[[George Peele]] - The Famous Chronicle of Edward I
Probably written in 1590 and attributed to George Peele: the play that has come down to us is a real hotchpotch. It is generally believed to be an extremely corrupted text, in that it either has suffered from revisions by Peele himself or more likely it has been patched together by more than one hand. There are obvious time line problems in the plot and occasionally the text makes no sense. King Edward I is named as Longshankes throughout the play and there are references to a play called Longshankes that was popular in London during the 1590's and historians believe this was Peele's play in some form or other.

The play can be divided into three parts which are loosely connected: the first part deals with Edward I return from the Holy Land and his subsequent battles with Lleuellen the rebel in Wales and John Baliol of Scotland, the second part is Lleuellen's impersonation of Robin Hood complete with Friar Tuck, Little John and Maid Marion and the third part is the vilification of queen Elinor of Spain wife to Edward I. Generally the play becomes more fantastical as it stumbles through its various stages, but there is some evidence of fine writing, some successful comedy interludes and some political overtones that might have appealed to the London public.

The play opens with Edward Longshankes triumphant return from the holy land. The stage directions point to a colourful display of pageantry with a large number of actors taking part which if they were all on stage together might have stretched resources a little, but this is pure spectacle and it has the text to go with it similar to Christopher Marlowe's mighty line used in Tamburlaine:

"Illustrious England, ancient seat of kings,
Whose chivalry hath royaliz'd thy fame,
That sounding bravely through terrestrial vale,
Proclaiming conquests, spoils, and victories,
Rings glorious echoes through the farthest world."

This is the queen mother paving the way for Edward to address the crowd, but when he does the high flown language comes down a peg or two and he refers lovingly to his companion in arms his wife Queen Elinor and then most surprisingly he commits to ensuring that all the soldiers that returned with him will be well looked after and hospitals will be found for those sick and maimed. He then starts a bidding war amongst the attending nobles as to who will grant the most money for relief of those hurt in the fighting. In the 1590's Elizabeth I and her courtiers had become dismissive of soldiers and sailors returning home from war, many of whom were left to roam the countryside to get a living as best they could. The speech by Edward I in the play would have made a succinct point to the audience. The next scene switches to the court of Lleuellen of Wales and the bawdy humour of the friar and the novice written in prose contrasts with the pageantry of the scene before and it concludes with a song from the Harper. The play starts to become confusing at this point with Edward negotiating with the Scots and then fighting in Wales. A Lady Elinor appears to be taken hostage and the play staggers on with the decision by Lleuellen and his followers to take to the forest and impersonate Robin Hood.

The final section is the most weird as it strays into magical realism. Queen Elinor has produced a male heir, and the relationship with the king has improved, but then there are witnesses that see her sinking into the ground at Charring Cross and rising again at Queenhithe. Meanwhile there is more pageantry as Lleuellen's head on a spear is paraded through London along with his bother David on a hurdle and the Friar and Harpur who will be executed. The play shifts back to Queen Elinor who has taken to her bed and says that she must make her confession. The king disguises himself as her confessor and hears of her adultery with his brother Edmund on the eve of their wedding. There have already been clear signs of Queen Elinor's madness and Spanish pride when she had the Mayoress of London killed by adders sucking at her breast. Elinor dies, her daughter Joan succumbs through shame of a lowly birth, but Edward puts all this behind him as he prepares to battle with the Scots.

The source of Queen Elinor's sinking and rising again has been taken from an anonymous ballad entitled 'A warning piece to England against Pride and wickedness:

"With that at Charring Cross she sank
Into the ground alive
And after rose with life again
In London, at Queenhithe.”

Queen Elinor's disgrace at the end of this play probably owes much to the then current war with Spain and England's fears of invasion. It is true that historically Queen Elinor was not popular because of her use of power to make property deals in her favour, but the rest of the stuff in the play is pure fantasy.

How typical this patched together production of a play is for the London stage is a matter of conjecture and it might be that George Peele's name at the bottom of a printed version has led to its survival; as it is included in a volume of collected works published in 1829. For its curiosity value and the odd piece of fine writing 2.5 stars. ( )