Black Bateman of the North, Parts 1 and 2: Difference between revisions

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==Probably Genre(s)==
==Probable Genre(s)==


Tragedy? (Harbage)
Tragedy? (Harbage)

Revision as of 00:38, 7 November 2009

Black Bateman of the North, Part I (1598)
Henry Chettle, Thomas Dekker, Michael Drayton, Robert Wilson

Black Bateman of the North, Part II (1598)
Henry Chettle, Robert Wilson


Historical Records

Henslowe’s Diary

lent vnto cheattell vpon the playe called
blacke batmone of the northe the some of xxs
wittnes Thomas dowton
(F.45v, Greg I.86)


Bowght of mr willsones drayton & dickers & cheattell for
the company a boocke called blacke battmane of the northe
the 22 of maye 1598 wch coste sixe powndes J saye
layd owt for them vjli
(F.46, Greg I.87)


lent vnto thomas dowton the 13 of June 1598 to bye
divers thinges for blacke batmane of the northe
the some of five pownd J saye lent vli
(F.46, Greg I.87)


lent vnto thomas dowton the 14 of June 1598 to bye
divers thinges for blacke batmane of the northe the some iijli
(F.46, Greg I.87)


Lent vnto Cheattell the 26 of June 1598 in
earneste of a boocke called the 2 parte of blacke
battman of the north & mr harey porter
hath geven me his worde for the performance
of the same & all so for my money xxs
(F.47, Greg I.89)


Lent vnto mr Cheattell the 8 of July 1598 vpon
a Boocke called the 2 parte of blacke battman
the some of xxs
(F.47, Greg I.89)


lent vnto mr willsones the 13 of July 1598 in
part of payment of a boocke called the 2 part of blacke
battman the some of xs
(F.47, Greg I.89)


lent vnto mr wilsone the 14 of July 1598 in
part of payment of a boock called the 2 part of
black battman the some of xvs
(F.47, Greg I.89)


pd vnto mr cheattell the 14 of July 1598 in
fulle paymet of a boocke called the 2 part of
black battmane the some of xvs
(F.47, Greg I.89)


Henslowe Papers

Greg, Papers 121 (Apx. I. i)

Heading: "A note of all suche bookes as belong to the Stocke, and such as I have bought since the 3rd of March 1598"

In the 2nd column of the list of playbooks, Henslowe lists “Blacke Battman.” followed immediately by “2 p. black Battman.”


Theatrical Provenance

The plays were acquired during late spring and summer of 1598 by the Admiral’s Men for performance at the Rose.


Probable Genre(s)

Tragedy? (Harbage)


Possible Narrative and Dramatic Sources or Analogues

Greg (II. 193, Items 134 & 139) names a chapbook (c. 1710) entitled “Bateman’s Tragedy: Or, the Perjur’d Bride justly Rewarded. Being the History of the Unfortunate Love of German’s Wife and Young Bateman,” accompanied by a ballad. However, he has no confidence in the chapbook or ballad as source, thinking “[t]he story … can hardly be as old as the play, and relates, moreover, to a James Bateman of Notts.”


The ballad in Roxburghe is called “A Warning for Maidens; or, Young Bateman.” The headnote to the ballad provides the alternate title, “A godly warning for all maidens, by the example of God’s judgment shewed on one Jerman’s wife of Clifton, in the county of Nottingham, who, lying in Child-bed, was born away, and never heard of after.” Still later versions have the prefix, “Young Bateman’s Ghost.”


The story of the ballad (the first stanza of which is a familiar warning to naïve young women tempted to forsake their loves) is as follows: A young woman from Clifton, Nottingham, is beautiful but fickle (“The fairest dame the falsest heart/ and soonest will deceive” ll. 15-16). She has many suitors, including “a comelie proper youth,/ young Bateman call’d by name” (ll. 21-2). She returns his love and swears to be faithful. He breaks a piece of gold in two, giving her a half as pledge of their vow. Within two months, however, she drops Bateman for another suitor, “Old Jerman” (l. 44), a rich widower. Bateman vows she will “not live one quiet day” (l. 57) after his death, and on her wedding day he hangs himself “before the bride’s own door” (l. 72). From that point on, Bateman’s ghost haunts the young bride. During her pregnancy, her “babe unborn” protects her from any harm by the ghost (l. 93), but, being delivered of the child, she predicts her capture: “‘This night … out of my bed/ I shall be born awaie’” (ll. 103-4). She accepts responsibility for having been the one who gave false promise, yet asks her friends to keep watch over her. They are unable to stay awake, and she vanishes in the night. The ballad ends on a closing admonition to young women to keep their betrothal promises.


References to the Play

Roxburghe, headnote to the ballad, “A Warning for Maidens; or, Young Bateman,” quotes lines from Monsieur Thomas, by John Fletcher, in which a fiddler lists his repertoire (III.iii), one item of which is “The Devil and Ye dainty dames,” which the editor appears to read as an allusion to the Bateman ballad (vol. 3, p. 193).


Critical Commentary

Greg grapples with the excessive payments to dramatists for the two plays, deciding that Chettle’s accounts are kept largely off book (II.193, Items 134 & 139).


Gurr groups the “Batemen” plays as serials that were “planned as pairs” (p. 185); otherwise he does not comment on their stage history.


For What It's Worth

(information needed)


Keywords

Rejected suitors, suicide, hanging, ghosts, Clifton, Nottingham, Jerman, January/May marriage


Works Cited

Gurr, Andrew. Shakespeare’s Opposites: The Admiral’s Company 1594-1625. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009.


Site created and maintained by Roslyn L. Knutson, Professor Emerita, University of Arkansas at Little Rock; updated, 27 August 2009.