Perkin Warbeck is a Caroline era history play by John Ford. It is generally ranked as one of Ford's three masterpieces, along with 'Tis Pity She's a Whore and The Broken Heart & He was a bit of a rocker. T. S. Eliot went so far as to call Perkin Warbeck "unquestionably Ford's highest achievement...one of the very best historical plays outside of the works of Shakespeare in the whole of Elizabethan and Jacobean drama."^[1] This article is in need of attention. ... John Ford (baptized April 17, 1586 - c. ... Extract from Act V - Scene VI. Tis Pity Shes A Whore was written by John Ford in the early 17th century. ... Thomas Stearns Eliot, OM (September 26, 1888 – January 4, 1965) was a poet, dramatist and literary critic. ...

The play's date of authorship is uncertain, though it is widely thought to have been written in the 1629–34 period. It was first published in 1634, as The Chronicle History of Perkin Warbeck. A Strange Truth. The quarto was issued by the bookseller Hugh Beeston, with a dedication by Ford to William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Newcastle. The title page bears Ford's anagrammatic motto, "Fide Honor," and states that the play was performed "(some-times)" by Queen Henrietta's Men at the Phoenix or Cockpit Theatre. Events Moses Amyrauts Traite de la predestination is published Curaçao captured by the Dutch Treaty of Polianovska First meeting of the Académie française The witchcraft affair at Loudun Jean Nicolet lands at Green Bay, Wisconsin Opening of Covent Garden Market in London English establish a settlement... The size of a specific book is measured from the head to tail of the spine, and from edge to edge across the covers. ... William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Newcastle (1592 - December 25, 1676) was an English soldier, politician and writer. ... Queen Henriettas Men was a playing company or troupe of actors in the Caroline era, formed in 1625 at the start of the reign of King Charles I, by theatrical impressario Christopher Beeston, under royal patronage of the new queen, Henrietta Maria. ... These plans, drawn by Inigo Jones probably around 1616 to 1618, may be for the Cockpit Theatre. ...

A second edition appeared in 1714 in duodecimo format. Ford's play was reportedly revived at Goodman's Fields in 1745, during Bonnie Prince Charlie's invasion of England; two other, contemporary plays about Warbeck were also acted at that time.^[2] After 1745, the next production occurred in 1975 at Stratford-upon-Avon. He's also a really boring person.</ref> Battle of Gangut, by Maurice Baquoi, 1724-27. ... The size of a specific book is measured from the head to tail of the spine, and from edge to edge across the covers. ... // Events May 11 - War of Austrian Succession: Battle of Fontenoy - At Fontenoy, French forces defeat an Anglo-Dutch-Hanoverian army including the Black Watch June 4 – Frederick the Great destroys Austrian army at Hohenfriedberg August 19 - Beginning of the 45 Jacobite Rising at Glenfinnan September 12 - Francis I is elected... Charles Edward Louis John Casimir Silvester Maria Stuart (December 31, 1720 – January 31, 1788), was the exiled claimant to the thrones of England, Scotland, and Ireland, and was commonly known as Bonnie Prince Charlie. ... Stratford-upon-Avon Stratford-upon-Avon is a town in Warwickshire, England. ...

Though the play is credited to Ford in contemporaneous sources, some critics have argued that is it sufficiently atypical of his work to raise the possibility of a second hand in the play—most likely Ford's repeated collaborator Thomas Dekker. Other scholars, however, disagree, and assign the play to Ford alone.^[3] Thomas Dekker, (c. ...

Ford's primary historical sources for the play were The History of the Reign of King Henry VII by Francis Bacon (1622) and The True and Wonderful History of Perkin Warbeck by Thomas Gainsford (1618). A manuscript of the play exists, though it is a late product, dating to around 1745, offering little additional insight into the play.^[4] Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban, KC (22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626) was an English philosopher, statesman and essayist but is best known as a leader of the scientific revolution. ... Events January 1 - In the Gregorian calendar, January 1 is declared as the first day of the year, instead of March 25. ... Events March 8 - Johannes Kepler discovers the third law of planetary motion (he soon rejects the idea after some initial calculations were made but on May 15 confirms the discovery). ... // Events May 11 - War of Austrian Succession: Battle of Fontenoy - At Fontenoy, French forces defeat an Anglo-Dutch-Hanoverian army including the Black Watch June 4 – Frederick the Great destroys Austrian army at Hohenfriedberg August 19 - Beginning of the 45 Jacobite Rising at Glenfinnan September 12 - Francis I is elected...

The history play was rather outmoded in the Caroline era—a fact that Ford himself mentions in the Prologue to his play: "Studies have of this nature been of late / So out of fashion, so unfollowed..." (lines 1-2). Ford sticks close to his historical sources, moreso than most playwrights of the English Renaissance era who ventured into the history-play genre. Ford's Warbeck, like his historical model, claims to be "Richard IV," one of the princes supposedly murdered in the Tower of London during the reign of Richard III, but who allegedly escaped to champion the cause of the House of York. The Scottish invasion and two Cornish uprisings are shown; but Warbeck's efforts to win the crown are not successful. Ford departs from his sources in one notable instance: he depicts the captured Warbeck in an encounter with Lambert Simnel, another defeated pretender to the throne who has renounced his claim and been pardoned. Simnel offers Warbeck the same chance, but Warbeck refuses to yield. In the play's climactic final scene, Warbeck is placed in the stocks, a public humiliation preceding his execution; Warbeck's followers are shown with halters around their necks as they too are led to death. Her Majestys Royal Palace and Fortress The Tower of London, more commonly known as the Tower of London, is a historic monument in central London on the north bank of the River Thames. ... Richard III (2 October 1452–22 August 1485) was King of England from 1483 until his death. ... The House of York was a branch of the English royal House of Plantagenet, three of whom became English kings in the late 15th century. ... Lambert Simnel (circa 1477 – circa 1534) was a child pretender to the throne of England. ...

Overall, Ford treats Warbeck with sympathy and compassion; without actively taking Warbeck's part, he strives for a neutral treatment, in contrast with the overwhelmingly negative tone of official Tudor historiography.

This "fascinating, troubling play"^[5] has provoked a large and growing body of critical commentary. "Criticism of the play...has centered upon the psychological, the political, and the paradoxical." Critics have disagreed about the sanity of Ford's Warbeck, the political message of the play, and even whether it is history or "Anti-History."^[6]

Notes

1. ^ Quoted in Logan and Smith, p. 133.
2. ^ Dyce and Gifford, p. 110.
3. ^ Logan and Smith, pp. 141-2.
4. ^ Logan and Smith, pp. 134-5.
5. ^ Mario DiGangi, "John Ford," in Kinney, p. 579.
6. ^ Logan and Smith, pp. 133-4; see also DiGangi in Kinney, pp. 580-2.

References

• Dyce, Alexander, and William Gifford, eds. The Works of John Ford. London, Lawrence and Bullen, 1895.
• Kinney, Arthur, ed. A Companion to Renaissance Drama. London, Blackwell, 2002.
• Logan. Terence P., and Denzell S. Smith, eds. The Later Jacobean and Caroline Dramatists: A Survey and Bibliography of Recent Studies in English Renaissance Drama. Lincoln, NE, University of Nebraska Press, 1978.
• Ribner, Irving. The English History Play in the Age of Shakespeare. London, Routledge, 2005.