Jeweller of Amsterdam
Fletcher, Field, & Massinger (1617)
Historical Records
Stationers' Register
08 April 1654 (S.R.II, 1.445)
| Master Mosely. | Entred . . . A play called, The Jeweller of Amsterdam, or the Hague. | |
| By Mr John Flesher, Nathan Field & Phillip Massinger . . Vjd | ||
Theatrical Provenance
King's Men.
Probable Genre(s)
Tragedy (Harbage); true crime.
Possible Narrative and Dramatic Sources or Analogues
The subject matter of this lost play is almost certainly the murder of John de Wely, a jeweller in Amsterdam, who was robbed and killed by two men associated with the court of Maurice, Prince of Orange at the Hague. The murderers, John de Paris and John de la Vigne, knowing that de Wely had brought precious jewels to the prince, coaxed him into the Chamber and there strangled him to death.
A short pamphlet claiming to publish the murderers' confessions was issued later that same year (1616), and could have furnished the playwrights with material for their tragedy:
Anon. True recitall of the confession of the two murderers John de Paris, and Iohn de la Vigne touching the horrible murder committed vpon the person of Mr. Iohn De Wely, merchant-ieweller of Amsterdam : together with the sentence giuen against them at the court of Holland, at the Hage, the 16. day of May, 1616, and executed vpon them the same day. [S.l. : T. Snodham for N. Bourne, 1616]
Synopsis
The "True recitall" begins with the confession (extracted on the rack) of John de Paris, Gentleman of the Chamber to Prince Maurcie de Nassau and “present prisoner in the Court of Holland” (sig.A3), that he killed John de Wely, Merchant Jeweller of Amsterdam in March, 1616. De Wely had reportedly shown the prince “a certaine most precious hat-band beset with Diamonds”; the prince had expressed interest in the item, so de Wely asked de Paris to take custody of the item to facilitate the prince’s next viewing of it. De Paris led de Wely into the Chamber and showed him a trunk which was to be used for safekeeping of the hat-band. Although de Paris did show it to the prince the next day, he also showed it to “some of his friends attending his Excellencies returne from the Church”, and after returning the hat-band to the jeweller, de Paris conferred with John de Vigne, a soldier in the prince’s Guard, “saying vnto him, that who so could turne vp the heeles of such a man, and seaze on his Iewels, should haue enough for all his life time”. The men agreed that if they could get the jeweller back into the same Chamber where the hat-band had been stored, “they would kill him, and possesse themselues of hie Iewels, assigning for this businesse the very same day”, which (being a Sunday) would provide cover for their crime in the form of the noise of dancing associated with the feast planned by the prince (sig.A3v).
De Wely was accordingly invited to the feast by de Paris, even attempting to deflect suspicion by recommending that the jeweller not bring his valuables with him for fear of pickpockets, but de Wely ultimately did not attend the feast and the first plan was thwarted (sigsA3v-A4).
On the Monday, the conspirators hatched a new plan, hoping to bring the jeweller again to court with his jewels, where they would “pistol him least hee should speake or make any noyse”. If the prince were at Court, de Paris would hurry to the Armoury after the gunshot and “say that he had shot at one of his armours”, thus concealing their crime (sig.A4). The jeweller came to court demanding to speak to the prince; de Paris suggested he come back after dinner, with his jewels, and “shut the wooden windows of his Chamber to be the lesse seene” (sig.A4). De Vigne was placed in the Chamber “in a readinesse”; de Wely returned to Court around 3pm, and was led into the dining room and then under the arras, so as to pass to the Chamber without being seen (sig.A4v). De Paris conversed with the jeweller for some time about the precious stones, before taking a pistol out of the chamber (in front of the jeweller!) and taking it to the Armoury to give to de Vigne. De Paris charged a pistol with only a little gunpowder, in an attempt to reduce the noise that it would make when fired; de Vigne requested a poniard “to make altogether an end of him” (sig.A4v). De Paris returned to the Chamber to fetch a key and obtain a poniard for de Vigne, who subsequently entered the chamber as if to escort the jeweller to see the prince (who had in fact departed by coach in the meantime), and – after a sign from de Paris – “came behind the said Ieweller, & with his Pistoll shot him through the head, the bullet entring a little aboue one of his eares, came out behind the other, and struck against the walls” (sig.B). The shot did not kill the jeweller though, whose “eyes turned and stared in his head like a maddemans”. De Paris quickly left the Chamber to ascertain whether anyone had heard the crime; satisfied that they had not, he returned, finding that de Vigne had flung the jeweller to the ground and stabbed him twice. De Paris then took two silk ribbons, tied them together, and strangled the jeweller and removed the jewels from his pocket (sig.B).
The murderers placed the body in a corner, elevating the head to minimise the spilling of blood, covered it with a tablecloth to hide it from sight, then sought a boat with which to transport the body to the fields for burial. Being unable to find a boat, they instead resolved to thrust the body into an ash-dunghill at the back of the Court later that day, “then went both of them with another man to drinke three or foure pots of wine in the Towne” in order to create an alibi (sig.Bv). That night after supper they dug the hole in the dunghill, bound the body (pulling “his hat ouer his eares that hee might bleede the lesse”), removed their shoes and took a circuitous route to avoid detection, and conveyed the body to its burial place (sig.B2). They took care to hang coats over the chamber window so that the candlelight they needed would not be observed, and they wiped up the spilled blood and burned the napkin and ribbons used to bind the jeweller after completing their task. The men cleaned the shovels used for digging the grave and then washed themselves at the pump in the stableyard. The jewels were hidden by de Paris in a “little coser” (a casket or chest), then in earthen flower pots in the garden and subsequently buried in his cellar (sigs.B2r-v).
The criminal activity did not end there, however; de Paris, learning that the prince’s Notary had a “great summe of money” hidden around his home, began to plan the next adventure. Drinking at a tavern with de Vigne and a man named Goussepin, and seeing said Notary overcome with drink, de Paris and de Vigne conspire. De Vigne lies in bed with the passed out Notary, steals his keys, passes them to de Paris, who ransacks the Notary’s chamber and returns to court with the loot. Unfortunately he runs into Goussepin there, who had not known about the enterprise until he spied money falling out of the bulging bags of cash being carried by de Paris. The keys are returned to the Notary’s pocket, the Notary returned to his own room to sleep, and a fruitless attempt is made to buy Goussepin’s silence. The crimes are discovered, and the murderers sentenced to execution.
(The events are then retold from the perspective of John de Vigne).
References to the Play
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Critical Commentary
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For What It's Worth
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Works Cited
Site created and maintained by David McInnis, University of Melbourne; updated 19 Jan 2016.