X-Nico

6 unusual facts about 1599 in literature


Old Fortunatus

The Pleasant Comedie of Old Fortunatus (1599) is a play in a mixture of prose and verse by Thomas Dekker, based on the German legend of Fortunatus and his magic inexhaustible purse.

The Downfall and The Death of Robert Earl of Huntington

The most prominent Robin Hood play of Munday's era was George a Greene, the Pinner of Wakefield, registered in 1595 and printed in 1599.

The Little French Lawyer

The plot of the play is based on a story by Massuccio di Salerno (his Il novellino, novella xli), perhaps in the version in Guzmán de Alfarache by Mateo Alemán (1599, 1605).

The Wild Gallant

Like the earliest works of many authors, and also like many other Restoration plays, The Wild Gallant is a derivative work: Dryden borrowed from several previous authors and plays, as far back as Ben Jonson's Every Man Out of His Humour (1599).

War of the Theatres

The resulting controversy, which unfolded between 1599 and 1602, involved the playwright Ben Jonson on one side and his rivals John Marston and Thomas Dekker (with Thomas Middleton as an ancillary combatant) on the other.

William Sly

Sly is included in the troupe's surviving cast lists for the next few years, for Every Man in His Humour (1598), Every Man Out of His Humour (1599), and Sejanus (1603) — all three by Ben Jonson.



see also