Tancred and Gismund

It is a revised version of Gismund of Salerne, a play that was written and produced for the queen in 1566 by the gentlemen of the Inner Temple.

The play has been seen as an admonition to Queen Elizabeth I to choose a husband so that she might bear an heir, based on suitability rather than love.

[1] The play inspired at least five English tragedies by 1623, and in Elizabethan England was second only to Romeus and Juliet as a story of tragic love.

[2] The published play is a rewritten version of Gismund of Salerne, of which two manuscript copies survive, that was written and produced by five members of the Inner Temple for Queen Elizabeth during the revels entertainments.

The play was revised in keeping with "the decorum of these daies" by recasting the original rhyming lines into blank verse.

Chambers dates the play earlier to Shrovetide, between 24 and 26 February 1566 from an allusion in the manuscript to its performance at Greenwich and matching that to Elizabeth's itinerary.