Chloridia: Rites to Chloris and Her Nymphs was the final masque that Ben Jonson wrote for the Stuart Court. It was performed at "Shrovetide," on Feb. 22, 1631, with costumes, sets and stage effects designed by Inigo Jones. Costume for a Knight, by Inigo Jones: the plumed helmet, the heroic torso in armour and other conventions were still employed for opera seria in the 18th century. ... For other persons of the same name, see Ben Johnson (disambiguation). ... The Coat of Arms of King James I, the first British monarch of the House of Stuart The House of Stuart or Stewart was a royal house of the Kingdom of Scotland, later of the Kingdom of England, and finally of the Kingdom of Great Britain. ... // Events February 5 - Roger Williams emigrates to Boston. ... Inigo Jones, by Sir Anthony van Dyck Inigo Jones (July 15, 1573–June 21, 1652) is regarded as the first significant English architect. ...

Chloridia was the second of a duet of 1631 royal masques, the first being Love's Triumph Through Callipolis, which had been staged six weeks earlier, on Jan. 9. In the first work, King Charles I danced; in the second, Queen Henrietta Maria starred with her ladies in waiting. Both masques dealt with the theme of Platonic love, a concept dear to the Queen's heart. Chloridia depends on rich imagery of nature, greenery, and the seasons, with figures like Zephyrus, Juno, and Iris, along with naiads and personifications of "Poesy, History, Architecture, and Sculpture." The anti-masque features dwarfs and macabre figures emerged from Hell; one of the dancers was the dwarf Jeffrey Hudson, the Queen's page and jester. The masque was as rich in spectacle as Jones's masques normally were: characters appear in clouds (a "bright cloud" and a "purplish cloud") floating in the air. Charles I (19 November 1600 – 30 January 1649) was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. ... Henrietta Maria Henrietta Maria (November 25, 1609 - September 10, 1669) was Queen Consort of England, Scotland and Ireland (June 13, 1625 - January 30, 1649) through her marriage to Charles I. The U.S. state of Maryland (in Latin, Terra Maria) was so named in her honour by Cæcilius Calvert... Platonic love in its modern popular sense is an affectionate relationship into which the sexual element does not enter, especially in cases where one might easily assume otherwise. ... Zephyrus, the Greek god of the west wind and the goddess Chloris, from a 1875 engraving by William-Adolphe Bouguereau In Greek mythology, the Anemoi (in Greek, Άνεμοι — winds) were wind gods who were each ascribed a cardinal direction, from which their respective winds came, and were each associated with various... IVNO REGINA (Queen Juno) on a coin celebrating Julia Soaemias. ... Iris, by Luca Giordano In Greek mythology, Iris is the personification of the rainbow and messenger of the gods. ... A Naiad by John William Waterhouse, 1893. ...

The end of Jonson's career as a masquer for the Court, however, was due not to ill health but to a clash of personalities.^[1] Jonson and Jones had been partners in the creation of masques for the Stuart Court since The Masque of Blackness in 1605; but Jonson had long nourished a resentment against Jones, feeling that the architect took and received too much credit for the success of their joint projects. The poet expressed his resentment with thinly-veiled ridicule of Jones in his works, starting at least as early as Bartholomew Fair in 1614—the character Lanthorn Leatherhead in that play being a mockery of Jones.^[2] Since Jonson arranged for the publication of the texts of his masques, his name always preceded Jones's in these volumes; but when Choridia was published together with Callipolis, in a 1631 quarto issued by the bookseller Thomas Walkley,^[3] Jones's name was omitted entirely. The Masque of Blackness was first performed at the court at Whitehall on Twelfth Night, 1605. ... 1605 was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 10-day slower Julian calendar). ... Bartholomew Fair is a play in five acts by Ben Jonson. ... Events April 5 - In Virginia, Native American Pocahontas marries English colonist John Rolfe. ... The size of a specific book is measured from the head to tail of the spine, and from edge to edge across the covers. ...

This was an insult that the very well-connected Jones was not prepared to swallow; he used his powerful Court connections to ensure that Jonson was never invited to write another masque for the Stuart Court. (Jonson's final two masques, The King's Welcome at Welbeck and Love's Welcome at Bolsover of 1633 and 1634, were written for William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Newcastle.) When Chloridia was reprinted in the second folio collection of Jonson's works in 1641 (four years after Jonson's death), Jones was appropriately credited. Events February 13 - Galileo Galilei arrives in Rome for his trial before the Inquisition. ... Events Moses Amyrauts Traite de la predestination is published Curaçao captured by the Dutch Treaty of Polianovska First meeting of the Académie française The witchcraft affair at Loudun Jean Nicolet lands at Green Bay, Wisconsin Opening of Covent Garden Market in London English establish a settlement... William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Newcastle (1592 - December 25, 1676) was an English soldier, politician and writer. ... The folio collections of Ben Jonsons works published in the seventeenth century were crucial developments in the publication of English literature and English Renaissance drama. ... Events The Long Parliament passes a series of legislation designed to contain Charles Is absolutist tendencies. ...

Notes

1. ^ Leapman, pp. 246-54.
2. ^ See also: A Tale of a Tub; Love's Welcome at Bolsover.
3. ^ The 1631 quarto was dated "1630," since prior to 1751 the English began the New Year of March 25, not Jan. 1. See: Old Style and New Style dates.

A Tale of a Tub is a Caroline era stage play, a comedy written by Ben Jonson. ... Old Style or O.S. is a designation indicating that a date conforms to the Julian calendar, formerly in use in many countries, rather than the Gregorian calendar, currently in use in most countries. ...

References

• Leapman, Michael. Inigo: The Troubled Life of Inigo Jones, Architect of the English Renaissance. London, Headline Book Publishing, 2003.
• Orgel, Stephen, ed. Ben Jonson: Complete Masques. New Haven, Yale University Press, 1969.