Landgartha: A Tragie-Comedy

by Henry Burnell

Deana Rankin

• Publisher: Four Courts Press
• Year: 2013
• Topic: Literature
• eBook ISBN:
  9781846824524
• Subtopic: British Drama
• Index: Literature

First performed in Dublin on St. Patrick's Day 1640, Henry Burnell's Landgartha was the last play produced before political unrest forced the closure of Dublin's only theatre. Staged the night before the Irish Parliament debated the introduction of laws against bigamy, the play weaves a complex tale of love and marriage. Norwegian Amazon Landgartha persuades the Swedish King to help overturn the Danish occupation of her homeland. As peace ensues, Landgartha reluctantly agrees to break the Amazon code and marry him, but Sweden proves unfaithful. The allegory is compelling: the strife between Norway, Sweden, and Denmark represents the brewing between Ireland, England, and Scotland. A robust Old English response to dominant colonial representations of Ireland, Burnell's Landgartha is a compelling fusion of English tragicomedy with Irish storytelling. (Series: Literature of Early Modern Ireland)

Table of contents

• Cover
• Frontispiece
• Title page
• Copyright page
• Table of contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• A note on the text
• LANDGARTHA
• The persons of the play
• The epistle dedicatorie
• [Prefatory Verses]
• Prologue
• Landgartha, The first act
• The second act
• The third act
• The fourth act
• The fifth act
• Epilogue
• [Author’s note]
• List of emendations
• Appendix: ‘The persons of the Play’