Nobleman, The

Tourneur, Cyril (1611)

Historical Records

Stationers' Register

15 February 1611 [i.e. 1612] (S.R.I, 3.478 (CLIO)

Edward Blunte		Entred for his Copy vnder th'[h]andes of Sir GEORGE BUC[KE] and
		Th'wardens, A Play booke being a Tragecomedye called, The
		Noble man written by CYRILL TOURNEUR . . . . . . vjd

09 September 1653 (S.R.II, 1.429 CLIO)

Master Mosely Entred also . . . the severall playes following . . xx^s vj^d

...

The Nobleman or Great man, by Cyrill Tourneur.

Revels Accounts

To John Heminges for himselfe and his fellowes upon a Warrant dated 1 June 1612 for presenting vj severall Playes before his Ma^ty viz one upon the laste of October one upon the first of November one on the 5th of Nov^r one on the 26th Dec^r one on the 5th of January and one other upon Shrovesunday at night being the 23rd of February viz at twenty nobles for every play and five markes for a Reward for every play ... ... ... lx^li. (Cunningham, Revels at Court, xl-xli)

Accounts of the Treasurer of the Chamber

Item 47b (Cook 55-6):

Item paid to Iohn Heminges vppon the Cowncells warrant dated att Whitehall xx⁰ Die Maij 1613 for presentinge before the Princes Highnes the Lady Elizabeth and the Prince Pallaytne Elector fowerteene severall playes viz one playe called ‡ Pilaster, One other called the Knott: of Fooles, One other Much adoe abowte nothinge, The ‡ Mayeds Tragedy, The merye Dyvell of Edmonton, The Tempest, A Kinge and no Kinge The Twins Tragedie The Winters Tale, S^r Iohn Falstafe, The Moore of Venice, The Nobleman, Caesars Tragedye And one other called Love Lyes a bleedinge, All w^ch Playes weare played w^thin the tyme of this Accompte, viz p^d the some of . . . . . . iiij^xxxiij^li vj^s viiij^d

(Cook, 55-6)

Music, BL Add. MS 10444 (c.1624)

Music for a play, called "The Nobleman", appears in British Library Add. MS 10444, no.55, transcribed by Nicholas L'Estrange:

BL Add. MS 10444, fo.55v.	BL Add. MS 10444, fo.82r.

British Library Add. MS. 10444, reproduced with permission

Wiggins (#1643) notes that further music headed "The Nobleman" was included in a lute-book (BL Add. MS 38539, fo. 19^r, from c.1613-16; and in a MS lute-book now lost (Königsberg, Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek, MS S.S.25, fos. 11^v-12r⁾.

King's Men repertory list (1641)

On 7 August 1641, the Earl of Essex (now Lord Chamberlain) required the Stationers' Company to forbid the printing of King's Men plays without the company's consent (the desire to protect their plays having been occasioned by the onset of plague and the consequent closure of the theatres from 5 August til the end of November 1641) (Bentley 1.65).

The list of plays specified includes "The Nobleman."

(See the list in full here)

Warburton's list

"The Nobleman T.C. Cyrill Turnuer" appears as one of the last plays noted by John Warburton (1682-1759) in his list of the unprinted MS plays allegedly in his collection until destroyed by Warburton’s cook (Greg, "The Bakings of Betsy" 231):

The Trag^d. of Jobe     Good

The Nobleman T.C. Cyrill Turnuer

A Play by Will Shakespear

Bugbear C. Joⁿ. Geffrey

Orpheus C.

Tis Good Sleeping in A Whole Skin W. Wager

Farry (sic) Queen

See the full list from British Library Lansdowne MS. 807 here.

Theatrical Provenance

The play was performed at Whitehall by the King's Men on 23 February 1612, and was one of 20 performed by the King’s Men at court through the winter holiday season of 1612-13 (Chambers 3.500). It was a bittersweet time for the court. Prince Henry died suddenly of a fever on 6 November 1612, yet the marriage of Princess Elizabeth to the Elector Palatine took place as scheduled on Valentine’s Day, 1613.

Probable Genre(s)

Tragicomedy (Stationer's Register, Warburton).

Possible Narrative and Dramatic Sources or Analogues

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References to the Play

Information welcome.

Critical Commentary

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For What It's Worth

W. C. Hazlitt notes in his A Manual for the Collector and Amateur of Old English Plays (1892), p.167: "Dr Furnivall told me many years ago that the MS. was in the hands of a gentleman at Oxford, who was editing Tourneur's Works; but I have heard nothing further of it" (Internet Archive). The MS has not been traced subsequently.

Works Cited

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