Effaced History: Facing the Colonial Contexts of Ben Jonson's Irish Masque at Court

Abstract

first husband, the Earl of Essex, that the was complicit in obtaining this politically motivated divorce, and that Ben Jonson had presented a masque, Hymenaei (1607), in celebration of the earlier union, did not, on the surface at least, dampen the revelry. Neither, as one might expect, did Jonson's Irish Masque dwell on the incriminating aspects of the scandal. In fact, the masque's effacement of contemporary Jacobean politics endures as its defining characteristic. Moreover, Jonson's decision fashion his epithalamion for the Somerset wedding around Irish visitors court, suggests the extent which Ireland served as an alternative arena into which Jacobean society could conveniently displace compromising realities.2 Jonson's masque relates how Irish imbashators (206, 1. 11), attending the Somerset wedding as a sign of devotion James, lost their festive dresses while crossing the Irish sea.3 Four uncouth Irish footmen run into court anxious explain the Irish ambassadors' mishap King Yamish, and-after squabbling as who will tell the story, and numerous other digressions and interruptions-dance their anti-masque bagpipe and other rude (210, 11. 121-22). The aristocratic ambassadors come forth, supposedly naked under Irish mantles, and dance to a solemn music of harps (210-11, 11. 125-26).4 Unlike the footmen, who were professional actors from James I's Gentlemen, the King's Servants (206), Jonson's Irish ambassadors, we know, were played by five English and five Scottish Jacobean courtiers.5 This alliance of England and Scotland might appear coincidental, but it reflects precisely the bifurcated nature of James's sovereignty. In addition, it parallels exactly the ethnic make-up of the New English