EXAMPLES OF CENSORSHIP OF THE STAGE IN THE
SIXTEENTH CENTURY
1. In Italy
2. In Spain
3. In France
The scope and plan of this treatise do not permit any general
consideration of so complex a subject as the censorship of the stage.
In the present chapter, I am submitting merely certain examples of
attempts at such censorship in Italy, Spain, and France in the 16th
century, which it may be interesting to compare with the supervision
that was being exercised in these countries at the same time over the
production and distribution of literature.
=1. The Theatre in Italy, 16th Century.=--The action taken in regard
to the censorship of the stage varied materially in the different
localities. St. Charles Borromeo prohibited in Florence, in 1565,
theatrical performances during the time of religious fêtes. Later, he
secured the suppression altogether of the presentation of the drama of
the Passion. Gregory XIII, as the result of an appeal made to him by
St. Charles, prohibited dramatic performances in Rome on holy days. The
influence of the saint secured similar action in Verona and in Bologna,
and, in 1577, Venice banished the comedians altogether.
The Church as a whole, however, avoided being drawn into the
consideration of the control of the drama; it made absolute prohibition
of but two things: the presentation on the stage of ecclesiastical
dress and the use of female actors.[152]
The Jesuit Ottonelli, writing in 1640, condemns “immodest” dramatic
representations, of which he demands the complete suppression. He
contends that there should be on the stage no scenes of love between a
man and a woman left alone. He is willing to concede the communication,
in connection with a proposition of marriage, by the father of the
lover to the father of the girl, of the sentiments of the young
man.[153]
=2. The Theatre in Spain.=--In Spain and in Italy the clergy
undertook during the 16th century to repress or to restrict the license
of the stage, and in Spain, at least, the clerical control of the drama
was complete. The seven centuries of contest against the Moors had,
among other results, served to associate indissolubly the Catholic
faith with the cause of patriotism and nationality, and with the daily
life of the people; and yet in Spain a large respect and an ardent
devotion for the Church were not felt to be incompatible with a large
indecency on the stage.
In Spain, the Inquisition, in place of being detested as in France, or
dreaded as in Italy, was really a popular institution. Lope de Vega,
who entered the priesthood after the birth of two illegitimate children
which had come to him during his second widowhood, displayed at the
head of his most indecent comedies his title of “Familiar of the Sacred
Office.” His plays present alternate examples of passages of real
piety and of verses the most obscene.
In 1548, however, as a result of a petition of the Cortes to Charles V,
vigorous measures were taken against indecent performances; and between
1587 and 1600, such effective destruction was made by the clerical
commissioners of dramatic productions that of a series of forty-three
volumes, there remained copies of but ten.[154]
=3. The Theatre in France, 16th Century.=--The French Church
of the 16th century did not manifest antagonism to the stage. The
edict of 1548, which, for the purpose of protecting religion against
indignities, ordered that dramatic performances should be restricted
to subjects that were “profane, decent, and free from scandal,”
emanated not from the divines, but from the Parliament of Paris.
The Church councils of the provinces restricted their interference
to the prohibition of the use for such performances of consecrated
buildings.[155]