Sturgflatery

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Historical Records

Inventories

Philip Henslowe's papers in the Dulwich College Library

List of playbooks

Greg, Papers (APX. I, art. 1, p. 121. col. 1, l. 189)

Under the heading “A Note of all suche bookes as belong to the Stocke, and such as I have bought since the 3d of Marche 1598:

Sturgflaterey.

Theatrical Provenance

"Sturgflatery" appears in one theatrical document, Philip Henslowe's inventory of books owned by the Admiral's men and dated 3 March 1598 (l599?). And that document survives only in transcription, as Greg explains in the headnote to APX. I, art. 1, p. 113 [1]. See Critical Commentary for further discussion of company ownership.

Probable Genre(s)

Neither Harbage (62-3) nor Wiggins, Catalogue (#1129) hazards a guess.

Possible Narrative and Dramatic Sources or Analogues

Information welcome.

References to the Play

Information welcome.

Critical Commentary

Fleay introduced a space between the first two syllables of the Malone transcription of Henslowe's word and offered "Stark flattery" as a correction for the title. Then, following a claim that a few "of Pembroke's plays were acquired by the Admiral's men Oct.—Dec. 1597," he listed this item as "Sturg flattery." In a further comment, he added that the play along with "Black Joan" might "have been retained ultimately by Pembroke's" ([2] BCED, 2.306).

Greg II repeated Fleay's suggestion of a provenance with Pembroke's but keeps the play in the Admiral's repertory ([3](headnote to Section VIII).

Chambers, regularizing the spelling of "flaterey" ("Sturgflattery," 2.132), offers also a rendering of the title as "Strange Flattery" ([4] ES, 2.168, n2).

Wiggins, Catalogue considers in detail the idiosyncrasies of secretary hand/s in the diary that might have led Malone to read the spelling as "sturgflaterey"; for his exploration of alternatives, see #1129. He is skeptical of the suggested provenance of Pembroke's men. Observing that "Henslowe's list specifies that he bought it after 3 March 1598, which was well after the merger [with Pembroke's]," Wiggins looks among Henslowe's payments for plays and apparel on behalf of the Admiral's men in the spring of 1598 for signs that one or more of these might have pertained to "Sturgflaterey" but finds nothing convincing (#1129).

For What It's Worth

Information welcome.

Works Cited

Site created and maintained by Roslyn L. Knutson, Professor Emerita, University of Arkansas at Little Rock; updated 6 July 2019.