47-508: The Castalian Band is a modern name given to a grouping of Scottish Jacobean poets, or makars , which is said to have flourished between the 1580s and early 1590s in the court of James VI and consciously modelled on the French example of the Pléiade . Its name is derived from the classical term Castalian Spring , a symbol for poetic inspiration. The name has often been claimed as that which
94-407: A crash program of selling off royal demesnes , Lord Treasurer Robert Cecil reduced the debt to £300,000 and the annual deficit to £46,000 by 1610—but could not follow the same method of relief much farther. The result was a series of tense and often failed negotiations with Parliament for financial supports, a situation that deteriorated over the reigns of James and his son and heir Charles I until
141-497: A long allegory called The Cherry and the Slae , some devotional poems, and a large number of personal court lyrics sometimes modelled on poets such as Ronsard . Sonnets on various themes include an autobiographical sequence that deftly charts frustration with "the law's delay ". Even when Montgomerie came to be politically excluded from the court sometime in the mid-1590s as a result of his Catholic sympathies, he appears to have retained
188-604: A major war at the last minute, and keeping Britain in peace. Frederick and Elizabeth's election as King and Queen of Bohemia in 1619, and the conflict that resulted, marked the beginning of the disastrous Thirty Years' War . King James' determination to avoid involvement in the continental conflict, even during the "war fever" of 1623, appears in retrospect as one of the most significant, and most positive, aspects of his reign. In literature, some of Shakespeare 's most prominent plays, including King Lear (1605), Macbeth (1606), and The Tempest (1610), were written during
235-401: A new level of development. Bacon laid a foundation, and was a powerful and persuasive advocate for modern objective inquiry, predicated upon empiricism as a lens to study the natural world. This school of thought was in stark contrast to the dominating scientific philosophy of the time: Medieval scholastic authoritarianism. On practical rather than general levels, much work was being done in
282-882: A tool for their own goal of achieving destruction of the other side. The Catholics in Spain, as well as the Emperor Ferdinand II , the Vienna-based leader of the Habsburgs who controlled the Holy Roman Empire, were both heavily influenced by the Catholic Counter-Reformation. They had the goal of expelling Protestantism from their domains. Lord Buckingham , who wielded increasing influence at court, wanted an alliance with Spain . Buckingham took Charles with him to Spain to woo
329-492: Is evident from his 1585 prose treatise, the Reulis and Cautelis ( Rules and Cautions ), a treatise on Scots prosody written when he was 19. Casting himself, accurately, as an apprentice in the art of poetry, his intent was to describe the tradition and set general aesthetic and linguistic standards for Scots poetic composition. As he was well aware, his own ancestor, James I , was a principal figure in that tradition. Some of
376-648: The Caroline era . The term "Jacobean" is often used for the distinctive styles of Jacobean architecture , visual arts, decorative arts, and literature which characterized that period. The word "Jacobean" is derived from Neo-Latin Jacobaeus from Jacobus , the Ecclesiastical Latin form of the English name James . The practical if not formal unification of England and Scotland under one ruler
423-539: The Great Fire of London ). Significant Jacobean buildings include Hatfield House , Bolsover Castle , Aston Hall , and Charlton House . Many churches contain fine monuments in Jacobean style, with characteristic motifs including strapwork, and polychromy. The mason and sculptor Nicholas Stone produced many effigies for tombs as well as architectural stonework. In the domain of customs, manners, and everyday life,
470-621: The King James Bible . In 1617 George Chapman completed his monumental translation of Homer 's Iliad and Odyssey into English verse, which were the first ever complete translations of either poem, both central to the Western Canon , into the English language. The wildly popular tale of the Trojan War had until then been available to readers of English only in medieval epic retellings such as Caxton 's Recuyell of
517-667: The sonnet sequence The Tarantula of Love , made translations from Petrarch , while John Stewart produced an abridged translation of Ariosto 's Orlando Furioso . Many Scots translations predated first translations of the same works in England . Chief among the circle was arguably the soldier, courtier and makar Alexander Montgomerie . He had achieved celebrity after victory over Patrick Hume in The Flyting Betwixt Montgomerie and Polwart (c.1583). His many works include public poems such as The Navigatioun ,
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#1732773182277564-523: The Elder (died 1619), William Larkin ( fl. 1609–19), and Sir Nathaniel Bacon (1585–1627). Some would also claim, as part of this trend, Cornelius Johnson, or Cornelis Janssens van Ceulen (1593–1661), born and trained in London and active through the first two Stuart reigns. The decorative arts – furniture, for example – became increasingly rich in color, detail, and design. Materials from other parts of
611-546: The English throne also gave his publisher, Robert Waldegrave , permission to anglicise his Scots manuscripts when going to press for consumption in England. Jacobean era The Jacobean era was the period in English and Scottish history that coincides with the reign of James VI of Scotland who also inherited the crown of England in 1603 as James I. The Jacobean era succeeds the Elizabethan era and precedes
658-688: The German princes were banding together in the Union of German Protestant Princes, headquartered in Heidelberg, the capital of the Palatine. King James calculated that his daughter's marriage would give him diplomatic leverage among the Protestants. He thus would have a foot in both camps and be able to broker peaceful settlements. In his naïveté, he did not realize that both sides were playing him as
705-529: The Habsburg Emperor ousted the new king and queen of Bohemia and massacred their followers. Catholic Bavaria then invaded the Palatine, and James's son-in-law begged for James's military intervention. James finally realized his policies had backfired and refused these pleas. He successfully kept Britain out of the Europe-wide war that proved so devastating for three decades. James's backup plan
752-515: The Historyes of Troye . Jonson was also an important innovator in the specialised literary subgenre of the masque , which went through an intense development in the Jacobean era. His name is linked with that of Inigo Jones as co-developers of the literary and visual/technical aspects of this hybrid art. (For Jonson's masques , see: The Masque of Blackness , The Masque of Queens , etc.) The high costs of these spectacles, however, positioned
799-399: The Jacobean era saw a distinctly religious tone. Virginia tobacco became popular. James I published his A Counterblaste to Tobacco in 1604, but the book had no discernible effect; by 1612, London had 7,000 tobacconists and smoking houses. The Virginia colony survived because the English acquired the nicotine habit. Thomas Hudson (poet) Thomas Hudson , (died in or before 1605)
846-461: The Jacobean era, as was true of the Tudor and Stuart periods in general. Paul van Somer and Daniel Mytens were the most prominent portrait painters during the reign of James, as Anthony van Dyck would be under the coming reign of his son. Yet the slow development of a native school of painting, which had made progress in the previous reign, continued under James, producing figures like Robert Peake
893-614: The King in his metrical translations of the Psalms of David . Although there is no direct record of Scottish court drama in the late 16th century, one verse play in Scots does intriguingly survive from the period, an eminently performable comedy of love, Philotus , which is known today only from an anonymous edition published in London in 1603. Its well-developed structure and language as theatre may suggest that our picture of literary activity in
940-494: The King used to refer to the group, as in lines from one of his own poems, an epitaph on his friend Alexander Montgomerie: Quhat drowsie sleepe doth syle your eyes allace Ye sacred brethren of Castalian band The notion of the 'Castalian band' in 20th-century scholarship derives in the main from a 1969 book by Helena Mennie Shire. It was H. Mennie Shire and her collaborator Kenneth Elliot – who had produced The Music of Scotland (Cambridge 1964) – who drew particular attention to
987-780: The Scottish Protestant church concluded in 1560, and it may have seemed desirable to offer a more positive image for the later 16th century. Whether or not there ever was such a Court grouping as the Castalian Band, it seems likely that there were cultivated circles of educated gentlemen in Scotland at the time. The King wrote a detailed treatise intended to establish a standard of practice in Scots poetry – his Reulis and Cautelis – and there may well have been gatherings of poets at James' court. The activities of some of
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#17327731822771034-707: The Scottish court of James is not complete. The exact identity of the dramatist is open to speculation. Scottish Jacobean writers have largely been overshadowed by the contemporaneous literary scene in London in the age of Shakespeare . Their appreciation also has been coloured by the debatable historical view that their work marked a decline and end to the tradition of the makars . The modernist Scots poet Hugh MacDiarmid , one of their detractors, dismissed their legacy in his terms as royalist and episcopalian and described their work as "circumscribed in outlook". More recent critics and scholars have attempted to demonstrate
1081-679: The Stuarts far from the relative frugality of Elizabeth's reign, and alienated the middle classes and the Puritans with a prospect of waste and self-indulgent excess. Francis Bacon had a strong influence in the evolution of modern science, which was entering a key phase in this era, as the work of Johannes Kepler in Germany and Galileo Galilei in Italy brought the Copernican revolution to
1128-766: The United States of America. In 1609 the Parliament of Scotland began the Plantation of Ulster . A notable event of James' reign occurred on 5 November 1605. On that date, a group of English Catholics (including Guy Fawkes ) attempted to assassinate the King and destroy Parliament in the Palace of Westminster . However, the Gunpowder Plot was exposed and prevented, and the convicted plotters were hanged, drawn, and quartered . Historians have long debated
1175-455: The affection of the King. The court also attracted figures from furth of Scotland. The brothers Thomas and Robert Hudson from the North of England , were appointed as by James not only as poets but as court musicians helping to lead the musical "revival" he regarded as going hand-in-hand with his literary programme. Thomas produced translations as well as original work. Under James' patronage he
1222-545: The areas of navigation, cartography, and surveying—John Widdowes' A Description of the World (1621) being one significant volume in this area—as well as in continuing William Gilbert 's work on magnetism from the previous reign. Scholarship and the sciences, or "natural philosophy", had important royal patrons in this era—not so much in the King but in his son, Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales , and even his wife, Anne of Denmark . The fine arts were dominated by foreign talent in
1269-511: The crisis of the English Civil War . The Jacobean era ended with a severe economic depression in 1620–1626, complicated by a serious outbreak of bubonic plague in London in 1625. King James I was sincerely devoted to peace, not just for his three kingdoms but for Europe as a whole. He called himself "Rex Pacificus" ("King of Peace"). Europe was deeply polarized, and on the verge of the massive Thirty Years' War (1618–1648), with
1316-407: The curious characteristics of the king's ruling style. Croft says: Political events and developments of the Jacobean era cannot be understood separately from the economic and financial situation. James was deeply in debt in Scotland, and after 1603 he inherited an English debt of £350,000 from Elizabeth. By 1608 the English debt had risen to £1,400,000 and was increasing by £140,000 annually. Through
1363-457: The household on 10 March 1568 as "Mekill [Big] Thomas Hudson, Robert Hudson, James Hudson, William Hudson", with their servant William Fowlartoun. An inventory of Stirling Castle made in 1584 mentions a "violer's chamber beside the great hall", used as the musicians lodging when the court was at the castle. A "dancing house" at Holyrood Palace was roofed in September 1579. William Hudson
1410-421: The injustice of such prejudicial factors and seek a more favourable appreciation of their work. The full range of their prolific output has never properly been represented in modern publication and much in their writing, situated in a continuous tradition from the period of earlier writers such as Dunbar , prefigures the metaphysical poets in England. Not only are the 'Castalians' of interest in their own right as
1457-420: The last court poets in a purely Scottish context, but at their best, and especially when their language is correctly appraised, their proficient use of sometimes highly mannered verse forms to express complex ideas and personal emotion can stand with later popular works of figures such as Donne , Herrick and Marvell . King James VI's conscious desire to determine continuity in the Scottish literary tradition
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1504-471: The literary scholar Priscilla Bawcutt examined the claims closely, and – in the opinion of most modern authorities – demolished them. However, the persistence of the idea of the Castalian Band has its own interest – as Bawcutt noted, suggesting that it is grounded in a desire to identify a strong Scottish Renaissance culture. Poetry, and more especially song, had suffered as a result of the Reformation of
1551-419: The poets recognized to be working in Scotland at the time are known to a limited extent. The principal literary figure to be directly associated with the court was Alexander Montgomerie . Music may also played an important part in performances; some of the poems of Montgomerie and others are known to have been set as song . The circle of poets with known connections to the Scottish court include: Membership
1598-664: The princess, the Infanta Maria Anna . However, Spain's terms were that James must drop Britain's anti-Catholic intolerance. Buckingham and Charles were humiliated. Buckingham subsequently became the leader of the widespread British demand for a war against Spain. Meanwhile, the Protestant princes looked to Britain, since it was the strongest of all the Protestant countries, to give military support for their cause. His son-in-law and daughter became king and queen of Bohemia, which outraged Vienna. The Thirty Years' War began as
1645-468: The prints of Hans Vredeman de Vries , were employed on buildings and furniture. European influences include France, Flanders, and Italy. Inigo Jones may be the most famous English architect of this period, with lasting contributions to classical public building style; his works include the Banqueting House in the Palace of Whitehall and the portico of Old St Paul's Cathedral (destroyed in
1692-464: The reign of James I. Patronage came not just from James, but from James' wife Anne of Denmark . Also during this period were powerful works by John Webster , Thomas Middleton , John Ford and Ben Jonson . Ben Jonson also contributed to some of the era's best poetry, together with the Cavalier poets and John Donne . In prose , the most representative works are found in those of Francis Bacon and
1739-515: The smaller established Protestant states facing the aggression of the larger Catholic empires. In 1604, James made peace with Catholic Spain , and made it his policy to marry his daughter to the Spanish prince. The marriage of James' daughter Princess Elizabeth to Frederick V, Elector Palatine at Whitehall 14 February 1613 was more than the social event of the era; the couple's union had important political and military implications. Across Europe,
1786-510: The specific tenets of the royal treatise were not always observed by the Castalians, but its focus on language was a defining aspect for the group. James wrote elsewhere that it "best became a king" to "make famous his own tongue", and the Reulis and Cautelis seems principally designed to serve that aspiration. Yet James at the same time conscious of his increasingly likely future accession to
1833-716: The torchlit entrance at Holyrood Palace of a narrator and his companions, a "Turk, the More, and the Egyptien". The musicians were bought "mask claithis" comprising red and yellow taffeta with swords and daggers. Montgomerie's prologue alludes to the Magi and Epiphany to flatter James VI as the Northern Star . James was also characterised as Solomon . The masque was followed by dancing. In 1584 Thomas Hudson translated Judith by Guillaume de Salluste Du Bartas , an account of
1880-409: The verse lines by James, remarking that "It has been well suggested that King James' name for his poets at court, or their name for themselves, was 'the brethren of Castalian band.'" However, apart from this verse, no scholar has produced any clear evidence for any such self-aware grouping. Nevertheless, other writers (and numerous websites) have seized on the concept. In a celebrated article from 2001,
1927-618: The world, like mother-of-pearl, were now available by worldwide trade and were used as decoration. Even familiar materials, such as wood and silver, were worked more deeply in intricate and intensely three-dimensional designs. The goldsmith George Heriot made jewellery for Anne of Denmark . Architecture in the Jacobean era was a continuation of the Elizabethan style with increasing emphasis on classical elements like columns and obelisks. Architectural detail and decorative strapwork patterns derived from continental engravings, especially
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1974-604: Was a musician and poet from the north of England present at the Scottish court of King James VI at the end of the 16th century. Both he and his brother Robert Hudson were members of the Castalian Band , a group of court poets and musicians headed by the King in the 1580s and 1590s. The Hudson brothers came to Scotland in the retinue of Lord Darnley . They joined the household of the infant James VI of Scotland at Stirling Castle as viola players and were listed in
2021-559: Was an important shift of order for both nations, and would shape their existence to the present day. Another development of crucial significance was the foundation of the first British colonies on the North American continent; Jamestown, Virginia in 1607, Newfoundland in 1610, and Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts in 1620, which laid the foundation for future British settlement and the eventual formation of both Canada and
2068-545: Was another translator of du Bartas. Names on the fringes of court literary circles include: Alexander and Ayton later represented a more anglicised stream of Scottish writing. They came to prominence more properly after the Union of the Crowns . Ayton was one of the first Scottish poets to have written explicitly in English, while Alexander wrote rhymed tragedies in a genre sometimes referred to as closet drama and assisted
2115-652: Was paid to teach the king to dance in 1580 and was called the "master balladin". T His mother, Mary, Queen of Scots , had been taught dancing by a balladin , Jehan Paulle, in France in 1551. William Hudson received a New Year's Day gift of £200 Scots in January 1584. The "violeris" were bought costumes in December 1579 for a court masque, apparently the Navigatioun written by Alexander Montgomerie . It involved
2162-682: Was supposedly fluid and some figures, such as Montgomerie, were already established poets. French influences were particularly important for the King. James himself made translations of work by the Gascon soldier-poet du Bartas , and du Bartas in return translated James's own Lepanto . Du Bartas himself visited the Scottish Court on a diplomatic mission in 1587 during which time James unsuccessfully attempted to persuade him to stay. Other 'Castalian' makars produced translation as well as original works. William Fowler, whose original poetry includes
2209-591: Was to marry his son Charles to a French Catholic princess, who would bring a handsome dowry. Parliament and the British people were strongly opposed to any Catholic marriage, were demanding immediate war with Spain, and strongly favored with the Protestant cause in Europe. James had alienated both elite and popular opinion in Britain, and Parliament was cutting its financing. Historians credit James for pulling back from
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