Predor and Lucia

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Historical Records

Performance Records

Entries from the Revels accounts for 1573/4 include:

Predor : & Lucia. played by Therle of Leicesters servauntes vpon Saint stevens daye at nighte at whitehall aforesaid.

Regarding production expenses and props, the Revels accounts mention holly, ivy, and artificial fish:

Iohn Caro for mony to him due for sundry percells Holly & Ivye for the play predor . . . . . ffyshes Cownterfete for the same viz. whiting, playce, Mackerel, &c.

(Feuillerat 193, 203)

Payments

The Acts of the Privy Council under the subheading At Westminster, the viiith of Januarie, 1573 list a payment of £13.6.8d (fee) and £6.13.4d (reward) to Leicester’s Men for their court performances of Predor and Lucia and Mamillia:

A warrant to the Thresourer of the Chamber to pay to therle of Leicester’s players, for two several plaies before the Queen’s Majestie, xiij^li vj^s viij^d ; and by way of reward for their charges, &c., vj^li xiij^s iiij^d.

(Dasent 177)

Payments of the Treasurer and Chamber in the Declared Accounts of the Audit Office list for the years 1573–4:

To Therle of Leicestres Players vpon the Councelles warrant dated at westminster ix Januarij Xpenmas hollidayes last past xiij^li vj^s viij^d and by waye of special rewarde for theyre charge, cumyng, and skill shewed therein vj^s xiij^s iiij^d in all . . . . . . . xx^li

(Wallace 215)

Theatrical Provenance

Performed by Leicester’s Men on St Stephen’s Day Saturday 26 December 1573 before Queen Elizabeth I at Whitehall Palace.

Probable Genre(s)

Classical; Romance? (Harbage, McMillin, Ono, Wells); Saints’ Legend (Ellison)

Possible Narrative and Dramatic Sources or Analogues

Ellison is of the opinion that Predor and Lucia may have possessed an hagiographic angle:

“The Lucia of 1573 is another secularized saints’ legend, as was the Lady Barbara of the year before. Lucia was a martyr of the primitive church in Syracuse, who perished during the persecutions of the Christians by Diocletian. Her story was frequently presented by the religious drama of the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. She rejected the pagan suitor that had been chosen for her, was denounced as a Christian, condemned to pass a certain time as a public prostitute, and then be put to death. She escaped a part, at least, of this punishment by dying in prison” (82).

Works Cited

Dasent, J. R., et al., eds. Acts of the Privy Council of England, New Series: 1542-1631. 46 vols. London: HMSO, 1890-1964.
Feuillerat, Albert. Documents Relating to the Office of the Revels in the Time of Queen Elizabeth. Louvain, 1908.
Wallace, Charles William. The Evolution of the English Drama up to Shakespeare. G. Reimer, 1912.

Site created and maintained by Andreas P. Bassett, University of Washington; 22 November 2020