Theodore Rodenburgh | |
---|---|
Baptized | 29 January 1574, Antwerp [2] |
Died | 1644 [1] |
Occupation(s) | Diplomat, playwright |
Era | Dutch Golden Age |
Theodore Rodenburgh (baptised 29 January 1574, Antwerp - 1644) was a diplomat and playwright of the Dutch Golden Age. His first name is sometimes spelled Theodoor, and occasionally the nick-name Dirk is seen; his last name is sometimes spelled Rodenburg or Rodenberg.
He was well-travelled and spoke several languages. He states that he studied in Italy and Portugal, and spent time in the French court. [3] For several years he was a trade representative in London for cities of the Hanseatic League, [3] although the dates are unclear: P.E.L. Verkuyl putting him there from December 1602 to March 1607, [4] and Nigel Smith favoring the dates "1601 until after June 1610". [5]
He was an envoy to the court of Philip III of Spain in Madrid from 1611 to 1613, where he likely attended performances of comedias . [6] He was the first to adapt Spanish comedias into Dutch; four of these adaptations were staged, then subsequently printed in 1617-1618. [6]
He was appointed chairman of "The Eglantine" chamber of rhetoric in 1617, shortly after the exit of playwrights Samuel Coster, Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft, and Gerbrand Bredero who formed the competing First Dutch Academy. [7] In support of The Eglantine, Rodenburgh published the Eglentiers Poëtens Borst-Weringh, a discussion of poetics based largely on Sir Philip Sidney's Apologie for Poetrie and Thomas Wilson's Arte of Rhetorique, but also influenced by Lope de Vega's Arte nuevo de hacer comedias en este tiempo (New Art of Writing Plays at This Time). [8]
The first part of King Otto III was published in 1616, and the second and third parts in 1617, but whether it was ever performed is unknown. [9]
Although his plays were very popular in his lifetime, his literary reputation quickly fell into disrepute and neglect, due in part to his use of techniques which were deemed insufficiently classicist. [1] These were not blunders on Rodenburgh's part, but the results of his conscious emulation of Lope de Vega who embraced variety in emotion, plot, character, location, time, and meter ... a far cry from the rationalism and unities of time, place, and plot demanded by neoclassical writers and theorists.
The Synod of Dort was a European transnational Synod held in Dordrecht in 1618–1619, by the Dutch Reformed Church, to settle a divisive controversy caused by the rise of Arminianism. The first meeting was on 13 November 1618 and the final meeting, the 180th, was on 29 May 1619. Voting representatives from eight foreign Reformed churches were also invited. Dort was a contemporary Dutch term for the town of Dordrecht.
Willebrord Snellius was a Dutch astronomer and mathematician, commonly known as Snell. His name is usually associated with the law of refraction of light known as Snell's law.
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1618.
Félix Lope de Vega y Carpio was a Spanish playwright, poet, and novelist who was a key figure in the Spanish Golden Age (1492–1659) of Baroque literature. In the literature of Spain, Lope de Vega is second to Miguel de Cervantes. Cervantes said that Lope de Vega was “The Phoenix of Wits” and “Monster of Nature”.
Willem Cornelisz Schouten was a Dutch navigator for the Dutch East India Company. He was the first to sail the Cape Horn route to the Pacific Ocean.
Esteban Manuel de Villegas was a 17th-century Spanish poet.
Hendrick de Keyser was a Dutch sculptor, merchant in Belgium bluestone, and architect who was instrumental in establishing a late Renaissance form of Mannerism changing into Baroque. Most of his works appeared in Amsterdam, some elsewhere in the Dutch Republic. He was the father of Pieter and Thomas de Keyser and Willem, and the uncle of Huybert de Keyser, who became his apprentices and all involved in building, decoration and architecture.
Fuenteovejuna is a play by the Spanish playwright Lope de Vega. First published in Madrid in 1619, as part of Docena Parte de las Comedias de Lope de Vega Carpio, the play is believed to have been written between 1612 and 1614. The play is based upon a historical incident that took place in the village of Fuenteovejuna in Castile, in 1476. While under the command of the Order of Calatrava, a commander, Fernán Gómez de Guzmán, mistreated the villagers, who banded together and killed him. When a magistrate sent by King Ferdinand II of Aragon arrived at the village to investigate, the villagers, even under the pain of torture, responded only by saying "Fuenteovejuna did it."
A loa is a short theatrical piece, a prologue, written to introduce plays of the Spanish Golden Age or Siglo de Oro during the 16th and 17th centuries. These plays included comedias and autos sacramentales. The main purposes for the loa included initially capturing the interest of the audience, pleading for their attention throughout the play, and setting the mood for the rest of the performance. This Spanish prologue is specifically characterized by praise and laudatory language for various people and places, often the royal court for example, to introduce the full-length play. The loa was also popular with Latin American or "New World" playwrights during the 17th and 18th centuries through Spanish colonization.
Otto van Veen, also known by his Latinized names Otto Venius or Octavius Vaenius, was a painter, draughtsman, and humanist active primarily in Antwerp and Brussels in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. He is known for his paintings of religious and mythological scenes, allegories and portraits, which he produced in his large workshop in Antwerp. He further designed several emblem books, and was from 1594 or 1595 to 1598 the teacher of Rubens. His role as a classically educated humanist artist, was influential on the young Rubens, who would take on that role himself. He was court painter of successive governors of the Habsburg Netherlands, including the Archdukes Albert and Isabella.
Samuel Coster was a Dutch playwright.
Ivan Dirkie de Veenboer was a 17th-century Dutch corsair. A privateer during the Eighty Years' War, he later turned to piracy and became an officer under Simon the Dancer. He later converted to Islam, becoming known as Süleyman Reis, and had a highly successful career as an Ottoman captain and Barbary corsair commanding the Algiers corsair fleet during his later years.
Guilliam or Willem van Nieulandt or van Nieuwelandt (1582/84–1635) was a Flemish painter, engraver, poet and playwright from Antwerp. He spent two thirds of his career in the Habsburg Netherlands and the remainder in Italy and the Dutch Republic. He is known for his Italianate landscape paintings and prints, often real views or capricci of landscapes and buildings from in or around Rome enlivened by contemporary figures or biblical or mythological scenes. He is regarded as the principal poet and playwright active in the Habsburg Netherlands in the first three decades of the 17th century.
Fenisa's Hook is a play written by the Spanish playwright Lope de Vega. It was first published in 1617 in the eighth part of Lope de Vega's Comedias. Based on the tenth tale of the eighth day of Boccaccio’s Decameron, it has been called a picaresque play, works that exhibit an uncharacteristic moral freedom. It focuses on merchants, the circulation of bodies and merchandise, and the seductive power of art. Boccaccio's tale is about a trickster who is tricked Lope uses Boccaccio's story for the main plot of his play, where Fenisa, a courtesan in Palermo attempts to woo the rich merchant Lucindo in order to gain his riches. A secondary plot includes Dinarda who is dressed as a man and has come to Palermo in search of the man who seduced her and left her behind. Fenisa ends up falling for this Dinarda who is disguised as don Juan de Lara. While Fenisa is able to trick Lucindo the first time around, he comes back to Sicily a second time and this time he tricks her. In the end, Dinarda finds and marries her Albano, while Fenisa is left without a spouse and without money.
Corral de comedias is a type of open-air theatre specific to Spain. In Spanish all secular plays were called comedias, which embraced three genres: tragedy, drama, and comedy itself. During the Spanish Golden Age, corrals became popular sites for theatrical presentations in the early 16th century when the theatre took on a special importance in the country. The performance was held in the afternoon and lasted two to three hours, there being no intermission, and few breaks. The entertainment was continuous, including complete shows with parts sung and danced. All spectators were placed according to their sex and social status.
Punishment without Vengeance is a 1631 tragedy written by the Spanish playwright Lope de Vega at the age of 68, centred on adultery and a near-incestuous relationship between step-mother and step-son. It is regarded as one of Lope’s supreme achievements.
Henry Jaye was an English Catholic exile in the Southern Netherlands. He became printer to the city of Mechelen.
Count William Otto of Nassau-Siegen, German: Wilhelm Otto Graf von Nassau-Siegen, official titles: Graf zu Nassau, Katzenelnbogen, Vianden und Diez, Herr zu Beilstein, was a count from the House of Nassau-Siegen, a cadet branch of the Ottonian Line of the House of Nassau. He served as an officer in the Swedish Army.