the 1600's
Louis XIII
(France, 1601—1643) ascended to the throne of France in 1610, at the age of eight and a half, upon the assassination of his father. He commissioned the great artists Nicolas Poussin and Philippe de Champaigne to decorate the Louvre. He had numerous male lovers during his reign, as he was close and intimate with many over the years. --Brittany Ma
Queen Christina
(Sweden, 1626--1689), was the only surviving legitimate child of King Gustav II Adolf. Growing up, she was nicknamed the "Girl King." Her father raised her as he would a son, treating her equally as a man would be. Christina's reign was controversial, and literature circulated during her lifetime that described her as participating in multiple affairs with both men and women. Clever and beautiful, an "Amazonian" cross-dresser who refused to marry. Attracted great artists and thinkers (including Descartes) to the court of Sweden. This, along with the emotional letters that she wrote to female friends, especially Countess Ebbe Sparre has caused her to become an icon for the lesbian community. –Cameo Garrick
Jean-Baptiste Lully
(France, 1632—1687) was a composer
and inventor. He is credited with producing six operas in Paris between the
years of 1645 and 1662. Later he was
appointed the Commissioner of Instrumental Music. He is also credited with
introducing new instruments into the orchestra.--Shannon Moffitt
Katherine Philips
(England, 1632—1664) was a well-known Anglo-Welsh Poet. She was critically acclaimed during her lifetime for her writings about love, especially platonic love and the idea of female friendship. She wrote of “Rosania” one of her lovers, Mary Aubrey, who she had met during her school days. The two women were lovers until 1662. --Rachel Rickards & Karina Gero-Limoges
Ihara Saikaku
born Hirayama Togo (Japan, 1642—1693) was a playwright, a poet, and a novelist. His wife passed away young and left him to raise his blind daughter alone, who passed away shortly after. After this, he could have just gone and spent the rest of his life in a religious sanctuary but instead went on to write and travel. He purposely sought out alleys, slums, gay theatres and teahouses in order to experience different ways of life. He often hung around prostitutes, peddlers, and beggars, and would mock various social classes, then go to entertain rich merchants and even princes. It has been claimed that in a single performance at the age of thirty-six, he composed 1,600 haikus. At the age of thirty-nine, he wrote 3,000 haikus in one day, and at the age of forty-three during a day and night recital, he supposedly composed 23,500. This is where he received the nickname of the “twenty thousand master.” Also a novelist, his first novel, published in 1682, A Man Who Loved Love, is the story of a man who roamed the countryside making love to scores of women and boys. Homosexual love was his major theme, especially in The Great Mirror of Male Love (1687), a collection of short stories about love between samurai men & boys, monks & boys, and male actor-prostitutes in kabuki theatre. ---- Edgar Zuñiga, Tenzin Youngtok & Kathryn Leidecker
John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester
(England, 1647—1680) was a poet, and wrote poems about homosexuality and its natural form in history. He opened doors for liberal freedoms about sexuality and experimentation.--Ashley Lund
Queen Anne
(England, 1665--1714) the first sovereign of Scotland and England combined (the Kingdom of Great Britain). The reign of Anne was marked by an increase in the influence of ministers and a decrease in the influence of the Crown. Preoccupied with her health (she suffered from porphyria), Anne allowed her ministers, as well as her favorite companions, to dominate politics. The age of Anne was also one of artistic, literary, and scientific advancement. She suffered from various illnesses throughout her life, but managed a healthy relationship with Sarah Churchill Duchess of Marlborough for most of it. Anne stayed loyal to Sarah throughout their lives despite the negative attention it created. Critics considered it an ‘immoderate passion inappropriate for a princess’. Sarah and Anne's intimacy began to wane after the first few years of Anne's rule as Sarah felt her political opinions neglected. Sarah later became one of Anne's most bitter critics, attacking her for "having no inclination for any but her own sex." However, historians of sexuality consider her long intimate friendship Churchill central to the period's acceptance and valorization of romantic, and even erotic, relationships between upper-class women. --Jami Marsh & Jill LeCheminant
Voltaire
(France, I694--1778)was the pen name of Enlightenment writer and philosopher Francois-Marie Arouet. He is known for his defense of civil liberties and his harsh criticism of aristocracy and Catholic dogma. He was an outspoken supporter of social reform even during a time when the penalties for such actions were harsh. His ideas were particularly influential to the thinkers of the French and American Revolutions. His most famous work is the comic allegory Candide, or Optimism. --- Kyle Parsons, Kristi Hayes & Shyloh Gortat