half of the fifteenth century containing Ecerinis by Mussatus and Achilles by Luscus (or Loschi).13 From the 1540s onwards, the religious dramas of Petrus Papeus, Georgius Macropedius, Gulielmus Gnapheus and Levinus Brechtanus exerted a greater influence than the ancient and humanistic comedies from Italy. For its mix of Christian and pagan elements, imitating the language and formal features of ancient drama and having a pious and moralistic purpose, provided a more appropriate model for school drama. The influence of these pieces from the Low Countries is obvious by the titles and subjects of several plays by Mallara, Romagnanus, Petrus Jacobus Cassianus and Joannes Valentia. Papeus’s Comoedia de Samaritano evangelico was edited and annotated by Alexius Venegas (Toledo, 1542), who corrected a number of misprints from the printed copy he used (Antwerp, 1539). He was helped by Joannes Ramirius and by other colleagues from Alcalá de Henares, where the comedy was staged, and where the Jesuits owned a copy of this edition. It included an introduction about comedy and quoted Horace, Terentianus Maurus and other authors, about the literal, allegorical and moral meaning of the characters in the play, and about iambic and trochaic metres in comedies.14 For the inauguration of the new school in Cordoba on 24 June 1555, Acevedus adapted Gnapheus’s Acolastus, although he omitted ‘several passages that might offend the listeners’ piety’ despite its pious and Christian content, changed the name of the protagonist in Lisardus and introduced summaries of each act in Spanish verses. Acolastus was also staged in Lisbon in 1556 by the Jesuit teacher—probably Venegas— using choral songs and instrumental music. Acevedus’s pupils performed Brechtanus’s Euripus in Cordoba in 1556, and Venegas participated in the staging of this piece in Dillingen in 1566. Macropedius’s Asotus evangelicus influenced the dramatic treatment of Acevedus’s parable of the Prodigal Son, but Acevedus hispanicized the plot by featuring a young man who 13 Cf. Arbea, ‘El Poliodorus de Johannes de Vallata’; id., Poliscena de Leonardo della Serrata; Alonso, ‘El teatro humanístico-escolar hispánico’, p. 37; Alcina, ‘La tragedia Galathea de Hercules Florus’, pp. 16–28. 14 Cf. Menéndez, ‘El teatro escolar’, p. 592; Benatti, Simulacri imperiali portoghesi, pp. 165–66; Griffin, ‘Lewin Brecht, Miguel Venegas, and the School Drama’, pp. 47–76.



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squanders his inheritance in Valencia or leaves to study in Salamanca. In Metanoea, he fused elements drawn from four modern playwrights in addition to Terence and others. He borrowed expressions from Acolastus in Charopus and in Philautus. In this comedy, performed in Seville on 18 October 1565, he also followed Papeus’s Samarites, which already included Megadorus, Eubolus, Sarcophilia and other characters in his works. He stated that he paid more attention to the soul’s benefit than the propriety of poetic art. As in the Dances of Death, Death pursues the protagonist.15 The Influence of Ancient Poetics and Literary Theory The Influence of Aristotle’s and Horace’s Poetics Horace’s advice on the division of the drama into five acts, that divine intervention only be included if the plot required it, and on the number of characters on stage (Horace, Ars poetica 189–92) were known directly or through Donatus’s commentaries on Adelphoe, Eunuchus and other plays. These annotations were mentioned by Maldonatus in Hispaniola, and appeared in many editions of Terence’s comedies, which increasingly contained thorough explanations of ancient theatre. Angelus, Professor of Poetry at Valencia for more than twenty-five years until his death in 1548, lectured on Horace’s Art of Poetry. Aristotle’s Poetics were also disseminated in university classrooms from the mid century on thanks to editions, Latin translations and commentaries. His notes on the unity of action, imitation, choruses, characters, style, metres, music, structure and other characteristics of tragedy found a greater echo in Portugal. The Jesuits explicitly prioritized religious and moral indoctrination over aesthetic considerations arising from ancient rules, which they did not hesitate to violate.16 The Structure of the Plays Neo-Latin dramas were generally structured according to the Roman model, with a prologue and an argument followed by several scenes divided into four or five acts. Comedies borrowed phrases, names and 15 Cf. Valentin, ‘Aux origines du théâtre néo-latin’, pp. 88–90; Picón, ‘La comedia Philautus’, pp. 599–608; Domingo, La producción escénica del Padre Pedro Pablo de Acevedo, pp. 111–12. 16 Cf. Gil, ‘Terencio en España’, p. 102; Alcina, ‘El comentario a la Poética de Aristóteles de Pedro Juan Núñez’, pp. 20–28; Molina, ‘Proyección del Mundo Clásico’, pp. 261–68.

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character traits and other elements from classical drama directly and indirectly. They usually included situations, motifs, characters, phrases, choral odes at the ends of acts, and other elements borrowed from ancient dramas. Following printed editions of Terence’s comedies and other ancient plays, Florus and Maldonatus had already included a didascalia on the date, place and circumstances of the performance before the cast of characters. Closer to the Terentian model, the prologues often sought the audience’s benevolence, praised those personalities present, commented on the language used, the rules of ancient drama, humour or any controversial aspect of the work. They could be accompanied by the plot or blended in the same intervention by adopting multiple variations. In the Spanish Jesuit dramas, the Latin prologue is usually followed by a second prologue in vernacular verse. Crucius wrote them in Latin prose and called them periochae, like that in verse added to each of Terence’s dramas. The periochae were available to audiences as programme notes in several dramas by Sousa. Choruses were an essential element in tragedies; they were frequent in tragicomedies and comedies, and present in many eclogues, dialogues and colloquies. Their functions were the same as in classical theatre and they even took part in the action in Tevius’s Ioannes (Horace, Ars poetica 193–201). The poems in Romance that often appeared at the beginning or end of scenes so as not to interrupt the dialogue that sustained the action also had a lyrical and musical nature; they are occasionally accompanied by dances, parades and games such as bowling in the second act of Henriquez’s Iosephea. As in ancient comedy, the author thanking the audience for its reception and apologizing for the faults or asking for applause was occasionally included at the end. The epilogues in some pieces concluded with Christian and moralizing messages. Number of Acts From Hispaniola onward and in keeping with the Horatian precept and contemporary editions of Terence, the usual number of acts was five, consisting of one or several scenes. Ferdinandus de Avila’s Historia Ninives, Andreas Rodriguez’ Techmitius, El triunfo de la fe and other pieces from the last quarter of the century had four acts. Since the 1580s, Joannes Cigorondo’s tragedy, Rodriguez’s dialogues and other plays and eclogues had three acts or sessions like professional plays, and indicated the characters’ entrances and exits without divisions into scenes. Autos and other simple pieces usually consisted of a single act, such as two pieces assigned to Bonifacius: De vita per divinam Eucharistiam restituta actio brevis in



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three scenes performed in Ávila, and Actio de Sanctissima Eucharistia in six scenes. The action in Galathea takes place over at least three days, but Florus in Zaphira and Romagnanus in Gastrimargus took into account the unities of time and place, which were ignored in most Neo-Latin plays. In many cases, the action was determined by the complexity of the historical tale on which the play was based and may have been interrupted by interludes that occasionally had nothing to do with the main plot. The events in Sedecias take place over seven years, although Crucius concentrated them as if each act corresponded to one day.17 Number, Attributes and Names of the Characters In Neo-Latin comedies, young lovers, parents, nurses, pedagogues, messengers, pimps, parasites and slaves transformed into servants—who then hindered rather than helped their masters—ultimately came from antiquity; but friars, deceived husbands, simple-minded peasants, unhappily married girls and women in love came from medieval literature. The gods Cupid (Love), Minerva (Science), Ate (Strife) or Mars (War) could play a role comparable to the allegories on the virtues, passions and other abstract concepts. Their presence was an erudite ornament typical of Renaissance aesthetics, which also allowed for poetical allusions to wine (Bacchus) or the sun (Phoebus), scenes set in the chronological realm of antiquity or the laughter and contempt produced when they were associated with vices. Playwrights dramatized major human defects to correct them: Maldonatus wrote of lust, Venegas of pride, Avila of greed, Bonifacius of envy in Solomonia, Palmyrenus of gluttony in Trebiana, Crucius of anger in Sedecias, Cigorondo of sloth in Ocio. Florus’s and Maldonatus’s dramas included a score of characters, although they usually adhered to the Horatian precept of not introducing more than three in one scene. Tevius observed this in Ioannes, featuring only seven characters and the choir. According to the Senecan model, Venegas presented fifteen interlocutors in Saul, aside from Justitia in the prologue, the chorus of Hebrews and two armies; between six to ten people took part in each act of Achabus, although rarely were there more than four on stage at the same time. The many cast members customary in

17 Cf. Alonso, ‘El teatro humanístico-escolar hispánico’, pp. 37–43; Picón, ‘Nuevos textos del teatro jesuítico en España’, p. 444; Menéndez, ‘Los jesuitas y el teatro en el Siglo de Oro’, pp. 455–56; González Pedroso, Colección de autos sacramentales, pp. 133–43; Barbosa, Luís da Cruz, teatro, p. 20.

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most Neo-Latin school drama, especially in contrast with classical drama, initially endeavoured to make as many students as possible take part, as Palmyrenus writes in the prologue to Octavia. His Fabella Aenaria had a cast of nearly thirty characters, and there were even more in Crucius’s Sedecias, Manasses and Iosephus, in order to offer the audience a more spectacular performance. In Ionas, sixty interlocutors took part, sixtyseven in El triunfo de la fe, and more than three hundred and fifty in Sousa’s Real Tragicomedia.18 According to the requirements of the rules of the art (Horace, Ars poe­ tica 119–27) and to ancient conventions, there were archetypes of different ages (Senex), professions (Theologus, Miles), social groups (Praetextatus, Servus, Parasitus) or kinship with the protagonist (Pater). Characters could be recognized by their clothes, weapons and other traditional attributes. As several indications reveal, Death would hold his scythe and winged Cupido carried a bow and quiver of arrows. According to the fourthcentury­poet Ausonius, Occasio was bald except for a tuft of hair covering his face, and he walked on wheels with wings on his feet. Such descriptions could be found in Scaliger’s Poetics (I, 113), a work praised by Bonifacius, and in Alciatus’s Emblemata, on which Valentia commented and which Venegas explained at the Jesuit college in Paris in 1564–1565. Jesuit Salvator de Leon (1579–1649), who taught Grammar and Rhetoric at the college of Seville and wrote a drama in three acts with parts in Latin, cites Johannes Petrus Valerianus’s treatise on emblems as he describes the costumes of one of his plays in 1607.19 In keeping with the practices in ancient comedy explained by Aristotle (Poetica 1451b) and by Donatus (in Adelph. 26), many characters’ names had a motivation and a Greek or a Latin etymology, and usually came from classical literature directly or through other Neo-Latin dramas, such as Eubulus, Pamphagus and Philautus from Gnapheus’s Acolastus: Philautus (‘Friend of Himself’) was an interlocutor in Erasmus’s Colloquia, the protagonist of Crucius’s Vita humana, and the title of one of Acevedus’s comedies, which also included Eubulus and the Plautine names Megadorus and Pseudolus. Romagnanus’s Gastrimargus (‘Voracious-Belly’) featured

18 Cf. Gallego, Juan Lorenzo, p. 161; Soares, Diogo de Teive, pp. 66–80; Benatti, Simulacri imperiali portoghesi, pp. 159, 167. 19 Cf. Alonso, ‘El teatro humanístico-escolar hispánico’, pp. 47–48; García Soriano, El teatro universitario y humanístico en España, pp. 79, 162–87, 374; Talavera, Juan de Valencia; Menéndez, ‘El teatro jesuítico’, pp. 53–54; Domingo, La producción escénica del Padre Pedro Pablo de Acevedo, pp. 159–60.



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confessor Pharisaeus, Pamphagus (‘Eating-Everything’), Pseudoparthenos meretrix (‘prostitute False-Virgin’), Vulpecula lena (‘pimp Little-She-Fox’), Polidamas miles (‘soldier Many-Victories’), Austerus medicus (‘doctor Austere’), Poliphagus parasitus (‘parasite Eating-Much’), the servants Catulus (‘Puppy’), Omnivorus (‘Eating-Everything’), Moria ancilla (‘handmaiden Madness’), Abligurinus (‘Spender’) and Sophronius (‘Sensible’). The latter two were interlocutors in Joannes Ludovicus Vives’s dialogues.20 Sophronius was also the name of the sensible son in Crucius’s Prodigus, which included the Plautine slave Sosia, the parasite Pamphagus who was also present in Vita humana, as well as other proper names with comic purposes. In Valentia’s Nineusis, the cook was named Ligurinus (‘Licker’), and the servants Facetus (‘Funny’), Ludio (‘Playful’) and Tricongius (‘Three-Pints’), who is also present in Vives’s dialogues. Palmyrenus in Octavia called Rapitius the protagonist’s young ‘kidnapper’, and Vulpinus (‘Fox hunter’) the libidinous hunter in Fabella. Prose and Verse During the first half of the sixteenth century, the surviving Neo-Latin dramas were written almost entirely in prose, since they were performed as school exercises in Latin and Oratory. Beside the difficulties in imitating Terence’s and especially Plautus’s verses, the model of Verardus’s and Alberti’s dramas printed in Salamanca in 1494 and 1501 encouraged this use. Many humanists deliberately ignored both the theory and practice of classical comedy, modern dramas as Mussato’s tragedies in iambic verses in the spoken dialogues and Horatian lyric metres, or the comedies of Vergerius, Piccolomini and Papeus in verse. As in Sulpicius’s periochae on Terence’s comedies and in Plautus’s and Verardus’s comedies, Petreius resorted to the iambic senary in the prologue to Chrysonia and to Necromanticus; verses also appeared in the third scene of this comedy, and in Satorres’s Delphinus.21 In the second half of this century, Romagnanus, Valentia in Nineusis and Coloquio de las Oposiciones did not use any verses except the senaries of the prologue. Palmyrenus justified the use of prose in Octavia because of the interest in exercising Ciceronian oratory and language, because

20 Cf. Frèches, Le théâtre néo-latin au Portugal, pp. 175–239; Alonso and Molina, Jaime Romañá, pp. 37–41. 21 Cf. Bonilla, ‘El teatro escolar en el Renacimiento español’, pp. 153–55; Alvar, ‘Juan Pérez (Petreius) y el teatro humanístico’, p. 212.

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Terence’s verses were so free that they seemed like prose and because other ancient and modern authors wrote comedies in prose. Some playwrights tried to follow the metrical schemes of the Roman theatre, while others abused hexameters and introduced elegiac couplets, lyric metres from Horace and from Christian hymns, and even accentuated verses.22 The Portuguese theatre adopted metres typical of classical theatre in keeping with the model of Buchanan’s tragedies. Tevius’s Ioannes had iambic senaries in the spoken parts and anapaestic dimeters, lesser asclepiads and sapphics in the choruses that concluded the five acts. In the over 2,500 verses of Saul and 2,835 of Achabus, Venegas followed Seneca by primarily using iambic trimeters, some trochaic septenaries and hexameters in the dialogues and monologues, and anapaestic dimeters, sapphic, asclepiad and glyconic verses in the choruses.23 In a preface, Crucius explained that he composed the more serious and high passages in iambic trimeters, and the colloquial parts in senaries, citing examples of ancient tragedians, in comparison with the more stringent schemes proposed by Delrius. He opportunely used trochaic tetrameter catalectic, and sapphic, asclepiad, glyconic, anapaestic, hexameters, choriambics and also alcaic in the choral parts, and iambic dimeters catalectic and a song in phalaecean verses with dancing and the vihuela in his comedy. Ionas contained Crucius’s customary metres and adopted the Romance hendecasyllabic metre, octosyllables and other rhymed, stressed verses in the songs and pastoral dances of the third and fourth scene of the third act. Bonifacius recommended imitating Seneca’s style when composing iambic and anapaestic verses, as he did in his comedy De labore, of which twenty-six verses are preserved. He used asclepiad, glyconic, sapphic, hexameters and other Senecan metres in Vicentina, as well as iambic dimeters and trimeters, phalaecean verses and dactylic tetrameters. But prose usually predominated in Latin passages over the verses, which are particularly rare in Tragoedia Iezabelis (four elegiac couplets), Tragoedia Namani (five elegiac couplets and thirty-five senaries) and Tragoedia patris familias (seventeen elegiac couplets); Nabal mainly used hexameters in the bucolic passages and several elegiac couplets; Nepotiana only features a laudatory epigram dedicated to the assistant bishop, and other works are written entirely in Spanish. Guillielmus Barcelo’s Tragicomedia and Comedia lack 22 Cf. Alonso and Molina, ‘Gastrimargus’, p. xxiv; Molina, ‘Plauto y Terencio en el Renacimiento español’, pp. 324–25; Barbosa, Luís da Cruz, teatro, pp. 23–24. 23 Cf. Soares, Diogo de Teive, pp. 81–96, 135–37; ead., ‘A tragédia do príncipe João (1554) de Diogo de Teive’, pp. 192–99, 204, 213; Miranda, Teatro nos colégios dos jesuítas, pp. 479–83.



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Latin verses, while his Dialogus contains hexameters and elegiac couplets, phalaecean verses, sapphic stanzas, iambic dimeters, and even royal octaves and liras with accents and rhymes from Romance versification.24 Latin metres were rarely used in Acevedus’s comedies and dialogues; he wrote hexameters and elegiac couplets, and also borrowed the lyrical verses of others for Dialogus feriis solemnibus and other pieces. Apart from the opening verses, which were not all his, there are two passages in elegiac couplets that are cantos from Euripus in Metanoea; the first act of Charopus concludes with a translation of the first psalm into elegiac couplets, and the fourth act ends with some hexameters; the herald’s speech in Coena Regis is written in elegiac couplets; we find elegiac couplets, nine alcmanian distichs and nine strophes of four iambic dimeters, typical of church hymns, in the final intervention of the tragic chorus of Occasio. His tragedy contains sapphic stanzas, elegiac couplets, six strophes in iambic dimeters starting with the verse Iesu benigne conditor from an ecclesiastical hymn whose metrics and phrases are imitated, other iambic dimeters mostly borrowed from others, a poem in which only the first hexameter is preserved, and the first half of which is the beginning of the Aeneid (arma virumque cano) as well as five sets of six adonic metres, which separately constitute the standard clauses of the hexameter. Aside from the prologue in prose that included the argumentum, the plots of each act written in royal octaves, a welcome in Spanish and a chorus in liras, the Judithis tragoedia of 1578 was written in iambic dimeters and trimeters, in catalectic trochaic tetrameters and dimeters and in dactylic, anapaestic, asclepiad, glyconic, sapphics, pherecratic, paremiac and adonic verses. This variety of fundamentally Senecan metres, indicated in the text, was unusual in Spain before 1575 and allows it to be linked to the lost tragedies on Judith by Tevius and by Venegas at Salamanca in 1569, which competed with Sanctius’s David. Rodriguez also displayed his mastery of Latin versification, of which he boasted jokingly in the prologue to his dialogue De praestantissima scientiarum eligenda by giving a list of fourteen names of Greek metres. He also wrote sapphic stanzas, hexameters and elegiac couplets, stanzas of the first archilochic metre, anapaestic dimeters, trimeters and iambic senaries, in which Molina points out instances of abusive licence. But his Colloquium is written in prose except for a prayer in hexameters and a chorus in elegiac couplets. Avila’s Sancta

24 Cf. Bonifacius, De sapiente fructuoso, pp. 36–39; Picón, ‘Teatro escolar y Teología’, pp. 188–202; id., ‘El teatro escolar’, pp. 604–07.

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Catharina contains about eight hundred Latin verses, usually at the beginning of the acts; we find hexameters in the solemn passages, and iambic senaries or prose in the dialogues, as well as Spanish verses.25 Classical and New Dramatic Genres Spanish poets Juan de Mena (1411–1456) and the Marquis de Santillana (1398–1458) differentiated tragedy, satire and comedy on the basis of the style, subject and characters’ condition, without regard to the dramatic character. But Homer, Virgil and Lucan were still considered tragedians by Mena, while Santillana considered Seneca’s tragedies as representative of the genre. In 1490, Hernán Núñez (1475–1553) described the main features of Latin comedy and its foremost representative authors. Other humanists continued to delve into knowledge of the language, structure, characters, metrics and other issues of the ancient theatre. But playwrights often adapted the ancient genres to their pedagogical needs and followed the tastes of their own time by preferably imitating modern dramas that had proved to be effective.26 The term comoedia commonly referred to a drama written in a simple style that reflected everyday life according to its definition as an ‘imitation of life, mirror of custom, image of the truth’, attributed to Cicero in the commentary rediscovered in 1433 and printed in many editions of Terence’s comedies under Donatus’s name (Excerpta de comoedia 5, 1). Maldonatus considered his Hispaniola a fabula comoedians, aware that he did not abide by the classical rules. Jesuit comedies seek to instruct viewers through an exemplary action featuring ordinary and allegorical characters. It was not unusual for these works to contain choruses typical of tragedies, passages written in a high style, noble characters and tragic events, since comoedia was less specific and faithful to the classical genre than tragoedia. Jesuit tragedies were dominated by biblical subjects on characters of high birth and themes typical of the genre, such as poor governance and the transience of power, pride and other exacerbated passions that

25 Cf. Molina, ‘De las adaptaciones en el teatro jesuita’, pp. 1209–23; id., ‘La Iudithis tragoedia’, pp. 660–71; id., ‘La comedia Techmitius’, pp. 826–27; id., ‘La poesía dramática latina del jesuita Andrés Rodríguez’, pp. 260–78; Flores, ‘Teatro escolar latino del siglo XVI’, p. 1181; Picón, ‘Nuevos textos del teatro jesuítico en España’, pp. 444–45. 26 Cf. Webber, ‘The Literary Reputation of Terence and Plautus’, pp. 196–205; Closa, ‘Los humanistas hispanos y la lectura de Plauto’, pp. 249–53; Gil, ‘Terencio en España’, pp. 97–100.



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resulted in horrific and gruesome events. Bible stories allowed the inclusion of oracles or prophecies and divine interventions, the use of an elevated and moving style, particularly in the choral odes and lyrical monologues, and addressed sacred themes with the appropriate magnificence. The critical situation in which the protagonists struggled forced decisions to be made in a serious ethical conflict, encouraged the introduction of speeches, controversies and other exercises from classes of rhetoric of which the authors were customarily professors and the actors their students. Verse was considered an inescapable element in the tragedies. Like Alcestis and other Euripidean tragedies, Bonifacius’s Tragoedia Namani did not have an unhappy ending, and death was overcome by an apotheosis or entry into Heaven in other plays on martyrs. Crucius disputed the theories of Robortellus, Victorius, Lipsius and Delrius; this Jesuit of Spanish parentage published Adversaria to Seneca’s tragedies in 1573, and edited them in Syntagma tragoediae latinae (Antwerp, 1593). But Crucius considered that the precepts of classical drama belonged to another time and culture. He attributed this in part to its modern interpreters, pointing out ancient dramas that did not respect them and demonstrating a thorough knowledge of them. Therefore, he followed the Portuguese tradition and his own opinion about the unity of action and the duration of performances, the number of characters and scenes, divine interventions, style, and the importance of morality and religion over the shamelessness of ancient plots.27 Tragedies were staged in a particularly magnificent manner. In Venegas’s Achabus, the audience saw the evil spirit come out of the mouth of Hell, the storm that heralded the Lord’s passing before Elijah’s cave, the appearance of Isaiah and martial and funeral processions. Joannes Alvarez of Granada depicted Tragedia de Nabucodonosor in Plasencia on the feast of Corpus Christi in 1563 with great pomp, and throwing children into the oven in such a real way that some people believed that children were burned in truth. In addition to this crime, no less spectacular was the Emperor’s metamorphosis into a beast in one of the two dramas about Nabuchodonosor in Evora, where it was staged in May 1576. Florus also staged a murder in Galathea, and Barcelo the death of St Peter Martyr. But Bonifacius adhered to the Horatian precept (Ars poetica 179–87) in Vicentina, and the martyrdom took place outside public view while a 27 Cf. Mavel, ‘Une trilogie dramatique’, pp. 114, 120–25; Frèches, Le théâtre néo-latin au Portugal, pp. 415–18, 420–21; id., ‘Le théâtre néo-latin au Portugal’, pp. 87–131; Nascimento, ‘Doutrina clássica’, pp. 9, 16; Barbosa, ‘Luís da Cruz e a poética teatral dos Jesuítas’.

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psalm was sung. In Sedecias, also based on events from the sixth century bc referred to Nebuchadnezzar (2 Kings 24–25 and 2 Chronicles 36) and inspired by other biblical passages (Jeremiah 14–39 and Daniel 5), Crucius astonished the audience with the flight of the city’s Guardian Angel in the prologue, the appearance of Isaiah speaking from a cloud and the destruction and burning of Jerusalem. At the end of the third act of his comedy, many spectators shared the fear of Orgestes as he fired his gun clumsily.28 The concept of tragicomoedia did not adhere to the notion that works should combine gods and kings with men of low birth as in Plautus’s Amphitruo, but was rather a mixture of different styles and happy and sad events in a genre that differed from classical comedy and tragedy and that offered varied entertainment. In its six scenes, the tragicomedy Thanis­ dorus staged in Seville, which only featured Latin in some initial dialogues in prose and soliloquies at the beginning of the scenes, included high (king, prince, viceroy, archduke, duke…) and low characters (servants, beggars, parasite…), but this also happened in comedies and tragedies. Several tragicomedies presented two brothers or companions whose deviant and correct behaviour lead them to the sad and happy ending typical of each genre, a double dénouement that Aristotle had contemplated for tragedies (Poetica 1453a). Romagnanus ascribed Gastrimargus to the genre of tragicomedy because it mixed joy and grief, as did Acolastus, La Celestina and Michael de Carvajal’s Josefina, which were nevertheless entitled comedy, tragicomedy and tragedy respectively. In the prologue to Avila’s Sancta Catharina, we read that it might be considered a tragicomedy, because its style and elevated characters were typical of tragedy, but it imitated life as did comedy, and the three denominations were used in different copies to designate this work. The mixture of styles also responded to the plot itself and to the public’s taste for the grandiose and the comic (Horace, Ars poetica 93–98). The title of Barcelo’s Tragoedia de divite epulone’s was corrected to Tragicomedia.29 Crucius designated three of his plays tragicocomoedia because they contained something of 28 Cf. Flores, ‘Técnicas escénicas’, p. 153; Picón, ‘Teatro escolar y Teología’, pp. 188–205; Frèches, Le théâtre néo-latin au Portugal, pp. 208–09, 304–06, 354, 424–33; Barbosa, ‘Luzes e mistérios no teatro jesuítico’, pp. 415–26; ead., ‘Teatro jesuítico e estética barroca’; ead., Luís da Cruz, teatro, pp. 33–34. 29 Cf. Foster, The Name and Nature of Tragicomedy, pp. 9–10, 16–17; Picón, ‘El teatro Neo-latino’, pp. 54–56; González Gutiérrez, Comedia Tanisdorus; id., ‘Comedia de Santa Catalina’; León, ‘El Prólogo a la Famosa Tragicomedia de Santa Catarina’, pp. 91–110; Alonso, ‘Orfeo y Euridice; id., ‘Teoría y práctica’, pp. 395–98.



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the seriousness of tragedy and the laughter of comedy. In Manasses, the prologue by Justitia, Scelus and Poena expressed the crime and punishment typical of tragedy staged in the first acts, which was resolved with repentance (Poenitentia) and God’s mercy (Misericordia) and with a happy ending that included an episode with a Plautine plot and characters. He inserted rustics, shepherds and the guardian angels of Europe, Africa and Asia in Iosephus to entertain viewers of this biblical drama with comic and bucolic incidents.30 The school dialogus or colloquium came to encompass diverse types of staging, and were applied to comedies and tragedies, but they usually corresponded to shorter, less complex pieces. The dialogued eclogues along the lines of Virgil’s odd-numbered eclogues contributed to the development of Neo-Latin drama. Diomedes (GL, Keil, I, 482) and Servius (in Buc. 3, 1) had ascribed the first and ninth Virgilian eclogues to the same dramatic genre (active or imitative) as comedy and tragedy, in which the characters rather than the author speak, and according to Donatus’s Vita Vergilii, they were frequently sung on stage. Early on eclogues were staged in classrooms as a teaching tool, as a cultured alternative to popular carols, and as courtly entertainment according to the Italian fashion. Characteristic of the genre were hexameter verse, ingredients from the classical world, vocal and instrumental music, and allusions to contemporary events, as shepherds stand for real people. Their brevity and simplicity of construction, the use of Virgilian eclogues in the classroom, the passages from the fourth Virgilian eclogue, which had been applied to the birth of Jesus since the Middle Ages in Christmas performances as Officium pastorum, the easy adaptation of pastoral songs to the corresponding Gospel tale, and the vernacular eclogues by Juan del Encina, Lucas Fernández, Gil Vicente, Francisco de Madrid and other poets sung and successfully dramatized from the late fifteenth century contributed to its development. Eclogues and other Neo-Latin dramas were often staged from Christmas to Epiphany, when there was always singing, dancing, masquerades and other poetic and playful activities. Eclogues were modelled on the bucolic genre cultivated in the last decades of the Italian Quattrocento, particularly in Siena, where Franciscus Patricius wrote De natali Christi in 1460.

30 Cf. Mavel, ‘Une trilogie dramatique’, pp. 116–17, 176–77, 181–83; Benatti, Simulacri imperiali portoghesi, pp. 168–69.

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joaquín pascual barea History of Neo-Latin Drama in Iberia and Latin America Neo-Latin Drama under the Reign of the Catholic Kings

The First Dialogues and Eclogues Neo-Latin theatre in Iberia was a phenomenon typical of the sixteenth century which was developed in the last decades of the fifteenth century and lasted into the seventeenth. Its origin lay in the return of students and the arrival of humanistic comedies along with professors from Italy and the dramatization of debates, dialogues and eclogues as well as classroom reading of classical and humanist dramas to practise Latin. During the first weeks of 1484, Antonius Geraldinus composed in Saragossa Carmen bucolicum (Rome, 1485; Salamanca, 1505), and dedicated it to the young Archbishop Alfonso of Aragon, son of King Ferdinand, who had crowned him poet laureate in 1471. Didacus Ramirez de Villaescusa (c. 1455–1537) published Dialogi quatuor super auspicato Joannis Hispaniarum Principis emortuali die (Antwerp, 1498), which involves Death, the Catholic Kings and the widow of the Prince. They were oratorical speeches devoid of the action needed to be staged, and the staging in the palace was only suggested by prints in the book based on contemporary Terentian editions.31 Rodericus a Sanctaella (1444–1509), who studied in Bologna, wrote a Dialogus on clerical celibacy in Rome around 1478; but he provided generic and derogatory news about theatre and tragedy in his Vocabu­ larium (Seville, 1499), borrowed from Isidore of Seville and medieval lexicographers. Outside of the Christmas atmosphere, Ferdinandus del Prado (c. 1461– c. 1525) composed In laudem Calagurritani Episcopi de suo in episcopatu adventu Aegloga (Pamplona, 1499) in Latin and Spanish, now lost, and Égloga Real for the Emperor’s visit to Valladolid in 1517. The Spanish and Latin texts survive in printed editions with a commentary.32

31 Cf. Briesemeister, ‘Los diálogos consolatorios’, pp. 406–22; Olmedo, Diego Ramírez, pp. 219–96; Ramírez, Cuatro diálogos, pp. 33–35; González Rolán a.o., El humanismo cristiano, pp. xcvi–ciii, 118–355; Picón, ‘El teatro Neo-latino’, pp. 45–46; 63–66. 32 Cf. Leistritz, Das Carmen Bucolicum des Antonio Geraldini; Pérez Priego, ‘La égloga dramática’, p. 87; Alonso, ‘Optimates laetificare’, pp. 325–29, 352–65; González Ollé, ‘El bachiller de la Pradilla’, pp. 285–300; García-Bermejo, Catálogo del teatro español del siglo XVI, p. 69.



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Hercules Florus Several situations and characters (Venus, Galathea, the old bawd) of Hercules Florus’s Galathea, reprinted in Barcelona in 1502 in 400 copies, had already appeared in the elegiac comedy Pamphilus de amore, printed in Saragossa around 1480–1484. By narrating the tragic ending of a love affair, Florus demonstrated the dangers of urban life in order to urge literary withdrawal. The lovers’ death alludes to that of Dido, Tisbe and Psyche in the tales by Virgil, Ovid and Apuleius. This tragedy featured the gods Cupid, Venus, Mercury, Jupiter and Apollo, as well as Death—called Ultima Necessitas through a Senecan periphrasis (Epistulae 70, 5), Occasio, Metanoea, Ratio, Desperatio and Fortuna—along with a few human characters. The main characteristic features of his comedy Zaphira are the happy ending for the protagonist after a series of vicissitudes, and that it contained more human characters. Florus warned of the dire consequences of a marriage between an old man and a young maiden by staging the shameless adultery of the unhappily married girl, who poisons her husband and who is compared with Terence’s female characters and with Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini’s prostitute Chrysis. He compared himself with Terence and dedicated his book to the souls of Plautus and of archaic playwrights Pacuvius and Naevius for lack of patrons; he also showed his knowledge of Roman and modern drama and of classical poetry. As in some classical works, he mentions the actors and musicians who sang and played metallic flutes. After the prologue and argument, his dramas have four acts of several scenes, and they are crowned by two and three distichs after Valete.33 Johannes Parthenius de Tovar The poet laureate Johannes Parthenius de Tovar composed an eclogue in Siena for his classmates to perform. Its title, Amoris et Pudicitiae Pimenimachon, shows that it was a pastoral debate similar to Sanctaella’s Dialogus between Libido and Pudicitia; many other playwrights also modelled some of their pieces on the fifteenth-century allegorical debates. Parthenius taught grammar in the Rome of the Borgias in the late fifteenth century, and afterwards poetry and oratory at the University of Valencia until 1512. In another eclogue entitled Contemplativae vitae dimachon,

33 Cf. Mesa, ‘Hercules Florus’, pp. 147–48; Alonso, ‘El teatro humanístico-escolar hispánico’, pp. 32–37; Alcina, ‘La tragedia Galathea de Hercules Florus’, pp. 16–29.

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Active Life was to be the second interlocutor in an Aristotelian and humanistic debate that was very much the rage during his studies in Siena. They were acted by his students, one of whom was Vives between 1507 and 1509, who mentions his professor in Virginis ovatio before 1514. Like most dramas, these eclogues were preceded by an argument in verse, which was written by Simon Anellus Siculus. They were printed among poems written at Siena, Rome and Valencia praising personages who were influential in those cities and at the royal Court in a book that did not survive (Valencia, 1503).34 Neo-Latin Drama under the Emperor Charles V The Kingdom of Aragon: Angelus, Agnesius and Satorres Dominican and preacher Balthasar Sorio (c. 1460–1557), who was the judge of a poetry tournament in praise of St Catherine at Valencia in 1511, composed Oratio litteralis in Christi nativitate in prose and verse. It was printed around 1513 and publicly recited by his students in Castelló de la Plana, but it was very similar to his theologian sermons (Tortosa, 1538), and was structured like medieval representations of the Ordo Prophetarum. Joannes Angelus Gonsalves staged a Perlepidum colloquium in 1527 between the students Ascanius and Camillus to introduce the performance of Terence’s Eunuchus, which offers information about the layout of the hall. He justified the sack of Rome, and extolled the Latin taught in the Estudi over Italy’s version. It was presented before the Duke of Calabria, Ferdinand of Aragon (1488–1550), the dethroned King of Naples’ eldest son, and his wife Germana de Foix (1488–1538), the Catholic King’s widow and viceroy of Valencia. It was performed again at the Estudi. Angelus also staged a Plautine comedy in 1531–1532 and another play in 1535. Parthenius’s poems and activity were followed by Joannes Baptista Agnesius (1480– 1553) in Egloga personanda Valentiae (Valencia, 1527) in two hundred and thirteen dialogued hexameters, with notes and dedications in chaste Catulian Phalaecian verses to the Duke, and in elegiac couplets to the disciple of the author Jerónima Exarch. It consisted of the plot explained by Pallas Athena and two allegorical and theological pieces with two scenes each that contained parts sung by the chorus. An old man called Nomennus (‘Ancient Law’) took part in it along with the theological virtues represented

34 Cf. Galiana, ‘Cartas eruditas’, pp. 322–31; Salvadó, ‘Joan Parteni Tovar’, pp. 125–43.



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by the shepherds Eracritus (‘Select Love’), Theopistus (‘Faith in God’) and Phylelpes (‘Hope the Guardian’). Like Roman comedies, it concluded with Valete. Agnesius also published Colloquium Romani Paschini et Valentini Gonari in elegiac couplets and Libellus pro neophytis Saracenis neophytis, a poetic performance in defence of the converted Moors. From 1540 until his death, the Duke of Calabria’s patronage was confirmed by his new wife, Mencía de Mendoza (1508–1554), who had been a patron of Maldonatus and Vives while they were preparing Latin texts to be staged about 1535 and 1538 respectively. Franciscus Decius, a professor of Oratory and a friend of Angelus, had his students stage the dialogue Paedapechthia (Abhorrence of Education) in 1536. It served to introduce two speeches on the classical topos of arms and letters and on the literary education of noblemen. Decius criticized the French King in a confrontation with the Emperor, and dedicated the book to his patron, the third Duke of Gandía, and to his disciple Henry, Franciscus Borgia’s brother and the Duke’s son. The Valencian Council financed plays by Angelus in 1535, by Palmyrenus from 1562 to 1578, by Joannes Bardaxi in 1564, by Paulus Ceva in 1576, by Franciscus Gil and Vincentius Blasius García in 1586, and by Bernardus Bononat in 1605 and in 1606. Erasmus’s Colloquies were publicly staged at Valencia in 1537 and influenced one of Angelus’s dialogues. In 1539, Vives published Linguae Latinae exercitatio for the education of Prince Philip, consisting of twenty-five dialogues. They were edited by Petrus Motta and by Joannes Ramirius at Alcalá around 1544, and by Palmyrenus at Valencia in 1554 with notes and scholastic appendices, and they were repeatedly printed in other cities. In the University of Valencia, they were customarily read before Terence, and must have been rudimentarily staged, as well as at the universities of Alcalá and Barcelona, and even at Jesuit schools for a time. They also influenced Maldonatus’s dialogues, Cervantes de Salazar’s Ad exercitationem linguae latinae dialogi (Mexico, 1554), Romagnanus’s Gastrimargus and plays by other teachers who used them in their classrooms.35

35 Cf. Alonso, ‘Optimates laetificare’, pp. 307–68; id., ‘Bases y despegue del teatro’, p. 31; id., ‘Panorámica del teatro estudiantil’, pp. 170–71; Mérimée, L’art dramatique à Valencia, pp. 86–91, 96, 245–48; Ferrer, ‘Corte virreinal’, pp. 185–97; Bernal, ‘Plauto y Terencio’, p. 354; Felipo, La Universidad de Valencia, pp. 71–91; Gil, Formas y tendencias del humanismo valenciano quinientista, pp. 107–15, 127–31; Pons, Erasmistas, pp. 169–89, 200–45; Valentín and Pons, Discursos inaugurales, pp. 19, 35, 43, 89–105; Alcina and González, ‘Las primeras anotaciones’, pp. 3–6, 15, 23–33; Gómez, El diálogo en el Renacimiento español, pp. 128–33, 147–48, 229; id., El diálogo renacentista, pp. 122–26.

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In Northern Catalonia, Franciscus Satorres’s Delphinus showed the defeat of the troops of Henry, son of King Francis of France, by the Duke of Alba’s army in Perpignan in 1542 in twenty-five scenes. It was performed at that town before the soldiers at the 1543 Carnival. This priest of Balaguer included choral odes and diverse profane and sacred, heroic, allegorical and mythological elements from Seneca’s tragedies and other classical poets’ works.36 Salamanca and Burgos (Castile and León): Joannes Maldonatus Fernandus Peresius de Oliva wrote in Latin and Spanish a short Dialogus inter Siliceum, Arithmeticam et Famam (Paris, 1514). As a professor and rector of the University of Salamanca (1525–1529), he had a theatre built for public events, advised that comedies of Terence and Plautus be read in classes of Grammar and Arts, and made the regents of the classes of middle-status students stage them towards the end of the school year.37 Maldonatus’s Hispaniola was staged at great expense in Burgos before Eleanor of Austria, Queen of Portugal, a crowd of nobles and the royal council of Charles V, presumably in the summer of 1523 or between March and July 1524. It presented the dangers of the protagonists’ carefree adultery, although they were dodged in the end: thanks to Parasitus, Philocondus enjoys the maiden Christiola, who had been promised to Alilpus, whom the Queen marries off to Philocondus’s sister in order to avoid a duel of honour. Maldonatus, who advocated the Erasmian ideals of his patron, Diego de Osorio, also criticized ostentatious ceremonies, amorous rendezvous in the churches, the hypocrisy of Franciscan preachers and pleasure-prone rich gentlemen. This teacher born in Bonilla (Cuenca) pleased the audience with word games, the castration of a lecherous monk or by referring to the horns of Vulcan, who had been deceived by Venus, and other amatory motifs. Archaic forms from Roman comedy can be found and, furthermore, he employed a particularly affected lexicon that he explained in scholarly notes, but normally he sought to be understood by the largest possible audience. He wrote that the influence from Plautus and Apuleius was due to the fact that these authors, instead of Plato and Aulus Gelius, were brought by a servant to him at the rural castle where he

36 Cf. Torres, Memorias, p. 594; Romeu, Teatre profà, pp. 27–28. 37 Cf. Peale, Fernán Pérez de Oliva; Gómez, El diálogo renacentista, p. 71; Gil, ‘Terencio en España’, p. 104.



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composed this play during a plague. He borrows characters, themes and situations such as erotic encounters and duels from the humanistic comedy; the nurse recalls Celestina, Frater Ferdinandus Fra Timoteo in Machiavelli’s La Mandrágora, and trickster servant Trilus and parasite Coca echo slaves and servants in classical and humanistic comedies; other typical characters, such as the Andalusian (Vandalus), the Basque (Cantaber), the negro (Aethiops) and the Moorish maiden (Maura) were drawn from contemporary popular theatre. Maldonatus, who was in charge of educating noble women like Ana de Osorio and Mencía de Mendoza, reprimanded Christiola for surrendering to her lover without waiting for the wedding, and developed this theme in the dialogue Desponsa cauta.38 He gracefully satirized social vices in Eremitae: three  characters recount the disappointments that pushed them to become hermits while they listen to three couples in separate, interwoven scenes: two men whose marital and ecclesiastical lives were ruined by gambling, a wheat speculator and an unscrupulous cattle dealer and a respectable old man harassing a girl. The plot is reminiscent of La Celestina but with the happy ending suitable for a comedy. The duelling, card games and romantic entanglements of the servants were borrowed from popular theatre because the action takes place in contemporary Castile and some  phrases reveal Spanish sayings and proverbs literally translated into Latin.39 Maldonatus proposed that Terence be studied in the classroom, and he wrote dialogues with a certain dramatic character and suitable to practise the Latin language in Eremitae, printed around 1548 with Vives’s Dialogues, and in Ludus chartarum, which complemented Vives’s dialogue of the same name. Maldonatus’s Geniale iudicium sive Bacchanalia was to be performed by his students at the end of the year: after the opposing speeches of Ingluvies and Continentia and the actions of the chorus, Paedor, Pudor

38 Desponsa cauta (‘The Cautious Fiancée’) is an expanded version of Erasmus’s colloquy Procus et puella, see Smith and Colahan, Spanish Humanism on the Verge of the Picaresque, p. 7. 39 Cf. Durán Ramas, Juan Maldonado, pp. 30–41, 54, 60; García García, El pensamiento comunero y erasmista de Juan Maldonado, pp. 28, 180–87, 197–98, 215–20; id., ‘Esbozo biográfico y literario de Juan Maldonado’, p. 344; Alonso, ‘El teatro humanístico-escolar hispánico’, p. 43; Picón, ‘El teatro Neo-latino’, pp. 75–77; Gil, ‘La tradición literaria neolatina’, pp. 167–68; J. Gil, ‘El erasmismo en España’, pp. 224–28; García García, ‘Bosquejo’, p. 347; Peinador, ‘Un diálogo del siglo XVI español’, pp. 43–90; Alcina and González, ‘Las primeras anotaciones’, pp. 23–25; Sojo, ‘Sobre el humanista español Juan Pérez’, pp. 27–37; Briesemeister, ‘La Celestina latina’, pp. 61–67.

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and the judge Tempus deliberated and declared Continentia the winner.40 Colloquium elegans ac plane pium (Paris, 1542) by Erasmus’s supporter Juan Bernal Díaz de Luco, who studied in Salamanca and was later named Bishop of Calahorra, represented how a pastor was saved before the tribunal of Christ while a bishop and a priest were condemned to Hell. It also involved angels and a demon. Physician Andreas Laguna, who had also studied in Salamanca and translated two of Lucian’s dialogues, delivered a moving oration in Cologne on 22 January 1543. Despite the Terentian connotations of the title, Europa heautentimorumene had a tragic character, a funereal set and echoes of Erasmus’s Querela Pacis. Europa took part by speaking the preface and the first and last speeches, while the author spoke the second one and the argument.41 Alcalá de Henares: Joannes Petreius The University of Alcalá established in 1512 that students of Rhetoric were to give a Latin comedy every year, and on 8 February 1538 ordered Petreius of Toledo to be paid the corresponding expenses. Prince Philip witnessed the performance of Petreius’s Ate relegata, who unsuccessfully sought royal intercession in the conflict of jurisdiction between the Archdiocese of Toledo and the University. The wise Minerva said it was better to live in Alcalá than in Athens, India, Paris or Italy, a country destroyed by wars and by a papal curia poisoned by gossip. Petreius mocked the lame god Vulcan and Parisian philosophers, who sounded like frogs when speaking Latin. Apuleius’s Golden Ass, which had been translated by Jacobus Lupius de Cortegana, and printed in Seville about 1513 with laudatory epigrams by Parthenius, was dramatized by Petreius in Chrysonia. His posthumous book Comediae quattuor bears the same title as the expurgated Plautine edition by the Jesuits (Coimbra, 1568) with which it was to compete. It was dedicated by his brother to the Rector and students of San Ildefonso, so that they would recommend it for class. Petreius translated Necromanticus, Lena and Suppositi into Latin from the original Italian by Ludovico Ariosto, although he omitted scenes, changed the names of some characters, made prose widespread, adopted 40 Cf. García García, ‘Esbozo biográfico y literario de Juan Maldonado’, p. 351; Colahan a.o., ‘Maldonado’s Bacchanalia’, pp. 173–223; Smith and Colahan, Spanish humanism, pp. 7, 13–14, 252–80. 41 Cf. González Manjarrés, Andrés Laguna.



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a less elevated style and wrote shorter dialogues. Decepti contains motifs from Menaechmi but is based on two pieces of 1531: Gl’Ingannati by the ‘Accademia degli Intronati’ of Siena, and Alessandro by Alessandro Piccolomini.42 In the Égloga del Henares, written in hexameters and performed in April 1556 during the festivities for Philip’s coronation, the Guardian Angel of the University appeared on stage in a long white robe over which there was another short robe with different coloured feathers and with wings and head ornaments. He conversed in Latin with the allegory of the Henares, which was oddly dressed, as ancient poets often painted the rivers. One colloquy in Latin prose between two shepherds introduced it, featuring students alongside eight characters borrowed from bucolic literature. Written by a student at the Trilingual in Alcalá, the Neo-Latin drama in five acts entitled Las cuatro edades, inspired by the myth recounted by Ovid and by other poets, actually dealt with the ages of a prince who abandoned Virtue for Delight and Madness, lost a war, and having repented, found Virtue again. It is a bucolic and allegorical bilingual musical entertainment that includes macaronic Latin verses and a lyrical canto in Latin verses that mixes many genres.43 Latin Dialogues in America: Franciscus Cervantes de Salazar The dramas staged by the Franciscans in America about 1538–1540 included liturgical texts, biblical quotations and hymns in Latin. At the Episcopal School in Cali (Colombia), erected in 1549, bachelor Luis Sánchez was reported to have his Indian and mestizo pupils act out very elegant Latin comedies. The Toledan Franciscus Cervantes de Salazar (1514–1575) edited several humanist works with a prologue by Alexius Venegas (Alcalá, 1546). He was Professor of Rhetoric at the University of Osuna and from 1553 at the University of Mexico, of which he was also the first Rector. Here he published seven dialogues in 1554—imitating and accompanying Vives’s work with commentary—on four children’s games and life at the University and on the streets and outskirts of Mexico, so that young people would speak about their daily life in Latin. He called for

42 Cf. Bonilla, ‘El teatro escolar en el Renacimiento español’, pp. 143–55; Alvar, ‘Juan Pérez (Petreius) y el teatro humanístico’, pp. 207–11; Gago, ‘Il Nigromante de Ariosto y el Necromanticus de Petreyo’, pp. 556–58; Cortijo, Teatro latino escolar, pp. 17–35; Picón, ‘El teatro Neo-latino’, pp. 71–74; Sito, ‘El teatro en el siglo XVI’, pp. 385–98. 43 Cf. Morel-Fatio, ‘Ate relegata et Minerva restituta’, pp. 9–24; García Soriano, El teatro universitario y humanístico en España, pp. 374–78; Alastrué, Alcalá de Henares, pp. 81–83.

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wages for his colleagues commensurate with the cost of living, and for higher incomes for the cathedral. In Lima, Florestan de Lasarte composed dramatic pieces in the 1550s, as did Diego del Canto Corne, who taught Latin in Trujillo (Peru) in 1556, and had his students perform some colloquies to inaugurate the academic year.44 The Beginning of Neo-Latin Drama in Portugal: Didacus Tevius In 1547, the King of Portugal John III had Andreas Goveanus bring in George Buchanan, Didacus Tevius and Guilielmus Garentaeus, who had written and staged both ancient and modern plays in Latin in Bordeaux, among other professors and playwrights. Buchanan’s Baptistes and Jephtes influenced biblical tragedies composed in the manner of Seneca in Iberia. Tevius staged his now lost tragedy David in the cloister of the monastery of Santa Cruz on 16 March 1550 for the completion of studies in the Arts by Dom Antonio, the King’s nephew and ephemeral King of Portugal who was dethroned in 1580 by Philip II of Spain and I of Portugal. The chorus of virgins sang a Bible verse (1 Samuel 18, 7) in an unforgettable, breathtaking style. Tevius’s Ioannes, which was never performed, is a collective lamentation on the death of the Crown Prince in January 1554 before the birth of his son Sebastian, which dramatically exploited the wife’s love, the parents’ grief and the motif of the prophetic dream in its 1,365 verses. Although far from the Aristotelianism and imitation of ancient drama of Buchanan’s Jephthes, it imitated reality by adjusting it to the principles of verisimilitude and decorum. It was written in a sublime style with an emotional function and real characters to produce compassion and fear and sought the catharsis of collective anxiety through poetic beauty. It includes choruses, situations and other elements from Seneca’s tragedies and other classical poets’ works. After being convicted for his Lutheran beliefs in August 1550, Buchanan left Portugal in 1552, and Tevius had to give up the Collegium Regale to the Society of Jesus in October 1555, where teachers continued the dramatic activity with a similar quality and institutional

44 Cf. Motolinía, Historia de los Indios, pp. 192–204; Mendieta, Historia Eclesiástica Indiana, p. 430; Horcasitas, El Teatro Náhuatl, pp. 110, 206, 245, 248, 282; Rivas, El latín en Colombia, pp. 54, 74–75; Martins, O Teatro nas Cristandades Quinhentistas, p. 28; Alonso, ‘Das humanistische Schultheater’; id., ‘Sobre el teatro humanístico escolar’, pp. 17–18, 24–25; Lohmann, El arte dramático en Lima, pp. 11–12, 29, 53; García Icazbalceta, México en 1554; Shepard, Francisco Cervantes; Gómez, El diálogo en el Renacimiento español, pp. 133–34, 218.



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support. As Crucius later wrote, those professors charted the course of the Neo-Latin Portuguese theatre.45 Neo-Latin Drama under Philip II The Beginning of Jesuit Drama and its Conflict with Humanist Drama The beginning of the Jesuit theatre coincided with the reign of Philip II in Spain, which meant a change of political regime marked by the religious, ideological and cultural orientation derived from the Council of Trent. This theatre connected to and lived side by side with humanist theatre sharing its didactic and moralistic purposes, but from the beginning prioritized religious indoctrination and propaganda adapted to the time and place of the performance above entertainment, the imitation of classical drama, and the survival of the text, which was preserved in manuscript form to be adapted for a new performance. Among other Jesuits, Acevedus and Rodriguez in Andalusia, Venegas and Crucius in Portugal, Bonifacius in Castile, and Barcelo and Henriquez in Aragon, made their students perform a variety of pieces tailored to the interests of the Society of Jesus and to the peculiarities of each province. Portuguese playwrights were more concerned with dissemination, aesthetics and the literary and dramatic quality of the play, combining moral utility with artistic delight (Horace, Ars poetica 333–34, 344). In contrast to the international success of Jesuit Portuguese drama, theatre in Spain was generally limited to the provincial level; the introduction of Romance texts in the scenes, their adaptation to the local dramatic traditions and to each region’s social circumstances and the fact that the religious perspective prevailed over art prevented greater circulation. Along with the moral purpose, Acevedus made it his priority to practise a stylish Latin prose that the urban Andalusian public appreciated, using accessory verses in Spanish to facilitate understanding and to relax the audience. Spanish was gaining ground in the province of Castile earlier than in Andalusia and Portugal. Bonifacius and other Castilian dramatists chose to include serious components of Latin prose and verse with more entertaining ones

45 Cf. Frèches, Le théâtre néo-latin au Portugal, pp. 95, 98–108, 159, 206, 211–14, 221–24, 253, 360; Roig, O teatro clássico em Portugal, pp. 12–16, 74–82; Ramalho, ‘Alguns aspectos da vida universitária’, pp. 8–11; Martyn, ‘The Tragedies of Buchanan, Teive and Ferreira’, pp. 85–95; Soares, ‘Diogo de Teive’, pp. 3–18; ead., ‘A tragédia do príncipe João (1554) de Diogo de Teive’, pp. 189–214; ead., Diogo de Teive, pp. 10–13, 20, 37–64, 80, 108–11; Miranda, Teatro nos colégios dos jesuítas, pp. 235, 242–44.

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from the professional theatre in order to captivate the less cultured audience he wished to indoctrinate. Jesuits in Castile made special efforts to have viewers associate the places, characters and events represented with their own situations in order to manipulate the audience’s will more easily; thus many pieces dealt with student life and customs of the social environment. Josephus de Acosta (1540–1600) staged eclogues and plays, which have not survived, at the Jesuit college in his home town Medina del Campo from the age of fifteen. Tragoedia de Jeptaeo filiam trucidante of 1555 was perhaps influenced by Buchanan’s Jephtes. This biblical subject (Judges 11–12) was also performed in Tragoedia Jeptaea, attributed to Bonifacius and written in Latin and Spanish in a manuscript with fifteen other anonymous pieces. De vendito Joseph was the title of two performances given in Medina in 1556 and in Ocaña on 6 January 1558, the first one attributed to Acosta and the second to Vazquez, who was probably the Toledan humanist Dionysius Vazquez (1528–1587). He joined the Society in 1550 at Alcalá de Henares where he had studied, and was sent to Plasencia in October 1554 with the founder of the College of Gandía and the future General of the Jesuits, Franciscus Borgia. Vazquez’s Saul furens was performed in Plasencia on 2 February 1557. Michael Venegas was there by September 1554, but he was in Portugal in 1556, where in 1559 he staged the same plot in his first tragedy. Since its opening in 1555, the school in Plasencia enjoyed the patronage of Bishop Gutierre de Vargas (1506–1559), nephew of Cardinal Carvajal who promoted performances in Rome in the late fifteenth century. In 1568, the most important people and those who aimed to be like them competed to attend, and they contributed to the costumes and scenery.46 The humanist teachers and dramatists suffered from competition with the Jesuits because of the gratuity of their schools for the donations the latter received and guarantees of doctrinal orthodoxy that their affinity to post-Tridentine Catholic religiosity offered. Romagnanus expressly defended dramatic entertainment as a moralizing tool. Cassianus, Valentia and other humanist teachers also staged reprehensible acts typical of the human condition, to inculcate lessons of virtue and Roman Catholic doctrine through the theatre’s pathetic resources, pursuant to the comedy’s

46 Cf. Menéndez, ‘Los jesuitas y el teatro en el Siglo de Oro’, pp. 466–67; Miranda, Teatro nos colégios dos jesuítas, pp. 44–48, 185, 218–22; Astraín, Historia de la Compañía de Jesús, 2, p. 595.



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purpose of teaching by delighting in order to reform customs. In contrast, most Jesuit dramas did not allow spectators to enjoy themselves while contemplating vices, which only cause suffering or shame instead of laughter and are mentioned without being staged as the pious actions of virtuous people who are rewarded. Humanist Joannes de Mallara and the Jesuits in Seville The loss of all of Joannes de Mallara’s (c. 1526–1571) dramatic works impedes evaluating their quality and influence in relation to the works of Acevedus, with which they competed in Seville for ten years: Comoedia Locusta was acted at the University of Salamanca in 1548; his eclogues Laurea and Narciso probably followed Ovid’s Metamorphoses; he composed both sacred and profane tragedies and comedies, adorned with speeches and examples, full of epigrams, odes and elegiac verses, in Latin and Spanish; Juan de la Cueva called him the Andalusian Menander, and says that he wrote one thousand tragedies, such as Tragedia de Absalón, which was also the title of two pieces acted by Bonifacius’ pupils in Medina, and by a follower of Venegas in Portugal; his pupils acted a Comedia en elogio de Nuestra Señora de la Consolación in Utrera in 1561; he dedicated a tragedy to the martyrdom of Justa and Rufina, patron saints of Seville, written in both Latin and Spanish verses; one of his tragedies was performed at the Cathedral in 1570.47 The Jesuits were allied with the Inquisition in the persecution of heterodoxy in Seville; taking advantage of Joannes de Mallara’s months-long imprisonment for a false accusation, they asked for a Lector in late February 1561. Lectures started on 2 November, and Acevedus’s disciples acted his Dialogus de Iesu nomine on 1 January 1562. Some of them were honoured that year in the literary competitions judged by the teachers of other schools. The Jesuits witnessed the traumatic end of humanistic education and drama in Coimbra, which they inherited and transformed. The arrival of the Society in Mallorca in 1561 probably forced Romagnanus to stage Gastrimargus in Palma de Mallorca. Palmyrenus suffered from the conflict between the Estudi of Valencia and the Jesuits, whom Archbishop Ribera favoured, and finally wrote a Palinodia in 1577 praising Bonifacius’s pedagogy. Sanctius, fellow student of Mallara and Professor of Rhetoric at the University of Salamanca from 1554 on, was vanquished by Venegas’s

47 Cf. Picón, ‘El teatro Neo-latino’, pp. 66–67; Escobar, ‘La poesía dispersa de Juan de Mal Lara’, p. 149.

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dramatic, literary and oratorical art, and was condemned by the Inquisition.48 Humanist Jacobus Romagnanus and the Jesuits in Mallorca Romagnanus staged Gastrimargus with his pupils in May 1562 in Mallorca at Palma’s main square before both the civil and ecclesiastical dignitaries, and eight thousand spectators of all kinds. He entrusted the work to Honoratus Juan (1507–1564), the influential courtier, who was then tutor to the unfortunate Prince Charles and had been Philip II’s tutor since 1541, the year in which both professors were in Mallorca in mid October during the stopover of Charles V’s fleet on their way to Algiers, and Romagnanus dedicated two poems to the Emperor. A few decades afterwards, the Mallor­ can Jesuit Barcelo presented Vives—Honoratus’s teacher in Louvain—as being tormented in Hell in Tragicomedia de divite epulone on the same evangelistic subject of Gastrimargus. It contained several parts in Romance. We know the titles of several comedies and biblical stories acted out by Jesuits in Mallorca after 1579; Barcelo and some other teachers of the last decade of the sixteenth century wrote several dramas, preserved in the socalled Codex of Montesión, which also includes short dialogues for the days of the Conception of the Virgin and of Saint John, compositions for the start of the school year, which was held in Mallorca on 8 September, and pieces from other colleges, such as a tragedy from 1594 on the martyrdom of Queen Mary Stuart.49 Jesuit Drama in Portugal: Michael Venegas and Ludovicus Crucius Two Spaniards from Ávila and from Ciudad Rodrigo, Michael Venegas and Francisco de Santa María, alias Francisco Castelhano (1536–1597), created the musical genre called drama sacrum in Portugal around 1560. Santa María adapted the music to the text of Venegas’s Saul and Achabus and of Crucius’s Sedecias according to stress and meaning, as shown by the surviving scores for the chorus, in which each musical note corresponded to a syllable without any repetitions except for the final words of the verse. 48 Cf. Menéndez, Los Jesuitas y el teatro en el Siglo de Oro, pp. 493–95; Pascual, ‘La poesía latina en los certámenes literarios’, pp. 9–10; Alonso and Molina, Jaime Romañá, pp. 7–26, 34–35; Fernández, ‘La vinguda de Carles V a Mallorca’, pp. 431–43; Gil, La Palinodia de Juan Lorenzo Palmireno’, pp. 139–48. 49 Cf. Sierra, ‘El teatro escolar latino’, pp. 624–26; Menéndez, ‘Los Jesuitas y el teatro en el Siglo de Oro’, p. 499.



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These choral compositions continued to be sung on certain festivities in the liturgy. Copies of them reached Brazil. The moving choruses of Saul must have been performed in Coimbra on 9 July 1559 for the festivities in honour of the college’s patron, Queen St Elisabeth, by eight or nine singers of the Episcopal chapel. Emulating ancient theatres, it was performed on a large wooden dais that was installed in the courtyard, and had sets with three doors from which the characters came on stage. The frequent mention of three buildings suggests the widespread use of this classical convention, together with two side accesses. Joannes Arias was a professor at the college of Lisbon. In his drama staged in 1562 before the King of Portugal, Cardinal Dom Henrique and the King of Ceylon, palace musicians accompanied the singing of the choir of Virtues dressed in Roman garb and richly shod. Trumpets, clarinets and one harp sounded in a comedy performed at the student awards ceremonies in Evora in 1562. As in Greek drama, Crucius had his colourfully dressed singers parade towards the stage, and he expressed pride in these Portuguese melodramatic spectacles.50 Venegas’s artistic conception stemmed mainly from his rhetorical, biblical and humanist training in Alcalá; he must have participated in the Trilingual College’s annual performances of comedies and tragedies there and attended other shows, celebrations and literary competitions, such as the one in 1552, whose theme for the epigrams was featured in an episode of his Achabus (ll. 702–27). In the first act and in the final lamentations of Saul, Venegas—perhaps reflecting his own experience—modelled David and Jonathan’s passionate friendship on the Greek epic. In his tragedies he amalgamated biblical plots with the aesthetic demands of classical theatre, responding to contemporary conflicts in performances that were the source of and model for a new European tragic cycle. His tragedies were the first Jesuit plays to be performed in Rome: Achabus in 1565 and 1573— and later in Messina in 1583 and in Mainz in 1595—and Saul in 1566—and in 1570 in Avignon, where his old friend Antonius Possevinus was the Rector. They were copied for two centuries in the same manuscripts as the dramas of Tuccius, Bencius and Stephonius, and, besides in New York and

50 Cf. Frèches, Le théâtre néo-latin au Portugal, pp. 191–209, 325–26, 355–56; Griffin, ‘Lewin Brecht, Miguel Venegas, and the School Drama’, pp. 79–81; P. Miranda, ‘Música para o teatro’, pp. 319–29; id., ‘Música dramática’, pp. 123–44; M. Miranda, ‘Nas origens do melodrama’, pp. 254–62; ead., Teatro nos colégios dos jesuítas, pp. 262–66, pp. 299–332; ‘Miguel Venegas S.I.’, pp. 297–98; Barbosa, Luís da Cruz, teatro, pp. 34–35; Litterae, 6, pp. 362–63.

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Rio de Janeiro in the Americas, several copies of these two pieces survive in Coimbra, Evora, Lisbon, Rome, Messina, Perugia, Chantilly, Cologne, Dillingen and other cities. They were adapted and performed in several Portuguese, German, French and Italian colleges and in other European nations. The Portuguese Franciscus Gomes, the Frenchman Nicolaus Clerus, the Flemish Andreas Avantianus, the German Christophorus Strobel and other Jesuits were his students. His disciple Ludovicus Crucius of Lisbon in particular continued to enhance the literary and dramatic quality of several pieces in which they deftly adapted the classical, traditional and Renaissance theatre’s achievements to their particular circumstances. True to the biblical account (2 Samuel 12–19), Absalon presented the protagonist’s sad ending after seizing his father David’s kingdom and harem. Miranda does not attribute to Venegas this tragedy preserved in several manuscripts alongside pieces by Venegas and others influenced by them and by Spanish school drama, where the artistic interest of the chorus, stage movement and development of the action outweigh the moralizing intent implicit in the aftermath of the rebellion against the king and father. Prominent in it was the characterization of the protagonists, who shared the stage with Lucifer, Superbia and Discordia, responsible for the incest Amnon committed, and with other characters more suitable to comedy such as Mercator and a miles gloriosus. The Braggart Soldier was represented by Clitipho in Crucius’s comedy, who followed Venegas by cultivating biblical drama as a musical and visual spectacle, alluding to moral, religious and political questions of his own time. Crucius’s Sedecias was adapted and acted in Cologne and in other German colleges before the press took his dramas to Germany, Poland and other countries, where they influenced Henriquez’s Iosephea, Molière’s L’Avare and perhaps Garnier’s Les Juives and Racine’s Athalie. In Caen, a tragedy on Saul was performed in 1628 and Manasses restitutus was performed and printed in 1675.51 Venegas wrote the dialogue In adventu reverendissimi Episcopi Risamensis de Sancta Cruce to welcome the papal legate, Prosperus 51 Cf. Frèches, Le théâtre néo-latin au Portugal, pp. 175–239, 302–03, 326–28; Griffin, ‘Lewin Brecht, Miguel Venegas, and the School Drama’, pp. 35–41, 77–86; id., ‘A Portuguese’, pp. 46–69; id., ‘I spy’, pp. 26–36; id., ‘Italy’, pp. 136–41; id., ‘Some Jesuit’, pp. 427–34; id., ‘El teatro’, pp. 407–08; Ramalho, ‘Um manuscrito de teatro humanístico’, pp. I–VII; id., ‘Eborae’, pp. 434–35; Miranda, Miguel Venegas, pp. 218–21; ead., Teatro nos colégios dos jesuítas, pp. 119–298; ead., ‘Miguel Venegas S.J.’, pp. 79–86; ead., ‘Miguel Venegas S.I.’, pp. 288–90, 297–309; Desgraves, Repertoire, p. 38; Barbosa, ‘Luís da Cruz e a poética teatral dos Jesuítas’; Pohle, ‘…mera ossa’; Salvarani, ‘Venegas’, pp. 54–70.



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Publicola, in the summer of 1561. They involved Grammar, Dialectica, Rhetoric, Philosophy and eight people who exercised the four sciences in a good or a bad manner. He also composed two dramatic dialogues for student awards ceremonies at the end of the school year in Coimbra in 1561, involving Justitia, Victoria, Spes, Puer and Chorus, and in 1562 Iuvenis, Praeco, Philologus and Bubulcus. In Evora, the Jesuits performed an eclogue in hexameters with music on 1 October 1555, and again a few days later before Cardinal and Inquisitor General Dom Henrique, who had the eclogue attributable to Venegas repeated in the palace in Lisbon on New Year’s Day in 1557, with the King’s singers participating in it. Other eclogues were staged in Evora in 1561, in Braga in 1564 (perhaps by Crucius), and in Bragança in 1571. Gaspar Gonçalves’s dialogues Gratulatio and Gloria of 1565 are preserved in several manuscripts along with eclogues, plays by Venegas and Crucius, Orationes et Carmina, dialogismi and various compositions. Alongside his tragedy, comedy and tragicomedies, Crucius published a Christmas eclogue, which also consists of five parts with choruses and dances. Emmanuel Pimenta composed the eclogue Aepolus in 1567, which contained a prologue in thirteen elegiac couplets followed by fivehundred and fifty hexameters, and placed Theocritean elements in a Portuguese geographical framework. Shepherds and other bucolic elements appeared in Pimenta’s Dialogus in praemia staged in 1564, consisting of a prologue in seven couplets and of four-hundred and thirty hexameters; its text is preserved among other dialogues, tragedies and various Jesuits pieces from Coimbra.52 Crucius’s plays were printed, but his comedy is twice the length of the version written thirty years before, and contains new characters and multiple variants in passages he retained; he also added prophetic texts, exceeding four thousand lines, alluding to the Portuguese King’s death in Sedecias. He must have rewritten his other dramas, likewise knowing he could not expose to literary criticism the texts in which the slight errors went unnoticed on stage because of the swiftly paced dialogue, magnificent sets, the beauty of the actors and their grace in the use of gestures and elocution.53 52 Cf. Barbosa, ‘Humanismo e práticas escolares’, pp. 404–09; id., Luís da Cruz, teatro, p. 7; Pinho, ‘Bucolismo no teatro novilatino português’, pp. 243–60; Osório, ‘O Diálogo’, pp. 401–04; Miranda, Teatro nos colégios dos jesuítas, pp. 65, 108, 250–62; Frèches, Le théâtre néo-latin au Portugal, pp. 149–51, 408–16; Ramalho, ‘Um manuscrito de teatro humanístico’, pp. I–IV. 53 Cf. Frèches, Le théâtre néo-latin au Portugal, pp. 357, 421–22; Marques, ‘A contenção cómica’, p. 67; Picón, ‘El teatro Neo-latino’, pp. 82–87; Menéndez, ‘El teatro jesuítico’, pp. 41–42; Pérez González, ‘Juan Bonifacio’, pp. 1–12; Desbordes, Scripta varia, pp. 129–47.

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Crucius accepted the apotropaic function of delight as well as its capacity to increase piety and virtue, making honesty more attractive than vices. In Vita humana, he amplified the human vices in the image of the superb Philautus and his spoiled son Charistus, of the angry Orgestes, the miser Polypus, the glutton Pamphagus, the envious Eumenes and the slothful Philotius; he censored the pride of the noble who despised and unfairly beat the peasant who was treating his own son inhumanely, reminding him that they were made from the same clay and that the rich live off the labour of the poor; and he mentions the victory of Lepanto together with the plague that ravaged Portugal in 1569. He appealed to insults, to irony and to the humour of the situations in this comedy and in his tragicomedies. Manasses, which was prepared at the college of Evora in 1578, was the only one of his printed dramas that was not staged because of the turbulent times. King Henry I’s unexpected death in 1580 caused the cancellation in Lisbon of the tragicomedy Ionas, attributed to Crucius. The subsequent war of succession transferred to the theatre nationalist sentiment against the Spanish monarchy after the defeat a few months later of King Antonio, an alumnus of the Society. Bishop Teutonio and his nephews, the Princes of Bragança, along with other Portuguese nobles attended Polychronius about 1592 before Christmas, in which shepherds stand for the Duke of Bragança Theodose, endorsed as heir, and for his brothers. Crucius’s defence of the rights to succession of the Duke of Bragança against the Hapsburgs earned him exile in Bragança (1586–1590). This partly explains the printing of his works in Lyon a few months after his death, in order to avoid possible censure or punishment. It was dedicated to the Bishop of Viseu João de Bragança, his former student and accomplice.54 Jesuit Drama in Andalusia: Petrus Paulus Acevedus Martinus de Roa of Cordoba reports that several grammarians tried to discredit Acevedus’s writings when he was starting out. In the prologue to Metanoea, Acevedus writes that he did not entitle this comedy Poenitentia to avoid being criticized for using a term that departed from the classical tradition; rather it was a topic drawn from Ausonius’s dialogued epigram (33) on the images of Occasio and Poenitentia or Metanoea, and Acevedus

54 Cf. Frèches, Le théâtre néo-latin au Portugal, p. 249–52, 301, 330–31, 420–21; id., ‘Le théâtre néo-latin au Portugal’, pp. 87–131; Barbosa, Luís da Cruz, teatro, p. 8; Griffin, ‘Italy, Portugal, and the Early Years of the Society of Jesus’, p. 142.



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Fig. 1. Ludovicus Crucius, Tragicae comicaeque actiones, Lyon: Horace Cardon, 1605, front cover. Bayerische Staatsbibliothek Munich, P.o.lat. 374.

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defended and used the term poenitentia as did Crucius and other dramatists. Florus’s tragedy also featured those two characters, but Acevedus borrowed them from Brechtanus’s Euripus. The manuscript is dated 1556, although news of Metanoea’s performance on the evening of 24 June 1561 corresponds to the end of his professorship at Cordoba. He translated various scenes into Spanish when it was performed in the Cathedral in the joint celebration of Corpus Christi and the feast of St John’s. It contains unconnected episodes that illustrate how those who obstinately cling to evil end up in Hell, while the repentant go to Heaven after passing through Purgatory. A similar plot, revolving around the urgency of conversion, is found in Occasio, performed in Seville in 1564 to open the academic year. Hercules at the crossroads of Pleasure and Virtue was a topic linked to the theme of the Pythagoric Y, and which had biblical parallels; Acevedus also borrowed it from Brechtanus’s Euripus in order to show the consequences of the wrong choice in Occasio. It presents a basically Terentian expression with more than one hundred passages inspired by the classics and by Erasmus’s Adagia.55 Andalusian Jesuits freely used several subjects, characters and other recurring situations found in Acevedus’s pieces; Ferdinandus de Avila of Málaga copied, summarized or translated into verses several scenes from Metanoea in his Historia Floridevi, an allegorical comedy in four acts in prose and verse, with poems and other parts in Spanish, acted by the students of Seville around 1585–86. Theologian Franciscus Ximenez (c. 1559– c. 1630), who taught Grammar and Rhetoric in Seville and other Andalusian cities, may have performed in 1568 at the age of eight the role of the soldier or miles Ximenius in Acevedus’ Dialogus in Latin prose Ad distribuenda praemia certaminis literarii; he freely adapted other pieces written by his presumed teacher and wrote almost entirely in Latin Diálogo hecho en Sevilla a la venida del Padre Visitador a las Escuelas to welcome a visiting priest, perhaps Josephus de Acosta, in late 1589. He considered his dialogues entertainment that could not be ascribed to any classical genre, using hexameters and elegiac couplets in the speeches by gods, and prose when the students speak. Dialogus inter studiosos de praestantissima scientiarum eligenda, acted in Granada on 1 October 1584, was composed 55 Cf. Domingo, La producción escénica del Padre Pedro Pablo de Acevedo, pp. 21–22; ead. ‘El Padre Pedro Pablo Acevedo’, pp. 37, 60–61; García Soriano, El teatro universitario y humanístico en España, pp. 249, 379–80; Alcina, ‘La tragedia Galathea de Hercules Florus’, pp. 19–22; Sierra, ‘La comedia Metanea’, pp. 932–37; id., ‘La comedia Occasio’, pp. 647–56; id., in Picón Teatro escolar latino (2007), pp. 167–70; Valentin, ‘Aux origines du théâtre néolatin’, pp. 115–16.



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by Andreas Rodriguez of Cordoba and Joannes de Pineda (1558–1637), who may have been the student Pineda who was involved in Acevedus’s In sacramento Corporis Christi. This Dialogus commented on the public tastes of his time. In addition to several plays, another entertaining, pedagogical dramatic dialogue in Latin and Spanish entitled De methodo studendi by Rodriguez has survived, as well as his Exercitatio literarum habita Granatae, and his Actio in honorem Virginis Mariae in three scenes. Rodriguez wrote in Techmitius two hundred lines in prose and one hundred and forty-four verses in Latin. On 23 January 1580 he had performed Parenesia at Cordoba before four thousand spectators alternating scenes in Latin and Spanish, but he later removed the passages in Latin or replaced them with other vernacular passages. Without achieving Acevedus’s elegance, he imitated passages from Seneca, Virgil, Ovid and other authors in Demophilus or Demophilaea, acted in Granada in September 1584, justifying the many parts in Spanish by the problem that watching a drama in Latin for three or four hours would bore those who did not understand this language well and to better move the audience’s minds.56 Joannes Bonifacius, Dances in Jesuit Dramas, Galicia The bilingual plays contained in the Codex of Villagarcía and attributed to Bonifacius are the best examples of Neo-Latin drama in the province of Castile. This teacher taught in Medina del Campo (1558–1567 and 1584– 1592), Ávila (1567–1576) and Valladolid (1576–1584) until his retirement in Villagarcía de Campos in 1600. He wrote that, besides lecturing on Cicero and Virgil, he also lectured on Seneca’s tragedies, and his sacred tragedies included classic evocations such as the unburied corpses of martyrs Vicente and his sisters Sabina and Christeta in Vicentina, which was duly staged in Ávila in 1570. The second scene starts with Agamemnon’s first verse, and it contains echoes of Terence, Virgil and other authors. But in general, they lacked the gravity, the constant use of Latin tragic verses, and other features of this genre. Nabal was based on the life of David and recounted his marriage to Abigail after she was widowed (1 Samuel 25). 56 Cf. Alonso, La Tragedia de San Hermenegildo, pp. 99, 347–422, 458–77; id. ‘Bases y despegue del teatro’, pp. 31, 47; Roux, ‘Cent ans d’expérience théâtrale’, pp. 513–14; Madroñal a.o., ‘El Coloquio de las Oposiciones’, pp. 38–40; Sierra, ‘Nuevos textos del teatro jesuítico en España’, pp. 510–15; Molina, ‘Andrés Rodríguez’; id., ‘La poesía dramática latina del jesuita Andrés Rodríguez’, pp. 253–78; id., ‘Plauto y Terencio en el Renacimiento español’, pp. 322–24; Borrego, ‘Los prólogos de las obras del Padre Andrés Rodríguez’, pp. 1457–66; Menéndez, ‘Los jesuitas y el teatro en el Siglo de Oro’, pp. 497–500, 519–22.

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A pastoral poetry competition features the shepherds Thyrsis, Battus and Palaemon; these names are drawn from Theocritus and Virgil, whose verses are imitated in many passages. Bonifacius’s realistic costume dramas were adapted to the poorly educated public living in those towns in Castile. They abound with satire and jokes, especially in the Spanish sections at the praefatio jocularis or actio intercalaris. He often summarized in Spanish what had just been said in Latin; he explains in the prologue that Margaritha ‘matched Latin and Romance, so that it would continue to be a literary exercise, while not being painful to those who were not conversant in Latin’, to whom something to delight their ears and benefit their souls had to be offered. He left an addition to this comedy and a new version, in which a passage was reduced from sixty to eighteen hexameters, and he quotes several verses with significant textual variants in 1589. In Medina del Campo, in addition to the clergy, patrons and other personages, we know of the presence of artisans, functionaries, merchants, peasants and cattle farmers in the area. Some donations to this school may have been motivated by Bonifacius’s dramas Namanus, Nabal Carmelita and Margaritha; in the latter, a merchant distributes his wealth among the poor to gain access to heaven, which was the Gospel’s gem or margaritha (Matthew 13, 45–46). It includes scenes with three tents decorated in the richest possible way with many things, and with two ships moving next to the harbour. He mentioned his pastoral eclogue Phyllis, recited in Valladolid on Queen Anne of Austria’s death in late 1580.57 Bonifacius included dances, especially in his Eucharistic performances. Acevedus introduced singing and dancing at the close of Actio feriis solemnibus, in Metanoea and Charopus, performed on the Feast of Corpus Christi in 1563. In the Eucharistic plays, he incorporated children from the Cathedral choir, of which Pedro Fernández de Castilleja and Francisco Guerrero were in charge. After Coena Regis, nine of them repeated the liturgical auto acted that morning in the Cathedral. This choir also sang the polyphonic chants at the start of the acts and in other parts of Tragoedia divi Hermenegildi; we know the names of the soprano, alto and bass. The Spanish poems at the end of his plays added nothing essential to the plot: in Occasio, he explains that the music and the choirs at the end of 57 Cf. Bonifacius, De sapiente fructuoso, pp. 38, 45; Olmedo, Juan Bonifacio, pp. 23, 87–88; González Gutiérrez, El Códice de Villagarcía, pp. 219–22, 358–60, 479, 542; id., ‘El P. Juan Bonifacio’, pp. 470–71, 486, 491; Menéndez, ‘El teatro de Juan Bonifacio’, pp. 65–102; id., ‘El texto didascálico’, pp. 665–68; Pérez Delgado, ‘Biografía de Juan Bonifacio’, pp. 9–24; Gallardo, ‘La Nabalis Carmelitidis de Juan Bonifacio’, pp. 1201–07.



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Fig. 2. Joannes Bonifacius, De sapiente fructuoso, Burgos: Felipe Junta, 1589, f. 38r. Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Bca. Histórica-F.Antiguo (F) BH FLL 1362. Dialogue between Peniphilus and Gazophorus from Bonifacius’ comedy Margaritha.

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each act would clarify in vernacular something of what had been said in Latin; in Athanasia (Immortality), which was concluded in mid-August on the eve of the Assumption, Brevitas Vitae sang to the rhythm of rattles four Horatian verses alluding to the rapid passage of time (Carmina IV, 7, 7–10). This play also contains Spanish songs in the intervals and echoes of Plautus, Terence, Seneca, Ovid and other poets, and of Cicero’s and Suetonius’s prose. Towards the end of the second act of Manasses, Crucius presented demons dancing wildly to the rhythm of trochaic rhymed couplets of octosyllables and heptasyllables. Sousa included traditional dances in Real Tragicomedia.58 Bonifacius’s pieces served as a model for the first surviving drama performed in the Jesuit schools of Galicia, Bravus’s Dialogue on the Conception of Our Lady, acted in 1578 at the College of Monterrey. To compose Latin verses, Bonifacius recommended Julius Caesar Scaliger’s Poetices libri septem (Lyon, 1561) to his dear Barthulus, probably the same student Bravo who recited the partes orationes octo in Triumphus Circumcisionis (staged in Medina del Campo), and also the same Bartholomaeus Bravus (1554– 1607) who edited a successful Liber de octo partium orationis constructione and who wrote this dialogue. These two Jesuit playwrights and pedagogues ignored the classical rules in their plays, and Bravus neglected the dramatic genres in his Liber de arte poetica, since rather than genuine dramas, his school performances were more like an amalgam of dialogues and short oratorical and poetic compositions. Quintilian’s rules for the actio (Instituto oratoria 11.3) served the students for the theatre as much as or more than for oratory, although the actors enjoyed greater freedom. By expanding the two succinct paragraphs of Cyprianus Suarez’s Rhetorica, Bravus stated in his Liber de arte oratoria that, in addition to the requisite elocution with the necessary speed and pauses, the voice was to be adapted to each part of the intervention and to the subject. Every passage required an emphatic, ironical, imploring, urgent, recriminatory, admiring or encouraging tone in order to move the audience to laugh, cry, be angry, fearful or experience any other emotion. Dozens of precepts relating to the movements of different parts of the body—depending on the issues,  feelings and the part of the speech—were established, since

58 Cf. Olmedo, Las fuentes de La vida es sueño, pp. 30–35; Flores and Gallardo, ‘La Athanasia de P. Pablo de Acevedo’, pp. 925–32 and ‘Introducción’ to its edition; Alonso, La Tragedia de San Hermenegildo, pp. 452, 470–74; González Gutiérrez, El teatro escolar de los jesuitas, pp. 257–63; id., El Códice de Villagarcía, p. 765.



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the movements for the head, eyes, lips, neck, shoulders, arms, hands, fingers, legs and feet were codified.59 Dramatic performances existed in Monterrey from 1557, with sections in Latin, Spanish and other languages. The eclogue De Virgine deipara in Latin and Spanish for the day of the feast of the Virgin’s Conception, which contains a prologue and three acts, was performed in 1581 to celebrate the Iberian Union before the Count of Monterrey and patron of the College, who fought at the head of his own troops in Portugal. It is followed by colloquies and other compositions written partially or entirely in Latin. Since 1567, the Libros de Claustro of the University of Santiago de Compostela had ordered a tragedy and a dance to be written and staged; in 1580, they had to be written in Latin, but in 1594, it was agreed they would be in Romance with a few words in Latin, a symptom of the decline of NeoLatin drama.60 Franciscus Sanctius Brocensis and Michael Venegas in Salamanca Franciscus Sanctius Brocensis (1523–1601) received a bonus from the University for music in a comedy in 1556. But except for a few verses, the dramas for which he demanded payments have not survived: Calirrhoe (c. 1566), Asuerus (1568), David (1569), Achilles inventus, Trepidaria, Bersabe, Auto del Corpus Christi (1572) and Auto del Niño perdido (1574?). Asuerus was the title of another play performed in Murcia the first day of 1558, on the tragic fate of Haman narrated in the biblical book of Esther. More than a drama, his Apollinis fabula was a story for practising rebuttal in class, since the verisimilitude of what the poets narrated about Daphne is precisely an example of such an exercise of oratory in Aphtonius’s Progymnasmata, on which Sanctius commented; it was also an example of the first of those exercises, whose name (fabula or mythos) justified the title of fabula and its content. In many of his hexameters he merely limited himself to changing verb forms from the third to the first person from Ovid’s tale about Python’s death and Daphne’s pursuit by Apollo (Metamorphoses I, 434–567); these 170 Latin verses probably were recited around 1570. The great philologist and grammarian of Extremadura

59 Cf. Menéndez, Los Jesuitas y el teatro en el Siglo de Oro, pp. 444–50; Alonso, ‘Comedia Sepúlveda’, pp. 283–84; Pascual, ‘El Diálogo de la Concepción de Nuestra Señora’, pp. 1143–55. 60 Cf. González Montañés, ‘La Égloga de Virgine Deipara’, pp. 247–86; id, ‘El teatro en la Universidad de Santiago de Compostela’, pp. 2–9; Rivera, Galicia y los jesuitas, pp. 171–82, 539–47.

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was overshadowed as a dramatist and poet by Venegas, and he later recommended that only ancient works be performed. Venegas, after leaving the Jesuits in 1567, had been hired to teach Latin by the University, although the King took years to approve his high salary. This talented artist was protected by the rector and by Ludovicus Caesar or Luis de Castilla, who had been recognized as a poet in 1554 and 1556 at Alcalá de Henares, where they both studied. In Salamanca, Juan de Flandes earned twelve ducats in 1574 for his comedy. A piece by Franciscus Martinez was performed again in 1572 and another work from 1586 was performed again in 1587.61 Joannes Laurentius Palmyrenus’ School Dramas Performed in Valencia Palmyrenus justified his theatre because it provided urban manners, moral instruction and humanist training. Apologizing for his departure from the classical rules in his plays and the low literary quality of which he was accused, he explained in the prologue to Lobenia that he sought to teach his students manners and keep them from gambling through useful entertainment. He used the theatre to attract students and gain the favour of the municipal citizens who assigned chairs and rewarded his Valencian performances in 1563, 1564, 1566, 1568 and 1574. Fragments of a Dialogus performed in January 1562 and four comedies have survived because he published them between 1564 and 1567 as examples to enliven the study of his rhetorical treatises. He introduced short speeches in Spanish, and more rarely in Catalan in Sigonia, staged on 1 May 1563, and in Octavia, in which he condemned a mother who only valued traditional religious practices and lineage. The Latin prologue to Lobenia, acted on 13 January 1566, contains only a sentence in Catalan, precisely to censor the use of the vernacular; he justified the use of Romance because of the viewers who knew no Latin, and Calliope admitted that it would be rude to throw them out of the theatre. However, he justified having put a good deal of Romance in Fabella Aenaria on 8 February 1574, since six months earlier he had been denied a prize for writing the play in Latin. The speeches and digressions 61 Cf. Frèches, Le théâtre néo-latin au Portugal, p. 116; Framiñán, ‘Estudio documental sobre teatro en Salamanca’, pp. 119–22; ead., ‘Actividad dramática en el Estudio salmantino del Renacimiento’, pp. 1194–1200; Carrera, ‘Sánchez’, p. 870; Maestre, ‘La mezcla de géneros’, pp. 160–81; García Soriano, El teatro universitario y humanístico en España, pp. 224–25; Alonso, ‘Reencuentro con el Maestro Miguel Venegas’, pp. 1–24; Miranda, ‘Miguel Venegas S.I.’, p. 295; ead., Teatro nos colégios dos jesuítas, pp. 94–102; Gil, Panorama social del humanismo español, pp. 379, 479–81; Pascual, ‘La poesía latina en los certámenes literarios’, pp. 2–5, 11–13, 16.



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that did not interfere with the main plot, in the service of the exercise of the hypotyposes studied in rhetoric class were usually in Latin. In fact, this play was printed after Phrases Ciceronis, Hypotyposes and Oratio Palmyreni post reditum. It was performed at Carnival, which explains its bizarre episodes and female protagonism as a subversion of the established order. It has a novelesque plot in an exotic and distant geographical framework in Vespasian times featuring adventurer knights and enamoured princesses. He cautioned its readers not to blame him for not following the rules of the art, since he was not imitating Terence’s severity, but rather Spanish farces to please the audience. In addition to the dramas by Juan de Timoneda (c. 1518–1583), there were ancient models of Roman Atellan farces and Milesian Greek fabulous tales—although the plot is based chiefly on a text by Petrus Victorius (Piero Vettori)—which were to be used in classes of Rhetoric. He combined situations, characters and other elements from ancient comedies, from historical tales and ancient, medieval and Renaissance stories and fables, from Spanish reality and from contemporary Valencia. In a scene of Thalassina, acted on 1 February 1564, a character who was enchained like Prometheus in Aeschylus’s tragedy fearfully invokes the help of the gods and the forces of nature. His Dialogus was mainly based on Alexander ab Alexandro’s Genialium dierum libri, on Lucian’s dialogues and on Apuleius’s Golden Ass.62 Palmyrenus introduced singing and dancing into the action of Octavia, Sigonia, Lobenia and Fabella Aenaria. His comedies contain wordplay, humorous responses and events, scatological and absurd situations, dialogues between people who were impervious to each other’s words, parodies of drunks, ailing old men or pedants and he even went so far as to poke fun at himself. He introduced rogues, gypsies, bachelors, drunks, fools and other humorous characters. His own and the audience’s interest  in Medicine explains why, given the physician’s secondary role in the  Roman comedy, a comic scene in Sigonia featured philologist doctors  Giovanni Manardo (1462–1536), Giambattista Montano (1498– 1551) and Giovanni Argenterio (1513–1572), who boasted of elegant Latin and classical erudition, and the traditional and outdated physician 62 Cf. Gallego, Juan Lorenzo, pp. 152, 156–61; Maestre, ‘Los humanistas’, pp. 171–73; id., ‘El papel’, pp. 87–114; id., ‘Valencia y su Studi General’, pp. 338–39, 345–67; id., ‘En torno a las fuentes del Dialogus de Juan Lorenzo Palmireno’, pp. 543–50; Gil, Formas y tendencias del humanismo valenciano quinientista, pp. 137–42; id., ‘La tradición literaria neolatina’, pp. 171–82; Mérimée, L’art dramatique à Valencia, pp. 243–46, 250–71; Jones, ‘Los fragmentos de comedias de don Juan Lorenzo Palmireno’, pp. 49–50; Alonso, ‘Los elementos mágicos del teatro de J. Lorenzo Palmireno’, 38; id., ‘Dos mujeres de armas’, pp. 32–46.

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represented by Jacopo da Forlì, who speaks Romance or barbarous Latin, and ends up fleeing from the master of the house’s dog when he naively advises a girl in love to meet her beloved. He took advantage of an eschatological story from Epistulae obscurorum virorum (I, 21), which he put into the mouth of Doctor Thomas de Valoys, who spoke a barbarous  Latin and called classical prose writers poets. A dialogue in a less elegant Latin, if possible, belonging to the same collection, may also have been staged.63 The Jesuit Province of Toledo Few Neo-Latin dramas from the Jesuit province of Toledo survive, although we hear that many performances were given at the colleges of Toledo, Plasencia, Alcalá de Henares, Ocaña, Murcia and Madrid. Despite complaints about the excessive luxury in the plays in Plasencia in late 1564 and in June 1568, a tragedy on priest Melchizedek, an elegant and amusing comedy in Latin, and other dialogues and school exercises with many decorations and contraptions were performed in 1569; scenic designs in 1578 were even more spectacular. The aesthetics of that time, the sacredness of the celebration, the presence of authorities, and the work’s ideological transcendence and propagandistic value overcame recommendations not to undermine the school coffers with an inordinate expense. Performances began in Madrid in 1572 after the authorities were convinced that they were not educating timid children, but rather those capable of speaking in public. A Latin Eucharistic play, entitled Colloquium de Eucharistia figura Exodi, cap. 16, a dialogue in one act in Latin and Spanish, one eclogue and other Latin texts were signed by Martinus Carpetanus in the class of Rhetoric in 1587. By the end of the century, this Jesuit theatre had acquired a particular place in that aristocratic and worldly, courtly atmosphere, following the fashions of commercial theatre.64

63 Cf. Gallego, ‘La risa en el teatro escolar de Juan Lorenzo Palmireno’, pp. 188–94; Ex obscurorum virorum salibus cribratus dialogus, non minus eruditionis, quam macaronices amplectens, in quo introducuntur colonienses theologi tres: Ortuinus, Gingolphus, Lupoldus; tres item celebres viri, Joannes Reuchlin, Desiderius Erasmus, Jacobus Faber, de rebus a se recenter factis disceptantes. Valencia, 1519; from Epistolae obscurorum virorum, Leipzig, 1869, pp. 57–60, 383–407; Ajo, Historia de las universidades hispánicas, 11, pp. 281–82. 64 Cf. Griffin, ‘Lewin Brecht, Miguel Venegas, and the School Drama’, pp. 20–30, 33; García Soriano, El teatro universitario y humanístico en España, p. 21; Astraín, Historia de la Compañía de Jesús, 2, pp. 584–86; McCabe, An Introduction to the Jesuit Theater, pp. 34, 62–63; Domingo, ‘El Padre Pedro Pablo Acevedo’, pp. 61–62; Simón, Historia del Colegio Imperial, I, pp. 22–30, 276, 415–21.



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Neo-Latin Dramas and Colloquies in the Jesuit Provinces of America The students of Lima acted colloquies in prose and verse alternating Latin with Spanish before the authorities, monks and important people from 1569 during the Corpus Christi celebrations and on special occasions, such as the visits of viceroys. The above-mentioned Acosta reached in 1571 as an official visitor the Viceroyalty of Peru; there he promoted dramatic activities, and composed among other pieces Orationes y diálogos in Latin and Spanish, which were publicly performed. In Lima, women were banned in 1569 from entering the courtyard in which school performances were staged and could watch them from the church; but the disturbances that took place in 1576 led this college’s rector to ask Rome to ban women from attending the comedies performed by secular students. It was recorded that a colloquy on the parable of Lazarus and the rich man was performed in 1581. Other colloquies were composed in Latin by the professor of Latin at the University of Saint Marc in 1584. A comedy about Saint Paulinus of Nola was staged in Lima in 1585, as was a tragedy about Scottish Queen Mary Stuart in 1589 and other lost pieces. In the Viceroyalty of New Spain, Jesuits started their dramatic activity shortly after arriving in 1572; they performed a tragicomedy on Selim II’s insults to the Church on 29 June 1575, a debate between Love and Fear with Latin dialogues in prose and in hexameters to welcome some relics in 1578, several colloquies partially written in Latin in 1582 and 1583 on St John’s Day and at Christmas, a Latin comedy about St Hippolytus in 1594 and Latin colloquies in the two following years. Tragicomedies were performed in Bahia in 1581 and 1589, and in Río and other Brazilian towns until much later. Jesuit colleges in India, Japan and the Congo staged plays on the same subjects as Neo-Latin drama, or at least with a title in Latin, such as the dialogue Desideria Sanctorum Patrum in Goa in 1607. To teach Latin syntax, Antonius Vieira published Diálogo das Oito Partes da Oração in Latin and Portuguese (Pernambuco, 1628). That same year Mexican students acted the comedy Vida de San Ignacio, containing an eclogue of forty-seven elegiac couplets.65

65 Cf. Osorio, Colegios y profesores jesuitas, pp. 50–115; Gómez Robledo, Humanismo en México en el siglo XVI, p. 69; Mateos, José de Acosta, pp. 14–18; Alonso, ‘Apoteosis de varones ejemplares en México y Perú’, pp. 17–22; id., ‘Bases y despegue del teatro’, p. 19; id., ‘Comedia Sepúlveda’, pp. 285–86; id., Tragedia intitulada Oçio de Juan Cigorondo, pp. xxviii–xl; id., ‘Sobre el teatro humanístico escolar’, pp. 9–10, 12–16, 36–37, 40–45; Lohmann, El arte dramático en Lima, pp. 53–59; Arrom, El teatro, pp. 32–33; Quiñones, Bernardino de Llanos: Diálogo en la Visita de Los Inquisidores, pp. XX–XLIII; Rojas, El teatro de Nueva España,

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Llanos added twenty elegiac couplets to the 428 hexameters of his Eclogue to celebrate Mendoza’s arrival in Mexico in 1585, which involved several Virgilian shepherds in an unusual landscape (tellus Mexica and lymphae Tenuxtitlanides almae). He inserted hexameters and elegiac couplets in his bucolic Dialogue of 366 verses, which was followed by epigrams and by three dialogued eclogues that contained twenty verses each: Llanos’s De felicissimo B.P. Azebedi et sociorum martyrio, another by Joannes Laurentius involving Lusitania and Brasilicon, and a third one featuring the Virgilian (and Theocritean) shepherds Corydon and Lycidas. Cigorondo’s Coloquio a lo pastoril hecho a la electión del padre provincial Francisco Baes y a la del padre visitador del Pirú Estevan Páez, staged in Mexico in 1598, followed the bucolic style, laudatory theme, festive motif and literary topics of Llanos’s eclogues; it contains almost five hundred Latin verses in five eclogues with two choruses, in which shepherds Daphnis and Alexis stand for both priests who care for their sheep or parishioners. Ocio was performed in Puebla the eve of St Jerome (29 September), patron of that Mexican school, whom Cigorondo presented as a model of industry. It  contains songs with musical accompaniment and elements of indigenous culture and the commercial and evangelizing theatre. In the soliloquy extolling leisure, Cigorondo imitated Horace’s Beatus ille, and echoes of many other classical poets and playwrights sounded in its Latin  verses. He praised leisure gracefully in an epigram whose authorship he dared not acknowledge. He used iambic senaries and octonaries, hexameters and elegiac couplets in its 347 Latin verses. The three parts in Latin could have constituted a short, independent piece: the praise of Otium by a student (ll. 321–97), a scene in which two young men promise Studium to fight Otium (ll. 596–714), and another in which Otium is unmasked and defeated, and the student is forgiven after repentance (ll. 1617–1767).66 In the New World, the evangelical cause required the use of vernacular languages aside from Spanish and Portuguese to take priority. Beside

pp. 57–65; Guibovich, ‘A mayor gloria de Dios’, pp. 36–45; Frèches, Le théâtre néo-latin au Portugal, pp. 53–55, 129, 135–45, 534–35; Cardoso, Teatro de Anchieta, p. 59; Hessel and Raeders, O teatro jesuítico no Brasil, p. 19. 66 Cf. Quiñones, Bernardino de Llanos: Diálogo en la Visita de Los Inquisidores, pp. XVII– XXVIII, XLIX–LIII, C–CII, 1–20, 27–30; id., Bernardino de Llanos: Égloga, pp. xiii–xvii; Karnal, Formas de representação religiosa; Alonso and Molina, ‘Juan de Cigorondo’, pp. 316–18; Alonso, ‘Apoteosis de varones ejemplares en México y Perú’, pp. 17–32; id., ‘Dos Coloquios sacramentales escolares’; id., Tragedia intitulada Oçio de Juan Cigorondo, pp. xl–lix, cx–cxiii id., Teatro colegial, pp. 24–120.



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Cervantes de Salazar’s Dialogi, which might have been acted in the classroom, the most representative works of Latin American Neo-Latin theatre that have survived are Cigorondo’s tragedy and one of his colloquies in Latin and Spanish, as well as two eclogues in Latin by Llanos, staged in Mexico to celebrate Antonio de Mendoza’s arrival in 1585 and Bartolomé Lobo Guerrero’s visit in 1589. Latin Professors and Dramatists at the University of Barcelona At the University of Barcelona, only the competition between the professors of the two existing grammar classes from 1571 to 1575 produced dramas. Around 1572, Antonius Pinus composed an elegant Latin comedy in verse about the Battle of Lepanto, which survived until 1785 in the monastery he entered in 1576. Two of his colleagues had sent his plays to be printed: Joannes Cassadorus the now-lost comedy Claudius in 1573, annotated by Petrus Sugnerius; and Sugnerius’ Terra: dialogus in gratiam puerorum editus in 1574, with laudatory poems by Pinus, Cassadorus and Joannes Dorda. One surviving copy at the University Complutense contains at least forty-five pages from this dialogue written to make university students practice Latin during the summer holidays. Sugnerius inserted tales of moral utility borrowed from ancient and biblical History. The heroes Hector, Achilles and Samson delivered their speeches after a dialogue between Terra and Homo; Terra once again addressed Homo; dialogues between women Mariamnes, Nicaula, Minerva and Elissa come next, the only characters who were not in Ravisius Textor’s Dialogi, which seems to have inspired Sugnerius; and finally Paupertas and Fortuna converse. The priest Petrus Jacobus Cassianus, a teacher of Latin in Castelló d’Empúries (Girona), declared himself a follower of Cicero and Terence, and also of Mantuanus, Verinus and Vives. He relished showing different ways of life with a moralistic ending in Sylva: comoedia de vita et moribus, suis argumentis in prosa et versu Latinis et vulgaribus pro singulis actibus, litteralibus et moralibus pro singulis scenis suisque annotationibus illustrata (Barcelona, 1576), featuring Virtus, Patientia, Paupertas, Veritas and Pax at the start of the acts, and including sonnets and other texts in Catalan before them.67

67 Cf. Torres, Memorias, pp. 168–69, 482, 609–10; Romeu, Teatre profà, pp. 29–31; Fernández, La Universidad de Barcelona en el siglo XVI, pp. 267–69.

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Fig. 3. Petrus Sugnerius, Terra: dialogus in gratiam puerorum editus, Barcelona: Pedro Malo, 1589, p. 59. Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Bca. Histórica-F. Antiguo (D) BH DER 1327(2). Dialogue between Fortuna and Paupertas.



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Neo-Latin Theatre as School Exercise The theatre’s recreational function went hand in hand with the festive nature of the day and the young people’s pleasure in pretending to be different characters and wearing special costumes. Neo-Latin dramas acted as conversation exercises set by professors who were in favour of students beginning to speak Latin early so as to assimilate it better. The Jesuits adopted the same humanistic maxims on few precepts, many examples and abundant exercise. The vocabulary and phrases supplied by modern pieces were more helpful than ancient dramas in order to revive classical  Latin as a spoken language. For this purpose, Florus, Parthenius, Maldonatus, Cassianus, Petreius, Mallara, Sanctius, Acevedus, Bravus, Llanos and other dramatists also composed grammatical and oratorical manuals to teach how to write and speak Latin, deliver orations and write other school compositions. The performances allowed oratorical and poetical genres learnt in the classroom to be practised in public along with the technical and rhetorical devices needed for declaiming with appropriate gestures.68 In 1556, the Jesuits prescribed dialogues, short speeches and verses; their students were also made to recite declamations, controversies and other progymnasmata in public, such as those mentioned by Acevedus at the college of Cordoba and recited from October 1555 on. Some of his performances consisted of rhetorical exercises on a certain subject connected by short dialogues. One of his Latin pieces contains a dialogue in prose and an epinicion in verse for a literary competition in the classroom. The heads of each side, their soldiers, Victoria, a trumpeter and three decurions took part in it. Jesuit plays were justified in part because, in representing the action before the audience’s eyes, they moved spectators’ minds and consciences more easily than the preacher’s sermon, which were primarily aimed at the ears. The ascetic-mystical orientations of Ignatian spiritual exercises also promoted the use of images and performances to induce feelings. Many Jesuit dramas adopted from the Oratory the threefold purpose of teaching, delighting and moving (docere, delectare and movere), the three kinds of rhetoric, and even the parts of the speech: the prologue to the plays corresponded to the presentation and captatio benivolentiae of the exordium, and after the development of the action in 68 Frèches, Le théâtre néo-latin au Portugal, pp. 95–96, 422; Griffin, ‘Enigmas, Riddles, and Emblems in Early Jesuit colleges’, pp. 34–36; Osorio, Floresta de Gramática, Poética y Retórica, pp. 98–100, 145–86; Pascual, ‘School Progymnasmata and Latin Drama’.

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the acts, the moral lesson to be drawn was usually stated explicitly alongside the conclusion or epilogue, equivalent to the peroratio. As in classical comedy, the characters usually lacked psychological development, except for that derived from the repentance of sin.69 The Jesuits ordered rhetoric students to perform dialogues, eclogues and short dramatic actions they had composed by themselves following the teacher’s instructions, a practice attested to by Bonifacius and also by Palmyrenus: Bonifacius’s pupils composed and staged a tragedy called Absalon in Medina del Campo in 1561. The future mystic poet John of the Cross may have acted in it. The quality of such dramas and dialogues by young people and inexperienced professors was not very high. Others featured the plot’s arrangement, vividness of certain dialogues, witty sayings, verbal wit, rhetorical figures and other formal devices. Aside from other dramatic ingredients, several Neo-Latin dramas demonstrated a remarkable literary quality, the result of their authors’ training, knowledge of the art, ingenuity and capabilities.70 Jesuit performances were commonplace at the start of the school year, such as the comedy that increased the number of students dramatically in Medina del Campo in 1559. Acevedus praised Pope Pius V (1566–1572) in Oratio in principio studiorum: Somnium Philomusi. It was composed in the form of a dialogue after the prologue: Grammatica, Rhetorica and Philoso­ phia attempt to convince Philomusus (‘Friend of the Muses’), who appeared in the author’s dreams, to follow them. Dramas or recitations were presented at the end of the school year to show students’ progress. The adolescents and their parents amused themselves and were extraordinarily enthused by the theatre, when pupils applied their study, memory and action to a play. In some cases they were staged on the days of St James (25 July) and of St Ignatius (31 July) after he was canonized in 1622.71 Acevedus’s eclogue Costis Nympha, a name applied to St Catherine as the legendary King of Cyprus Costus or Costas’s daughter, contains a 69 Cf. Segura, ‘El teatro de colegio de los jesuitas’, pp. 309–16; Griffin, ‘Enigmas, Riddles, and Emblems in Early Jesuit Colleges’, pp. 28–29; Domingo, La producción escénica del Padre Pedro Pablo de Acevedo, p. 41, 491–512; ead., ‘El Padre Pedro Pablo Acevedo’, pp. 43–50; Alonso, ‘Optimates laetificare’, pp. 335–38; Laguna, Europa, p. 93; García, ‘Exercícios’, pp. 19–26; Saa, El teatro escolar, p. 13; Menéndez, ‘Propaganda ideológica en el teatro neolatino’, pp. 102–06; id., ‘El teatro jesuítico’, pp. 48–49, 65–67. 70 Cf. Gallego, Juan Lorenzo, p. 151; Lukács, Monumenta Paedagogica Societatis Jesu, 5, p. 205; Griffin, ‘Lewin Brecht, Miguel Venegas, and the School Drama’, p. 48; Menéndez, Los Jesuitas y el teatro en el Siglo de Oro, pp. 469, 498. 71 Cf. Domingo, La producción escénica del Padre Pedro Pablo de Acevedo, pp. 633–63; Litterae, 6, pp. 342–43.



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prologue recited by two shepherds and a dramatic design similar to his own comedies. The manuscript ascribes this text in hexameters In honorem divae Catherinae to 1556, but according to the Litterae quadrimestres (6, 421–22), it was staged in 1559. Due to the patronage of Catalina Fernández de Córdoba, the college of Cordoba was named after St Catherine of Alexandria, whom the students celebrated with performances on her feast day (25 November), as had always been customary in other schools since the Middle Ages. But performances were more common two weeks later to commemorate the Conception of the Virgin (8 December). Acevedus told Laínez that for the night of Holy Thursday in 1560 in Cordoba, brevem actionem latinam composuit qua Christi pavor et oratio in Gethsemani horto continebatur. It was performed again a few days later in the cathedral choir, and ‘heard by the canons and others, accompanied by a flood of tears’.72 Ideological, Political and Religious Purposes of the Jesuit Theatre The playwrights used their dramas to advance their own interests and those of the institutions on which they depended. Jesuit teachers soon opted to renovate the dramatic repertoire by adapting it to their morality, religiosity, educational principles and interests; their militant theatre was an ideological and theological instrument that proposed an ideal religious person hitherto absent from the ancient and modern theatre, which therefore needed specific plots and characters. Their dramas were mainly intended to serve spectators’ spiritual formation, moving their consciences towards a more virtuous life. The Jesuits sought to attract students from the most illustrious and powerful families. The audience especially appreciated the beauty, grace, lineage and young age of the children, who used to be about thirteen years old. When appropriate, the main or most distinguished characters were assigned to the children of wealthy families, who could wear sumptuous costumes, giving lustre to the performance and credibility to the plot, since the actors assimilated to their characters. Acevedus notes that many of the students who staged Bellum virtutum et vitiorum in 1558 were gentlemen, and in 1559 he entitled a piece Actio quaedam per adolescentes ingenuos pronuntiata. Two young nobles, who stimulated the audience’s feelings, performed his comedy Phylax for over two hours on the 72 Cf. Flores and Gallardo, ‘Costis Nimpha’, pp. 652–73; Domingo, La producción escénica del Padre Pedro Pablo de Acevedo, pp. 18, 53–55, 88–89, 110, 114.

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afternoon of St Luke’s Day in 1563. Several children of the nobility performed his comedy on the Prodigal Son (perhaps Charopus) at the inauguration of the college in Cádiz in 1568. Jesuit performances were attended by patrons, bishops, inquisitors and other officials on whom the school’s survival could depend, as well as parents of students, clergymen and members of the religious orders, residents and travellers. They were seated in the hall according to their place in the social hierarchy and received a message that suited their origin, trade or training. Acevedus composed different pieces in Seville for the arrivals of a count, a bishop and the King. He obtained the approval of a bishop opposed to the theatre when his pupils acted in Latin the episodes in the Gospel on John the Baptist with his disciples and on Jesus with the Samaritan woman at Cordoba in 1560. In 1568, he praised Francisco Hurtado de Mendoza—assistant to the council of Seville and a friend of the Society—in the dialogue In adventu comitis Montis Acutani. It includes an eclogue in Virgilian hexameters involving shepherds Mopsus, Hispalis, Castulus, Candidus and Rumusculus, along with six other characters. He composed In adventu regis for the royal visit on 29 April 1570, a drama named after the character Desiderius. It was intended to dramatize the triumph of Philip II at Las Alpujarras according to the recovered model of ancient staging, but it was not performed. Together with Spes and Nemesis, Mahometismus and Haeresis (Lutheranism) were made to intervene and both were in chains in the final scene finished off by Maiestas and Amor. He also celebrated the arrival of the new Archbishop, Cristóbal Rojas, on 8 August 1571 in a Latin dialogue that involved Andevalus and three shepherds with Virgilian names (Menalchas, Mopsus and Daphnis), the Graces, Seville and her guardian angel. Bonifacius’s Margaritha is preceded by a laudatory epigram to Pedro González de Mendoza (1560–1574), who came from Salamanca. Nepotiana included, among other texts in Latin, a thanksgiving to Álvaro de Mendoza, who attended this performance given at the college of Ávila around 1567–1570. The preface written for Solomonia’s second performance at Ávila before 1572 is addressed to Cardinal Diego de Espinosa, who was also a royal minister. Farces with Latin compositions In adventu Andreae Pacieci episcopi Segoviensis welcomed the Bishop appointed in 1587, and they were bound together with an allegorical and pastoral comedy in three acts addressed to Andrés Gallo de Andrade when he took charge of this diocese ten years earlier. Cassianus dedicated his comedy to the Bishop of Girona, and Avila his drama Sancta Catharina to the new Bishop of Cordoba Francisco Reinoso. A Dialogus in adventu Patris Romani Visitatoris from the Codex of Montesión contains scenes in



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hexameter and in Latin prose. A number of plays greeted viceroys, bishops and ecclesiastical visitors in Peru and Mexico.73 Martyrs provided episodes that suited a tragic treatment in the contemporary sense of the term; these new heroes who lost their lives defending their beliefs were models of virtue and piety worthy of emulation. Tragoedia divi Hermenegildi, one of the most ambitious dramas performed by the Jesuits on the Iberian Peninsula throughout the sixteenth century, was staged in Seville on 25 January 1591 for the opening of the Jesuit school’s new home, after Hermenegildus’s canonization in 1584 upon the millennium of his death, ordered by his Arian father after the former rebelled in Sevillian lands. At the premiere, the Archbishop, the town council, which had funded the new school building, nobility, Court officials, the tribunal of the Holy Office, members of the House of Trade and other dignitaries occupied preferential places. Only the clergy and Roman characters spoke in Latin: in prose in the opening dialogue between the Papal nuncio and the Catholic Bishop Leandro and in the theological dispute between the latter and the Arrian Bishop Pascasio; in four hundred and forty-two finely crafted iambic trimeters during Hermenegildus’s interviews with the Papal nuncio, two Roman captains and the ambassador of the Roman Emperor; and in the latter’s interview with Liuvigild with the help of an interpreter. The dialogues in Latin proclaim the need for Christian leaders to obey the Pope and the Latin theological debate shows the path of holiness through martyrdom, particularly to the British students at the English College in Seville, for whom it was staged again. The debate showed that religious faith required disobeying father and king and dying if necessary, and helped heighten the dramatic tension of the protagonist’s inner conflict, although the contending bishops’ exaggerated indignation contained comic notes. Costumes were made of gold and silver cloth, embroidery and other embellishments, especially those worn by distinguished personages such as the King, played by the Duke of Medina Sidonia’s son. The names of the young actors are known, and two of them performed two characters each. Some of the characters’ words described their movements and the setting in which the action unfolded. The text and its annotations and stories about the performance provide

73 Cf. Picón, ‘La comedia (?)Desiderius de P.P. de Acevedo’, pp. 1217–28; Cornejo, ‘Jesuitas y cultura clásica’, pp. 99–119; Litterae, 4, pp. 388–91; Flores, ‘Teatro escolar latino del siglo XVI’, p. 1182; Domingo, La producción escénica del Padre Pedro Pablo de Acevedo, pp. 114–15, 370; Menéndez, ‘Los jesuitas y el teatro en el Siglo de Oro’, pp. 464–72; Madroñal a.o., ‘El Coloquio de las Oposiciones’, pp. 31–100.

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information on the dimensions of the stage, different entrances, stage machinery and placement of the audience, the musicians and the characters in the scene of the debate in Latin. Melchior a Cerda (1550–1615) wrote the Latin scenes in this tragedy and the speech to the rulers of Seville. In Vsus et exercitatio demonstrationis (Seville, 1599), he exemplified oratorical theory precisely with texts in prose on the subject of this tragedy. He had studied arts at Alcalá de Henares and law at Salamanca. He enrolled in the Society in 1570 and devoted himself to the literary education of the students at the Jesuit colleges of Seville, Cordoba and Baeza. He also wrote several works on rhetoric printed between 1598 and 1614, various speeches and other writings. It had several repeat performances with cuts and adjustments in Seville, Madrid and other towns. But the plot had to be rewritten in another modern language or in Latin when it was taken to other Jesuit colleges in France, Italy and Germany.74 The Martyrdom of St Catherine, celebrated as a model of wisdom, virtue and strength, was dramatized by Acevedus in a comedy from the Codex of Montesión, and by Avila in Tragicomedia de santa Catherina, Virgen y Mártir, y de la disputa que tuvo con los filósofos, using Latin for the discussions between philosophers and priests, several dialogues in the palace of the Roman Emperor, prayers, the first scene in the first four acts and the second or third scene in all the acts. In the final apotheosis the virgins’ hymn was sung to the sound of the organ and to bagpipes. Barcelo’s Dialogus divi Petri Martyris recounted Peter of Alexandria’s death, who shared the stage with Virtue, Faith, Truth, two children, one peasant, two Arians and the choir of angels. The propagandist purpose explains the seventeenthcentury dramas on saints and beatific members of the Jesuits, including the founder of the order, in Antonius Ferreira’s comedy performed in Evora on 15 and 16 May 1622, and in Comoedia vitae Sancti Ignatii, written in Latin verse and staged at Cordoba before 1650. The tale of the festivities held in Seville in 1610 for Ignatius’s beatification included a colloquium performed by six people with comically significant proper names in six scenes, of which the first one contains a dialogue in elegiac couplets and Latin prose, and the third one a monologue in thirty-five asclepiad verses.75 74 Cf. Garzón, ‘La Tragedia de San Hermenegildo’, pp. 80, 93–102; Alonso, La Tragedia de San Hermenegildo, pp. 448–55, 462–63, 472–74, 490; González Gutiérrez, ‘Tragedia de San Hermenegildo’, pp. 263, 287; Menéndez, ‘La segmentación en el teatro jesuítico’, pp. 200–08; Martín Luis, Vsus et exercitatio. 75 Cf. Flores and Gallardo, ‘Costis Nimpha’, pp. 652–55; Menéndez, ‘Propaganda ideológica en el teatro neolatino’, pp. 106–26; id., ‘Los jesuitas y el teatro en el Siglo de Oro’, pp. 501–05; González Gutiérrez, ‘Comedia de Santa Catalina’; Pérez González, ‘Lateinische Aktions- und Szenentypen im spanischen Jesuitentheater’, pp. 528–37; Frèches, Le théâtre néo-latin au Portugal, pp. 132–33; Picón, ‘Teatro escolar y Teología’, pp. 187–88.



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Fig. 4. Francisco de Luque Fajardo: Relación de la fiesta que se hizo en Sevilla a la beatificación del glorioso San Ignacio. Sevilla: Luis Estupiñán, 1610, f. 8v. Biblioteca de Catalunya. Res. 983-8º.

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Dramas on the conversion of Jews and other personages encouraged the social integration of the converts, abundant among the members of the Society of Jesus, which did not introduce the decree of pure blood until 1593. Acevedus dealt with the conflict of the converted Moors in his Comedy of Faith and her partners Hope and Love, and the dispute against the sects opposing her declaring them to be false—and true the law of Christianity—acted in Granada in 1561, in Dialogus initio studiorum performed in Seville on 18 October 1569, and in 1570 by celebrating the defeat of the converted Moors in the Alpujarras. This same contemporary plot was staged in Salamanca in the lost tragedy De Illiberitanorum maurorum seditione by Professor Bartholomaeus Barrientos of Granada (c. 1520–1580).76 Other Religious Themes of School Drama School dramas on the Gospel stories of the rich man and Lazarus, the beggar (Luke 16, 19–31), and the Prodigal Son (Luke 15, 11–32) were very successful because gluttons and young wasters were regular characters in the classical comedy (Horace, Ars poetica 164–68). Gnapheus’s Acolastus, sive de filio prodigo was the dramatic model for Acevedus in Philautus, Charopus and Athanasia; for Rodriguez in Acolastus, in Parenesia and in a Colloquium acted in Montilla (Cordoba) in 1581; for Avila in Historia Floridevi and Historia Filerini; it also influenced the first and last acts of Crucius’s Prodigus, who avoided developing the episode of the evil women. In contrast, Romagnanus blended Lazarus’s tale with the central themes of the story of the Prodigal Son, which gave rise to erotic situations and other dramatic elements from ancient and humanistic comedies. Neither did his fellow Mallorcan and Jesuit Barceló shun such scenes in his Comedia prodigi filii. Joannes Valentia Loxanus prepared the auto for Corpus Christi in the Cathedral of Málaga in 1562 and on other occasions, and composed Nineusis, comoedia de divite epulone, now lost, and Comedia prodigi filii, the beginning of which was mutilated, which he adapted to the contemporary social environment while imitating the language of Roman comics.  But some ten years later, he introduced Spanish sentences into Nineusis’s scenes, and the praecentiones in Spanish verses, probably sung with instruments, at the beginning of each act. Other evangelical stories, used as an allegory to explain the mystery of the Eucharist, may be found

76 Cf. Griffin, ‘Un muro invisible’, pp. 133–54.



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in Tragoedia patris familias de vinea (Matthew 21, 33–46), in which Bonifacius resorted to Latin in the solemn scene in which the Father entrusted human redemption to the Son, and in Acevedus’s Coena Regis (Matthew 22, 1–14 and Luke 14, 16–24), where the messenger sent by the Rex or Pater familias invites everyone he finds on the roads to the banquet and expels those who are not properly attired. Seven witnesses took part in 1572 in Acevedus’s Dialogus recitatus in hebdomada sancta de passione Christi, together with Lex Christi, Adamus, Lictor, Actor and Reus. They sought to move the audience by respectively showing the rope and chain that Christ suffered, the whips, crown of thorns, nails, spear, cross, and lastly, the Virgin Mary’s heart.77 Many Old Testament stories allowed various contemporary moral, doctrinal, political and social issues to be addressed. Crucius’s and Henriquez’s dramas and other pieces dealing with the stories on the sale of Joseph, his chaste behaviour and loyalty to his master at the court of Egypt (Genesis 37–50), denounced fraternal envy and female adultery and offered a model of chastity and secondarily, good governance. The viewer of the tragedy on Judith staged in Seville in 1578, which concluded with a Triumphus, should be willing to offer his life for his people like she did. The tragic end of Kings Ahab and Jezebel (1 Kings 17–19 and 21–22 and II Kings 9) in Venegas’s Achabus and in Bonifacius’s Tragoedia Iezabelis urged rejection of foreign religions. Clear political warnings against Lutheranism were also extracted from Crucius’s Sedecias and other pieces performed in Plasencia in 1563 and in Evora in 1576 on the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar as a divine punishment for departing from the true religion and God. The subject of Avila’s Historia Ninives was also treated in the Portuguese tragicomedy Ionas in 1580, and in a performance given in Plasencia in 1578 about Jonah the prophet’s shipwreck and the repentance of the citizens of Nineveh. From the book of Tobias, a drama in five acts by Franciscus Gomes (1540–1564), composed almost entirely in iambic trimeters and recited in Evora in 1563, survives in a manuscript from Lisbon containing the tragedies composed by his teacher Venegas. It presents novel­ esque motifs and formally imitates Plautus, but is no comedy since it is

77 Cf. Alonso and Molina, Jaime Romañá, p. 36; López de Toro, ‘Juan de Valencia’, pp. 490–503; Alonso, ‘En torno a la Nineusis’, pp. 531–48; id., ‘Comoedia filii prodigi’; Pino, Tres siglos de teatro malagueño, pp. 44, 147; Picón, ‘Tradición clásica en la Comedia prodigi filii’, pp. 1237–45; id., ‘Originalidad de la Comedia prodigi filii’, pp. 173–200; id., ‘El tema del Hijo pródigo’, pp. 73–87; id., ‘La comedia Cena regis Evangelii’, pp. 847–55; Martins, Teatro jesuítico em Portugal no século XVI, pp. 21–25, 53–75.

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humourless;­however, neither is it a tragedy, since it lacks choruses and tragic deaths.78 While moralistic, evangelical and pious themes—often modelled on dramas and dialogues from the Netherlands—prevailed during the two central decades of the sixteenth century, the Counter-Reformation’s dogmas were the main subject in many Jesuit plays after 1560. Several biblical plots allowed for the dramatization of the importance of works for salvation as opposed to Protestant tenets. Particularly in rustic settings, the main purpose of some performances was to encourage the recitation of the rosary, of which Maldonatus disapproved, devotion to the Virgin and to the Blessed Sacrament and other religious practices advocated by the Council of Trent. The celebration of Corpus Christi remained associated with literary and musical performances to strengthen the dogma of transubstantiation; Acevedus’s allegorical comedy entitled Coena Regis in the index contains ingredients typical of the Eucharistic play (auto sacramental), and in fact there is no evidence that another was given in Seville on that day. The twelve players included the students Don Gonzalo, Don Francisco and Leo Maior, common names in the family of the Marquis of Zahara, who attended Mass and the procession in the morning. El Lazarillo de Tormes inspired the two protagonists of his Actio feriis solemnibus: the blind Philotheorus (‘Friend of Contemplation’) represents Sinful Man, and his wicked assistant Philodespotes (‘Friend of the Master’) represents evil and drags Philotheorus down to his lowest passions. The young students in Daroca (Saragossa) performed a comedy in Latin that had been mandated by the city for Corpus Christi in 1569.79 The Characters of the Jesuit Plays a) Real Characters Jesuit drama combined in the same plays contemporary types with allegorical figures, gods, historical characters from both the classical and Christian literatures, and all those who could act as role models to be imitated or avoided, or serve the interest of the plot and sustain attention. 78 Cf. Bajén, Iosephea, p. 68; Soares, Diogo de Teive, p. 20; Frèches, Le théâtre néo-latin au Portugal, pp. 205–10, 225–37; Miranda, Teatro nos colégios dos jesuítas, pp. 187, 407–15; González Gutiérrez, Comedia Tanisdorus; Griffin, ‘Lewin Brecht, Miguel Venegas, and the School Drama’, pp. 82–85. 79 Cf. Wardropper, Introducción al teatro religioso, pp. 27–60; Alonso, ‘Panorámica del teatro estudiantil’, p. 179; Flores and Gallardo, ‘Clases sociales y personajes urbanos’, pp. 160–61; Flecniakosa, La formation de l’auto religieux en Espagne, pp. 227–68; Domingo, La producción escénica del Padre Pedro Pablo de Acevedo, pp. 141–43, 366–72.



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In addition to teachers and academic positions (Magister, Paedagogus), characters related to the actors by age, activity or experience (Studens, Scholasticus, Puer, Iuvenis) were frequent. In contrast to model, pious and conscientious young people, there were idlers, rogues, lovers, fools, sycophants and knaves as examples to avoid. Classic types from urban and rural settings were included to engage the audience, such as Mercator and Rusticus or Agricola, and other characters from real life with whom spectators could identify.80 b) Abstract Characters and Allegories Abstract characters such as Inopia and Luxuria in Plautus’s Trinummus were involved in classical dramas, and Death has always been featured in dramas from the time of Greek tragedy on. Yet the abundance and widespread use of allegorical characters is characteristic of humanistic theatre. They constituted a development of the figure of prosopopeia, which allowed a supernatural and transcendent dimension to be given to the dilemmas of the protagonists of dramas, and their psychology, motivations and inner feelings to be reflected on stage. If the costumes and attributes were not enough to identify them, they could be presented in their first appearance: Brevitas Vitae sum, Studium vocor, Vitae Miseria vocor, Misericordia sum, etc. Bonifacius only presented twenty-nine allegorical characters compared with two hundred twenty-two real characters, and he limited himself to expanding Gospel parables without departing from the plot. In contrast, up to 125 allegorical characters and 102 real ones paraded through Acevedus’s twenty-five works.81 Acevedus’s Bellum virtutum et vitiorum was staged in Cordoba on 18 October 1558 along with several disputes, a colloquy and an oration in praise of sciences, which were followed closely because of their artifice and the grace of the children in their recitation. The issue responded to the Ignatian concept of spiritual life as a war between the armies of Christ and Satan within the soul, and of man against the deadly sins. The children of the choir of the Cathedral of Seville performed another ‘Representation of the war between vices and virtues’ on the Feast of Corpus Christi in 1561, and Acevedus once again took up the theme of the

80 Cf. Cascón, ‘Anacronismos en las comedias de Pedro Pablo de Acevedo’, pp. 1162–63; Flores and Gallardo, ‘Clases sociales y personajes urbanos’, p. 168; Menéndez, Los Jesuitas y el teatro en el Siglo de Oro, pp. 101–05. 81 Cf. Mazur, Breve historia del teatro español, pp. 200–03; Picón, ‘Alegoría y realismo’, pp. 309–18.

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vices in Coena regis in the following year. In his Dialogus feriis solemnibus Corporis Christi, the Four Cardinal Virtues (Prudentia, Justitia, Fortitudo and Temperantia) converse among themselves and later respectively persuade a petulant fool, an arbitrary judge, a braggart and a glutton, who were unaware of their true condition and who repent their sins to follow virtue. The theatre was an excellent substitute for the less honest traditional banter that children were to be kept away from during Carnival before the required abstinence from meat and enjoyment during Lent. Lent was the subject of declamations and El juicio de Sarcophila (‘Friend of Meat’), which were acted by Acevedus’s pupils at Cordoba in 1561. They imitated the ancient judicial genre, taking the form of a lawsuit between two contestants presided over by a judge. He refused in the prologue to Metanoea to mix spiritual utility with the sweetness of jokes, but enlivened his works with the comic resources of word games, hyperboles, comparisons, ironies, satires and scorn of vices, witty sayings and interludes with games and other entertainments to captivate the audience.82 c) Mythological Characters The presence of the Devil and other infernal beings was frequent, while the prohibition on featuring divine beings on stage made it imperative to use parables, allegories, images and statues. Echo appeared in many plays and dialogues, providing a comic resource known through Ovid’s Metamor­ phoses and through Erasmus’s and Vives’s dialogues, among other works. There are abundant references to the gods, their attributes and specific places in Jesuit dramas: Acevedus presented a good part of the Olympus parade through his works; Avila introduced Vulcan, Cupid, Juno, Neptune, Proserpine, Pluto, Acheron and Mars alongside the Devil, Penance, the World, Greed, the Old Man and two Young Men with unsheathed swords in Historia Floridevi, and he mentions more than twelve gods in Sancta Catharina. Gods were also common interlocutors in pastoral works of the seventeenth century.83 82 Cf. Menéndez, ‘El teatro jesuítico’, pp. 42–46; Gallardo, ‘El teatro como predicación’, pp. 164–65, 169; Roux, ‘Cent ans d’expérience théâtrale’, pp. 492–502; Marques, ‘A contenção cómica’, pp. 68–70; Pérez González, ‘Komik und Sprachgebrauch im spanischen Jesuitendrama’; Picón, ‘La Comedia Bellum virtutum et vitiorum’, pp. 211–22; Domingo, La producción escénica del Padre Pedro Pablo de Acevedo, pp. 113–16; Litterae, 6, pp. 60–61. 83 Cf. Cascón, ‘La civilización pagana en las comedias del padre Acevedo’, pp. 559–62; Carrera, ‘La mitología en el teatro neolatino renacentista’, pp. 40–41; Martins, ‘A mitologia clássica no humanismo do renascimento português’, pp. 179–87; Menéndez, ‘El teatro jesuítico’, pp. 38–40.



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d) Female Characters and Women in the Audience Like other Jesuit writings, Joannes a Mariana’s treatise De spectaculis, written before 1606, condemned the commercial theatre that corrupted morality with lewd plots and the presence of actresses, characteristics absent from Jesuit school dramas. When female characters appeared on stage in these pieces, the absence of actresses was made up for by masks, veils and appropriate clothing. They are not rare in dramas by humanists and by the first Jesuits: Venegas introduced Pitonisa in Saul, and in Achabus the energetic Jezebel, proud and cruel, characterized with touches inspired by Medea, by Clytemnestra, by Tacitus’s Agrippina, and Virgil’s spiteful Dido, to warn of the dire consequences of female dominance. In Bonifacius’s Tragoedia Iezabelis, acted on 18 October 1564, the speeches by this virago emphasized her daring in contrast to the cowardly husband. His dramas involved other female interlocutors, accompanied by the misogynistic comments typical of the Jesuit theatre. Female characters and costumes were disappearing from the stage before the Society of Jesus recommended avoiding them in 1586: in Barcelo’s Comoedia prodigi fili, Euphemia talked to her husband, but it was not the leading role of the maid Dora in the drama of the same name by Valentia. St Catherine had a role in the drama that Avila dedicated to her, but the Virgin Mary did not need to go on stage to be praised as an intercessor for her faithful followers and as an example of life that came before the saints. Neither was the appearance of Potiphar’s wife indispensable in the drama about the chaste Joseph nor the appearance of other female characters whose words or acts were required by the plot and could be narrated by a male character. Several works by Acevedus allude to abstract female allegories in masculine terms referring to the actor, while Crucius even assigned a female gait to Vita. Women attended the theatre in Barcelona, Valencia, Evora, Plasencia and other cities; but many Cordobese women who went to the school to hear a comedy by Acevedus in 1556 were comforted by the Provincial Father with a sermon on the Blessed Sacrament when they were not allowed to enter the cloister.84

84 Cf. Frèches, Le théâtre néo-latin au Portugal, pp. 113, 206; Alonso, ‘Comedia Sepúlveda’, p. 284; id., ‘Dos mujeres de armas’, pp. 46–52; Griffin, ‘Miguel Venegas’, pp. 804–05; id., ‘Lewin Brecht, Miguel Venegas, and the School Drama’, pp. 32, 58; Martins, ‘O elemento feminino’, pp. 267–82; Miranda, Teatro nos colégios dos jesuítas, p. 455; Flores and Gallardo, ‘Clases sociales y personajes urbanos’, p. 163; Flores, ‘Técnicas escénicas’, p. 152; Menéndez, Los Jesuitas y el teatro en el Siglo de Oro, pp. 101–33, 488–89, 502–03.

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The Scenic Art of the Jesuit Dramas Several dramas were staged in Spanish palaces and at the Portuguese royal court. From the mid century on, Neo-Latin dramas were usually performed in schoolyards, where seats and platforms decorated with increasingly sophisticated stages, based on the architectural treatises of Vitruvius and Albertus (or Alberti), were set up. There was usually an upper level with balconies, towers, mountains or the sky from which angels and celestial characters descended and on which pious souls rose by pulleys and other contraptions and another lower platform from which infernal beings came out or through which the wicked passed through a hatch. Churches and cathedrals hosted religious representations, such as several performances of Acevedus’s works previously staged in the college of Cordoba. But the proliferation of comic episodes and interludes ended up with the Jesuits banning theatre inside churches in 1599. From the late sixteenth century, the courtyard, church, square or classroom space was replaced in  many universities and schools by a theatre built specifically for solemn events.85 The set needed to provide atmosphere for the work and create the scenic illusion which had to satisfy the spectators with exotic locations, unusual objects and extraordinary actions. The stage machinery was especially grandiose in Portugal, according to the literary quality of the works. The Neo-Latin dramas were mainly aimed at the academic and cultured courtly public. Jesuit provincial letters mention rich tapestries and ornaments that adorned the classrooms and schoolyards, as in Cordoba in 1556 for a comedy and a dance by students. The school in Evora was inaugurated as a university with a tragedy, thanks to the Cardinal Dom Henrique in November 1559 and again in April 1560 before thousands of spectators with Simon Vieira’s De obitu Saulis et Jonathae, a magnificent tragedy rivaling Venegas’s work but now lost. The teacher of the Jesuit school in Lisbon, presumably Venegas, composed a dialogue with such grace in August 1560 that it was later taken to the palace. On 23 and 24 October 1570, King Sebastian enthusiastically attended the gruesome tragedy Sedecias acted by Crucius’s pupils: the sad end of the last Jewish King ended up being a prophecy of his death at Alcazarquivir, and not a lesson on prudent government and the futility of war. The following year in

85 Cf. Briesemeister, ‘Das Mittel- und Neulateinische Theater in Spanien’, pp. 4–5; Molina, ‘Plauto y Terencio en el Renacimiento español’, pp. 324–25.



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Evora, Sebastian attended a drama about the parable of Lazarus and the rich man.86 One of theatre’s lures was sumptuous costumes, especially costumes of rich or exotic characters, gods or deified abstractions, and animal costumes, such as bulls, used by Acevedus at the close of Lucifer furens and in Athanasia’s second act. They say that the actors were so well dressed in Medina del Campo in 1563 that the work would have been pleasing even had they only walked across the stage. There are many testimonies to the luxurious costumes usually displayed in Plasencia. We have detailed descriptions of costumes in El triunfo de la fe, staged in Cádiz in 1573 about the circumcision of Jesus, where a shepherd sang a Latin ode in sapphic metre holding a statue of baby Jesus in his arms. It also included an eclogue in hexameters.87 The same professors who had written the plays were usually in charge of directing and staging the works, which is why many manuscripts contain very few annotations. These are less frequent in Acevedus’s pieces than in El triunfo de la fe or in Avila’s Sancta Catharina. Barceló made a few and, in proposing that spectators choose between ‘living well and going to heaven, or enjoying themselves on earth and forever seeing themselves in eternal mourning’, indicated that Hell, where there were smoke and screams, then opened up. Crucius’s notes and periochae also allowed readers of the book to imagine the scene. Acevedus often praised his students’ graceful acting; on Metanoea he wrote in 1561 that children who were old enough had confessed, confusing fiction and reality, in order to act with genuine feelings and push spectators to the confessional. He asserted that Coena Regis was staged on the fly, leaving inquisitors and other prominent people dazzled and stunned by the young schoolchildren’s fine performance. In contrast, Venegas rehearsed Achabus with his students for at least four months in 1561 in Coimbra. Crucius scrupulously revised the actio during the months the rehearsals of his plays lasted, so that students declaimed with the appropriate intonation of voice and body movements and gestures. In Plasencia, students rehearsed plays in the afternoon for a month around 1568.88 86 Cf. Frèches, Le théâtre néo-latin au Portugal, pp. 127–29, 160–61, 304, 322, 328–30, 400–01; Miranda, ‘Nas origens do melodrama’, p. 253; ead., Teatro nos colégios dos jesuítas, p. 325; Litterae, 6, pp. 390–401, 423, 428, 591, 726–27. 87 Cf. Griffin, ‘Lewin Brecht, Miguel Venegas, and the School Drama’, p. 33; Picón, ‘Nuevos textos del teatro jesuítico en España’, pp. 445–48; Menéndez, ‘El vestuario en el teatro jesuítico’, pp. 139–64. 88 Cf. Domingo, La producción escénica del Padre Pedro Pablo de Acevedo, pp. 113, 121; Martínez, ‘Aproximación a la obra poética de un jesuita novohispano’, p. 143; Picón, ‘Nuevos

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As in Portugal, singing and musical instruments were an essential part of Neo-Latin drama in Spain; several percussion instruments such as drums, tambourines and organs were used in addition to flutes, vihuelas and other wind and string instruments. At the school in Plasencia, those who did not understand Latin wept, moved by the excellent music and acting. In the crowded church of the college in Medina del Campo, students interpreted the tragedy of St Peter’s imprisonment and Herod’s death on 29 June 1559, combining several Romance elements and music to please listeners. Diálogo de la gloriosa y bienaventurada virgen y mártir santa Cecilia y santos Tiburcio y Valeriano, written in Latin and Spanish, contains many songs, since it was dedicated to the patron saint of musicians. But other plays acted at the college of Segovia, and preserved in the same manuscript, contain songs as well.89 Acevedus concluded his dialogue In festo Corporis Christi between nine pupils and Echo with the Eucharistic hymn Pange lingua after the epigrams against the seven deadly sins. We know of contemporary scores of hymns and secular songs that he inserted using the same metres and probably similar rhythms and melodies. In Occasio, a rustic character sang the first eight verses of Horace’s Beatus ille, perhaps to music by Alonso Mudarra published in Tres libros de música en cifras para vihuela (Seville, 1546). Mudarra and others set to music the Virgilian verses (Aeneid IV, 651–58) that inspired the song that precedes the funeral chorus in Crucius’s Vita Humana. Acevedus made trumpets and war drums sound in Bellum viritum et vitiorum vihuelas and other instruments in Metanoea, Charopus and Athanasia. From Latin to the Vernacular School dramas were written entirely in Latin during the first half of the sixteenth century, as well as thereafter most Portuguese pieces, and those by Romagnanus, Valentia, Acevedus, Cassianus and other Spanish humanist and Jesuit teachers. This language was accepted as a cultural and social status symbol typical of an elitist spectacle. Some pieces may include accessory parts in vernacular that help the audience follow the plot, but the summaries or periochae occasionally appear in the margins of the textos del teatro jesuítico en España’, pp. 447–48; id., ‘La comedia Cena regis Evangelii’, pp. 845–46; Miranda, Teatro nos colégios dos jesuítas, pp. 340–42, 486–93; Barbosa, Luís da Cruz, teatro, p. 34; Litterae, 7, p. 446. 89 Cf. Frèches, Le théâtre néo-latin au Portugal, p. 102; Litterae, 6, p. 355; Menéndez, ‘Los Jesuitas y el teatro en el Siglo de Oro’, p. 469.



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manuscripts or collected at the end, since they did not form part of the pieces themselves; they announced events, held the audience’s attention and transmitted the doctrine to it. Without interfering in the action, characters could speak Romance in the prologue and in choruses or marginal lyrical compositions. In some cases there are Spanish scenes related to the plot between the acts with comic elements. Sometimes interventions in Latin alternated with Spanish to paraphrase them with a similar content. This mixture was able to resolve the contradiction of a theatre that aimed to practice Latin and was addressed to a heterogeneous audience who were to follow the action and the doctrines expounded. More of the surviving pieces were written in Latin until the 1570s, a trend that reversed itself thereafter, when scenes in the vernacular were increasing due mainly to the literary prestige achieved by Spanish. Several bilingual works reserved Latin for characters with a certain profession or background, and for the opening scenes of each act or those with an academic, theological or institutional content. In general, Latin lost its importance from one generation to the next, but the differences between the works of one single playwright usually depended on the genre of the work or type of audience rather than the year of composition. Since the last quarter of the sixteenth century, as in poetry and other Neo-Latin genres, many Spanish professors were betting on Spanish as the theatrical language at the school, in which their new dramas were preferentially composed and into which earlier works or scenes in Latin were translated. As these scenes became increasingly relevant, Latin was reduced to lyrical poems and speeches in prose justified by the scholastic condition of the work in order to demonstrate the students’ proficiency, as we may read at the beginning of Rodriguez’s Gadirus. From the early seventeenth century, vernacular language clearly prevailed in Spain until it became the only one used by most Jesuit dramatists by 1650: Petrus de Salas (1585–1664) barely used Latin in his pieces; and it disappeared from the dramas by Antonius Escobar y Mendoza (1589–1669) and by Valentinus de Cespedes (1595–1668), Sanctius’ grandson.90 The registers of Latin used were usually those suitable for students of Grammar, Rhetoric and Poetics—colloquial in the dialogues and more elaborate in long interventions in prose or verse. In the second half of the 90 Cf. Arróniz, Teatros y escenarios del Siglo de Oro, pp. 27–43; Alonso, ‘Panorámica del teatro estudiantil’, p. 189; Molina, ‘El teatro de los jesuitas’, p. 654; Mazur, Breve historia del teatro español, pp. 205–08; Pérez González, ‘Lateinisch oder Spanisch’, 106–09; Roux, ‘Cent ans d’expérience théâtrale’, pp. 489, 517–18, 522–23.

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sixteenth century, manifestly barbarous Latin with a comic purpose appears in a dialogue of Valentia’s Nineusis, in Comedia del gramático Pamphliga composed by a Jesuit probably at Alcalá or Toledo around 1600, in the examination scene in Bonifacius’ Nepotiana, in Diálogos de estudiantes, María y el ángel, probably staged in Segovia after 1580, and soon afterwards in Petrus de Victoria’s El sacerdocio de Aarón, which contains two acts in Latin with elegiac couplets. This register of Latin, which was used to characterize students and teachers poorly versed in Latin, also appeared in masquerades and other student festivities and survived in the vernacular theatre. In Portugal, Pereira used it in Gerion, which also has choruses in Portuguese; Vasconcelos used it in Dares together with Portuguese, Spanish and Italian to amuse the audience at the awards ceremony. The verses in the Punic language of Plautus’s Poenulus provided an example of an intervention in a foreign language to describe a character by its origin, a resource mentioned by Horace (Ars poetica 118). Palmyrenus used Italian and Portuguese to this end, as did Avila, who used Portuguese and Basque jargon in Historia Filerini and Historia Floridevi, and also Italian and Catalan in Historia Ninives. Rodriguez wrote speeches in Latin, Spanish, Basque, French, Portuguese, Italian, German and Arabic in  Gadirus, staged at the cosmopolitan city of Cádiz on 30 July 1586. Sayago,  a Leonese dialect, gave rise to another literary jargon when placed  in the mouths of rustic characters. The use of Greek was rare and symbolic, except for some of Lucian’s dialogues, which were recited in  class at the school in Lisbon in the spring of 1560. In Dialogus by Palmyrenus, who was a professor of Greek at that time, a gypsy (Aegyptius) fortune teller and trickster spoke in classical Greek. The title of Acevedus’s Athanasia, the word télos at the close of several dramas and several phrases or endnotes with comic or scholarly purposes appeared in Greek letters. In Crucius’s tearful tragicomedy Prodigus and in Vita Humana, a cook and the miser’s servant used several Greek terms loosely to produce laughter. Neo-Latin Drama in the Seventeenth Century Michael Henriquez in Lleida Michael Henriquez, a young man from Cascante (Navarra) who joined the Society in 1598, and in 1606 at the age of twenty-four taught grammar at the college of Girona, hesitated to accept the priesthood because of the



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moral rigour of the rules of the Society. He composed his comedy Iosephea in five acts as an alternative to Terence in 1610, consisting of 1,748 Spanish verses and 793 in Latin, most of them iambic septenaries, different kinds of senaries, and several hexameters; he adapted Crucius’s tragicomedy Josephus on the tale of chaste Joseph in Egypt to make it more bearable and comprehensible in Lleida, and as a model to overcome the impulses of carnal love; but several years later, he was expelled from the order for his many sins and sadly died in Madrid.91 Latin and Vernacular Dramas in Portugal Neo-Latin plays influenced Portuguese comedies by Franciscus Sá de Miranda, Georgius Ferreira de Vasconcelos, Antonius Ferreira (Tevius’s pupil in Coimbra), and other playwrights. Sousa’s Real Tragicomedia borrowed epic motifs from Camões’ Os Lusíadas and from João da Barros’s Décadas da Ásia. The pastoral elements are present in Julius Facius’s Ecloga de Nataliciis Domini, written in seven-hundred and thirteen verses, consisting of three parts with choruses in lyric metres. Towards the end of the sixteenth century, patriarchs David and Joseph converse in Antonius de Morais’s Ecloga in natali Virginis Augustissimae.92 We only know the title of Vieira’s De casu Heli and of other Portuguese pieces. To inaugurate the college of Coimbra’s new building in April 1616, Da Rocha introduced Portuguese and Spanish into the songs and dances of the chorus in the splendid tragicomedy Daniel sapiens honestatus, imitating Crucius’s dramatic procedures and elements on a biblical subject (Daniel 5) which had already inspired other Jesuit Neo-Latin pieces. The Jesuit Antonius de Sousa (1591–1625), professor at Lisbon and Coimbra, staged the miraculous victory at the battle of Ourique in 1139 and mythical foundation of the Portuguese monarchy in Tragicomedia intitulada Dom Affonso Henriques at the college of Saint Anthony on 3 August 1617, featuring Lusitania, Alentejo and Africa. In La Real Tragicomedia del Rei D. Manoel conquistador do Oriente, whose Latin texts contain a tale printed in 1620, he showed on 21 and 22 August 1619 the achievements of the Portuguese empire under King Manuel’s rule urging Philip to revitalize Portuguese colonialism. The cities of Lisbon and Sintra, river Tagus, Orient, 91 Cf. Bajén, Iosephea, pp. 17–26, 61–63, 78, 80–98. 92 Cf. Frèches, Le théâtre néo-latin au Portugal, pp. 69–90, 151, 169–70; Soares, Diogo de Teive, pp. 12–20, 97–132; Martyn, ‘Buchanan’, pp. 90–97; Benatti, Simulacri imperiali portoghesi, pp. 175–76; Pinho, ‘Bucolismo no teatro novilatino português’, pp. 243–60.

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Asia and other allegories of the lands conquered, along with historical, divine and mythological characters, natural elements and abstractions appeared in luxurious clothing and jewels. The dances of the interludes included traditional metres in Romance with others in Latin, demonstrating the trend to move away from classical models so as to rival the professional theatre and opera in the sung parts. We have a detailed description of the large, luxurious stage of this play, which was divided into three levels: the first one had two side doors for the divine and human characters to pass through, and openings in the cave of the winds and in Hell; the second level hosted fourteen musicians dressed as angels; upstage were the Glory with the Cross of Christ and Portuguese coat of arms; luxurious boxes housed the King and his family, nobles and courtiers, gentlemen, members of the religious order and members of the students’ families. The eastern courtyard of the Jesuit college in Lisbon rather than the main one was preferred, because it was fresher and more conducive to enhancing the panoramic scenery. The need to impress the King and his court justified the expenses in scenery, music, dances, costumes, artillery fire, animals, and other unusual artifacts. As in Crucius’s Sedecias, its five acts were staged on two successive days, but about three hours on one afternoon were generally sufficient for the performances.93 Neo-Latin Eclogues in Seventeenth-Century Iberia The musical entertainment with dances and songs with comic intentions and social satire put into the mouths of innocent shepherds prevailed in seventeenth-century Portuguese pastorals. Besides other interesting eclogues, Joannes Da Rocha’s Marsyas of 1616 on the battle between the satyr and Apollo, Dominicus Teixeira’s David Pastor and Petrus de Vasconcelos’s Dares et Entellus, performed in Coimbra in 1618 and in 1629, have survived. Marsyas consists of a prologue and three parts, with dances and choruses sung in Portuguese and Spanish, and shows some influence from Virgil, Crucius and Gil Vicente (c. 1465–c. 1536); David contains annotations on the staging of the episode of Goliath’s defeat in a Virgilian pastoral scene, comprising a prologue and four acts containing songs in Portuguese and Spanish and concluding with a dance; Dares is based on

93 Cf. Frèches, Le théâtre néo-latin au Portugal, pp. 162–64, 169; Pires, A Real Tragicomédia do Rei Dom Manuel, pp. 40–42; Briesemeister, ‘O teatro escolar jesuítico’, pp. 127–42; Sardinha, Relación de la Real, pp. 2–111; Benatti, Simulacri imperiali portoghesi, pp. 159–60, 166, 172–229, 234–35; Barbosa, Luís da Cruz, teatro, p. 37.



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one of the funeral games in honour of Anchises (Aeneid V, 362–484), and includes songs, dances and other elements from popular drama in its three acts, so that the spectacle prevails over the comic and satirical text. Alfonsus Mendes (1579–1656) included two bucolic dialogues in the fourth and fifth acts of his tragicomedy Paulinus Nolae episcopus, which was staged in Coimbra. Antonius de Abreu’s Ioannes Baptista, performed before the young noblemen from Japan who visited Coimbra in 1585, was staged again in 1627. The first decades of the seventeenth century also witnessed the performance of Neo-Latin drama Eduardus and the plays on John the Baptist by Didacus de Paiva de Andrade, on Sancta Catharina by friar Anselmus Xuquer. The tragicomedy Orpheus (Paris, 1647) by the exJesuit Franciscus de Sancto Augustino Macedo (1596–1681) was performed before Louis XIV of France.94 Lucas Pereira (1580–after 1620) composed Gerion, an eclogue in three acts, to be performed by some twenty students in Coimbra in 1612 at the end of the school year. Tyranny speaks English because England had been considered a tyrant for decades for its persecution of Catholics and the shelter it provided for pirates, but the tyrant Geryon who was oppressing the Lusitanian lands near Coimbra may stand for the Spanish King, and the pygmies jointly defeated by Hercules the liberator for the Portuguese Unionists. Goliath would also be the Spanish giant in Teixeira’s David. Equally clear are Andreas Fernandes’s political intentions when he presented the play Eustachius venator at the college of Evora in 1635 for the visit of the Duke of Bragança, who was assumed to be a descendant of the saint; it prophesied his proclamation as King, which came to pass in 1640. The subgenre of funeral eclogues inspired by Virgil’s fifth included Daphnis (Salamanca, 1637), which Didacus Lupius dedicated to his professor, Sanctius, as well as the eclogue Antonius Alvares dedicated to both of them, Daphnis obitus et coronatio Menalcae (Salamanca, 1653), which was staged in 1642. The Arab conquest of Iberia was the subject of the tragedy Rodericus fatalis (Louvain, 1631) by the Augustinian friar Emmanuel Rodrigues, whose parents were Portuguese. It was reprinted in 1645 with his Herodes saeviens (Antwerp, 1626).95 94 Cf. Frèches, Le théâtre néo-latin au Portugal, pp. 130–32, 241–43, 250, 412, 434–46, 458–85, 494–97; Pinho, ‘Bucolismo no teatro novilatino português’, p. 245; Pires, A Real Tragicomédia do Rei Dom Manuel, pp. 3, 70; Lima, O império dos sonhos, pp. 126–27, 281–82. 95 Cf. Frèches, Le théâtre néo-latin au Portugal, pp. 132–33, 169, 447–58, 466–76, 486–93; Pires, A Real Tragicomédia do Rei Dom Manuel, p. 40; Moreira, ‘A justificação do tiranicídio na Écloga Gérion’, pp. 97–126; Benatti, Simulacri imperiali portoghesi, pp. 172, 229–44; Izquierdo, Diego López, pp. 17–18, 25–28.

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The Influence of Neo-Latin Drama on Spanish Dramatists Neo-Latin theatre largely coincided with the Romance theatre in terms of genres, content, characters, literary sources, music, contraptions, subjects, costumes, stages, performance dates and several titles. The mainstream audiences who were the priority target were not always the same age and did not always share the same social status. The didactic purpose was given priority over entertainment and the actors were students in NeoLatin theatre, whereas professionals acted in Romance theatre. Many Iberian Neo-Latin playwrights took advantage of themes and technical achievements from Renaissance theatre by Torres Naharro, Diego Sánchez de Badajoz and other compatriots and, in turn, influenced the vernacular theatre. Many vernacular playwrights were formed in schools and universities where they read, acted and composed dialogues and other Latin dramas typical of the active humanist and Jesuit pedagogy. These practices expanded and popularized the theatre and the vocation for acting and composing dramatic works. Miguel de Cervantes probably studied with the Jesuits, since he knew and praised their pedagogy, and used their rhetorical and dramatic procedures, such as allegorical figures, to symbolize mental processes. Poet Luis de Góngora, who studied under the Jesuits at Cordoba until the age of fourteen, also composed plays. Juan de Arguijo, author of the third act and other vernacular parts of Tragoedia divi Hermenegildi, was educated by the Jesuits at Seville. Lope de Vega wrote a play in four acts while a student at the Jesuit college of Madrid about 1572– 1574, where Tirso de Molina also studied the humanities. Calderón de la Barca assimilated features as well as composition and staging techniques characteristic of Jesuit theatre. Francisco de Quevedo, who also wrote interludes, was a Jesuit pupil from about 1592 to 1596.96 Further Reading Alcina Rovira, Juan F., ‘La tragedia Galathea de Hercules Florus y los inicios del teatro neolatino en la Corona de Aragón’, Calamus Renascens, 1 (2000), 13–30. Alonso Asenjo, Julio, ‘Panorámica del teatro estudiantil del Renacimiento español’, Maria Chiabò and Federico Doglio (eds.), XXI Convegno Internazionale. Spettacoli studentiechi

96 Cf. García Soriano, El teatro universitario y humanístico en España, pp. 44, 54, 61; Domingo, La producción escénica del Padre Pedro Pablo de Acevedo, pp. 93, 514–15; Sierra, ‘El posible modelo de Cervantes’, pp. 561–71; González Gutiérrez, El teatro escolar de los jesuitas, pp. 293–95; Alonso, La Tragedia de San Hermenegildo, pp. 37–38; Menéndez, ‘El teatro jesuítico’, pp. 68–69.



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in Europa (Rome: Torre d’Orfeo, 1998), pp. 151–91. . ——, Tragedia intitulada Oçio de Juan Cigorondo y teatro de colegio novohispano del siglo XVI: Estudio, edición crítica y notas (México: Colegio de México, Centro de Estudios Lingüísticos y Literarios, 2006). Biblioteca Novohispana, 6. —— and Manuel Molina Sánchez, Jaime Romañá / Jaume Romanyà: Tragicomoedia Gastrimargus: Estudio preliminar, edición, traducción y notas (Granada: Textos, 2007). Barbosa, Manuel José de Sousa (ed.), Luís da Cruz, Teatro; Tomo I: Sedecias (Coimbra: Universidade de Coimbra, 2009). Briesemeister, Dietrich, ‘Das Mittel- und Neulateinische Theater in Spanien’, Klaus Pörtl, Das Spanische Theater: Von den Anfängen bis zum Ausgang des 19. Jahrhunderts (Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1985), pp. 1–29. Cortijo Ocaña, Antonio, Teatro latino escolar: Suppositi—Los Supuestos de Juan Pérez ‘Petreyo’ (ca. 1540): Edición, introducción, traducción y notas (Pamplona: Ediciones Universidad de Navarra, 2001). Domingo Malvadi, Arantxa, La producción escénica del Padre Pedro Pablo de Acevedo: Un capítulo en la pedagogía del latín de la Compañía de Jesús en el siglo XV (Salamanca: Universidad de Salamanca, 2001). Doctoral thesis 1997. Frèches, Claude-Henri, Le théâtre néo-latin au Portugal (1550–1745) (Paris and Lissabon: Librairie Bertrand, 1964). Gil Fernández, Luis, ‘La tradición literaria neolatina’, id. a.o. (eds.), La cultura española en la Edad Moderna (Madrid: Ediciones Istmo, 2004). Historia de España, Colección Fundamentos, 191, pp. 165–84. Griffin, Nigel, ‘Lewin Brecht, Miguel Venegas, and the School Drama: Some Further Observations’, Humanitas, 35–36 (1983–1984), 19–86. ——, ‘Plautus castigatus: Rome, Portugal, and Jesuit Drama Texts’, Miriam Chiabò and Federico Doglio (eds.), XVIII Convegno Internazionale: I Gesuiti e i primordi del teatro barocco in Europa (Rome: Centro Studi Sul Teatro Medioevale e Rinascimentale, [1995]), pp. 257–86. Martyn, John R.C., ‘The Tragedies of Buchanan, Teive and Ferreira’, Ian D. McFarlane (ed.), Acta Conventus Neo-Latini Sanctandreani (Binghamton, NY: Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies, 1986), pp. 85–98. Mavel, J., ‘Une trilogie dramatique au XVIe siècle: Le P. L. Crucius 1532–1604’, Etudes religieuses, historiques et littéraires, 32 (1878), 113–25 and 170–84. Menéndez Peláez, Jesús. ‘El teatro escolar latino-castellano en el siglo XVI’, J. Huerta Calvo, Historia del Teatro Español, vol. 1: De la Edad Media a los Siglos de Oro (Madrid: Gredos, 2003), pp. 581–610. Mérimée, Henri, L’art dramatique à Valencia depuis les origines jusqu’au commencement du XVIIème siècle (Toulouse: Édouard Privat, 1913). Miranda, Maria Margarida Lopes de, ‘Nas origens do melodrama: A Tragédia neolatina em Portugal’, Península, 1 (2004), 251–62. Morel-Fatio, Alfred, ‘Ate relegata et Minerva restituta: Comédie de collège représentée à Alcalá de Henares en 1539 ou 1540’, Bulletin Hispanique, 5 (1903), 9–24. Nascimento, Aires A, and Manuel de Sousa Barbosa (eds.), Luís da Cruz, S.J., e o teatro jesuítico nos seus primórdios: Actas de Colóquio comemorativo do IV centenário da morte do dramaturgo (1604–2004) (Lissabon: Centro de Estudos Clássicos, 2005). Pérez González, Christiane, ‘Lateinische Aktions- und Szenentypen im spanischen Jesuitentheater’, Christel Meier, Bart Ramakers and Hartmur Beyer (eds.), Akteure und Aktionen: Figuren und Handlungstypen im Drama der Frühen Neuzeit (Münster: Rhema, 2008), pp. 509–37. Pinho, Sebastião Tavares (ed.), Teatro Neolatino em Portugal no Contexto da Europa: 450 Anos de Diogo de Teive (Coimbra: Universidad de Coimbra, 2006). Pires, Cecília Maria Ferreira, A Real Tragicomédia do Rei Dom Manuel, de António de Sousa, um modelo de literatura independentista Doctoral thesis Coimbra 2010. .

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Roux, Lucette E., ‘Cent ans d’expérience théâtrale dans les collèges de la Compagnie de Jésus en Espagne: Deuxième moitié du XVIe siècle—Première moitié du XVIIe siècle’, Jean Jacquot, Dramaturgie et société: Rapports entre l’oeuvre théâtrale, son interprétation et son public au XVI siècle et au XVII siècle. II (Paris: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 1968), pp. 479–523.



neo-latin drama in spain, portugal and latin-america619 Appendix I Main Studies and Editions Main Studies

Until 1925, besides brief references to Neo-Latin dramas in bibliographic catalogues and in general histories of literature and theatre, only the articles by Mavel on Crucius and by Bonilla and Morel-Fatio on Petreius, as well as Mérimée’s book on Renaissance drama at Valencia existed. Following that were writings by García Soriano, Olmedo and Roux on Spain, by Frèches and Ramalho on Portugal, and by Lohmann on Lima. In recent decades, Griffin has made important contributions to the peninsular Jesuits’ dramatic activity; Quiñones to school drama in Latin America; Alcina, Briesemeister and Gil to Neo-Latin drama and other related subjects; Garzón to Ferdinandus de Avila; Gallego and Maestre to Palmyrenus. González Gutiérrez, Alonso Asenjo and Menéndez Peláez have published numerous and extensive studies about school and Jesuit drama, three editions of Tragoedia divi Hermenegildi and different repertoires of both known and surviving pieces. These repertoires reveal that most Neo-Latin theatre perished or lives on in unreliable, anonymous manuscripts. The digital database Catálogo del Antiguo Teatro Escolar Hispánico by Alonso includes more than one thousand titles from the sixteenth and the seventeenth centuries, a third of which are partially or entirely in Latin, most of them by Jesuits. Menéndez reviewed more than two hundred Jesuit works surviving in thirty-six Spanish manuscripts, of which approximately 120 contain at least parts in Latin.97 Main Editions Of the Neo-Latin works by humanists that were performed and preserved, Florus’s Galathea and Zaphira, Satorres’s Delphinus, Sugnerius’s Terra and Cassianus’s Sylva were printed in Barcelona between 1502 and 1576; a few eclogues and dialogues in Valencia between 1503 and 1536; Petreius’s

97 Cf. García Soriano, El teatro universitario y humanístico en España, pp. 232–315; Griffin, Jesuit School Drama; id., ‘Jesuit Drama’, pp. 465–96; González Gutiérrez, ‘El teatro en los colegios de jesuitas del Siglo de Oro’, pp. 105–18; Alonso, ‘Teatro humanístico-escolar hispánico’, pp. 7–30; id., La Tragedia de San Hermenegildo, pp. 54–67; ‘Un lustro de ediciones del teatro escolar jesuítico’, pp. 417–45; Menéndez, Los Jesuitas y el teatro en el Siglo de Oro, pp. 434–76; id., ‘Los jesuitas y el teatro en el Siglo de Oro’, pp. 421–555.

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Comoediae quatuor in Toledo; Maldonatus’s Hispaniola, Ludus chartarum and Bacchanalia in Burgos, and Eremitae in Estella; Tevius’s Ioannes in Salamanca; and Palmyrenus’s Fabella Aenaria in Valencia. Eleven works by Acevedus with annotated translations have been published in two volumes by the team of Picón, Sierra, Cascón, Torrego, Flores and Gallardo. These critical editions include the literary sources of the works and an introduction to their most interesting aspects; these scholars have also published other papers on Acevedus, other Spanish Jesuits and various questions. Other important contributions include editions of works at least partially in Latin and generally accompanied by translations and other studies, e.g. Domingo on Acevedus; Alonso on Agnesius and Palmyrenus; Alonso and Molina on Cigorondo, Romagnanus and Ximenez; González Gutiérrez on Avila, Bonifacius and Thanisdorus; García Icazbal­ ceta and Shepard on Cervantes de Salazar; Madroñal and others on Coloquio de las Oposiciones performed in Seville; Barbosa, Martins, Marques and Castro on Crucius and Ionas; Valentín and Pons on Decius; Bajén on Henriquez; Quiñones on Llanos; Durán Ramas, Peinador, Rodríguez, Colahan, and Smith on Maldonatus; Pinho on Morais; Bonilla and Cortijo on Petreius; Molina and Borrego on Rodriguez; Maestre on Sanctius; Pires on Sousa; Soares on Tevius; López de Toro on Valentia; and Griffin and Miranda on Venegas. Unpublished Pieces Petreius’s Ate relegata is still in manuscript form, and only Suppositi has an adequate edition. Among other works, these pieces still await publication: from Portugal, Gomes’s Tobias, Absalon, Venegas’s Saul and some minor works of his, Nabuchodonosor of Evora, Macedo’s Orpheus, Sousa’s Dom Affonso and Real Tragicomedia, and Mendes’s Paulinus Nolae; from Andalusia, Sanctaella’s Dialogus, the tragedy Judith copied in a manus­ cript following Acevedus’s dramas and some pieces by Acevedus, Avila, Ximenez and Rodriguez, and many surviving works in Alcalá de Henares, Evora, Lisbon, Madrid and other cities. Among minor works, Sorio’s Oratio, Pradilla’s, Gonçalves’s and Pimenta’s dramatizable dialogues, and the eclogues of Pereira, Vasconcelos, Teixeira, Rocha, Fernandes, Facius, Lupius and Alvares also deserve an edition.



neo-latin drama in spain, portugal and latin-america621 Appendix II Catalogue of Authors and Works

Acevedus, Petrus Paulus (Pedro Pablo de Acevedo, 1522–1573). First and foremost Jesuit dramatist in the province of Andalusia (Baetica). Before 1550, he taught grammar and rhetoric in Seville, where he entered the Society of Jesus in 1554. Acevedus devoted himself fully to drama with students at the colleges of Cordoba (1555–1561) and Seville (1561–1572) and occasionally in Granada (before 1561) and Cádiz. He himself provided news of these performances in letters sent to Rome. Despite the three vows he had already taken, he did not take the final vow to enter the Society until 1571. In late 1572, he was sent to Madrid, where he fell ill and died shortly after arriving. He composed a Syntaxis and an Arte Epistolar, adapted the dramas Acolastus by Gnapheus (1555) and Euripus by Brechtus (1556), wrote the tragedy Lucifer furens (1563) and the comedies Bellum virtutum et vitiorum (1558), Metanoea (1561), Coena Regis Evangelii, accompanied by the colloquy In festo Corporis Christi (1562), Charopus (1563), Occasio (1564), Philautus (1565), and Athanasia (1566), which are at least attributed to that genre in the manuscripts’ title or index. He also wrote the dramas Costis Nympha or Dialogus in honorem divae Catherinae (1556 or 1561), Dialogus feriis solemnibus Corporis Christi with Actio feriis solemnibus Corporis Christi (1564), Dialogus in adventu comitis Montis Acutani (1568), Diálogo del Nacimiento (1567), In adventu Regis or Desiderium (1570), and Dialogus in adventu Hispalensis praesulis D. Christophori Roxei ac Sandovalii (1571), which have similar structures and lengths, as well as other minor pieces such as Dialogus de Jesu nomine (1561), Dialogus certaminis litterarii recitatus in ipsa classe (1564?), In sacramento Corporis Christi, Ad distribuenda praemia certaminis literarii (1568), Oratio in principio studiorum (1568), Dialogus initio studiorum ante orationem in commendationem scientiarum (1569), Dialogus in principio studiorum with Eloquentiae encomium (1570), Dialogus recitatus in hebdomada sancta de passione Christi (1572), and other short dialogues (Colloquiolla) and compositions of a scholastic nature in verse and prose, which were usually represented together with his dramas. Works Actio feriis (Torrego, 2007); Athanasia (Gallardo and Flores, 2007); Bellum (Picón and Cascón, 2007); Charopus (Flores and Gallardo, 1997); Coena (Domingo, 2001); (Picón 2007); In adventu Regis ‘Triunfo’ (Cornejo, 2004);

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In festo (Picón, 2007); In sacramento (Torrego, 2007); Lucifer (Torrego, 1997); (Domingo, 2001); Metanoea (Alonso, 1995); (Sierra, 2007); Occasio (Sierra, 1997); Philautus (Cascón and Picón, 1997); (Domingo, 2001); Colloquiolla (Domingo, 2005); Dialogus certaminis (Domingo, 2001); Dialogus feriis (Domingo, 2001); Dialogus in adventu comitis (Domingo, 2001); Dialogus initio (Domingo, 2001); Oratio in principio (Domingo, 2001); Colloquiola (Domingo, 2005). Studies Roux, ‘Cent ans d’expérience théâtrale dans les collèges de la Compagnie de Jésus en Espagne’; Domingo Malvadi, La producción escénica del Padre Pedro Pablo de Acevedo; Picón García, ‘Introducción general’, Teatro escolar latino del s. XVI, pp. 7–41. Avila, Ferdinandus de (Hernando de Ávila, c.1557–c.1605). He joined the Jesuits around 1578 and studied arts, law and theology. Ávila taught at Jesuit colleges in Seville, Baeza and Cordoba from 1585 until May 1601, when he entered the Order of St Francis of Paula. In addition to most of Tragoedia divi Hermenegildi (1591) and several dialogues in Spanish, he wrote several plays partially or entirely in Latin: Historia Floridevi and Historia Ninives in Seville and Historia Filerini in Jerez around 1585–1590, and the tragedy Sancta Catharina in Cordoba in 1596 or 1597. Works Sancta Catharina (González Gutiérrez, 2003); Tragoedia divi Hermenegildi (Latin sections by De la Cerda) (González Gutiérrez, 1993; 1997); (Alonso, 1995); (Menéndez, 1995 [1996]). Studies Garzón Blanco, ‘The Spanish Jesuit Comedia de Santa Catharina, Córdoba, 1597’; Ruggerio, ‘The Tragedia de San Hermenegildo’; Fothergill-Payne, ‘The Jesuits as Masters of Rhetoric and Drama’. Barcelo, Guillielmus (Guillem de Barçaló or Guillermo Barceló, 1561– 1602). He studied rhetoric at the College of Montesión in Palma, joined the Society of Jesus in Gandía (Valencia) in 1577 and returned to the Balearic College in 1591. He composed a Dialogus Divi Petri Martyris certamen cum Arrianis hereticis et eiusdem mortem continens, the Tragicomedia de divite epulone, the Comedia prodigi filii, and several one-act dialogues, enigmas and other compositions in Latin and Spanish from a codex from that college, which was the Jesuits’ main dramatic output in Latin in the Kingdom of Aragon.



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Works Dialogus (excerpts) (Picón, 2005). Studies Picón García, ‘Tradición clásica en la Comedia prodigi filii de Guillermo Barceló’; Id., ‘Tradición Clásica en el Dialogus Divi Petri de Guillermo de Barceló’; Sierra de Cózar, ‘El teatro escolar latino en el Colegio de Montesión’. Bonifacius, Joannes (Juan Bonifacio, 1538–1606). He was the leading dramatist in the province of Castile and one of the Jesuits’ first pedagogues. He studied in Santiago de Compostela, Alcalá de Henares and Salamanca, where he joined the Jesuits in 1557. For more than forty years, he taught grammar and rhetoric and was Prefect of Studies in colleges and seminaries in Medina del Campo, Ávila, Valladolid, and Villagarcía de Campos. Bonifacius’ teaching, theatre, correspondence and printed books influenced other writers and teachers, and his books included a number of verses from comedies and other compositions of his own and by others that are now missing. He wrote most of the eighteen dramas in the Códice de Villagarcía, which usually contain several scenes in Latin and were performed around 1563–1575 in different colleges in the province of Castile: Tragoedia Namani, Tragoedia Jezabelis, Tragoedia Vicentina, Tragoedia patris familias de vinea; the tragicomedy Nabal Carmelita, the comedies Margaritha, Solomonia, Triumphus Eucharistiae and Nepotiana, the oneact, bilingual pieces De vita per divinam Eucharistiam restituta actio brevis, Actio de sanctissima Eucharistia, Examen sacrum, and a Diálogo para unas declamaciones ‘Pro morte’, ‘Contra mortem’. Works Tragoedia Jezabelis (Griffin, 1976); Examen Sacrum (González Pedroso, 1952); the whole Códice de Villagarcía (González Gutiérrez, 2001). Studies González Gutiérrez, ‘El P. Juan Bonifacio, dramaturgo’; Menéndez Peláez and González Olmedo, ‘Los jesuitas y el teatro’; five articles on Joannes Bonifatius and Jesuit Drama in Perficit, 26 (2006), 7–104 and 143–66. Cigorondo, Joannes (Juan de Cigorondo, 1560–1611). He entered the Society of Jesus in Mexico in 1578 and taught rhetoric in Puebla, where he composed the tragedy Ocio (1586) and a Colloquio a lo pastoril hecho a la election del Padre provincial (1598) mostly in Latin. There are some

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humorous Latin phrases in one of his two surviving Sacramental dialogues  and he also composed other colloquies, school eclogues and pieces  in Spanish. He was rector of the Jesuit colleges in Mexico and Guadalajara and from 1609 on, was the Superior at the Society’s residence in Zacatecas. Works Ocio (Alonso and Molina, 2003); (Alonso, 2006); Colloquio (Alonso, 2012). Studies Alonso Asenjo, ‘Apoteosis de varones ejemplares en México y Perú’; id., ‘Caricatura del diablo a base de apodos y matracas en la ‘Tragedia Ocio’ del P. Cigorondo’; Martínez Martín, ‘Aproximación a la obra poética de un jesuita novohispano: Juan de Cigorondo’. Crucius, Ludovicus (Luís da Cruz, 1543–1604). The first Jesuit on the Iberian Peninsula to send his Neo-Latin drama production—the finest work to survive—to the press. He had been a disciple of famous Jesuit grammarians and rhetoricians such as Emmanuel Álvarez, Cyprianus Suárez, Petrus Joannes Perpinianus and Michael Venegas, and joined the Society in 1558. He taught humanities and rhetoric in Braga, Bragança and Coimbra from 1563 to 1597. All his works prior to 1580 were performed in Coimbra, where he taught for 14 years. He also wrote a poetic paraphrase of the Psalms that showcased his mastery of classical languages and authored other works in verse and prose. His Neo-Latin biblical and historical dramas, different copies of which have survived, were successfully performed for Portugal’s royalty, nobility and ecclesiastical authorities. The Lyon edition of his Tragicae Comicaeque Actiones (1605) includes Sedecias, tragoedia de excidio Hierosolymae per Nabucdonosorem (1570), the tragicomedies Prodigus (1568), Iosephus (1574) and Manasses restitutus (1578), the comedy Vita humana (1572) and the eclogue Polychronius (1592). This last was prepared in Évora, but was never performed, like Manasses and the tragicomedy Ionas (1580), which has been attributed to him. Works Sedecias (Barbosa, 1998; 2009; 2010); (Büttner, 2004); Prodigus (Castro, 1989); (Barbosa and Melo, 2010); Iosephus (Melo, 2001); (Melo and Barbosa, 2010); Manasses (Barbosa and Melo, 2010); Vita (Marques, 2010); (Barbosa, 2010); Polychronius (Barbosa and Melo, 2010); Ionas (Barbosa and Melo, 2010).



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Studies Frèches, ‘La tragédie religieuse néo-latine au Portugal: Le P. Luís da Cruz’; Martins Melo, Teatro jesuítico em Portugal no século XVI; Nascimento and de Sousa Barbosa, Luís da Cruz S.J. e o teatro jesuítico nos seus primórdios. Florus Alexicachus, Hercules (Hércules Floro Alexícacos). Author of the first two surviving Neo-Latin dramas composed and printed in the kingdoms of Spain. In 1498, this Cypriot poet reached Perpignan via Venice and there he taught Latin and authored a grammar, which was printed in 1500. The error-plagued edition of his tragedy Galatea that was printed at that time and performed in Perpignan has not survived. He had it reprinted in 1502 in Barcelona along with his comedy Zaphira, which his students had also performed. In July 1503, he was living in Saragossa, where he was hired by the town council to teach poetry and oratory. Studies Alcina Rovira, ‘La tragedia Galathea de Hercules Florus y los inicios del teatro neolatino en la Corona de Aragón’; Alonso Asenjo, ‘El teatro del humanista Hércules Floro’. Llanos, Bernardinus (Bernardino Llanos, 1560–1639). Author of the only surviving pieces written entirely in Latin and performed in Mexico in the sixteenth century. He was a student of the Jesuit College in Ocaña (Toledo) and joined the Society in 1580. He studied philosophy at Alcalá and law at Salamanca. In 1584, he was sent to Mexico, where he taught Latin, poetics and rhetoric and was rector at the College of San Gregorio. In 1604 and 1620, he published a diverse series of treatises and compositions on teaching Latin, poetics and oratory. In addition to his Latin poetry, two dialogues he wrote on the occasion of visits to the college from two ecclesiastical authorities have survived: the eclogue Pro Patris Antonii de Mendoza adventu in collegio Divi Ildephonsi (1585), and Dialogus in adventu inquisitorum factus in collegio Divi Ildephonsi (1589). Works Pro Patris Antonii (Quiñones, 1975; 1992); Dialogus (Quiñones, 1982; 1992). Studies Quiñones Melgoza, ‘Introducción’ to: id., Bernardino de Llanos: Égloga; id., ‘Introducción’ to: Bernardino de Llanos: id., ‘Estudio introductorio’ to: Teatro mexicano.

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Maldonatus, Joannes (Juan Maldonado, c. 1485–1554). The first surviving author of a genuine Neo-Latin humanistic comedy from the Iberian Peninsula. He studied at Salamanca with Lucius Flamminius Siculus and other humanists and maintained a correspondence with Desiderius Erasmus, of whom his protector, Diego Osorio from Burgos, was a declared partisan. In the winter of 1519–1520 in Osorio’s castle, Maldonatus composed the Latin comedy Hispaniola, which was performed in 1523 or 1524 for the Queen of Portugal in Burgos. No copies of the first editions survive (Burgos 1521 and Valladolid 1525), but there are copies of the third edition (Burgos 1535), which includes his scholastic notes. He was a priest and examiner of clergy in the Cathedral of Burgos, where he enjoyed the patronage of Bishop Íñigo López de Mendoza and helped educate the children of Francisco de Zúñiga and other nobles. Among several other works of interest, he composed at least four dialogues in prose to practice the Latin language and oratory that contain dramatic elements and may have been performed despite the immoderate length of many of the monologues and other interventions: Ludus chartarum triumphus (1541 and 1549), Desponsa cauta (1541), Eremitae (1548) and Bacchanalia (1549). Works Hispaniola (Durán, 1983); Eremitae (Peinador, 1991); Ludus (Colahan and Smith, 2009); Bacchanalia (Colahan, Rodríguez and Smith, 2009). Studies Smith and Colahan, Spanish Humanism on the Verge of the Picaresque: Juan Maldonado’s Ludus chartarum, Pastor bonus and Bacchanalia; Asensio and Alcina Rovira, Paraenesis ad litteras; García García, El pensamiento erasmista, comunero, moral y humanístico de Juan Maldonado. Palmyrenus, Joannes Laurentius (Juan Lorenzo Roca ‘Palmireno’, 1524– 1579). Professor of Greek and rhetoric at the University of Valencia, where he composed and made his students perform a comedy each year from 1562 to 1578. His Rhetorica and De copia rerum et artificio oratorio libellus convey some entertaining fragments from a Dialogus (1562) and from the comedies Sigonia (1563), Thalassina (1564), Octavia (1564), Lobenia (1566) and Trebiana (c. 1566), which allowed him to illustrate different aspects of the art of oratory. The only complete work of his to survive is Fabella Aenaria, performed and printed in Valencia in 1574; the others have been lost. Works Fabella Aenaria and fragmenta (Alonso, 2003).



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Fig. 5. Joannes Maldonatus’ epitaph.

Studies Gallego Barnés, Juan Lorenzo Palmireno, pp. 151–62; Maestre Maestre, ‘El papel del teatro escolar en la enseñanza de la retórica y del latín’; Gil Fernández, ‘La tradición literaria neolatina: El teatro escolar’.

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Petreius, Joannes (Juan Pérez ‘Petreyo’, c. 1511–c. 1544). From 1537 on, he was professor of rhetoric at the Collegium Trilingue in Alcalá de Henares, where he composed several works of oratory and poetry in Latin and NeoLatin dramas that he had his students perform. In addition to the prologue to his comedy Chrysonia, still surviving are his original colloquy Ate relegata et Minerva restituta (1540) and four comedies based on Italian originals printed a few years earlier, which were recited around 1537–1541 and printed in Toledo in 1574 by his brother: Necromanticus, Lena, Suppositi and Decepti. Works Ate relegata (excerpts) (Morel-Fatio, 1903); Chrysonia (prologus) (Bonilla, 1925); Suppositi (Cortijo, 2001). Studies Alvar Ezquerra, ‘Juan Pérez (Petreius) y el teatro humanístico’; Sojo Rodríguez, ‘Sobre el humanista español Juan Pérez (Petreyo)’; Cortijo Ocaña, ‘Juan Pérez Petreyo y su teatro escolar: el caso de los Suppositi’. Rodriguez, Andreas (Andrés Rodríguez, 1556–c.1616). He joined the Society of Jesus in 1571 and taught in Jesuit colleges in Cordoba, Granada and Seville, where his comedies and dialogues were performed, as they were in Cádiz. He wrote the comedies Demophilaea de vera et ementita Foelicitate (1584), Dialogus de methodo studendi (c. 1585), Gadirus Her­ culanus (1586), and Techmitius (1592) and the tragedy Acolastus (c. 1580), which is also the basis of a school colloquy in Latin performed in Montilla (Cordoba) in 1581. With Father Juan de Pineda, he wrote the Dialogus inter studiosos adolescentes de praestantissima scientarum eligenda (1584). He usually alternated verse and prose in Latin with verses in Spanish in different proportions, and we know that the comedy Parenesia (1580), which was performed in Spanish in the seventeenth century, contained many sections in Latin. Works Colloquium (Molina, 2002); De praestantissima scientiarum eligenda (Borrego, 1995); De methodo studendi (Molina, 2008–2009). Studies Molina Sánchez, ‘La poesía dramática latina del jesuita Andrés Rodríguez’; id., ‘La comedia Techmitius y el teatro del jesuita Andrés Rodríguez’; Borrego Pérez, ‘Los prólogos de las obras del Padre Andrés Rodríguez’.



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Romagnanus, Jacobus (Jaume Romanyá, c. 1510–after 1562). This priest taught at a public grammar school in Palma (Mallorca) from 1535 on, at the least. His Nova tragicomoedia Gastrimargus appellata was performed in the public square of Palma in 1562. Works Gastrimargus (Alonso and Molina, 2005–2006; 2007). Studies Molina Sánchez, ‘Plauto y Terencio en el Renacimiento español’; Alonso Asenjo and Molina Sánchez, ‘Estudio preliminar’ to: Tragicomoedia Gastrimargus. Tevius, Jacobus (Diogo de Teive, c. 1514–after 1569). The first Portuguese Neo-Latin playwright, he was educated in his native Braga, Lisbon, Salamanca, Paris and Poitiers. Tevius was teaching humanities in Bordeaux when, via Andreas Goveanus or André de Gouveia, King John III called for him to accompany George Buchanan to Coimbra, where several of his dramas were performed from 1548 on. In August 1550, they were accused of Lutheranism and imprisoned; they were released in 1552, although the College of Arts was given over to the Jesuits in September 1555 and Tevius removed with dignity to the Diocese of Miranda do Douro. Of his dramas, only the tragedy Ioannes Princeps sive unicum Regni ereptum lumen (1554) survives, which was published in Salamanca in 1558 in his Opuscula aliquot in laudem Ioannis tertii Lusitaniae regis (repr. Paris 1762). In addition to his Epodon libri printed in 1565, to his Orationes, and to the letter to Cardinal Infante, he wrote two biblical tragedies—one about the battle between David and Goliath (1550) and the other about Judith—and a historical work that have not survived. Works Ioannes Princeps (Soares 1977; 1999; 2010). Studies Soares, ‘A tragédia do Príncipe João (1554) de Diogo de Teive’, and other contributions in the same volume: Tavares de Pinho, O Teatro neolatino em Portugal. Valentia, Joannes (Juan de Valencia, c. 1520–c. 1588). He was prebendary canon of the Cathedral of Málaga and taught Latin at its school in the midsixteenth century and later at the Cathedral of Granada. Author of a NeoLatin comedy on the theme of the prodigal son that was performed by his

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students for the people of Málaga and authorities around 1560. It was published by López de Toro shortly after the disappearance of the manuscript that also contained his Nineusis, comoedia de divite epulone, which introduced scenes in Spanish verses and was probably performed around 1570. Works Comedia prodigi filii (López de Toro, 1971); (Alonso, 2007); Nineusis (fragments) (López de Toro, 1971); (Alonso, 2008). Studies Picón García, ‘El tema del Hijo pródigo en la dramática del siglo XVI en España’; Francisco J. Talavera Esteso, Juan de Valencia y sus ‘Scholia in Andreae Alciati Emblemata’. Venegas, Michael (Miguel Venegas or Vanegas, 1529–after 1589). He started studying in 1544 at the University of Alcalá de Henares, where in 1553 he became professor of rhetoric and composed a laudatory poem in Latin for the Pro adserenda Hispaniorum eruditione of Alfonsus García Matamoros. In 1554 he joined the Society, spent his novitiate in the city of Plasencia in Caceres (1554–1555) and worked in Portugal for six years teaching the upper class in Lisbon (1555–1558) and Coimbra (1558–62). On July 9, 1559, his Saul Gelboaeus was performed successfully in Coimbra and then in Lisbon, and that same year he was ordained as a priest after studying theology. Achabus was performed around 1561, but Absalon might have been written by another playwright around 1562. These two works created a dramatic style and procedures that influenced Jesuit writers in Portugal and other European countries in which his tragedies were performed until the seventeenth century. After being summoned to Rome by Borgia in 1562, he was sent to Paris, where his four Eclogae quatuor de Christi Nativitate (January 3, 1565), among other pieces, were successfully performed. In 1566, he was sent to Antwerp, Augsburg, Dillingen and Munich because of his indiscreet, reckless behaviour and speech, especially inappropriate for handling children. Afterwards, he went to Barcelona via Genoa, Marseilles and Avignon and reached his hometown of Ávila, where he left the Society in 1567 by his own choice and the consent of his superiors, who saw no possibility of taming his independent nature. After that, he settled as a teacher of rhetoric in Salamanca, where he successfully mounted the tragedy Judith (lost like others, of which only the titles survive) in 1569. Around 1570, a comedy with a scene in Latin, for which he received an even greater gratification from the University faculty, was performed, as was another piece on the Feast of the Blessed Sacrament with



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only four couplets in Latin. He lived in Alcala de Henares from 1574 until his death. Works Achabus (Griffin, 1976); (Miranda, 2006). Studies Nigel Griffin, ‘Miguel Venegas and the Sixteenth-Century Jesuit School Drama’. Modern Language Review, 68 (1973), 796–806; id., ‘Lewin Brecht, Miguel Venegas, and the School Drama: Some Further Observations’; id. ‘I Spy Strangers: Jesuit Plays and Their Travels’; Lopes de Miranda, ‘Miguel Venegas S.I. e o princípio de um ciclo trágico na Europa’.

CHAPTER TEN

CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES Jan Bloemendal It is a truism that ‘the’ Central and Eastern European countries do not exist.1 These countries include the Commonwealth of Poland, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (including Ruthenia, now Ukraine), Muscovy and Hungary. Their developments regarding the use and spread of Latin differ so widely that they seem to be on different planets. For instance, in Bosnia, Romania and Albania the use of Latin disappeared completely with the consolidation of the Turkish occupation in 1463 and 1478 respectively,2 whereas among the Southern Slav populations the Croatians (also called Dalmatians, Illyrians and Sclavonians, being part of the Kingdom of Hungary) were in close contact with Western and Central European humanism, and produced many works in Latin. In Hungary the situation was rather specific: many Hungarian Latin authors lived and worked in several other regions.3 Hungary itself was a threshold of Latin, which remained an official language of the country (for instance in the Croatian Parliament at Zagreb) until 1848, and a scholarly language even longer. Between 1500 and 1700 borders changed and situations altered. In the north, Poland was an important country for Latin literature. Here some Italian, German and Dutch humanists played a significant role. NeoLatin literature enjoyed considerable longevity, from the second half of the fifteenth century until deep into the seventeenth. The Golden Age of Poland started in 1550 and ended circa 1650 with the Swedish incursion, or the ‘deluge’. In Russia (Muscovy) Latin culture was a late and periph­ eral  phenomenon which was only introduced when the Tsars wanted closer contacts with Western Europe and its learned culture. Before the 1 I would like to thank Prof. Andrzej Borowski from the Jagellonian University of Krakow for his kind help. For this survey I used IJsewijn’s Companion, 1. 2 IJsewijn, Companion, 1, pp. 88 and 91. The international scope of Latin drama can be illustrated by the fact that in the comedy Epirota (1483) of the Venetian patrician Thomas Medius, the protagonist speaks a few words in his native Albanian—in imitation of Hanno in Plautus’s Poenulus, where Hanno prays in Punic (ll. 930–49). 3 IJsewijn, Companion, 1, p. 214.

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seventeenth century Latin was hardly known there. In some of the Baltic countries the peasants did not participate in a learned culture, and people who wanted to participate, had to go to German Universities. If there was a cultural centre, it was Riga, but only after the end of the Livonian War (1558–1583). Times changed to some extent and in 1632 the Swedes founded a university in Tartu, which was, however, closed in 1708. Latin literature continued to flourish throughout the seventeenth century, and even some Livonian authors began to publish in various German cities; Baltic authors can be counted among the correspondents of humanists of the Low Countries such as Justus Lipsius (1547–1606) and Hugo Grotius (1583–1545). This short overview makes clear how different the situation for a Latin learned culture in the several Eastern European regions was. Therefore, it is almost impossible to give a coherent view of Neo-Latin drama in the early modern period in the Central and Eastern European countries. However, some features often apply: the important role of the Jesuits, the mobility of students, teachers and plays, and by consequence its often international character; the Latin respublica litterarum brought together men of diverse ethnic origin and united them in the study of classical literature and the writing of new works in Latin themselves. For instance, the Polish poet and playwright Simonides supposedly studied in the Netherlands, where he might have seen or read a Joseph play that inspired him, directly or by way of a Polish paraphrase.4 On the other hand, the German humanist Konrad Celtis (1459–1508) wrote his Amores when he was at the University of Krakow, where he might have witnessed a Joseph play. Also in Poland the Italian humanist Filippo Buonaccorsi, called Callimachus (1437–1496), served as a tutor to the King’s son and royal secretary. Therefore, in the following a short overview by country will be given. From the survey given above, it will be clear that some countries will be given a somewhat more extensive treatment than others. Croatia Not much is known of Latin drama in Croatia, which was part of the Kingdom of Hungary. The only known name associated with Latin ­dramatic production is Matthias Garbitius Illyricus or Matija Grbac 4 Cornelius Crocus’s Ioseph was paraphrased by the Polish author Mikolaj Rej (1505– 1596) and was as such well known in Poland; see Borowski, Iter Polono-Belgo-Ollandicum, pp. 158–159.



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(1503/1508–1559). He, however, lived in Germany; during his study in Heidelberg he became a protégé of Martin Luther and Philip Melanchthon. As a professor at the University of Tübingen, he made Latin translations of Aeschylus.5 Franciscus Tranquillus Andronicus (Franjo Trankvil Andreis, 1490–1571) wrote the dialogues Sylla (1527) and Philosophandumne sit (1544), as did the ‘father of the Croatian Renaissance’ Marcus Marulus (Marko Marulić, 1450–1524), who wrote, among other works, Dialogus de Hercule a christicolis superato (‘Dialogue About Hercules who was Surpassed by Those who Honour Christ,’ 1524) in prose. In this dialogue he tried to confirm Roman Catholic faith by means of pagan mythology and poetry, which in their turn find justification in a submission to theology.6 Hungary Renaissance culture in Hungary blossomed at the court of King Matthias Corvinus (reigned 1458–1490), who successfully resisted repeated attacks of the Turks.7 In 1485, he transferred the royal seat to Vienna Pannoniae (Vienna). Hungarian Renaissance authors were strongly influenced by Italian humanism. The period of blossoming, however, was interrupted by the Turkish invasion of 1541.8 Although there was some dramatic production, only a few Hungarian poets and playwrights attained fame outside their own land, or even outside their own school. Dramas of the French tragic poets Corneille and Molière were performed in Latin, even before they were translated into the vernacular tongue. If Hungarian authors wrote plays themselves, they were almost exclusively meant for the schools, since other forms of theatre were forbidden under the Turkish dominion.9 Through these circumstances, the role of school drama in Hungary—that was written in Latin, German or French—was far more important than in 5 IJsewijn, Companion, 1, p. 93; ADB 8, p. 367 (Karl August Klüpfel). Garbitius translated Aeschylus’s Prometheus (Basel, 1559) and Hesiod’s Opera et dies (Basel, 1559). 6 Edited by Branimir Glavičić in Marco Marulić, Latinska manja djela I (Split: Književni krug, 1992) and in Marko Marulić, Dijaloški dramski tekstovi (Split: Književni krug, 1994). See also Elisabeth von Erdmann, ‘Marko Marulić zwischen Poetik und Theologie. Davidias, Dialogus de Hercules a Christicolis superato (1524) und Tropologica Davidiadis expositio’, Colloquia Maruliana, 19 (210), 125–40. 7 See, for instance, Némeskürty, A History of Hungarian Literature, pp. 37–49; Klaniczay, Handbuch der ungarischen Literatur, pp. 28–43. However, the interest in Hungarian literature in Latin in these literary histories is rather small. Francofordinus, for instance, is not even mentioned. 8 See also Brinbaum, ‘Humanism in Hungary’. 9 See Staud, ‘Schultheater in Ödenburg’, p. 89.

Map 1. [http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:PodzialWegier.png] Map showing division of Hungary in 1526.

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other countries. For instance the play of Bartholomaeus Francofordinus (or Frankfurter) Pannonius (c. 1490–before 1540) was written for the school. After his studies at the universities of Krakow and Vienna—the latter a threshold of humanism—he became a schoolmaster in Buda, and from 1517 in Selmecbánya. Later on, he was a Lutheran preacher at Besztercebánya. He was part of the humanist circles of George Szatmári, Bishop of Pécs.10 A talented poet, Francofordinus introduced humanist comedy into Hungary with his Gryllus (‘The Cricket’, 1518). This short comedy was written as an imitation of Menaechmi in Plautinian style, under the influence of Erasmus, and dedicated to the leader of the German Court party Georg von Brandenburg. It was conceived as an educational play directed against drunkenness. The same educational aim can be traced in his Dialogus inter Vigilantiam et Torporem (‘Dialogue Between Vigilance and Torpor’, 1520), dedicated to Bishop Szatmári. Humanism and the use of Latin maintained a strong position in Hungary for a long time, even after the 1650s. A strong influence has been traced to Masen’s comedy Rusticus Imperans (‘The Farmer as an Emperor’, 1657) in the Minorite school of Knatá Kézdivásárhely (Transylvania), in the early 18th century. School theatre started at the schools of the Protestants.11 One of the first to write Latin school dramas was Christoph Lackner (1571–1631), a jurist and a humanist and burgomaster of Ödenburg. His Cura regia seu Consultatio paterna (‘Royal Care, Or Paternal Advice’), performed in 1615 in the town hall, contained long pedagogical speeches, and was enlivened with song and dance. His second play, entitled Electio Trigoniana (‘Triangled Election’) treated the virtues of rulers and their citizens. It was performed in 1617. His Actus Oeconomicus (‘Act of Economy’) preceded Comenius’s plays in showing the curriculum in dialogues. The Jesuits played a very important role in Hungary, though this was not always the case. They had been expelled by the protestant King Gabriel Bethlen (1580–1629), returning as late as 1693. Thereafter they established important schools, of which those in Kolozsvár (or Cluj) were among the most significant.12 It was in this very city, that the first Jesuit play was produced, treating the history of the first Christian king of Hungary,

10 See Hammann, ‘Bartholomeus Francofordinus Pannonius—Simon Grynäus in Ungarn’, esp. pp. 229–36 and Puskás, ‘Plauto in Ungheria’, pp. 95–96. See also p. 131. 11 For Lackner and his dramas I have used Staud, ‘Schultheater in Ödenburg’, pp. 89–90. Protestant drama has been listed in Ludi scaenici linguae latinae protestantum in Hungaria. 12 See Shore, ‘Patriotism, Catholicity and Drama in the Jesuit Schools of EighteenthCentury Kolozsvár’.

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St Stephanus: Historia S. Stephani regis: Acta per Speciem fabulae in scena (1587).13 Many Jesuit plays have been listed by Géza Staud in the monumental Fontes ludorum scenicorum in scholis S.J. Hungariae, and studies have been carried out by Márta Zsuzanna Pintér.14 Júlia Nagy also wrote a good survey of Jesuit drama, that was regulated by the Ratio studiorum (1599).15 In 1640 for the first time a Jesuit play was performed in public, in the rectory in Sopron or Ödenburg on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the foundation of the Order. This play on Ignatius of Loyola, Virtutes Ignatianae, that probably showed Jesuit virtues was written by Father Ambrosius Heigl (1606–1646): ‘Christus recens natum in templo in forma Venatoris ad theatrum dedit P. Heigl.’16 This was performed in the church at Christmas 1644. Two years later Heigl showed the plague that had afflicted the city as the scourge of God in a play entitled Pestis Flagellum Dei, as a chronicler wrote: ‘P. Heigl tragoediam in theatrum publicam in atrio Scholae pestem Flagellum esse Dei lugubro spectaculo demonstravit’ (‘Father Heigl showed in a doleful tragedy publicly performed in the court of the school that the plague is a scourge of God’).17 Heigl also composed plays in Hungarian. However, the Jesuits were not the only ones who were active as dramatists. In the eighteenth century the Franciscans also produced plays, especially at the grammar school of Csíksomlyó.18 As Medgyesy tells us, these plays which were primarily meant to be staged on Good Friday, aimed at religious education and encouraging repentance and penitence among students.19 After the suppression of the Societas Jesu in 1773, their drama obviously ceased to exist, too. Religious school drama in Hungary was very rich, and it was often oriented towards French drama.20 It was not only the Jesuits and the Franciscans who staged biblical dramas, but also the Roman Catholic

13 Shore, o.c. 14 Staud, Fontes ludorum scenicorum in scholis S.J. Hungariae; Pintér, Ferences iskolai színjátszás a XVIII. században. See also Lázár, Hazai tárgyú német iskoladrámák; Alszegy, Magyar tárgyú latin jezsuita-drámák. 15 Nagy, ‘Kerszény Herkulesek’ [i.e. ‘Christian Hercules’]. 16 Staud, ‘Schultheater in Ödenburg’, pp. 93–94. Palatine Nikoalus Esterházy provided his orchestra for the performance of the Virtutes Ignatianae. 17 Staud, ‘Schultheater in Ödenburg’, p. 94. 18 See Medgyesy-Schmikli, ‘The relation of religious education and playacting in some Franciscan and a Piarist play’. 19 Ibid. 20 For this paragraph see Farkas, ‘Le théâtre scolaire religieux’ and Staud, ‘Schultheater in Ödenburg’, pp. 89 and 91–92.



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Piarists, the Hermits of St Paul, the Minorites, as well as the Protestant Calvinists, Lutherans and Unitarians who did so, and thousands of performances must have taken place between 1600 and 1800, most of them in Latin. Protestant drama was far more restricted in its theatrical means and special effects than Jesuit theatre. Hungarian school drama developed in time and began to adopt the ideas of the Enlightenment; this particularly holds for Jesuit drama. One should bear in mind that most of the prominent philosophers of this movement were educated at Jesuit schools. But this development of course occurred long after the mid seventeenth century. In any case, school theatre played an important role, since the Turkish domination caused the cultural isolation of Hungary until the end of the seventeenth century and this type of drama was the only vehicle for religious ideas that was permitted. A survey of Hungarian Latin drama after the mid seventeenth century could also comprise the plays performed by the students of the Collegium Hungaricum in Rome—a Hungariae Triumphus in 1659, for instance.21 The Italian composer Giuseppe Ottavio Pitoni (1657–1743) set this play to music in the opera Hungariae triumphus in Quirinali (1695). Bohemia Latin theatre in Bohemia (now part of the Czech Republic) as such originated in ecclesiastical and secular settings of the feudal period.22 But in the beginning of the fifteenth century the Hussite revolutionary m ­ ovement hemmed in the development of both religious and worldly drama, because the Hussites considered theatre to be a form of idolatry. However, they did not succeed in a total elimination of drama in Bohemia, though this delayed the advent of Renaissance drama, because of a period of isolation from the rest of Europe. The Károlý University, founded in Prague in 1348, played an important role in the reception of European culture in Bohemia. The university’s professors used (classical) drama as a didactic instrument and had their students publicly perform plays from 1535 onwards. However, after the Battle at White Mountain in 1620, the Czech state collapsed and was annihilated for some time, and Czech theatre ceased to exist. Czech Renaissance drama as developed in this period by Czech humanists had 21 IJsewijn, Companion, 1, p. 217. For the Hungariae Triumphus, see Baumgarten, ‘Un mélodrama baroque sur la Hongrie’. 22 See Cerný, ‘Czechoslowakia’, pp. 159–61, from which this section profited.

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its origins in Protestant Germany, and no longer Catholic Italy; this change in inspiration dates from the middle of the sixteenth century, among urban intellectuals. The most important Czech playwright of Neo-Latin drama is Johannes Campanus Vodnianus or Jan Campanus Vodňanský (from Vodnaňy in South Bohemia, 1572–1622), a professor of Greek at the University of Prague who wrote works in Latin, Greek, Czech and German.23 Among his writings is the historical play Bretislaus, comoedia nova (1614).24 The play was forbidden because it treated themes of freedom that offended the Bohemian dukes. Its subject is the marriage of Duke Bretislaus I of Bohemia with Judith of Schweinfurt, daughter of margrave Heinrich (Henry) of Bohemia. Campanus was influenced by the German humanist playwright Nicodemus Frischlin.25 This play inspired later authors of Czech historical dramas in the vernacular. Latin drama, however, languished, and most of the plays of this period were written in the vernacular. More than half a century before, around 1550, the Jesuits had come to the Czech countries and, as elsewhere, made use of theatrical performances in their Counter-Reformation programme. They had their own plays performed in Latin and Czech.26 Anyhow, Czech Neo-Latin authors made some valuable contributions to dramatic literature.27 The Jesuit Jacobus Pontanus or Spanmüller (1542–1626), who worked mainly in Bavaria, originated from Brüx/Most. Although he left three dramas, viz. Eleazar, Stratocles and Isaac, he is now far better known as a theoretician because of his widely successful Poeticae institutiones (1594). The most important seventeenth-century Czech playwright was the Moravian pedagogue Janus Amos Comenius or Jan Amos Komenský (1592–1670), who was famous for, among other works, his Orbis sensualium pictus (‘The Visible World in Pictures’, 1653). For religious reasons he lived abroad, where he wrote Diogenes Cynicus redivivus (‘Diogenes the Cynic Alive Again’, 1640), Abrahamus patriarcha, scena repraesentatus (‘Abraham, the Patriarch, Brought to the Stage’, 1641) and Schola ludus 23 See also Novák, Czech Literature, p. 63. 24 Modern edition by Josef Král. 25 Full title: Bretislaus, comoedia nova, věnovaná Albertovi Janovi Sniiřickému ze Smiřic, Typis Samuelis Adami a Veleslavína, Pragae, 1614. A modern edition was made by Josef Král. On Vodnianus, see Odložilik, Mistr Jan Campanus. 26 See, for instance, Jacková, ‘Komische Elemente im Jesuitendrama’ on some plays of the Neustadt Jesuit College in Prague. See also the list of Neo-Latin plays in Bohemia in Menčik, Přispěvky k dějinám českého divadla. 27 IJsewijn, Companion, 1, p. 231.



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(‘School as a Game’, 1654).28 He advised to stage four plays at the schools each year. In contrast with most authors, he wrote his dramas in prose. Comenius used his plays for pedagogical purposes. Diogenes was written for the school in Lezno in Poland, and Schola ludus in Sárospatak in Hungary. In Abrahamus, also written for Lezno, he praised the ‘great father of many’ (Ecclesiasticus 44, 20) who by fate is also the father of Christians, as Comenius states in the Epilogue. This urges Christians to obey God.29 In Schola ludus, a collection of eight plays, he presented in dramatic form all basic knowledge in the fields of natural sciences, philosophy, ethics and religion (res naturales, res artificiales, res morales and res divinae) which he had presented in Ianua linguarum (‘The Door of Languages’), and his own ideas on various stages and levels of education.30 For Comenius, this is another way that children may learn Latin interactively, by learning to memorize interesting stories and learning the laws of the world around them regarding literature, history and the natural sciences. The students may also learn from other students. The collection contained arrangements of the plays that Comenius had recommended for production. He even added detailed stage directions.31 By means of the production of the theatrical plays in Schola ludus, Comenius also tried to change the Hungarian nobility’s attitude towards schooling and study for their children and to bring together teachers and pupils of the conflictual school of Rector Tolnai where he worked in the years 1654–1655.32 Its full title reads: Schola ludus, seu Encyclopaedia viva, hoc est, Ianuae Linguarum praxis scenica: res omnes nomenclatura vestitas et vestienda, sensibus ad vivum repraesentandi artificium exhibens amoenum (‘School as a Game, or Living Encyclopaedia of the Gate of Languages, that is a Theatrical Praxis,

28 Diogenes Cynicus redivivus, sive de compendiose philosophando (Amsterdam: Petrus van den Berge, 1658), and Abrahamus patriarcha. Scena repraesentatus anno 1651 in Januario, sub examen scholae publicum (Amsterdam: Petrus van den Berg, 1661), ed. by Julie Nováková, in: Komenský, Opera omnia, 11, pp. 437–500 and 501–39 respectively. English translation by Michael Mittelstadt. On the Schola ludus, see also Somerville Lauri, John Amos Comenius, pp. 226–27. 29 Komenský, Opera omnia, 11, pp. 531: ‘Huius nos quos filios esse per fidem factos gaudeamus, ea reatione promissionum aeternarum cum ipso facti coheredes. Sed et obedientiae nos esse debere filios mimnerimus.’ 30 Komor, ‘The Problems of Technological Culture in “Schola Ludus”’. See also Bruno Druschky, Würdigung der Schrift des Comenius Schola ludus (Wernigerode: B. Angerstein, 1904) Doctoral Thesis Erlangen; a German translation in Johann Amos Comenius, Schola Ludus, d.i. Die Schule als Spiel ins Deutsche übertragen (Langensalza: H. Boyer und Söhne, 1907) and Kožik, Sorrowful and Heroic Life of John Amos Comenius, pp. 125–37. 31 See Kožik, Sorrowful and Heroic Life of John Amos Comenius, p. 134. 32 Kožik, Sorrowful and Heroic Life of John Amos Comenius, pp. 129.

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a Sweet Work of Art or Representing True to Life, Showing Everything that is Contained or to be Contained in the Nomenclatura’. In the play there are five acts, twenty-two scenes and fifty-two characters, each of whom represents a branch of knowledge. ‘For example, in the fifth scene of the second act, Water is the subject, and there enter on stage the following personages: Aquinus (representing water in general), Marius (representing the sea), Nubianus (representing the clouds), and Stillico (representing raindrops, ice, foam, etc.). These interesting characters give a great deal of valuable information.’33 Comenius ended the dramatization with scenes in which he brought to the stage the Egyptian King Ptolemy and his counsellors. They express the significance of universal learning.34 As Comenius says in the dedicatory epistle, the Schola ludus was successful with pupils and schoolmasters. Moreover, it was performed with high acclaim before the Princess and her Court in Hungary.35 There were manifold productions of the play, with many parents attending the performances. The play was even performed in the courtyard of the castle, upon the request of Queen Susanna. In Diogenes redivivus, which had been written for the school in Lezno in 1640, Comenius brought several ancient philosophers on stage: Plato, Zeno and Hegesias, as well as the Macedonian Kings Philippus and Alexander, and Alexander’s generals, Perdiccas, Parmenio and Craterus, in total twenty-four characters, with some anonymous or silent personages. He was criticized for his pagan subject, so for his play for the next year he chose the biblical story of Abraham.36 Another genre that flourished in Bohemia was the secular comical scenes called interludia (interludes) or intermedia (intermezzi), which were performed between the acts of biblical dramas. Spectators could laugh about crude behaviour of peasants depicted therein. Those interludes were written in Latin or in the vernacular. Poland In the early modern period Poland comprised a vast area, ranging from the Baltic shore to the Carpathian Mountains and the River Dnieper (see

33 Laurie, John Amos Comenius, p. 194. 34 Kožik, Sorrowful and Heroic Life of John Amos Comenius, p. 134. 35 Laurie, John Amos Comenius, pp. 194–95. 36 Kožik, Sorrowful and Heroic Life of John Amos Comenius, p. 76.

Vienna

Brno

Olomouc

Kutná Hora

Nyitria

Trencsén

Piotrków

Rawa

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Tokaj

Meidniki

Warsaw

Kassa

Sanok

Munkacs

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Upita

Halicz

Dorpat

Sluck

Mińsk

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Trembowla

Krzemieniec

Dubno

Równe

Pińsk

Slonim

Rzeczyca Dyneburg

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Wilno

Kies

Luck

Lwów

Siget

Belz

Chelm

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Rosienie

Lublin

Drohiczyn

Jansbork

Sandomierz

Kraków

Seiwierz

Czestochowa

Zsolna

Opole

Sieradz

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Lidzbark

Królewiec

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Mitawa

Ryga

Parnawa

Jampol

Braclaw

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Toropiec

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Novgorod

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Sicz

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Kingdom of Hungary

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Duchy of Kamień

Duchy of Pomerania

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Other cities and towns

Major Cities

Treaty of Dywilino

Fiefs and dependencies

Grand Duchy of Lithuania

The Crown

ca. 1600

Republic of Both Nations

Map 2. [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d4/Rzeczpospolita_1600.png] Map showing the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

Kladsko

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Kalisz

Gniezno Brześć Kuj.

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Chelmno

Malbork

Gdańsk Elblag

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Lebork

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Brömsebro Karlskrona

Kalmar

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Arensburg

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map).37 Polish humanist literature was oriented to Italian humanism, as it was also in the Low Countries.38 It had a rich dramatic production in Latin. From the beginning of the sixteenth century, plays in the language of the Romans were staged in this area. At court, on 23 February 1506, Plautus was performed, and many performances of comedies by him and Terence were to follow. In addition, plays from foreign contemporary authors were staged, such as Jacob Locher’s Iudicium Paridis (1502) in 1522 and Petriscus of the Dutch humanist Macropedius (1487–1558) in 1581, whose Hecastus was staged in 1563, 1564 and 1574 in Prussia: Gdánsk (Danzig) and Królewiec (Königsberg).39 In 1595 the five-act Latin tragedy Hiaeus sive Jehu of the famous Italian Jesuit Francesco Benci (1542–1594) was staged. In 1515 the first Polish Latin play, Ulyssis prudentia in adversis, was written and produced before the King and Queen on the Wawel. The actors were students from the Krakow Academy. In Christoph Hegendorff’s comedy De duobus adolescentibus three of the eleven scenes ended with a chorus or a monody. Remarkably, the tunes of these songs, among which a drinking song for a choir, are preserved in the Krakow print of 1525.40 Of the Polish Neo-Latin plays 28 complete texts still existed at the beginning of the nineteenth century, of which eleven have survived to the present day.41 Most plays survive in a manuscript now in the University Library of Uppsala.42 This manuscript, containing in total eight Jesuit dramas as well as some interludes, formerly belonged to the Jesuit College in Poznań. Among the plays in it were those of the famous Polish Jesuit Cnapius and the plays Odostratocles and Antithemius.

37 The section on Poland has profited much from Kevin Croxen’s ‘Thematic and Generic Medievalism’ and Stender-Petersen’s Tragoediae Sacrae. See also Axer, ‘Notes on the Early Jesuit Theatre in Poland’. 38 Borowski, Iter Polono-Belgo-Ollandicum. 39 See Borowski, Iter Polono-Belgo-Ollandicum, pp. 157–58. 40 Ludi Christophori Hegendorphini et de duobus adolescentibus et de sene amatore (Krakow: Hieronymus Vietor, 1525); see Hagenau, Polnisches Theater und Drama, pp. 203– 04. It can be induced from manuscript notes in the margins of one of the copies that the text was used for exercises at the Krakow Academy. Hegendorfin must actually have written it for the Lubranski Academy in Poznan where he worked. 41 Croxen, ‘Thematic and Generic Medievalism’, p. 265 and p. 289, n. 2, on the manuscripts of which one important one was lost during the nineteenth century. 42 Codex Upsaliensis R 380, described extensively by Stender-Petersen in his Tragoediae sacrae. See also Winniczuk, ‘Some Observations on Jesuit School Drama in Poland’. During the war between Poland and Sweden 1650–1660 the manuscript was taken to Sweden by Klas Rålamb, councillor and ambassador of Sweden.



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Most of the Polish dramas in Latin were written by Jesuits, who founded their first school at Braniewo in 1564. As Kevin Croxen has shown, many of these dramas retained some medieval traits, including an immense length, strophic choral odes that have no relationship with antiquity, and the structuring principle of the ‘sacramental psychology’. As a matter of fact, their other source of inspiration was medieval religious and secular drama. All plays were meant for performance, with the possible exception of the humanist plays by Simon Simonides and Joannes Joncre. Stender-Petersen and Winniczuk both discerned several dramatic subgenres, viz. historical, moral, hagiographical and demonic drama. However, the Renaissance playwrights moulded these medieval categories into the scheme of the humanist-classical opposition of comedy and tragedy. The themes of Polish Jesuit drama are the same as in other countries, treated in the same Senecan tragic style with rhetoric, horror, violent passion and crimes. Often allusions to phrases from Seneca’s plays are found, while the comedies and interludes are modelled upon the comedies of Plautus and Terence. The lengthy plays, always observing the five-act rule, contain many speaking and mute characters. Some of them are introduced by prologues in Latin and in Polish, which are informative, giving the exposition of the plot, rather than apologetic. The choral odes deal with themes that are relevant to the action. A remarkable feature is the connections the plays bear to contemporary problems that concern the situation in Poland and school-life. For instance, the follies and vices of the epoch and of Polish noblemen are alluded to, and the political, social and economic situations were commented upon. The Polish playwright best known is Simon Simonides or Szymon Szymonowic (1558–1629) who as a lyric poet was called the Polish Pindar. His most famous work was his Polish poem Sielanki (‘Pastorals’, 1614). Simonides, who was of Armenian descent, also enjoyed European fame for his Latin works, for which he was presented the laurel by Pope Clement VIII. Among his learned relations were Isaacus Casaubonus (1559–1614), Janus Dousa (1545–1604) and Justus Lipsius (1547–1606). Although there is no evidence for it, it is assumed that he studied in the Low Countries.43 After his studies, he became a private teacher. This erudite humanist wrote two plays: Castus Ioseph (1587), which may have been inspired by Cornelius Crocus’s Ioseph (1535) or by its Polish paraphrase entitled Żywot 43 See Głębicka, Szymon Szymonowic, pp. 7–8; Borowski, Iter Polono-Belgo-Ollandicum, p. 87.

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Józefa by the important Polish poet and prose author Mikołaj Rej (1505– 1569); and Pentesilea (1618).44 These are tragedies of a (Senecan) length of 1757 and 1585 lines respectively and a five-act structure, but a Greek— Pindaric—chorus structure of strophe, antistrophe and epode. Castus Ioseph, on the seduction of Joseph by Potiphar’s wife and his refusal, is exceptional for several reasons.45 One reason is that the woman is given the name of Jempsar. For this name, there is a precedent in Girolamo Fracastoro’s poem Ioseph (published posthumously in 1555). A second reason is that the play focuses heavily on Jempsar’s emotions. In spite of its Senecan tone, the story of Castus Ioseph has the same style and structure as Euripides’ Hippolytos but for the last 300 lines. For instance, the prologue by the Malus Demon closely resembles Aphrodite’s opening monologue in Hippolytos, the scene of Joseph and his famuli (ll. 94–236) equates that of Hippolytos and his therapeuontes (ll. 88–120), and the first choral ode (ll. 237–92) bears close resemblances to Euripides’ first choral ode (ll. 121–75) in the translation by Gasparus Stiblinus (1526–1562?), published by the Basle printer Joannes Oporinus in 1559.46 The first lines may serve as an example:

44 On Simonides, see Chrzanowski, Tragedya S. Szymonowicza Castus Joseph; Głębicka, Szymon Szymonowic, on Castus Ioseph, see pp. 30–44 and the references on p. 30, n. On Crocus, see elsewhere in this volume, p. 311. A study on the Latin text was made by by Józef Kallenbach (Dramat ‘Castus Joseph’), and a modern edition of the Polish translation by Stanislaw Goslawski (facs. en transcr.) was made by Konrad Górski and Teresa Kaufmanova. On the Polish play by Rej (The Life of Joseph, printed Krakow, 1545), see Borowski, Iter Polono-Belgo-Ollandicum, pp. 158–59: ‘Mikolaj Rej considerably expanded the plot of the original Latin drama, since he narrated the whole of “Joseph’s story” instead of focussing on its dramatic episode concerning Potiphar’s wife only, as Crocus did.’ 45 I am grateful to Wojciech Ryczek, Andrzej Borowski and Michal Choptiany for their kind help in providing me with the texts of Simonides’s plays. It is curious that Castus Ioseph is not discussed in Lebeau’s Salvator mundi. 46 These two choral odes are identical in length, content and mythological allusions, Simonides only adding the name of Potiphar’s wife Jempsar and a Faetifer; see also Głębicka, Szymon Szymonowic, pp. 32–33. The similarities between the two stories had already been noted. From the ‘Praefatio et argumentum Gaspari Stiblini in Hippolytum’, Euripides, Hippolytus, transl. Stiblinus, p. 203: ‘Hippolytus innocentiae et castitatis insigne praebet exemplum, quae aliquoties malorum hominum libidine in discrimen vocantur, ita tamen, ut fatigentur, non extinguantur. Sic castus Joseph in Aegypto impudicae mulieris calumnia valde quidem periclitatus est, sed tandem post afflictiones et carceres eo clarior emicuit’. In a copy in the University Library of Geneva it is written in a 16th-century hand: ‘In hac persona (Hipp.) proponitur alius Josephus, pius ac probus, in Phaedra alia femina impuda, quae nil nisi voluptates magni facit.’ (Quoted after Kallenbach, Dramat ‘Castus Ioseph’, p. 3). See also ibid., pp. 5–6.



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Simonides

Euripides

Strophe I Petra celebris est hic Petra quaedam dicitur esse, quaedam, vitrea dis aqua quae marinas extillet aquas, fontemque expositum urnis saxo effundens ex abrupto vertice iaculans supremo. fontem replendis urnis uberem. Apud hanc amica quaeUbi quaedam mea amica dam est mea, flumineis purpureas vestes pepla liquoribus fluvialibus undis tinguens superque ardua dorsa rupis lavit et super apricae in sole aprico expoliens; ea atrum terga rupis deposuit: a qua nuntium mihi insusurravit. ad me fama pervenit Antistrophe I Sontica Iempsar ictam tabido peste aegra domi occulere reginam decumbere morbo membra et taeniolis caput obnuseque domi continuere bere flavum, eamque ac linteis tenuibus diem abisse tertiam caput oblevare. muneribus Cereris Tertium autem iam diem esse ambrosium os suum audio, ex quo ambrosio ex quo abstinet, cor tacito dolore ore non libaverit cibum, ulro exedens poeneque terminum Orci sed abstinuerit a Cereris donis. saucia ante tempus appellans Ad haec occulto extabescentem morbo properare ad funestae mortis metam. The equation of Hippolytus and Joseph as chaste boys being seduced was already established in the preface to Stiblina’s translation of Hippolytus: ‘Hippolytus innocentiae et castitatis praebet exemplum, quae aliquoties malorum hominum libidine in discrimen vocantur, ita tamen, ut fatigentur, non exstinguantur. Sic Josephus castus in Aegypto impudicae mulieris calumnia valde quidem periclitatus est, sed tandem post afflictiones et carceres eo clarior emicuit.’ (‘Hippolytus gives an example of innocence and chastity that regularly are brought into danger by the lust of wicked people, but to such an extent that they are fatigued, but never fully destroyed. In the same way chaste Joseph in Egypt is endangered by the calumny of an unchaste woman, but finally, after afflictions and imprisonment, he shone the more brightly’).

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Such an identification clearly fits in the exegetical tradition of the story of Joseph, as can be substantiated by a quotation from St Ambrose, Ioseph: ‘Sic igitur nobis propositus est sanctus Ioseph tamquam speculum castitatis’ (‘Thus, saint Joseph is proposed to us as a mirror of chastity’).47 But Christian tradition was progressive, and in addition a typological explanation was given by, for instance, St Isidore, Allegoriae: ‘Ioseph […], qui venditus est a fratribus et in Aegypto sublimatus, Redemptorem nostrum significat a populo Iudaeorum in manus persequentium traditum et nunc in gentibus exaltatum’ (‘Joseph, sold by his brothers and exalted in Egypt, signifies our Saviour, delivered in the hands of the prosecutors by the Jewish people, and now exalted among the gentiles’).48 Głębicka points at another possible interpretation. A clue in this direction is the fact that the play is dedicated to a representative of the Polish Counter-Reformation, Stanisław Sokołowski, Canon of Krakow, who had been Simonides’s teacher. The nucleus in this interpretation is that Jempsar looks upon Joseph—a prefiguration of Christ—as a beautiful man, not seeing his divine nature. She may well represent Arian heretics and other antitrinitarians, who denied Christ’s divinity and only looked upon him as a special human being.49 A Polish translation of the play by Stanisław Gosławski (d. 1635) was published in Krakow in 1597.50 Pentesilea deals with the story of the Amazon bearing that name, loosely based on the Posthomerica by Quintus Smyrnaeus (4th c. ad), Servius’s Commentary on Virgil’s Aeneid 1, 481 and Dictys Cretensis’s Ephemeris Belli Troiani.51 Penthesilea killed an ally Amazon queen. To be purified of her crime, she went to Priam. In return for Priam’s help, Penthesilea, with her Amazons, entered the Trojan War on the side of the Trojans, in the final year, after the death of Hector. She was slain by Achilles. There are many dramatis personae in the tragedy: Penthesilea, Amazones, Chorus ex virginibus Troianis, Taltybius, Priamus, Andromacha, Astianax, Nutrix, Aethra, Nuntius, Aeneas, Deidamia, Coetus feminarum, Theano, Tres milites saucii, 47 Ambrosius, Ioseph, PL14, col. 642A. 48 Isidorus, Allegoriae, PL 83, col. 107A. 49 Głębicka, Szymon Szymonovic, pp. 39–40. A year before the publication of Castus Ioseph, Sokołowski published a collection of sermons Iustus Ioseph sive in Iesu Christi Domini nostri mortem et passionem (Krakow 1586). While Sokołowski focused on Joseph’s righteousness (iustitia), his pupil Szymonowic stresses his chastity (castitas). 50 Gosławski, Castus Iozeph (1597). 51 See also IJsewijn, Companion, 1, p. 243; Głębicka, Szymon Szymonowic, pp. 142–56. A transcription of the play was made by Jan-Wilhelm Beck (Regensburg) in 2006, which was kindly handed over to me by Wojciech Ryczek.



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and Nuntius alter. Just like Castus Ioseph, the play has the structure of a classical tragedy, including a parodos, episodia, stasima and an exodos. Pentesilea was translated into Polish by Ksawier Żubowski (Warsaw, 1778). The other famous Polish author, who was also a lexicographer, is Father Gregorius Cnapius S.J. or Grzegorz Knap (1564–1639), of whom three plays are extant, Tragoedia Faelicitas (1596), Philopater seu Pietas (1596) and Eutropius (1604).52 The latter play, of which the full title runs: Eutropius tragoedia de immunitate ecclesiarium (‘Eutropius, a Tragedy on the Immunity of the Church’) is about the Byzantine saint Procopius (d. 410), who assisted St John Chrysostomus in his imprisonment and was falsely accused of attempting to set the cathedral of Constantinople on fire. The actual hero of the play is John Chrysostomus, who defended the right of asylum of the Church. The play was intended for a single performance in 1604 and the audience of Cardinal Bernardus Macieiovius or Maciejowski (1548–1608), to whom the play was dedicated.53 The sources of the play were the fifthcentury Byzantine historian Zosimus and the Annales ecclesiastici of the Italian Church historian Caesar Baronius (Cesare Baronio, 1538–1607). Philopater seu pietas (‘Philopater, or Piety’) is a tragedy about a dead king, Timolaus (‘Feared by his people’), and his two sons, Telegonus (‘Born from afar’) and Philopater (‘Loving his father’). As the ‘Argumentum’ indicates: Nec uter eorum dignior regno foret Aperuit, at se his iussit obiici mortuum, Ut tela qui sors mittere in corpus patris Abnueret, ille regium caperet thronum Qui vero promptus ferro patrem figeret, Expelleretur impius regno procul. (He did not indicate which one would be more worthy of the dominion, but he ordered that after his death he would be brought to them and that the one who would refuse to throw missiles at his corpse, would receive the throne. The one who would be eager to stick a sword in his father, that is the impious one, would be expelled from the kingdom; ll. 3–8).

The elder one does not hesitate to throw a spear into his father’s corpse, and is expelled, whereas the younger is given the power because he refuses to do so. 52 Modern edition by Winniczuk. The plays are analysed by Stender-Petersen, Tragoediae Sacrae, pp. 58–80, 34–57 and 81–95 respectively. 53 ‘Ad Illustrissimum et Reverendissimum D. Bernardum Macieiovium Dramatis Spectatorem’, Cnapius, Tragoediae, ed. Winninczuk, p. 169.

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jan bloemendal Ista pietatem ceu videtis actio Exhibet: adeste, nati, adeste ac discite, Quonam parentes debeant coli modo. (That action shows, as you see, piety. Watch, children, watch and learn how parents must be honored; ll. 15–17).

One of the plays best known now is the anonymous Dramma comicum Odostratocles (after 1597).54 This Senecan play with a happy ending on the salvation of a sinful soul by the intercession of the Holy Virgin is structured in five acts, which are divided by lyric odes in the vernacular, with a prologue and a summary of each act, also in Polish. The bandit Odostratocles (from the Greek ὁδός, στρατός and—κλῆς: ‘He who is famous for his warlike road’) never ceases to pray his daily Ave Maria and enjoys her protection against Satan and his machinations. The cult of Mary is a very important theme, witness, for instance, these words of a priest to the protagonist: Quis hanc patronam, pressus quibusvis malis, Supplex expetiit nec propitiam expertus est? Quis in ruinis, maximis in casibus Huius non auxiliatricem sensit manum? Quis huius fisus ope spe decidit sua? (Who has ever, by whatsoever sorrows oppressed, Implored the help of this patroness without experiencing her mercy? Who has ever, when he was in ruins, in utter distress, Not experienced her hand to be helpful? Who is ever deceived in his hope when he trusted in her help?)

In the end, the drama even abandons dramatic illusion and shades in a praise of Mary, of which the first stanza runs: O Virgo, caelorum decus! O Virgo supra caelites! O Mater et Virgo simul! O Virgo, regina omnium! Virgo pudoris lilium! Caelestis illa planneta, Sabaea vincens germina! (O Virgin, glory of heaven! O Virgin, above the angels! 54 See Winniczuk, ‘Dramma comicum Odostratocles’ and Stender-Petersen, Tragoediae Sacrae, pp. 149–74.



central and eastern european countries651 O Mother and Virgin alike! O Virgin, queen of all men! Virgin, lily of modesty! You, star in heaven Who surpass Arab herbs!)

A similar story is told in Antithemius (written between 1618 and 1624), a Jesuit play in which Angels and Devils are struggling for the sinner’s soul.55 The play is attributed to Mateusz Bembus (1567–1645), rector of the Jesuit College of Poznań. The moral play consists of a series of tableaux of the life of that age and time, divided into five acts. In it Antithemius (‘Mr AntiJustice’), a magnate who abandons himself to whatever he likes, is returning from a distant journey. The man turns out to be condemned by God and only a few hours remain for repentance. In this play the everyman theme confronts the spectator or reader with the big issues of morality and theodicy. A dramatic effect is produced by the last scene in which the soul of the protagonist—his body had been torn to pieces—loudly cries farewell to his pleasant life: Vae vae mihi! Vae perditae! Vae vae mihi! Valete cuncta delicata gaudia! Ioci valete, lusibus dati dies! Valete, amici, filiorum amabilis Cohors, non videnda iam amplius! […] Valeto, munde! Corpus improbum, vale! Tellus, valeto! Caelitum sedes, vale! Me saeva sontem Taenari faux abripit, Ponit caminis Tartari! Heu, aeternitas, Aeternitas, aeternitas, aeternitas! (Woe on me, wretched soul, woe on me! Farewell, all refined joys! Farewell, jokes, days spent on games! Farewell, friends, nice band of Sons, whom I will not see anymore! […] Farewell, world, farewell, damned corpse! Farewell, earth! Heaven, farewell! The cruel mouth of hell takes me away And puts me in the furnaces of Tartarus. Woe, eternity, Eternity, eternity, eternity!)

55 Modern edition by Dürr-Durski and Winiczuk. See also Backvis, ‘L’“Antithemius” et le motif “social”’; Stender-Petersen, Tragoediae Sacrae, pp. 175–204.

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One of the choruses of the play—the Chorus rusticorum, an interlude in Polish after the third act—has had its own history. This bitter satire on the exploitation of peasants by the lord was detached from the whole and already in the seventeenth century published separately under the title Lament chłopski na pany.56 The history play was a genre the Jesuits employed with some enthusiasm too, inspired especially by the Annales ecclesiastici (published between 1588 and 1607 as a rebuttal of the Reformation) by Cardinal Caesar Baronius (1538–1607). History provided material for tragedies, i.e. ‘representations in drama of the acts of illustrious persons by means of a miserable and terrible ending that moderate feelings of compassion and fear.’57 The anonymous Poznań play Mauritius (written between c. 1604 and c. 1611) represents the story of the unhappy Eastern Roman Emperor of that name who was murdered in Chalcedon by Emperor Phocas.58 Mauritius had refused to ransom Christian soldiers who had been captured by the King of the Huns Chaianus. Thus he was the cause of the massacre of the hostages who impeached Mauritius’s soul before God’s throne. He dies repenting and enters heaven, saved by his remorse. According to Baronius and the anonymous author of Mauritius, the Emperor, who had been an ‘example of a good Christian’, nevertheless ‘deserved to experience God’s wrath’.59 In Mauritius, as in Cnapius’s Eutropius, the Jesuit author tried to generate tragic tension by a sudden change of fortune of the central figure that caused him to be cut into two complementary parts. The Emperor is both a ruthless tyrant and (after a crisis) a God-given, repentant hero; the main theme of the play is his conversion from sinner to repentant, from guilt to atonement. Boleslaus furens, by the otherwise unknown Joannes Joncre,60 is a very lengthy Senecan drama of 3114 lines with 35 characters. The play, of which 56 See also Dąbrówka, ‘Anything But a Game: Corpus Christi in Poland’, p. 263. 57 Alessandro Donati, Ars poetica libri tres (Bologna, 1659), p. 211: ‘imitationes dramaticae actionum illustrium personarum, per miserabiles et terribiles exitus temperantes affectus misericordiae ac timoris.’ 58 See Baronius, Annales ecclesiastici, 8 on the years 592–604, passim, esp. col. 50, 144, 153, 178–80 of the ed. Cologne, 1685. A modern edition of the play is found in Tragoediae Mauritius-Belisarius, ed. Piszczek; cf. Psizczek, ‘Die Geschichte vom Kaiser Mauritius auf der Bühne der Kollegien Societatis Iesu in Polen’ and Stender-Petersen, Tragoediae Sacrae, pp. 98–111. 59 ‘[…] specimen probatissimi Christiani’ and ‘Dei vindictam meruit experiri.’ 60 On the basis of some allusions to Spanish rivers, Jerzy Axer, the editor of Boleslaus, suggests that Joncre is a Spaniard (Joncre, Boleslaus, ed. Axer, pp. 10–11).



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only a manuscript version is extant, must have been written between 1571 and 1588, because it is dedicated to two sons of Duke Basilius, one of whom was born in 1571 and the other died in 1588. The tragedy’s subject is the Polish King Bolesław the Bold martyring St Stanisław (or Stanislaus) Szcepanowsky (1030–1079), Bishop of Krakow. The Bishop criticized the King for his immoral behavior and excommunicated him. Boleslaw accused Stanislaus of treason and sent his men to execute him, but they did not dare to. Therefore, the King himself killed the Bishop when he was celebrating Mass. Joncre’s source must have been Jan Długosz’s Vita Sanctissmi Stanislai (1460–1465). The Prologue tells the story, but in his last lines he adds a kind of interpretation: Huic saevi nocent Inquieti amores: ecce quam tristis venit Incensa flammis pectora atque aestu tenens. (His cruel, restless loves do harm the King. See how sad he shows up with his heart incensed with fire and fervour; ll. 35–37)

It was not only Polish authors who were active in Poland; others came to Poland. In the first half of the sixteenth century in particular, Dutch dissidents came in, among whom the schoolmaster and playwright Guilielmus Gnapheus. After his exile from Holland he worked in Elbing and Königsberg where he wrote his plays Morosophus (‘The Foolish Wise’, 1541), Hypocrisis (‘Hypocrisy’, 1544) and Eloquentiae triumphus (‘Triumph of Eloquence’, 1545).61 This, too, attests to the international scope of humanistic drama. Concluding Remarks These observations on early modern Latin plays and theatre productions in Eastern European countries all the more illustrate the diverse ways of Neo-Latin drama and the multifarious themes that were used in drama: historical, hagiographical, biblical, moral and allegorical. It also illustrates the variety in development of several countries in Central and Eastern Europe. However, one thing they have in common is that Latin drama was an international and pan-European genre that, along with students and

61 See the contribution on the Low Countries, pp. 305–06 and 321–23. On Gnapheus in Poland, see Demoed, Wie van gevaar houdt, moet dat met de dood bekopen, Ch. 2, and Borowski, Iter Polono-Belgo-Ollandicum, pp. 156–57.

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other humanists, crossed borders, from Western to Central and Eastern Europe (and vice versa) as well. Another central point is the active role of the Jesuits in writing, performing and spreading Neo-Latin dramas. Further Reading Birnbaum, Marianna D., ‘Humanism in Hungary’, Rabil, Renaissance Humanism: Foundations, Forms and Legacy, vol. 2: Humanism Beyond Italy (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1988, pp. 293–334. Borowski, Andrzej, Iter Polono-Belgo-Ollandicum: Cultural and Literary Relationships between the Commonwealth of Poland and the Netherlands in the 16th and 17th centuries (Krakow: Księgarna Akademicka, 2007). Budiša, Dražen, ‘Humanism in Croatia’, Rabil, Renaissance Humanism: Foundations, Forms and Legacy, vol. 2: Humanism Beyond Italy (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1988), pp. 265–92. Farkas, Jenö, ‘Le théâtre scholaire religieux en Hongrie et les Lumières’ http://www .palamart.hu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=187%3Ajen-farkas -le-theatre-scolaire-religieux-en-hongrie-et-les-lumieres&catid=9%3Afrancia-nyelv& Itemid=6&lang=fr. Klaniczay, Tibor (ed.), Handbuch der ungarischen Literatur ([Budapest]: Corvina Kiadó, 1977). ——, A History of Hungarian Literature (Budapest: Corvina Kiadó, 1983). Lencek, Rado L., ‘Humanism in the Slavic Cultural Tradition with Special Reference to the Czech Lands’, Rabil, Renaissance Humanism: Foundations, Forms and Legacy, vol. 2: Humanism Beyond Italy (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1988, pp. 335–75. Shore, Paul, Ch. 19: ‘Counter-Reformation Drama’, Alexandra Bamji, Geert H. Janssen and Mary Laven, The Ashgate Research Companion to the Counter-Reformation (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2013), pp. 355–372. Staud, Géza, A Magyarorszàgy Jezsuita Iskolae Szinjàtéhok Forràsai 1561–1773—Fontes Ludorum Scenicorum in Scholis S.J. Hungariae (Budapest: Magyar Tudományos Akadémia, 1984–1994) 4 vols.



central and eastern european countries655 Appendix Main authors

Johannes Campanus Vodnianus or Jan Campanus Vodňanský (from Vodnaňy in South-Bohemia, 1572–1622) was a professor of Greek at the university of Prague who wrote works in Latin, Greek, Czech and German. He was also a composer, pedagogue and dramatist. In the year of his death he converted from a Hussite to a Roman Catholic. He wrote a comedy Břetislav and Jitka (Bretislaus and Judith) that was censured. Works Bretislaus, comoedia nova (1614), ed. Král, 1915. Studies Odložilik, Mistr Jan Campanus; Winter, Magister Campanus; Diabač, Biographie des […] Campanus; Campanus, Bretislav, ed. Král; Krömer, Die Magister de philosophischen Fakultät der Universität zu Prag, pp. 127 sqq.. Gregorius Cnapius S.J. or Grzegorz Knap/Knapski (1564–1639) was a Polish Jesuit teacher, lexicographer and playwright. Father Cnapius took his monastic vows in 1585. He studied philosphy in Poznan and Pultusk, and theyology in Vilnius from 1594 tot 1598. Then he was a prefect of the school in Poznan, and he was ordained a priest. Works Tragoedia Faelicitas (1596), Philopater seu Pietas (1596) and Eutropius tragoedia de immunitate ecclesiarium (Eutropius, a tragedy on the immunity of the Church, 1604), ed. Winniczuk, 1965. Studies Stender-Petersen, Tragoediae Sacrae, pp. 58–80, 34–57 and 81–95; Ulinaite, Baroque Literature in Lithuania. Janus Amos Comenius or Jan Amos Komenský (1592–1670) was an important Czech playwright, theologian, philosopher, reformer, pedagogue and prolific writer. After his studies of theology and philosophy in Herborn (1611) and Heidelberg (1613) he became a rector in Přerov (1614) and a teacher in Silesia (1618). After the Battle of White Mountain (1620) he, a Protestant, was forced to flee, and he went to Leszno. After many travels, he became a Bishop of the Moravian Brethren’s Church in Elbing. From 1650 to 1654 he was a Professor in Sárospatak, at the first Hungarian Protestant College.

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Works Diogenes Cynicus redivivus (Diogenes Cynicus Alive Again, 1640), ed. Nováková, 1973, pp. 437–500 transl. Mittelstadt 1970; Abrahamus patriarcha (Abraham, the Patriarch, 1641), ed. Nováková, 1973, pp. 501–39; Schola ludus (School as a Game, 1654), transl. Schola Ludus d.i. Die Schule als Spiel, 1907. Studies Komor, ‘The Problems of Technological Culture in “Schola Ludus”’; Druschky, Würdigung der Schrift des Comenius Schola ludus; Kozik, Sorrowful and Heroic Life of John Amos Comenius. Simon Simonides or Szymon Szymonowic (1558–1629) was a Polish poet and playwright in the vernacular and in Latin. After his studies in the liberal arts, he continued his studies in France and the Low Countries. In 1583 he returned to Poland to become a teacher in Lviv. In 1590 he received a knighthood. He also directed the Zamosć. Works Castus Ioseph (1587), ed. Chrzanowski, transl. Goslawski; Penthesilea (1618), transl. Żubowski. Studies Chrzanowski, Tragedya S. Szymonowicza Castus Joseph; Głębicka, Szymon Szymonowic, pp. 30–44; Kallenbach (Dramat ‘Castus Joseph’)-.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

LATIN DRAMA IN THE NORDIC COUNTRIES* Raija Sarasti-Wilenius Among the numerous works of Latin literature produced in Denmark (which then included Norway and Iceland) and Sweden (which then included Finland) in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, drama is conspicuous by its relative absence.1 Thus this article does not tell a story of the flourishing Neo-Latin drama and its prominent writers in the early modern period in the Nordic countries. Rather it consists of a few notes concerning Latin drama, or phenomena closely related to it that can be traced in the margins of vernacular drama. The playwrights used native languages almost exclusively and only a few Latin plays were composed. Latin plays were performed, but they were either classical dramas or imported from other countries, from Germany and the Netherlands in particular, or written by foreigners visiting or having a connection of some sort with one of the Nordic countries. The absence of Nordic drama in Latin invites the question of why Nordic scholars, who in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries eagerly produced Latin verses and orations and had them printed, did not direct their energies to the writing of Latin dramas too. Was it possibly because there were many dramas, classical and contemporary, written by European playwrights already available? Why make the effort since good plays were there ready to be staged? Considering that the same generations of scholars educated according to the principles of studia humanitatis did not content themselves with the wide range of handbooks on rhetoric and epistolography written by European scholars but instead published their own, the availability of relevant material hardly suffices to explain the situation. Perhaps drama is a form of art that was not at home in the Nordic culture, as Lynette R. Muir suggests in her work on biblical drama in medieval * I have profited from discussions with several Nordic colleagues working on the field of Neo-Latin literature. My special thanks go to Minna Skafte Jensen, Karen SkovgaardPetersen and Peter Zeeberg in Copenhagen, Vibeke Roggen in Oslo, Sigurđur Pétursson in Reykjavik, and Hans Helander and Moa Ekbom in Uppsala for their help and advice. 1 Cf. Skafte Jensen, ‘Denmark’, p. 33. For a brief historical survey of the Nordic countries, see Kajanto, ‘A historical note’, pp. 13–16.

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Europe. She argues that biblical drama was absent in the Nordic countries partly due to the late date of their conversion to Christianity, and partly for the following reasons: ‘Perhaps also the strong tribal and family traditions of the Northmen were less suited to community drama than to poetry and saga. The court and aristocracy were well versed in popular epics and romances of the day, and the Church, at least in Sweden, has some dramatic forms of its own, but once again the Roman ‘civilisation’ in its most literal sense of the civis2 or town is absent’.3 As far as folk poetry and saga are concerned, it should be noted that they were often of a dramatic character, including substantial portions of spoken and sung dialogues. It worked the other way round too: folk poetry had a strong impact on Nordic school drama.4 Muir’s fundamental idea is that not only the Roman Church but Roman occupation in the past exerted a great and lasting influence on the development of religious drama. Although in the Middle Ages the Catholic Church also prevailed in the Nordic countries, biblical drama did not make itself felt there to such an extent as it did in the parts of Europe which had been occupied and civilized by the Roman Empire during its Christian era. This leads us to trace Latin drama from the Catholic period of the Nordic countries. The main section of this chapter attempts to position Latin drama in relation to vernacular drama after the Reformation and the third section discusses panegyric and propagandistic functions of two Latin dramas on a Swedish king. Before the Reformation Medieval church drama was introduced into the Nordic countries by the Catholic Church but only a few plays have survived. Medieval church art, which was influenced by dramatic performances, suggests the kind of settings and characters employed. A number of limestone paintings in Danish churches show, for example, that the figure of the jester was often found in dramatic performances.5 A number of fragments of Breviary texts containing portions of the liturgy for Easter Day (Visitatio sepulchri) 2 Instead of civitas, Muir erroneously uses the Latin civis to mean ‘town’. 3 Muir, The Biblical Drama, p. 8. I am indebted to Jan Bloemendal for pointing this matter out to me. 4 Peterson, Studier i svenska skoldramat, pp. 63–64. The Swedish playwright Johannes Messenius wanted to incorporate the oldest and most beautiful folk songs into his plays. 5 Krogh, Ældre dansk teater, pp. 19–20. See also Ringbom, ‘Reflections on Liturgical Drama’, pp. 737–38.



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and for the feasts of saints have survived.6 A simple liturgical Easter drama in Latin, known to have been performed in Linköping (southern Sweden), presents the three Marys at Jesus’s tomb in a conventional way. It belongs to the tradition of Visitatio sepulchri, or the visit of the women to the tomb, the oldest extant scene of the biblical drama.7 De uno peccatore qui promeruit gratiam (‘On the One Sinner Deserving Grace’), a Swedish play from the latter half of the fifteenth century, has a more markedly dramatic character. It was probably translated from a Latin original and was later printed under the title En syndares omvändelse (‘The Conversion of a Sinner’). It is about how a sinner is saved through Mary’s intercession and it was performed either in or outside the church in connection with one of the feast days dedicated to the Virgin Mary.8 The first time a topic on Danish history is encountered is in a mystery play titled Ludus de Sancto Canuto Duce, which tells the legend of Knud Lavard (Canute the Lord), a Danish prince and earl, later Duke of Schleswig, who was murdered on 7 January 1131, probably by his cousin. He was canonized in 1170 and his feast day was initially the day of his death, but later it was celebrated on 13 January. Dated around 1520, before the Reformation, the play is usually considered to belong to the tradition of medieval drama and particularly to Catholic saints’ plays.9 Another mystery play associated with the Catholic tradition in Denmark, the Danish Dorotheae Comedia (Comoedia de Sancta virgine Dorothea), was translated from a Latin original written by Kilian Reuter of Mellerstadt. In addition to the title ‘comoedia’, it has some other humanist features, but in general, it is regarded as a dramatic text characteristic of the late medieval period.10 Ludus de Sancto Canuto Duce is written in Danish but the introductory remarks between the lines of various characters are in Latin.11 This was a very usual method in various types of vernacular writings in the seventeenth century, and would not surprise readers used to such texts. 6 Petersen, ‘Another Visitatio Sepulchri’, pp. 16–20. See also Davidson, The QuasiDramatic St John Passions from Scandinavia and their Medieval Background. 7 Muir, The Biblical Drama, pp. 15, 140. See Davidson, Holy Week and Easter Ceremonies and Dramas from Medieval Sweden. 8 Krogh, Ældre dansk teater, p. 22; Peterson, Studier i svenska skoldramat, pp. 7–8. 9 Stedstrup, Ludus de Sancto Canuto, pp. 115–19. 10 Krogh, Ældre dansk teater, pp. 49–57; Neiiendam, Renaissanceteatret i Danmark, p. 13. For two other Danish school comedies from around 1530, shortly before the Reformation, see Stedstrup, Tre skolekomedier. 11 For example, Preco ad consiliarios; Illis descentibus de palatio, preco nuntians aduentum eorum, Regi dicens; Rex visis consiliarijs dicit gaudio, and so forth. Stedstrup, Ludus de Sancto Canuto Duce, pp. 17–19.

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In vernacular plays, often the title, stage directions, lists of roles and sometimes even prologues and epilogues were composed in Latin, which gives the impression that the structure or frames were controlled in Latin.12 Latin naturally served pedagogical purposes: plays were usually used in schools and Latin instructions were addressed to schoolboys and teachers. In the Nordic countries, we first come across schoolboys performing as actors in 1501.13 Morten Børup, humanist rector of the Latin school of Aarhus, introduced dramatic performances to his town by directing comedies and tragedies in which his pupils acted for their parents and other townspeople in a yearly feast called ‘Vor Store Frues Gilde’ (Convivium Magnae nostrae Dominae).14 In Sweden the first recorded occasions also go back to the beginning of the sixteenth century. For example, in 1506 pupils of Söderköping (Östergötland on the eastern coast) school performed a Resurrection mystery play.15 It is not clear to what extent, if any, medieval profane dramas, such as morality plays and farces, were performed in Nordic countries.16 There are evident traces of this tradition in the school drama of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, but the medieval features may equally well have been transmitted by means of foreign models as by a living native tradition. The Reformation entailed long-term consequences for theatre, as it did for cultural life in general: contacts with the developments which took place in Catholic Europe were cut for quite a long time. Medieval drama, which grew out of a Catholic tradition, largely disappeared; dramas pertaining to the worship of saints were forbidden and burial rituals enacted at Easter and other liturgical dramas were banished from the churches. However, processions of the Three Wise Men or Magi visiting the newborn Child Jesus at Epiphany had become so popular in the Nordic countries that after the Reformation, when it was no longer performed in churches, people took it upon themselves to hold these.17 Groups of schoolboys or 12 According to Janette Dillon, Latin passages and stage directions in English dramas may suggest a writer consciously addressing an audience less educated than himself. Dillon, Language and Stage, p. 116. 13 Overskou, Den danske Skueplads, p. 34. 14 Neiiendam, Renaissanceteatret i Danmark, p. 12. 15 Peterson, Studier i svenska skoldramat, p. 8. 16 A collection of Swedish and Latin comedies dealing with religious and profane subjects attributed to Henrik (d. 1500), Bishop of Linköping, has been mentioned in some early catalogues. Peterson, Studier i svenska skoldramat, p. 8. 17 For the visit of the Magi in medieval biblical drama, see Muir, The Biblical Drama, pp. 104–08.



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students wearing high paper caps performed the Three Wise Men’s journey to Bethlehem led by the star, the confrontation with Herod and the offering at the stable, based on the Gospel according to St Matthew. Carrying a star fixed on the top of a pole as their symbol the groups moved from house to house, usually begging for a coin for their performance.18 This custom has had a long life and, at least in Sweden and Finland, it still belongs to the traditions of Christmas and Epiphany.19 Drama in Schools and at Court In Sweden, the Catholic Church was deprived of its privileges in 1527 and in Denmark the Reformation triumphed only a decade later. Although Passion plays and other dramatic performances based on the tradition of the Catholic Church were prohibited, reformers adopted drama as a medium for their own work.20 Luther was an eager advocate of school drama which ensured that school drama also became an inseparable part of education in Protestant schools in the Nordic countries. School drama taught oral fluency in Latin, which helped the students to imbibe the moral teaching of the play. It showed the rhetorical finesse of classical authors in practice and efficiently trained memory, pronunciation and public performance, all important aspects of the teaching of eloquence. Moreover, it refreshed students’ minds exhausted by prolonged studies as Jacob Chronander (c. 1620–after 1669), Professor at the Academy of Turku (the old capital of Finland), mentions when praising the benefits of school comedy in the prologue to his Swedish drama Surge (1647): ‘Indeed, the acting of comedies invigorates a student’s mind and memory, which (sometimes) deteriorate in the course of long studies, and if a student wants to successfully carry through his studies, he needs to be healthy, light-hearted and happy.’21 The reorganization of education launched by Melanchthon had a longlasting impact on education in the Nordic countries. The Bible and the Humanities formed the basis of education. Terence was recorded in the

18 Krogh, Ældre dansk teater, pp. 286–302; Ljunggren, Svenska dramat, pp. 101–02. 19 Steene, ‘Swedish Drama’, p. 586. 20 Muir, The Biblical Drama, pp. 160–61. 21 Chronander, Tvenne komedier, p. 4: ‘Ja aff comediers speelande wederqwekes och vpfriskes ens studerande persons sinne och minne, hwilket vundertijden aff långwarachtig studeringar mycket förswages och förderfwes, och om en studiosus wil med frucht sina studier handla, så moste han wara frisk, lustigh och glad.’

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Danish and Swedish school orders in the second half of the sixteenth century and was regularly read and acted at schools.22 Terence played such an important role that one of the two Professors of Eloquence at the University of Copenhagen was called professor Terentianus.23 Speaking of Terence, the plays of Cornelius Schonaeus (the Christian Terence) also became very popular. The editions of Schonaeus’s Josephus, Daniel, Triumphus Christi, Pentecoste and Dyscoli published by Johannes Gezelius the Elder, Bishop of Turku in 1670, testify to their frequent use in the grammar schools of the Grand Duchy of Finland.24 Since drama was a means utilized to disseminate the ideas of the Reformation, the step from Latin to the vernacular was soon to be taken. Many grammar schools and universities regularly mounted theatre performances at the time of large fairs or other popular events when many people from the countryside visited towns and cities. Although plays in Latin could offer pleasures beyond the meaning of their words for townspeople not versed in Latin, it soon became necessary to employ vernacular languages in performances which were open to the public.25 The idea was that both those who perform and those who watch may be instructed. In this way school drama reached all social classes and came into close contact with other dramatic forms of the common people.26 Melanchthon’s former student at Wittenberg, Absalon Pederssøn Beyer (1528–1575), initiated vernacular dramatic performances in Bergen (Norway) in the 1570s. One of the three plays Absalon Pederssøn arranged in 1571 was a comedy Studentes performed on the Bergen churchyard. The five-act play was written according to the Terentian model by another of Melanchthon’s students, the German Christopher Stymmelius (or Stummel/Stummelius, 1525–1588), and it was first published in Frankfurt an der Oder in 1549; a revised edition came out in Stettin in 1579.27 Warning against dangers of student life, Stymmelius’s play became very popular and it was frequently performed in the Nordic countries.28 Even in universities, dramatic 22 Roggen, ‘Det antikke drama’, p. 25; Hall, Sveriges almänna läröverksstadgar, p. 37; Peterson, Studier i svenska skoldramat, pp. 61–62. See also Krogh, Ældre dansk teater, p. 64; Neiiendam, Renaissanceteatret, pp. 19–22. For Terence as one of Melanchthon’s favourite writers, see Parente, Religious Drama and the Humanist Tradition, pp. 20–21. 23 Krogh, Ældre dansk teater, p. 64; Neiiendam, Renaissanceteatret, p. 21. 24 On Schonaeus, see the contribution by Bloemendal, pp. 334–45 and 362–63. 25 Cf. Dillon, Language and Stage, p. 153. 26 Steene, ‘Swedish Drama’, p. 586; Peterson, Studier i svenska skoldramat, p. 59. 27 The title of the Stettin edition is Studentes, Comoedia de vita et moribus studiosorum. Lachmann, Die ‘Studentes’, pp. 2–6. 28 Bull, Norges litteratur, p. 44; Roggen, ‘Det antikke drama’, p. 26.



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Fig. 1. Title page Cornelius Schonaeus, Comedia Dyscoli [...] et nunc in Usum Scholarum Trivialium Magni Ducatus Finlandiae seorsim edita (Aboe: Johannes Winter, 1670).

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performances in connection with festivities, such as inaugurations and confirmation ceremonies, were often in vernacular languages. The sevenday-long inauguration ceremonies of the Academy of Turku, founded in 1640, included on the third day the performance of Stymmelius’s Comoedia Studiorum as a Swedish adaptation written by Johannes Johannis Gevalius (in 1589).29 The Swedish version of the play made a special point of showing how responsible parents restrict to a minimum the money they give to their sons, which motivates them to carry through diligently their studies, whereas those students who get as much money as they want often turn disobedient and extravagant.30 The Swedish language ensured that the parents of the students of the new university would understand the message of the play. The performance of the above-mentioned Jacob Chronander’s comedy Surge in connection with confirmation ceremonies (6 May 1647) in Turku was also aimed at an audience not versed in Latin. Influenced by Stymmelius’s play, Surge (‘Rise Up, or A Spectacle of Dili­ gence and Indolence’), deals with the contrasting academic careers of a conscientious and an irresponsible student. Latin is used only in the choral sections consisting of a couple of verses and in the names of the personified characters (such as Diligentia, Negligentia, Philosophia) and of characters named with common nouns (such as Mercator, Senex, Scriba).31 When school drama was mentioned for the first time in the Swedish school order in 1575, both Latin and Swedish were recommended. Thus the points of view of both the schoolboys (actors) and the audience were considered.32 The repertory of classical dramas was elsewhere widened by Latin plays written by humanists themselves but, in the Nordic countries, this stage or form of school drama left very few marks. Because of the pedagogical significance the staging of dramas had in schools and universities, it is possible, however, that more Latin plays were written than we know about today. Some plays were never printed and were lost, without 29 Michael Wexionius, Natales Academiae Aboensis (Aboae, 1648). 30 Klemming, Sveriges dramatiska literatur, pp. 8–9; Ljunggren, Svenska dramat, p. 213. 31 Chronander’s Bele-Snack (Wooing-Tell), which was meant to celebrate a noble wedding in 1649, presents the Lutheran ideal of the happy marriage, including scenes filled with anti-Catholic propaganda. The spokesman, who praises the bliss of marital life, is called Lutherius. One of the other main characters is named Acolastus according to Gnapheus’s play on Prodigal son (see p. 305–06). Schoolfield, ‘Finnish Drama’, 160; Ljunggren, Svenska dramat, pp. 518–26, 535–39. 32 In the regulations written out for the gymnasium of Linköping by Andreas Prytz in 1627, special emphasis is placed on the vernacular adaptations of dramas. According to them, pupils should be taught Coemoedias pias, facetas et jucundas, Suetico sermone quam proprissime reddere et interpretari. Wessén, Samuel Petri Brasck, p. 105.



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any trace of their existence. Some were even burnt by the writer himself.33 Plays by famous European writers were used and new editions of the plays were often printed in connection with their premiere. This was not the case, however, when Nicodemus Frischlinus’s Phasma was acted during the conferment ceremony of the University of Uppsala in 1640; no edition of the play is known to have been published but the interlude song has survived in print with notes.34 In order to hold the attention of the audience, music was often played, songs were sung and short comic interludes were performed between acts.35 It was usual for foreign plays in Latin to be translated into the vernacular languages; Macropedius’s Hecastus (1539) and Schonaeus’s Vitulus, which were published in Swedish translations in 1681 and 1685 respectively, are only two of many examples. Some writers composed plays by imitating the texts of classical authors.36 Two plays, Dido and Turnus, published in Copenhagen in 1591 by a Danish writer, Jacob Jacobsen Wolf (1554–1635), are compilations of extracts from Virgil’s Aeneid. Born in Odense, Wolf served for some time as a principal of Oslo school (1584–1594), where he compiled ‘an epitome or an introduction to Virgil for students’ as he himself describes his plays in the dedication to Christian IV of Denmark.37 His aim was to facilitate the reception of an ancient epic text by presenting it in dramatic form.38 In the dedication, Wolf envisions the staging of the text but his efforts at dramatizing Virgil’s text were not very convincing. No theatre performance is recorded and it is more likely that Wolf’s plays were mainly read in classrooms.39 Dido consists of verses excerpted from the first four books and Turnus from the six last books (VII–XII) of Aeneid. Both dramas are divided

33 Some references have survived, e.g. in 1521 Rector Christoffer Jepsen Ravensberg wrote a Latin play and his students performed it at the University of Copenhagen. See Krogh, Ældre dansk teater, p. 63; Neiiendam, Renaissanceteatret, p. 12. According to Johannes Schefferus’s bibliography, Laurentius Fornelius (1606–1673), Professor of Poetry at the University of Uppsala, composed some Latin comedies but when he was nearing his death he ensured that they were burnt. Schefferus, Svecia literata, p. 142. 34 Klemming, Sveriges dramatiska literatur, p. 25. 35 In the Latin school of Randers (Denmark), instrumental and vocal interludes as well as mime were performed between the acts of Plautus’s Aulularia in 1607. Neiiendam, Renaissanceteatret, p. 77. 36 For example, William Gager’s Dido (1583), Hippolytus (1592) and Ulysses redux (1592). 37 Krogh, Ældre dansk teater, p. 64. 38 Aware that his work might expose him to criticism, Wolf added the remark Ad Zoilum on the title page, a common custom of writers of the time. The name of Zoilus, a Cynic philosopher who criticized Homer, became proverbial and his name was used to prevent potential criticism. Helander, Neo-Latin Literature in Sweden, p. 311. 39 Cf. Ekrem, ‘Norway’, p. 72.

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into five acts. In Dido each act has two to five scenes, in Turnus, which is much longer, each act is divided into four to thirteen scenes of varying length. Besides the division into acts and scenes, all Wolf has done is to provide a short introduction and a list of the characters playing roles in each scene. The lines are quoted from Aeneid, though in a few cases Wolf has made slight alterations, by adapting Virgil’s lines more freely to better suit his purposes. The chorus elaborates the story in the passages that are not direct speeches made by Virgil’s characters. Apart from Wolf’s Aeneid compilation, the school drama produced in the Nordic countries was basically vernacular, flourishing in Denmark 1570–1620 and in Sweden until around the middle of the seventeenth century. Luther warmly recommended the dramatization of biblical topics, with the exception of the Passion.40 In the prologue of his translation of the apocryphal books of Judith and Tobias (1534), Luther suggested that they had previously been dramatic subjects. This idea was developed into Protestant biblical drama, an alternative to classical plays which, in addition to virtue and vice, taught biblical history.41 After Luther had discovered the dramatic possibilities of the story of Tobias, several German writers worked on the topic. In 1559, the first Swedish Protestant school drama entitled Tobie Comedia was published anonymously in Stockholm, but it is, with good reason, attributed to Olaus Petri (1493–1552), the Swedish reformer. It gained great success with at least seven reprints over the following one hundred years. According to Klemming’s bibliography on Swedish dramatic literature, it is unlikely that Olaus Petri would have drawn upon the other plays related to Tobias by European writers. Because of the simple and unpolished style, which greatly differs from the NeoLatin style of the other plays, it is usually thought that Tobie Comedia was dramatized directly from the Bible.42 Intended for the school in Stockholm in which Olaus Petri was a teacher, the play was performed by schoolboys in Stortorget (the Big Square) in the city centre. The story of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15, 11–32), a commonly dramatized parable during the Middle Ages and the Reformation, by Jesuits and Protestants alike, was adapted into a Swedish play by Samuel Brask

40 Dahl, ‘Luther, teatret og det pedagogiske siktemål’, p. 22. 41 Parente, Religious Drama and the Humanist Tradition, p. 77. 42 In addition to Tobie comedia, a couple of other biblical dramas, such as Josephi historia (1601) and Konungh Dawidhz historia (1604), were published with several reprints during the first half of the seventeenth century. Dahlberg, ‘Från skolscenen till Lejonkulan’, pp. 224–27.



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(1613–1668), the Rector of the gymnasium in Linköping. Brask’s Filius Prodigus seu imperitus peregrinans (‘The Prodigal Son or the One Inex­ perienced Wandering’) draws heavily upon Guilielmus Gnapheus’s Acolastus (1529). The beginning and the end of Brask’s play consist of whole passages directly translated from Gnapheus. Filius Prodigus, which presents the frivolous student days of a young nobleman in Paris and his repentant homecoming, was performed in Linköping market place on St Peter’s day, 29 June 1645, a bustling market day in the town. Brask extended the cast to 49 characters so that every student could play a part. Male students acted the roles of female characters, which was a common custom in school drama. Even more characters (approximately 100) were included in Brask’s two later plays which were also performed during St Peter’s Fair in 1648 and 1649.43 Among other more secular subjects adopted into vernacular school drama are topics relating to classical or medieval tradition and topics of local origin. Jacob Rondeletius’s (1580–1662) morality play, Judas redivivus (1614), is based on a medieval legend about Judas Iscariot’s youth. Tisbe, performed in Arboga (Sweden) in 1610 and usually attributed to Magnus Olai Asteropherus, is based on Ovid’s story about the tragic love of Pyramus and Thisbe. Since moral instruction is missing, Tisbe can be considered the first profane drama in Sweden.44 A drama about a skinflint entitled Karrig Niding (‘Nithing the Niggard’) by Hieronymus Justesen Ranch (1539–1607) is considered one of the best representatives of Danish school drama.45 The play, which is indebted to Plautus’s Aulularia, was probably not printed during Ranch’s lifetime. The Consistory of the University of Copenhagen, whose duty it was to check the manuscript and give the permission to print it, declared that being an immoral farce it failed to meet the standard required of school drama.46 In any case, it soon became very popular, and was included in the repertory of plays staged in the first

43 Acta et martyria apostolorum (1648) and Mars Germanicus victus (1649), celebrating the Peace of Westphalia. Wessén, Samuel Petri Brasck, p. 105. 44 Ljunggren, Svenska dramat, p. 230; Dahlberg, ‘Från skolscenen till Lejonkulan’, pp. 227–28. 45 Schmidt, Danske litterære texter, p. 63. Ranch is considered the most significant school dramatist in Denmark; his amusing plays led him to be called ‘the Danish Aristophanes’ (‘den danske Aristophanes’). In addition to Karrig Niding, Ranch wrote two other plays, Kong Salomons Hyldning (Allegiance to King Solomon, 1584) and a singing play (syngespil) entitled Samsons Fængsel (Samson’s Captivity, 1599). Neiiendam, Renaissanceteatret, pp. 53, 69. 46 Neiiendam, Renaissanceteatret, pp. 69–70.

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official Danish theatre which opened in Copenhagen in 1721.47 Actual local events that took place in Bergen in the late 1560s were staged in a tragedy produced by Absalon Pederssøn in 1571. The play dealt with the conflict between the Bishop and the city fathers concerning the saints’ images the Bishop removed from the local church.48 Compared to many other schools, the German School in Stockholm seems to have been quite active in Latin drama; at least several performances are recorded in the academic programmes of the school. Perseus, a tragedy consisting of Latin and German verses by a German, Johannes Ristius or Johann Rist (1607–1667), was performed on 13 and 14 February 1638 by pupils of the German school in a private house. Queen Maria Eleonora of Brandenburg, originally a German princess, later ordered it to be performed in the royal castle of Stockholm, which occurred on 9 April 1638 ‘summa cum laude et applausu’.49 Perseus was published by Petrus Pachius and dedicated to the thirteen school boys who acted the roles, only one of whom was a Swede. Rector Johannes Herbinius (c. 1632– 1676/1679) recorded a Latin play entitled Tragico-Comoedia de Juliano imperatore Apostata, ecclesiarum et scholarum eversore (‘Tragicomedy on Emperor Julian the Apostate, the Destroyer of Churches and Schools’), which was also performed in the presence of a royal audience, celebrating the thirteenth birthday of the future King Charles XI in May 1668.50 The German School also arranged, often in connection with examinations, public recitations, such as a ‘comic-oratorical act’ (‘actus comico-oratorius’) entitled Historia Reformationis Ecclesiasticae per Lutherum factae (‘The History of the Church’s Reform by Luther’) in 1673.51 Eleven students stepped onto the stage (or up to the lectern) in succession to read aloud 47 The director of the first Danish theatre, Ludvig Holberg (1684–1754), ‘the Danish Molière’, was a prolific playwright, whose comic plays form the foundation of the native dramatic tradition. 48 The text has not come down to us but Absalon Pederssøn’s diaries include some information about the performances he arranged. Ekrem, ‘Norway’, p. 70; Bull, Norges litteratur, p. 45. 49 Klemming, Sveriges dramatiska literatur, pp. 24–25. 50 Klemming, Sveriges dramatiska literatur, p. 49. Another rector of the German school, later a pastor of the German church in Norköping, Johannes Colerus (Saxo), published two academic programmes suggesting that more theatre activity took place in the same year, even in connection with the above-mentioned birthday of the heir to the throne. Programma actus fabulosi, Parnassum de studiorum impedimentis perorantem repraesentantis (Holmiae 1668) and Programma actus alterius, cujus titulus, Regii splendoris theatrum ob feliciter exactum a Carolo decimum tertium aetatis annum (Holmiae 1668). Schefferus, Svecia literata, p. 311. 51 Klemming, Sveriges dramatiska literatur, p. 51.



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a  passage of the text.52 Some performances were bilingual or even ­trilingual, such as a play in five acts called Fata Scholastica, in which twenty-seven pupils, many with double roles, performed the forty-seven roles, most of them speaking in Latin, some in Swedish and some in German.53 Several plays were staged in Lejonkulan, a building at the south corner of the royal palace intended for theatre performances, which ­suggests that the German School had close connections with the court. The academic programme announcing the performance of Actus comicus de nativitate Christi (12 January 1686) describes Lejonkulan as a customary locale (‘loco consueto, a Leonibus dicto’).54 In Denmark, we encounter a topic of national history in the medieval Ludus de Sancto Canuto Duce. In Sweden, topics dealing with national history, which could be found in Saxo Grammaticus, Johannes and Olaus Magnus and other historians, were introduced into drama by Johannes Messenius (c. 1579–1636), Professor of Law at the University of Uppsala and ultimately Royal Archivist at Stockholm. Messenius was educated at the Jesuit college of Braunsberg, Poland, and visited various other Jesuit colleges during his peregrinations. His four Swedish dramas inspired by the mythical ancient history of Sweden, Disa (1611), Signill (1612), Swanhuita (1613) and Blancka-Märeta (1614) were all performed for the first time by students of his private collegium. Signill was premiered at a royal wedding in the palace of Stockholm, whereas the others were performed during the markets held in Uppsala, being open to everyone who wanted to see the play.55 A temporary stage was constructed in a market place or a nearby meadow, which was most probably covered with snow during the markets that were held in February. The performance of Disa, named after an ancient Swedish queen, marked the first dramatization of a subject dealing with Swedish history; it proved a success.56 In the introduction to one of his plays Messenius proposes nothing less than the dramatization of 52 A number of other Latin oratorical performances are recorded in the academic programmes by the rectors of the German School. For example, Actus progymnasticus om Christi uppståndelses mysterium (on the Resurrection) was performed on 27 April 1674. Klemming, Sveriges dramatiska literatur, p. 51. 53 The performance took place on 9 November 1676. Klemming, Sveriges dramatiska literatur, p. 57. 54 Klemming, Sveriges dramatiska literatur, p. 59. For Lejonkulan, see below. 55 Disa gave her name to a particular market (Disadagens marknad) held in Uppsala on 17 and 18 February 1611. Another popular date for drama performances was the market on Erik’s day, 18 May. 56 Two editions of Disa were published in 1611 and it was reprinted several times in the following years.

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the whole history of Sweden in fifty comedies and tragedies. He failed to realize this ambitious plan because, in 1616, he was sentenced to twenty years’ imprisonment in the fortress of Kajaneborg (Finnish Kajaani) in northern Finland after being accused of collaborating with the Jesuits.57 With his plays Messenius probably sought to surpass the popularity his colleague, Johannes Rudbeckius (1581–1646), Professor of Theology and Hebrew at the University of Uppsala, had gained by staging classical dramas. An intense series of theatre performances was a by-product of mutual hostility and rivalry between the two professors.58 In May 1610, Rudbeckius’s students acted Terence’s Andria on two successive days, first in Latin, then in Swedish. In October Terence’s Eunuchus was performed and in the spring of 1611 Euripides’s Cyclops was produced in Greek. Moreover, Rudbeckius is known to have directed Terence’s Heautontimorumenos, Adelphoe and Phormio. After Messenius’s and Rudbeckius’s time, student theatre continued to flourish in Uppsala. Special attention was paid to the usefulness of dramatic performances in the education of students of the nobility. In 1648, students performed Seneca’s Hercules furens in Swedish for Queen Maria Eleonora and her daughter Christina, soon to be crowned Queen Christina of Sweden.59 The culmination of the later developments of the student theatre was the performance of the first Swedish drama in Senecan style, Rosimunda, in the royal castle of Uppsala to celebrate the visit of the nine-year-old Charles XI in 1665. Rosimunda was adapted from the Dutch Jacobus Zevecotius’s Latin tragedy by Urban Hjärne (1641–1724). Uppsala student theatre was developed into ‘Dän Swänska Theatren’ (‘The Swedish Theatre’) and in 1686 when it moved to Stockholm it became the first professional theatre, independent of any school or university. It functioned in Lejonkulan (‘the Lion’s Den’), a fixed location for theatre performances since 1667 when Hedvig Eleonora of Holstein-Gottorp, mother to Charles XI, renovated it for the use of a Dutch troupe of actors she engaged for court entertainment.60 It was called Lejonkulan because two lions, a tribute from the Thirty Years’ War, were kept there during the 57 Sauter, Disa av Johannes Messenius, pp. 9–20. Besides his monumental historical work, Scondia illustrata, Messenius composed two more historical dramas, Christmannus and Gustavus in Kajaneborg. 58 Doctrinal disputes between Ramism and Aristotelianism strained relations in the University of Uppsala at that time. Moreover, Messenius was fiercely criticized for having connections with the Jesuits, see Aili, ‘Sweden’, pp. 141–42. 59 Klemming, Sveriges dramatiska literatur, p. 31; Collijn, Sveriges bibliografi, p. 847. 60 Dahlberg, ‘Från skolscenen till Lejonkulan’, p. 234.



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reign of Queen Christina. Besides Lejonkulan, two other buildings, the Little and Great Ball House (Bollhuset) on the other side of the castle hill, were occasionally used for theatre performances. In 1689, the theatre was permanently moved to the renovated Bollhuset, which is considered the first real theatre building in Scandinavia. Drama also played an important role in the education of royalty. Plays were acted in royal palaces for princes and princesses by students. Moreover, professional troupes of actors were employed at courts. Dramatic performances formed a part of coronations, weddings and other important festivities of the royal family. With the coronation of Frederick II of Denmark in 1559 magnificent festivities were introduced into the country. The first visit of an English theatre company took place during the reign of Frederick II in 1579.61 The baptism of Christian IV, on 4 June 1577, was celebrated with the performance of two dramas in the inner court of Copenhagen palace.62 One of the plays was Sixt Birck’s Latin drama Susanna (1537),63 which became so popular that Peder Jensen Hegelung, Rector of the Latin school in Ribe, translated it into Danish.64 A prominent English troupe of actors was one of the highlights in the coronation of Christian IV in 1596.65 The three plays performed in the court and another three acted for a public audience during ‘Det store Bilager’ (‘the Great Wedding’) in 1634 marked the peak of Renaissance theatre in Denmark.66 The Peace of Westphalia in 1648, which ended the Thirty Years’ War, was celebrated in Stockholm with Augurium Pacis, sive Drama de restituta Pace Germaniae ac Europae, written by Johannes Boeclerus (1611–1672), one of the Strasbourg philologists at the University of Uppsala. It was performed in Stockholm ‘per illustres et generosos personas’, but was evidently not printed.67 The political and economic success gained in the Thirty Years’

61 Neiiendam, Renaissanceteatret, pp. 81–86. 62 Erasmus Laetus’s (Erasmus Glad) description of the baptism is published in Skovgaard-Petersen and Zeeberg, Erasmus Lætus’ skrift om Christian IVs fødesel og dåb. 63 Parente, Religious Drama and the Humanist Tradition, pp. 91–92. 64 Neiiendam, Renaissanceteatret, 28. In between the acts Hegelund added to the translation a play entitled Calumnia which he had written himself. Neiiendam, Renaissanceteatret, p. 47. 65 Neiiendam, Renaissanceteatret, p. 95. 66 Neiiendam, Renaissanceteatret, p. 117. For a thorough discussion of the subject, see Wade, Triumphus Nuptialis Danicus. 67 Klemming, Sveriges dramatiska literatur, pp. 58, 35. In Schefferus’s time, a manuscript of the play was in the possession of Boeclerus’s heirs; see Schefferus, Svecia literata, p. 290. In addition to Boeclerus, several other scholars were invited to Sweden to improve culture

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War created a desire in the Swedish royal house and aristocracy to mark their new position with regal ceremonies, such as lavish processions at the coronations of Gustavus Adolphus, Queen Christina and Charles XI (1617, 1650 and 1672). Thereafter, two main lines can be seen in Swedish drama: school drama and court drama. The latter followed the latest trends of contemporary foreign drama. During the reign of Queen Christina (1632– 1654), French drama and court ballet with music, dance, fancy costumes and fine decoration—also much favoured by Christian IV of Denmark— were very popular.68 At the beginning of the 1630s, foreign troupes of actors found their way to Sweden and from then on English, Dutch, German or Italian companies visited Stockholm almost annually. Christina was an eager actor herself and she is known to have appeared, e.g. in the role of Diana in a musical ballet, Then fångne Cupido (‘The Imprisoned Cupid’), in 1649 and in the role of a maid in a play which was performed at her court at Christmas 1651.69 In addition to plays, various occasional writings, which could perhaps be defined as quasi- or semi-dramatic were presented. The dialogue form was much used, especially in poetry of several different genres; if the dialogues were publicly read or recited aloud, they were, of course, only a step away from a dramatic performance. Latin wedding poetry abounds in dialogues between Cupid and Venus, bride and bridegroom, or family members of the bridal couple.70 Dialogues are also found in funeral poetry, one example being Sylvester Johannis Phrygius’s (1572–1628) Threnologia dramatica, a Latin funeral poem or lament in memory of King John III of Sweden, who died in 1592.71 The text, consisting of dialogues between Pallas, Astrea, Lachesis, Pietas and real persons, was not intended to be staged, yet it exhibits several features which are typical of dramatic literature: it is divided into four acts, the rhythm of the dialogue is at times quite intense and the text is infused with colloquial and other words typical of dramatic literature.72 and erudition after the victories Sweden had gained in the Thirty Years’ War, see Helander, Neo-Latin Literature in Sweden, pp. 17–18. 68 Samuel Columbus, a Swedish scholar and poet, translated some French comedies into Swedish, but they are not preserved. In a letter dated 5 May 1679 to Count Magnus Gabriel De la Gardie, he enthusiastically praises the dramas of Molière and Corneille; see Klemming, Sveriges dramatiska literatur, p. 57. 69 The text of the ballet was written by Georg Stiernhielm (1598–1672), known as the father of Swedish verse in the literary history of Sweden. Steene, ‘Swedish Drama’, p. 587. 70 Sarasti-Wilenius, ‘Do tibi me totam’, pp. 197–201. 71 The text is discussed in Sjökvist, The Early Latin Poetry of Sylvester Johannis Phrygius, pp. 49–55. For dialogues in funeral poetry, see Ström, Lachrymae Catharinae, pp. 107, 129. 72 Sjökvist, The Early Latin Poetry, p. 52.



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Perhaps one more aspect relating to theatre deserves mention. In Renaissance literature, titles referring to dramatic art were commonly used for various kinds of writings. In the seventeenth century, theatrum became a popular title, often denoting ‘a general survey’.73 Genealogical and other texts were often published with titles referring to the theatre. Examples include Amphitheatrum and Theatrum Nobilitatis Svecanae, surveying the genealogy of the Swedish royal family and the Swedish nobility respectively, by Johannes Messenius. Drama, Panegyric and Propaganda As part of the extensive propaganda campaign related to the wars of the first half of the seventeenth century, a number of epic works and panegyric speeches were published in honour of the Swedish Warrior King, Gustav II Adolf, or Gustavus Adolphus (1594–1632) not only by Swedes but also by foreign writers.74 Gustavus Adolphus spent most of his reign fighting battles overseas, first in Prussia during the Polish-Swedish War (1625– 1629) and then in the great German war, the Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648). He entered the war in 1630 at a point when the cause of German Protestantism already seemed lost, turning the tide in favour of the Protestants and starting his phenomenal march deep into Germany all the way to Munich. After having won numerous victories he suffered the first defeat in September 1632 when he attacked the stronghold of Alte Veste under the command of Wallenstein (Albrecht Wenzel Eusebius von Wallenstein, Duke of Friedland), one of the major figures of the Thirty Years’ War on the Catholic side. Gustavus Adolphus was killed in the Battle of Lützen in November 1632. However, his generals and the Chancellor of Sweden, Axel Oxenstierna, managed to maintain the Swedish war effort until the Peace of Westphalia was signed in 1648 and the position of Sweden as a major European power was established. Among the numerous literary works dedicated to or inspired by Gustavus Adolphus, there are two Latin dramas written by the Dutch poet Johannes Narssius and the German writer Johannes Micraelius. The subject and the close connections both writers had with Sweden may provide sufficient reasons to briefly discuss these plays here. 73 Ong, Commonplace Rhapsody, p. 114; Helander, Neo-Latin Literature in Sweden, pp. 173–74. 74 For a survey of Gustavus Adolphus in contemporary literature, see Helander, NeoLatin Literature in Sweden, pp. 378–87.

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Johannes Narssius (Johan van Naarssen) was born c. 1580 in Dordrecht, soon after the reign of terror of the Duke of Alba in the Spanish Netherlands, when Protestants were persecuted and thousands of people were condemned to death. Narssius first studied theology, then medicine, and practised as a physician in Hamburg. In 1623 he went to Denmark and one year later to Sweden, where he was engaged as a personal physician, poet and historiographer to Gustavus Adolphus.75 In 1631, Narssius returned to the Netherlands and two years later travelled to Indonesia in the service of the Dutch East Indies Company. He died there in 1637. While serving Gustavus Adolphus, Narssius published Latin epic poems describing the events of the Swedish-Polish War and the Thirty Years’ War. Riga devicta (1625) tells about the siege of Riga and Meva liberata (1627) how Meva (Gniew), a town of Polish Prussia on the Vistula, was taken from the Poles by the Swedes.76 Gustavidos sive de bello Sueco-austriaco libri tres (1632), supplemented with the fourth book (1634), extols Gustavus Adolphus’s deeds in the Thirty Years’ War.77 Narssius’s Latin drama Gustavus saucius (‘Gustavus Adolphus’s Wounding’), published in Copenhagen in 1628 is based on the events that took place in the Swedish-Polish War, describing how the King was twice wounded in Prussia, first in May, then more seriously in August 1627, in the Battle of Dirschau (Tczew).78 The drama adheres to the five-act structure, consisting of 1502 verses in varying metres. Almost all the acts follow the same schematic structure: the first scene consists of a monologue and the act closes with a section for a chorus. The first act takes place in the court in Stockholm; the King gives reasons for his decision to leave for Prussia and confront his cousin King Sigismund III of Poland, a Catholic son of John III of Sweden. His wife, Queen Maria Eleonora of Brandenburg, anxious about his safety, reluctantly sends him off. In the

75 Bolte, Coligny, Gustav Adolf, Wallenstein, pp. xiii–xvi. 76 Riga devicta (Rigae Livonum, 1625); Meva Pomerelliae obsidione Polonorum liberata ductu Gustavi Adolphi (Stockholmiae, 1627). 77 Gustavidos sive de Bello Sueco-Austriaco libri tres (Hamburgi, 1632); Gustavidos … liber quartus (Francofurti ad Moenum, 1634). See Helander, ‘Gustavides’, pp. 116–18. The deeds of Gustavus Adolphus are also extolled in Narssius’s Poemata septentrionalia and Poemata Moscovitica, Livonica, Borussica. 78 The drama is reprinted in Bolte, Coligny, Gustav Adolf, Wallenstein, pp. 41–93. In Schefferus’s bibliography, Narssius’s play appears under the title Adoptiva, i.e. ‘scripta opera­que eorum, qui licet gente non fuerint Sueci, inter Suecos tamen et in Suecia variis ex causis sua quaedam luci permiserunt’, Schefferus, Svecia literata, p. 281. The second edition of Gustavus saucius was published in Frankfurt am Main in 1633. In addition to the tragedy itself, it contained Latin and Dutch verses describing Swedish people and places.



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second act, the King is welcomed on the Prussian coast by Count Axel Oxenstierna,79 the Chancellor of Sweden, with whom he plans the campaign. In the third act, the news of the King’s wounding is carried to the court in Stockholm, first in Queen Maria Eleonora’s dream, then by an official messenger. The two last acts take place in the Swedish encampment near Danzig (Gdańsk). The commanders of Gustavus Adolphus’s army are burning to continue the operation and revenge the King. When the news of the enemy’s approach is carried to the King’s chamber, nothing can prevent him from rushing to the battlefield although his wound has not yet properly healed. The fifth act opens with a monologue in which Oxenstierna reports the military success of the Swedes, which is, however, shadowed by Oxenstierna’s growing concern for the King’s health and safety. At the same time, the King risks his life by leading his troops against the enemy, in spite of warnings from his officers and the chorus. Soon Oxenstierna’s worst fears are realized when a messenger brings him news of the King’s second wounding. In the final scene, the King encourages the Chancellor and the commanders gathered around his sickbed to maintain their fighting spirit. The drama ends with a message delivered by Mercury, stating that the King’s wound, although very grave, will not be lethal and that once more his reckless courage will go unpunished. But from now on he should act with the utmost care and repress his bellicosity: ‘Tertium [i.e. errorem]//Cave, cave, Gustave, compesce impetum!//Perit periclis, qui pericla diligit’ (‘Be wary of making a third mistake, Gustavus, mind and restrain your zeal! He who lives by the sword, dies by the sword’, Narssius, Gustavus saucius V.iv, ll. 1501–02). In Gustavus saucius, the King, who has taken up arms in order to establish peace, freedom of religion and justice, is portrayed as a fearless and furious fighter. He risks his life ignoring warnings given by the Queen, Chancellor Oxenstierna and finally even by the young and eager officers of his army. The King’s recklessness and the growing concern for his safety form a dramatic tension which effectively emphasizes his heroism. Gustavus Adolphus’s bravery and determination constitute a serious threat to the enemy on the one hand, while his death would be a terrible loss for religion and freedom on the other. Narssius’s drama should be read in the context of his other panegyric works on Gustavus Adolphus. 79 Oxenstierna describes himself as ‘Gustavo intimus//Nestor fidelis, fortis Atlas’, Bolte, Coligny, Gustav Adolf, Wallenstein, p. 53. In his Gustavis, Narssius describes Axel Oxenstierna as Gustavus Adolphus’s faithful Achates, i.e. companion. Helander, Neo-Latin Literature in Sweden, p. 303.

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Besides epic poems and epideictic orations, drama was yet another genre adaptable to praising the King and being a vehicle for political and religious propaganda. The drama repeats the ideas of the King as a saviour of the Protestant cause and deliverer from evil found in other early seventeenth-century panegyric works on Gustavus Adolphus. These are also the chief ideas in a brief eulogy included in the messenger’s lines bringing the news of the King’s wounding to Stockholm: Pater ille Sueonum, Martis pubis parens Domitor Poloni, spes Daniae ac Germaniae, Grassantis ille terror unus Austrii, Decus illud orbis, victor ille tam frequens, Fortuna cui famulata visa est hactenus, Eheu, cruentus vulnere infesto iacet. (Father of the Swedes and of the young troops of Mars, conqueror of Poland, hope of Denmark and Germany, the only horror of raging Austria, pride of the world, frequent victor whom Fortune has thus far favoured, now, alas! lies bleeding dangerously wounded.) (Narssius, Gustavus saucius III.iii, ll. 776–81).

The King is also said to resemble Alexander the Great in many respects, especially in contempt of dangers. Often the comparison to Alexander was made on grounds of the vastness of the territories conquered.80 The Habsburg Empire was also treated as a threat to freedom and religion in Narssius’s other writings.81 As a historiographer Narssius set high standards for the description of factual events. The details of the campaign, including the names of real characters and places involved are described as correctly as possible. The preface of Gustavus saucius reveals that Narssius was not quite content with his working conditions, complaining that he had not had access to the archives he would have needed, not only for this drama but also for his earlier poems, Riga devicta and Meva liberata. In any case, there are sections that are rich in details, such as the description of the King’s wounding, which also combines Narssius’s dramatic skills with his medical knowledge. Besides the historical characters, two personified figures play a role in the drama: the god or spirit of conjugal love (‘amor coniugalis’), who appears to the sleeping Queen at the court in Sweden with news of the King’s wounding, and Mercury at the end of the drama. Due to its long

80 Helander, ‘Gustavides’, pp. 113–15. 81 Helander, ‘Gustavides’, p. 116.



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monologues and choral sections, which bring in different aspects of the warfare, Narssius’s drama is, above all, a reading drama in Senecan style. There are, however, a couple of livelier dialogues, such as the one between the King and the Queen in the first act in which the Queen tries to oppose the King’s decision to participate in the battles fought in Prussia himself. Johannes Micraelius or Lütkeschwager (1597–1658), born in Köslin in Pomerania (today Kozalin in Poland), served as Professor of Eloquence and School Rector in Stettin. He is mainly known as a theologian and playwright of school drama.82 What interests us here is his Latin drama entitled Pomeris (1631), which is, in fact, the first part of his trilogy of allegorical plays, the other two being in German, Parthenia (1632) and Agathander pro Sebasta vincens (1633).83 Allegory was much used in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century heroic poems, which relates Micraelius’s dramas on the Swedish Warrior King to the epic genre.84 The trilogy dates from the early phase of Micraelius’s extensive literary production, dealing with the events of the Thirty Years’ War in the early 1630s in Northern Germany and Poland. Pomeris,85 designating Pomerania, tells about the Swedes liberating Pomerania from the Imperial forces in 1630.86 Parthenia is related to the siege, sack and destruction of Magdeburg, the foremost city of Lutheranism allied with Sweden, by the Imperial troops under the command of Tilly (1631).87 As mentioned in the title page, the events are described through an allegory of Parthenia’s (i.e. Magdeburg) bloody wedding with Contilius (i.e. Tilly). The third part of the trilogy, Agathander pro Sebasta vincens, is related to the events of the year 1632 in southern  Germany.88 Micraelius was probably criticized by some people for

82 Krickeberg, Johann Micraelius, pp. 7–16. 83 None of the three dramas mentions the place of printing, but it is probable that they all were printed by the same printer. Vetter, Wallenstein, pp. 17–18. 84 Borris, Allegory and Epic, p. 3–4. 85 Pomeris: tragico-comoedia nova de Pomeride a Lastlevio afflicta et ab Agathandro libe­ rate. Acta ludis Apollinaribus VI. Kal. Febr. Anno III Olympiados DCII. … MDCXXXI. The play was performed by the schoolboys of Stettin school on 27 January 1631. 86 Pomerania (German Pommern, Polish Pomorze) is a historical region on the south coast of the Baltic Sea. Divided between modern Germany and Poland, it stretched from the River Recknitz (near Stralsund) in the west to the River Vistula (near Gdansk) in the east. 87 Parthenia, Pomeridos Continuatio … Gedruckt im Jahr 1632. The fall of Magdeburg was a much used theme in contemporary Protestant literature. Helander, ‘Gustavides’, p. 118. 88 Agathander pro Sebasta vincens, et cum virtutibus triumphans, Pomeridos & Partheniae Continuatio … Gedruckt im Jahr 1633. Sebasta is the city of Augsburg. For the characters and the course of the events of Micraelius’s Parthenia and Agathander, see Krickeberg, Johann Micraelius, pp. 43–57; Vetter, Wallenstein, pp. 8–16.

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changing the language from Latin to German after the first part because in the prologue of Agathander pro Sebasta vincens he justifies his choice by stating that both Demosthenes and Cicero wrote in their own languages, and so did Seneca, a great admirer of Greek culture.89 In the epilogue of Pomeris, Micraelius advises the audience not to try to identify the characters with real persons since they are, just like characters in Plautus’s and Terence’s plays, purely fictive and do not have any live models. The connection with factual events is, of course, evident and the names of characters can easily be associated with persons or places involved with the events in question. Allegorical wordplay, especially with the proper names, was characteristic of Renaissance epic poetry.90 In Pomeris, the names are turned into anagrams, related to literature or based on the allusive potential of languages. The tyrant Lastlevius, who is harassing Pomeris, stands for Wallenstein.91 The Catholic Church (or the Pope) is referred to with the name Abaddon, deriving from Hebrew and meaning ‘a place of destruction’, ‘the realm of the dead’.92 Jolola, a sycophant, also defined as a deceiver of the people in Parthenia and Agathander, is an anagram of Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus.93 Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and promoter of the Counter-Reformation, Ferdinand II, carries the name Protarchus, borrowed from Plato’s dialogue Philebus, in which Protarchus is an ingenuous youth, wavering between pleasure and wisdom, easily influenced and drawn from one side to another by the arguments of the two debaters, Socrates and Philebus. Gustavus Adolphus is called Agathander, which—according to Hans Helander—may be compared to the word ‘megalander’, derived from Greek, meaning ‘a great man’. This composite, unknown in classical Greek, was formed during the Reformation and used to designate Luther in particular and any prominent Protestant theologian or bishop in general.94

89 Krickeberg, Johann Micraelius, p. 51. 90 Borris, Allegory and Epic, p. 101–03. 91 Lastelevius’s soldiers Beinharn and Torquatus are to be interpreted as General Arnheim (or Johann Georg von Armin-Boitzenburg) and as Torquato Conti, who commanded Wallenstein’s imperial occupation forces in Pomerania. 92 See, for example, Job 26, 6. Abaddon is described as ‘servus Orci omnium nequissimus’ (I, ii, l. 73). In Micraelius’s Agathander pro Sebasta vincens, Orcus is defined as Abaddon’s father and Manes as his dead people. In literature, Abaddon often appears as a demon. In his Paradise Regained, John Milton uses Abaddon as the name of the bottomless pit. 93 Helander, Neo-Latin Literature in Sweden, p. 456. 94 Helander, Neo-Latin Literature in Sweden, p. 129.



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Fig. 2. Prelims and Fabulae interlocutores of Johannes Micraelius Pomeris: tragico-comoedia nova de Pomeride a Lastlevio afflecta et ab Agathandro liberata (s.l.: s.n., 1631).

In addition to a German prologue and epilogue, all five acts of Pomeris include a German summary of the forthcoming events, which made it possible for those who did not understand Latin to follow the drama.95 The first act narrates the preceding developments: Jolola, a schemer and 95 Krickeberg, Johann Micraelius, pp. 34–42; Vetter, Wallenstein, pp. 3–6.

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Fig. 3. Idem.

Abaddon’s agent, has sown dissent between Protarchus and his beloved Heboma (i.e. Bohemia), who has turned to a new lover for protection. In order to regain her loyalty to him, Protarchus has sent Lastlevius (Wallenstein) with his forces to subdue Heboma. Now Lastlevius is harassing the three sisters, Pomeris, Megalinnis (i.e. Mecklenburg) and Prusilla (i.e. Prussia), and is planning to marry Megalinnis. This worries Pomeris, who is also concerned about her nymphs (or daughters), i.e. Pomeranian



latin drama in the nordic countries681

Fig. 4. Idem.

towns, who have resumed their old disagreements.96 Pomeris tries to unite them, cherishing the hope of a stronger defence against Lastlevius’s army. In the meanwhile, by manipulating Lastlevius with his advice, Jolola 96 Rugilla (i.e. Rügen), Stetilia (i.e. Stettin), Stralia (i.e. Stralsund), Stardina (i.e. Stargard), Colbilla (i.e. Colberg), Agrilla (Anklam), etc.

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Fig. 5. Idem.

is proceeding with his evil plans, whose aim is to ruin the sisters. Despite her resistance, Megalinnis is compelled to marry Lastlevius—only to be put in prison upon the orders of her very own husband. Her two nymphs, Gustula (i.e. Güstrow) and Rosina (i.e. Rostock), are forced to accompany her there. The second, third and fourth acts describe Lastlevius’s ambitions and the extortions of his army, Jolola’s scheming, and the growing despair of Pomeris and Svantiborus, the genius loci. Pomeris and several of her



latin drama in the nordic countries683

nymphs are subjugated, violated, deprived of their freedom and put in prison or enslaved by Lastlevius’s soldiers. Only Stralia (i.e. Stralsund), the strong nymph, is offering resistance to Lastlevius and has turned to Agathander for help. Already nearing her death, Pomeris feels a great sense of loss, knowing that she has fallen victim to her own loyalty towards Protarchus, whose soldiers, incited by Jolola, are misusing his name for their own shameful purposes. Finally in the fifth act, the hero of the drama, Agathander, enters the stage. Svantiborus allies himself with Agathander and, at last, together with the nymphs manages to persuade Pomeris to trust Agathander. Soon the enemy is beaten and Pomeris and her daughters are saved. In other words, the drama tells the story of how Sweden entered the Thirty Years’ War in the summer of 1630 after the Danish intervention (1625–1629), as a consequence of which more land in northern Germany was subjugated by the Catholic powers. Wallenstein received the duchies of Mecklenburg as a reward after having joined Tilly in the struggle with Christian IV of Denmark (Lastlevius taking unwilling Megalinnis in marriage). The Imperial occupation forces threatened the whole of Pomerania; only the port of Stralsund (the strong nymph Stralia), where Sweden had been present with a garrison since 1628, continued to hold out against Wallenstein’s forces. In June 1630, Gustavus Adolphus disembarked on the coast of Pomerania and signed the Treaty of Stettin with Duke Bogislaw XIV (Svantiborus), and, by the end of that year, the Swedes had completed the military occupation of Pomerania. Told by a Protestant German, Pomeris describes the desperate situation in which the Protestants found themselves in Pomerania before the Swedish intervention. Gustavus Adolphus is portrayed as the champion of Protestantism who feels obliged to defend the persecuted; his fight against the Imperial army is above all a fight against the Counter-Reformation for the purpose of rescuing people from the pressure of the Catholic Church and of restoring the Lutheran faith.97 Because of the allegorical storytelling, Pomeris depicts Gustavus Adolphus as a more distant but no less heroic character than Narssius’s Gustavus saucius. In fact, the hope and the expectations placed in Agathander in Pomeris renders him almost a divinity; indeed, in Prusilla’s (Prussia) eulogizing lines his name is furnished with the attribute divus (‘divine’). 97 For propaganda against the Roman Catholic Church in Swedish literature, see Helander, Neo-Latin Literature in Sweden, pp. 321–36.

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raija sarasti-wilenius Conclusion

If the literary profiles of many Nordic playwrights are considered, that of Johannes Messenius, for example, turns out to be a typical one: he wrote Latin historical and genealogical works, Latin orations and occasional poetry and drama in the vernacular. This characterizes the position of drama in the Nordic countries in general. Whereas Latin prevailed in many other literary genres, drama—whether it was Protestant biblical drama, more secular school drama or historical drama—had been written in vernacular languages since the early days of its history. Furthermore, contemporary Latin dramas written by European writers are more often recorded as being translated or adapted into the vernacular than performed in Latin. Considering that Latin was an important school subject and drama taught rhetoric and trained oral fluency in Latin, more dramatic activity surely happened inside schools as part of their habitual educational programme than the extant records tell us. Since the pedagogic aspect of drama did not concern just schoolboys but had also been used by reformers to teach and entertain the community, it was brought outside the school walls, staged in market places and town squares and the language was changed to the vernacular. Latin drama would have remained a literary work to be read and, if staged, fully enjoyed only by a limited number of educated persons; spectators not versed in Latin could, of course, have found pleasures unrelated to the meaning. Learned works in Latin were addressed not only to the learned elite of the country but also to the international scholarly community and Latin occasional poems and orations were a lasting monument with many social and other aspects, but drama, first and foremost, was defined in relation to the audience of its own time. Dramas dealing with great political subjects, such as Narssius’s and Micraelius’s plays about Gustavus Adolphus, of course, served propagandist purposes and were intended to communicate to an international audience. In many respects they have points in common with epic poems or panegyric orations. Yet Micraelius changed the language to German after the first part of his trilogy of plays and by doing so obviously aroused mixed feelings among his critics. The fact that he decided in favour of vernacular language may indicate his urge to communicate with the common people, too. Court drama, for its part, very soon kept up with the latest trends in the heartlands of Europe. Furthermore, at courts theatre had initially meant amateur performances, occasionally even in Latin, by students until foreign professional troupes of actors began visiting at the end



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of the sixteenth century and, in the case of Sweden, at the beginning of the seventeenth century. Further Reading Helander, Hans, Neo-Latin Literature in Sweden in the Period 1620–1720: Stylistics, Vocabulary and Characteristic Ideas (Uppsala: Uppsala Universitet, 2004) Studia Latina Upsalien­ sia, 29. Minna Skafte Jensen (ed.), A History of Nordic Neo-Latin Literature (Odense: Odense University Press, 1995) Odense University Studies in Scandinavian Languages and Literatures, 32.

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raija sarasti-wilenius Appendix Main Authors

Micraelius, Johannes, or Johann Lüttkeschwager (1597–1658), a German theologian and dramatist, served as a school rector in Stettin. In his Latin drama Pomeris (1631) he deals with the Thirty Years’ War, describing the liberation of Pomerania by the Swedes (1633). Works Pomeris (1631). Studies Krickeberg, Johann Micraelius; Vetter, Wallenstein in der dramatischen Dichtung; Sarasti-Wilenius, ‘Allegory and Propaganda in Johannes Micraelius’ Pomeris’. Narssius, Johannes, or Naarssen (1580–1637) was born in the city of Dordrecht from Antwerp refugee parents. He was a preacher from 1606 till 1619, when he was removed by Remonstrants. After having studied medicine he became a physician. In 1623 he went to Sweden and in 1624 he became a court poet laureate and official historiographer in the service of Gustavus Adolphus II. At the end of 1631 he returned to Holland. As a court poet he wrote Gustavus saucius (1628) based on his personal experience of the king’s Polish campaign in 1627. Works Gustavus saucius (Copenhagen, 1628). Modern edition (Bolte, 1933). Studies NNBW 5, 356; Willig, Gustav II. Adolf im deutschen Drama; Milch, Gustav Adolf in der deutschen und schwedischen Literatur. Wolf, Jacob Jacobsen, (1554–1635), a Danish writer born in Odense, rector of the Oslo Cathedral School, compiled two dramas based on Virgil’s Aeneid: Dido and Turnus, both printed in Copenhagen, 1591). Works Dido and Turnus (Copenhagen, 1591).

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ABOUT THE AUTHORS Jan Bloemendal (1961) is a senior researcher at the Huygens Institute for the History of the Netherlands of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. His research topics include Erasmus, drama and the interplay between Latin and vernacular literatures. In 2010 he published Gerardus Joannes Vossius, Poeticae Institutiones / Institutes of Poetics. [email protected] Jean-Frédéric Chevalier (1963) is Professor of Latin Language and Literature at the University of Lorraine, Metz ((UFR Lettres et Langues), France. He is especially interested in Neo-Latin tragedy. [email protected] Cora Dietl (1967) holds the chair of the History of German Literature (Medieval/Early Modern) at the Justus Liebig University, Giessen. Her major research fields are the German theatre and drama of the 14th–16th centuries, Arthurian literature, and pre-Reformation German literature in Eastern Europe. [email protected] www.coradietl.de Mathieu Ferrand teaches Classics at the University of Burgundy (Dijon, France). He is working on vernacular and Latin drama in Renaissance France and on humanist pedagogy. [email protected] Howard B. Norland is an Emeritus Professor at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. His research interests include critical theory and performance in early modern drama and the classical tradition. Among his publications are Drama in Early Tudor Britain 1485–1558 (1996) and Neoclassical Tragedy in Elizabethan England (2009). [email protected] Joaquín Pascual Barea is a Professor of Latin Philology at the University of Cádiz. He was a visiting scholar in Michigan (with a Fulbright

760

about the authors

Scholarship), in Louvain, Munich, and Mainz. His research topics include Latin lexicography, toponymy, literature and history. [email protected] Fidel Rädle (1935) is an Emeritus Professor of Latin Philology of the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period at the University of Göttingen, and a member of the Academy of Sciences of Göttingen. His main topics of research are the Latin literature of the Reformation period and the history of Jesuit theatre. [email protected] Raija Sarasti-Wilenius is a university lecturer at the Institutum Classicum in the University of Helsinki. Her research interests include history of rhetoric, occasional literature and Latin letter writing.

INDEX OF NAMES Abraham 160, 168, 267, 337 Abreu S.J., Antonius de 615 Ioannes Baptista 615 Absalom 232, 233, 347 Acevedus S.J., Petrus Paulus 545, 549, 550, 552, 556, 559, 573, 575, 580–83, 584, 595, 596, 597, 598, 600, 602–10, 612, 621–22 Athanasia 586, 602, 609, 610, 612 Bellum virtutum et vitiorum 605, 610 Charopus 553, 559, 584, 598, 602, 610 Coena Regis 559, 584, 603, 604, 606, 609 Costis Nympha 596 Dialogus feriis solemnibus 559, 606 Dialogus recitatus in hebdomade sancta de passione Christi 603 In sacramento Corporis Christi 583, 610 Judithis tragoedia 559 Lucifer furens 549–50, 609 Metanoea 553, 559, 580, 582, 584, 606, 609, 610 Philautus 553, 602 Achilles 32–35, 39, 79, 370, 593, 648 Acosta S.J., Josephus de 574, 582, 591 Tragoedia de Jeptaeo filiam trucidante 574 Orationes y diálogos 591 Adolph S.J., Johann Baptist 23, 191 Aeneas 162, 341, 490, 491, 648 Aeschylus 16, 41, 46, 93, 399–400, 413, 444, 589, 635 Persae 41, 444 Prometheus vinctus 46, 93, 399, 589, 635n Agnesius, Joannes Baptista or Anyès 545, 566–67, 620 Colloquium Romani Paschini et Valentini Gomari 567 Egloga personanda Valentiae 566 Libellus pro Saracenis neophytis 567 Agricola, Ignatius 269n, 278n Agricola, Johannes 154 Ahab 337, 603 Ahasveros see Assuerus Ahitophel 345

Alabaster, William 472, 493, 495, 536 Roxana 472, 493–95 Alardus of Amsterdam 311 Alasco, Albertus 473, 481, 490 Alberti, Leon Battista 38, 46, 51, 52, 58–61, 88, 91, 105, 380n, 551, 557, 608 De re aedificatoria 46 Intercenales 38 Philodoxeos fabula 38, 58–61, 105, 380n, 551 Albertus Magnus 29, 229 Albertus see Alberti Alciatus, Andreas 556 Emblemata 556 Aler S.J., Paul 191 Alexander Severus 402, 406, 410 Alexander the Great 65, 370, 407, 453, 461 Alfred, King of England 528–29 Alvares, Antonius 615 Alvarez S.J., Joannes 561 Aman see Haman Ambrose, St 258, 354, 525, 648 Amnon or Ammon 347, 351, 578 Ananias 354 Andrade, Didacus de Paiva de 615 Andrade, Andrés Gallo de 598 Andreae, Johann Valentin 173 Turbo 173 Aneau, Barthélemy 381n Anellus Siculus, Simon 366 Angelus Gonsalves, Joannes 545, 553, 566–67 Antonio, Dom, King of Portugal 572, 580 Aphtonius 587 Progymnasmata 587 Apollo 32, 49, 129, 138, 141, 259, 322, 326, 452, 565, 587, 614 Apollodorus 407 Apollonius of Tyana 77–80 Appian 453 Apuleius 118, 447, 565, 568, 570, 589 Arduenna, Remaclus 297, 412 Palamedes 297 Argenterio, Giovanni 589–90 Arguijo, Juan de 616

762

index of names

Arias S.J., Joannes 577 Ariosto, Ludovico 68, 570 Cassaria 68 Il Nigromante 570 Aristophanes 16, 46, 68, 93, 155, 340, 386, 390, 548 Equites 340 Nebulae 47, 340 Plutus 47, 155, 340, 548 Ranae 340 Aristotle 7, 34, 48–49, 52, 74, 83, 98, 142, 167, 210, 268, 391, 393, 401, 421, 426, 463, 464, 475, 476, 486, 545, 553, 556, 562 Ethica 142 Metaphysica 463 Poetica 7, 34, 48–49, 52, 83, 391, 393, 401, 553, 556, 562 Armonio Marso, Giovanni 43–46, 63, 65, 68, 88–89 De rebus Italicis … tragoedia 43–46 Stephanium 65–66, 68 Ascham, Roger 475 The Scholemaster 476n Assuerus 336, 397 Asteropherus, Magnus Olai 667 Tisbe 667 Astrea 672 Athena or Pallas or Minerva 142, 143, 145, 156, 164, 326, 407, 486, 555, 566, 570, 593, 672 Atkinson, Thomas 508 Homo 508 Augustine, St. 25, 74, 354, 366, 421, 426, 525 De civitate Dei 426 Confessiones 354 Ausonius 556, 580 Avancini S.J., Nicolaus 186, 191, 263, 283, 284, 288, 449n Fides coniugalis 191 Avantianus S.J., Andreas 578 Avianus, Johannes 165 Miles vagus 165 Avila S.J., Ferdinandus de 554, 559, 562, 582, 600, 602, 603, 606, 607, 609, 612, 622 Historia Filerini 602, 612 Historia Floridevi 582, 602, 612 Historia Ninives 554, 603 Sancta Catharina 559, 562, 600, 607, 609 Bade, Josse 47, 52, 68, 375, 376, 377, 391, 425 Baïf, Jean-Antoine de 390

Balde S.J., Jakob 186, 263, 281–82, 288–89 Jephtias 282 Balticus, Martin 150 Adelphopolae 150 Daniel 150 Balzac, Jean Louis Guez de 348 Barcelo S.J., Guillielmus 558, 561, 562, 573, 600, 602, 607, 609, 622–23 Comedia 558, 600, 607 Dialogus divi Petri Martyris 600 Tragicomedia 558, 562 Bardaxi, Joannes 567 Barlandus, Adrianus 286, 302, 311 Dialogi XLII 302 Barnet, Jean 423n, 424n Baronius, Caesar 72, 438n, 439n, 444, 445, 446n, 449, 462, 649, 652 Annales ecclesiastici 72n, 438n, 439n, 444, 445, 446n, 449n, 462, 649, 652 Barrientos, Bartholomaeus 602 De Illiberitanorum maurorum seditione 602 Barros, João da 613 Cécadas da Ásia 613 Barthélemy de Loches, Nicolas 70, 367–368, 375, 377n, 391n, 409 Christus xylonicus 70, 367–368 Momiae 375 Barthélemy de Trente 438n Barzizza, Antonio 56, 58, 89, 105 Cauteriaria 56, 58, 105 Basil, St 417, 439 Basilius, Duke 653 Bauckham, Richard 479 Bayeux, Geoffroy Pierre de 366 Bebel, Heinrich 111–12, 177, 230, 329 Comoedia de optimo studio iuvenum 111– 12, 230 Becker, Johannes 164 Apotheosis Minervae 164 Belllamy, Henry 508 Iphis 508 Bembus, Mateusz 651 Antithemius 644, 651–652 Benci S.J., Francesco 74, 89–90, 266, 577, 644 Hiaeus sive Jehu 74, 644 Bérauld, Nicolas 368 Bernal Díaz de Luco, Juan 570 Colloquium elegans ac plane pium 570 Bernardt S.J., Georg 214, 221, 241, 242, 243, 273, 280–81, 283, 289 Jovianus 273, 281 Theophilus Cilix 241, 242–43, 281



index of names763

Thomas Becket 221, 281 Tundalus 281 Bettini S.J., Mario 84, 90 Ludovicus 84 Betuleius, Sextus or Sixt Birck 10, 147, 149, 155, 159, 314, 671 De vera nobilitate 155 Eva 149 Judith 10, 147, 149 Sapientia Salomonis 149 Suzanna 10, 149, 671 Bidermann S.J., Jacob 22, 186, 201, 210, 214, 255, 263, 264, 268, 270, 272, 273, 276–78, 279, 281, 281, 289, 308n Adrianus martyr 278 Belisarius 273, 277 Cassianus 278 Cenodoxus 22, 276, 282, 308n Cosmarchia 277 Jacobus Usurarius 214, 278 Johannes Calybita 214, 277, 278 Josaphatus 214, 278 Josephus Aegypti Prorex 278 Herodias 201 Ludi theatrales 276n Macarius Romanus 277 Philemon Martyr 277–78 Biondo, Favio 446n Birck, Sixt see Betuleius Bisselius S.J., Johannes 212 Bitner, Jonas 314 Blasius García, Vincentius 567 Boas, Bartolomeo 86 Boccaccio, Giovanni 34, 36, 58, 64, 65, 142, 330, 473, 479, 480, 482, 495 Decamerone 58, 64, 65, 330, 473, 479, 482 De genealogia deorum gentilium 36, 142 Boeclerus, Johannes 671 Augurium Pacis 671 Boethius 28, 34, 35, 48, 80, 439, 440 Consolatio Philosophiae 28, 34, 439 Bogislaw X, Duke of Pommerania 122–23, 180 Bogislaw XIV, Duke of Stettin 683 Boisot, Philippe 384 Bolesław the Bold 653 Bonadus, François 368 Dialogus torturae 368 Bonifacius S.J., Joannes 546, 547, 554, 555, 556, 558, 559n, 561, 573, 574, 575, 583–87, 596, 598, 603, 605, 607, 612, 623 Actio de Sanctissima Eucharistia 555 Athanasia 586

De sapiente fructuoso 559n, 584n De vita per divinam Eucharistiam restituta actio brevis 554 Iezabel 603, 607 Jeptaea 574 Margaritha 584, 598 Nabal 583, 584 Namanus 561, 584 Nepotiana 612 Phyllis 584 Tragoedia Patris familias de vinea 558, 603 Vicentina 561, 583 Bononat, Bernardus 567 Borgia S.J., Franciscus 567, 574 Børup, Morten 660 Bouchet, Jean 374 Epistres morales y familiales 374 Brant, Sebastian 110, 174, 177, 180 Narrenschiff 174, 180 Brask, Samuel 666–67 Filius Prodigus 667 Bravus S.J., Bartholomaeus 586, 595 Dialogue on the Conception of Our Lady 586 Brechtus, Levinus or Brechtanus 19, 203–04, 306–07, 324, 332, 338, 357, 359, 552, 582 Euripus 19, 191, 203–04, 206, 241, 242, 306–07, 324, 338, 552, 582 Bretislaus I 640 Breton, Robert 380, 409 De virtute et voluptate colloquium 380 Brillmacher S.J. or Peter Michael 187n, 232–34, 264–66, 290 Absolon 187n, 232–34, 265–66 Daniel 264 Militia est vita hominis 265 Brooke, Samuel 472, 508–09 Adelphe 508, 509 Melanthe 509 Scyros 509 Brülow, Caspar 167 Andromeda 167 Julius Caesar 167 Bruni, Leonardo 62, 97, 105 Poliscena 62, 97, 105 Brutus 401, 461, 502 Brylinger, Nicolaus 6, 293, 306, 311, 312, 320 Buchanan, George 6, 9, 35, 46, 77, 253, 282, 351, 391, 392–95, 396, 397, 398, 400, 401, 405, 409–10, 425, 475, 476, 477, 548, 558, 572, 574, 629 Baptistes 393, 397, 477, 572

764

index of names

Jephthes 6, 77, 253, 282, 351, 392–95, 425, 475, 476, 572, 574 Buchholzer, Abraham 125 Budé, Guillaume 367 Bugenhagen, Johann 302n Buonaccorsi de Montemagno 155 Buonaccorsi, Filippi 634 Burton, Robert 506, 507 Anatomy of Melancholy 506, 507n Philosophaster 506, 507 Busleyden, Jeroen van 297n Calaminus, Georg 165 Austriaca tragoedia 165 Helis 165 Rudolphottokarus 165 Calderón de la Barca, Pedro 616 Callimachus see Filippo Buonaccorsi Calliopius 107, 120, 322 Calmus, Jean 386–89, 396n, 398, 410 Comedia recenter edita 386–89 Calphurnius, Joannes 52, 546 Calpurnia 401, 451 Calvinus, Joannes 262, 339 Camerarius, Joachim 159 Ludus septem sapientium 159 Campanus Vodnianus, Johannes 640, 655 Bretislaus 640 Campion S.J., Edmund 525 Ambrosia 525 The Sacrifice of Abraham 525 Saulus 525 Campson, Pierre see Petrus Philicinus Canto Corne, Diego del 572 Carpetanus S.J., Martinus 590 Carvajal, Cardinal Bernardino López de 574 Carvajal, Michael de 562 Casaubonus, Isaacus 645 Casparius, Caspar 344 Princeps Auriacus 344 Cassadorus, Joannes 593 Cassianus, Petrus Jacobus 552, 574, 593, 595, 598, 610 Catherine de Médicis 399 Catherine of Alexandria, St. 339, 340, 397, 398, 566, 596, 597, 600, 607 Catullus 65, 211 Caussin S.J., Nicolas 72n, 80, 86n, 214, 422, 428–29, 431–34, 435, 437–40, 448–50, 465 Felicitas 72n, 428, 437–39 Hermenigildus 86n, 214, 428, 448–50 Nabuchodonosor 428, 433–34

Solyma 428, 431–33 Theodoricus 428, 439–40, 450 Cellot S.J., Louis 25, 349, 423, 428, 429, 439, 440–48, 463, 465–66 Actio in histriones 423n Chosroës 429, 439, 444–46, 460 Reviviscentes 429, 447–48 Sanctus Adrianus 429, 440–42 Sapor admonitus 429, 442–44 Celtis, Konrad 106, 115, 121, 131, 132, 135–40, 142, 177–78, 634 Amores 634 Ludi scaenici 135n Ludus Dianae 135–37, 138, 140, 142 Oratio in gymnasio in Ingolstadio publice recitata 106n Rhapsodia 137–39 Cerda S.J., Melchior a 600, 622 Vsus et exercitatio demonstrationis 600 Cervantes de Salazar, Franciscus 545, 567, 571–72, 593 Dialogi 593 Cervantes, Miguel de 616 Cespedes S.J., Valentinus de 611 Ceva, Paulus 567 Chaianus 652 Chantelouve, François de 399 Chappelet, Sébastien 424, 429 Charlemagne 139, 174, 175 Charles de Berlaymont 340, 361 Charles I Stuart 473, 508, 509, 515–23 Charles V, Emperor 144, 145, 157, 160, 163, 293, 323, 340, 361, 545, 566–73, 576 Charles VIII, King of France 115, 116 Charles IX, King of France 372 Charles XI, King of Sweden 668, 670, 672 Charon 112, 114, 141, 376, 501 Chelidonius, Benedictus or Schwalbe 145, 178 Voluptatis cum virtute disceptatio 145 Chilius, Adrianus 340 Chrestien, Florent 392n, 394 Christian IV of Denmark 665, 671, 672, 683 Christina of Sweden 670, 671, 672 Christoph, Margrave of Baden 141 Christopherson, John 10, 476–77, 480 Jephthah 10, 476 Chronander, Jacob 661, 664 Surge 661, 664 Cicero 42, 68, 73, 105, 172, 173, 181, 211, 381, 384, 388, 416, 418, 422, 449, 460, 466, 480, 487, 549, 560, 583, 586, 593, 678 Catilinariae 549



index of names765

De inventione 449 De legibus 42 De officiis 466 De oratore 418 Partitiones oratoriae 384 Tusculanae disputationes 460 Cigorondo S.J., Joannes 546, 554, 555, 592–93, 623–24 Coloquio 592 Ocio 555 Cinthio, Giraldi 495 Claudian 42, 43, 44 De raptu Proserpinae 43 In Rufinum 42, 44 Claus, Anton or Claus Bild 23 Clement of Alexandria 417 Clement VIII 645 Clement XIV 86 Cleopatra 120, 375 Clerus S.J., Nicolaus 578 Cnapius S.J., Gregorius 644, 649, 652, 655 Eutropius 649, 652 Faelicitas 649 Philopater 649 Cochlaeus, Johannes 163 Ludus ludentem Luderum ludens 163 Colon, Cristophorus or Columbus 548 Colon, Ferdinandus 552 Colonna, Giovanni 54 Comenius, Janus Amos 637, 640–42, 655–56 Abrahamus 640 Diogenes Cynicus redivivus 640, 641, 642 Ianua linguarum 641 Orbis sensualium pictus 640 Schola ludus 640, 641–42 Connibert, Alexander 330, 383 Veterator 330, 383 Conradi, Tilmann 144, 178–79 Teratologia 144 Conti, Giovan Francesco see Quintianus Stoa Copernicus, Nicolaus 2, 322 Corderius, Mathurinus 3, 302, 383n Colloquia scholastica 3, 302 Cordier, Maturin see Corderius Cornazzano Antonio 58, 90–91 Fraudiphila 58 Corneille, Jean 418n Corneille, Pierre 11, 19, 446, 464, 466, 635, 672n Cornutus 548 Tratado sobra la tragedia y comedia 548

Correr, Gregorio 28, 35, 36–37, 41, 48, 76, 91 Progne 28, 35, 36–37, 48, 76 Cowley, Abraham 520–21, 522 Naufragium ioculare 520–21, 522 Cramer, Daniel 174–75 Areteugenia 174, 175 Plagium 174, 175 Cramoisy, Sébastien 424, 429, 453n Cranmer, Thomas 150, 479, 528 Craterus 642 Crendel S.J., Ferdinand 230, 271 Ignaviae proscriptio 230, 271 S. Cassianus 271 Cressolles, Louis de 423 Crocus, Cornelius 6, 14n, 159, 299, 311, 314–15, 316, 317, 318, 332, 357, 359, 634n, 645, 646n Ioseph 14n, 299, 311, 314–15, 316, 317, 634n, 645 Crowther, Joseph 508 Cephalus and Procris 508 Crucius S.J., Ludovicus 432n, 545, 549, 554, 555, 556, 557, 558, 561, 562, 573, 576, 577, 578–80, 581, 582, 586, 602, 603, 607, 608, 609, 610, 612, 613, 614, 624–25 Josephus 613 Prodigus 557, 602, 612 Sedecias 432n, 576, 577, 578, 579, 603, 614 Vita humana 556, 610 Crusius, Johannes Paul 167 Crusius, Martin 123, 125n Annales Svevicorum 125n Cruz, Luís da see Ludovicus Crucius [432, 549] Cueva, Juan de la 575 Cunaeus, Petrus 341 Dido 341 Cupid 32, 34, 65, 143, 203, 297, 307, 321, 322, 339, 372, 407, 555, 556, 565, 606, 672 Da Rocha SJ, Joannes 613, 614, 620 Marsyas 614 Dalanthus, Aulus Gerardus 341 Dido 341 Dalberg, Johannes, Bishop of Worms 109, 125, 127, 181 Daniel 150, 318, 319, 334, 433, 479, 562, 613 Dantiscus, Johannes 306 Dasypodius, Petrus or Hasenfratz 155 Dati, Leonardo 35, 38–39, 41, 61, 91 Hiensal 35, 38–39, 45, 61

766

index of names

David 15, 33, 84, 161, 232, 233, 260, 319, 347, 476, 481, 525, 577, 578, 583, 613, 629 David S.J., Johannes 351 Occasio arrepta neglecta 351–52 Decius, Franciscus 567 Decius 339n Del Rio see Delrius Delrius S.J., Martinus Antonius 16, 558, 561 Demosthenes 466, 678 Philippica 466 Diana 135, 136, 372, 407, 489, 672 Dictys Cretensis 648 Ephemeris Belli Troiani 648 Dido 297, 341, 453n, 454, 455, 457, 490, 491, 565, 607 Diether, Andreas 159, 314 Dio Cassius 77, 499, 502 Historia Romana 77, 499 Diodorus Siculus 453n Bibliotheca 453n Diogenes 259 Diomedes 37, 563 Dionysius of Halicarnassus 567 Antiquititates Romanae 467 Dionysius, King of Syracuse 370, 461 Dircksz, Hendrick 314 Distelmayer, Cleophas 203n Długosz, Jan 653 Vita Sanctissmi Stanislai 653 D’Oddi, Sforza 497 Erofilomachia 497 Dolet, Etienne 377 Carmina 379n Donati S.J., Alessandro 78n, 80–83, 91–92, 349, 652n Ars poetica 83, 652n Svevia 78n, 80–83 Donatus 7, 47, 48, 52, 68, 105, 377, 387, 388n, 399, 476, 479, 546, 553, 556, 560, 563 Commentum Terentii 7, 48, 52, 68, 105n, 546, 553 De comoedia 7, 47, 68n, 377, 388n Vita Vergilii 563 Dorothea, St 131 Dorothea Ursula of Baden 167, 168 Dorpius, Martinus 13, 296, 297, 329 Tomus 296 Dialogus 297, 329 Dousa, Janus 645 Drexel, Jeremias 264, 268, 273–74, 276 Dialogus de cruce ferenda 273 Fusculus 273 Julianus Apostata 273

Miles Carthaginensis 273 Triumphus crucis 273 Drury, William 528–30, 536 Aluredus 528–29 Mors comoedia 528 Reparatus 529–30 Du Bellay, Joachim 392, 412 Tombeau 412 Duym, Jacob 345 Het Moordadich Stvck van Balthasar Gerards 345 Eberhard I of Wuerttemberg 181 Eberhard II of Wuerttemberg 181 Eberhard V, Count of Wuerttemberg 125 Eberhard VI of Wuerttemberg 125 Eck, Valentin 146 De mundi contemptu … dialogus 146 Eginhard 175 Eleanor of Austria, Queen of Portugal 568 Eli or Heli 160 Elijah or Elias, Helias 320, 399, 479, 549, 561 Elisabeth 324, 524 Elisabeth, St 235, 249, 577 Elisah 74 Elizabeth I 346, 473, 476, 478, 480–503, 504, 509, 515, 526, 527, 528 Elyot, Thomas 479, 480 The Boke named the Governour 479 Empedocles 375 Encina, Juan del 563 Enden, Franciscus 15, 356 Philedonius 15, 356 Ens, Caspar see Casparius Erasmus, Desiderius 3, 6, 9, 16, 35, 46, 161, 170, 173, 210, 268n, 294, 296, 298, 302, 303, 305, 307n, 311, 325, 336, 376, 380, 394, 493, 504, 506, 523, 556, 567, 569, 570, 582, 606, 626, 637 Adagia 303, 307n, 506, 582 Colloquia 3, 268, 302, 556, 567, 569, 570, 606 Conflictus Thaliae et Barbariei 298 Enchirdion militis Christiani 336 Laus Stultitiae or Moria 173, 376 Querela Pacis 570 Ernest, Prince of Saxony 175 Ernst, Archduke 269 Essex, Earl of 476, 489 Esther 336, 337, 342, 361, 397 Estienne, Charles 377, 389 Eucharius, Eligius 330 Griseldis 330



index of names767

Euripides 9, 16, 46, 69, 74, 75, 77, 93, 96, 296, 303, 340, 392, 393, 394, 410, 425, 476, 548, 549, 646, 670 Alcestis 548 Andromache 340 Bacchae 46, 93 Cyclops 46, 93, 670 Hecuba 16, 46, 296, 394, 548 Hippolytus 46, 93, 340, 646 Iphigenia in Aulide 46, 77, 303, 394, 476 Iphigenia in Tauria 46 Medea 46, 93, 340, 392, 548 Phoenissae 46, 93, 340 Euroteles, Theodorus 341 Iudicium Paridis 341 Eurydice 375 Eusebius 77 Historia Ecclesiastica 77 Eusebius Candidus see also Placentius 318 Plausus Mortis 318 Evanthius 7, 58n De fabula 58n Faber S.J., Petrus 247n Memoriale 247 Fabricius 131 Fabricius, Andreas 225, 338–39 Evangelicus fluctuans 338–39 Jerobeam rebellans 339 Religio patiens 339 Samson 225, 339 Fabricius, Franciscus 69 Facius, Julius 613 Ecloga de Nataliciis Domini 613 Faerno, Gabriele 548 Farnese see Alexander Farnese Fauveau, Pierre 397–98, 402 Costis 397 Ferdinand II of Aragon 41–42, 45, 564, 678 Ferdinand III 4 Ferdinand of Aragon, Duke of Calabria 566 Ferdinand of Habsburg 551 Ferdinando, Cardinal 86 Fernández de Castilleja, Pedro 584 Fernández, Lucas 563 Ferreira de Vasconcelos, Georgius 613 Ferreira, Antonius 600, 613 Figueroa, Pedro de 547 Flamminius Siculus, Lucius 551, 626 Flandes, Juan de 588 Flavius Clemens 77–80

Flavius Josephus 347, 352, 481, 488 Antiquitates Iudaicae 347, 352 Bellum Iudaicum 481, 488 Flayder, Friedrich Hermann 173, 175 Imma portatrix 175 Ludocvicus bigamus 175 Moria rediviva 173 Florus 453, 489 Epitome Romanae Historiae 453 Florus, Hercules 545, 548n, 552, 554, 555, 561, 565, 582, 595, 625 Galathea 548n, 552n, 561, 565 Zaphira 555 Foix, Germana de 566 Fonseca y Figueroa, Juan de 547 Forlì, Jacopo da 590 Forsett, Edward 484, 485, 486–87, 536 Pedantius 484, 485, 486–87 Foxe, John 10, 478–80, 536–37 The Book of Martyrs 479 Christus triumphans 10, 478–79 Titus et Gesippus 479–80 Fracastoro, Girolamo 646 Ioseph 646 Frachet (Frachaeus), Jacques 381 Latina et recens comoedia 381 Francis I, King of France 98, 163, 295n, 372, 373, 374 Franciscus Xaverius S.J. 280 Francofordinus Pannonius, Bartholomaeus 115, 131, 635n, 637 Dialogus inter Vigilantiam et Torporem 115, 637 Gryllus 115n, 131, 637 François de Sales 429 François I, see Francis I Frankfurter, Bartholomäus see Francofordinus Fraunce, Abraham 482–83 Hymenaeus 482–83 Victoria 483 Frederic I Barbarossa, Emperor 139 Frederic II of the Palatinate 157 Frederic II, Duke of Saxony 142 Frederic II of Denmark 671 Frederic II Hohenstaufen 80 Frischlin, Nicodemus 16n, 166, 167–73, 276, 640, 665 Hildegardis magna 16n, 174 Iulius redivivus 172–73 Phasma 170–72, 665 Priscianus vapulans 169–70, 231 Rebecca 167 Susanna 168–69

768

index of names

Friz, Andreas 11, 23 Frulovisi, Tito Livio 51, 61–62, 92, 475 Emporia 61 Eugenius 62 Claudi duo 61 Corallaria 61 Oratoria 61 Peregrinatio 62, 475 Symmachus 61 Fulgentius 142, 181 Fabula 142 Mythologiae 142 Gabriel 399 Gager, William 472, 473, 481, 489–93, 504, 537, 665n Dido 473, 481, 490–91, 665n Meleager 489–90 Rivales 489, 491 Ulysses redux 491–93, 504, 665n Gaguin, Robert 495 Compendium de Francorum origine et gestis 405 Gallinarius, Johannes 107 Galluzzi S.J., Tarquinio 83 Virgilianae vindicationes ... de tragoedia, comoedia, elegia 83 Rinnovazione dell’Antica tragoedia 83 Gamerius, Hanardus 337–38 Pornius 337–38 Garbitius Illyricus, Matthias 634–35 Garentaeus, Gulielmus 572 Garnier, Robert 351, 407, 425, 431, 433, 451, 491, 578 Cornélie 451 Hippolyte 407 Les Juives 351, 433, 451, 578 Marc Antoine 451, 491 Porcie 451 Gennip, Jaspar von 309 Georg, Duke of Bavaria 122 George, St 229, 234, 236–38 Geraldinus, Antonius 564 Carmen bucolicum 564 Gerard, Bishop of St. Omer 337 Gerson, Jean 231 Gevalius, Johannes Johannis 664 Gezelius the Elder, Johannes 662 Gil, Franciscus 567 Gnapheus, Guilielmus 6, 9, 13, 17, 156, 205, 206, 208, 305–06, 311, 321–23, 332, 359–60, 552, 556, 602, 621, 653, 664n, 667 Acolastus 6, 13, 17, 205, 208, 305–06, 321, 552, 556, 602, 621, 664n, 667

Hypocrisis 321, 322–23 Morosophus 321–22, 323 Triumphus eloquentiae 359, 360 Godran, Charles 398 Susanna 398 Goldingham, William 481 Herodes 481 Gomes S.J., Franciscus 578, 603 Tobias 603 Gonçalves S.J., Gaspar 579 Gloria 579 Gratulatio 579 Góngora, Luis de 616 Gosławski, Stanisław 646 Gourmont, Gilles de 379, 412 Gouveia, André de 392, 629 Goveanus, Andreas 572 Gramaius, Ioannes Baptista 341–42 Andromeda Belgica dicta 342 Grbac, Matija see Garbitius Greban, Arnoul 400n Mystère de la Passion 400n Gregory of Nazianzus 69, 396 Gregory of Tours 449 Gregory the Great 438, 446n, 449 Gregory XII 92 Gretser S.J., Jakob 186, 202, 211, 229n, 231, 240n, 263n, 271, 274–76, 279, 290 Caecus illuminatus 275 De cruce Christi 275 De regno Humanitatis 202, 231, 275 Itha Doggia 275 Iudicium Solomonis 275 Lazarus resuscitatus 231, 275 Naaman Syrus 275 Nicolaus Myrensis episcopus 275 Nicolaus Unterwaldius dialogus 275 Prologus in Quintum Aeneidos 275 Timon 275 Udo von Magdeburg 229n Grévin, Jacques 396, 402 Jules César 402 Griaeus, Gaston 390, 407, 408 Athamantis furor 407 Philargyria 390 Grimald, Nicholas 472, 477, 537 Archipropheta 477 Christus redivivus 472, 478 Gringore, Pierre 373 Grote, Geert 309 Grotius, Hugo 9, 340, 342–43, 347, 348, 354, 355n, 360, 634 Adamus exul 343, 344, 348



index of names769

Excerpta ex tragoediis et comoediis Graecis 9 Christus patiens 348 Sophompaneas 348, 355n Groto, Luigi 473, 495 La Dalida 495 Grüninger, Johannes 120, 141n Grünpeck, Joseph 132–35, 136, 138, 144, 145, 179, 214 Comoediae duae 132, 133, 134, 135 Gryphius, Sebastian 381 Guarini, Battista 86 Il Pastor fido 86, 505 Guarna, Andrea 230 Bellum grammaticale 230 Guérente, Guillaume 398 Guerrero, Francisco 584 Gustaf Adolf II of Sweden 349, 360, 673 Gwinne, Matthew 499–503, 537–38 Nero 499–503 Vertumnus 503 Hall, Edward 487 Haman 336, 397 Hasenberg (Horák), Johann 163 Hausted, Edward 475 Hausted, Peter 516–17 Senile odium 516–17 Hawkesworth, Walter 497–98 Labyrinthus 497–98 Leander 497 Hebe 50, 408 Heber 434, 435, 437 Hector 33, 141, 162, 370, 593, 648 Hegelung, Peder Jensen 671 Hegendorff, Christoph 154–55, 644 De duobus adolescentibus 154, 644 De sene amatore 154 Hegesias 642 Heinrich or Henry, Duke of Wolfenbüttel 154 Heinsius, Daniel 6, 21, 341, 343, 344–45, 347, 348, 360 Auriacus 6, 21, 343, 344–45, 346 Herodes infanticida 348 Helen 33, 64, 143, 370, 397, 502, 519 Henrique, Cardinal Dom 577, 579, 608 Henriquez S.J., Michael 546, 554, 573, 578, 603, 612–13 Iosephea 546, 554, 578, 613 Henry I, King of Portugal 580 Henry II, King of France 404, 568 Henry II, King of England 281, 526 Henry IV, King of France 410, 413, 422

Henry VII, King of England 3, 347 Henry VIII, King of England 373, 374, 475, 476, 523, 526, 528 Henry or Heinrich of Bohemia 640 Hephaestus 399 Herbinius, Johannes 668 Tragico–Comoedia de Juliano imperatore Apostata 668 Hercules 11, 27, 28, 44, 141, 144, 145, 259–60, 297, 344, 401, 426, 428, 502, 508, 549, 582, 615 Hermenegildus 449–50, 599 Hermes see Mercury Herod 161, 200, 201, 348, 393, 477, 481, 610, 661 Herodias 393, 397, 477 Herodotus 451, 452, 458, 459, 460 Historiae 451, 452, 458, 460 Hessus, Helius Eobanus 11, 158, 172 Ludus podagrae 11, 158 Hessus, Hermann Schottenius 161–62 Ludus Martis 161 Ludus imperatoris 161, 162 Hessus, Jodocus 158 Heywood, Thomas 504 Hieronymus see Jerome Hillen of Hoogstraten, Michael 309, 310, 318, 319n Hippolytus 30, 75, 317, 406, 450, 491, 646, 647 Hippolytus, St 591 Hjärne, Urban 670 Rosimunda 670 Hoeckaert, Elooi see Eucharius Hogendorp, Gijsbert van 345 Truer–spel van de Moordt, begaen aen Wilhem 345 Holinshed, Raphael 473, 491, 528 Chronicles 491, 528 Holonius, Gregorius 339–40, 360–61 Catharina 339, 340 Lambertias 339, 340 Laurentias 339, 340 Holzinger, Konrad 125, 126 Homer 156, 560, 665n Honerdus, Rochus 347, 348 Moses nomoclastes 347n Thamara 347 Horace 9, 28, 47–48, 54, 66, 67, 75, 81n, 82n, 98, 120, 123, 127, 129, 167, 181, 241, 250, 308, 387, 396, 401, 407, 432, 447, 460, 466, 476, 545, 549, 552, 553, 558 Ars poetica 7, 22, 34, 37, 47–48, 52, 127n, 129n, 210, 304, 420, 443, 447n, 553, 554, 556, 562, 573, 602, 612

770

index of names

Carmina 98, 432, 460, 549 Epistulae 241, 447n Epodae 592, 610 Satires 66 Hortensius, Lambertus 340 Houtte, Petrus Van den see Ligneus Hove, Lambert van de see Hortensius Hrotsvitha of Gandersheim 53, 68, 131, 178 Dulcitius 131 Sapientia 131 Hus, Jan 3 Hutten, Ulrich von 114, 179–80 Arminius 114 Aula 114 Dialogi 114 Febris 114 Phalarismus 114 Hutton, Leonard 481 Bellum grammaticale 481 Ignatius of Loyola S.J. 73, 85, 191, 192, 193, 194, 203, 208, 280, 285, 388, 417, 547, 596, 600, 638 Exercitia spiritualia 73, 194 Isaac 168, 321, 337 Isabella 21, 81, 341, 342, 349 Isabella of Castile 531 Ischyrius, Christianus 10, 308–09, 324 Homulus 10, 308–09, 324n Isidore of Sevilla, St. 35. 40, 43, 45, 48, 344n, 564, 648 Allegoriae 648 Etymologiae 35, 45, 344n Jacob 355 Jacob II, Margrave of Baden 130 Jacobus de Voragine 438n, 440 James or Jacobus 596 James I Stuart 473, 474, 498, 499, 503–15, 526, 527 James VI 410 Jamin, Claude 389–90 Archaiozelotipia 390 Jean de Bourbon, comte d’Enghien 404 Jean de Mailly 438n, 440 Abbreviatio in gestis sanctorum 440 Jephthah 282, 351, 393, 394, 477, 549 Jerobeam 339 Jerome, St 27, 211, 314n, 592 Jesus 309, 320, 324, 354, 550, 563, 598, 609, 659, 660 Jezebel 337, 603, 607 João de Bragança, Bishop of Viseu 580

Job 206, 324, 350, 399 Jodelle, Étienne 389, 394, 396, 402, 425 Johannes Pauli 329 Schimpf und Ernst 329 John Chrysologus, St 438 John Chrysostomus, St 649 John Frederic of Saxony or Johann Friedrich 145 John III, King of Sweden 672, 674 John III, King of Portugal 550, 572 John the Baptist 17, 161, 334, 340, 393, 399, 477, 598, 615 Johnson, Samuel 495 Johnson, William 522–23 Valetudinarium 522–23 Jonah 603 Jonas, Justus 164 Joncre, Joannes 645, 652–53 Boleslaus furens 652–53 Jonson, Ben 474, 499, 507, 517, 518 The Alchemist 507, 517, 518 Cynthia’s Revels 518 Epicoene 517 Sejanus 499 Joseph 6, 96, 150, 216, 311, 314, 317–18, 332, 334, 342, 348, 354–55, 361, 549, 603, 607, 613, 634, 646, 647, 648 Jouvancy S.J., Joseph de 210n, 417, 445, 460, 466 Charlemagne 460 Chosroes 445, 460 Crux recepta 460 De ratione docendi et discendi 417, 460 Heraclitus 460 Polymester 460 Posthumius dictator 460 Jove or Jupiter 11, 32, 49, 50, 78, 79, 138, 142, 144, 326, 375, 397, 401, 441, 442, 455, 530, 565 Juan, Don of Austria 338 Juan, Honoratus 576 Judas Iscariot 667 Judith 99, 148, 334, 342, 343n, 559, 603, 629, 666 Judith of Schweinfurt 640 Julian Apostata, Emperor 151, 273–74 Julius Caesar 21, 172, 173, 238, 401–02, 404, 451 Julius II 373, 376 Juno 142, 143, 156, 407, 606 Jupiter see Jove Justinus 459 Historiae Philippicae 459 Juvenal 67, 118, 398, 466



index of names771

Karl, Margrave of Baden 167 Kerckmeister, Johannes 21, 22, 109–10, 108, 230, 302 Codrus 22, 109–10, 230, 302 Philippica 21 Keuler, Matthias 157 Kirchmeyer, Thomas see Naogeorgus Kitzscher, Johannes 122, 145, 180 Tragicocomoedia de hierosolemitana profectione 122 Virtutis et Fortunae dissidentium certamen 145 Knap S.J., Grzegorz see Cnapius Knud Lavard or Canute the Lord 659 Knuyt van Slyterhoven, Hermannus 303 Scornetta 303 Komenský see Comenius Kreutzer, Sigismund 116, 121 Kuntz of Kauffungen 175 La Péruse, Jean Bastier de 394, 396, 397, 402 Lachesis 672 Lactantius 314n Laguna, Andreas 570 Laïs 305, 370 Lambert, St 339, 340, 362 Lang S.J., Franz 23 Lang, Matthäus 145 Lang, Vinzenz 135, 136 Lasarte, Florestan de 572 Laurence, St 339, 361 Laurentius see Palmyrenus Laurimanus, Cornelius 304, 336–37, 362 Esthera 304 Exodus 336–37 Miles Christianus 336 Lawet, Robert 325n Gheestelick spel an zinnen van Jhesus ten twaelf jaren oudt 305 Lazarus 112, 149, 165, 231, 324, 351, 591, 602, 609 Le Jay S.J., François 458, 460–61 Abdolominus 460–61 Bibliotheca rhetorum 460n Croesus 460 Damocles 460 Daniel 460 Eustachius martyr 460 Josephus fratres agnoscens 460 Josephus venditus 460 Josephus Aegypto praefectus 460 Legge, Thomas 472, 473, 474, 487–8, 489, 500, 538

Richardus Tertius 473, 474, 487–88, 498 Solymitana clades 488–89 Leicester, Earl of 473, 481, 489, 490, 528 Lemius, Gottfried 187n, 218, 248n, 255–62, 263, 266, 290–91 Archaeofuldalogus 218, 256–57 Episcopus 256, 261–62 Hercules Clarius comoedia scholastica 259–61 Irene Drama Hospitale 261 Maioflosculus Drama Scholasticum 257–58 Psalterium Marianum 258–59 Lemnius, Simon 163–64 Monachopornomachia 163 Leo X 145, 374 Leon S.J., Salvator de 556 Leto, Pomponio 11, 45, 551 Libenus S.J., Jacobus 349, 355, 361 Bene qui latuit, bene vixit Alexius 355n Iosephus agnitus 349n, 355 Iosephus patri redditus 349n, 355 Iosephus venditus 349n, 355 Umfredus 349n Ligneus, Petrus 340 Dido 340 Lindanus, Guilelmus 202n Lipsius, Justus 16, 266, 268, 344, 561, 634, 645 Lithodomus, Walricus 18n Progymnasmata 18n Livy 407, 454n, 461 Ab Vrbe condita 454n, 461 Llanos S.J., Bernardinus 546, 592, 593, 595, 625 De felicissimo B.P. Azebedi et sociorum martyrio 592 Dialogus 592 Lobb, Emmanuel see Joseph Simons Locher, Jacob 112–114, 115–21, 122, 123, 130–31, 142–44, 151, 161, 177, 180–81, 644 Historia de Rege Frantie 115–17 Iudicium Paridis 142–44, 644 Libellus dramaticus novus sed non musteus 123 Ludicrum drama de sene amatore 130–31 Poemation de Lazaro mendico 112–14 Spectaculum 122 Tragedia de Thurcis et Suldano 117–20, 122 Loots, Johannes Chrysostomus 346 Lope de Vega y Carpio, Felix 616

772

index of names

Lorichius, Johannes 159, 206 Iobus 206 Loschi, Antonio 32–37, 41, 92–93 Achilles 32–37, 41 Louis XII 43, 44, 89, 98, 372, 376 Louis XIII 417, 419, 422, 465 Louis XIV 417, 422, 466, 468, 615 Louris Jansz 325 Gheestelick Spel van Sinnen seer leerlijck Hoe Christus sit onder die Leeraers 325 Lovato de’ Lovati 26, 48 Loyola, Ignatius see Ignatius of Loyola Lucan 31, 44, 451, 502, 560 Bellum civile 31, 44, 451 Lucas, Jean 420 Catharina 420 Luchetti, Eusebio 516 Le due Sorelle Rivali 516 Lucian 38, 112, 114, 172, 173, 262n, 275, 376, 409, 570, 589, 612 Timon 275 Lucifer 73, 399, 550, 578 Lucretia 370 Lucretius 314, 456n De rerum natura 314n, 456n Luder, Peter 104–06 Ludwig, Duke of Wuerttemberg 167, 168, 169, 170, 172 Ludwig, Landgrave 249 Lummenaeus a Marca, Jacobus Cornelius 20, 349, 350–51, 361–62, 433 Amnon 351 Carcer Babylonius 351, 433 Dives Epulo 351 Iephte 351 Saulus 351 Lupius, Didacus or López 615 Daphnis 615 Lupius de Cortegana, Jacobus 570 Lupius de Villalobos, Franciscus 547 Luscus, Antonius see Loschi Luther, Martin 3, 148, 149, 151, 154, 161, 163, 164, 171, 172, 204, 207, 210, 213, 244, 245, 247, 249, 251, 293, 305, 317, 322, 343n, 344n, 394, 479, 527, 635, 661, 666, 678 Tischreden 148 Macedo S.J., Franciscus de Sancto Augustino 615 Machiavelli, Niccolò di Bernardo dei 569 La Mandrágora 569 Macieiovius, Bernardus 649 Macropedius, Georgius 6, 10, 12, 13, 15n, 17, 21, 22, 156, 202n, 203, 298, 301, 303, 304,

306, 308, 309, 310, 311, 317, 318, 320, 323, 324, 325, 332, 334, 336, 341, 344, 354, 357, 361, 362, 370, 552, 644, 665 Adamus 15n, 324 Aluta 21, 298, 327 Andrisca 327–28 Apotheosis Macropedii 303 Asotus evangelicus 303, 324, 370, 552 Bassarus 17 Hecastus 10, 17, 22, 202n, 203, 308, 309, 310, 320, 324, 644, 665 Hypomone 324 Iesus scholasticus 324–25 Iosephus 317–18 Lazarus mendicus 324 Omnes fabulae 303, 304, 309, 324, 357 Petriscus 326 Rebelles 22, 298, 325–26, 334 Madirus, Arnoldus 330–31 Pisander bombylius 330–31 Madrid, Francisco de 563 Malapertius, Carolus 349, 351n, 352 Sedecias 352 Malchus 393 Maldonatus S.J., Joannes 545, 551, 552, 553, 554, 555, 560, 567, 568–70, 595, 604, 626, 627 Hispaniola 552, 553, 560, 568–70 Mallara, Joannes de 546, 552, 575–76, 595 Manardo, Giovanni 589 Mantuanus, Joannes Baptista 593 Manuel I king of Portugal 613 Marc Antony 120, 405 Mardochaeus 397 Marguerite de Navarre 386 Maria Eleonora of Brandenburg 668, 670, 674, 675 Mariana S.J., Joannes a 607 De spectaculis 607 Marie d’Estouteville 404 Marineus Siculus, Lucius 551 Marot, Clément 367 Mars 136, 162, 555, 606, 676 Martha 231 Martial 210n, 211, 292 Martinez, Franciscus 547, 588 Martirano, Coriolano 46, 93 Marulić, Marko see Marulus Marulus, Marcus or Marko Marulić 635 Dialogus de Hercule a christicolis superato 635 Mary (Virgin), mother of Jesus 78, 186n, 215, 224, 229, 234, 241, 242, 243, 258, 280, 308, 309, 324, 337, 354, 366, 524, 550, 551, 603, 607, 650, 659



index of names773

Mary (and Martha) 231, 550, 659 Mary Anne of Austria 86 Mary Magdalene 354, 478, 550, 659 Mary of Habsburg, Queen of Hungary 145, 331 Mary Stuart, Queen of Scotland 346–47, 357, 528, 576, 591 Mary Tudor 373, 472, 476, 478, 479, 523, 539 Masen, Jacob 186, 191, 196, 210, 212, 263, 265, 283, 291, 637 Androphilus 283 Bacchi schola eversa 283 Josaphatus 283 Mauritius Orientis Imperator 283 Ollaria 283 Palaestra eloquentiae 210 Rusticus Imperans 283, 637 Telesbius 283 Matthias Corvinus 635 Matthieu, Pierre 397, 399, 449 Maurice, Prince 345 Mauritius, St 242, 652 Maxentius 225, 398 Maximilian I of Bavaria 143, 144, 145, 225n, 236, 238 Maximilian I, Emperor 114, 116–21, 130, 134–39, 141, 142, 177, 178, 179, 373 Maximinus 402, 420 Medius, Thomas 633n Epirota 633n Meierus, Justus 167 Daniel 167 Melanchthon, Philipp 128, 148, 149, 154, 170, 195, 210, 377, 635, 661, 662 De Capnione Phorcensi 127n, 128n Epistola de legendis tragoediis et comoediis 146 Mena, Juan de 560 Menander 68, 306, 377n Mendes S.J., Alfonsus 615, 620 Paulinus Nolae episcopus 615, 620 Mendoza, Mencía de 567, 569 Ménestrier S.J., Claude-François 420 Mercury or Hermes 114, 135, 138, 139, 142, 144, 154, 326, 399, 446, 473, 491, 519, 565, 675, 676 Messenius, Johannes 658n, 669–70, 673, 684 Blancka–Märeta 669 Disa 669 Signill 669 Swanhuita 669 Messo, Tommaso 93–94

Mewe, William 515–16 Pseudomagia 515–16 Micraelius, Johannes 673, 677–79, 684, 686 Agathander 677 Parthenia 677 Pomeris 677–79 Minerva see Athene Molière 578, 635 L’Avare 578 Momus 376, 408 Montaigne, Michel de 398, 400 Montano, Giambattista 589 Morais S.J., Antonius de 613 Ecloga in natali Virginis Augustissimae 613 More, John 526 More, Thomas 487, 504, 526, 527, 528 Morel, Frédéric 402, 410–11 Alexander Severus 402 Moretus 16 Moritz of Saxony 154 Morus, Ambrosius or Morales 548 Morus, Philippus 337 Naboth 337 Vinea Christi 337 Moses 160, 324, 347n, 399 Mostaert, Daniel 348 De Moord der Onnozelen 348 Motta, Petrus 567 Mousson, Pierre 428, 430, 431, 450, 451, 467–68 Croesus liberatus 430, 451–52 Cyrus punitus 430, 452–53 Darius proditus 430, 453 Pompeius Magnus 430, 451 Mudarra, Alonso 610 Muret, Marc–Antoine de 21, 89, 266, 391n, 396, 397, 398, 400–02, 405, 411, 425, 451 Iulius Caesar 21, 398, 400–02, 425, 451 Mussatus, Albertinus or Mussato, Albertino 25, 26, 28–32, 34, 35, 36, 40, 41, 44, 47, 48, 53, 84n, 94, 116, 421, 425, 427, 552, 557 Ecerinis 26, 28–32, 36, 41, 427, 552 Mycillus, Jacobus 159 Apelles Aegyptius 159 Naaman 334 Nadal S.J., Hieronymus 547 Naevius 41, 44, 68, 565 Clastidium 41 Romulus 41 Nannius, Petrus 298, 329 Vinctus 298, 329

774

index of names

Naogeorgus, Thomas 22, 150, 151, 152, 153, 159, 170, 308n, 397, 478 Hamanus 154 Hieremias 152, 154 Incendia 154 Iudas Iscariotes 154 Mercator 22, 153, 170, 308n Pammachius 150, 153n, 170, 478 Naomi 319 Narssius, Johannes 348–49, 673, 674–77, 683, 684, 686 Gustavus saucius 349, 674–77, 683, 684 Nebuchadnezzar 264, 351, 352, 431, 432, 433, 434, 435, 439, 444, 562, 603 Nehemia 12, 334 Nero 50–51, 370, 396, 397, 487, 499, 500–03, 549 Neumayer, Carlos 355 Neumayr, Franz 191 Nicholas of Tolentino, St 366 Nicholas, St 354 Nicholas V 91 Nicodemus 324 Niobe 375 Núñez, Hernán 560 Nunnesius, Petrus Joannes or Nuñez 548 Octavian 120 Olaus Magnus 669 Olaus Petri 666 Tobie 666 Olivier, François 407 Oporinus, Johannes 6, 159, 205, 311, 313, 646 Orosius 453n Historia adversus paganos 453 Orpha 319 Osorio, Ana de 569 Osorio, Diego de 568, 626 Otto I, Emperor 139 Ovid 34, 36, 37, 47, 59, 200, 211, 250, 308, 319, 330 332, 371, 406, 451, 466, 489, 490, 508, 565, 571, 575, 583, 586, 587, 606, 667 Fasti 319 Heroides 490 Metamorphoses 36, 37, 200, 451, 466, 508, 575, 587, 606 Tristia 47 [ps.] Vetula 330 Oxenstierna, Axel 673, 675 Pachius, Petrus 668 Perseus 668 Pacuvius 565

Pallas see Athene Palmyrenus, Joannes Laurentius 546, 548, 555, 556, 557, 567, 575, 588–90, 596, 612 Dialogus 588, 589, 612, 626–27 Fabella Aenaria 556, 588, 589 Hypotyposes 589 Lobenia 588 Octavia 556, 557, 588, 589 Oratio 589 Phrases Ciceronis 589 Sigonia 588, 569 Trebiana 555 Papeus, Petrus or Papaeus 320, 321, 552, 553, 557 Samarites 320, 552, 553 Parmenio 642 Parsons, Philip 508 Atalanta 508 Parsons, Robert 530 Parthenius de Tovar, Johannes 545, 565–66, 570, 585 Amoris et Pudicitiae Pimenimachon 565 Contemplativae vitae dimachon 565 Pasqualigo, Luigi 483 Il Fidele 483 Patricius, Franciscus 563 De natali Christi 563 Paul 27, 28, 150, 151, 153, 324, 438 Paul Emile 405 Paul II, Pope 12, 193 Paulina 502 Paulinus of Nola 314, 322, 334, 351, 591 Paullinus, Johannes 85 Philotea 85 Paulus Diaconus 446 Pausanias 459 Description of Greece 459 Pederssøn Beyer, Absalon 662, 668 Studentes 662 Pembroke, Earl of 481 Penthesilea 648 Perdiccas 642 Pereira S.J., Lucas 612, 615 Gerion 612, 615 Peresius de Oliva, Fernandus or Pérez 547, 548, 568 Perpinyá, Johannes Petrus 196 Perrin, François 389n Les Ecoliers 389n Petau, Denis see Dionysius Petavius Petavius, Dionysius 249, 428, 429, 430, 434–37, 443n, 446–47, 450, 453–54, 455, 456, 457, 467 Carthaginienses 430, 453–54, 455–58



index of names775

Sisaras 430, 434–37 Usthazanes 430, 443n, 446–47 Peter, St 150, 151, 160, 321, 396, 438, 610 Peter Martyr 561 Petrarca, Franciscus see Francesco Petrarch Petrarch, Francesco 1, 2, 33, 53–55, 94, 330 Familiares 54 Philologia 53, 54 Petreius, Joannes or Pérez 545, 557, 570–71, 595, 628 Ate relegata 570 Chrysonia 557, 570 Necromanticus 557, 570 Suppositi 570 Phaedra 75, 76, 317, 450, 502, 549, 646 Philicinus, Petrus or Pierre Campson 337, 343 Dialogus de Isaaci immolatione 337 Magdalena 337 Esther 337 Philip II of Spain and I of Portugal 21, 96, 293, 294, 345, 352, 545, 567, 570, 571, 572, 573–612 Philip III of Spain and II of Portugal 86 Philip IV of Spain 86 Philipp, Margrave of Baden 182 Philipp of Wittelsbach 269 Philipp, Palatine Prince 111, 177 Philippus of Macedonia 642 Philostratus 77 Life of Apollonius of Tyana 77 Phocas 462, 652 Phrygius, Sylvester Johannis 672 Threnologia dramatica 672 Piccolomini, Aeneas Silvius see also Pius II 36, 48, 51, 61–64, 94–95, 105, 557, 565, 571 Chrysis 48, 61–64 De liberorum educatione 36, 105 Opera 105n Piccolomini, Alessandro 571 Alessandro 571 Pimenta S.J., Emmanuel 579 Aepolus 579 Dialogus in praemia 579 Pineda S.J., Joannes de 583, 628 Pinicianus, Johannes 144 Virtus et Voluptas 144 Pinus, Antonius 593 Pisani, Ugolino 56–57, 95–96, 105 Philogenia 56, 105 Repetitio magistri Zanini coqui 56

Pitoni, Giuseppe Ottavio 639 Hungariae triumphus in Quirinali 639 Pius II see Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini Placentius, Johannes or Struyven or Eusebius Candidus 318 Clericus eques 329 Lucianus aulicus 329 Plausus Mortis 318 Pugna porcorum 318n Susanna 318 Plato 83, 122, 386, 421, 568, 642, 678 Philebus 678 Plautus passim Amphitruo 547 Aulularia 13, 53, 211, 296, 356, 547, 550, 665n, 667 Bacchides 53, 95, 356 Captivi 53, 131, 210, 211, 330, 547 Casina 53, 55, 57, 329, 448 Menaechmi 45, 52, 53, 61, 67, 95, 154, 211, 516, 547, 571, 637 Mostellaria 53, 211, 267, 356, 518 Poenulus 53, 612, 633n Stichus 53, 330, 547 Trinummus 547 Pliny 118 Plutarch 401 Pluto 173, 375, 376, 606 Polich, Martin 144 Politian, Angelo or Poliziano 52, 57, 67, 371 Polybius 453n Historiae 453n Pomponio Leto 11, 45 Pontano, Giovanni 507 Pontanus, Jacobus 186n, 196, 199–200, 202, 207, 209, 211, 212, 215, 217n, 230, 254n, 263, 264, 266–68, 270, 272, 274, 275, 276, 291, 355, 640 Dialogus de connubii miseriis 267 Eleazarus 207, 267, 640 Gastrophilus 267 Immolatio Isaac 267, 640 Ludus de instauratione studiorum 267 Poeticae institutiones 209n, 267, 640 Progymnasmata Latinitatis 200, 211, 268 Stratocles 217n, 230, 254n, 640 Poppaea 397, 500, 501 Porée, Charles 422, 451, 458, 461–62, 468–69 Agapitus Martyr 462 Brutus 451, 458, 461 De Theatro 462 Hermenigildus 462 Mauricius Imperator 462

776

index of names

Sennacherib 462 Sephoebus Myrsa 462 Porta, Giambatista della 473, 479, 498, 509, 513 La Cintia 497 La Sorella 509 La Trappolaria 513 Portier, Jean 407 Possevinus S.J., Antonius 268, 577 Potiphar, wife of 311, 314, 317, 332, 354, 549, 607, 646 Prado, Ferdinandus del 564 Égloga Real 564 In laudem Calagurritani Episcopi … Aegloga 564 Prasch, Johannes 23n, 162–63 Arminius 23n Philaemus 162 Priam 32, 33, 648 Priscian 170 Procopius 354, 649 Prodicus of Ceos 259 Prometheus 399, 508, 589 Propertius 211 Prynne, William 505 Histriomastyx 505 Ptolemy Philadelphus 407 Publicola, Prosperus 578–79 Pythagoras 259 Quevedo, Francisco de 616 Quintianus Stoa or Giovanni Francesco Conti 69, 98, 367 Theoandrothanatos 367 Theocrisis 367 Quintilian 314n, 384, 387, 388, 422, 480, 586 Institutio oratoria 314n Quintus Curtius 453 Historia Alexandri Magni 453, 460 Quintus Smyrnaeus 648 Posthomerica 648 Quiros, Franciscus de 551 Racine, Jean 11, 19, 397, 578 Athalie 578 Esther 39, 78 Rader S.J., Matthäus 197, 210, 215, 224, 230, 264, 268, 269, 270, 271, 272, 273, 274, 276, 277n, 278n, 279, 291–92 Cassianus 269 Hypnomachia 230, 269 Ioannes Damascenus 269 Pseudoplasta 270

Sancta Afra 270 Theodosius Iunior 270 Theophilus 270 Triumphus Divi Michaelis Archangeli 270 Vigilantius or Vigilius (= Hypnomachia) 230, 269 Rainolds, John 491, 493, 504, 514 Ramirez de Villaescusa, Didacus 551, 564 Ramirius, Joannes or Ramírez 552, 567 Ranch, Hieronymus Justesen 667 Karrig Niding 667 Randolph, Thomas 475, 518 The Jealous Lovers 518 Raphael 334 Ratallerus, Georgius 340 Ravisius Textor, Johannes 3, 369–71, 372, 380n, 388, 411, 593 Calliope 371 Dialogi aliquot 369–70, 593 Dives gloriosus 370 Terra 370 Rej, Mikolaj 634n, 646 Żywot Józefa 645–6 Remacle d’Ardenne 379, 412 Palamedes 379 Renate of Lorraine 225 Reuchlin, Johannes 21, 123, 124, 125–30, 181–82, 298, 304, 330, 386 Sergius 125–27, 330 Henno or Scaenica progymnasmata 21, 123, 124, 127–30 Reuter of Mellerstadt, Kilian 131, 182, 659 Comedia … Dorothee agoniam passionemque depingens 131 Rhadamantes 373 Rhey S.J., Kaspar 272–73, 278, 279, 289 Adrianus martyr 272 Christophilus 272 De benedictione et scala Jacob ex Genesi 272 Edmundus 272 Eustachius martyr 272 Liberius 272 Sanctus Wenceslaus 272 Simeon puer Tridentinus 272 Theodosius iunior 273 Rhodius, Theodorus 165 Colignius 165 Deborah 165 Esau 165 Hagne 165 Joseph 165 Saul 165



index of names777

Simson 165 Tesaurus 165 Richard III Plantagenet 487, 488, 500 Richartzhausen, Johannes 127 Rickets, John 519 Byrsa Basilica 519 Rio S.J., Martín Antonio del or Delrius 27, 49, 68, 72, 425, 426, 464 Syntagma tragoediae latinae 425 Ristius, Johannes 668 Perseus 668 Rivaudeau, André de 397 Roa S.J., Martinus de 580 Robortellus, Franciscus 48, 561 In librum Aristotelis de arte poetica explicationes 48n Rodrigues, Emmanuel 615 Herodes saeviens 615 Rodericus fatalis 615 Rodriguez S.J., Andreas 554, 559, 573, 583, 602, 611, 612, 628 Acolastus 602 Actio in honorem Virginis Mariae 583 De methodo studendi 583 De praestantissima scientiarum eligenda 559 Demophilus 583 Exercitatio literarum 583 Gadirus 611 Parenesia 602 Techmitius 554, 583 Roillet, Claude 371–72, 396–97, 405, 406, 410, 412 Aman 397 Catharina 397 Petrus 396–97 Philantra 406 Varia poemata 396 Rojas, Ferdinandus de 552 La Celestina 552 Romagnanus, Jacobus 546, 552, 555, 556, 557, 562, 567, 574, 575, 576, 602, 610, 629 Gastrimargus 555, 556, 562, 567, 575, 576 Rondeletius, Jacob 667 Judas redivivus 667 Ronsard, Pierre de 390, 411 Amours 411 Rose, Jean 405 Rotrou, Jean de 440n, 441n, 444n, 445 Cosroès 444n, 445 Le Veritable Saint Genest 440n, 441n Roulerius, Adrianus 347, 528 Stuarta tragoedia 347, 528

Rudbeckius, Johannes 670 Rudolf II, Emperor 168 Rue, Charles de La 458, 459, 466–67 Agathocles or Lysimachus 459 Cyrus restitutus 458, 459 Rueff, Jakob 148, 314 Ruffinus, St 353 Ruggle, George 472, 503, 509, 510–14, 538 Ignoramus 503, 509, 510–14 Rupellus, Joannes 396 Rüte, Hans von 314 Ruth 319 Sá de Miranda, Franciscus 613 Salas S.J., Petrus de 611 Salemon, Georg 133, 134 Salius, Panagius 21, 344 Nassovius 344 Sallust 38, 551 Bellum Iugurthinum 38 Salutati, Colluccio 27, 28 De laboribus Herculis 28 Samson 160, 370, 593 Sánchez de Badajoz, Diego 616 Sánchez, Luis 571 Sanctaella, Rodericus Fernandez a 564, 565 Dialogus 564, 565 Vocabularium 564 Sanctius Brocensis, Franciscus or Sánchez de las Brozas 546, 578 Achilles inventus 587 Apollinis fabula 587 Asuerus 87 Auto del Corpus Christi 587 Auto del Niño perdido 587 Bersabe 587 Calirrhoe 587 David 587 Santa María, Francisco de or Castelhano 576 Santi S.J., Leone 84n, 96 Il Gigante 84 Somniator 84n Philippus 84n Santillana, Marquis de 560 Sapidus, Johannes 149 Anabion 149 Sardanapalus 370 Satorres, Franciscus 545, 557, 568 Delphinus 557, 568 Saulus see Paul Saxo Grammaticus 669 Scaliger, Josephus Justus 348, 360, 399

778

index of names

Scaliger, Julius Caesar 268, 391n, 401, 556, 586 Poetices libri septem 268, 391n, 401, 556, 586 Scammacca S.J., Ortensio 72, 74, 96 Schall, Simon 230 Misologus resipiscens 230 Schmeltzl, Wolfgang 145n, 162 Philaemus 162 Schonaeus, Cornelius 9, 12, 14, 17n, 304n, 326, 332, 333, 334–35, 341, 342, 354, 357, 362–63, 662, 665 Daniel 334, 662 Dyscoli 326, 334, 662, 663 Fabula comica 14, 334, 335 Iosephus 332, 334, 662 Iuditha 334, 335 Naaman 334 Nehemias 12 Pentecoste 662 Tobaeus 12, 334 Triumphus Christi 662 Vitulus 665 Schönsleder S.J., Wolfgang 197, 215, 264, 268, 269, 270, 271 Dialogus de Morte, Cupidine, Cacodaemone a Christo triumphatis 198 Petrus Publicanus 272 Sanctus Wolfgangus 271 Schöpper, Jakob 10, 160–61, 320, 477 Ectrachelistes 161, 477 Schorus, Antonius 157–58, 170, 323 Eusebia 157–58, 170, 323 Schweikhard von Kronberg, Johannes 261 Scipio Africanus 141, 453, 454, 457 Scotto, Jeronimo 243 Sebastian I king of Portugal 545, 572, 608, 609 Seneca, Lucius Annaeus passim Agamemnon 27n, 75, 79, 455n, 456n, 458 Hercules furens 28, 34, 209, 212, 455n, 547, 549, 670 Hercules Oetaeus 44, 20, 4569, 212, 401, 426, 458 Medea 27n, 212, 495, 547 [ps.] Octavia 26, 27n, 31, 339, 396, 499 Oedipus 32, 425 Phaedra or Hippolytus 27n, 30, 33, 65, 75, 317n, 459, 491 Phoenissae 27n, 457 Thyestes 36, 37, 75, 79, 212, 352, 435, 455n, 456n, 495, 547, 549 Troades 14, 27n, 33, 35, 51, 398, 426, 547

Serlio, Sebastiano 46 Serrata, Leonardo della 62, 96–97, 552 Poliscena 62, 552 Servius 563, 648 Sforza, Bianca Maria 11 Sforza, Francesco 135 Sforza, Massimiliano 135 Shakespeare, William 401, 406n, 472, 474, 487, 489, 496, 500, 501, 517, 520 Hamlet 520 Henry IV, Part II 501 Measure for Measure 406n Taming of the Shrew 517 Twelfth Night 496 Sibutus, Georgius Silvula in Albiorim illustratam 142 Sidney, Mary 491 Sidney, Philip 473, 481, 483, 489, 490, 491, 504, 537 Sigismund, Emperor 95, 101 Sigismund III of Poland 674 Simon Aprilis, Petrus or Abril 548 Simonides, Simon 6, 315, 634, 645–49, 656 Castus Ioseph 315, 645, 646–48 Penthesilea 648–49 Sielanki 645 Simons, Joseph or Emmanuel Lobb 6, 352–53, 363, 524, 530–33, 538–39 Leo Armenius 352, 353, 531 Mercia 352, 353, 530 Theoctistus 352, 530 Vitus 352, 530 Zeno 352, 531–32 Sintzenhofen, Georg von 143 Sixtus IV 12n, 45 Snelling, Thomas 519–20 Thibaldus 519–20 Snoy, Reynier 304–05 Soarez, Cyprianus 196, 418 De arte rhetorica 418 Sokołowski, Stanisław 648 Solomon 149, 339 Sophocles 16, 46, 74, 93, 96, 340, 425, 482, 548, 549 Antigone 482 Electra 46, 93, 548 Soppeth, Edward 366 Sorio, Balthasar 566 Oratio litteralis in Christi nativitate 566 Souris, Abel 403–04, 405 De sinistro fato Gallorum apud Veromanduos 403–04 Sousa S.J., Antonius de 546, 554, 556, 586, 613



index of names779

Real Tragicomedia 546, 556, 586, 613 Dom Alfonso Henriques 546, 613 Sozomenos 446 Historia ecclesiastica 446 Spalatin, Georg 164 Spanmüller see Pontanus Spiegel, Jakob 110 Spinoza, Baruch 15, 356 Stamler, Johannes 112 Dyalogus de diversarum gencium sectis 112 Stanislaus Kostka, St 274 Stanisław Szcepanowsky, St 653 Starck S.J., Wolfgang 230, 268, 269, 270, 271 Misoponus 230, 271 Mundus et Contramundus 271 Sanctus Wolfgangus 271 Statius 30 Steelsius, Johannes 299, 311, 314, 315, 316, 330, 331, 337 Stefonio S.J., Bernardino or Stephonius 72, 75–80, 83, 97, 349, 455, 459, 468, 577 Crispus 75–77, 455, 459 Flavia 77–80 Sancta Symphorosa 75 Symphorosa Steyndorffer, Maternus 155 Comedia de matrimonio 155 Stengel S.J., Georg 215, 236, 239n, 264, 268, 276, 278–80, 283, 292 Comoedia de Sanctis Patribus Ignatio et Xaverio 280 De adolescente per Sanctum Ioannesm apostolum a latrociniis revocato 279 De ebrietatis malo 279 De Sancto Henrico Imperatore et eius coniuge Kunegunde 279 Garzias comes 279 Mercurius 279 Pomum Imperiale 280 Otho redivivus 279 Stilico sacrilegus 280 Triumphus Deiparae Virginis 236, 239n, 279–80 Triumphus Veritatis 279 Stengel O.S.B., Karl 215, 279 Stephanus 324, 638 Stephanus, Henricus see Henri Estienne Stiblinus, Gasparus 646 Stoa, Quintianus see Quintianus Stoa Strabo 453n Geographia 453n Strada, Famiano 355 Strobel S.J., Christophorus 578 Struyven see Johannes Placentius

Sturm, Johannes 18, 165–67, 183, 194–95, 323 Stymmelius, Christoph 10, 14n, 17, 155–56, 662, 664 Studentes 10, 14n, 17, 155–56, 662, 664 Suarez S.J., Cyprianus 586, 624 Rhetorica 586 Suetonius 77, 401, 499, 502, 586 Vitae Caesarum 77, 499 Sugnerius, Petrus 593, 594 Terra 593, 594 Sulpicius 557 Surius S.J., Joannes 349, 354, 363 Ambrosias 354 B. Nicolai Maraei liberalis animus 354 Domus evangelici patris familias 354 Drama iambicum de paenitentia Theophili 354 Lucta carnis et spiritus in S. Augustini conversione 354 Magdalena 354 S. Procopii conversio 354 Susanna 168, 169, 264, 318–19, 334, 342 Susanna, Queen 642 Susius S.J., Nicolaus 355 Pendularia 355 Susliga, Florian 157 Süß, Wilhelm 173 Sylvius, Johannes 321 Isaacus xylophorus 321 Symphorosa, St 72 Synesius of Cyrene 468 Szatmári, Georg 637 Szymonowic, Szymon see Simonides Tacitus 499, 607 Annales 499 Tamar 347, 351 Teixeira, Dominicus 614, 615 David 614, 615 Telesio, Antonio or Thylesius 49, 98 Imber aureus 49 Terence passim Adelphoe 60, 65, 150, 212, 296, 306, 385, 497 Andria 52, 65, 67, 167, 296, 329, 378, 547, 670 Eunuchus 45, 52n, 65, 296, 306, 329, 547, 553, 566, 670 Heautontimorumenos 65, 168, 306, 547, 670 Hecyra 296, 547 Terentianus Maurus 552 Tesauro S.J., Emanuele 85, 98–99 Hermenegildus 85

780

index of names

Teutonio, Bishop of Bragança 580 Tevius, Didacus or Teive 545, 546, 554, 555, 558, 559, 572–73, 613, 629 David 572 Ioannes 554, 558, 572 Theocritus 579, 584, 592 Theodose, Duke of Bragança 580 Theophanes Confessor 444n Chronographia 444n Theophilus 131, 151, 243, 281, 322, 335, 338, 354 Thisbe 270, 667 Thomas Aquinas 25, 26n, 29, 70, 421 Summa Theologiae 26n, 421n Thou, Jacques–Auguste de 399–400, 402, 408, 412–13 Parabata vinctus 399 Tiara, Petrus 340 Tilly, Count of 677, 683 Timoneda, Juan de 548, 589 Tiron, Antoine 318 Tirso de Molina 515 Tobias 148, 324, 334, 341, 342, 344, 666 Tolnai 641 Torres Naharro, Bartolomé de 616 Tortoletti, Bartolomeo 50, 99 Toussain du Sel see Salius Toutain, Charles 397 Trankvil Andresi, Franjo see Tranquillus Tranquillus Andronicus, Franciscus or Trankvil Andreis 635 Trevet, Nicolas 27, 45, 47, 425 Tuccius S.J., Stephanus or Tucci/ Tuccio 577 Tunstall, Cuthbert Ulfadus, St 353 Ulrich, Duke of Wuerttemberg 114 Ulrich, St 229, 238, 239 Vadianus (Joachim von Watt) 114–15, 182 Gallus pugnans 114–15 Valentia, Joannes 552, 556, 557, 574, 602, 607, 610, 612, 629–30 Comedia prodigi filii 602 Nineusis 557, 612 Coloquio de las Opsicines 557 Valerianus, Johannes Petrus 556 Valerius Maximus 297, 401 Valla, Giorgio 48 Valla, Lorenzo 132, 133, 179, 248 Elegantiae linguae Latinae 133, 179 Vallata, Johannes de 552 Poliodorus 552

Valoys, doctor Thomas de 590 Vanegas, Petrus 321 Vargas, Gutierre de, Bishop of Plasencia 574 Varro 387, 486n De lingua latina 486n Vasconcelos, Petrus de 612, 613, 614 Dares et Entellus 614 Vasthi 336 Vazquez S.J., Dionysius 574 Saulus furens 574 Vehus, Hieronymus 141, 181–82 Triumphus Boemicus 141 Venegas, Alexius 552, 571 Venegas S.J., Michael 545, 547, 549, 555, 556, 558, 559, 561, 573, 574, 575, 576–79, 588, 603, 608, 609, 624, 630–31 Achabus 549, 558, 561, 577, 603, 607, 609 In adventu … Risamensis de Sancta Cruce 578 Saul 549, 558, 577, 607 Venus 141, 142, 143, 145, 156, 203, 204, 247, 297, 307, 338, 341, 372, 510, 565, 568, 672 Verardi see Verardus Verardus, Carolus 40–41, 42, 45, 100, 116, 120, 551, 557 Historia Baetica 40–41, 120, 551, 557 Verardus, Marcellinus 42–43, 45, 100, 551 Fernandus servatus 42–43, 551 Vergerius, Petrus Paulus 51, 55, 100–01, 557 Paulus 55 Vergil, Polydore 487 Verinus, Michael 593 Vernulaeus, Nicolaus or Vernulz 349–50, 363–64, 439n, 449n Conradinus et Crispus 350 Dives Eustachius 350 Dives Stanislaus 350 Fritlandus 350 Gorcomienses 349 Henricus Octavus 350 Joanna Darcia 350 Vernulz, Nicolas de see Vernulaeus Vessel, Claude de 392, 394, 395 Vicente, Gil 563, 614 Vicente, St 583 Victoria, Anrique Ayres 548 Victoria, Petrus de 612 El sacerdocio de Aarón 612 Victorius, Petrus or Piero Vettori 48, 561, 589 Vieira S.J., Antonius 591 De casu Heli 613 Diálogo das Oito Partes da Oração 591



index of names781

Vieira, Simon 608 De obitu Saulis et Jonathae 608 Vilaragut, Antonius 548 Villegas, Esteban Manuel de 547 Dissertationes criticae 547 Vincent of Beauvais 26, 438, 440 Speculum historiale 26, 440 Vincent of Soignies 354 Vincent, Thomas 516 Paria 516 Virdung, Michael 165 Austriaca tragoedia 165 Virgil 28, 29, 42n, 137n, 200, 250, 253n, 295, 297–98, 341, 370, 371, 398, 455n, 456n, 466, 490, 549, 560, 563, 565, 583, 584, 607, 610, 614, 615, 648, 665, 666, 686 Aeneid 28, 42n, 137n, 253n, 295, 298, 341, 455n, 456n, 490, 549, 610, 648, 665, 686 Eclogae 200, 563, 615 Vitruvius 46, 52, 417, 608 Vitus, St 353, 530 Vives, Joannes Ludovicus 3, 380, 504, 523, 557, 566, 567, 569, 571, 576, 593, 606 Dialogi 380, 569, 557, 606 Linguae Latinae exercitatio 3, 567 Vladeraccus, Petrus 341 Tobias 341 Voltaire 86, 461 Brutus 461 Wallenstein, Duke of Friedland 350, 673, 678, 680, 683 Ward, Robert 504, 514 Fucus 504, 514 Watson, Thomas (the bishop) 475–76, 482, 539 Absolom 475–76 Watson, Thomas (the poet) 482 Amyntas 482 Weitenauer S.J., Ignatius 23 Arminii corona 23n Welser, Marcus 268, 270, 277n Wilde, George 518 Ewmorphus 518 William the Silent or William of Orange 21, 294, 332, 343, 344, 345, 346, 352, 357

William V of Bavaria 225 Willichius, Iodocus 156 Wimpfeling, Jakob 22, 107–09, 110, 130, 183, 230 Philippica 110 Stylpho 22, 107–09, 230 Wolf, Jacob Jacobsen 665–66, 686 Dido 665 Turnus 665 Wren, Christopher 508 Physioponomachia 508 Xerxes 370 Ximenez S.J., Franciscus 582 Xuquer, Anselmus 615 Zamberti, Bartolomeo 63, 66, 101, 330 Dolotechne 66, 330 Zasius, Ulrich 121 Zedekiah 351, 352, 431, 432 Zeno (emperor) 532 Zeno (philosopher) 642 Zevecotius, Jacobus 6, 345–46, 347, 348, 364, 670 Belech van Leyden 346 Maria Stuarta/Maria Graeca 6, 345–46 Ontset van Leyden 346 Rosimunda 346, 670 Ziegler, Hieronymus 150, 159–60 Abel iustus 160 Christi vinea 160 Cyrus maior 160 Heli 160 Isaaci immolatio 160 Nomothesia 160 Ophiletes 160 Parabola Christi de decem Virginibus 160 Protoplastus 160 Regales nuptiae 160 Samson 160 Zingel, Georg 130, 131 Zonaras 446n, 454n Historia Romana 454n Zosimus 649 Zovitius, Jacobus 319, 320, 326, 332 Didascalus 319, 326 Ovis perdita 319, 320 Ruth 319

INDEX OF GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES Aachen 186n, 193, 195n Aarhus 660 Africa 1, 563, 613 Albania 633 Alcalá de Henares 545, 547, 548, 552, 567, 570–71, 574, 577, 588, 590, 600, 612, 623, 625, 628, 630, 631 Alpujarras 598, 602 America (Latin) ix, 1, 20, 437, 545–631 America (North) 1, 20 Amsterdam 15, 203, 294, 311, 314, 337, 345, 348, 356, 357, 359 Andalusia 545, 547, 569, 573, 580–82, 621 Antwerp 6, 14n, 16, 80, 157, 205, 294, 306, 308n, 309, 314, 318, 319n, 333, 349, 355, 356, 359, 361, 428, 433, 437, 630, 686 Aragon 41, 545, 564, 566–68, 573, 622 Artois 294, 354 Asia 162, 563, 614 Asselheim 165 Athens 66, 388, 570 Auch 379, 400 Augsburg 132, 133, 134, 135, 144, 149, 154, 159, 179, 182, 187, 191, 193, 197, 198, 212, 213n, 215n, 216, 218, 230, 233, 238, 239, 267–73, 276, 279, 280, 291, 307, 314, 630 Avignon 419, 577, 630 Ávila 555, 576, 583, 598, 623, 630 Babylon 160, 351–52, 432 Baeza 600, 622 Bahia 591 Barcelona 546, 548, 550, 552, 565, 567, 593, 607, 619, 625, 630 Bartfeld 146 Basle 6, 84, 95, 110, 127, 149, 159, 177, 180, 183, 205, 478, 536, 646 Belgium 293, 363 Bergen 157, 662, 668 Besztercebánya 637 Béthune 354, 363 Billom 417 Bohemia 2, 3, 4, 191, 266, 284, 350, 639–42, 655, 680 Bologna 55, 59, 60, 89, 94, 101, 122, 180, 194, 303, 564 Bordeaux 372, 380, 386, 389, 392, 400, 409, 410, 477, 540, 572, 629

Bosnia 633 Braga 579, 624, 629 Bragança 579, 580, 615, 624 Braniewo 645 Braunschweig 111 Brazil 577, 591 Breda 319, 320, 326 Brielle or Den Briel 350 Bruges 295, 298, 333 Brussels 336, 346, 358 Brüx/Most 266, 640 Buda 637 Bunschoten 327 Burgos 545, 568–70, 620, 626 Cádiz 598, 609, 612, 621, 628 Caen 445, 459, 578 Cali (Colombia) 571 Cambrai 307, 333 Cambridge 6, 12, 18, 21, 471–73, 475, 476, 478, 480–83, 486–87, 489, 493, 496–98, 503–05, 508–10, 514, 515–16, 518–20, 522–23, 524, 533, 536–39 Carpathian Mountains 642 Castelló d’Empúries 593 Castelló de la Plana 566 Castile 545, 568–70, 573, 574, 583–87, 623 Catalonia 545, 568 Chalcedon 652 Chantilly 578 Chur 164 Coimbra 70, 394, 410, 418, 550, 575, 577, 578, 579, 609, 613, 614, 615, 624, 629, 630 Cologne 80, 110, 111, 161, 180, 193, 197, 230, 255, 264, 265, 283, 291, 297, 305, 334, 363, 386, 412, 429, 477, 478, 570, 578 Congo 591 Constantinople 1, 462, 649 Copenhagen 662, 665, 667, 668, 671, 686 Cordoba 552, 580, 582, 583, 595, 597, 598, 600, 602, 605, 606, 608, 616, 621, 622, 628 Courtroi 333 Danzig or Gdánsk 205, 644, 675 Daroca 604 Delft 326n, 344, 345 Deventer 302

784

index of geographical names

Dijon 398 Dillingen 187, 193, 198–201, 202n, 203, 207, 211–12, 215–16, 229–30, 234, 238, 265–67, 269–73, 276, 277–81, 289, 291, 292, 552, 578, 630 Dinant 333 Dordrecht 18, 349, 674, 686 Dortmund 160 Douai 333, 347, 352, 356, 422, 433, 472, 523, 528, 529, 536 Egypt 216, 237, 330, 336, 355, 407, 443, 444, 551, 603, 613, 647, 648 Eichstätt 193 Eisenberg 165 Elbing 13, 205, 306, 653, 655 Elche 550 England 1, 3, 5, 6, 62, 92, 281, 352, 363, 373, 374, 406n, 471, 475–76, 478, 487, 491n, 493, 495, 500, 503, 505, 517, 520, 521, 523, 527, 529, 530, 532, 615 Erfurt 155, 178 Europe passim Evora 561, 577, 578, 579, 580, 600, 603, 607, 608, 609, 615, 624 Ferrara 11, 40, 45, 46, 52, 92 Flanders 294, 297, 320, 342, 345, 363, 428, 466 Florence 28, 36, 38, 46, 52, 59n, 88, 442, 498 Florennes 297 France 1, 4, 5, 20, 70, 115, 116, 163, 293, 295n, 311, 348, 354, 365–496, 532, 568, 600, 615, 656 Frankfurt am Main 674n Frankfurt an der Oder 156, 662 Freiburg im Breisgau 116, 117, 118, 120, 121, 141, 144, 164, 180, 182, 193, 272 Fribourg (Switzerland) 193, 231, 272, 275, 290 Fuessen 121 Fulda 179, 187, 193, 198, 207, 208, 209n, 214, 218, 231, 232, 234, 235, 236, 238–39, 243–64, 266, 282, 290 Galicia 586 Gandía 567, 574, 622 Gelderland 294, 338 Germany 3, 4, 6, 10, 11, 14, 20, 23, 53, 103–292, 293, 295, 298, 306, 311, 321, 444n, 578, 600, 635, 640, 657, 673, 676, 677, 683 Ghent 311, 330, 333, 346, 349, 361, 364, 433 Girona 593, 598, 612

Goa 591 Gorcum 350 Gouda 12, 305, 329, 333, 362 Granada 41, 100, 351, 561, 582, 583, 602, 628, 629 Graz 193, 272, 284 Grevelingen 340 Groningen 335 Haarlem 9, 12, 13, 16, 17, 298, 325, 332, 333, 334, 335, 362 Hainault 294, 352, 354 Hall in Tirol 193, 230, 271, 274 Hamburg 302n, 674 Harderwijk 338, 346, 364 Heidelberg 21, 105, 107, 109, 110, 123, 125, 127, 157, 178, 181, 183, 323, 635, 655 Heiligenstadt 193 ’s-Hertogenbosch 303, 309, 318, 325, 341 Heusden 341 Hildesheim 193 Holland 6, 294, 347, 348, 653, 686 Hoogstraten 319, 323 Huesca 550 Hungary 2, 4, 22, 145, 191n, 238, 249, 331, 633, 634, 635–39, 641, 642 Ieper or Ypres 333, 349 India 1, 570, 591 Ingolstadt 106, 122, 123, 131, 142, 143, 159, 177, 179–81, 187, 193, 199, 203, 216, 229n, 230–31, 241–42, 265–66, 270–73, 275–76, 279–82, 289, 290, 291, 292, 338 Innsbruck 193, 197, 199, 203, 212, 252n, 267, 269–72, 274, 282 Italy 2, 3, 5, 6, 11n, 20, 22, 23, 25–101, 105, 115, 128, 190, 191n, 194, 266, 303, 353, 411, 417, 444n, 545, 551–53, 564, 570, 600, 640 Japan 228, 234, 591, 615 Jena 165 Jerusalem 80, 122, 123, 351, 431, 432, 444n, 488, 562, 603 Klagenfurt 193 Knatá Kézdivásárhely 637 Koblenz 193 Königsberg(en) or Królewiec 323, 644, 653 Konstanz 221 Krakow 144, 177, 634, 637, 644, 646n, 648, 653 Królewiec see Königsberg



index of geographical names785

La Flèche 417, 428, 429, 430, 448, 460, 465, 466, 467, 468 Le Mans 407 Leiden 14, 295, 341, 342, 345, 346–49, 357, 360 Leipzig 97, 122, 154 Leuven see Louvain Lezno 641, 642 Liège 297, 333, 339, 360, 361, 530 Lille 321 Lima (Peru) 572, 591 Limburg 294 Linköping 659, 660n, 664n, 667 Linz 114, 135, 165 Lisbon 546, 552, 577, 578, 579, 580, 603, 608, 612, 613, 614, 629, 630 Lithuania 2, 5, 633 Lleida 546, 612–13 London 297, 366, 380, 412, 487, 503, 510, 519, 522 Louvain or Leuven 13, 21, 193n, 203, 294, 296, 297, 298, 302, 305, 306, 311, 319, 329, 333, 336, 338, 341, 342, 344, 345, 349, 357, 359, 361, 362, 364, 412, 439n, 576 Low Countries 2, 3, 4, 6, 9, 14, 20, 22, 191, 203, 293–364, 545, 551–53, 634, 644, 645, 656 Luxembourg / Luxemburg 101, 293, 294, 349, 363 Luzern 290 Lyon 45, 376, 381, 432, 580, 624 Maastricht 308, 333, 339n Madrid 336, 440n, 590, 600, 613, 616, 721 Mainz 193, 246, 255, 261, 264, 265, 290, 402, 577 Málaga 582, 602, 629, 630 Maldegem 340 Malines or Mechelen 330, 349, 355n, 361, 412 Mallorca 575, 576, 602 Mantua 29, 46, 52, 53, 91, 420 Mechelen see Malines Medina del Campo 574, 575, 583, 584, 586, 596, 609, 610, 623 Menen 320 Messina 70, 71, 74, 99, 193n, 194, 214, 422, 523, 577, 578 Mexico 545, 546, 571, 592–93, 599, 623, 624, 625 Milan 43, 50, 70, 85, 86, 89, 92, 98, 116, 135, 525 Molsheim in the Alsace 193

Mons 349, 352, 354, 363 Monterrey 586, 587 Montesión 622 Montfoort 340 Montilla 547, 602, 628 Moscow 144 Munich 6, 150, 159, 160, 187, 193, 197, 203, 216, 219, 223, 225, 226, 230, 231, 240, 263, 269–73, 276, 279–80, 282, 289, 291, 292, 307, 525, 630, 673 Münster 110, 180, 193, 264, 283, 290, 291, 302 Murcia 587, 590 Muscovy 2, 633 Naarden 340 Namur 294 Netherlands 6, 12, 293, 335, 338, 341, 348n, 354, 604, 634, 657, 674 Netherlands, Spanish 333, 342, 345, 674 Netherlands, United 295, 333, 357, 361 New England 522 New York 577 Nineveh 462, 603 Nuremberg 145, 173, 178, 182 Ocaña 574, 590, 625, 628 Odense 665, 686 Orleans 116, 367, 409, 467 Osuna 507, 571 Oxford 12, 18, 21, 471–75, 577–82, 489–92, 499, 503–09, 515, 518, 520, 523–24, 533, 536–37 Paderborn 193, 466 Padua 26, 29, 30, 31, 39, 94, 99, 425, 427, 482, 552 Palermo 70, 72, 96, 99 Palma de Mallorca 546, 575, 576, 622, 629 Paris 6, 54, 194n, 297, 329, 330, 366, 367, 368, 369, 371, 375, 383, 384, 386, 388, 389, 392, 394, 402, 409–12, 417, 418, 422, 424, 429, 445, 449, 466, 482, 556, 570, 629, 630, 667 Passau 193, 284 Pavia 52, 55, 56, 89, 95, 105n, 439 Pécs 637 Pernambuco 591 Perpignan 568, 625 Peru 546, 572, 591, 599 Perugia 578 Plasencia 561, 574, 590, 603, 607, 609, 610, 630 Poitiers 397, 402, 405n, 629

786

index of geographical names

Poland 2, 5, 6, 20, 352, 359, 490, 578, 633, 634, 641, 642–53, 656, 669, 674, 676, 677 Pommerania 122, 180 Pont-à-Mousson 417, 422, 423n, 428, 445, 467, 468 Porrentruy or Pruntrut 193, 292, 279 Portsmouth 352, 363 Portugal 70, 545–631 Poznań 644n, 651, 652, 655 Prague 197, 199, 203, 307, 525, 639, 640, 655 Pruntrut see Porrentruy Prussia 323, 359, 644, 673, 674, 677, 680n, 683 Puebla (México) 592, 623 Regensburg 177, 193, 198, 212, 215n, 269, 271, 272, 273, 279, 280 Rhodes 117, 475 Ribe 331, 671 Riga 634, 674 Rio de Janeiro 578 Rome 40–42, 44–46, 50, 52, 54, 59, 68, 71, 72, 75, 76, 83, 85, 91, 92, 94, 117, 118, 120, 121, 174, 187, 193n, 214n, 216, 217, 225, 264, 269, 276, 284, 339, 439, 451, 454, 472, 479, 517, 523, 526, 527, 528, 530, 536, 538, 551, 564, 565, 566, 574, 577, 578, 591, 630, 639 Russia 5, 633 Ruthenia 633 Salamanca 545, 546, 547, 548, 550, 551, 553, 557, 559, 568–70, 575, 587–88, 598, 602, 623, 625, 626, 629, 630 Santiago de Compostela 550, 587, 623 Santo Domingo 548 Saragossa 564, 565, 604 Schlettstadt 107 Scotland 5, 392, 409–10 Segovia 610, 612 Selmecbánya 637 Seville 450, 547, 548, 550, 551, 553, 556, 562, 570, 575–76, 582, 598, 599, 600, 602, 603, 604, 605, 616, 621, 622, 628 Siena 80, 91, 96, 563, 565, 566, 571 Solothurn or Soleure 193 Spain 4, 5, 22, 42, 86, 96, 190, 320, 332, 338, 404, 444n, 450, 463n, 507, 545–631 Speyer 183, 187n, 193, 201, 232, 246, 264, 265, 290 St Gall 182 St Omer 333, 344, 352, 363, 472, 523, 528, 530, 531, 533, 536, 538 St Winoksbergen 333 Stettin 175, 662, 677, 683, 686

Stockholm 666, 668, 669, 670, 671, 672, 674, 675, 676 Strasbourg 108, 111, 149, 155, 165, 167, 172, 173, 177, 183, 195, 323, 671 Straubing 193, 241n Stuttgart 168, 170, 174 Sulza 150 Tartu 634 Toledo 307, 545, 570, 590, 612, 625, 628 Tongres 338 Toulouse 375, 417 Tournai 294, 354, 363 Tournoy 333, 355n Trier 193, 203, 246, 264, 363 Troy 32–33 Troyes 465 Trujillo (Peru) 572 Tübingen/ Tuebingen 111, 112, 123, 146, 167, 169, 170, 173, 175, 177, 180, 181, 231, 302n, 635 Turku 661, 662, 664 Ukraine 633 Ulm 150 Uppsala 665, 669, 670, 671 Urbino 46 Utrecht 12, 15, 17, 294, 303, 325, 327, 332, 335, 336, 337, 361, 362 Utrera 575 Valencia 545, 546, 548, 553, 565, 566, 567, 575, 588–90, 607, 626 Valladolid 547, 550, 564, 583, 584, 623 Venice 1, 36, 45, 48, 52, 61, 62, 65, 92, 93, 98, 101, 123, 475, 625 Verona 29, 30, 31, 94 Vianen 303 Vicenza 32, 52, 92 Vienna 5, 131, 135, 137, 145, 162, 177, 178, 179, 182, 190, 191, 193, 197, 203, 212, 225, 284, 288, 307, 637 Villagarcía de Campos 583, 623 Vodnaňy 640, 655 Wittenberg 3, 131, 142, 144, 151, 163, 174, 175, 178, 182, 662 Worms 109, 125, 130, 178, 181, 182, 183 Ypres see Ieper Zagreb 633 Zeeland 14, 294, 319 Zwolle 111, 298, 302

INDEX OF ANONYMOUS PLAYS Absalon 575, 578, 596, 620, 630 Absolon 232, 265 Acolastus 207, 231, 244, 249, 305 Actiuncula de Christo patiente 198 Acts of the Apostles, The 396 Actus comicus de nativitate Christi 669 Ad Christi cunabula dialogus 198 Albertus Magnus, S. 229n Alphonsus 540 Ambitio Infelix sive Absolon 544 Ananias, Azarias, Mizael sive Pietas de Impietate Victus 544 Antithemius 644, 651 Antonius Bassianus Caracalla 540 Cancer 540 Captiva Religio 527, 544 Christmas Prince, The 474, 505–06, 540 Cluyte van Playerwater 327 Clytophon 540 Coloquio de las Oposiciones 557 Comedia Bile 105 Comoedia trium regum 199 Compost et Calendrier des Bergers 382 Concordia 254 Constantinus Magnus 225 Crux Vindicata 544 Danse Macabre 110 De Abrahamo misericorde et pio 250 De Angelorum custodia 252 De nativitate Christi 199 Dialogismus de boni pastoris officio 254 Dialogus ad praesepe Domini 198 Dialogus Arsenius 253 Dialogus de Catilina 251 Dialogus de duobus vexillis Christi et Luciferi 249 Dialogus de Manna et Petra 250 Dialogus de Morte, Cupidine, Cacodaemone a Christo triumphatis 198 Dialogus de nativitate Christi 198 Dialogus de nobili pugna trium Curiorum et totidem Horatiorum 250 Dialogus de usu et abusu eruditionis 226 Dialogus inter vere Catholicum et Dubitantium (de S. Eucharistia) 201n Dialogus Natalicius 198

Dialogus pro Nataliciis ad praesepe Domini 198 Discipulus et Praeceptor (dialogus de S. Eucharistia) 201 Elckerlijc 10, 110, 202, 307, 309, 311 Elisabeth, S. 218n, 235, 249 Everyman 10, 202, 307, 508 Farce de Maître Pathelin 128, 383 Felix Concordia Fratrum sive Joannes et Paulus 544 Fortunae Ludribium sive Belisarius 544 Fraus Pia 541 Freiburg Corpus Christi Play 121 Georgius, S. 229 Homo Duplex sive Funestum Corporis et Animae Duellum 544 Hungariae triumphus 639 Iephtes Ignatius conversus 218 Innocentia Purpirata seu Rosa Candida et Rubiconda 544 Ionas 549, 556, 558, 580, 603 Juditha tragoedia 559, 603 Laelia 495–96, 542 Lament chłopski na pany 652 Lollius et Theodoricus 105 Lustspiel von der Weiber Reichstag 302n Magister Bonus sive Arsenius 544 Maître Pathelin see Farce de Maître Pathelin Marcus et Marcellianus 544 Mauritius 652 Mercurius Rusticans 542 Microcosmus 542 Misomathematerastes 230 Misoponus 230 Montezuma 544 Moorkensvel 327, 328 Nabuchodonosor 561, 620 Narcissus 250 Nicodemus 197

788

index of anonymous plays

Odostratocles 644, 650 Oveja perdida 320 Pamphilus de amore 330, 565 Parthenia 542, 677, 678 Pastor fidus 542 Pastorum ad puerum recens natum adventus 199 Perfidus Hetruscus 542 Pugna Haereseos Calvinisticae et Veritatis Catholicae 251 Pugna sapientiae et voluptatis 249 Risus Anglicanus 532 Roffensis 527–28, 544 Sanctus Damianus 533, 544 Sanctus Edoardus Confessor sive Mites Terram Possidebunt 544 Sanctus Edwardus Confessor sive Mitis Terram Possidebunt 543 Sanctus Pelagius Martyr 533, 544 Sanctus Thomas Cantuariensis 526, 544

Sanguis Sanguinem sive Constans Fratricida Tragoedia 543 Selectae PP. Societatis Jesu tragoediae 6, 84, 92, 97, 349, 352, 355n, 361, 465, 468 Senilis Amor 543 Solymannidae tragoedia 543 Stoicus vapulans 543 Thanisdorus 562, 620 Theophilus 216, 241n, 270, 272 Thomus Morus 544 Tomumbeis 543 Trium regum ad cunas iter et adoratio 199 Triumphus Divi Michaelis Archangeli Bavarici 216n, 223, 226, 227, 228, 240n, 263, 270 El triunfo de la fe 554, 556, 609 Udalricus, S. 234, 238 Udo Episcopus Magdeburgensis 229, 240, 241n Ulyssis prudentia in adversis 644 Zelotypus 544

INDEX OF SUBJECTS act passim (five-act structure) 7, 9, 32, 78, 149, 239, 308, 318, 347, 407, 434, 462, 474, 482, 489, 495, 645–46, 674 (four-act structure) 142 (three-act structure) 123, 462 (actio) 488–89, 584 (number of acts) 554–56, 565, 582, 587, 613–16 (partes) 241, 243, 262, 450 actio (rhetorical term) 74, 18, 388, 416, 421–22, 449, 586, 609 actors 14, 15, 18, 421, 556, 561, 596–09, 604–05 (chorus as actor) 304 (prologue) 118 (three on stage) 7 adaptation 7n, 9, 11, 20, 31, 32, 63, 68, 130, 131, 200, 240, 275, 284, 319, 320, 343, 346, 348, 370, 383, 385, 397, 399, 478, 480, 497, 513, 560, 573, 670 allegories 37, 38, 202–04, 216, 231, 233, 236, 239, 249, 252, 261, 267, 277, 297, 307, 336, 399, 420, 508, 571, 602, 605–06, 614, 677 (cardinal virtues) 236, 555 (country) 85 allegory 38–39, 86, 320, 321, 324, 342, 371, 372–73, 421, 427, 550–52, 565–58, 591–93, 604–07 Anabaptists 171 anagnorisis 317, 355 Annales Collegii 199, 250n, 254n antistrophe 438, 646, 647 antitrinitarian 648 apologia see defense of drama argumentum 28, 75, 107, 142, 171, 298, 318, 328, 432, 433, 441, 453, 559 Arianism 450, 525 ars moriendi 231 artes 254, 296n, 362 atonement 242, 531, 652 audience passim (expectations) 73 (members) 19, 21, 23, 115, 122, 136, 145, 169, 218, 306, 449, 497, 524, 573–76, 603–6 (middle-class) 423 (several denominations) 265 (non-latinized) 10, 133, 138, 220, 223, 314, 335, 336, 421, 574, 610, 664, 684 (reading) 138 (size) 13–15, 86, 220, 384, 399, 576, 583 (women) 23, 472, 493, 524, 591, 607 Augustinians 23, 366, 615 Atuo 550, 554, 584, 587, 602, 604 ballet 84, 85, 419–20, 423, 427, 445, 459, 461, 463, 532, 672

Benedictines 20, 23, 104, 347, 350, 367 biblical drama 148, 149–50, 159, 167–69, 204–08, 231–34, 302, 321, 658 bilingualism (vernacular parts) 23, 171, 220, 271, 335, 336, 423, 462, 506, 559, 562, 587, 612, 614, 652, 679, 662, 678 (vernacular words) 329, 612 (Latin parts in vernacular plays) 660 (drama both in Latin and in the vernacular) 148, 574 (macaronic verse) 571 Blijde Intredes see Joyous Entries Brothers of the Common Life 301, 309, 318, 341 Calvinism 206, 265 cantica 214, 434, 439, 442, 447 Carnival or Shrovetide 17, 70, 135, 137, 161, 200, 215, 230, 241, 270, 326, 491, 524, 551, 568, 589 catastrophe 242, 338, 344, 385, 386, 479 catharsis 83, 210, 283n, 427, 572 censor(ship) 143, 276, 289, 351, 373n, 547, 588 characters (allegorical) 203, 233, 234, 239, 241, 243, 261, 317, 321, 326, 370, 375, 548–57, 560–72, 478–80, 605 chastity 193n, 212, 264, 315, 317, 318, 334, 354, 491, 525, 549, 603, 607, 613, 647, 648 choir 250, 584, 597, 605 chorus, choral section or choir 28, 129, 304, 476, 532, 551, 553–55, 558–61, 577, 600, 610–14, 677 (choral song) 9, 13, 21, 78–79, 81, 145, 156, 253, 274, 298, 336, 341, 361, 552, 566, 576 (dominance) 352 (function) 31, 43, 71, 129, 161, 304, 426, 433, 436, 454, 476, 490, 500, 577, 645 ( (re-)introduction) 9, 304 (number) 309 (younger pupils) 13 (structure) 646 Christian tragedy 31–32, 72, 83, 343, 425 Christianization 27, 200, 350 Christmas 17, 29, 30, 71, 198, 201, 273, 550–51, 563–64, 591, 661, 672 Church (history) 150, 153, 351, 525 (militant or ecclesia militans) 226, 438 (reform) 169, 194, 376, 523 (role in education) 2 (of England) 3 (role in salvation) 3, 203, 242, 311, 323, 327, 337, 342

790

index of subjects

Cistercians 104 classes, social 262, 416, 423, 448, 568, 662 closet drama 112 Colleges passim colloquial Latin 211, 547, 611, 672 colloquies 3, 268, 302, 380, 554, 556, 563, 567, 591–93 (performed) 572, 587, 628 comedy passim comedy, Roman (palliata) 107 (togata or praetexta) 41, 44, 411 commentaries (on Neo-Latin plays) 6, 94, 127, 156, 564 (on Seneca) 26–28, 45–47, 72, 425 (on Terence) 7, 48, 52, 68, 146, 376, 476, 546–47 commonplaces 370, 375, 396, 397, 401 compilations 6, 84, 159, 205, 293, 306, 311, 312, 313, 320, 349, 352 confessional polemic or propaganda 5, 153, 168, 186, 201, 207, 243–48, 257, 258, 283 confessionalization 104, 146, 191, 255, 332 constancy 75, 281, 332, 438, 441 converts 567, 602 Corpus Christi 17, 157, 201, 334, 524, 551, 561, 582, 584, 591, 604, 605 Counter-Reformation 4, 157, 175, 203, 239, 244, 280, 285, 339–40, 349, 604, 640, 648, 678 Creation 160, 343 criticism on drama (Christian) 25–27, 320–21, 420–21 (other) 18, 67, 148, 168, 171, 198, 423, 504–05, 513–14, 642, 677–78 dance (in theatre) 83, 134, 143, 349, 419, 463, 477, 514, 520, 525, 527, 532, 586–87, 608, 613–15, 637, 672 (theory) 90, 212 death-dance play or dance macabre 110, 230, 250, 318, 373, 553 declamation, recitation, reading 11, 21, 26, 30, 41, 45, 105, 110, 167, 209, 418, 450, 462, 471, 566, 595 defense of drama 107, 171, 331, 574 demons or devils 162, 204, 220, 231, 233, 259, 277, 304, 510, 651 (sinnekens)  326, 352 denouement 50, 343, 385, 386, 432, 463, 562 deus ex machina 50, 386, 426, 443 Devotio moderna 3, 301, 303, 304, 309 dialogue (part of drama) 30, 38, 41, 44, 67, 74, 117, 220, 231, 296, 495, 549, 658 (kind of drama) 21, 32, 158–59, 173, 198, 302, 369, 372, 407, 418, 471, 557, 564, 571 (semi-dramatic dialogues) 103, 106–15, 155, 164, 298, 330, 569, 583

distributio praemiorum, prize-giving, graduation 70, 110, 258, 259, 417, 424, 445, 458, 577, 579 divine intervention 366, 553, 561 drama – genres (comedy) passim (farce) 5, 57, 108, 128, 327, 381–85, 497, 510, 667 (pastoral play) 86, 91, 474, 614 (tragedy) passim (tragicomedy) 5, 41, 84, 86, 282, 342, 346, 376, 429, 447, 448, 505, 524, 551, 562, 600, 612–15 – kinds of (carnival play) 108, 163, 217, 267, 327, 329 (Christmas play) 197, 198 (Corpus Christi play) 121, 138, 197 (Eucharist play) 584, 590, 604 (festival play) 103, 132–44, 167, 225–26, 236 (history drama) 40, 43, 150, 165, 174–75, 256, 343, 349, 451, 624, 640, 652, 670 (legend drama) 159, 232, 240–43 (martyr drama) 4, 6, 72, 77, 234–40, 339, 530 (miracle play) 366–68 (morality play) 10, 57, 153, 202–04, 307, 325, 338, 365, 368, 370, 372–73, 391, 474, 660, 667 (mystery play) 199, 202, 365, 366, 367, 415, 421–22, 425, 431, 463, 659–60 (Passion play) 148, 366–68, 440, 662 (panegyric play) 137, 142, 349 (Passover or Easter play) 197 (saint’s or hagiographic play)  4, 22, 72, 234–40, 249, 275, 339, 349, 437, 477, 551, 659 (satyr play) 103, 132 (sotties) 351, 365, 368 – terms for (actio) 185n, 354, 555 (colloqium) 380, 559, 563, 567, 570, 590, 602 (comicotragoedia) 160, 274, 276 (com(o)edia) passim, 185n (comoedia sacra) 299, 311, 334, 357 (commedia erudita) 389, 483, 495, 497 (declamatio) 296, 297, 329 (dialogismus) 185n, 198n, 254, 579 (dialogus) 111, 115, 185n, 199, 226, 249, 329, 375, 563 (diverbium) 408 (drama) passim, 185n (drama comicotragicum) 147, 160 (dram(m)a comicum) 254, 356n, 650 (drama sacrum) 576 (ecloga) 71, 545 (fabula) 10, 40, 58, 303, 560 (fabula comica) 334, 335 (fabula ludicra) 334 (ludus) 11, 132, 135, 158, 161, 569, 659, 669 (ludus anilis) 127 (spectaculum) 103, 122, 132, 137, 142, 206



index of subjects791 (tragico(co)moedia) 122, 160, 226, 234, 236, 337, 529, 562 (tragoedia) passim – themes in (education) 22, 229, 274, 322, 325, 326 (everyman) 10, 22, 153, 202, 276, 281, 307–09, 357, 508, 651 (grace) 109, 156, 161, 204, 207–08, 242, 249, 303–05, 307, 309, 323, 354 (Hercules in bivio) 134, 144, 145, 259, 297 (heresy) 163, 171, 336–37, 338, 339, 346 (free will or choice or liberum arbitrium) 213, 240, 305, 394, 425, 549 (language) 231 (pedantry) 386, 474, 486–87, 504, 506, 513, 515, 548, 589 (providence) 31, 40, 44, 415, 426, 434, 479, 490, 549 (revenge) 33, 36, 77, 78, 81, 82, 347, 453, 482, 495, 500, 520, 675 (wedding) 487, 519, 569

Easter 69, 246, 252, 524, 550–51, 597, 603, 658–59, 660 eclogue 91, 200, 545, 546, 550, 554, 563–67, 574, 579, 592, 596, 613–15 education 2–3, 4, 18, 22, 25, 61, 70, 146, 165–67, 169, 194, 197, 205, 208, 226, 229, 246, 249, 267, 333, 340, 416–19, 422, 523, 524, 567, 661, 670, 671 eloquence see rhetoric emblematic scenes 261, 283 emotions 33, 35, 133, 210, 213, 214, 283, 350, 351, 355, 367, 476, 477, 490, 525, 572, 646 English College 6, 352, 523, 526–33, 599 entr’acte see interlude epic poetry 27, 28, 29–30, 35, 79, 185, 434, 436, 665, 673 epilogue, epilogus, peroratio 14, 18, 107, 109, 131, 156, 171, 198, 205, 322, 334, 336, 490, 529, 596 (function) 206, 207, 219, 266, 305, 308, 336, 493, 641, 678 Epiphany 157, 249, 323, 524, 563, 660, 661 epode 228, 646 erudition see also education 106, 109, 111, 112, 129, 133, 144, 366, 589 exegesis see interpretation Exercitia spiritualia 73, 80, 194, 249, 595 Fall (of angels) 260 (of man) 343, 344, 348, 399 Famuli 646 Faust 173, 243, 281 foreign languages 612 funeral poetry 31, 546, 610, 615, 672 funeral speech 107

gesture 18, 25, 122, 127, 128, 133, 146, 398, 514, 579, 586–87, 595, 609 Golden Legend 398, 438, 440 goliard 55, 56, 57 gratia see grace Greco-Roman drama 172, 339 Greek (language) 1, 2, 10, 178, 181, 205, 262, 275, 294, 317, 326, 360, 402, 429, 548, 612, 640, 650, 678 (drama and theatre)  6, 9, 16, 18, 19, 35, 46, 48–50, 63, 72, 77, 340, 341, 379, 392, 396, 425, 438, 474, 670 (neo-Greek drama) 390, 406, 476 Guardian Angel (Custos genius) 239, 243, 252, 260, 324, 562, 563, 571, 598 gymnasium 3, 4, 14, 21, 22, 108, 186, 195, 208, 212, 215, 239, 251, 281, 667 Hebrew 181, 294, 670 heresy, heretics, heterodoxy 206, 232, 248, 251, 262, 311, 320, 323, 336, 437, 528, 575, 648 Historia Collegii 197n, 198n, 200, 218, 246n, 250, 270n, 273 Holy Week 198 Humanism passim humour 54, 211, 230, 232, 241, 243, 257, 509, 521, 522, 528, 554, 557, 562–63, 580, 599–600, 611–12, 614–15 hunting scenes 257 Hussites 139, 639, 655 hypodidascalus 319 ideology 44, 196, 204, 275, 285, 401, 573, 578, 590, 597, 603, 610, 613–15 idolatry 525, 639 litterae humaniores 213, 245 imitatio 20, 60, 64, 67, 69, 116, 209, 320, 338, 343, 367, 375, 377, 387, 389, 391, 392, 444, 475, 528, 548–50, 552–54, 557–60, 568–73, 575–79, 613–15, 637 Index librorum prohibitorum 153, 158, 262n, 268n Indoctrination 549–53, 573–74, 578, 599, 603–04, 611 Inquisition 157, 205, 394, 401, 575, 575–76, 579, 598–99, 609 interludes, entr’actes or interludia 10, 71, 83, 85, 143, 212, 220, 267, 271, 335, 353, 367, 389, 390, 407, 419–20, 423, 445, 462, 463, 477, 532, 555, 606, 608, 614, 642, 644, 645, 665 intermedia or intermezzi 216, 220, 642 international scope 6

792

index of subjects

interpretation (allegorical) 28, 54, 58, 61, 103, 132 ff., 142, 158 f., 297, 305 (anagogical) 319, 336 (tropological or moral) 337, 355 (typological) 282, 314, 332, 337, 352, 355, 648 Israelites see Jews Italian comedy 69n, 389, 390, 496, 513 Jesuit Provinces (America) 591 (Austrian) 191n ( (Flandro- and Gallo-) Belgian) 191n, 333, 356 (Bohemian) 191n (Lower German or Rhenisch) 190, 191, 193, 209, 213, 219, 234, 264, 283 (Toledo) 590 (Upper German) 187, 191, 193, 209, 212, 247, 274 Jesuits passim Jews, Hebrews or Israelites 5, 148, 336, 393, 397, 433, 555, 602 Joyous Entries 43, 293, 341 kermis 14, 17, 296 language (Latin) 3, 6, 7, 20, 21, 53, 133, 144, 197, 211, 218, 220, 231, 248, 262, 285, 294, 368, 375, 569, 595, 600, 633 (vernacular) 10, 19, 86, 104, 149, 171, 423, 471, 546, 592, 600, 611, 662, 664 Latin school 3, 4, 6, 12, 13, 21, 109, 195, 294, 297, 303, 358, 660, 671 lawsuit see trial lawyer 110, 114, 128, 170, 207, 296, 298, 322, 373, 383–84, 507, 510, 527 liberum arbitrium see free will Litterae annuae 187n, 201, 246, 248n, 251 Lutheran(ism) 103, 149, 156, 170, 171, 218, 251–52, 265, 270, 305–06, 307, 323, 572, 603–04, 629, 637, 639, 664n, 677, 683 (anti-Lutheran) 163, 322, 336, 598, 603 magister perpetuus 215, 266, 283, 291 manuscript (Neo-Latin dramas) 13, 44, 62, 101, 105, 157n, 185, 186, 254, 262, 275, 337, 346, 351, 352, 383, 384–86, 404, 405, 471, 476, 483, 487, 505, 510, 526, 552, 573, 574, 577, 579, 609, 644, 667 (Etruscus – Seneca) 26–27, 29, 31, 43, 75 (Ursinianus – Plautus) 53 (Terence) 546 Mardi Gras see Carnival marriage 49, 56, 57, 60, 63–66, 155, 163, 249, 317, 322, 372, 382, 385, 389, 448, 480, 482, 507, 509, 521, 523, 529, 565, 640, 664n, 683 meritum or merit 208, 249

metre 26–28, 214, 236, 258, 367, 432, 447, 552, 553, 557–58, 599–600, 674 Minnereden 155 mobility 62, 174, 634, 655, 674 Modern Devotion see Devotio Moderna momerie 376 monologue 30, 59, 67, 74, 324, 367, 390, 445n, 450, 600, 674 moral aims and instruction passim music and musicians 13, 63, 84, 85, 128, 130, 242, 248, 249, 250, 274, 298, 304, 322, 361, 390, 419, 463, 487, 525, 526, 532, 552–54, 563, 565–66, 576–78, 604, 606–07, 610, 614, 639, 665, 672 mythology passim names (allegorical) 54, 61, 556–57, 600, 664 (Greek) 326, 556–57 (of the actors) 10, 185n, 223, 330, 420, 458, 584, 599 narrative 27, 30, 31, 41, 43, 85, 202, 233, 370, 385, 436, 481, 490, 505, 506, 532 novels 55, 56, 60, 64, 128, 289, 406, 448, 473, 497, 589, 603 ode 20, 298, 328, 329, 345, 549, 554, 561, 609, 646, 650 opera 23, 85, 283, 284, 614, 639 oration 177, 178, 179, 180, 466, 468, 537, 570, 595, 605, 657, 676, 684 Oratorians 85, 418 oratory 557, 564–67, 586–89, 595–96, 613–16 orthodoxy 5, 262, 309, 311, 314, 374, 574 paedagogium or pedagogy 149, 175, 203, 296, 297, 341 panegyric 21, 41, 45, 110, 114, 135, 136, 137, 142, 161, 284, 427, 658, 673–76 parody 57, 60, 67, 129n, 241, 243, 277, 386, 443, 517 Passover 201 patronage 245, 256, 565–68, 574–77, 580, 584, 587–88, 597, 598, 626 peasants and farmers 112, 128, 143, 151, 155, 162, 165, 169, 171, 175, 220, 239, 253, 259, 281, 298, 305, 322, 327, 330, 362, 555, 580, 584, 637, 642, 652 penitence 230, 242, 274, 277, 309, 354, 563, 580, 582, 638 Pentecost 334, 662 performance passim (costumes) 14, 16, 128, 136, 138, 212, 217, 239, 423, 473, 510, 556, 574, 595, 597, 599, 605, 607, 609, 672



index of subjects793

(mask) 63, 241, 260, 328, 329, 376, 491, 607 (scenery) 11, 15, 19, 81, 136, 417, 423, 458, 460, 562, 574, 584, 614 see also music periocha 10, 15, 18, 19, 186n, 195, 220–23, 554, 557, 609–10 personifications 117, 134, 170, 231, 277, 278, 307, 322, 370, 372, 664, 676 piety or pietas 106, 139, 194, 198, 205, 226, 233, 248–49, 309, 333, 488, 550–52, 574–75, 580, 599, 604–05, 650 Pléiade 390, 400, 411 poet laureate, poeta laureatus 1, 94, 95, 98, 111, 118, 121, 135, 136, 139, 168, 177, 178, 179, 182 poetic justice 319, 343, 495 praefatio 298, 584, 646n prefiguration 161, 317, 319, 334, 337, 355, 648 priest(s) in drama (Christian) 38, 54, 55, 56, 153, 170, 174, 238, 308, 309, 327–28, 329, 339, 349, 394, 570, 592, 600, 650 (Jewish) 160, 267, 590 (pagan) 81, 317, 442 printed texts 6, 11, 13, 19, 107, 136, 137, 139, 186, 304, 330, 533, 665 (periochae) 195, 223, 423 printing 2, 7, 172, 294, 416 production 2, 5, 12, 14, 17, 22, 23, 47n, 165, 167, 186–87, 190n, 238–39, 405, 417, 419, 471, 473–74, 481, 487, 491, 506, 510 prologue passim propaganda 118, 239, 254, 258, 372, 437, 526, 573, 673–83 (propaganda fidei) 342 proscenium 16, 118 public see audience puella 57, 59, 62, 63 (religiosa) 133, 134 pulpit literature 370 récit 37 recitation see declamation redemption 242, 314, 343, 400, 476, 527, 603 Reformation 3, 4, 22, 103–04, 146 ff., 169 ff., 194, 203, 293–94, 660, 661 rehearsal 12, 212, 238–39, 423, 609 renovatio studiorum 252 repeat performance 13, 197, 246, 476, 503, 510, 600 respublica litterarum 9, 634 Resurrection 31, 69, 71, 72, 334, 343, 478, 660 rhetoric passim Rhetoricians (Chambers) 9, 10, 14, 15

sacraments 203, 308, 309, 311, 604 (confession) 317n (Eucharist) 3, 201–02, 551, 602 (penance) 208n satire 51, 55, 57, 65, 128, 155, 298, 372–77, 386, 473, 474, 480, 506, 513, 584, 606, 614, 652 Saturnalia 135, 506 scene passim scholasticism 112, 115, 164, 170, 275, 294, 302, 386, 567 school drama passim Second Coming of Christ or Last Judgment 69, 71, 150, 151, 171, 343, 373 sententiae 21, 212, 370, 401 servus currens 384 Shrovetide see Carnival sinnekens see devils Societas Jesu passim sodalitates 178, 186n, 215 soldiers 82, 120, 173, 330–31, 373, 374, 381–82, 525, 532, 578, 595, 652 (Christian soldier) 336, 443 Somnium Herculis 260, 261 sources (classical) 131 (French) 389n (historical) 219, 258, 500 (Italian) 473, 497, 504 (medieval) 19, 21, 30, 33, 37, 63, 71, 161–62, 167, 197, 202, 281, 304, 320, 327, 330, 352, 371, 383, 400, 415, 418, 431, 463, 525, 550–51, 566, 645, 659, 660, 667, 669 spectator see audience stage directions 44, 78, 81, 133, 136, 185n, 214, 228, 232, 265n, 516, 641, 660 staging see performance and production stanza 28, 82, 328, 432n, 433, 438 Stoicism 9, 21, 27, 212, 314, 319, 332, 334, 342, 343, 344, 350, 357, 397, 426, 436, 548 strophe 82, 328, 438, 559, 646, 647 studia humanitatis 107, 109, 112, 115, 132, 142, 143, 657 subjects of Neo-Latin drama’s (see also drama, kinds of) – Bible – Old Testament (Abraham and Isaac) 160, 161, 168, 250, 267, 321, 337, 525, 640–41 (Adam and Eve) 149, 165, 324, 343, 344, 348 (Daniel) 264 (David) 15n, 33, 84, 161, 232, 233, 476, 481, 559, 572, 578, 583, 587, 614, 635n (Esther and Haman) 154, 250, 304, 336–37, 397, 587 (Exodus) 336 (Jephthah) 6, 10, 253, 282, 351, 393–95, 476–77, 549, 574 (Job) 206 (Joseph) 6, 84n, 150, 165, 216, 218, 278, 311, 314–15, 317–18, 332, 348, 354–55, 460, 549, 574, 603, 607, 613, 646–48 (Judith) 10, 71, 147–48, 149, 334, 342, 559, 603, 630, 666

794

index of subjects

(Moses) 160, 347n (Naboth) 337 (Ruth) 319 (Samson) 160, 225, 339, 667n (Saul) 165, 525, 549, 574, 578 (Solomon) 339, 667n (Thamar and Amnon) 347, 351 (Zedekiah) 351–52, 431–32 – Bible – New Testament (Five wise and five foolish girls) 351–52 (wicked husbandmen) 371 (Good Samaritan) 320–21, 552 (Herod) 161, 200, 348, 393, 477, 481, 615 (Massacre of the Innocents) 200–01, 348, 661 (Jesus Christ) 25, 69–70, 71, 73, 93, 98, 150–51, 160, 324–25, 326n, 550, 563, 609, 659, 660 (John the Baptist) 161 (Last Judgment) 69, 71 (Lazarus and the rich man) 112, 165, 324, 351, 591, 602 (Lazarus revived) 149, 231 (Lost sheep) 320, 427 (Mary Magdalene) 265, 337, 354 (Paul or Saul) 351 (Prodigal Son) 6, 156, 205, 207, 249, 303–06, 370, 552, 598, 602, 666–67 (Samaritan woman) 598 (Vinyard) 160 – Bible – apocrypha (Susanna) 149, 168–69, 172, 264, 318–19, 398, 671 (Maccabees) 72, 207 (Tobias) 17n, 148, 172, 334, 341, 547, 603, 666 tableau vivant 14, 57, 71, 73, 322 theological virtues 322, 336, 566 theory – classical (Aristotle) 7, 34, 48–49, 83, 391, 393, 401, 426, 463, 476, 553–63 (Donatus) 7, 48, 68, 105, 388, 391, 476, 479, 556, 560 (Horace) 7, 22, 34, 37, 47–48, 127, 129, 210, 304,

401, 447, 476, 553–63, 573, 602, 612 – early modern (Bade) 47, 52, 68, 377, 391 (Calmus) 386–88, 398 (Delrius) 27, 49, 68, 72, 425, 558, 561 (Heinsius) 360 (Luder) 104–05 (Marso) 68 (Pontanus) 200, 209, 268 (Scaliger) 268, 348n, 391n, 556, 586 (Vossius) 11 – classicist 268 translation (Greek into Latin) 6, 9, 10, 16, 46, 69, 340, 476, 482 (Latin into vernacular) 10, 37, 148, 157, 159, 175, 305, 314, 318, 326n, 334, 358, 395, 478, 482, 510, 529, 548, 582 (vernacular into Latin) 10, 11, 104, 148, 158, 177, 383, 389, 495, 570, 635 transmission of texts 186, 275, 416n transvestism 496, 498 Trinity 242, 317, 468 troupe of actors or grex 327, 448, 459, 670, 671, 672, 684 Twelfth Night 373, 375, 376 university passim verse passim virtus or virtue 61, 63, 73, 133, 134, 139, 144–46, 205, 230, 238, 270, 324, 338, 380, 460, 479, 528 Vulgate 303, 305n wedding (ceremony) 57, 133–34, 145, 167, 172, 225, 373, 669, 671 (poetry) 672 wisdom 61, 143 works (opera) 153, 209, 213, 309