A Source for the Subplot of William Rowley's All's Lost by Lust

Abstract

WILLIAM ROWLEY’s tragedy All’s Lost by Lust (1619–20)1 is constructed from two plotlines. The main plot, a tale of rape and revenge during the Moorish invasion of Spain, is based on the Spanish legend of Florinda and Count Julian,2 but scholars have not yet identified precisely the source of the subplot and its tale of bigamy and murder. In 1985, Linda Woodbridge observed correctly that the subplot is based on the Italian tale of Didaco and Violenta, which originates with Matteo Bandello; however, she did not specify which of the many versions of this much-retold story Rowley used.3 In this article, I will begin by demonstrating that the subplot is based on William Painter’s retelling of the tale in his Palace of Pleasure (1566). Then, since there are considerable differences between Rowley’s play and Painter’s story, I will examine the possibility that two other English adaptations may have influenced Rowley: Thomas Achelley’s poem A Most Lamentable and Tragicall Historie (1576) and John Fletcher’s short play ‘The Triumph of Death’, one of the Four Plays, or Moral Representations, in One (c.1612–15); I will conclude, however, that no firm evidence exists to support this possibility. Finally, I will offer a brief history of the ways in which earlier attempts to identify the play’s source were led astray by confusions in the scholarly record; these confusions are worth noting if only to protect future scholars of the play from futile digressions.