Vayvode

Henry Chettle (reviser?) (1598)

Historical Records

Henslowe's Diary

Fol. 49^v (Greg I.94)

Lent vnto Thomas dowton the 21 of aguste

1598 to by a sewte & a gowne for vayvode

the some of tene pownde J saye lent . . . . x^ll

wittnes mr willsone

Lent vnto Thomas dowton the 22 of aguste

1598 to by diuers thinges for vayvode

the some of . . . . . . . . . . . . xxxxvj^s

Lent vnto Thomas dowton the 24 of aguste

1598 to bye diuers thinges for vayvode

the some of . . . . . . . . . . . . xiiij^s

Lent vnto Robart shaw the 25 of aguste

1598 to paye the lace manes byll ij^ll xvj^s vj^d

& the tayllers bylle xxviij^s vj^d some is . . . . . iiij^ll v^s

for vayvode

Lent vnto hary cheattell the 29 of aguste

1598 at the apoyntment of thomas dowton

ffor his playe of vayvode the some of . . . . . xx^s

Fol. 53r (Greg I.101)

pd vnto my sonne Edward alleyn the 21 of

Janewary for the playe of vayvod for the company

the some of xxxx^s J saye pd . . . ¹⁵⁹⁸ . . . . .xxxx^s

Henslowe Papers

Greg, Papers (Appx. I, i, 121)

Heading: A Note of all suche bookes as belong to the Stocke, and such as I have bought since the 3d of March 1598

Vayvode

Theatrical Provenance

<Enter information about which company performed the play, and where/when it was performed, etc.>

Probable Genre(s)

Foreign History (?) (Harbage)

Possible Narrative and Dramatic Sources or Analogues

N.B. This section is under construction.

A "vaivode" is a "local ruler or official in various parts of south-eastern Europe (in older use esp. in Transylvania)" (OED). If "Vayvode" of the Admiral's Men's play denotes such a ruler, there are a few contenders for the role. Gömöri (111) proposes János Hunyadi, with János Zápolya and Zsigmond Báthori as possible alternatives.

John Hunyadi (c. 1407–1456)

John Hunyadi is referred to in Foxe's Acts and Monuments not only with the title of vaivode, but also with an apparent slip that it is his name: "Amurathes þ[e] great Turke […] inuaded the realme of Hu[n]gary: where Huniades surnamed Vaiuoda, Prince of Transiluania, ioining with the new King Vladislaus, did both together set against the Turke" (1583 ed., p. 720). The key event with which Hunyadi appears to be associated in Foxe (and other 16th-century sources) is the Battle of Varna (November 1444), in which Hunyadi assisted King Władysław III of Poland against Sultan Murad II ("Amurath"). In Foxe's account, Amurath, having broken a league with George, despot of Serbia, besieges Belgrade, where he is repulsed by Hunyadi. In one day, Hunyadi leads five victories against the Turks in separate conflicts, inflicting 30,000 casualties. So decisive a defeat is it that Amurath (receiving news of another invasion from the King of Caramania) settles a ten-year truce with Władysław and Hunyadi. After the departure of Amurath, however, the papal legate Julian Cesarini arrives with a dispensation for Władysław, permitting him to break his oath with the Turks and promising reinforcements should he decide to go on the offensive. (This occasions a digression by Foxe on the papal abuse of power.) Advancing into Wallachia and Bulgaria, Władysław falls sick at the town of Varna, where Amurath (having received word about the breach of the truce) encounters him with the Turkish army. The Battle of Varna is described as lasting "three daies and three nightes together, with great courage & much bloudshed on each side: insomuch that the field did stand with lakes of bloud" (p. 736). Władysław dies. The prelates prove incompetent military leaders, and the "Popes Bishops flieng to saue themselues, fell into the marishes, and there were destroied, susteining a durtey death condigne to their filthy falshode and vntruth." Hunyadi survives and is praised as "of all Captaines that euer went against the Turkes, most famous & singular, prudent in wit, discret in counsaile, expert and politike in warre, prompt of hand, circumspect before he attempted, quicke in expedition: in whom wa[n]ted almost no good propertie requisite in a warlike Captaine. […] Like as Achilles was vnto þ[e] Grecians, so was he set vp of God to be as a wal or bulwarke of al Europe against the cruell Turkes and enemies of Christ, and of his Christians" (p. 736). Similar accolades are elsewhere attributed to his son Matthias Corvinus (later King Matthias I of Hungary): "The noble actes of Iohn Huniades, and of this Mathias hys sonne, were not onely great stayes to Hungary, but almost to al Christendom, in repelling backe ye Turke. For beside the other victories of Iohn Huniades the father, afore mentioned, thys Mathias also his sonne succeeding no lesse in the valiantnes, then in the name of hys father…" (p. 722).

The story of John Hunyadi could be found in other sources including Zacahary Jones's 1596 translation of The Historie of George Castriot, Surnamed Scanderbeg.

John Zápolya (1487-1540)

John Zápolya is mentioned several times with his title of vaivode of Transylvania in the life of Suleiman in Foxe's Acts and Monuments. At first mentioned coming to the aid of the young King Louis II of Hungary, Zápolya is subsequently depicted as a rival of Ferdinand, archduke of Austria and Louis's successor in 1526. Suleiman assists Zápolya by taking Buda and establishing him as King: "Solyman setting contention betwixt Ioannes Vaiuoda and Ferdinandus for the kingdom of Hungarie, spedde his viage to the Citie of Buda, whych also in short time he made to be yelded vnto hym vpon condition that they should escape with their liues and goodes: whych co[n]dition some say he kept, and some say he did not." (1583 ed., p. 748) Ferdinand counters the advances of the Turks and expels Zápolya, who then solicits aid from Suleiman: "Wherupon Vaiuoda flying to the Turke, desired his ayde. The Turke glad to take that occasion, wyth great preparatio[n] addressed him selfe to returne into Hungary, where he recouering againe the Citie of Buda, which Ferdinandus had gotten from him a little before, remooued his armye into Austria, spoyling and destroying by the way all that came to hys handes, shewing many examples of great cruelty & tyranny most lamentable to here and vnderstand." After a lengthy description of the Siege of Vienna (in which the Turks are successfully repelled) and subsequent conquests of Suleiman, Zápolya reappears at the moment of his death, appointing his infant son (John Sigismund Zápolya) as his successor: "This Vaiuoda liuing not long after, left behinde him a sonne, whome being an infant he committed to the gouernance of one Georgius Monachus: who being left tutour vnto the infant, reduced all Transiluania, Buda, Pesta, with other parties of Hungary, which belonged to Vaiuoda before, to the subiection of the child" (752). Ferdinand again lays claim to Hungary and, after an ill-fated negotiation between him and Monachus, the Hungarians call upon the assistance of Suleiman, "[Monachus] promising that he would surrender to him free possession of Hungary, if he woulde come and vanquish the army of Ferdinandus lying about the siege of Buda. The Turke maketh no long tarying, but taketh the occasion, and with a mighty power, flieth into Hungary, and eftsoones discharging the host of Ferdinandus, and putting them of from the siege of Buda, getteth the Citty into his own handes, commaunding the sonne of Vaiuoda with his mother, to follow after his camp."

References to the Play

<List any known or conjectured references to the lost play here.>

Critical Commentary

Greg: "This was evidently an old play belonging to Alleyn revised by Chettle on the occasion of its revival. 'The Vaivode,' says Hazlitt, 'was possibly founded on the current incidents in the war between Transylvania and Austria.' Vaivode, or Voivode, is a title equivalent to general or governor in certain Slavonic countries. Collier remarks: 'See Painter's "Palace of Pleasure," ii., p. 140, &c., respecting "Vayvode."' The reference is evidently to the edition of 1567, tome ii., novel 21, the story of Anne, Queen of Hungary. Since, however, the hero of this tale is one Philippo dei Nicuoli of Cremona, secretary to the Lord Andrea Borgo, and that no such person as a Vaivode is mentioned therein, this misleading suggestion may be at once dismissed. The piece appears in the play-list of the Admiral's inventories (Apx. I. i. l. 198b) apparently before its purchase from Alleyn. Fleay accuses Halliwell of taking his entry 'Vayoode, by Henry Chettle' from Collier's index, adding: 'He did not see that this was a preparation for an "interlineation" in the Diary.' The idea of Collier starting to make a forgery by inserting an entry in the index of his edition is sufficiently absurd, but Fleay has, moreover, overlooked the entry of 29 Aug. It may be doubted whether the invention of forgeries is any more desirable than their perpetration." (II.197)

Wann: "it is likely that Vayvode was a conqueror play or tragedy similar to Scanderbeg, treating of the long struggle between one of the Vayvodes of Wallachia and the Ottoman Turks." (428)

Chambers: "As to Vayvode, the entries are rather puzzling. In August Chettle received £1 'for his playe of Vayvode', and the purchase of properties show that the production took place. But in the following January there was a payment of £2 to Alleyn 'for the playe of Vayvod for the company'. Possibly Alleyn had some rights in the manuscript, which were at first overlooked." (II. 170)

Feuillerat: "The modifications made on a play called Vayvode may be said to fall in the category of simple improvements. This play was one of those belonging to the actor Edward Alleyn […] Since Alleyn, as we have seen, had sold it, and since Chettle received only 5s. […] the supposition is that Chettle was not really the author but was merely responsible for a reworking. Nothing is known of this play with its mysterious title, and further conjecture would be futile." (9) "Hazlitt believed that the play was based on incidents in the war between Transylvania and Austria, since the word "vaivode" was a title used in the Balkans to denote the chiefs of the army or the state. This is indeed an ingenious proof of an equally ingenious hypothesis." (9n.)

For What It's Worth

John Hunyadi?

On the whole, John Hunyadi seems to have been a popular figure, and one can find occasional allusions to "Huniades" as a military commander:

• George Whetstone in The English Myrror (1586) cites Hunyadi's performance at the Siege of Belgrade: the Sultan Mahomet "besieged Belgrade, from whence he was driven with dishonor, besides the losse of many men, & much artillery, by that valiant Hungarian captaine Iohn Vaiuode" (pp. 73-74; cited Gömöri 110-111).

• In Nashes Lenten Stuffe, his name appears in the expression "this Huniades of the liquid element" (p. 30; cited Gömöri 111).

• In Dabridgcourt Belchier's Hans Beer-Pot, his Invisible Comedy of See Me and See me not (publ. 1618) an extended account of the battle of Varna is given, with Hunyadi as the exemplary general compared to the perjured King Władysław and incompetent Julian.

"George Scanderbeg"

Somewhat less cryptic than the title "Vayvode" is that of "George Scanderbeg," which appears in a Stationers' Register entry in July 1601 as having been recently performed by the Earl of Oxford's players. (The title appears there as "the true historye of GEORGE SCANDERBARGE": for much more on that play, see the relevant LPD entry here.) If that play's title refers to George Kastrioti, who (like John Hunyadi) became famous for successfully repulsing Turkish invasions in the mid-15th century, it might suggest that the theme was considered bankable in the years around the turn of the century. Foxe makes the comparison between Hunyadi and Scanderbeg explicitly: "this noble and victorious Scanderbeius (whom the Lord also had raysed vp the same tyme with Huniades, to bridle the fury of the Turkes) valiau[n]tly defended agaynst all the power of Amurathes" (p. 736); "In the meane tyme while Amurathes this Turkishe tyra[n]ne was cloystered vp in his Monkish Religion, Ioannes Huniades in the kyngdome of Hungary, and Castriotus Scanderbeius in Grecia, kept great styrre against the Turkes" (p. 736). In Zacahary Jones's translation of The Historie of George Castriot, Surnamed Scanderbeg (London, 1596), an account of the Battle of Varna is followed by a fantasy of the sight of Hunyadi and Skanderbeg fighting side by side and a comparison of their characters (p. 75-76).

Vlad the Impaler

It is tempting to imagine that the Vayvode of the Admiral's Men's play might have been the notorious Vlad the Impaler (1431–1476) of Wallachia. Allusions in English texts to Vlad as a cruel and sadistic tyrant appear to postdate the entries for "Vayvode" in Henslowe's Diary. For example, in 1637: "The mountainous part of Transylvania was lately subdued by Matthias Huniades, whose surname was Corvinus, and afterward by Stephen King of Hungary. This Matthias tooke alive Dracula, a Vaivode or Prince of the mountainous Transylvania, a man of unheard of cruelty, and after ten yeares imprisonment, restored him to his former place" (Hondius, p. 174). It is not impossible that there may be some relevant allusions before 1598. One of the key texts that propagated the familiar picture of Vlad was Bonfinius's Rerum Ungaricarum decades (Basel, 1543 and 1568). Unlike German broadsides and Russian manuscripts that we may safely suppose would have been inaccessible, Bonfinius was apparently known to some English writers in the 16th century, and appears cited in Of the Russe common wealth by Giles Fletcher (London, 1591) and as one of the historical authorities for "The Historie of George Castriot, surnamed Scanderbeg" (London, 1596). A vivid description of Vlad's technique of impaling his enemies appears in 1603, slightly postdating the Admiral's Men's play, in Richard Knolles's The Generall Historie of the Turkes, when Mehmed II ("Mahomet") pursues the Wallachians under Vlad ("Wladus") in 1462:

As he marched along the countrey, he came to the place where the Bassa and the secretarie were hanging vpon two high gibbets, and the dismembred Turks empailed vpon stakes about them: with which sight he was grieuously offended. And passing on farther, came to a plaine containing in breadth almost a mile, and in length two miles, set full of gallowes, gibbets, wheels stakes, and other instruments of terrour, death, and torture; all hanging full of the dead carkases of men, women, and children, thereupon executed, in number (as was deemed) about twentie thousand. There was to be seene the father, with his wife, children and whole family, hanging togither vpon one gallowes; and the bodies of sucking babes, sticking vpon sharpe stakes; others with all their limbes broken vpon wheeles, with many other strange and horrible kinds of death: so that a man would haue thought, that all the torments the Poets faigne to bee in hell had been there put in execution. All these were such as the notable, but cruell prince, jealous of his estate, had either for just desert, or some probable suspition, put to death; and with their goods rewarded his souldiours: whose cruell manner was, togither with the offender to execute the whole family, yea sometimes the whole kindred. Mahomet, although he was by nature of a fierce and cruell disposition, wondred to see so strange a spectacle of extreame crueltie: yet said no more but that Wladus knew how to haue his subjects at commaund. (pp. 362-63)

The same event is mentioned in Foxe, although the description of Vlad's cruel treatment of his enemies is absent.

Works Cited

Feuillerat, Albert. The Composition of Shakespeare's Plays: Authorship, Chronology." New Haven: Yale UP, 1953.

Foxe, John. Actes and monuments of matters most speciall and memorable, happenyng in the Church with an vniuersall history of the same. London, 1583.

Gömöri, George. "The Image of János Hunyadi and Matthias Corvnius in 16th-17th Century England." Matthias Corvinus and the Humanism in Central Europe. Ed. Tibor Klaniczay and József Jankovics. Budapest: Balassi Kiadó, 1994. 109-118.

Hondius, Jodocus. Historia Mundi, or Mercators Atlas. Trans. W.S. London, 1637.

Knolles, Richard. The Generall Historie of the Turkes. London, 1603.

Nashe, Thomas. Nashes Lenten Stuffe. London, 1599.

Wann, Louis. "The Oriental in Elizabethan Drama." Modern Philology 12 (1915): 423-447

Whetstone, George. The English Myrror. London, 1586.

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