Ben Jonson, The Irish Masque at Court

Ema Vyroubalova (Trinity College Dublin)

Ed. by William M. Hamlin, Washington State University
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.03: English Writing and Culture: Renaissance (Elizabethan and Jacobean periods) , 1485-1625.
Vol. editors: William M. Hamlin (Washington State University), J A Roe (University of York), Virginia Mason Vaughan (Clark University), Ema Vyroubalova (Trinity College Dublin)

Dates

First circulation or publication Dec 1613

Places

United Kingdom (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Masque

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The Irish Masque at Court

(1613) was staged in front of King James I and Queen Anne in the Great Hall of Whitehall Palace on 29 December 1613 and again on 3 January 1614. The performances were part of entertainments mounted to celebrate the wedding of the king’s favorite, Robert Carr, to Frances Howard. The lack of any explicit references to the marriage in

The Irish Masque

suggests that Jonson may have written the piece before preparations for the wedding had started and intended it simply as part of the annual Christmas festivities at the court. It is, however, possible that he strategically avoided such references because of the scandal surrounding the union between Carr and Howard. Howard had just been through a notorious divorce and rumours about the couple’s implication in a…

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902 words

Citation: Vyroubalova, Ema. "The Irish Masque at Court". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 12 March 2013 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=34914, accessed 21 November 2024.]

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Ben Jonson, The Irish Masque at Court

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