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The Indian Emperour
''The Indian Emperour, or the Conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards, being the Sequel of The Indian Queen'' is an English Restoration era stage play, a heroic drama written by John Dryden that was first performed in the Spring of 1665. The play has been considered a defining work in the subgenre of heroic drama, in which "rhymed heroic tragedy comes into full being." As its subtitle indicates, the play deals with the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire under Hernán Cortés. The play depicts both Montezuma and Cortés facing personal problems while engaged in their conflict. In an anachronism, Francisco Pizarro is depicted as the play's cruel and oppressive villain. The writer used Sir William Davenant's '' The Cruelty of the Spaniards in Peru'' (1658), and the Spanish accounts of the conquest in '' Purchas his Pilgrimes'' (1625 edition) as his main sources for the depictions of the Spaniards. Performance The premiere production was staged by the King's Company at the Theatre R ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
English Restoration
The Stuart Restoration was the reinstatement in May 1660 of the Stuart monarchy in Kingdom of England, England, Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland, and Kingdom of Ireland, Ireland. It replaced the Commonwealth of England, established in January 1649 after the execution of Charles I, with his son Charles II of England, Charles II. The Commonwealth of England had been governed by Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell and then his son Richard Cromwell. The term is also used to describe the reign of Charles II (1660–1685), and sometimes that of his younger brother King James II, James II (1685–1688). The Protectorate After Richard Cromwell, Lord Protector from 1658 to 1659, ceded power to the Rump Parliament, Charles Fleetwood and John Lambert (general), John Lambert then dominated government for a year. On 20 October 1659, George Monck, the governor of Scotland under the Cromwells, marched south with his army from Scotland to oppose Fleetwood and Lambert. Lambert's a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nicholas Burt
Nicholas Burt (1621 ? — after 1689), or Birt or Burght among other variants, was a prominent English actor of the seventeenth century. In a long career, he was perhaps best known as the first actor to play the role of Othello in the Restoration era. A "Nicholas Bert" was christened on 27 May 1621, in Norwich; the record may refer to the actor, though this is not certain. According to James Wright's '' Historia Histrionica'' ( 1699), Burt began as a boy player with the King's Men, an apprentice of John Shank (died 1636). He was with the celebrated young company Beeston's Boys in the 1638–42 period. As a young actor filling female roles, Burt gained particular notice for playing Clariana in Shirley's '' Love's Cruelty''. After the theatres closed in 1642 at the start of the English Civil War The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mary Knep
Mary Knep (died 1681), also Knepp, Nepp, Knip, or Knipp, was an English actress and one of the first generation of female performers to appear on the public stage during the Restoration era. Acting career Knep was primarily a singer and dancer, but "developed into a first-rate actress". She began her career with the King's Company, which was under the management of Thomas Killigrew. She made her debut in the title role of Jonson's '' Epicene'' on 1 June 1664. Before this, she had been cast as Lucetta in Killigrew's 1664 planned production of his '' Thomaso'', with an all-female cast, but this had been cancelled before completion. Knep played major and minor roles in a range of productions of the 1660s and 1670s, including: * the Widow in Beaumont and Fletcher's '' The Scornful Lady'', 1666 * Guiomar in Fletcher and Massinger's '' The Custom of the Country'', 1667 * Alibech in Dryden's '' The Indian Emperour'', the 1667 revival * Asteria in Dryden's '' The Maiden Queen'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nell Gwyn
Eleanor Gwyn (also spelled Gwynn, Gwynne; 2 February 1650 – 14 November 1687) was an English people, English stage actress and celebrity figure of the Stuart Restoration, Restoration period. Praised by Samuel Pepys for her comic performances as one of the first actresses on the English stage, she became best known for being a longtime royal mistress, mistress of King Charles II of England ( – 6 February 1685). Called "pretty, witty Nell" by Pepys, she has been regarded as a living embodiment of the spirit of Restoration England, and has come to be considered a folk heroine, with a story echoing the rags-to-royalty tale of Cinderella. Gwyn had two sons by King Charles: Charles Beauclerk, 1st Duke of St Albans, Charles Beauclerk (1670–1726) and James Beauclerk (1671–1680). Charles Beauclerk was created Earl of Burford and Duke of St Albans; Murray Beauclerk, 14th Duke of St Albans is her descendant, and the current holder of the title. Early life The details of Gwyn's bac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sir Walter Scott
Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European literature, European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'' (1819), ''Rob Roy (novel), Rob Roy'' (1817), ''Waverley (novel), Waverley'' (1814), ''Old Mortality'' (1816), ''The Heart of Mid-Lothian'' (1818), and ''The Bride of Lammermoor'' (1819), along with the narrative poems ''Marmion (poem), Marmion'' (1808) and ''The Lady of the Lake (poem), The Lady of the Lake'' (1810). He had a major impact on European and American literature, American literature. As an advocate and legal administrator by profession, he combined writing and editing with his daily work as Clerk of Session and Sheriff court, Sheriff-Depute of Selkirkshire. He was prominent in Edinburgh's Tory (political faction), Tory establishment, active in the Royal Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland, Highland Society, long time a p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Saintsbury
George Edward Bateman Saintsbury, FBA (23 October 1845 – 28 January 1933), was an English critic, literary historian, editor, teacher, and wine connoisseur. He is regarded as a highly influential critic of the late 19th and early 20th century. Biography Born in Lottery Hall, Southampton, he was educated at King's College School, London, and at Merton College, Oxford, where he achieved a first class BA degree in Classical Mods, (1865), and a second class in ''literae humaniores'' (1867). He left Oxford in 1868 having failed to obtain a fellowship, and briefly became a master at the Manchester Grammar School, before spending six years in Guernsey as senior classical master of Elizabeth College, where he began his literary career by submitting his first reviews to '' The Academy''. From 1874 until he returned to London in 1876, he was headmaster of the Elgin Educational Institute, with a brief period in 1877 on '' The Manchester Guardian''. From the early 1880s, until 189 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Rehearsal (play)
''The Rehearsal'' was a satire, satirical play aimed specifically at John Dryden and generally at the sententious and overly ambitious theatre of the English Restoration, Restoration tragedy. The play was first staged on 7 December 1671 at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden, Theatre Royal, and published anonymously in 1672, but it is certainly by George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham and others. Several people have been suggested as collaborators, including Samuel "Hudibras" Butler, Samuel Butler of ''Hudibras'' fame, Martin Clifford (writer), Martin Clifford, and Thomas Sprat, a Royal Society founder and later Bishop of Rochester. The play concerns a playwright named Bayes attempting to stage a play. The play he is going to put on is made up almost entirely of excerpts of existing ''heroic dramas''. The name "Bayes" indicates the poet laureate. The previous poet laureate had been William Davenant, and Davenant did stage spectacles and plays with exceptionally bombastic speeche ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Villiers, 2nd Duke Of Buckingham
George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, 19th Baron de Ros (30 January 1628 – 16 April 1687) was an English statesman and poet who exerted considerable political power during the reign of Charles II of England. A Royalist during the English Civil War, in 1651 he joined Charles II's court-in-exile in France. He returned to England in 1657 after a disagreement with the king, but subsequently supported the Stuart Restoration in 1660. Buckingham was imprisoned by Charles on several occasions before rising to be one of his most influential advisors, becoming a key member of the Cabal ministry in 1668. In 1674 he was dismissed and driven into political opposition. He was restored to the king's favour in 1684, but took no major part in public life after the accession of James II a year later. Buckingham had a lifelong interest in science and poetry, and was the author of several satires and plays. Life Early life George was the son of George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Howard (playwright)
Sir Robert Howard (January 1626 – 3 September 1698) was an English playwright and politician. He fought for the Royalist cause in the English Civil War. Life Robert was born the fifth son of Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Berkshire and his wife Lady Elizabeth Cecil, daughter of the 2nd Earl of Exeter. As the 18-year-old son of a Royalist family, he fought at the battle of Cropredy Bridge and was knighted for the bravery he showed there. In the years after the English Civil War his royalist sympathies led to his imprisonment at Windsor Castle in 1658. After the Restoration, he quickly rose to prominence in political life, with several appointments to posts which brought him influence and money. He was Member of Parliament for Stockbridge in the Cavalier Parliament (1661 to 1679) and for Castle Rising (1679 to 1681 and 1689 to 1698), and believed in a balance of parliament and monarchy. All his life he continued in a series of powerful positions; in 1671 he became secretary to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Indian Queen (play)
''The Indian Queen'' is a play by Sir Robert Howard, written in collaboration with John Dryden, his sister's husband. It was first performed in 1664 with incidental music by John Banister the elder (1630–1679). In 1695, the play was expanded with additional music to create a new semi-opera of the same name by the composer Henry Purcell. Background ''The Indian Queen'' is a play co-written by John Dryden and Sir Robert Howard, first produced at the Theatre Royal in London in January 1664. Among its early notable spectators were Samuel Pepys and John Evelyn, while it later provoked literary commentary by Samuel Johnson and Sir Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European literature, European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'' (18 .... Henry Purcell and David Purcell revived ''The Indian Queen'' by rewriting and produci ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Surinam (Dutch Colony)
Surinam (), also unofficially known as Dutch colonisation of the Guianas, Dutch Guiana, was a Dutch plantation economy, plantation colony in the Guianas and the predecessor polity of modern country of Suriname. It was bordered by the fellow Dutch colony of Berbice to the west, and the French colony of French Guiana, Cayenne to the east. It later bordered British Guiana (modern-day Guyana) from 1831 to 1966. History The colonization of Suriname Surinam was a Dutch colony from 26 February 1667, when Dutch forces captured Francis Willoughby, 5th Baron Willoughby of Parham, Francis Willoughby's England, English colony during the Second Anglo-Dutch War, until 15 December 1954, when Surinam became a Suriname (Kingdom of the Netherlands), constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The status quo of Dutch sovereignty over Surinam, and English sovereignty over New Netherland, which it had conquered in 1664, was kept in the Treaty of Breda (1667), Treaty of Breda of 31 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aphra Behn
Aphra Behn (; baptism, bapt. 14 December 1640 – 16 April 1689) was an English playwright, poet, prose writer and translator from the Restoration (England), Restoration era. As one of the first English women to earn her living by her writing, she broke cultural barriers and served as a literary role model for later generations of women authors. Rising from obscurity, she came to the notice of Charles II of England, Charles II, who employed her as a spy in Antwerp. Upon her return to London and a probable brief stay in debtors' prison, she began writing for the stage. She belonged to a coterie of poets and famous libertines such as John Wilmot, Lord Rochester. Behn wrote under the pastoral pseudonym Astraea (mythology), Astrea. During the turbulent political times of the Exclusion Crisis, she wrote an epilogue and prologue that brought her legal trouble; she thereafter devoted most of her writing to prose genres and translations. A staunch supporter of the Stuart line, Beh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
