!) Censorship Flashcards by Henry Yates

The monopoly of the stationers company was granted incrementally by statute between which dates?

1515-1534

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In which year did a Royal Charter give the Stationers Company powers of search and seizure?

1557

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Which two episcopal positions had authority within the Court of High Commission?

Archbishop of Canterbury, Bishop of London

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In which year did the High Commission take on responsibility for pre-publication censorship?

1559

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In which year did a Star Chamber edict expand the powers of the High Commission?

1586

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In which year did John WhitgiftandRichard Bancroft ban English history plays and ‘bitinge satyres’?

1599

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What was prohibited by the Bishops Ban (1599)?

English history plays and ‘bitinge satyres’

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How many published works went unregistered between 1550 and 1640?

35%

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Between which years were 35% of published works unregistered?

1550-1640

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During Elizabeth’s reign (1558-1603) the proportion of published works registered never rose above what level?

50%

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During which monarch’s reign did the proportion of publications registered never rise above 50%

Elizabeth I (1558-1603)

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Which play was forced by Henry Herbert, Master of the Revels, to change setting from 16th century Iberia to Ancient Carthage?

Philip Massinger, Believe as you List (1631)

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Which play, brutally satirising the Anglo-Spanish war was approved with no complaints (even as similar plays were being censored)?

Thomas Heywood, Fair Maid of the West (1631)

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Which collaborative play was censored at the insistence of Edmund Tilney, Master of the Revels, for its portrayal of 1517 xenophobic riots?

Anthony Munday&Henry Chettle, Sir Thomas More (c.1593)

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In which play were images of popular rebellion approved without complaint (even as other plays had theirs censored)?

George Peele(?), Life and Death of Jack Straw (1593)

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Which play caused the Privy Council to close the theatres over Summer 1597?

Ben Jonson & Thomas Nashe, Isle of Dogs (1597)

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What happened following the closure of theatres in Summer 1597?

theatres soon reopened, Lord Admiral’s Company given Privy Council privileges six months later (one of two companies)

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Which theatre company provoked the closure of theatres over Summer 1597?

Lord Admiral’s Men

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Which theatre company performed Richard II for Essex the night before his uprising (8 Feb 1601)?

Lord Chamberlain’s Men

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What happened to the Lord Chamberlain’s Men following the Essex rebellion (8 Feb 1601)?

Augustine Phillips is questioned (provides a purely economic excuse), performing for the Queen by 24 Feb (night before Essex’s execution)

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Which play led to its author being questioned over supposed similarities with the Essex rebellion?

Samuel David, Philotas (1605)

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What unconvincing excuse did Samuel David provide for similarities between his play Philotas (1605) and the Essex rebellion (1601)?

That he had written the play before the rebellion

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Why did Shakespeare change the name of John Oldcastle to John Falstaff in Henry IV pt 1 (c.1597)?

John Oldcastle was the ancestor of William Brooke (the new Lord Chamberlain)

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In which play did Shakespeare change the name of a character to avoid impuning the ancestor of William Brooke, the new Lord Chamberlain?

Henry IV pt.1 (c.1597); John Oldcastle changed to John Falstaff

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Which play by Ben Jonson caused the Earl of Northampton (himself a Catholic) to engineer his arrest (in 1604) on charges of 'popery and treason'?

Sejanus (1603)

Who engineered the arrest of Ben Jonson in 1604, believing that he was being satirised in Sejanus (1603)?

Earl of Northampton

Which play by Ben Jonson led Sir James Murray (Scottish Courtier of James I) to engineer his arrest (Aug 1605-Nov 1605)?

Eastward Ho! (1605)

Which Scottish Courtier engineered Ben Jonson's arrest (Aug 1605-Nov 1605) after being satirised in Eastward Ho! (1605)?

Sir James Murray

Which anti-Spanish play was shut down after complaints from the Count of Gondomar?

Thomas Middleton, A Game at Chess (1624)

Who had his right hand amputated and was imprisoned for 18 months after publishing The Gaping Gulf (1579)?

John Stubbs

What did the authorities take exception to in John Stubbs, The Gaping Gulf (1579)?

description of proposed marriage to Francis Duke of Anjou as 'an immoral union... forbidden in the law'

Which three authors had their ears amputated in 1637 for writing against William Laud's religious policy?

Henry Burton, John Bastwick, William Prynne

'whose tongue was...

for his trespasse vyle/Nayld to a post' (V.ix.26)

Which sonnet references the punishment of Henry Burton, John Bastwick and William Prynne (1637) with the line 'baulk your ears'?

John Milton, On the New Forcers of Conscience (1646)

Which work decried 'word-peckers, paper-rats [and] book scorpions'?

Andrew Marvell, To Richard Lovelace (1649)

Andrew Marvell, To Richard Lovelace (1649) decried censors as what?

'word-peckers, paper-rats [and] book scorpions'

Which drama, a thinly veiled satire of European geo-politics, asked 'What Pen dares be so bold in this strict age?' in its prologue?

Wentworth Smith, The Hector of Germany (1613)

Wentworth Smith, The Hector of Germany (1613) asked what in its prologue?

'What Pen dares be so bold in this strict age?'

Which character in Ben Jonson, Poetaster (1601) is used to mock the censor?

Asinius Lupus, the Tribune

In which poem did Jonson consider himself 'safe from the wolf's black jaw'?

Ben Jonson, Ode to Himself (1629)

Ben Jonson, Ode to Himself (1629) claimed that Jonson was what?

'safe from the wolf's black jaw'

What remedy did John Milton, Aeropagitica (1644) proscribe for books that were 'mischievous and libellous'?

'the fire and the executioner'

John Milton, Aeropagitica (1644) proscribed 'the fire and the executioner' to remedy what?

books that were 'mischevious and libellous'

What did William Walwyn, The Compassionate Samaritan (1644) argue was wrong about censorship?

that it was being used on 'conscientious well minded people'

Which work, by William Prynne, gave a full throated endorsement of the supression of religious texts by the civil magistrate?

William Prynne, The Sword of Christian Magistracy (1653)

Why did Shakespeare (Hand D) edit Anthony Munday & Henry Chettle, Sir Thomas More (c.1593)?

Alter the play to meet the requirements of Edmund Tilney, Master of the Revels

Which Parliamentary newsbook was censored by John Milton from 1649 onward?

Mercurius Politicus

Which work by Philip Sidney made essentially the same arguments as John Stubbs?

Philip Sidney, A Letter to Queen Elizabeth (1580)

Why did Philip Sidney not get punished, like John Stubbs, for writing A Letter to Queen Elizabeth (1580)?

The letter was not published

Which two authors wrote about tyranny under Henry VIII but never published any work in their lifetimes?

Earl of Surrey, Thomas Wyatt

What was interesting about the trials of Thomas Wyatt and the Earl of Surrey for treason (both executed)?

Their anti-tyrannical literary works were never used as evidence

In which Skelton poem does an every man character claim the people were 'yoke[d]/With sommons and citacyons' by the bishops?

John Skelton, Collyn Cloute (1521)

What does the titular character in John Skelton, Collyn Clout (1521) claim is happening to the people?

'yoke[d]/With sommons and citacyons' by the bishops

Which Shakespeare plays continued to portray politics on stage, despite the Bishops Ban (1599) outlawing history plays?

Julius Caesar (1599), Coriolanus (1608)

In which year did William Cecil commission anti-Spanish plays to make a point to the Spanish ambassador?

1559

Which masque urged Robert Cecil to suceed to his fathers political influence?

Philip Sidney, The Lady of May (1593)

When was the second edition of Ben Jonson, Sejanus published?

1605

What changes did Ben Jonson make to Sejanus (1603) (for which he'd been prosecuted) for the second edition in 1605?

left the politically sensitive bits in, message 'To the Reader' apologising for 'absences of [classical] forms' and anxious about critics who 'bring all wit to the rack'

What happens to the Poet Cinna in William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar (1599)?

killed by an uninformed multitude (rather than a censorious authority)

What did Shakespeare express anxiety about in the prologue of Troilius and Cressida (c.1602)?

the 'smoaky breath of the multitude'

In the First Quarto (1608) of William Shakespeare's King Lear, the fools speech on the dangers of a divided kingdom was a reference to what?

James I's programme for political union between Scotland and England

What did William Shakespeare remove from King Lear between the First Quarto (1608) and the Folio (1623)?

the fool's speech on the dangers of a divided kingdom

Why did Shakespeare remove the fool's speech on the dangers of a divided kingdom between the First Quarto of King Lear (1608) and the Folio edition (1623)?

to keep the play topical (political union was no longer a present issue)