The Final Triumph of the Renaissance: Publishing Beaumont and Fletcher's Comedies and Tragedies (1647)

Due to the proliferation of art during the Renaissance, a cultural movement which allowed the arts and literature to flourish, it may surprise some to hear that by the end of this period, theatre was banned in England. The rise of the English Civil War, when this ban began, marks the end English Renaissance. Yet, during this twenty-year ban, the theatre-deprived public would satisfy their desire for drama by purchasing printed plays. An excellent publication example is the first folio of the collected works of Beaumont and Fletcher, Comedies and Tragedies (1647), especially the CRRS’s copy. This codex, purchased by the unknown reader amidst the theatrical suppression, has inscriptions on nearly every page. The dedication of the reader has been to rewrite all the page numbers into one complete continuous sequence (932 pages), has added character lists at the end of every play, includes the binding of The Wild Goose Chase (1652) published to be bound additionally, and even rewrote the final pages by hand.¹ These major interventions with the codex suggest a great passion for these tragicomedies, one that mirrors that of the publisher, Humphrey Moseley, who diligently preserved these dramatic works. Even though the Puritan Parliament attempted to quash theatre, the avid theatre advocate’s spirit was too vigorous to squash. 

Example of the handwritting in the final pages of the codex

England's Antitheatricality

During the 17th century, England was a predominantly protestant nation and aided the protestant forces during the Thirty Years’ War. By 1625, King Charles I began his reign and was grossly detested. He dispelled Parliament, ruled in an authoritative manner, citing his divine right to be king, and caused England to become bankrupt. Despite his tyrannical tendencies, though, Charles was a great art collector and patron of theatre. When England had enough of his rule, the English Civil War erupted from the Puritan Parliament in 1642. The Puritans’ theatre ban had begun during the turmoil of civil unrest. First, the Parliament ordered the cease of stage plays, then by 1648, an ordinance “for the utter suppression and abolishing of all Stage-Plays and Interludes” with the threat of penalty.² King Charles I was imprisoned in 1646 and subsequently charged with treason and tyranny. He was beheaded in 1649. Not until King Charles II began his reign was theatre officially released from parliamentary suppression nearly twenty years later. 

For the Love of Poesie

The antitheatrical sentiment was not universally shared, however, and it was actively resisted by passionate drama enthusiasts, including Humphrey Moseley. In his edition of the Comedies and Tragedies (1647), the defiant artistic spirit is present during a tense time for both sides. The Beaumont and Flecther folio “was a timely reminder of the glories of the pre-war Caroline court. It was ‘A ‘Balme unto the wounded Age’ and its intention was to inculcate the view, as the poet James Shirley said in his prefatory poem, that ‘nothing now is wanting but the King’.”³ Moseley’s attempt to preserve dramatic art clearly aroused the same passion in the unknown reader that put together the book that is now a part of the CRRS archive. The 1647 folio, which brought together Beaumont’s and Fletcher’s plays, were mainly of their unpublished pieces, and it omitted The Wild Goose Chase because Moseley could not get the rights to it. Still, Moseley produced an additional folio in 1652 meant to be bound into the 1647 edition.⁴ In the CRRS’s copy of Comedies and Tragedies, a copy of The Wild Goose Chase has been bound together with the 1647 folio. This reader was dedicated to completing the catalogue of works, and even though the original copy of The Wild Goose Chase is missing the final pages, he has handwritten these missing pages to ensure its completion. This investment in the text is also apparent in his jotted notes and the character lists he pens at the end of each play. Perhaps these notes hint at a reader looking forward to the day when these plays might be performed again. 

An Everlasting Sentiment

Although civil unrest was rampant in the 1640s, Moseley did not sit idly during the theatre’s closure and was “keen to provide harbour for exile poesie” to allow readers to draw closer to it.⁵ For the unknown reader, Moseley’s dedication filled the bellies of the theatrically starved by publishing this lavish folio. Both the publishing and gathering of these plays were acts of literary defence against the Puritan ban on theatre. Every page of this copy has been touched by the triumphant spirit of poesie, from Moseley’s publishing’s to the reader’s gathering and annotation. The CRRS carries forward this same spirit of artistic preservation. This copy of Comedies and Tragedies represents a final publishing triumph of the Renaissance.