Chaos of the World, The

Anon. (1611?)

Historical Records

Dramatic Records of Sir Henry Herbert

A license to William Sands Ric.^d Luke, & John

[Sands with nine]

assistants for a yeare Tis calld the Caos

[Caos of the world, they]

have given 1.^l & have given bond for mor

[more 1. 10. 0]

Folger Shakespeare Library, MS W.b.196, p. 53; qtd. Bawcutt, "Craven Ord," 91. Cf. Bawcutt, Herbert, 139.

The entry survives in Craven Ord's transcripts from Sir Henry Herbert's Office Book. Square brackets "indicate words written in by Halliwell-Phillipps to replace those lost during the process of cutting up the slips" (87). The item is undated, but its placement suggests a date from late 1623 (93n).

Thomas Crosfield's Diary

16 July 1628

In 1628, Thomas Crosfield (a fellow of Queen's College, Oxford) recorded in his diary "an 100 verses of ye sight at Oxon. in ye Act" (that is, the Oxford graduation ceremony, which took place on 14 July 1628). The one-hundred-line poem narrates a series of biblical episodes starting with the Creation ("We read in sacred writ of ye beginning / of all ye world, & of Adams sinninge"), which the final two couplets reveal to have been the content of the puppet show called "Chaos":

All this ye sight call'd Chaos did present

Express'd by puppets, which one did inuent

In 17 yeares. & this as 'tis well knowne

In Oxford City hath bene often showne./

Oxford, Queen's College Library, MS 390, ff. 35v-36; qtd. REED: Oxford, 474-77. Cf. Boas 29.

For the episodes described in the poem, see "Possible Narrative and Dramatic Sources or Analogues" below.

11 July 1631

Things to be seene for money in ye City. 1. Playes: 2. dancing vpon ye Rope & vaulting vpon ye Sadle. 3. virginalls & organs playing by themselves. 4. a dutch-wench all hairy & rough vpon her body. 5. The history of some parts of ye bible, as of ye creation of ye world, Abrahams Sacrificing his Sonne, ⸢Nineveh beseiged & taken⸣ Dives & Lazarus. 6. The dancing of ye horse at ye Starre./

Oxford, Queen's College Library, MS 390, f. 57v; qtd. REED: Oxford, 490. Cf. Boas 54.

Half brackets indicate interlineated text.

Dorset Quarter Sessions Order and Minute Books

An order of October 1630 by the Dorset Quarter Sessions banished Sands, his two sons, their company, and their "blasphemous" puppet show (presumably "The Chaos of the World") from the county on the grounds of their unlawful wandering and implication in some episodes of unruliness.

[in margin:] Ordo versus poppett Players

fforasmuch as complaint was made vnto this Court that William Sands the elder Iohn Sands and William Sands the yonger doe wander vp and downe the Countrey and about nine others of their Company with certaine blasphemous shewes and sights which they exercise by way of poppett playinge contrary to the Statute. made against such vnlawfull wanderers. And whereas the Constable of Beamister in this County and other inhabitants there haue now alsoe informed this Court that the said William Sands thelder and his Company are come to Beamister aforesaid and there haue sett vp their shewes of poppett playinge, and there doe exercise their feats not only in the day tyme but alsoe late in the night to the great disturbance of the Townsmen there, and the greivance of diuers of the Inhabitants who cannot keepe their Children and servants in their houses by reason that they frequent the said shewes and sights late in the night in a disorderly manner. […] It is therefore by this Court ordered that the said William Sands thelder Iohn. Sands and William Sands the yonger shall remove themselues and their shewes on Munday next [11 October] and shall then forthwith departe out of this County and that neither they nor any of them or any of their Company shall henceforth vse or exercise their said feats or shew | their said sights in this County but shall forthwith depart out of the County toward the place of their dwellinge.

Dorchester, Dorset History Centre, QSM/1/1, ff. 272v-73; qtd. REED: Dorset, 121-22.

Will of William Sands

In Sands's will, dated 11 September 1638, he bequeathed the "Chaos" show and its accoutrements to his son.

In the name of God Amen I William Sandes of Preston in Amoundernes in the County of Lancaster Ioyner being sicke in body but of good memory doe make my last will & testament in forme following […] Item I giue & bequeath my Shewe called the Chaos, the Wagon, the Stage, & all the Ioyners tooles & other ymplementes & appurtenances to the said Shewe belonging to my sonne Iohn Sandes…

Preston, Lancashire Record Office, WCW 1638; qtd. REED: Lancashire, 87.

Theatrical Provenance

The puppet show was performed on several occasions by William Sands and a team of 11 others. The first documented evidence of the "motion" likely dates from 1623, although Thomas Crosfield's 1628 reference to "17 yeares" implies that 1611 is "the latest possible date" for its earliest performance, and his poem also suggests frequent performances ("hath bene often showne") at Oxford since then (Wiggins 141). Later evidence indicates performances at Oxford in July 1628 and July 1631, and in Dorset in 1630.

Probable Genre(s)

Puppet show (Wiggins).

Possible Narrative and Dramatic Sources or Analogues

The most extensive evidence of the narrative content of "The Chaos of the World" appears in Thomas Crosfield's diary. In the 100-line poem of 1628, Crosfield mentions several episodes from the Old and New Testaments: the Creation and man's first disobedience; Adam and Eve's expulsion from Paradise and the trials of fallen life; Cain's murder of Abel; Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac; the protection of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the burning fiery furnace (Daniel 3); the nativity of Christ; the flight into Egypt; and, the fates of Dives and Lazarus (Luke 16). If Crosfield's 1631 entry refers to the same show, it also (by then, at least) included the destruction of Nineveh (Nahum 1-3).

References to the Play

Critical Commentary

For What It's Worth

Works Cited

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