Court, culture, and politics in Restoration England: Charles II, James II, and the performance of baroque monarchy

This dissertation examines the role of the royal court in the politics of Restoration England. Focusing on the cultural facets of "baroque monarchy", and in particular the significance of opera and court masque in the 1670s and 1680s, it provides an account of the circumstances surrounding the introduction of these works into England in the 1670s, a theoretical discussion of ways of understanding and interpreting them, and three case studies in which interpretive procedures and the larger political and historical context are applied to representative texts.; Part I sheds new light on the role of courtly encomiastic entertainments in the political program of Charles II (1660-85) from the mid-1670s. In response to a series of political and public-relations crises and to long-term developments in attitudes toward religion and political authority, Charles sought to use high culture as a means of pursuing his vision of "baroque monarchy", patterned after the practices of Louis XIV of France. This effort was particularly reflected in the importation of French opera and the reinvention of English court masque beginning in late 1673, and in the public response to these attempts, as contending political interests sought to define and control these forms for their own purposes. At a time when generic choice represented a political statement, attempts to manipulate opera and masque in order to further competing agendas in the debate over royal "absolutism" tell an important part of the story of growing political instability during this period, which led in the late 1670s to the "Exclusion" Crisis, and in the 1680s to the disastrous reign of James II. Moreover, by applying recently-developed methodologies for understanding the political function of literature in early modern society, it is possible to discover ways in which the texts of these masques were designed to comment on contemporary events through the use of covert or oblique meaning.; Part II illustrates the process outlined in Part I, presenting in-depth examinations of three masques from the 1670s and 1680s: John Crowne and Nicholas Staggins's Calisto (1675), John Blow's Venus and Adonis (c. 1682), and Nahum Tate and Henry Purcell's Dido and Aeneas (c. 1687).