Recently I got around to reading William Strachey’s famous essay about the 1609 shipwreck of the Sea Venture, often cited as a direct inspiration for Shakespeare’s play The Tempest. I then reread On the Date, Sources and Design of Shakespeare’s The Tempest
In December of 1609 a rumour spread about the court that Arabella Stuart had fallen in love with a man who claimed to be a prince from Moldavia, Stephano Janiculo, and planned to marry him. Stephano Janiculo was an inveterate liar: he was no prince.
When The Tempest was played at court in November 1611 the character of Alonso, King of Naples, was accompanied by two servants with ideas of grandeur above their station, Stephano and Trinculo.
In the Calendar of State Papers: Spain, there is a 1523 letter from the Abbot Of Najera to the Emperor which reads, ‘I am informed that the Pope has concluded a treaty of alliance with him (the Emperor) and the King of England. As soon as this news had reached Milan, the Duke of Milan, Prospero Colonna, and other captains assembled, and held a council, in which it was concluded that the invasion of Italy by the French must be averted by all means’. C.S.P, Spain, Volume 2, 1509-1525.
The letter seems to suggest that Prospero Colonna was the Duke of Milan when he wasn’t.
Has the writer of The Tempest incorrectly interpreted the letter and assumed that Prospero Colonna was the Duke of Milan? And written a character based on this mistake?
Prospero in the play has been ousted by his brother Antonio as rightful Duke of Milan, and both names appear in generations of the Colonna family, albeit as Marcantonio.
The letter is written in Spanish and stored in the Queen’s archives and as such is highly unlikely to have come to the attention of the actor and theatre investor, William Shakespeare.
Interesting info, but there seems to be no shortage of hypotheses about the origin of Prospero's name. Mark Anderson thought it might have been inspired by Prospero Fattinanti, who was Duke of Genoa in 1575, when Genoa was at war with Milan. Another notion is that the name Prospero is the Italian equivalent of Faustus (both names mean "fortunate") and that he is an anti-Faust, who uses his magic for good and voluntarily gives it up.
In December of 1609 a rumour spread about the court that Arabella Stuart had fallen in love with a man who claimed to be a prince from Moldavia, Stephano Janiculo, and planned to marry him. Stephano Janiculo was an inveterate liar: he was no prince.
When The Tempest was played at court in November 1611 the character of Alonso, King of Naples, was accompanied by two servants with ideas of grandeur above their station, Stephano and Trinculo.
In the Calendar of State Papers: Spain, there is a 1523 letter from the Abbot Of Najera to the Emperor which reads, ‘I am informed that the Pope has concluded a treaty of alliance with him (the Emperor) and the King of England. As soon as this news had reached Milan, the Duke of Milan, Prospero Colonna, and other captains assembled, and held a council, in which it was concluded that the invasion of Italy by the French must be averted by all means’. C.S.P, Spain, Volume 2, 1509-1525.
The letter seems to suggest that Prospero Colonna was the Duke of Milan when he wasn’t.
Has the writer of The Tempest incorrectly interpreted the letter and assumed that Prospero Colonna was the Duke of Milan? And written a character based on this mistake?
Prospero in the play has been ousted by his brother Antonio as rightful Duke of Milan, and both names appear in generations of the Colonna family, albeit as Marcantonio.
The letter is written in Spanish and stored in the Queen’s archives and as such is highly unlikely to have come to the attention of the actor and theatre investor, William Shakespeare.
Interesting info, but there seems to be no shortage of hypotheses about the origin of Prospero's name. Mark Anderson thought it might have been inspired by Prospero Fattinanti, who was Duke of Genoa in 1575, when Genoa was at war with Milan. Another notion is that the name Prospero is the Italian equivalent of Faustus (both names mean "fortunate") and that he is an anti-Faust, who uses his magic for good and voluntarily gives it up.