top of page

About the Text

Frederyke of Jennen was written by an anonymous German author and printed in English in 1560 for Abraham Vele.  It bears strong resemblance to II.9 from The Decameron, so some scholars think it is either based off of or simply a translation of  II.9, but there is no clear consensus.  Aside from this and its resemblance to Cymbeline, almost nothing seems to be known about this play.

Similarities

Frederyke of Jennen bears the most similarities to II.9 from The Decameron.

​

  • Italian merchants still meet in Paris

  • One of them is still from Genoa (anglicized as Jennen or Geneway, respectively)

  • The two men bet the same amount, but in different currencies (5000 gyldens or duckets, respectively)

  • They make the same wager over the wife's fidelity

  • While living as a man, the wife works first on a ship, then for a king and becomes very prominent in court

  • The wife discovers the bet upon recognizing her belongings being sold by the other man

  • She then convinces her unknowing husband to come to the kingdom and convinces the other man to tell the truth in front of both him and the king

  • She explains everything to the king and reveals that she is the wife in question and requests punishment for the other man

  • The other man gets executed for his misdeeds

  • The wife forgives the husband and they live happily ever after

Differences

Since Frederyke of Jennen is roughly equivalent to II.9 in its relation to Cymbeline, it is much more interesting to compare how it differs from II.9

​

  • The husband is named Ambrose, the other man is named John, and the wife is never named, except for being Frederyke while living as a man

  • He hires an old woman at the market to help him with the trunk

  • Instead of stealing her robe, John steals her ring and the wart he notices is on her arm instead of her breast

  • Ambrose requires the wife's tongue (faked using her pet lamb) and lock of her hair as proof of her death

  • He shows an amount of regret upon finding out his wife is "dead"

  • "Frederyke" gets left in charge of the entire kingdom while the king escapes from a plague

  • She does such a good job routing enemies trying to raid the kingdom that she is made Lord Protector and rules as such for seven years

  • She appears in front of the whole court naked in order to prove her femininity

  • At the end, she and Ambrose have children and name one Frederyke

bottom of page