John Fletcher (1579-1625) was a Jacobean playwright. Following William Shakespeare as house playwright for the King's Men, he was among the most prolific and influential dramatists of his day; both during his lifetime and in the early Restoration, his fame rivaled Shakespeare's. Though his reputation has been eclipsed since, Fletcher remains an important transitional figure between the Elizabethan popular tradition and the popular drama of the Restoration. Events January 6 - The Union of Atrecht united the southern Netherlands under the Duke of Parma, governor in the name of king Philip II of Spain. ... Events March 27 - Prince Charles Stuart becomes King Charles I of England, Scotland and Ireland. ... The Jacobean era refers to a period in English history that coincides with the reign of James I (1603 – 1625). ... A playwright, also known as a dramatist, is someone who writes dramatic literature or drama. ... Different people known as the Kings Men: Kings Men was William Shakespeares playing company, together with Richard Burbage et al. ...

Biography

Fletcher was born in December, 1579 (baptized December 20) in Rye, Sussex, and died of the plague in August 1625 (buried August 29 in St. Saviour's, Southwark). His father, Richard, was an ambitious and successful cleric who was in turn Dean of Peterborough, bishop of Bristol, Bishop of Worcester, and bishop of London (shortly before his death) as well as chaplain to the queen. As dean of Peterborough, Richard Fletcher, at the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots at Fotheringay "knelt down on the scaffold steps and started to pray out loud and at length, in a prolonged and rhetorical style as though determined to force his way into the pages of history" and who cried out at her death, "So perish all the Queen's enemies!" Richard Fletcher died shortly after falling out of favor with the queen over a marriage the queen had advised against. He appears to have been partly rehabilitated before his death in 1596; however, Fletcher died substantially in debt. The upbringing of Fletcher and his seven siblings was entrusted to his paternal uncle Giles Fletcher, a poet and minor official. His uncle's connections ceased to be a benefit, and may even have become a liability, after the rebellion of the Earl of Essex, who had patronized him. December 20 is the 354th day of the year (355th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Location within the British Isles Rye is a small town in East Sussex, England, on the edge of the Romney Marsh. ... Sussex is a traditional county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. ... August 29 is the 241st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (242nd in leap years), with 124 days remaining. ... The nave Southwark Cathedral or The Cathedral and Collegiate Church of St Saviour and St Mary Overie, Southwark, London, lies on the south bank of the River Thames close to London Bridge. ... The Borough or Southwark is an area of the London Borough of Southwark situated 1. ... In religious terminology, a dean is a title accorded to persons holding cartain positions of authority within a religious heirarchy. ... The City of Peterborough is a cathedral city and Unitary Authority in the East of England, UK. For ceremonial purposes it is in the county of Cambridgeshire. ... The Bishop of Bristol heads the Church of England Diocese of Bristol in the Province of Canterbury, in England. ... The Bishop of Worcester controls the see of Worcester and has his seat in Worcester Cathedral. ... The city of Worcester (pronounced Wuh-ster) is the county town of Worcestershire in England; the river Severn runs through the middle, with the citys large Worcester Cathedral overlooking the river. ... A chaplain is typically a member of the clergy serving a group of people who are not organized as a mission or church; lay chaplains are also found in some settings such as universities. ... Mary, Queen of Scots redirects here. ... Fotheringhay is a village in Northamptonshire, England. ... Events February 5 - 26 catholics crucified in Nagasaki, Japan. ... Giles Fletcher, the Elder (c. ... Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex (10 November 1566 – 25 February 1601), favourite of Queen Elizabeth I of England, is the best-known of the many holders of the title Earl of Essex. He was a military hero, but following a poor campaign against...

Fletcher appears to have entered Corpus Christi College, Cambridge University in 1591, at the age of eleven. It is not certain that he took a degree, but evidence suggests that he was preparing for a career in the church. Little is known about his time at college, but he evidently followed the same path previously trod by the University wits before him, from Cambridge to the burgeoning commercial theater of London. In 1606, he began to appear as an author for the Children of the Queen's Revels, then performing at the Blackfriars Theatre. Commendatory verses by Richard Brome in Beaumont and Fletcher's 1647 folio place Fletcher in the company of Ben Jonson; a comment of Jonson's to Drummond corroborates this claim, although it is not known when this friendship began. At the beginning of his career, his most important association was with Francis Beaumont. The two wrote together for close to a decade, first for the children and then for the King's Men. According to a legend transmitted or invented by Aubrey, they also lived together (in Bankside), sharing clothes and having "one wench in the house between them." This domestic arrangement, if it existed, was ended by Beaumont's marriage in 1613, and their dramatic partnership ended after Beaumont fell ill, probably of a stroke, the same year. Full name The College of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin Mary in Cambridge Motto There is a toast, Floreat antiqua domus (May the old house flourish), from which the colleges nickname, Old House, is derived Named after The citys Guilds of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin... The University of Cambridge (often called Cambridge University, or just Cambridge), located in Cambridge, England, is the second-oldest university in the English-speaking world. ... Events June - Capture of Zutphen by the Dutch under Maurice of Nassau. ... A University wit is a member of a group of notable English playwrights of the late 16th century. ... Events January 27 - The trial of Guy Fawkes and other conspirators begins ending in their execution on January 31 May 17 - Supporters of Vasili Shusky invade the Kremlin and kill Premier Dmitri December 26 - Shakespeares King Lear performed in court Storm buries a village of St Ismails near... Blackfriars Theatre was the name of two separate theatres in the City of London, built on grounds previously belonging to a Dominican monastery. ... Richard Brome (died 1652) was an English dramatist. ... (Redirected from 1647 in literature) See also: 16th century in literature, other events of the 17th century, 1700 in literature, list of years in literature. ... The size of a specific book is measured from the head to tail of the spine, and from edge to edge across the covers. ... Benjamin Jonson (circa June 11, 1572 – August 6, 1637) was an English Renaissance dramatist, poet and actor. ... This article is about the Scottish poet William Drummond. ... Sketch of Francis Beaumont Francis Beaumont (1584 – 1616), was an English dramatist most famous for his collaborations with John Fletcher. ... John Aubrey. ... Bankside is an area in Southwark, London, on the southern bank of the River Thames. ... Events January - Galileo observes Neptune, but mistakes it for a star and so is not credited with its discovery. ...

By this time, Fletcher had moved into a closer association with the King's Men. He is commonly assumed to have collaborated with Shakespeare on Henry VIII, The Two Noble Kinsmen, and the lost Cardenio; a play he wrote singly around this time, The Woman's Prize, is a sequel to The Taming of the Shrew. After Shakespeare's death, Fletcher appears to have entered into an exclusive arrangement with the King's Men similar to that with which Shakespeare had worked; Fletcher wrote only for that company between the death of Shakespeare and his own death nine years later. This arrangement makes Fletcher one of the eight Renaissance dramatists under regular contract to a single company, along with Shakespeare and Massinger, Thomas Heywood, Thomas Dekker, James Shirley, William Rowley, and Richard Brome.^[1] He never lost his habit of collaboration, working with Nathan Field and later with Philip Massinger, who succeeded him as house playwright for the King's Men. His popularity continued unabated throughout his life; during the winter of 1621, three of his plays were performed at court. He died in 1625, apparently of the plague. He seems to have been buried in what is now Southwark Cathedral, although the precise location is not known; there is a reference by Austin Cockayne to a single grave for Fletcher and Massinger (also buried in Southwark). Henry VIII was one of William Shakespeares last plays. ... The Two Noble Kinsmen is a play written in 1613 by John Fletcher and William Shakespeare in collaboration. ... A lost work is a literary work produced some time in the past of which no surviving copies are known to exist. ... Publicity poster for the 2002 Los Angeles production of The Second Maidens Tragedy as Cardenio is a lost play, known to have been performed by the Kings Men, a London theatre company, in 1613. ... The Tamer Tamed is a play by John Fletcher, first performed in 1611. ... Taming of the Shrew by Augustus Egg The Taming of the Shrew is a comedy by William Shakespeare. ... Philip Massinger (1583 - 1640) was an English dramatist. ... Thomas Heywood (died approx. ... Thomas Dekker, (c. ... James Shirley (or Sherley) (September 1596 - October 29, 1666), was an English dramatist. ... William Rowley was an English Jacobean dramatist, best known for works written in collaboration with more successful writers. ... Richard Brome (died 1652) was an English dramatist. ... Nathaniel Field (1587 - 1620), was an English dramatist and actor; his father was the Puritan preacher John Field and his brother became the Bishop of Llandaff. ... Events February 9 - Gregory XV is elected pope. ... Events March 27 - Prince Charles Stuart becomes King Charles I of England, Scotland and Ireland. ... The nave Southwark Cathedral or The Cathedral and Collegiate Church of St Saviour and St Mary Overie, Southwark, London, lies on the south bank of the River Thames close to London Bridge. ...

His mastery is most notable in two dramatic types, tragicomedy and comedy of manners, both of which exerted a pervasive influence on dramatists in the reign of Charles I and during the Restoration. Tragicomedy (or dark comedy or black comedy) refers to fictional works that blend aspects of the genres of tragedy and comedy. ... The comedy of manners satirizes the manners and affectations of a social class, often represented by stock characters, such as the miles gloriosus in ancient times, the fop and the rake during the Restoration, or an old person pretending to be young. ... Charles I (19 November 1600 – 30 January 1649) was King of England, Scotland, and Ireland, from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. ... King Charles II, the first monarch to rule after the English Restoration. ...

Stage history

Fletcher's early career was marked by one significant failure, of The Faithful Shepherdess, his adaptation of Giovanni Battista Guarini's Il Pastor Fido, which was performed by the Blackfriars Children in 1608. Fletcher explains this failure in his prologue to the printed edition of the play; he claimed that the audience had not understood the nature of true (that is, Italian) tragicomedy, expecting instead the kind of artless mixture of humor and action typical of such Elizabethan dramatists as Robert Greene and Thomas Nashe. Giovanni Battista Guarini (December 10, 1538 – October 7, 1612) was an Italian poet and diplomat. ... Opera in three acts by Handel written in 1712. ... Blackfriars Theatre was the name of two separate theatres in the City of London, built on grounds previously belonging to a Dominican monastery. ... Edward Kynaston, one of the last boy players (1889 engraving of a contemporary portrait) Boy player is a common term for the adolescent males employed by English Renaissance acting companies. ... (Redirected from 1608 in literature) See also: 16th century in literature, other events of the 17th century, 1700 in literature, list of years in literature. ... Robert Greene, BA, MA, (1558 – September 3, 1592) was an English playwright, poet, pamphleteer, and prose writer. ... Thomas Nashe (November 1567–1600?) was an English Elizabethan pamphleteer, poet and satirist. ...

In that case, Fletcher appears to have been developing a new style faster than audiences could comprehend. By 1609, however, he had found his stride. With Beaumont, he wrote Philaster, which became a hit for the King's Men and began a profitable connection between Fletcher and that company. Philaster appears also to have initiated a vogue for tragicomedy; Fletcher's influence has been credited with inspiring some features of Shakespeare's late "romances" (Kirsch, 288-90), and his influence on the tragicomic work of other playwrights is even more marked. By the middle of the 1610s, Fletcher's plays had achieved a popularity that rivalled Shakespeare's and which cemented the preeminence of the King's Men in Jacobean London. After Beaumont's retirement and early death in 1616, Fletcher continued working, both singly and in collaboration, until his death in 1625. By that time, he had produced, or had been credited with, close to fifty plays--this body of work remained a major part of the King's Men repertory until the closing of the theaters in 1642. (Redirected from 1609 in literature) See also: 16th century in literature, other events of the 17th century, 1700 in literature, list of years in literature. ... (Redirected from 1616 in literature) See also: 16th century in literature, other events of the 17th century, 1700 in literature, list of years in literature. ... (Redirected from 1625 in literature) See also: 16th century in literature, other events of the 17th century, 1700 in literature, list of years in literature. ...

During the Commonwealth, many of the playwright's best-known scenes were kept alive as drolls, the brief performances devised to satisfy the taste for plays while the theaters were suppressed. At the re-opening of the theaters in 1660, the plays in the Fletcher canon, in original form or revised, were by far the most common fare on the English stage. The most frequently revived plays suggest the developing taste for comedies of manners. Among the tragedies, The Maid's Tragedy and, especially, Rollo, Duke of Normandy held the stage. Four tragicomedies (A King and No King, The Humorous Lieutenant, Philaster, and The Island Princess) were popular, perhaps in part for their similarity to and foreshadowing of heroic drama. Four comedies (Rule a Wife And Have a Wife, The Chances, The Beggar's Bush, and especially The Scornful Lady) were also popular. Motto: PAX, QUÆRITUR, BELLO (English: Peace is obtained by war)1 Capital London Head of State none Parliament Rump Parliament (1649-53), Barebones Parliament (1653) The Commonwealth was the republican government which ruled first England and then the whole of Ireland, the colonies and other Crown possessions during the... Drolls were short dramatic pieces designed for informal performance in England outside the standard theatrical setting. ... The Maids Tragedy is a play by Beaumont and Fletcher. ... Rollo Duke of Normandy is a play written in collaboration by John Fletcher, Philip Massinger, Ben Jonson, and George Chapman. ... John Dryden, who formulated and wrote the heroic drama in the 1670s. ...

Yet the popularity of these plays relative to those of Shakespeare and to new productions steadily eroded. By around 1710, Shakespeare's plays were more frequently performed, and the rest of the century saw a steady erosion in performance of Fletcher's plays. By 1784, Thomas Davies asserted that only Rule a Wife and The Chances were still current on stage; a generation later, Alexander Dyce mentioned only The Chances. // Events April 10 - The worlds first copyright legislation became effective, Britains Statute of Anne Ongoing events Great Northern War (1700-1721) War of the Spanish Succession (1702-1713) Births January 3 - Richard Gridley, American Revolutionary soldier (d. ... 1784 was a leap year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... Thomas Davies (c. ... Alexander Dyce (June 30, 1798 - May 15, 1869) was a Scottish dramatic editor and literary historian. ...

Since then Fletcher has increasingly become a subject only for occasional revivals and for specialists.

Plays

Fletcher's canon presents unusual difficulties of attribution. Even more than most Renaissance playwrights, Fletcher made collaboration the cornerstone of his practice; like Shakespeare, he appears to have been relatively indifferent to publishing his work. The length and variety of Fletcher's career, and the evidence of revision by other hands long after original composition, further complicate confidence about his work. Careful bibliography has established the authors of each play with some degree of certainty. Determination of the exact shares of each writer (for instance by Cyrus Hoy) in particular plays is ongoing, based on stylistic grounds and idiosyncracies of spelling.

Collaborations with Beaumont

Francis Beaumont and Fletcher's partnership may have begun as early as 1606. They were quite probably lovers and lived together on Bankside in Southwark, “sharing everything in the closest intimacy”. It was said that: “In their joint plays their talents are so… completely merged into one, that the hand of Beaumont cannot be clearly distinguished from that of Fletcher.” The Woman Hater was produced by the Children of Paul's; it also seems likely that Love's Cure, first published in the 1647 folio in a version heavily revised by Massinger, belongs to this early period. These two were followed by their three most famous plays, Philaster, A King and No King, and The Maid's Tragedy, all three for the King's Men between 1608 and 1611. Alongside their work for the adult company, the pair continued to write for the boy players. The Coxcomb (1609) and Cupid's Revenge (1611) were performed by the Children of the Queen's Revels (by then at Whitefriars). The Captain (ca 1611) was produced by the King's Men. Before his retirement, Beaumont contributed to parts of three comedies (The Scornful Lady, Beggar's Bush, and Love's Pilgrimage) and to the tragedy of Thierry and Theoderet. Sketch of Francis Beaumont Francis Beaumont (1584 – 1616), was an English dramatist most famous for his collaborations with John Fletcher. ... Events January 27 - The trial of Guy Fawkes and other conspirators begins ending in their execution on January 31 May 17 - Supporters of Vasili Shusky invade the Kremlin and kill Premier Dmitri December 26 - Shakespeares King Lear performed in court Storm buries a village of St Ismails near... Bankside is an area in Southwark, London, on the southern bank of the River Thames. ... The Borough or Southwark is an area of the London Borough of Southwark situated 1. ...

Beaumont's hand has also been seen in Bonduca, The Honest Man's Fortune, Wit at Several Weapons, and Four Plays in One. Though associated with the period around Beaumont's retirement, each first appeared in print in the 1647 folio, making external verification of the precise authorship exceptionally difficult. Whatever the precise number, Beaumont could have had a hand in only a small percentage of the plays in the Fletcher canon. Yet it was Beaumont whom the 1647 folio linked to Fletcher--testimony, presumably, to the high regard still accorded their collaborations on the verge of the Interregnum.

Aubrey records John Earle's claim that Beaumont worked to "lop the overflowings" of Fletcher's wit. While the grounds of this claim are disputed, it is generally conceded that the joint efforts of the two men are more unified in tone and plot than much of Fletcher's work alone. The canon's modern editor, Fredson Bowers, notes that the collaboration appears to have been full: that is, the two men worked on the play together at the same time. John Earle (c. ...

Fletcher's The Noble Gentleman (acted 1626) may have been a reworking of one of Beaumont's early plays.

Collaborations with Massinger

Philip Massinger was Fletcher's most frequent collaborator. That his role in the plays has received less attention than Beauomont's results in part from the well-known friendship he shared with Fletcher. In the turmoil of 1647, the editors of Fletcher's folio may have had another reason to downplay Massinger's involvement, since Massinger had at least twice (in Believe as You List and The Maid of Honour) affronted Charles and his interests. Philip Massinger (1583 - 1640) was an English dramatist. ... // Events March 14 - Thirty Years War: Bavaria, Cologne, France and Sweden sign the Truce of Ulm. ... Play by Philip Massinger. ... Charles I (19 November 1600 – 30 January 1649) was King of England, Scotland, and Ireland, from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. ...

Their first collaboration appears to have been The Honest Man's Fortune (ca 1613), although the bulk of this play was by Nathan Field. The same trio participated in The Queen of Corinth. the lost Jeweller of Amsterdam, and The Knight of Malta, all between 1615 and Field's death in 1620. Thereafter, Fletcher and Massinger generally worked as a duo or singly; one exception, Rollo, Duke of Normandy, has been associated with Jonson and George Chapman. Their joint work between 1616 and Fletcher's death comprises Sir John van Olden Barnavelt (1619), which was censored for topical references to Johan van Oldenbarnevelt; The Custom of the Country (ca 1620), which Dryden famously called more licentious than all Restoration plays combined; The False One (ca 1620); The Laws of Candy (1620), sometimes attributed to John Ford; The Double Marriage (1621)' The Prophetess (1621); The Sea Voyage (1621); The Spanish Curate (1621); The Little French Lawyer (1621); The Elder Brother (1625); and The Fair Maid of the Inn (1625), which involved Ford and perhaps John Webster. Nathaniel Field (1587 - 1620), was an English dramatist and actor; his father was the Puritan preacher John Field and his brother became the Bishop of Llandaff. ... Events June 2 - First Récollet missionaries arrive at Quebec City, from Rouen, France. ... Events September 6 - English emigrants on the Mayflower depart from Plymouth, England for the future New England and arrive at the end of the year. ... This article is about George Chapman the English literary figure; see George Chapman (murderer) for the Victorian poisoner of the same name. ... Johan van Oldenbarnevelt (September 14, 1547 – May 13, 1619) was a Dutch statesman, who played an important role in the Dutch struggle for independence from Spain. ... John Ford (baptized April 17, 1586 - c. ... John Webster (c. ...

The record of collaboration is further complicated by Massinger's habit of revising Fletcher's plays years after their original composition. Such revision is evident in The Lover's Progress (1622) and in Massinger's play A Very Woman. Fletcher and Massinger appear to have had a more distant working relationship, working from a plot and dividing acts and scenes, then working separately. Attribution studies suggest that Massinger more frequently took the first and last acts, leaving the intermediate development to his senior partner.

Other collaborations and doubtful attributions

Fletcher's third major collaboration, and the one of most interest to many readers, was with Shakespeare. In general, the reasons for this collaboration are easy enough to discern. At the end of his long career, Shakespeare had begun to write plays in certain respects analogous to Fletcher's early work. The dates of Cymbeline and Philaster are too uncertain to allow precise decisions about relative influence; at any rate, interest in tragicomedy was common to a number of playwrights of the decade. Shakespeare evidently followed The Tempest with work on Cardenio (performed at court in 1612; now lost); The Two Noble Kinsmen (performed 1613), which incorporates material from Beaumont's Masque of the Middle Temple and Lincoln's Inn; and Henry VIII or All is True. At a performance of this last play in 1613, a fire burned the original Globe Theatre to the ground. Cymbeline is a play by William Shakespeare. ... Publicity poster for the 2002 Los Angeles production of The Second Maidens Tragedy as Cardenio is a lost play, known to have been performed by the Kings Men, a London theatre company, in 1613. ... The Two Noble Kinsmen is a play written in 1613 by John Fletcher and William Shakespeare in collaboration. ... Henry VIII was one of William Shakespeares last plays. ... The modern reconstruction of the Globe Theatre, in London. ...

Fletcher also collaborated with two playwrights turned actors. His collaborations with Field were noted above; with Samuel Rowley, he wrote The Maid in the Mill (1623). Samuel Rowley was a 17th century English dramatist. ...

The seventeenth-century editions also include two plays of doubtful provenance. The Night-Walker (ca 1611) was published in quarto in 1640, with additions by Shirley; Wit at Several Weapons, a play of uncertain date included in the 1647 folio, is now attributed to Thomas Middleton and Rowley, as is The Nice Valour. The size of a specific book is measured from the head to tail of the spine, and from edge to edge across the covers. ... Thomas Middleton (baptized April 18, 1580, died 1627) was an English Jacobean playwright and poet. ...

Plays Authored Singly

Fletcher's first individual effort was The Faithful Shepherdess; thereafter, he continued to work alone even while collaborating on other plays. His individual work, though sometimes faulted for inconsistencies of character and tone, include some of the comedies that were popular during the Resoration and after. The Woman's Prize was performed by the Queen's Children at Whitefriars, apparently in 1611; Monsieur Thomas may have followed the next year. Valentinian, a Roman tragedy, appeared in 1614. Wit Without Money and The Mad Lover appeared around 1616. The Chances and The Humorous Lieutenant, both Restoration favorites, appeared between 1617 and 1619. Women Pleased, The Island Princess, and The Wild Goose Chase were written just after the turn of the decade. Fletcher's last unaided plays, both performed the year before his death, were A Wife for a Month and Rule a Wife and Have a Wife. Rule a Wife and Have a Wife is a play written by John Fletcher and Francis Beaumont, and first performed in 1624. ...

Notes

• This article incorporates public domain text from: Cousin, John William (1910). A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature. London, J.M. Dent & sons; New York, E.P. Dutton.

1. ^ G.E. Bentley, The Profession of Dramatist in Shakespeare's Time, 1590-1642. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1971.

The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ... A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature is a collection of biographies of writers by John W. Cousin, published around 1910. ...

References

• Finkelpearl, Daniel. Court and Country Politics in the Plays of Beaumont and Fletcher. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1990.
• Hoy, Cyrus. "The Shares of Fletcher and His Collaborators in the Beaumont and Fletcher Canon." Studies in Bibliography 8-15 (1956-1963).
• Kirsch, Arthur. "Cymbeline and Coterie Dramaturgy." ELH 34 (1967), 288-306.
• Leech, Clifford. The John Fletcher Plays. London: Chatto and Windus, 1962.
• McMullen, Gordon. ‘Fletcher, John (1579–1625)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, May 2006.
• Oliphant, E. H. C. Beaumont and Fletcher: An Attempt to Determine Their Respective Shares and the Shares of Others. London: Humphrey Milford, 1927.
• Sprague, A. C. Beaumont and Fletcher on the Restoration Stage. London: Benjamin Bloom, 1926.
• Waith, Eugene. The Pattern of Tragicomedy in Beaumont and Fletcher. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1952.

External links

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John Fletcher

• Works by John Fletcher at Project Gutenberg
• Luminarium: John Fletcher - Life, works, essays