Comedy of a Duke of Ferrara
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Historical Records
Nördlingen
On 18 January, 1604, a group of touring actors petitioned the authorities at Nördlingen, deep in Southern Germany and on the edge of the Duchy of Württemburg, for permission to perform. They listed their repertoire of ten plays, including a play about Romeo and Juliet, and one described as 'vonn Annabella eines hertzogen tochter von Ferrara' [of Annabella, daughter to a Duke of Ferrara] (Trautmann, 1882, 625-6). This petition was rejected by the town authorities, but is recorded in their archives.
Rothenburg ob der Tauber
There are two undated petitions in the archives of the town of Rothenburg ob der Tauber, fifty miles away from Nördlingen and also on the edge of the Duchy of Württemburg. In these two documents, an unnamed group of comedians offer a total of twelve plays for performance, several of which correspond to the ten on the Nördlingen list. Among the Rothenburg titles is a play 'vonn Annabella, Eines Margraffen tochter von Montferrat' [of Annabella, daughter to a Margrave of Montferrat]. (Trautmann, 1894, 60-7). The usual scholarly assumptions are that the two Rothenburg lists result from the activities of the same group of English comedians, probably the company of Robert Browne, formerly of the Admiral's Men; that they are contemporary with the Nördlingen list, which is also Robert Browne’s company; and that the two plays about a daughter called Annabella are in fact different descriptions of the same play.
Strasbourg
In 1597, a group of English comedians under the leadership of Thomas Sackville had performed at Strasbourg. On 25 July Baron Waldstein watched them perform Comoediae, ab Anglis factae de quodam Duce Farrari, 'comedies made by the English about a certain Duke of Ferrara' (Schrickx, 330).
Dresden
In 1626, yet another group of English comedians twice performed a play recorded as 'Comoedia vom Hertzog von Ferrara' [the comedy of a Duke of Ferrara] (Herz, 66).
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Theatrical Provenance
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Probable Genre(s)
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Possible Narrative and Dramatic Sources or Analogues
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References to the Play
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For What It's Worth
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Works Cited
Karl Trautmann, ‘Die Älteste Nachricht über eine Aufführung von Shakespeares Romeo und Julie in Deutschland (1604)’, Archiv für Litteraturgeschichte, 11 (1882): 625–6. Karl Trautmann, ‘Englische Komödianten in Rothenburg ob der Tauber’, Zeitschrift für vergleichende Literatur, 7 (1894): 60–7. Willem Schrickx, Foreign Envoys and Travelling Players in the Age of Shakespeare and Jonson (Wetteren: Universa, 1986), 330 Emil Herz, Englische Schauspieler und englisches Schauspiel zur Zeit Shakespeares in Deutschland (Hamburg: Leopold Voss, 1903), 66.
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