The Sublime

Professor
J. Jennifer Jones

THREE AGES OF REVOLUTION

1534: Act of Supremacy by which King Henry VIII assumes full authority over the Church of England.

1558-1603: Reign of Elizabeth I. Presbyterians at work to extend Reformation in England.

1603-1625: Reign of James I, reared as a Presbyterian.

1616: Shakespeare dies. (Born 1564)

1620: Pilgrims (left-wing Presbyterians) land at Plymouth Rock.

1625: Charles I crowned king.

1629: Charles I dissolves Parliament after disagreeing about taxation and imprisonment laws, among other things.

1640: Charles I summons a new Parliament, which will, after he dismisses it in 1642, become a revolutionary body and the center of resistance to Charles.

1642: Civil war begins in England. "Royalists" support Charles I and the monarchy; "Parliamentarians" support a republic with varying degrees of religious freedom. Parliamentarians were bent upon the establishment of a republican parliamentary system of government and the elimination of the “divine right of kings,” the monarchy. Oliver Cromwell, who became known as a fierce member of the Puritan Independent sect of republicanism and a terrifically talented orator, undertook a terribly brutal military conquest, which would lead to his ascendance to power as Lord Protectorate a decade later.

NOTE: Parliamentarians would soon split into opposing parties as well: “'Presbyterians' insisted that the whole population of England should necessarily belong to the one national Presbyterian Church, be compelled to attend worship, and be subject to its discipline, while the 'Independents' (whom we know as the Puritans) demanded that, if a Presbyterian Church be set up as the national and state-paid church, there should at least be liberty of dissent from it, and toleration for those that chose to form themselves into separate congregations.” (Masson, Norton Paradise Lost, 330)

Often Independents were in favor not only of religious toleration, but of the separation of Church and State altogether. Milton himself was a radical in this regard. His “fixed idea, almost his deepest idea, [was] that there should be no such thing as an Established Church, or state-paid clergy, of any sort or denomination or mixture of denominations . . . and that, as it had been the connexion between church and state, begun by Constantine (1st Roman emperor to convert to Christianity), that had vitiated (to make imperfect; to spoil) Christianity in the world, and kept it vitiated, so Christianity would never flourish as it ought till there had been universal disestablishment and disendowment of the clergy, and the propagation of the gospel were left to the zeal of voluntary pastors, self-supported, or supported modestly by their flocks.” (Masson, Norton Paradise Lost, 340)

1648: The surviving group of Parliamentarians, the Rump Parliament (1648-1653), captures Charles I and puts him on trial; early in 1649 they abolished the office of king and prohibiting of a successor to Charles I by law.

January 1649: The Bloody Revolution: Charles I put to trial based on an ancient Roman law that states that a military body (in this case the government) could legally overthrow a tyrant. He was accused and convicted of being “a tyrant, traitor, and murderer; and a public enemy to the Commonwealth of England.” Subsequently, he was executed. The signature of parliamentarian Oliver Cromwell, who would rise to power during this interregnum period (1649-1660), is clearly visible on Charles I’s death warrant.

Charles I’s date of execution was set for January 30, 1649; however, he wasn’t executed until Tuesday, and late on that day as well. The man who was to execute Charles wouldn’t do it. So did others. Very quickly a man who would do it was found, as was an assistant for him. They were allowed to wear black masks so nobody would ever know who they were, and they were paid 100 pounds (one pound in this period is worth about 74 pounds today; and 74 pounds today is worth about $148.00; that means that the executioner was paid something in the range of $15,000.00 by today’s money standards).

At nearly 2pm Charles was led onto the scaffolding, which was covered in black cloth. He had asked permission to wear extra undergarments so that he would not shiver in the cold (it was a very cold, dreary day) and be mistaken for shivering with fear. Charles gave a last speech, consisting of two sentences [“I have delivered to my conscience; I pray God you do take those courses that are best for the good of the kingdom and your own salvation.”], but few heard him. It is said that a long, heavy groan emanated from the crowd upon Charles’s execution. Yet, even in death, Charles found no dignity. Spectators were allowed, upon paying, to come up to the scaffold and dip their handkerchiefs in his blood; some also took mementoes of his hair and clothing.

February 6, 1649: The monarchy was officially abolished. Parliament stated: “The office of the king in this nation is unnecessary, burdensome, and dangerous to the liberty, society, and public interests of the people.”

1649-1653: The Commonwealth, ruled by the Rump Parliament

1653-1658: Oliver Cromwell becomes Lord Protector, Rump Parliament is officially out of power; replaced by the Nominated Assembly, and though it was enthusiastically supported by Cromwell at first, it lasted only about six months.

1658: Richard Cromwell assumes Lord Protectorship

1660: Restoration of Charles II to the throne: restoration of the monarchy to England. One of Charles II’s first acts was to re-open the theaters (A decade earlier, the Puritans had enforced strict rules against Sunday activities, closing down theatres, maypole dancing, and even Christmas Day, as well as destroying stained glass windows in churches – all of these activities were thought to be excessive and decorative rather than useful, reasonable, purposeful.)

1660-1665: Milton writes Paradise Lost.
1674: PL published in second edition, 12 books.

1685: James II (Charles II’s brother) becomes king. Having spent most of his life in exile in France, James was a Catholic sympathizer, converting in 1669. As a result of his pushing Catholicism, by 1688 his subjects were alienated.

1688: William of Orange, the husband of James II’s eldest daughter, Mary, invaded and overthrew James. Because anti-Catholic sympathies were so tremendous, James II ceded power and fled to France.

1689: The Glorious Revolution: William III (r. 1689-1702–son of Mary Stuart, who was the daughter of Charles I) and Mary II (r. 1689-1694–daughter of James II; died of smallpox in 1694, childless), first cousins who married as a matter of Charles II's foreign policy (to end war between Holland and France and thus restore peace to Europe) in 1677, were invited to be joint monarchs on a throne whose power was limited by Parliament, which they accepted. James II and his heirs were excluded from the throne due to Catholicism, and these (and all future) monarchs had to swear to uphold the Protestant faith.

1702-1714: Reign of Queen Anne (Protestant youngest daughter of James II and sister to Queen Mary II; although she was pregnant 18 times, Anne also died childless like her older sister.)

1714: The Hanovarians come to power and remain in power through 1837. Although George I was only 52nd in line for the throne, he was the rightful king because he was the first Protestant in line. Two of James II’s (the deposed Stuart king’s) descendants aspired to the throne in 1714 and had a group of supporters–called “Jacobites”– but they were not successful. Although party politics became heated (Torys/Whigs), this was a fairly stable and prosperous time for England.

1714-1727: Reign of George I

1727-1760: Reign of George II

1760-1820: Reign of George III

** 1811-1820: Prince Regent reigns in lieu of his father, who is too infirm (apparently "mad") to reign.

Meanwhile, in France:

–1786: crisis in royal finances; appeal to nobles for money (through taxations of various kinds)
–1788: call for convention of Estates General (hasn't convened since 1614)
–4 May 1789: Opening of Estates General
–17 June 1789: Third Estate takes name of “National Assembly”
–27 June 1789: King capitulates to the French Revolution
–1 July 1789: King calls 11, 500 troops to Paris and to surround Versailles

July 14, 1789: Beginning of The French Revolution: The Storming of the Bastille in France

–11 August 1789: Abolition of the feudal regime
–27 August 1789: Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen
–3-6 October: “October Days": Parisian women march to Versailles to demand bread and bring royal family back to Paris.

–1789-1791: The Liberal Phase of the French Revolution: Constitutional Monarchy writes a constitution, reorganizes France into 83 departments, confiscates church property, and suppresses monastic vows and religious orders

–January 1793: The Bloody/Radical Phase of the French Revolution: Louis XVI brought to trial and beheaded

–February 1793: England declares war on France
–October 1793: Marie Antoinette beheaded
–1794: Reign of Terror under Jacobin leader Robespierre
–1797: rise of Napoleon
–1815: Battle of Waterloo, End of Napoleonic Wars

1820-1830: Reign of George IV (formerly the Prince Regent)

1830-1837: William IV (brother of George IV) is King. As a Tory, he has a tough time.

1837-1901: Reign of Queen Victoria

Longinus, On the Sublime. 1 A.D. Trans. W. H. Fyfe; Rev. D. A. Russell. Loeb Classical Library, 1996.
ISBN: 0674995635

 John Milton, Paradise Lost. 1674. Ed. Gordon Teskey. New York: Norton, 2005.
ISBN: 0393924289

 René Descartes, Meditations on First Philosophy. A Bilingual Edition. Ed. George Heffernan. Notre Dame: U. of Notre Dame P, 1990.
ISBN: 0268013810

The Book of Job. Trans. Stephen Mitchell. New York: Harper Perennial, 1992. ISBN: 0060969598

Edmund Burke, A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful. 1757. Ed. James T. Boulton. Indiana: U of Notre Dame P, 1993.
ISBN: 0268000859

Immanuel Kant. The Critique of Judgement. 1790. Trans. James Creed Meredith. New York: Oxford UP, 1978. ISBN: 0198245890

Anne Radcliffe. The Italian. Ed. Frederick Garber. New York: Oxford UP, 1998.
ISBN: 0198245890

Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey. Ed. Marilyn Gaull. New York: Longman, 2004.
ISBN: 0321202082

Suggested Texts

Michael Greer. What Every Student Should Know About Citing Sources with MLA Documentation. New York: Longman, 2006.
ISBN: 0321447379

Joseph Gibaldi. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 6th Rev. Edition. MLA P, 2003
ISBN: 0873529863

Diana Hacker. A Writer’s Reference. 5th Sprl edition. Bedford/St. Martin's P, 2003.
ISBN: 0312412622

Course Requirements

Participation (25%)
2 Short Essays (25%)
Seminar Paper (50%)