Richard Verstegan's Théâtre des cruautez
Primary text(s):
The text of the second French edition, the Theatre des cruautez des hereticques de nostre temps (Antwerp, 1588), is available on Gallica and on Google Books (copy from the University of Ghent).
You may also download high-resolution PDFs of the copies of the Latin and French editions held by The Johns Hopkins University (courteously provided by Prof. Earle Havens, Curator of Rare Books, Sheridan Libraries, JHU):
- Verstegan, Richard, Joannes Bochius, and Adrianus Huberti, Theatrum Crudelitatum Haereticorum Nostri Temporis (Antwerp: Adrien Hubert, 1587) (Baltimore, Maryland, The Johns Hopkins University, George Peabody Library: 274.06 V616 1587 c. 1)
- Verstegan, Richard, [Joannes Bochius], and Adrien Hubert, Theatre des Cruautez des hereticques de nostre temps : traduit du latin en françois (Antwerp: Adrien Hubert, 1588). (Baltimore, Maryland, The Johns Hopkins University,George Peabody Library: 272 V616 1588 c. 1)
Note that these PDFs are very heavy files!
Modern edition and partial translations:
- Le Théâtre des Cruautés de Richard Verstegan (1587), ed. by Frank Lestringant (Paris: Chandeigne, 1995).
You may also like to consult:
- Barbara Diefendorf, The Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre : A Brief History with Documents (Boston, Massachusetts: Bedford / St. Martin's, 2009), chapter 33.
- Study aid: English translations of the French verse accompanying the woodcuts of Verstegan's section on Huguenots
Further reading:
- Paul Arblaster, 'Verstegan, Richard', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 2004
- Michael Meere, 'Theatres of Torture: Martyrs, Pagans, and the Politics of Conversion in Early Seventeenth-Century France', Early Modern French Studies (previously Seventeenth-century French Studies), 37.1 (2015), 14-28. Available on-line via Warwick University Library.
- Romana Zacchi, 'Words and Images: Verstegan's "Theatres of Cruelties"', in Zacchi, Romana and Massimilano Morini (eds), Richard Rowlands Verstegan: A Versatile Man in a Age of Turmoil (Turnhout: Brepols, 2012), pp. 53-75. [ON ORDER FOR THE LIBRARY]