Marquis d'Ancre

Anon. (1617)

Historical Records

Privy Council Register

Sitting of 22 June 1617

A letter to S^r: George Buck knight, M^r. of the Revells.

Wee are informed that there are certeyne Players or Comedians wee knowe not of what Company, that goe about to play some enterlude concerning the late Marquesse d'Ancre, w^ch for many respectes wee thincke not fitt to be suffered: Wee doe therefore require yo^w vpon yo^r perill to take order that the same be not represented or played in any place about this Citty or ellswhere, where yo^w haue authoritie. And hereof haue yo^w a speciall Care. So &c’./

(PC 2/29, f.55; transcribed in Chambers and Greg, "Privy Council Register" 376)

Theatrical Provenance

Unknown.

Probable Genre(s)

Topical Play (Harbage)

Possible Narrative and Dramatic Sources or Analogues

Concino Concini, marquis d'Ancre, was murdered on 24 April 1617. Ancre was a favorite of the queen mother Marie de Médicis and the husband of Leonora Galigaï, Marie's close Italian friend. As one of the queen's trusted advisors, Ancre was widely loathed for his undue influence, especially by the young Louis XIII, who, although he had reached the age of majority, was stifled by his mother's control of politics. The conspiracy against Ancre took shape in spring 1617 and his assassination was carried out by Louis d'Hôpital de Vitry in front of the Louvre. The murder was widely celebrated in newsletters and pamphlets as the just defeat of an arrogant tyrant, and the Parliament of Paris soon declared the legality of the assassination. News spread immediately to England. On 17 April (i.e. 27 April, New Style), a mere three days after Ancre's death, Nathaniel Newbery entered in the Stationers' Register "a true relacon of the Death of the Marquis D'ANCRE together with the manifestacon of the Combinacon and Tyranny of him and his adherentes" (Arber 3.607). In the following weeks, a slew of publications appeared:

1. The True Relation of the Deserved Death of that Base and Insolent Tyrant, the Marquis d'Ancre (STC 5622), published by Newbery (S.R. 17 April)
2. The Letter of the French King, to the Parliament of Roan, concerning the death of the Marshall D'Ancre (STC 16835), publ. Newbery (S.R. 23 April)
3. The French Iubile: or, The Ioy and Thanksgiving of all France (STC 5618), publ. Newbury (S.R. 26 April)
4. A True Recital of Those Things that Have Been Done in the Court of France, since the death of the Marshall d'Ancre (STC 11292), publ. Newbery (S.R. 8 May)
5. The Ghost of the Marquesse d'Ancre, with his Spirits attending him (STC 5620), publ. Nicholas Bourne (S.R. 9 May)
6. The French Kings Declaration Made in Favour of the Princes, Dukes, Peeres, Officers of the Crown (STC 16835.5), publ. William Arondell (S.R. 3 June)
7. The Oration Made unto the French King by the Deputies of the Nationall Synode of the Reformed Churches of France (STC 11305), publ. Newbery (S.R. 3 June)
8. The Last Will and Testament of the Marquis d'Ancre (STC 5621), publ. William Arondell (not entered?)

Any London dramatist considering a play on the subject of Ancre's assassination would have found ample source material at his disposal. The Privy Council's letter postdates the mutilation of Ancre's body, the trial of Galigaï for witchcraft, and the exile of Marie to Blois, but it predates Galigaï's execution.

References to the Play

Content welcome.

Critical Commentary

Fleay: On the Privy Council's letter, Fleay remarks: "They did not know what company intended to perform it. But the play was no doubt Thierry and Theodoret, by Fletcher and Massinger" (Chronicle History 309-10).

Chambers: In his discussion of The Duchess of Malfi, Chambers mentions the possibility that the extant text of Webster's play may reflect the "purging of the French Court by Louis XIII after the assassination of Marshall d'Ancre on 14 April 1617. It need not be inferred that this is the 'enterlude concerninge the late Marquesse d'Ancre', which the Privy Council ordered the Master of Revels to stay on 22 June 1617" (3.511).

Bentley: "Presumably the play was new when the Privy Council ordered it suppressed. It is noteworthy that the Council does not say that 'Marquis d'Ancre' was the title of the play, but only that it concerned him. [...] It may be that the play is to be identified with one of the many other lost pieces known to us only be some unrevealing title" (5.1371).

Clare: "Presumably the play described the career and recent murder oft the French noble, who had been a favourite of the Queen Dowager but disliked by her son. […] The threat to Buc is an indication that the Master of the Revels was himself at risk of sanctions if he failed to censor plays in accordance with attitudes expressed in Council. The 'many respectes' which persuaded the members of the Privy Council that the play was 'not fitt to be suffered' can only be surmised. […] Louis XIII was implicated in the death; he was reported as being present and remarking that now he was King of France. Such a[n] event might be good theatre; but the Privy Council perhaps anticipated—or even received—French complaints and thus considered it judicious to prohibit a play which exposed power struggles at the French court. Moreover, the theme itself would surely have caused alarm. The Marquis d'Ancre was representative of a certain type of tragic hero who set himself up in opposition to the Crown. Here was a subject which aroused considerable disquiet, as has been illustrated in official reactions to Sejanus, Philotas, and The Conspiracy and Tragedy of Charles Duke of Byron" (194-95).

For What It's Worth

The earliest pamphlet to be published, The True Relation, contains two parts, the first of which seems to be based verbatim on John Woodford's letter of April 14/24 to the secretary of state Ralph Winwood (SP 78/67, f.81-82).

Works Cited

Chambers, E.K. and W.W. Greg. "Dramatic Records from the Privy Council Register, 1603-1642." Collections [Volume I], Parts IV & V. The Malone Society. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1911. 370-395.

Clare, Janet. 'Art made tongue-tied by authority': Elizabethan and Jacobean Dramatic Censorship. Manchester: Manchester UP, 1990.

Moote, A. Llyod. Louis XIII, The Just. Berkeley: U of California P, 1989.

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