Thomas Campion and the web of patronage
Date
1997
Authors
Husoy, Lance Arthur
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
The political being, Dr. Thomas Campion, composer of court masques, was created and destroyed within the system of government by patronage that defined the politics of Jacobean England, his fate determined by the logic of events this system dictated. Campion entered the patronage web with the help of musician friends (John Dowland, Philip Rosseter, Giovanni Coprario, et al). Reflecting the concerns of his patronage group (the alliance of Robert Cecil, Earl of Salisbury, and Henry Howard, Earl of Northampton - including Sir Thomas Monson; Sir William Monson; Thomas Howard, Earl of Suffolk; Francis Clifford, Earl of Cumberland; Robert Carr, Earl of Somerset; et al), Campion's works (Lord Hay's Masque, The Caversham Entertainment, The Somerset Masque, the Brougham Castle entertainment, and De Puluerea Coniuratione, etc.) are a form of social history, and a literacy in social/political topicality is necessary to apĀpreciate meanings particular to the speech community they were intended for.