This example shows a French borrowing entering the Shakespeare canon after Neville's experience as ambassador to France. But it also raises the possibility
that Neville learned about an incident during his time as ambassador and
incorporated that scenario into a play. In this letter dated 30 May 1599,
Neville describes the King of France ordering a provost to execute some French
soldiers:
And for the same
purpose, there having been lately discovered an Enterprise which the Count
Maurice had upon a town called Charlemont, not far from Sedan, wherein certain
French Men of the King's Garrisons adjacent were employed; the King hath sent a
Provost thither to do round Justice
upon them, and to proceed to their Execution.
[spelling modernized] (WW, I, 42)
The
word “provost” only appears in one of Shakespeare’s works, the play Measure for Measure (ca. 1603-1604). In
the play, the character named “Provost” is ordered by Angelo to execute
Claudio:
LUCIO.
Has censured him
Already;
and, as I hear, the provost hath
A
warrant for his execution.
ISABELLA.
Alas! what poor ability's in me
To
do him good? (Measure for Measure, 1.4)
ANGELO:
Where is the provost?
PROVOST: Here, if it
like your honour.
ANGELO:
See that Claudio
Be executed by nine to-morrow morning (Measure
for Measure, 2.1)
The
use of “provost” with “execution” was not common at the time, according to a
search of Early English Books Online
(EEBO). After all, an English executioner or jailer was not called a “provost.” Interestingly, Neville's good friend Henry Savile was the Provost of Eton at the time. One has to wonder if this wasn't partly an inside joke. However, there is a similar example from the 1596 in The Historie of Philip de Commine, translated from the French by
Thomas Danett:
But this
traiterous Earle, who kept the Dukes chamber (being of timber) so straightly
that no man might enter in; refused the doore to these gentlemen, saying that
the Duke had commanded him to be hanged with speed; and further sent divers
messengers to the Provost to hasten
the execution. Thus was this Cisron
hanged to the Duke of Burgundies great prejudice. (Commynes: 167)
The
sense of “Provost” used in the above examples by both Shakespeare and Danett specifically
refers to a French official, as described in sense 5a in the OED:
An officer
charged with the apprehension, custody, and punishment of offenders… In France
many of the officials called prevost (prévôt) were specially charged with the
keeping of public order and the apprehension, custody, trial, and punishment of
offenders, for which they had considerable powers of summary jurisdiction.
In
the Danett passage above, “Provost” is indeed a translation of the French
“prevost”:
"Monseigneur
veult qu'on s'avance de le pendre [the execution]"; et par messagier
hastoit le prevost [provost].
(https://archive.org/details/mmoiresdephili02commuoft/page/50)
Neville’s
use is also a translation, most likely, of a report he heard first in French
and transmitted back to England. It’s worth noting that the use of “Provost” in
this French sense in Measure for Measure
is probably out-of-place, since the play is set in Vienna.
