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''Fulgens and Lucrece'' is a late 15th-century interlude by Henry Medwall. It is the earliest purely secular English play that survives.〔Bill Gilbert: "(Chapter 20: Literary Movements in the Sixteenth Century )" in ''Renaissance and Reformation''. Lawrence, Kansas: Carrie, 1998.〕 Since John Cardinal Morton, for whom Medwall wrote the play, died in 1500, the work must have been written before that date.〔 It was probably first performed at Lambeth Palace in 1497, while Cardinal Morton was entertaining ambassadors from Spain and Flanders.〔Wayne S. Turney: (Pre-Shakespearean Interludes: Interludes from the Court of Henry VIII ).〕 The play is based on a Latin ''novella'' by Buonaccorso da Montemagno that had been translated into English by John Tiptoft, 1st Earl of Worcester and published in 1481 by William Caxton.〔Robert Frank Willson, ''"Their form confounded": studies in the burlesque play from Udall to Sheridan'' 1975, p. 9. 〕 The play was printed in 1512–1516 by John Rastell,〔Greg Walker: ''Medieval Drama'', Wiley-Blackwell, 2000 ISBN 0-631-21727-4, p. 305.〕 and was later only available as a fragment until a copy showed up in an auction of books from Lord Mostyn's collection in 1919.〔George Sampson: ''The Concise Cambridge History of English Literature'' Third edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1970, p. 245. Accessed 2009-07-13.〕 Henry E. Huntington acquired this copy, and arranged the printing of a facsimile.〔The Malone Society: (Collections: Vol. II, part II (1923) ). Accessed 13 July 2009.〕 The play is an example of a dramatised ''débat''. == Source == The source of the play is the Latin treatise ''ラテン語:De Vera Nobilitate'' (''On True Nobility'') by the Italian humanist Bonaccorso or Buonaccorso da Montemagno of Pistoia, written in 1438. This treatise had been translated into French by フランス語:Jean Miélot as ''フランス語:Controversie de Noblesse par Surse de Pistoye'' and printed by William Caxton's friend, Colard Mansion, in Bruges around 1475. The French version was later translated into English by John Tiptoft, 1st Earl of Worcester and printed by Caxton in 1481, on the last pages of ''Cicero of Old Age and Friendship''. Medwall used Tiptoft's translation as his source.〔Ernst Philip Goldschmidt: ''Medieval Texts and their First Appearance in Print''. 1943, reprinted Biblio-Moser, 1969, ISBN 0-8196-0226-4, p. 5.〕 ''ラテン語:De Vera Nobilitate'' tells how ラテン語:Lucretia, the daughter of the Roman senator ラテン語:Fulgentius, is wooed by the idle patrician ラテン語:Publius Cornelius and the studious plebeian ラテン語:Gaius Flaminius. ラテン語:Lucretia asks her father for advice, and ラテン語:Fulgentius asks the senate to decide on the matter.〔Frederick S. Boas: "Introduction", in ''Five Pre-Shakespearean Comedies (Tudor Period )''. (The World's Classics 418). London: Oxford University Press, 1934, 1950, p. viii.〕 Each suitor then pleads before the senate.〔Robert Coogan: "Petrarch and Thomas More" ''Moreana'', no. 21 (Feb. 1969): 19–30, p. 23.〕 The senate's decision is not mentioned in the treatise.〔 == Plot == The plot is set in ancient Rome and deals with the wooing of Lucrece, daughter of the Roman senator Fulgens, by ラテン語:Publius Cornelius, a patrician, and ラテン語:Gaius Flaminius, a plebeian. They both plead their worthiness to Lucrece (and not to the senate, as in Medwall's source). Despite Publius' superficial charms, wealth, and noble background, Lucrece eventually chooses ラテン語:the modest commoner Gaius Flaminius. He does not have a famous lineage like Publius but his honest love for Lucrece shows his true nobility. The play also contains a comic subplot which appears to begin outside the play and then merges with it. In this subplot, the characters A and B discuss a play that they expect to see, and B relates the plot, which is actually the plot of ''ラテン語:De Vera Nobilitate''. A and B later turn out to be servants of Cornelius and Gaius, and they try to win the love of Joan, a handmaid of Lucrece. The comic subplot and Lucrece's final choice were additions by Medwall. It disrupts the flow of the story as the mischievous comic relief characters A and B steal the audience's attention with their gags and breaking of the fourth wall. Medwall ingeniously uses A and B to subtly mock the idea of class and lordship, with the play asking if nobility can be found in the common man? A and B also make references to their fashion with A mistaking B for an actor because of his fine clothing, suggesting that actors were gaining a greater status in England around that time. This is considered to be the first inclusion of a subplot in an English Language drama, and thus, in many ways, exceeds the main plot in critical discussion. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Fulgens and Lucrece」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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