The Miscellany - The Munich Shakespeare Library Blog

Domestic Tragedy and True Crime: Arden of Feversham

The Munich Shakespeare Research Library has recently added an 18th century edition of The Lamentable and Trve Tragedie of M. Arden, of Feversham in Kent to its collection. This innovative play, registered by the Stationers Company on 3 April 1592, tells of the murderous plot surrounding the death of Thomas Arden, a real-life figure from the early Tudor age, who was murdered by his wife, Alice, her lover, the tailor Mosby, and a group of conspirators.

Arden of Feversham is not only one of the earliest domestic tragedies in England but also an early foray into the realm of true crime on the Renaissance stage, weaving a narrative around the heinous act committed by Alice Arden and her co-conspirators. This exploration of real-life events adds a layer of immediacy to the play, drawing on the sensationalism of true crime stories that captivated Early Modern audiences, like the trial of Mabel Brigge, who allegedly tried to kill Henry VIII through a black magic ritual or the later trials and execution of Guy Fawkes. Unlike the more conventional focus on historic, mythical, or upper-class characters that is typical of tragedy proper, domestic tragedies centre around protagonists from the middle and lower classes. This provides a unique lens through which to explore the complexities of lives tangibly close to those lived by audiences and actors alike. Other notable examples of Renaissance domestic tragedies include A Woman Killed with Kindness and The Witch of Edmonton, the later notably also being the account of a true crime event.

It is assumed that the play was written in the wake of the publication of the second edition of Holinshed's Chronicles in 1587, which in turn inspired numerous plays attributed to Shakespeare (such as Macbeth or King Lear, to name just a few). The murder case itself was notorious, as witnessed by the many texts in which it features, such as the 1565 A Summarie of Englyshe Chronicles and The Chronicles of England from Brute vnto this present yeare of Christ 1580, both by John Stow or the broadside ballad “The complaint and lamentation of Mistresse Arden of Feversham in Kent” which narrates the events from Alice Arden’s point of view.

One of the lingering mysteries surrounding Arden of Feversham is the identity of its author. The play's attribution has been subject of debate, with potential candidates including William Shakespeare as well as multiple other playwrights. In the first half of the 20th century, the play was most often attributed to Thomas Kyd, who also penned The Spanish Tragedy and an early ‘Ur-Hamlet’. In recent decades, however, scenes of the play have been attributed to William Shakespeare with Thomas Watson a potential co-author, a controversial theory championed especially by Gary Taylor, the editor of The New Oxford Shakespeare. If the play was authored, or co-authored by Shakespeare it would make it one of his earliest writings, a theory endorsed by the preface to the volume purchased by the Munich Shakespeare Library. Published in 1770, the edition thus testifies not only to ongoing public interest in a crime committed almost two hundred years ago, but also to a nascent desire to expand the Shakespeare canon to include more or less apocryphical plays like Double Falsehood about which we have written here.