Branhowlte (Brunhild)

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Historical Records

Performance Records (Henslowe's Diary)

F. 43v (Greg, I. 82)

lent vnto Robarte shaw for the company to bye viij }
yr of clothe of gow[e]lde for the womones gowne in bran } iiijli
howlte the 26 of novmbʒ 1597 the some of }

Henslowe Papers

Greg, Papers (Appx. I, art. 1, p. 115. l. 29)

Under the heading “The Enventary of the Clownes Sewtes and Hermetes Swetes, with dievers other sewtes, as follweth, 1598, the 10 of March:
Item, ... branhowlttes bodeys


Greg, Papers (Appx. I, art. 1, p. 121. l. 193)

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:
Brunhowlle.


Theatrical Provenance

"Brunhild" (modernization of "Branhowlte" by Harbage, also Wiggins, Catalogue #1089) was acquired by the Admiral's men by November 1597 and brought to the stage at the Rose soon after. Greg II thought that the play had been acquired from Pembroke's men, recently at the Swan, but broken up in the wake of (and perhaps because of) the trouble the company attracted when it offered "The Isle of Dogs" (p. 188, #118; commentary in heading to Section VIII, p. 187).


Probable Genre(s)

Tragedy ? (Harbage)

Possible Narrative and Dramatic Sources or Analogues

Wiggins, Catalogue (#1089) suggests several continental sources including The History of the Franks by St. Gregory of Tours and Les antiquities et histoires Gauloises et Françaises by Claude Fauchet as well as the exactly contemporary Theatre of God's Judgements by Thomas Beard (1597).

References to the Play

Critical Commentary

For What It's Worth

Works Cited