Welshman's Price, The (Welshman's Prize): Difference between revisions

(Created page with "Anon. (1598) ==Historical Records== <Reproduce relevant documentary evidence from historical records here. (For example, entries from Henslowe's Diary).> ==Theatric...")
 
 
(26 intermediate revisions by the same user not shown)
Line 3: Line 3:


==Historical Records==
==Historical Records==
===Inventories===
====Philip Henslowe's papers in the Dulwich College Library====
=====List of playbooks=====
<br>
[[category:Inventories]]
[[WorksCited|Greg, ''Papers'']] ([http://www.archive.org/stream/henslowepapersbe00hensuoft#page/120/mode/1up APX, I. art. 1, p. 121, col. 2, l. 186])
<br>


<Reproduce relevant documentary evidence from historical records here. (For example, entries from Henslowe's Diary).>
:''A Note of all suche bookes as belong to the Stocke, and such as I have bought since the 3<sup>d</sup> of March'' 1598 
 


:::Welchmans price
<br><br>


==Theatrical Provenance==
==Theatrical Provenance==


<Enter information about which company performed the play, and where/when it was performed, etc.>
The sole mention of "Welchmans price" in the ''Diary'' occurs in a list of play titles inventoried by Henslowe under the heading dated 3 March 1598 (1599?); when the play entered the repertory of the Admiral's men cannot be deduced from available evidence.
 


<br><br>


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


<List possible genres of the play: if noted by a critic, cite them, e.g. "Comedy (Harbage)". If an original speculation, simply list the genre.>
History ([[WorksCited|Harbage]], who collapses the play with "[[Famous Wars of Henry I and the Prince of Wales|Famous Wars of Henry I and the Prince of Wales]]")
 
<br><br>
 


==Possible Narrative and Dramatic Sources or Analogues==
==Possible Narrative and Dramatic Sources or Analogues==


<Enter any information about possible or known sources. Summarise these sources where practical/possible, or provide an excerpt from another scholar's discussion of the subject if available.>
Identifying the narrative of this play depends. first, upon on a correct identification of the titular Welshman and, second, upon his price.  
<br><br>


==References to the Play==


Information welcome.
<br><br>


==References to the Play==
==Critical Commentary==


<List any known or conjectured references to the lost play here.>
[[WorksCited|Malone]] transcribes Henslowe's entry as "Welchmans price" (p. 307).
<br>


[[WorksCited|Fleay, ''BECD'']] brings "Welchemans price" into the maelstrom of plays with Welsh characters that includes "[[Welshman, The|The Welshman]]" and "[[Famous Wars of Henry I and the Prince of Wales|The Famous Wars of Henry I and the Prince of Wales]]." In the process, he renames "Welchmans price" as "The Welshman's prize"  ([http://www.archive.org/stream/abiographicalch02fleagoog#page/n317/mode/1up 2.307];  [http://www.archive.org/stream/abiographicalch01fleagoog#page/n134/mode/2up I.122-23]). He does not comment on who that Welshman might have been or what his prize entailed.
<br>


[[WorksCited|Greg II]] follows Fleay's lead in identifying "Welchmans price" with "[[Famous Wars of Henry I and the Prince of Wales|The Famous Wars of Henry I and the Prince of Wales]], and he adopts Fleay's renaming to "The Welshman's Prize" ([http://www.archive.org/stream/henslowesdiary02hensuoft#page/190/mode/2up #130, 191-2]).
<br>


==Critical Commentary==
The bundling of "Welchmans price" as "The Welshman's Prize" with "[[Famous Wars of Henry I and the Prince of Wales|The Famous Wars of Henry I and the Prince of Wales]]" became received opinion.  [[WorksCited|Foakes]] repeats the identification by annotating Henslowe's inventory item as "? ''The Welshman's Prize''; probably ''The Famous Wars of Henry I'', paid for March 1598" (p. 323). 
 
<br>
<Summarise any critical commentary that may have been published by scholars. Please maintain an objective tone!>


'''Gurr''' goes a bit further. On the one hand, he erases the title by having no discrete entry in Appendix I: ''The Plays'' or in the Index for either "Welchmans price" or "Welshman's Prize" (p. 229, n. 68 [this note is appended to the entry for "The Life and Death of Henry I"]). On the other hand, in a discussion of Henslowe's inventory of books in March 1598 (p. 102), Gurr identifies "Welchmans price" as "The Famous Wars of Henry I and the Prince of Wales," an identification he repeats in Appendix I for "The Famous Wars of Henry I and the Prince of Wales" by folding in the listing of "Welchmans price" (#90, p. 234).
<br>


[[WorksCited|Wiggins, ''Catalogue'']] challenges that bundling by providing a separate entry for "Welchemans price" (#1115). He does however list the entry by the variant title, "The Welshman's Prize." Countering the opinion of Greg (and by association, Fleay ''et''. ''al''.), Wiggins observes that "the title of this play might not seem altogether apt, unless ironical" for "[[Famous Wars of Henry I and the Prince of Wales|The Famous Wars of Henry I and the Prince of Wales]]" because that play "would have ended with the submission of the Welsh to the English" (#1115).
<br><br>


==For What It's Worth==
==For What It's Worth==
<br>
Henslowe's inventory list is in two columns. If one reads down column one rather than across at each line to column two, one could argue that "Welchmans price" does not belong to the play-cluster that makes up column one, a grouping that Greg identified as having been brought to the Admiral's men by players from Pembroke's men who moved to the Rose following business disruptions at the Swan in August 1597 ([http://www.archive.org/stream/henslowesdiary02hensuoft#page/186/mode/1up Greg, II.187, headnote to Section VIII]). Following that reasoning, one could observe that "Welchmans price" is listed along with plays certainly performed by the Admiral's men such as "[[Phaeton]]," the two parts of ''Robin Hood'', and the two parts of "[[Hercules, Parts 1 and 2|Hercules]]," which have confirming evidence of a stage run by being in Henslowe's playlists or his entries of payments to dramatists (the Robin Hood plays, in addition, advertised ownership by the Admiral's men on their title pages in 1601 [''The Downfall of Robert, Earl of Huntingdon''; ''The Death of Robert, Earl of Huntingdon''). Such an observation separates "Welchmans price" from those plays to which scholars have given a provenance of Pembroke's company and locates it instead with those that were exclusively the property of the Admiral's men.


<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.>
<br><br>
 
 


==Works Cited==
==Works Cited==
<div style="padding-left: 2em; text-indent: -2em;">Gurr, Andrew. ''Shakespeare's Opposites: The Admiral's Company 1594-1625''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009.</div>
<br><br>


<List all texts cited throughout the entry, except those staple texts whose full bibliographical details have been provided in the masterlist of Works Cited found on the sidebar menu. Use the coding below to format the list>
Site created and maintained by [[Roslyn L. Knutson]], Professor Emerita, University of Arkansas at Little Rock; updated 6 June 2016; also 1 January 2020.
 
[[category:all]][[category:Roslyn L. Knutson]][[category:Henslowe's records]][[category:Update]][[category:Admiral's]][[category:Rose]][[category:Possibly corrupt titles]]
<div style="padding-left: 2em; text-indent: -2em"> citation goes here </div>
[[category:Plays]]
 
<If you haven't done so already, also add here any key words that will help categorise this play. Use the following format, repeating as necessary: [[category:example]]>
 
 
Site created and maintained by [[your name]], affiliation; updated DD Month YYYY.
[[category:all]][[category:your name]]

Latest revision as of 15:29, 5 October 2022

Anon. (1598)


Historical Records

Inventories

Philip Henslowe's papers in the Dulwich College Library

List of playbooks


Greg, Papers (APX, I. art. 1, p. 121, col. 2, l. 186)

A Note of all suche bookes as belong to the Stocke, and such as I have bought since the 3d of March 1598
Welchmans price



Theatrical Provenance

The sole mention of "Welchmans price" in the Diary occurs in a list of play titles inventoried by Henslowe under the heading dated 3 March 1598 (1599?); when the play entered the repertory of the Admiral's men cannot be deduced from available evidence.



Probable Genre(s)

History (Harbage, who collapses the play with "Famous Wars of Henry I and the Prince of Wales")

Possible Narrative and Dramatic Sources or Analogues

Identifying the narrative of this play depends. first, upon on a correct identification of the titular Welshman and, second, upon his price.

References to the Play

Information welcome.

Critical Commentary

Malone transcribes Henslowe's entry as "Welchmans price" (p. 307).

Fleay, BECD brings "Welchemans price" into the maelstrom of plays with Welsh characters that includes "The Welshman" and "The Famous Wars of Henry I and the Prince of Wales." In the process, he renames "Welchmans price" as "The Welshman's prize" (2.307; I.122-23). He does not comment on who that Welshman might have been or what his prize entailed.

Greg II follows Fleay's lead in identifying "Welchmans price" with "The Famous Wars of Henry I and the Prince of Wales, and he adopts Fleay's renaming to "The Welshman's Prize" (#130, 191-2).

The bundling of "Welchmans price" as "The Welshman's Prize" with "The Famous Wars of Henry I and the Prince of Wales" became received opinion. Foakes repeats the identification by annotating Henslowe's inventory item as "? The Welshman's Prize; probably The Famous Wars of Henry I, paid for March 1598" (p. 323).

Gurr goes a bit further. On the one hand, he erases the title by having no discrete entry in Appendix I: The Plays or in the Index for either "Welchmans price" or "Welshman's Prize" (p. 229, n. 68 [this note is appended to the entry for "The Life and Death of Henry I"]). On the other hand, in a discussion of Henslowe's inventory of books in March 1598 (p. 102), Gurr identifies "Welchmans price" as "The Famous Wars of Henry I and the Prince of Wales," an identification he repeats in Appendix I for "The Famous Wars of Henry I and the Prince of Wales" by folding in the listing of "Welchmans price" (#90, p. 234).

Wiggins, Catalogue challenges that bundling by providing a separate entry for "Welchemans price" (#1115). He does however list the entry by the variant title, "The Welshman's Prize." Countering the opinion of Greg (and by association, Fleay et. al.), Wiggins observes that "the title of this play might not seem altogether apt, unless ironical" for "The Famous Wars of Henry I and the Prince of Wales" because that play "would have ended with the submission of the Welsh to the English" (#1115).

For What It's Worth


Henslowe's inventory list is in two columns. If one reads down column one rather than across at each line to column two, one could argue that "Welchmans price" does not belong to the play-cluster that makes up column one, a grouping that Greg identified as having been brought to the Admiral's men by players from Pembroke's men who moved to the Rose following business disruptions at the Swan in August 1597 (Greg, II.187, headnote to Section VIII). Following that reasoning, one could observe that "Welchmans price" is listed along with plays certainly performed by the Admiral's men such as "Phaeton," the two parts of Robin Hood, and the two parts of "Hercules," which have confirming evidence of a stage run by being in Henslowe's playlists or his entries of payments to dramatists (the Robin Hood plays, in addition, advertised ownership by the Admiral's men on their title pages in 1601 [The Downfall of Robert, Earl of Huntingdon; The Death of Robert, Earl of Huntingdon). Such an observation separates "Welchmans price" from those plays to which scholars have given a provenance of Pembroke's company and locates it instead with those that were exclusively the property of the Admiral's men.



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 6 June 2016; also 1 January 2020.