John Heywood

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
John Heywood. Woodcut in The Spider and the Flie , 16th century

John Heywood (* around 1497, † around 1580) was an English playwright and musician of the early Tudor period. One of his better known pieces is The Play of the Weather .

Live and act

From 1519 John Heywood worked at Henry VIII's court as a so-called court jester , that is, as a singer, actor and musician. In addition to his epigrams and aphorisms, he was best known for his interludes , which consisted of witty and humorous, sometimes satirical, debates on a fixed topic.

These interludes were either performed as an independent insert between the acts of a longer piece or as a prelude or postlude. The playe called the foure PP (1544) creates a competition in lying, The play of the wether (1533) shows Jupiter's chaotic efforts to adjust the weather to the wishes of different people. In his interludes, John Heywood replaced the biblical allegories and abstract religious teachings of medieval morality with comedy-like pieces that instead dealt with concrete everyday life and everyday habits. In doing so, he laid the foundations for the subsequent development of fully developed comedies in Elizabethan theater.

John Heywood remained true to the Roman Catholic faith even after the Anglican Church was founded . When Elizabeth I ascended the throne, he left his property to his son-in-law John Donne, the father of the metaphysical poet of the same name , and fled to Mechelen in Belgium. Presumably he died there after 1575 at an old age. According to other sources, he is said to have returned to England in 1577.

Works

  • The playe called the foure PP. A newe and a very mery enterlude of A palmer. A pardon. A potycary. A pedler. 1544 ( digitized ), 1560 ( digitized ), 1569 ( digitized )
  • A mery play betwene the pardoner and the frere, the curate and neighbor Pratte. 1533 ( digitized version )
  • A mery play betwene Iohan Iohan the husbande, Tyb his wyfe, [and] syr Iha [n] n the preest. 1533 ( digitized version )
  • The play of the wether. A new and a very mery enter of all maner of wethers. 1533 ( digitized ), 1544 ( digitized ), 1560 ( digitized )
  • A play of loue. A newe and a mery enterlude concernyng pleasure and payne in loue. 1534 ( digitized version )
  • A dialogue conteinyng the nomber in effect of all the prouerbes in the English tongue, compacte in a matter concernyng two maner of mariages. 1546 ( digitized ), 1549 ( digitized ), 1561 ( digitized )
  • An hundred epigrams. 1550 ( digitized version )
  • Two hundred Epigrammes, vpon two hundred prouerbes, with a thyrde hundred newely added. 1555 ( digitized version )
  • The Spider and the Flie. A parable of the Spider and the Flie. 1556 ( digitized version )
  • A dialogue conteyning the number of the effectuall prouerbes in the English tounge, compact in a matter concernynge two maners of maryages. With one hundred of Epigrammes: and thrée hundred of Epigrammes vpon thrée hundred prouerbes: and a fifth hundred of Epigrams. Whervnto are now newly added a syxt hundred of Epigrams. 1562 ( digitized ), 1566 ( digitized ), 1577 ( digitized ), 1587 ( digitized ), 1598 ( digitized )
  • A dialogue on wit and folly. 1846 ( digitized version )

literature

Web links

Wikiquote: John Heywood  - Quotes

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See John Heywood - English author . On: Encyclopædia Britannica . Retrieved June 30, 2015. See also John Heywood (1497-1580) . On: theater database and in-depth John Heywood . On: theatrehistory . Retrieved June 30, 2015.
  2. ↑ See John Heywood - English author . On: Encyclopædia Britannica and John Heywood (1497-1580) . On: theater database . Retrieved June 30, 2015. For the alleged return to England before his death, see John Heywood . On: theatrehistory . Retrieved June 30, 2015.
personal data
SURNAME Heywood, John
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English playwright
DATE OF BIRTH around 1497
DATE OF DEATH around 1580