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"Sinnekins" and the Vice: Prolegomena Peter Happé and Wim Hüsken Preliminary. In this paper we intend to set out the basis of a comparative study of the Sinnekens, the allegorical stagecharacters which are found in late medieval and early Renaissance Dutch drama, and the Vice of the English interludes. The former occur in about 150 Rhetoricians' plays (Spelen van zinne) which were composed over a century and more (C.15Ü0-C.1620). while the Vice (who should be distinguished from 'Vices,' the generic name for the generality of evil characters) is rather more restricted to about thirty verifiable examples in interludes dating from about 1530 to 1 590. ' Each has its own distinctive place in the culture and in the theatrical history of its own country, but we have been struck by a number of similarities in the ways they were conceived and in the ways they operate within their respective theatrical milieux. For the moment we should like to leave open the question of mutual influence, all the more so because such a phenomenon would be very difficult to prove—and it seems unlikely. There might, however, be an underlying similarity of outlook—a similarity possibly dependent upon parallel cultural and historical features. With regard to the origin of the Sinnekens it has been suggested that they developed out of the devils and the vices in morality drama as it was known all over fifteenth-century Europe.: Yet where we can study their history in French drama' this appears to be impossible for both the Dutch and the English traditions. For in order to substantiate a hypothesis regarding a shared origin of Vice and Sinnckens, the Netherlands are in want of a sufficient quantity of texts dating back to the fifteenth century, whereas England faces a relative poverty of morality plays during the first half of the sixteenth century. Despite the fact that we remain unable to give a solid history of a possible common background, it appears, whichever way you look at it, that the Sinnckens were invented earlier than the Vice and that for whatever reason they had a longer run. 248 Peter Happé and Wim Hi'isken249 Essentially both became conventional features on the stage, which means that within each type there were characteristics that recurred frequently, though there are few which could be claimed as indispensable. It is likely that, for a while, they were expected as a matter of routine and presumably pleasant anticipation so that playwrights would naturally turn to them to enhance their plays even though both were inherently malevolent. These characters would establish their presence on stage by a number of quickly identifiable characteristics; where these were visual they are inevitably very hard to recover. Naturally it became necessary and convenient to give them generic names as the two conventions developed and as appreciation of them increased. It is a feature in common that Sinnckens and the Vice were often specifically identified on cast lists and title-pages. This practice makes it certain that the names 'Sinnekens' and 'The Vice' had contemporary currency: they are not retrospective labels invented by entrepreneurs of criticism. In view of this we shall not attempt a premature "definition" of the two types. In drawing attention to similarities between the Sinnekens and the Vice we are conscious that wc are not dealing with identical figures, and it is hoped that part of the value of this comparison will be the many distinctions which will also be noted. Such a process might help in the greater clarification of each type. We hope that this paper will be the first of a number of studies which will extend the detail and scope of the comparison and also bring to light many details of a remarkable and extensive corpus of extant drama. In the case of the interludes the plays are moderately well known, though not all of them have been satisfactorily edited in modern times. With the Rhetoricians' drama the situation is quite different. Some progress is being made with regard to publication, but the number of plays is so great that there are very few scholars (even in the Netherlands) who are thoroughly acquainted with...
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