''Love Freed from Ignorance and Folly'' was a Jacobean era

masque The masque was a form of festive courtly entertainment that flourished in 16th- and early 17th-century Europe, though it was developed earlier in Italy, in forms including the intermedio (a public version of the masque was the pageant). A masq ...

, written by

Ben Jonson Benjamin "Ben" Jonson (c. 11 June 1572 – c. 16 August 1637) was an English playwright and poet. Jonson's artistry exerted a lasting influence upon English poetry and stage comedy. He popularised the comedy of humours; he is best known for t ...

and designed by

Inigo Jones Inigo Jones (; 15 July 1573 – 21 June 1652) was the first significant architect in England and Wales in the early modern period, and the first to employ Vitruvian rules of proportion and symmetry in his buildings. As the most notable archit ...

, with music by Alfonso Ferrabosco. It was performed on 3 February 1611 at

Whitehall Palace The Palace of Whitehall (also spelt White Hall) at Westminster was the main residence of the English monarchs from 1530 until 1698, when most of its structures, except notably Inigo Jones's Banqueting House of 1622, were destroyed by fire. H ...

, and published in

1616 Events January–June * January ** Six-year-old António Vieira arrives from Portugal, with his parents, in Bahia (present-day Salvador) in Colonial Brazil, where he will become a diplomat, noted author, leading figure of the Church, an ...

. ''Love Freed from Ignorance and Folly'' proved to be the last masque in which

Anne of Denmark Anne of Denmark (; 12 December 1574 – 2 March 1619) was the wife of King James VI and I; as such, she was Queen of Scotland from their marriage on 20 August 1589 and Queen of England and Ireland from the union of the Scottish and Eng ...

, King

James I James I may refer to: People *James I of Aragon (1208–1276) *James I of Sicily or James II of Aragon (1267–1327) *James I, Count of La Marche (1319–1362), Count of Ponthieu *James I, Count of Urgell (1321–1347) *James I of Cyprus (1334–13 ...

's Queen, performed.

Background

During the previous six years, the English Court of King

had established a pattern of staging a major (and expensive) masque in the Christmas season, often on

Twelfth Night ''Twelfth Night'', or ''What You Will'' is a romantic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written around 1601–1602 as a Twelfth Night's entertainment for the close of the Christmas season. The play centres on the twins Vi ...

. James's queen,

, was a prime mover is these entertainments, and repeatedly performed in them herself, as in the masques of ''Blackness'' ( 1605), ''Beauty'' (

1608 Events January–June *January – In the Colony of Virginia, Powhatan releases Captain John Smith. *January 2 – The first of the Jamestown supply missions returns to the Colony of Virginia with Christopher Newport commanding ...

), and ''Queens'' (

1609 Events January–June * January – The Basque witch trials begin. * January 15 – One of the world's first newspapers, ''Avisa Relation oder Zeitung'', begins publication in Wolfenbüttel (Holy Roman Empire). * January 3 ...

). 1611 saw a divergence from this pattern: the major masque of that season was ''

Oberon, the Faery Prince ''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 ...

,'' which starred Anne's and James's eldest son

Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales (19 February 1594 – 6 November 1612), was the eldest son and heir apparent of James VI and I, King of England and Scotland; and his wife Anne of Denmark. His name derives from his grandfathers: Henry Stua ...

. Anne got a masque of her own a month later, though it was a more modest affair than previous events; while the bills for earlier masques regularly ran into the thousands of pounds, the total for ''Love Freed from Ignorance and Folly'' was only £719. The queen's masque ''Love Freed'' was originally scheduled for December 1610, and then for Twelfth Night, 6 January 1611. It was postponed twice because of delays in the arrival of the French ambassador, the Marshal de Laverdin, in the wake of the assassination of

Henri IV Henry IV (french: Henri IV; 13 December 1553 – 14 May 1610), also known by the epithets Good King Henry or Henry the Great, was King of Navarre (as Henry III) from 1572 and King of France from 1589 to 1610. He was the first monarc ...

. Martin Butler explains a misunderstanding that the performance was delayed a whole year, which was based on a misreading of a letter from the Venetian ambassador.

Marc' Antonio Correr Marc' Antonio Correr (1570-1638) was a Venetian nobleman and ambassador at the Stuart court. He was chosen to replace Zorzi Giustinian as ambassador in London in 1608. His letters give an insight into international politics and court life. In Ma ...

also suggested the delay was caused by problems with the stage machinery.

The show

The masque featured a dozen primary masquers: Anne's ladies in waiting as Daughters of the Morn, with Anne herself as the Queen of the Orient. The anti-masque correspondingly featured twelve Follies or "she-fools." The masque begins with a long conversation between Cupid and a Sphinx; the conceit is that the Sphinx has captured "Love," who must in turn be liberated from this captivity – hence the title. (Cupid's nakedness was simulated with a flesh-colored satin costume.) Cupid is freed by the priests of the

Muse In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Muses ( grc, Μοῦσαι, Moûsai, el, Μούσες, Múses) are the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in ...

s, who clue the god to the correct answers to the Sphinx's riddles (which are "Britain" and "King James"). The Queen and Daughters of the Morn also must be released from the Sphinx's imprisonment. Once they are released they appear in a cloud in the sky above their former prison.

Fees

Both Jonson and Jones received their standard fee of £40 for the masque, though a "dancing master" Nicholas Confesse who taught the ladies their choreography was paid £50, and his assistant Jacques Bochan got £20 for "teaching the ladies the footing of 2 dances". Ferrabosco received £20, and musical assistants

Robert Johnson Robert Leroy Johnson (May 8, 1911August 16, 1938) was an American blues musician and songwriter. His landmark recordings in 1936 and 1937 display a combination of singing, guitar skills, and songwriting talent that has influenced later generati ...

and Thomas Lupo earned £5 for arranging the songs for lutes and violins. The five boys who played the Sphinx, Cupid, and the Graces got £2 apiece, but the twelve actors (male) who played the she-fools got only £1 each.Martin Wiggins &Catherine Teresa Richardson, ''British Drama, 1533-1642: 1609-1616'' (Oxford, 2015), p. 122.

Publication

The text was published in the first folio collection of Jonson's works in 1616, and was reprinted in the

second folio The Second Folio is the 1632 edition of the collected plays of William Shakespeare. It follows the First Folio of 1623. Much language was updated in the Second Folio and there are almost 1,700 changes. The major partners in the First Folio ha ...

of 1640 and in subsequent Jonson collections.

References

External links

''Love Freed from Ignorance and Folly'' online.
{{Ben Jonson Masques by Ben Jonson English Renaissance plays 1610s plays 1611 plays