The Devil's Charter

In the Globe Quarto series co-published with Shakespeare's Globe to mark the rediscovery of forgotten plays by Shakespeare's contemporaries.

'Our subject is of blood and tragedy. Murther, foul incest and hypocrisy'.

The Devil's Charter is a Jacobean tragedy about Pope Alexander VI, one of the most controversial of the Renaissance popes, whose surname, Borgia, became a byword for libertinism and nepotism.

In the sensational history of the Borgias, Barnabe Barnes found a theme tailor-made for the dark and lurid imaginings of the Jacobean stage. And then he spiced it up a little.

The Devil's Charter was first performed by Shakespeare's company, the King's Men, in 1607. It was revived 390 years later in a semi-staged reading by Globe Education.

This edition of The Devil's Charter was prepared by Nick de Somogyi.