Gesta Grayorum and Le Prince d’Amour

Abstract

Although the indebtedness of early modern English dramatic literature to the intellectual and literary milieu of the Inns of Court is widely recognized, its revelling culture has been heretofore understudied. The Inns of Court developed its own festive culture, which gives the evidence of the hybridity of courtly entertainments and satirical urbanism. This article looks in detail at two Inns of Court revels performed in the 1590s, Gesta Grayorum (1594–95, Gray’s Inn) and Le Prince d’Amour (1597–98, Middle Temple), and explores the shifting nature of the Elizabethan entertainment culture.