''Love's Welcome at Bolsover'' (alternative archaic spelling, ''Balsover'') is the final

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 ...

composed 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 ...

. It was performed on 30 July 1634, three years before the poet's death, and published in

1641 Events January–March * January 4 – The stratovolcano Mount Parker in the Philippines) has a major eruption. * January 18 – Pau Claris proclaims the Catalan Republic. * February 16 – King Charles I of England gi ...

. The masque was not produced by the Stuart Court in one of the royal palaces around London, as many of Jonson's notable early masques were. Rather it was staged by

William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Newcastle William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Newcastle upon Tyne, KG, KB, PC (25 December 1676) was an English courtier and supporter of the arts. He was a renowned horse breeder, as well as being patron of the playwright Ben Jonson, and the intellectual gr ...

(at the time, he was the Earl of Newcastle) at

Bolsover Castle Bolsover Castle is in the town of Bolsover (), in the north-east of the English county of Derbyshire. Built in the early 17th century, the present castle lies on the earthworks and ruins of the 12th-century medieval castle; the first structure of ...

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

, in honor of King

Charles I Charles I may refer to: Kings and emperors * Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings * Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily * Charles I of ...

and Queen

Henrietta Maria Henrietta Maria (french: link=no, Henriette Marie; 25 November 1609 – 10 September 1669) was Queen of England, Scotland, and Ireland from her marriage to King Charles I on 13 June 1625 until Charles was executed on 30 January 1649. She was ...

. Newcastle had put on a Jonson masque for his royal visitors at

Welbeck Welbeck is a village in Nottinghamshire, England, slightly to the south-west of Worksop. The village population is included in the civil parish of Holbeck. Welbeck became a coal-mining centre in 1912 and has a famous stately home, Welbeck Ab ...

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The trad ...

the year before: '' The King's Entertainment at Welbeck,'' performed on 21 May

1633 Events January–March * January 20 – Galileo Galilei, having been summoned to Rome on orders of Pope Urban VIII, leaves for Florence for his journey. His carriage is halted at Ponte a Centino at the border of Tuscany, w ...

. It was such a success that the King requested another on his 1634 royal progress. The Duke spent between £14,000 and £15,000 on staging the Bolsover masque and providing for his royal guests and their attendants, which was more than double the £4,000 to £5,000 he'd spent for the Welbeck entertainment the previous year. (''

The Masque of Beauty ''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 (the predecessor of Inigo Jones' building). It was ...

'', one of Jonson's early Court masques, has cost £4,000 to stage in

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 was considered exorbitantly expensive at the time.) In ''Love's Welcome'', Jonson continued the mockery of Inigo Jones that he'd practiced for two decades, starting ''

Bartholomew Fair The Bartholomew Fair was one of London's pre-eminent summer charter fairs. A charter for the fair was granted to Rahere by Henry I to fund the Priory of St Bartholomew; and from 1133 to 1855 it took place each year on 24 August within the preci ...

'' (

1614 Events January–June * February – King James I of England condemns duels, in his proclamation ''Against Private Challenges and Combats''. * April 5 – Pocahontas is forced into child marriage with English colonist John Rolfe in Ja ...

) and continuing through ''

The Masque of Augurs ''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. A second performance of the masque, with textual revisions by Jonson, occu ...

'' (

1622 Events January–May * January 7 – The Holy Roman Empire and Transylvania sign the Peace of Nikolsburg. * February 8 – King James I of England dissolves the English Parliament. * March 12 – Ignatius of Loy ...

), ''

Neptune's Triumph for the Return of Albion ''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 ge ...

'' (

1624 Events January–March * January 14 – After 90 years of Ottoman occupation, Baghdad is recaptured by the Safavid Empire. * January 22 – Korean General Yi Gwal leads an uprising of 12,000 soldiers against King Injo in ...

), ''

The Staple of News ''The Staple of News'' is an early Caroline era play, a satire by Ben Jonson. The play was first performed in late 1625 by the King's Men at the Blackfriars Theatre, and first published in 1631. Publication ''The Staple of News'' was entered ...

'' (

1626 Events January–March * January 7 – Polish-Swedish War: Battle of Wallhof in Latvia – Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden, defeats a Polish army. * January 9 – Peter Minuit sails from Texel Island for America's Ne ...

), and ''A Tale of a Tub'' (

). In this masque, Jones is "Colonel Iniquo Vitruvius." The masque was staged in what was called the "little castle" at Bolsover, a then-recent (Jacobean) construction. The pillared hall there was furnished with five brilliantly colored paintings on the theme of The Senses; Jonson alludes to the paintings in his text. The show was described by local witnesses as "stupendous," more than adequate to establish Newcastle's reputation as the greatest "prince...in all the northern quarter" of the kingdom.Julie Sanders, "Jonson's Caroline Coteries," in Kozuka and Mulryne, p. 285. Perhaps the most visually striking element in the masque lay in the two Cupids, ''Eros'' (Love) and ''Anteros'' (Love Returned), who descended "from the clouds" bearing fronds of palms. The masque was published in 1641 in the second folio collection of Jonson's works, and was thereafter included in his canon, although it does not appear in Stephen Orgel's "Complete Masques of Ben Jonson". A manuscript text of the masque is also extant, in the collection of Newcastle manuscripts.

Notes

References

* Kozuka, Takashi, and J. R. Mulryne, eds. ''Shakespeare, Marlowe, Jonson: New Directions in Biography.'' London, Ashgate, 2006. * Orgel, Stephen, ed. ''The Complete Masques of Ben Jonson.'' New Haven, Yale University Press, 1969. * Perry, Henry Ten Eck. ''The First Duchess of Newcastle and Her Husband as Figures in Literary History.'' Boston, Ginn and Co., 1918.

External links

Bolsover Castle.

{{Ben Jonson Masques by Ben Jonson English Renaissance plays 1634 plays Bolsover