SOURCE: Schwarz, Herbert F. “John Fletcher and the Gesta Romanorum.” Modern Language Notes 34, no. 3 (March 1919): 146-49.

In the following essay, Schwarz argues that Renaissance dramatist John Fletcher used episodes from the Gesta Romanorum in several plays he helped to write.

Some years ago I pointed out (Mod. Lang. Notes XXIV, 76-77) the fact that the dénouement (Act V, sc. 4) of The Queen of Corinth by Fletcher, Massinger, and Field is derived from the tale of the two maidens and their seducer found in the Gesta Romanorum (Early English Text Society, Extra Series 33, p. 440). This story presents the rival claims of two maidens violated by the same man. When the man is brought to trial, each of the maidens invokes one of the alternative penalties of a law which permitted the injured party to choose whether she would have the offender killed or would have him make reparation...