Bristow Tragedy

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Historical Records

Payments to Playwrights (Henslowe's Diary)

F. 105 (Greg I, 165)

Lent at the a poyntment of Samewell }

Rowlye vnto John daye the 4 of maye 1602 }

in earneste of a play called bristo tragedi } xx^s

as maye a pere the some of }

^{written by hime sellfe}

F. 106 (Greg I, 167)

pd vnto John daye at the apoyntmente }

of w^wm Jube & the Reste of the companye for }

A Booke called Bristo tragedi the 23 of maij } xxxx^s

1602 the some of }

^{written by hime sellfe}

dd at the apoyntment of Thomas towne }

the 28 of maye 1602 vnto John daye in }

fulle payment for his playe written by him } xxxx^s

sellfe called briso tragedie the some of }

Theatrical Provenance

The Admiral's men bought "Bristow Tragedy" after their move to the Fortune playhouse; its likely debut there was shortly after its purchase in May.

Probable Genre(s)

Tragedy

Possible Narrative and Dramatic Sources or Analogues

Several misidentifications have been offered for the narrative matter of this play, but no one has found a story about the town of Bristol (or a man named Bristow) that seems plausible as the source for "Bristow Tragedy." Greg II rejects John Payne Collier's suggestion the play was "The Fair Maid of Bristow" (Collier, Diary, 220, n2), rejecting thus also the acceptance of that identification by William Hazlitt and James Halliwell-Phillipps. Greg does not have a suggestion of his own, nor does Martin Wiggins. Neither Greg nor Wiggins finds the possibility that "Baxter's Tragedy," is a title mistakenly written for "Bristow Tragedy." That confusion was perpetuated by Foakes in the headnote to Article 37 of Henslowe's papers that "Baxter's Tragedy is not otherwise known but may possibly, as [William] Warner suggested, be identified with Day's Bristol Tragedy, which figures on ff. 105, 106" (Henslowe's Diary, 296).

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