Francis Beaumont
Francis Beaumont (* 1584 ; † March 6, 1616 in London ) was an English playwright . He wrote his most famous pieces in collaboration with John Fletcher .
Life
Francis Beaumont was the son of the judge Sir Francis Beaumont and brother of John Beaumont . Born in the family's ancestral home, Grace Dieu in Leicestershire , he moved to Oxford at the age of 13 , where he studied at Broadgates Hall (now Pembroke College ). After the death of his father in 1598 he left the university without a degree and followed him in 1600 in the profession of judge (belonged as such to the Inns of Court , especially the Honorable Society (Bar Association) of the Inner Temple ).
In his spare time he was occupied with the works of the poet Ben Jonson , but also with Michael Drayton and others. His first own work, Salmacis and Hermaphroditus , appeared in 1602 when he was 18 years old. In 1607 Francis Beaumont wrote the preface to a work by Jonson.
His collaboration with John Fletcher probably began as early as 1605, but their first major mutual success was Philaster in 1608. They shared a household until Beaumont's marriage to Ursula , daughter and heiress of Henry Isley of Sundridge in Kent in 1613. The two had two daughters. Beaumont died in 1616 and was buried in Westminster Abbey in London .
Works
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With the pieces that Beaumont and Fletcher wrote together, it is still not known exactly what part each of them had in it. Sometimes other writers were also involved in the plays, even William Shakespeare sometimes collaborated.
But that much seems certain, Beaumont was overall the more serious of the two, while Fletcher is more responsible for the light and humorous parts.
Around 1609 the two seem to have been the main playwrights of the King's Men and thus to have succeeded Shakespeare.
The best known of the joint works is The Knight of the Burning Pestle ( The Knight of the Burning Club , ca.1610)
literature
- WW Appleton: Beaumont and Fletcher: A critical study , London 1956
Web links
- Literature by and about Francis Beaumont in the catalog of the German National Library
- English-language site with quotes, works, biography and other links
Individual evidence
- ^ The small encyclopedia , Encyclios-Verlag, Zurich, 1950, volume 1, page 144
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Beaumont, Francis |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | English playwright |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1584 |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 6, 1616 |
| Place of death | London |