William Percy (1573 - 1648) wrote The Faery Pastorall in 1603 with the expectation that it would be performed before King James, probably when the new king visited. Sion House to thank the Earl, Percy's older brother, for assisting James's efforts to succeed Elizabeth on the English throne. The Faery Pastorall is one of five plays Percy wrote between 1601 and 1603, all of which may have been used as part of the Percy family's backing of James's bid for the crown. The plays remain in three separate manuscripts transcribed by Percy himself in his old age. Two of the three documents, Alnwick Castle MS 508 (1644) and Alnwick Castle MS 509 (1646), remain in the Duke of Northumberland's library, and one, the copy text for this edition, Huntington MS HM4 (1647), is in the Huntington Library in California. Although there is no evidence that any of Percy's plays was ever produced, the plays are valuable to theatre historians, because they include many stage directions and full descriptions of the staging and properties that Percy expected to be at his disposal. This edition of The Faery Pastorall includes an introduction which examines Percy's life, the history and description of the manuscripts, the possibility of the play's performance, its structure and themes, sources and analogues, and the stage directions and list of properties. Also included are an old-spelling version of the text complete with textual notes incorporating substantive variations of all three manuscripts, two appendices incorporating valuable material from the manuscripts not included in the play proper, and a full commentary glossing difficult words and passages.

William Percy (1573 - 1648) wrote The Faery Pastorall in 1603 with the expectation that it would be performed before King James, probably when the new king visited. Sion House to thank the Earl, Percy's older brother, for assisting James's efforts to succeed Elizabeth on the English throne. The Faery Pastorall is one of five plays Percy wrote between 1601 and 1603, all of which may have been used as part of the Percy family's backing of James's bid for the crown. The plays remain in three separate manuscripts transcribed by Percy himself in his old age. Two of the three documents, Alnwick Castle MS 508 (1644) and Alnwick Castle MS 509 (1646), remain in the Duke of Northumberland's library, and one, the copy text for this edition, Huntington MS HM4 (1647), is in the Huntington Library in California. Although there is no evidence that any of Percy's plays was ever produced, the plays are valuable to theatre historians, because they include many stage directions and full descriptions of the staging and properties that Percy expected to be at his disposal. This edition of The Faery Pastorall includes an introduction which examines Percy's life, the history and description of the manuscripts, the possibility of the play's performance, its structure and themes, sources and analogues, and the stage directions and list of properties. Also included are an old-spelling version of the text complete with textual notes incorporating substantive variations of all three manuscripts, two appendices incorporating valuable material from the manuscripts not included in the play proper, and a full commentary glossing difficult words and passages. / Arts, Faculty of / English, Department of / Graduate

La période allant de l’invention de Mélusine (c. 1390) à sa réinterprétation dans l’Alector (1560) peut être vue comme un « âge d’or de la féerie », qui s’étend hors de son domaine d’origine (le merveilleux) et fait émerger des figures neuves. Loin de disparaître de l’imaginaire des XVe et XVIe s., les fées en sont une composante essentielle. L’étude chronologiquement délimitée par ces repères et prolongée, pour certaines figures, jusqu’aux romans baroques (d’Urfé et Rosset c. 1612) dresse un tableau de la féerie au féminin. Organisée autour des quatre fées « cardinales », Morgane, Mélusine, Alcine et Urgande, nommées dans le programme des fêtes royales de Bayonne (1566), elle analyse leur évolution du point de vue de l’écriture et de sa réception. Elle cerne aussi des figures qui perdent leur identité féerique (Sibylle, Méridienne) et en recherche les causes. Tout en marquant des continuités et des parentés qui tiennent à des lignages « fictionnels » ou dynastiques, elle analyse des mutations (allégorisation, idéalisation) qui font valoir la richesse de la matière et son rôle dans l’évolution de l’imaginaire et des Lettres, de la fin du Moyen Âge à la Renaissance / From Melusine’s first appearance in literature (c. 1390) to its new treatment in the Alector (1560), the late Middle Ages and Renaissance period can be seen as the « golden age of faery », as it expands beyond its original field (the marvellous) and shapes up some new figures. Far from vanishing from the 15th and 16th centuries fiction, faery is a crucial part of it. Within these chronological boundaries and slightly beyond, as some figures are still mentioned in baroque novels (such as d’Urfé’s and Rosset’s c. 1612), this study makes a broad inquiry into feminine faery. Built up around the four « cardinal » faeries – Morgan, Melusine, Alcina and Urganda – still featuring in the royal feasts of Bayonne in 1566, it focuses on their evolution through writing and reading. It also points out Sibyl and Meridiana as figures who tend to lose their faery quality. While showing some continuity among faeries due to fictional kinship or dynastic lineage, it investigates the disruption caused by allegory and idealization, thus bringing into light a huge material and its decisive role in the shaping of imagination and literature, from the late medieval period to the Renaissance