Barnardo and Fiammetta

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Historical Records

Performance Records

Playlists in Philip Henslowe's diary


Fol. 13 (Greg I.25)


ye 28 of octobʒ 1595 . . . . . . ne . . Rd at barnardo & phvlameta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxxxiis
ye 6 of novmbʒ 1595 Rd at barnardo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvijs


Fol. 14 (Greg, I.27)


ye 19 of novmbʒ 1595 . . . . . . . . . . Rd at barnardo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .vjs
ye 3 of desembʒ Rd at barnardo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .vijs
ye 26 of desembʒ Rd at barnardo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .lviijs


Fol. 14v (Greg, I. 28
ye 20 of Jenewary 1595 . . . . . . . . Rd at barnardo and phiameta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xjs



Fol. 15v (Greg 1.30):
ye 12 of aprell ester . . . . . . . . . . . . Rd at barnardo and fiameta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxxs



Theatrical Provenance

The Admiral's men gave "Barnardo and Fiammetta" seven performances at the Rose playhouse from October 1595 into April 1596 and averaged a return of 24s to Henslowe.

Probable Genre(s)

Romance ? Harbage

Possible Narrative and Dramatic Sources or Analogues

References to the Play

Critical Commentary

Malone had no comment on "Barnardo and Fiammetta" (p. 297); Gurr also offers no opinions on the story or characters (#41, p. 219).


Collier, in a cunning authorization of his own forgery, claimed that "Barnardo and Fiammetta" "had no connexion with Bernardo and Galfrido … unless as a second part" (p. 59). Further embedding his forgery into stage history, Collier tagged the second performance of "Barnardo and Fiammetta" on the 6th of November as either the Henslowe play or his own made-up one. He then shamelessly implied that this second performance (which Henslowe recorded merely as "barnardo" was "perhaps" for "the older drama" (i.e., for the forgery) because it returned only 17s. to Henslowe (p. 59, n.1). By such reasoning, Collier left the impression that Henslowe's play and his forgery were paired in performance in the manner of two-part plays such as "Hercules" and "Caesar and Pompey."


Fleay, BCED (2. #174, p. 304 ignored Collier's false claims about "Barnardo and Fiammetta" and a companion forgery, as did Greg II (#80, p. 177).


Wiggins, Catalogue (#1017) does not comment on the Collier forgery. He attends instead to the variant spellings in the diary of Barnardo's paired title character (which Wiggins reflects in alternative titles for the play as performed and as modernized). The problem is that no known sources treat the story of a Barnardo and a Fiametta/Philameta/Philametta, leaving only Henslowe's spellings as a means of identifying the second character in the title and play.

For What It's Worth

Works Cited




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