User:Ajadmcb/sandbox

Historical context: Personal implementation
Among the secondary targets of the satire was the former Archbishop of Split, Marco Antonio de Dominis, who was caricatured as the Fat Bishop (played by William Rowley). De Dominis was a famous turncoat of his day: he had left the Roman Catholic Church to join the Anglican Church—and then returned to Rome again. The traitorous White King's Pawn is a composite of several figures, including Lionel Cranfield, 1st Earl of Middlesex, a former Lord Treasurer who was impeached before the House of Lords in April 1624. The former Spanish ambassador to London, Diego Sarmiento de Acuña, conde de Gondomar, was blatantly satirized and caricatured in the play as the Machiavellian Black Knight. (The King's Men went so far as to buy discarded items of Gondomar's wardrobe for the role.)[1]. The vivid description of the crowd's reaction exudes a sense of awe: There was such merriment, hubbub and applause that even if I had been many leagues away it would not have been possible for me not to have taken notice of it.[2] The play was stopped after nine performances (6–16 August, Sundays omitted), but not before it had become "the greatest box-office hit of early modern London".[3] The Privy Council opened a prosecution against the actors and the author of the play on 18 August (it was then illegal to portray any modern Christian king on the stage). The Globe Theatre was shut down by the prosecution, though Middleton was able to acquit himself by showing that the play had been passed by the Master of the Revels, Sir Henry Herbert. After such demise with what could be known as one of his greatest works ever, Middleton never wrote another play after this.

The original nine performances of the play notably became the most anticipated box office play during the early modern period in London. The legality that later came caused for the performance of modern Christian King’s of that period to be banned from stage performance and ultimately onset other legal matters that included prosecution and theatre shut downs. After such turmoil with the original stage adaptations this work was the last of Middleton’s.