First Published in 1999. 'Our subject is of blood and tragedy, Murther, foul incest and hypocrisy'. In the sensational history of 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. This vigorous play was first performed by Shakespeare's company in 1607 and revived 390 years later in a semi-stage reading by Globe Education.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

The so-called "Devil Theatre" is here set against its context of non-dramatic texts on possession and exorcism, providing many new insights. Representations of demonic possession and exorcism rituals abound in English Renaissance drama, an area which this book seeks to illuminate by comparison with non-dramatic works. The author investigates stage images of possessionin relation to a range of early modern demonological, theological and medical prose texts on the subject, looking specifically at how the theatre responded to these texts. He argues that the stage appropriated debates over demonicpossession to explore the competing roles of the inner life and the body in early modern definitions of selfhood. The theatre also employed the contemporary controversy over possession and exorcism to investigate the politics ofreligion, and to consider the nature of monarchic power. Moreover, because demonic possession cases and exorcism rituals were frequently dismissed by conformist writers as a piece of theatre, they offered an opportunity to reflecton the nature of drama and role-playing. JAN FRANS VAN DIJKHUIZEN is lecturer and research fellow at the University of Leiden.

Excerpt from The Devil's Charter: A Tragedie; Containing the Life of Pope Alexander the First A T L O N D O N by G. E. For [aim trrigbt, and are to be fold at {hop in New-gate market, more Chtifi thatch gate. 16 o 7. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Excerpt from The Devil's Charter It is natural to suppose that Barnes would make use of the English translation rather than of the Italian original, and this indeed seems to have been the case. In two passages at least the phraseology somewhat recalls Fenton's work, though the resem blance is not particularly striking (of. Notes on 11. 138, and in lines 2214-6 there is a reference to a saying of St. Gregory which may have been borrowed from a passage inserted in the English translation and not to be found in any other version it does not, however, occur in F enton in connection with the same scene as in Barnes, and is too well known for much to be built upori its pre sence. More satisfactory evidence is aflorded by the occurence in Tin Diails Charter of forms of proper names identical with those used by F enton, who, translating from Chomedey, generally gives the names in a French guise. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.