Baroque” Is Associated More Readily with Music, Architecture (Maybe Literature) Than History
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As you remember the label “baroque” is associated more readily with music, architecture (maybe literature) than history. 1 Caravaggio. David Showing Goliaths Head Definition: In painting sculpture and architecture the term “Baroque” (derived from the Portuguese 'barocco' meaning, 'irregular pearl or stone') describes a fairly cultural movement that developed in 17th‐century Europe (c.1590‐1720). Philosophically, it is associated with a reaction to the Protestant Reformation and the ideals of the High Renaissance. It is typically understood as an expression of the desire of the Catholic Church in Rome to reassert itself in the wake of the Reformation, but it is also present in Protestant countries as an expression of disappointment with the failure to achieve the high ideals of liberty and justice of the Renaissance and the Reformation. The characteristic features of Baroque art include: large scale – often larger‐than‐life, Biblical, and less frequently mythical, themes which are laden with allegorical significance, strong engagement with politics, intensely dramatic composition, powerful sense of movement, sumptuous colours, sharp contrast between light and darkness (tenebrism, chiaroscuro), etc. [Test these features on Caravaggio’s painting on the slide above. Remember that David is a Renaissance emblem of freedom, republican ideals, the rising bourgeoisie (cf. Michelangelo’s sculpture of David in Florence)] Similarly, Baroque architecture was intended to create dramatic illusion. The straight 2 lines of the Renaissance were replaced with flowing curves, domes were enlarged, and interiors carefully designed to produce effects of light and shade. It exploited the theatrical potential of the urban landscape to invoke emotional response. 2 The historical labels that describe the period that we will look into are: the English Civil Wars (1642‐1651), The Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell (1653‐1659) and The Restoration (since 1660). More generally the period between the execution of Charles I (1649) and the restoration of Charles II (1660) is also called by historians The Interregnum. Timeline (adapted from BBC History) 1625 James I died and was succeeded by his 24‐year‐old son Charles I. 1629 Charles I came into conflict Parliament on issues of financial and religious policy. In a outrage he dissolved Parliament and embarked on a period of authoritarian ”personal rule” that lasted 11 years. 1638 Charles I tried to impose a new Prayer Book on the Scots, who resisted all religious “innovations” and the conflict escalated to prolonged military action. 1641 Rebellion broke out in Ireland. 1642 As the opposition with Parliamentarians exacerbated Charles I summoned his loyal subjects to join him against his enemies in parliament and signalled the start of the English Civil War. 3 1643 The Royalists signed entered into an alliance with the Irish. 1643 The Parliamentarians entered into an alliance with the Scots. 1644 Scottish and Parliamentarian armies destroy Charles I's northern army. 1645 Royalists are crushed by the New Model Army of Parliamentarians at Naseby, Northamptonshire. 1646 Charles I surrenders to the Scots, who handed him over to the Parlamentarians. 1648 From captivity the king signed a secret treaty with Scottish Royalists who started the so called “Second Civil War” but were soon defeated by Oliver Cromwell's Parliamentarian troops. 1649 In the wake of the Second Civil War, Oliver Cromwell and the other senior commanders of the New Model Army decided that England could never be settled in peace while Charles I remained alive. Accordingly, the king was charged with high treason, tried, found guilty and beheaded. Charles faced his trial and death with remarkable dignity. 1651 Charles II was crowned king of Scotland 1651 Oliver Cromwell defeated Charles II at the Battle of Worcester 1653 After the execution of Charles I, the various factions in parliament began to squabble amongst themselves. In frustration, Oliver Cromwell dismissed parliament and summoned a new one. It also failed to deal with the complexity of the problems England was now facing. Cromwell’s self‐appointment as 'Lord Protector' gave him powers akin to a monarch. His continuing popularity with the army propped up his regime. 1658 Oliver Cromwell died and was succeeded by his son, Richard. The Commonwealth of England collapsed into financial chaos and arguments between the military and administration increased. Parliament was once again dissolved and Richard Cromwell was overthrown. 1660 Charles II was restored to the throne. 3 The Age of Reason (Rationalism) Thomas Hobbes: https://youtu.be/9i4jb5XBX5s John Locke https://youtu.be/bZiWZJgJT7I?list=PLwxNMb28XmpeuwUhM0OT338_T5XTtJJok 4 1608 John Milton was born in 1608 in Bread Street near St. Paul's Cathedral. His father, also called John Milton, was a well‐to‐do scrivener as well as composer of church music. Due to the financial prosperity of the family Milton received a first‐ class education: first taught by private tutors at home, then at St. Paul's School. At the age of 17 Milton was admitted to Christ's College, Cambridge. Milton was an excellent student but also a non‐conformist, which led, in 1626, to his suspension from classes. He had to return to London for a year and only then was allowed to return to Cambridge and work under a new tutor towards the completion of his degree. He obtained his M.A. cum laude in 1629 after which he went back home and continued his education on his own. During the following 9 years he studied privately, taught and began writing poetry (L'Allegro, Il Penseroso and Lycidas) and a play (Comus). The next logical step in the education of a young gentleman of means was to embark on a tour of Europe, which Milton did in the spring of 1638. On the Continent he visited the Vatican Library and met with famous scholars, including Galileo Galilei – who by this time was old blind and under house arrest near Florence. 1639 Milton's tour of Europe was cut short by the impending civil war in England. He returned home and began writing pamphlets on political and religious matters. In 1642 he married Mary Powell, who was 17 years younger than him. Besides the age difference her family stood on the other side of the political divide – they were Royalists. Soon enough she returned home while Milton wrote his groundbreaking treatises on the subject of divorce. Later, when things became difficult for Royalists, 5 Mary and her family sought protection and accommodation with the Miltons and they reconciled and had two daughters. In 1649 Milton probably witnessed the public execution of Charles I. Tenure of Kings and Magistrates was published soon after. Within months the Cromwellian government appointed Milton Secretary for Foreign Tongues – a post which involved defending and explaining to the world the ideological motives of the Parliamentarians (Observations on the Articles of Peace, Eikonoklastes (The Image Breaker). 1652 Milton lost his sight and his wife. 1658 Oliver Cromwell died. The days of the Commonwealth were running out. Milton was persecuted for his propagandist writing and some of his books works were publicly burned. Eventually he was arrested and facing execution. 1660 When Charles II was restored to the throne, due to the soliciting of some of his Royalist friends (notably the poet Andrew Marvell), Milton was released. 1663 Milton remarried and worked on his life’s work ‐ the epic Paradise Lost. He composed the verses during the night and his daughters wrote them down in the morning. The poem was published in 1667. 1674 Before his death in 1674 Milton wrote and published The History of Britain, Paradise Regained and Samson Agonistes. He was buried in Poets' Corner at Westminster Abbey. 5 Although Milton is sometimes categorized reductively as Puritan [Short definition: The Puritans were a group of English Reformed Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to "purify" the Church of England from all Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England was only partially reformed.], a quick look on his political works will add more dimensions: From The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce What thing more instituted to the solace and delight of man then marriage, and yet the mis‐interpreting of some Scripture ... hath chang'd the blessing of matrimony not seldome into a familiar and co‐inhabiting mischiefe; at least into a drooping and disconsolate houshold captivity, without refuge or redemption. So ungovern'd and so wild a race doth superstition run us from one extreme of abused liberty into the other of unmercifull restraint. For although God in the first ordaining of marriage, taught us to what end he did it, in words expresly implying the apt and cheerfull conversation of man with woman, to comfort and refresh him against the evil of solitary life ... yet now, if any two be but once handed in the Church, and have tasted in any sort the nuptiall bed, let them finde themselves never so mistak'n in their dispositions through any error, concealment, or misadventure, that through their different tempers, thoughts, and constitutions, they can neither be to one another a remedy against lonelines, nor live in any union or contentment all their dayes, yet they shall, so they be but found suitably weapon'd to the least possibility of sensuall 6 enjoyment, be made, spight of antipathy to fadge together, and combine as they may to their unspeakable wearisomnes and despaire of all sociable delight in the ordinance which God establisht to that very end. 6 From Areopagitica For books are not absolutely dead things, but do contain a potency of life in them to be as active as that soul was whose progeny they are; nay, they do preserve as in a vial the purest efficacy and extraction of that living intellect that bred them.