Julian the Apostate
Historical Records
Henslowe's diary
| ye 29 of aprell 1596 | . . . . | ne . . . . . . | R[d] at Julian the apostata . . . . . . . . . . | xxxxvijs |
| ye 1[9]0 of maye 159[5]6 | mr pd | R[d] at Julian apostata . . . . . . . . . . . . | xxvjs | |
| ye 20 of maye 1596 | R[d] at Julyan apostata . . . . . . . . . . . . | xiiijs | ||
Theatrical Provenance
Performed as a new play by the Admiral's men on 29 April 1596 and twice more thereafter.
Probable Genre(s)
Classical history (Harbage)
Possible Narrative and Dramatic Sources or Analogues
Albott reports that "Iulian the Apostate, at his death cast vp his blood into the ayre, crying Vicisti Galilaee" (3), and that "tooke away all beneuolences and contributions to schooles of earning, to the end the chyldren might not be instructed in the liberal Arts, but brought vp in ignorance" (56).
References to the Play
<List any known or conjectured references to the lost play here.>
Critical Commentary
Hazlitt asserts that "[a] drama so called was acted in the seventeenth century at the Quarry, near Shrewsbury" (123). He does not give a source for this information, which has not been corroborated by other scholars. Perhaps Hazlitt mistakenly gave "seventeenth" for "sixteenth," and was referring to another lost play by the same name, Julian the Apostate, of 1556, which was written by Thomas Ashton and performed at Shrewsbury, most probably at The Quarry.
For What It's Worth
<Enter any miscellaneous points that may be relevant, but don't fit into the above categories. This is the best place for highly conjectural thoughts.>
Works Cited
Greg 1.
Hazlitt, W. Carew. A Manual for the Collector and Amateur of Old English Plays. London, 1892. Print.
Site created and maintained by David McInnis, University of Melbourne; updated 09 Feb 2011.