England Falls into Civil War

England Falls into Civil War

1642 In England, Charles I* marches in person to Westminster in an attempt to arrest five members of the Parliament he accuses of treason, but his attempt fails and he has to flee with his family to Hampton Court. Things are not looking good so he packs his wife, Henrietta Maria, off with the rest of the family and the crown jewels to Holland to go chat up her relatives and friends on the continent for help, so he can raise an army and fight parliament.

Charles I* sets up his battle standard at Nottingham on August 22, 1641 and the Civil War is up and running. His followers will be called the Cavaliers and the forces of Parliamentarians (or Puritans) are referred to as Roundheads because they wear their hair shorter and don't wear wigs. Cromwell* is in the lead in organizing armies for parliament. He turns out to be a real whiz both at military organization and strategy and his success in battles earn him the nickname "ironsides".

Meanwhile the Puritans put many of their social ideas into practice: all theatres are closed and racing horses outlawed; no sports, selling or games permitted on Sundays; gambling, dicing, Meanwhile the Puritans put many of their social ideas into practice: all theatres are closed and racing horses outlawed; no sports, selling or games permitted on Sundays; gambling, dicing,

1642 - An Act of Parliament closes the theatres in London and suspends all performances for

a period of five years so theatrical activity virtually ceases. The Globe* theatre is torn down and some of the companies sell off their costume wardrobes. Acting companies disperse, some of them following the royal household into exile in France, or touring on the continent, others remaining to attempt surreptitious performances in the Cockpit* and the Red Bull.

Many other actorss simply turn to other trades. Other theatre buildings are torn down or stand idle. The public will be without a public theatre for 18 years and will be very difficult to attract them back when theatres open again. The broad-based Renaissance audience is lost forever. The actors who go to France will bring back many things they find in French theatre.

1642 Richelieu* dies this year and is replaced as prime minister by his protege, Cardinal Giulio Mazarin* (1602-1661). This naturalized Sicilian will continue the policies of his mentor.

1643 Louis XIII* dies and the throne goes to his son Louis XIV* (born 1638, he reigns 1643- 1715.) Since he is only five at this time the regent is his mother, but Cardinal Mazarin* wields the power. He will come to be called the Sun King*.

1645 - Calderon* comes out with a play, The Great Theatre of the World*, that will influence nineteenth century Romantic playwrights. In this religious allegory God is a playwright.

1645- In the English Civil War Cromwell* works out a surrender of the king's 46 forces and heads the army's council of war to negotiate with the king. There is a momentary lull in the war at this point.

1645 - Cardinal Mazarin* picks up where his predecessor left off in the entertainment area, only he wants snazzier court productions. He introduces opera to France. A visiting commedia dell'arte troupe begs the Queen to bring in set designer Giacomo Torelli to make their productions as appealing as the opera. She does and Torelli comes and introduces the Italian ideal in scene design to France.

This year Moliere* gets out of debtor's prison, joins some of his former actors and begins to act in the provinces. This formative stage of his career will last until 1658 [see below.]

1645-1659 Ballet regains popularity. Not the formal dance as we know it, but stories explained by a spoken libretto and pantomimed by performers in movements based upon ballroom dances. Louis XIV* often dances in them, especially The Ballet of The Night, in which he appears as the Sun.

1646 - The public theatres are closed in Spain this year and will remain so through 1651. This contributes to the decline of Spanish drama. The Spanish court, however, still wants entertainment so their productions don't stop.

1647 Back in war torn England, Cromwell*'s having problems with parliament and the king slips away to the Isle of Wight while trying to make a deal with the Scots for help. Cromwell* 1647 Back in war torn England, Cromwell*'s having problems with parliament and the king slips away to the Isle of Wight while trying to make a deal with the Scots for help. Cromwell*

1647 - In Spain, with the public theatres closed, Calderon* turns to writing a greater number of religious autos*. He will write two every year until his death in 1681. All the autos* presented in Madrid during this time (from 1641 through 1681) are his new works.

In England the law forbidding performances expires and some open performances resume. This won't last long.

1648 The English Civil War is on again and Cromwell* persuades parliament to embark on a government without a king. There is religious contention as well since Cromwell* and his armies belong to churches which are "independent" and this causes the Catholics, Episcopalians and Presbyterians to get together and support the Royalist cause. The internal factional bickering in parliament is growing and when Cromwell* is off defeating the last of the Cavalier armies parliament makes a separate deal with Charles I*. This doesn't go down well with Cromwell's faction and since the army is with him there is a purge in parliament. The upshot is a trial of the king and the framing of a new constitution called the Agreement of the People.

The Thirty Years War* (that religious fracas in Germany involving the Swedes, French, Spanish and disparate parts of the Hapsburgs' Holy Roman Empire) ends with the Peace of Westphalia (except the Spanish and French who will keep fighting until 1659.) This is the first great all-European peace treaty and gives Sweden and France a good deal. The Hapsburgs are on the short end of the stick and Germany is left a devastated and disorganized mess. The whole thing raises doubts as to whether religious war is worth the effort. This leads to increasing religious tolerance in central Europe.

1648 In France there is also war. The French civil war (of the Fronde- 1648-53) and the continuing war with Spain, cause a decline in 1652 theatrical writing. The civil war involves the French nobles trying to regain rights taken from them by Richelieu. Richelieu's successor, Cardinal Mazarin*, rules France for the child-king Louis XIV*. He is busy creating the role of Sun King* for Louis XIV* and he solves this rebellion by forcing all nobles of high rank to live at court where they can be watched for subversive tendencies.

1649 In England Charles I* is condemned by act of parliament and beheaded. Boy, does this send shock waves through the crowned heads of Europe. It also plants the seeds for the next century's revolutions. However, it does not bring an end to the fighting. Cromwell* is sent off to Ireland to bring peace and protestant rule. He copes well with the various protestant factions but really plays havoc with the Catholics and they, together with defeated Cavalier forces, emigrate to America, (especially to Virginia). This particular influx into Virginia raises the character and prosperity there by providing a balance to the earlier poor settlers.

1649 - In England Parliament passes a new law ordering all actors be apprehended as rogues and the interiors of the Fortune*, Salisbury Court* and the Cockpit* are dismantled. This doesn't defeat the few hardy actors remaining, who continue to perform illegally at the one remaining theatre, the Red Bull*. When that proves too dangerous they perform in private houses, tennis courts and inns, bribing officials to look the other way. The main fare seems to

be short farcical plays called drolls* which are sort of condensations of longer works.

The first of several important works on theatrical practice comes out of the Jesuit schools in Germany. This one is Treatise on Perspective* by Dubreuil.

1650 - Back in England the actors seem to feel the future will be better and one William Beeston* (1606-1682) buys the Salisbury Court*, rebuilds it and begins training a company of boys. Another man, John Rhodes*, also organizes a boys company.

1650 In Russia by the 1650's the peasants have become serfs* (a sort of slave, except they can't be freed or buy their way out) and are legally bound forever to the estates they serve.

In India in the 1650's the Mongol ruler (Aurangzeb) reverses the religious tolerance introduced by Akbar* and sets the empire on a decline. As the Mongols lose their grip the Europeans move in to open up trade and run things themselves.

In England the fighting continues as the English heir, Prince Charles, (later Charles II*) lands in Scotland (after all, he is a Scots' Stuart and they proclaim him king) and leads his army south into England.

1651 - In Spain, after a series of personal disasters, Calderon* becomes a priest. He continues to write autos* until the end of his life but no more secular Spanish plays.

The Spanish theatres are reopened this year 1651 Prince Charles is defeated in Scotland in December and the Royalist part of the Civil

War is effectively over. As a result there is a large emigration of Scots off to America. This is supplemented by forced transportation of criminals, part of them political, to Virginia, Maryland and South Carolina. The colonies are growing by the thousands. Virginia alone will show an increase of 25,000 by the end of this Civil War period. Meanwhile Cromwell* is having his problems with the other factions in parliament over constitutional reform and toleration.

1652 - In Austria there is rising interest in the French and Italian theatre stuff. Now that the Thirty Years War is over the courts are trying to be as much like the French as they can. The emperor imports an Italian (Ludovico Burnacini*) from Venice to put on court entertainments.

1653 Cromwell* is losing his argument with parliament and forcibly dissolves the Long Parliament. From here on he is the only real central authority in the realm. He puts together a new and more intimidated parliament (remember he has the army behind him) and they resign their powers to him. In December he becomes "lord protector" under a new constitution. He legally unites Scotland, Ireland and England, reorganizes the church, improves administration of justice, promotes trade and tries to enforce a reformation in manners.

1654 - In Munich (Germany) they open a court theatre and import Francesco Santurini*, Italy's most outstanding designer, to put on lavish spectacles.

1655 In the Americas Anglo-Spanish hostilities grow and spread to Europe. 1656 - Back in France the French drama begins to recover from that modest civil war.

Thomas Corneille*, younger brother of Pierre Corneille stages Timocrate. He is the author of Thomas Corneille*, younger brother of Pierre Corneille stages Timocrate. He is the author of

In England, Sir William Davenant*, an actor who has ridden out the Puritan Interregnum*, gets permission to put on two musical plays, The First Day's Entertainment at Rutland House, and The Siege of Rhodes*. These are done at a private house (his home), Rutland House, so they certainly don't count as public theatre events. But, it's a start. These are referred to as England's first operatic attempts but they are more like the later operettas. The second production is more famous than the first because it is the first real use in England of the Italinate scenery for a public (rather than a court) performance.

This business of getting a performance past the restrictions of monopolies, censorship and religious intolerance by having music as part of it will provide some interesting experiments in the future of England and France.

Spain has always had songs and dance so it doesn't matter there.