Henry Medwall
FULGENS AND LUCRECE, or
Fulgens, Senator of Rome

circa 1490-circa 1501

‘The first known subplot in English-language drama’
‘The earliest surviving purely secular English-language drama’

Notes of Interest
Go to "Plays to be Compared"

a synoptic, alphabetical character list

A

A youth with no other name designation and, by his own admission, a ‘masterless’ man. He begins the play by pretending to be part of the audience, who have apparently just enjoyed a banquet before the play. He becomes a servant to Gaius Flaminius and.is ultimately a rival to the so-called B (a character with no other name designation) for the hand of Joan. When they must prove themselves to Joan, they at first sing then wrestle but fail to impress the girl. At last they joust ‘at fart prick in cule (buttock)’: a contest that apparently requires their hands to be bound and ends with the loser creating a foul miasma. B throws A down. When B claims her in victory, Joan informs them that she is already promised to another man but will spin them each a pair of breeches as a consolation prize. She then beats them. After the (apparently lengthy) interval, A delivers a speech reminding the audience of what transpired in the first section of the play which was played ‘To-day when ye were at dinner.’ He comes to Lucrece with a message from Gaius Flaminius but has lost the letter, cannot remember his master’s name, nor, when pressed, can he remember his own name. Later, upon learning from B that Lucrece has chosen his own master, Gaius Flaminius, to wed, he is openly astonished that a woman should choose a man for his virtue alone.

ADAM

Only mentioned. In his argument against Publius Cornelius’s professed nobility of family, Gaius Flaminius reminds Lucrece that all men are descended from Adam and Eve.

ALEXANDER

Only mentioned. Publius Cornelius compares his family’s fame with that of Alexander the Great.

ARTHUR

Only mentioned. Publius Cornelius compares his family’s fame with that of King Arthur.

B

A youth with no other name designation and, according to the character known as A, a ‘masterless’ man. He begins the play by pretending to be part of the audience, who have apparently just enjoyed a banquet before the play. He tells the so-called A (a character with no other name designation) that he is not a player (despite his fine attire) and yet proceeds to present the lengthy argument of the play. He is ultimately the servant to Publius Cornelius (having been hired from out of the audience where he sits, and referring to himself as a ‘bawd’ to help Publius Cornelius to marry Lucrece. He later becomes a rival to A for the hand of Joan. When they must prove themselves to Joan, they at first sing then wrestle but fail to impress the girl. At last they joust ‘at fart prick in cule (buttock)’: a contest that apparently requires their hands to be bound and ends with the loser creating a foul miasma. B throws A down. When B claims her in victory, Joan informs them that she is already promised to another man but will spin them each a pair of breeches as a consolation prize. She then beats them. B promises revenge for this. After the (apparently lengthy) interval, B carries a message from Publius Cornelius to Lucrece but comically mistakes the meaning to bawdy effect. Later, when Lucrece tells B to tell his master that she has chosen his rival suitor, B fears that Publius Cornelius will run ‘mad as a hare’. After B and A exchange some comic observations upon Lucrece’s choice, and on husbands and wives generally, B is left to make the curtain speech, ask forgiveness for the author if the play has offended anyone, and end the piece.

CORNELII

Only mentioned. The family and stock of Publius Cornelius. They have, according to him, been ‘the chief aid and defence’ of Rome and by the senate named ‘fathers of the country’.

EVE

Only mentioned. In his argument against Publius Cornelius’s professed nobility of family, Gaius Flaminius reminds Lucrece that all men are descended from Adam and Eve.

FULGENS

A Roman senator. Despite having no male heir, he delights in the intelligence, nature, and virtue of his daughter, Lucrece. His one wish s to see her well married before he dies. Though he is willing to counsel her, he refuses to take away her freedom to choose her own husband.

FULGENS’S WIFE

A ‘ghost character’. A woman ‘of good condition and right comfortable to [her husband’s] intent,’ nevertheless, she has given Fulgens only one female heir.

GAIUS FLAMINIUS

A plebeian. Though aware of his low condition, he courts Lucrece but is unwilling to force her choice. He hires character A to be his go-between with his love. After the (apparently lengthy) interval, he listens patiently to his rival, Publius Cornelius, as he calls upon family connection and wealth as his ‘proof’ of nobility. He dismisses this form of nobility, pointing out that all men are descended of Adam and Eve and therefore only personal virtue rather than family history should be the measure of a man’s virtue. He lists his personal traits as having always lauded God, shown charity to his neighbors, hated incontinency and uncleanness, been faithful and loving to his friends, he eschews idleness, and has personally fought and earned laurels for defending Rome. He can promise Lucrece only a modest keeping, but sufficient for a modest life.

JOAN

Handmaid to Lucrece. Both characters A and B woo her and vie over this ‘flower of the frying pan’. She tells B that, before she agree to any handfasting, the man must guarantee her ‘twenty pounds land in jointure’. When A and B squabble over her, she insists that she will go with the one who can show the most mastery over something, whether it be “cookery”, “pastry”, “arts of war” or “chivalry.” They sing and wrestle for her but demonstrate only that they are not good at either. At last they joust ‘at fart prick in cule (buttock)’ and B throws A down. When B claims her in victory, Joan informs them that she is already promised to another man but will spin them each a pair of breeches as a consolation prize. She then beats them.

JOAN’S MAN

A ‘ghost character.’ After characters A and B fight over Joan, and B wins, she informs them that she is already promised in marriage to this other man.

LUCRECE

Daughter to Fulgens. She resembles him in the face. Though many woo her, she has determined to marry either Publius Cornelius or else Gaius Flaminius. She hesitates to choose either until she can receive her father’s approval. When he inclines only to her freedom of choice, she decides to inquire after which of the two men is most honourable and then to marry that man. After the (apparently lengthy) interval, she is accosted first by character B and then by character A, each carrying a message from his master, Publius Cornelius and Gaius Flaminius, respectively, and she shows great patience with each when neither can remember his message to her. When she at last meets with her two suitors, she binds them to use no violence upon one another or words that could inflame their anger. After hearing each of her two suitors declare why he thinks himself more noble, she goes forth to learn what the vox populi have to say of them. She confesses, however, that she is privately persuaded that personal virtue is more noble than the mere argument of blood (though she is quick to add that virtue combined with a noble family would be the best argument). As such, she inclines to Gaius Flaminius over the dissolute libertine, Publius Cornelius.

LUCRECE’S MAN

A ‘ghost character.’ The character A reports to B that he has overheard this servant saying that Lucrece will meet with her two suitors and tell them which she has chosen.

MARSHAL

Only mentioned. In the induction, B tells A that he intends to see the play provided the marshal (of the banquet hall wherein it is played) shall give him leave to do so.

MASTER of the FEAST

Not a character proper and sometimes referred to as ‘my lord’ he is the host of the banquet (where the play is being performed).

MUMMERS

The character B informs A that Cornelius has hired strangers ‘freshly disguised at his own expense’ to come and please Lucrece. The character A correctly interprets that these men are to present a ‘mumming’. B later brings in the mummers to entertain Lucrece. They perform a ‘base dance after the guise of Spain’ and the pipe and tambourine are mentioned in connection with their performance. Although he addresses them in Flemish, the character B calls them ‘Irish Portingales’.

PUBLIUS CORNELIUS

A Patrician. He goes to Fulgens to ask for Lucrece’s hand in marriage. Though Fulgens would be delighted if she were to marry so well, the father will only advise his daughter in such questions and not take away her freedom to choose. In a moment of metadrama, he ‘hires’ the character B from the audience to be his servant. Having come into a large inheritance, Publius Cornelius has become a wastrel and spendthrift. After the (apparently lengthy) interval, he hires mummers to come entertain Lucrece and is annoyed when they are late arriving. After the entertainment, the contest begins. He proclaims his nobility by reference to his family, the Cornelii, who have been proclaimed ‘fathers of the country’ and specifically recalls his great-grandsire, Scipio of Afric, who subdued Carthage. He promises her riches, opulence, hunting, dancing, and ends by saying that his rival, Gaius Flaminius, is too poor and humble to deserve Lucrece and she would only be throwing herself away if she were to choose him.

SAINT JAMES

Only mentioned. Joan uses his name as an exclamation. The character A uses it thrice thereafter.

SAINT JOAN

Only mentioned. The character called B uses her name as an exclamation.

SAINT JOHN

Only mentioned. Publius Cornelius uses his name as an exclamation.

SAINT MARY

Only mentioned. The character called A uses her name as an exclamation.

SAINT SIM

Only mentioned. Lucrece uses his name as an exclamation.

SCIPIO AFRICANUS

Only mentioned. Publius Cornelius refers to ‘Scipio of Afric’, who subdued Carthage, as his great-grandsire.

‘TWAIN MARRIED’

’Ghost’ and possibly ‘fantasy’ characters. The character B relates to Joan, whom he desires to marry though he is currently poor, that he knew of ‘twain married’ who were not worth ‘a louse’ but, by year’s end, were worth one or two hundred and owned a house. Joan retorts that she knew such a couple herself who had not so much as half a bed each but, within a year or two, were so ‘increased’ (by pregnancies) that they had to sleep on straw.

USHER

Not a character proper. At the end of the first part, the character A calls upon the actual usher of the banquet hall (where the play is being performed) to fill the guest’s wine goblets whilst the play takes an interval.

WIVES, A’S

’Ghost characters.’ The character known as A claims to have had two or three wives since his first, who was a shrew. He claims they have all kept him rather than the other way around and that they earn their keep at ‘the common place’ by ‘easing many a man.’


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Notes of interest

Fulgens and Lucrece was originally performed during a banquet or feast. The characters make several references throughout the play indicating that (although they are presumably in Rome) they are completely aware of the audience and their banquet.

The play is divided into two sections. The first section ends just after the contest that characters A and B ‘fight’ over Joan and the news that Lucrece has agreed to meet with her two suitors and make her choice.

The dialogue makes clear that the audience has been eating before the commencement of the play, have not been served during the first section, but are served again between sections one and two of the play.

Although Publius Cornelius refers to Scipio Africanus (236-183 B.C.E.) as his great-grandsire, placing the chronology of this play no later than the first century B.C.E., Fulgens and Lucrece apparently takes place in the post-Christian Roman world, for Fulgens begins the play with a lengthy praising of his Lord and Saviour and, near play’s ending, Lucrece specifically expresses her preference for a man living in the ‘Christian region’

In the opening moments of the play, while characters A and B are pretending to be members of the audience, A ‘mistakes’ B for a player because of his apparel. When B says that he is not, A apologizes, noting,

There is so much nice array
Amongst these gallants nowaday,
That a man shall not lightly
Know a player from another man.
If taken at face value, this could indicate that players often dressed better than their audiences but that new fashions had almost eradicated this distinction. However, it is equally likely that these lines are ironic. The characters of A and B are ‘masterless’ men in need of employment later in the play. They could well be dressed poorly, as befitting their station in society, and these lines would therefore be delivered for comic effect, suggesting that the audience is dressed no better than they.

Regarding the 'joust' between characters A and B, which they call fart prick in cule, Thomas Betteridge and Greg Walker, in The Oxford Handbook of Tudor Drama, opine that in this event ‘they launch[] themselves at each other in squatting positions with poles thrust between their buttocks, joking about incontinence and farting’ although they provide no evidence for this specific interpretation of the activity. The text itself only indicates that Joan must first truss them up, as the manner of tying appears impossible for one to do to oneself, and, later, both A and B must beg another to release their hands from their bindings.

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Plays to be compared

Beaumont’s The Knight of the Burning Pestle for a similar metadramatic sensibilities: the use of character-audience interaction including characters ‘planted’ in the audience at the start who soon take active roles in the presentation.

Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream for the perceived necessity to quiet an audience’s qualms. What the Lion does (humourously) in Act V of MND, assuring the ladies that he is no ‘lion fell’ but rather Snug the joiner, the characters in Fulgens and Lucrece perform in earnest. More than once, and by most of the characters, the audience is assured that the play does not intend to insult nor comment upon the nobility. The characters address one another and the audience in this fashion, repeatedly insisting that Lucrece’s choice of the common-born Gaius Flaminius is in no manner a commentary upon anyone present in the hall nor upon nobility itself but merely a singular choice brought about by the unique situation in which these particular characters find themselves in this isolated example.