The masque had a Virginia theme; Chapman had been a follower of the Prince of Wales, Prince Henry, before Henry's death in November 1612, and Henry had been a strong backer of the movement to colonize the New World. The principal masquers were stylized as Native Americans, "Princes of Virginia" and "sun priests"," though without much representative accuracy: they were dressed in "cloth of silver embroidered with gold," with olive-colored masks, though they were also lavishly feathered and equipped with ornaments "imitating Indian work" — an attempt at an effect "altogether estrangeful and Indian-like." The conceit was that these sun-worshippers had come to honor the wedding couple and to accept Christianity. The princes' costumes of "cloth of silver with a trail of gold" can be seen as a textile allegory of Britain's economic ventures in the New World that eventually led to transatlantic slavery.[2]
The masquers were said to come from Virginia, but the text and scenery also alluded to sun-worship and gold mining. These aspects refer to ventures in Guiana, and were based on Walter Ralegh's 1595 account of his voyages and description of El madre del oro, the mother of gold.[3] Chapman had written on Guiana in a poem De Guiana in 1596, and transferred the imagery to Virginia.[4] In the poem Chapman outlined a female and Elizabethan England that would be a sibling and a mother to Guiana in "a golden world".[5]
The celebration began with a torchlit parade down Chancery Lane, headed by fifty gentlemen on horseback, followed by the figures of the anti-masque, boys dressed as baboons in "Neapolitan suits and great ruffs," and the musicians and masquers in chariots.[6]King James ordered the procession to go around the tilt yard at Whitehall, while the royal party observed from a gallery.[7]
Each horse in the procession was attended by two "Moores", African servants, who were dressed as Indian slaves.[8] The Venetian ambassador Antonio Foscarini wrote that there were 100 Africans, dressed in the blue and gold costume of Indian slaves.[9]
At Whitehall, Jones's stage set was a golden mountain. Next to it on either side were a silver temple, octagonal and domed, and a hollow tree — representing the poles of experience of masque and anti-masque: temple for the masquers, tree for the "baboons." The presenters were figures of classical mythology and personifications typical of the masque form: Plutus; a personified Honor, with Eunomia, one of the three Hours, as her priestess; and Capriccio, a Commedia dell'arte-style figure. The golden rock moved forward toward the viewers, then split open to release the anti-masquers. Later the top of the mountain opened to reveal the principal masquers and a crew of torchbearers. The torchbearers danced with torches lit at both ends; then the masquers danced their dances, finally joined by the audience. The general reaction was highly positive, giving the masque a reputation as one of the best-received works of its type in the Stuart era.
Sponsorship
The masque was sponsored by two of the four Inns of Court, those mentioned in the title. The other two Inns of Court sponsored their own wedding tribute, The Masque of the Inner Temple and Gray's Inn, by Francis Beaumont.[10] The records of Lincoln's Inn show that the Inn spent just over £1086 on the masque, charging its members fees ranging from £1 10 shillings to £4 to pay the bill. The records of the Middle Temple are not as complete in their details, though its share of the total bill was likely equal, and its charges were probably very similar. Chapman was paid £100 for his masque, while Robert Johnson earned £45 for his music.[11]
The masque was entered into the Stationers' Register on 27 February 1613; the quarto edition that followed, printed by George Eld for the bookseller George Norton, is undated, but probably was issued as promptly as possible after the masque's performance, to capitalize on public interest. A second edition, also undated, was later issued by Norton.[14] Chapman dedicated the work to Sir Edward Phelips, who along with Henry Hobart the Attorney General had been responsible for selecting Chapman as the author and for driving the whole project to a successful completion.
Credits
Unlike Ben Jonson, Inigo Jones's most common literary partner in masquing, Chapman was a close friend of Jones, and did not engage in the kind of ego competition that Jonson maintained with Jones for some two decades. The masque's printed text shows that Chapman let Jones — a man of no small ego himself — take the lead in grabbing credit; the title page states that the work was "Invented and fashioned, with the ground and special structure of the whole work, by our kingdom's most artful and ingenious architect Inigo Jones. Supplied, applied, digested and written by George Chapman."[15][16]
↑ Chapman's masque was not staged in the Whitehall Banqueting House, the normal venue for Court masques, since that facility was set up for Francis Beaumont's The Masque of the Inner Temple and Gray's Inn, which was scheduled for the next day though actually performed on 20 February.
↑ Sujata Iyengar, Shades of Difference: Mythologies of Skin Color in Early Modern England (Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2005), pp. 93-5.
↑ Sujata Iyengar, Shades of Difference: Mythologies of Skin Color in Early Modern England (Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2005), p. 94.
↑ Martin Butler, The Stuart Court Masque and Political Culture (Cambridge, 2008), pp. 202-3.
↑ Walter Lim, The Arts of Empire: The Poetics of Colonialism from Raleigh to Milton (University of Delaware, 1998), pp. 59-63.
↑ Lauren Working, The Making of an Imperial Polity: Civility and America in the Jacobean Metropolis (Cambridge, 2020), p. 187 doi:10.1017/9781108625227: Thomas Birch & Folkestone Williams, Court and Times of James the First, vol. 1 (London, 1848), p. 227.
↑ Nichols, Progresses of James the First, vol. 2 (London, 1828), pp. 567-8.
↑ Calendar State Papers Venice, 1610-1613, vol. 12 (London, 1906), p. 532 no. 832: Christopher Tomlins, Freedom Bound: Law, Labor, and Civic Identity in Colonizing English America, 1580-1865 (Cambridge, 2010), p. 415: Sujata Iyengar, Shades of Difference: Mythologies of Skin Color in Early Modern England (Philadelphia, 2005), p. 81.
↑ Nadine Akkerman, Elizabeth Stuart, Queen of Hearts (Oxford, 2022), pp. 84-5.
Inigo Jones was the first significant architect in England in the early modern period, and the first to employ Vitruvian rules of proportion and symmetry in his buildings. As the most notable architect in England, Jones was the first person to introduce the classical architecture of Rome and the Italian Renaissance to Britain. He left his mark on London by his design of single buildings, such as the Queen's House which is the first building in England designed in a pure classical style, and the Banqueting House, Whitehall, as well as the layout for Covent Garden square which became a model for future developments in the West End. He made major contributions to stage design by his work as a theatrical designer for several dozen masques, most by royal command and many in collaboration with Ben Jonson.
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1613.
The Masque of Blackness was an early Jacobean era masque, first performed at the Stuart Court in the Banqueting Hall of Whitehall Palace on Twelfth Night, 6 January 1605. It was written by Ben Jonson at the request of Anne of Denmark, the queen consort of King James I, who wished the masquers to be disguised as Africans. Anne was one of the performers in the masque along with her court ladies, all of whom appeared in blackface makeup. In a ceremony earlier on the day, Prince Charles, Anne's second son was given the title of Duke of York.
Hymenaei, or The Masque of Hymen, was a masque written by Ben Jonson for the marriage of Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex, and Lady Frances Howard, daughter of the Earl of Suffolk, and performed on their wedding day, 5 January 1606. The costumes, sets, and scenic effects were designed by Inigo Jones, and the music composed by Alfonso Ferrabosco.
The Masque of Beauty was a courtly masque written by Ben Jonson, and performed in London's Whitehall Palace on 10 January 1608. It inaugurated the refurbished banquesting hall of the palace. It was a sequel to the preceding Masque of Blackness, which had been performed three years earlier, on 6 January 1605. In The Masque of Beauty, the "daughters of Niger" of the earlier piece were shown cleansed of the black pigment they had worn on the prior occasion.
The Triumph of Peace was a Caroline era masque, "invented and written" by James Shirley, performed on 3 February 1634 and published the same year. The production was designed by Inigo Jones.
Oberon, the Faery Prince was a masque written by Ben Jonson, with costumes, sets and stage effects designed by Inigo Jones, and music by Alfonso Ferrabosco and Robert Johnson. Oberon saw the introduction to English Renaissance theatre of scenic techniques that became standard for dramatic productions through the coming centuries.
Love Freed from Ignorance and Folly was a Jacobean era masque, written by Ben Jonson and designed by Inigo Jones, with music by Alfonso Ferrabosco. It was performed on 3 February 1611 at Whitehall Palace, and published in 1616.
The Hue and Cry After Cupid, or A Hue and Cry After Cupid, also Lord Haddington's Masque or The Masque at Lord Haddington's Marriage, or even The Masque With the Nuptial Songs at the Lord Viscount Haddington's Marriage at Court, was a masque performed on Shrove Tuesday night, 9 February 1608, in the Banqueting House at Whitehall Palace. The work was written by Ben Jonson, with costumes, sets, and stage effects designed by Inigo Jones, and with music by Alfonso Ferrabosco – the team of creators responsible for previous and subsequent masques for the Stuart Court.
The Golden Age Restored was a Jacobean era masque, written by Ben Jonson and designed by Inigo Jones; it was performed on 1 January and 6 January 1616, almost certainly at Whitehall Palace.
Neptune's Triumph for the Return of Albion was a Jacobean era masque, written by Ben Jonson, and designed by Inigo Jones. The masque is notable for the contradictory historical evidence connected with it and the confusion it caused among generations of scholars and critics.
Pleasure Reconciled to Virtue is a Jacobean era masque, written by Ben Jonson and designed by Inigo Jones. It was first performed on Twelfth Night, 6 January 1618, in the Banqueting House at Whitehall Palace. The work's failure on its initial performance, and its subsequent revision, marked a significant development in Jonson's evolving masque technique.
The Masque of the Inner Temple and Gray's Inn, also known as, The Masque of the Olympic Knights, is an English masque created in the Jacobean period. It was written by Francis Beaumont and is known to have been performed on 20 February 1613 in the Banqueting House at Whitehall Palace, as part of the elaborate wedding festivities surrounding the marriage of Princess Elizabeth, the daughter of King James I, to Frederick V, Elector Palatine.
The Masque of Augurs was a Jacobean era masque, written by Ben Jonson and designed by Inigo Jones. It was performed, most likely, on Twelfth Night, 6 January 1622.
Lord Hay's Masque was an early Jacobean era masque, written by Thomas Campion, with costumes, sets and stage effects designed by Inigo Jones. The masque was performed on Twelfth Night, 6 January 1607, in the Great Hall of Whitehall Palace. It was the premier event at the Stuart Court for the 1606-7 Christmas holiday season.
Luminalia or The Festival of Light was a late Caroline era masque or "operatic show", with an English libretto by Sir William Davenant, designs by Inigo Jones, and music by composer Nicholas Lanier. Performed by Queen Henrietta Maria and her ladies in waiting on Shrove Tuesday, 6 February 1638, it was one of the last and most spectacular of the masques staged at the Stuart Court.
Sir Edward Phelips was an English lawyer and politician, the Speaker of the English House of Commons from 1604 until 1611, and subsequently Master of the Rolls from 1611 until his death in 1614. He was an elected MP from 1584, and in 1588, following a successful career as a lawyer, he commissioned Montacute House to be built as a country house for himself and his family on the family estate in Somerset. He was knighted in 1603 and one of his major roles was as the opening prosecutor during the trial of the Gunpowder Plotters.
John Wolfgang Rumler was a German physician and apothecary in Augsburg, known for his Observationes medicae, who eventually served the English royal family in the households of Prince of Wales, Queen Anne, King James and Charles I of England. He is also credited with making blackface theatrical grease-paint.
The wedding of Elizabeth Stuart (1596–1662), daughter of James VI and I, and Frederick V of the Palatinate (1596–1632) was celebrated in London in February 1613. There were fireworks, masques, tournaments, and a mock-sea battle or naumachia. Preparations involved the construction of a "Marriage room", a hall adjacent to the 1607 Banqueting House at Whitehall Palace. The events were described in various contemporary pamphlets and letters.
The Masque of Owls at Kenilworth was written by Ben Jonson and performed at Kenilworth Castle on 19 August 1624 for Prince Charles.
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