Esmoreit is a

Middle Dutch Middle Dutch is a collective name for a number of closely related West Germanic dialects whose ancestor was Old Dutch. It was spoken and written between 1150 and 1500. Until the advent of Modern Dutch after 1500 or c. 1550, there was no overarch ...

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

. It is one of the four '' abele spelen'' ("able plays") contained in the

Van Hulthem Manuscript The Van Hulthem Manuscript is a masterpiece of medieval Dutch literature, probably compiled in the Duchy of Brabant. It contains over 200 stories from across the Low Countries. The manuscript is named after its last private owner, Charles van Hul ...

and consists of 1,018 lines in

rhyme A rhyme is a repetition of similar sounds (usually, the exact same phonemes) in the final stressed syllables and any following syllables of two or more words. Most often, this kind of perfect rhyming is consciously used for a musical or aesthetic ...

. The other ''abele spelen'' are: '' Gloriant'', '' Lanseloet van Denemerken'' and '' Vanden Winter ende vanden Somer''. The play is named after the male protagonist Esmoreit,

crown prince A crown prince or hereditary prince is the heir apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The female form of the title is crown princess, which may refer either to an heiress apparent or, especially in earlier times, to the wife ...

of the

Kingdom of Sicily The Kingdom of Sicily ( la, Regnum Siciliae; it, Regno di Sicilia; scn, Regnu di Sicilia) was a state that existed in the south of the Italian Peninsula and for a time the region of Ifriqiya from its founding by Roger II of Sicily in 1130 un ...

. It deals with the love between two people of different social classes and is followed by the ''sotternie'' (

farce Farce is a comedy that seeks to entertain an audience through situations that are highly exaggerated, extravagant, ridiculous, absurd, and improbable. Farce is also characterized by heavy use of physical humor; the use of deliberate absurdity or ...

) '' Lippijn''. One of its sources is the 14th-century ''

chanson de geste The ''chanson de geste'' (, from Latin 'deeds, actions accomplished') is a medieval narrative, a type of epic poem that appears at the dawn of French literature. The earliest known poems of this genre date from the late 11th and early 12th ce ...

'' ''

Baudouin de Sebourc ''Baudouin de Sebourc'' is a fourteenth-century French ''chanson de geste'' which probably formed part of a cycle related to the Crusades, and may well be related to '' Bâtard de Bouillon''. The poem was likely composed c. 1350 in Hainaut. The ...

''.

Roles

*Robbrecht (nephew of the king of Sicily) *Meester (Master Platus, chamberlain to the king of Damascus) *de coninc (de king of Damascus) *de jonge (jonc)vrouwe Damiët (daughter of the king of Damascus) *de kersten coninc/sijn vader (the (Christian) king of Sicily) *de vrouwe/sine moeder (queen of Sicily and mother of Esmoreit) *de jonghelinc (Esmoreit, crown-prince of Sicily, raised at the court of Damascus)

Plot

Esmoreit is the crown prince of Sicily. His birth is a concern for his cousin Robbrecht, until then the successor to the throne. He decides to kill Esmoreit. At the court of Damascus a

prophecy In religion, a prophecy is a message that has been communicated to a person (typically called a '' prophet'') by a supernatural entity. Prophecies are a feature of many cultures and belief systems and usually contain divine will or law, or pre ...

foretells that a foreign prince will kill the king of Damascus and marry his daughter Damiët. The king then decides to look for this prince to take him to his court and raise him as his son to avoid the murder. He sends out Platus to look for the prince. In Sicily, Platus meets Robbrecht, who is trying to kill Esmoreit by drowning him in a well. Platus buys the child for one thousand pounds in gold ("om dusent pont van goude ghetelt") and brings him to Damascus. Robbrecht accuses the queen of the murder on her son and she is imprisoned by the king, who is enraged with

grief Grief is the response to loss, particularly to the loss of someone or some living thing that has died, to which a bond or affection was formed. Although conventionally focused on the emotional response to loss, grief also has physical, cogn ...

. The king of Damascus leaves Esmoreit in the care of Damiët, telling her he is an abandoned child. Many years later, Esmoreit discovers Damiët is not his sister and that she has fallen in love with him. Esmoreit has fallen in love with Damiët but she cannot reciprocate his love because she considers him of lower class. He also finds out that he is not abandoned and goes to look for his parents. When Esmoreit comes to Sicily he discovers his true identity: the cloth he was found in is recognized by the queen, who is still locked up. While the king and queen are united, Robbrecht is still not punished. In the meantime, Damiët cannot stand being without Esmoreit and she decides to go after him. She leaves with Platus, dressed as a pilgrim. Meeting him in Sicily gives great joy: Esmoreit introduces Damiët to his father who resigns his throne in behalf of Esmoreit. Platus recognizes Robbrecht as the man from whom he bought Esmoreit. Robbrecht is hanged. Esmoreit and Damiët marry.

References

External links

{{Wikisourcelang, nl, Esmoreit *
Esmoreit
' at the

Digital Library for Dutch Literature The Digital Library for Dutch Literature (Dutch: Digitale Bibliotheek voor de Nederlandse Letteren or DBNL) is a website (showing the abbreviation as dbnl) about Dutch language and Dutch literature. It contains thousands of literary texts, second ...

Dutch plays Fictional princes Fictional Sicilian people Middle Dutch literature Plays set in Sicily Plays set in the Middle Ages