Line #23 Main/TheCavalierYears


1	[[quoteright:320:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/TheWoundedCavalier.JPG]]
2	[[caption-width-right:320:"The Wounded Cavalier"]]
3
4	The favorite era for the {{Swashbuckler}}, the 17th Century / early 18th century is the age in {{UsefulNotes/Europe}} when lusty musketeers dueled with each other and got sucked into intrigues involving dauphins, {{Corrupt Church}}men and [[TheVamp vampish]] courtesans. Hats with [[FluffyFashionFeathers large feathers]] and big bucket-topped boots were in fashion for men. Also UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfPiracy [[{{Pirate}} on the High Seas]], when [[DressedToPlunder eyepatched and peg-legged]] buccaneers buried stolen gold, brandished cutlasses, and tied up buxom, bodice-wearing maidens and then forced them to watch as their hapless boyfriends walked the plank.
5
6	Somewhere in the middle, [[UsefulNotes/EnglishCivilWar Britain had a civil war]]. Dashing Cavaliers such as UsefulNotes/PrinceRupertOfTheRhine fought dour Puritans the length and breadth of both islands, and the son of the King hid in an oak tree. The Puritans won, and abolished Christmas, then the country abolished them. The surviving Puritans left England and founded the UsefulNotes/UnitedStates, UsefulNotes/CharlesII climbed back out of the oak tree, {{UsefulNotes/London}} burned to the ground, women were allowed to be actors on stage and UsefulNotes/IsaacNewton invented gravity. Somebody named [[Literature/TheDiaryOfSamuelPepys Pepys kept a diary]].
7
8	Later still, King James II, a believer in absolute monarchy, was run out of Britain in a Glorious Revolution. Parliament's invitation of Stadtholder William III of Orange as the new King made it real clear who was really in charge of the island from now on as modern democracy took its next step toward fruition. Meanwhile, in UsefulNotes/TheBahamas, this was the best kind of news to the pirate, Film/CaptainBlood and his crew, who were enslaved by James II, as they accepted the new king's commission to join the British Navy.
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10	Across the Atlantic, English settlers of all codes and creeds took over [[UsefulNotes/TheThirteenAmericanColonies a patch of land along the eastern coasts]] of the New World.
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12	Back on mainland Europe the UsefulNotes/ThirtyYearsWar was fought; France, Sweden, and Austria contended over the UsefulNotes/HolyRomanEmpire, hastening its long, painful decline. East of Germany, rowdy Polish nobility alternated between fighting in perpetual wars against Sweden, Muscovy and Turkey, and generally making a mess around themselves. More to the west, the Dutch were fresh from [[UsefulNotes/TheEightyYearsWar achieving their independence from Spain]] and had an economic and cultural boom, ushering in their Golden Age which lasted a whole century, and France became a military, economic, and cultural powerhouse starting with the reign of UsefulNotes/LouisXIV, with his heir prince eventually overtaking Spain too by becoming its new king, Philip V.
13
14	Then things settle down a very little, and UsefulNotes/TheEnlightenment kicks in. But there’s a ''lot'' of overlap between the two periods, what with pirates, highwaymen, exploration, colonialism, and so on.
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16	Sometimes explicitly called the Age of Exploration, especially if pirates are involved. If you want to do the pirates thing on land, remember that after the Restoration in England was the heyday of TheHighwayman, so adventures featuring Dick Turpin and Claude Duval will be set at about this time.
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18	Writers and artists of the first half of the 19th century [[NostalgiaFilter LOVED this era]], as a [[RomanticismVersusEnlightenment reaction against]] the Industrial Revolution and UsefulNotes/TheEnlightenment of the previous century.
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20	See also the Edo Period of JidaiGeki, the early Qing dynasty of ImperialChina, and the middle Joseon period, respectively the Japanese, Chinese, and Korean equivalents coinciding with this era. Also coinciding in this era are UsefulNotes/TheThirteenAmericanColonies across the pond. The later years of UsefulNotes/TheProtestantReformation overlaps with the time period, and religious warfare is often a background feature in the swashbuckling plots of this setting.
21	----
22	!!Popular tropes from this time period are:
23	* ArmorIsUseless: By 1650-1660, advances in firearm technology made the armored knight and body armor obsolete. Armor would not see widespread use in the Western world until metal helmets in UsefulNotes/WorldWarI.
24	* BaroqueMusic: Where it all began with Music/AntonioVivaldi and Music/JohannSebastianBach making a noise.
25	* BritsLoveTea: Tea-loving Queen Catherine of Braganza, the wife of Charles II of England, was the TropeMaker of this British stereotype, as she was the one who introduced tea to Britain.
26	* DisabilitySuperpower: Related to the aforementioned Baroque era of music. This period witnessed the wildly popular rise of ''castrati'', male choral and operatic singers whose distinctive ethereal voices fell within typically female ranges. How they developed those voices? [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Well ...]]
27	* TheDungAges: The 17th and 18th centuries were the age when bathing was shunned by most European people, up to Kings (and more, in fact, than in the Middle Ages proper, contrary to popular belief). During the same age, the perfume industry flourished in France.
28	* TheEmpire: The Holy Roman Empire in the beginning of the era, and France by the end.
29	* EvilJesuit: [[HeroWithBadPublicity How they were viewed]] at the time by Protestant AND Catholic writers to the point that they were expelled in 1767. Jesuit Cardinal Richelieu of France has been cemented as a baddie by Dumas Sr. in his novels.
30	* ForeignCultureFetish:
31	** Europeans had a love/hate relationship with the [[UsefulNotes/OttomanEmpire Turkish culture]], with caftans, rugs, and Turkish delight on their wish lists.
32	** Despite the Tokugawa Shogunate closing their doors to the world, the Dutch managed to get a bit of their stuff like kimonos and exotic prints. In turn, the Japanese had a thing for Dutch stuff like clocks, candy, and scientific apparatus.
33	* GratuitousFrench: ''Ancien Regime'' French was the lingua franca for trade and diplomacy. Even in the middle class, you'd be mocked for not speaking it.
34	* TheHighwayman: Earlier, they were just bandits; much later, they had organised police forces to worry about. But in this period, they got the big pistols and the nice hats.
35	* HistoricalDomainCharacter: For England, the ruling kings of UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfStuart like UsefulNotes/JamesTheFirst, UsefulNotes/CharlesI, UsefulNotes/OliverCromwell, UsefulNotes/CharlesII and UsefulNotes/JamesII and VII [[{{Pun}} reigned]] in this era. For France, it was all about the Bourbons with UsefulNotes/LouisXIII and UsefulNotes/LouisXIV while Cardinals [[UsefulNotes/CardinalRichelieu Richelieu]] and [[UsefulNotes/CardinalMazarin Mazarin]] spend more time in fiction than they did at Mass. Honorable mentions include the [[UsefulNotes/{{Sweden}} House of Vasa]] with King Gustavus Adolphus II and Queen Christina, and scientists like UsefulNotes/IsaacNewton and UsefulNotes/ReneDescartes.
36	* LandOfTulipsAndWindmills: For the Dutch, the 17th century was their Golden Age economically and culturally. The tulip became a symbol of the nation following the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulip_mania Tulip mania]] in the 1630s, and its been used as a case study for economic bubbles.
37	* MustHaveCaffeine: Coffee production and sales skyrocketed during this era. The first coffeehouse in England was started by [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pasqua_Rosée an Armenian man]], and the distinctive Viennese café was started by a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerzy_Franciszek_Kulczycki a Polish nobleman]], who made use of the coffee bags left by the defeated Ottomans after the siege of Vienna in 1683. Coffeehouses became a hangout for intellectual minds whose ideas that would kickstart UsefulNotes/TheEnlightenment.
38	* TheMusketeer: Musketeers served as the PraetorianGuard for the [[UsefulNotes/LEtatCestMoi King of France]].
39	* PimpedOutDress: While simplistic in comparison to [[UsefulNotes/TheRenaissance Elizabethan fashions]] and those of the Rococo era, women's dresses of the 17th century still served [[SimpleYetOpulent opulence]] in the royal courts. The silhouette and styles became more grandoise and more diverse when UsefulNotes/LouisXIV came to the throne. France itself started to become ''the'' fashion capital in this period.
40	* {{Pirate}}: After the 17th century, they were romanticized as rogues and anti-heroes, but during that time, especially in the Caribbean and the Mediterranean, they were actual threats.
41	* PlayingCyrano: Psst! It’s The age of the TropeNamer!
42	* RealIsBrown:
43	** Much of the overall palette of the Baroque era consist of warm and earnest muted colors from the leather cavalier gear, to the modest Puritans, to Creator/AnthonyVanDyck's paintings, where [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Dyke_brown a shade of brown]] was even named after him. Pastel colors wouldn't be a thing until the mid-18th century with the Rococo style.
44	** When it comes to blue, while there were generous amounts of blue from the old masters like Creator/JohannesVermeer, Creator/{{Rembrandt}}, and Creator/PeterPaulRubens through their usage of super expensive materials like lapis lazuli and smalt, the invention of the affordable Prussian blue in the early 18th century was a gamechanger for art, crafting, printing, textiles, and design, and the versatile color paved way for modern art and chemistry.
45	* RegalRuff: Persisted, and gradually disappeared throughout the first half of the 17th century, which was replaced by flat lace collars after the Thirty Years War.
46	* RoyalRapier: The thinner the sword, the closer you were to the king.
47	* SharpDressedMan: For the men, cavalier gear in the first half of the 17th century, and the coat-waistcoat-and-breech ensemble topped with perwigs in the second half were the dictates in fashion.
48	* WitchHunt: Continuing from UsefulNotes/TheRenaissance.
49	** BurnTheWitch: Though in Protestant countries, you were more likely to be hanged.
50	** TheWitchHunter: They remained active during this period.
51	* WoodenShipsAndIronMen: The Age of Exploration was still going, and now eyes are moving towards [[LandDownUnder Terra Australis]].
52
53	!!Works set in this time period are:
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55	[[foldercontrol]]
56
57	[[folder:Comic Books]]
58	* ''ComicBook/DieAbrafaxe'': This era has been visited repeatedly by the Abrafaxe. Their very first arc (January 1976-December 1977) was set in Dalmatia and Venice in the 17th century. This was followed by an arc set in Hungary, Austria, Bavaria and France at the time of the UsefulNotes/WarOfTheSpanishSuccession (January 1978-December 1980). Many years later, in the Baroque series (''Mosaik'' No. 406-429), brainy Brabax as Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz's private secretary in the 1690s while Abrax and Brabax are stuck in the France of UsefulNotes/LouisXIV.
59	* ''ComicBook/{{Barracuda}}'' is set during the UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfPiracy.
60	* The French comic ''ComicBook/DeCapeEtDeCrocs'', which makes a good work in giving a feeling of being a piece of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baroque Baroque]] literature. Think of Creator/TerryGilliam's ''Film/TheAdventuresOfBaronMunchausen'', except wackier.
61	* ''ComicBook/{{Cossacks\|2022}}'', a French comic book about a young early 17th century Lithuanian Hussar from the UsefulNotes/PolishLithuanianCommonwealth who deserts the Polish army to [[GoingNative integrate]] into a group of UsefulNotes/{{Ukrain\|e}}ian UsefulNotes/{{Cossacks}}.
62	* ''ComicBook/MendozaTheGreat'' featured tropes from the era. But instead of portraying swords and gun duels, as a British historical comic it featured instead the favorite British past-time of classical pugilism or bare-knuckle boxing. It featured the real-life pugilist Daniel Mendoza a protagonist.
63	* ''ComicBook/SuskeEnWiske'': The stories "De Dolle Musketiers", "De Raap van Rubens", "De Jolige Joffer", "De Gladde Glipper", "Angst Op De Amsterdam", "De Kleppende Klipper", "Het Wondere Wolfje" and "Beminde Barabas".
64	[[/folder]]
65
66	[[folder:Film - Animation]]
67	* Disney's ''{{WesternAnimation/Pocahontas}}'' takes place at the beginning of this era, as does, of course, any other adaptation of the {{UsefulNotes/Pocahontas}} story.
68	* ''{{WesternAnimation/Wolfwalkers}}'': Takes place in 1650 Ireland during UsefulNotes/OliverCromwell’s time as Lord Protector.[[note]]He didn’t have the title until 1653[[/note]]
69	[[/folder]]
70
71	[[folder:Film - Live-Action]]
72	* ''Film/BrotherhoodOfTheWolf'' is set in 1760s France and concerns the hunt for a vicious beast that randomly kills peasants in the rural area of Gévaudan. It's also [[BookEnds bookended]] by UsefulNotes/TheFrenchRevolution.
73	* ''Film/CaptainBlood'' is set in this period, during the reigns of James II and William III.
74	* The ''Film/CarryOn'' films usually created parodies of popular media and/or historical farces. For example, ''Film/CarryOnDick'' is set in the early 18th century with the famous English highwayman Dick Turpin, who annoyed the secret police and [[GentlemanThief charmed]] the [[AllGirlsWantBadBoys young ladies]], mostly because he was [[AllWomenAreLustful nicknamed]] "[[DoubleEntendre Big Dick]]". [[NotMakingThisUpDisclaimer We are not joking]].
75	* ''Film/CruzDiablo'' is set in Siglo de Oro [[{{UsefulNotes/Mexico}} New Spain]].
76	* ''The Dueling Cavalier'' (renamed ''The Dancing Cavalier'' when it was {{retool}}ed into a musical), the movie being made in ''Film/SinginInTheRain''.
77	* Creator/JeanMarais starred in quite a few swashbuckler films (mostly set in France) in this era such as ''Film/LaTourPrendsGarde'', ''Film/{{Le Bossu\|1959}}'', ''Film/LeCapitan'', ''Film/LeCapitaineFracasse'' and ''Film/{{The Iron Mask\|1962}}''.
78	* ''Film/OnGuard'', another version of ''Literature/LeBossu'' (1699 to 1715).
79	* ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean''. [[HollywoodHistory At least theoretically]].
80	* ''Film/QueenChristina'' was set during the reign of [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Queen Christina of Sweden]] of [[UsefulNotes/NotableSwedishMonarchs the House of Vasa]], played by Creator/GretaGarbo. Not necessarily historically accurate.
81	* ''Film/RobRoy'', the somewhat less-well-known, but better-researched, cousin of ''Film/{{Braveheart}}''.
82	* [[DerivativeWorks/DArtagnanRomances Film adaptations]] of ''Literature/TheThreeMusketeers'', naturally:
83	** ''Film/{{The Three Musketeers\|1921}}'' (1921)
84	*** ''Film/TheIronMask'' (1929)
85	** ''Film/{{The Three Musketeers\|1948}}'' (1948)
86	** ''Film/{{The Three Musketeers\|1953}}'' (1953)
87	** ''Film/{{The Three Musketeers\|1961}}'' (1961)
88	** ''Film/{{The Iron Mask\|1962}}'' (1962)
89	** ''Film/{{The Three Musketeers\|1973}}'' (1973-1989)
90	** ''Film/{{The Three Musketeers\|1993}}'' (1993)
91	** ''Film/RevengeOfTheMusketeers'' (1994)
92	** ''Film/TheManInTheIronMask'' (1998)
93	** ''Film/TheMusketeer'' (2001)
94	** ''Film/{{The Three Musketeers\|2011}}'' (2011)
95	** ''Film/{{The Three Musketeers\|2023 UK}}'' (2023, UK)
96	** ''Film/{{The Three Musketeers\|2023}}'' (2023, France)
97	[[/folder]]
98
99	[[folder:Literature]]
100	* ''Literature/SixteenThirtyTwo'' and its AlternateHistory novel, novella and short-story sequels.
101	* Neal Stephenson's ''Literature/TheBaroqueCycle'' is set entirely in this period.
102	* ''Literature/LeBossu'' (1699 to 1717, end of UsefulNotes/LouisXIV's reign and Regency of Philippe d'Orléans).
103	* ''Literature/TheDiaryOfSamuelPepys''
104	* The historical novel ''Literature/HenryEsmond'' involves the later part of the period. The protagonist's mother was a mistress to James II in her youth, and the plot involves [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Francis_Edward_Stuart James Stuart]], the "Old Pretender" (before he was old) and details a fictional moment of him getting within inches of reclaiming the throne.
105	* "Literature/ElInquisidorDeMexico" set in Siglo de Oro New Spain begins with a thorough description of viceregal life, with fairs full of merchants selling trinkets from all over the world, people of all races coming together in the peaceful lush gardens surrounding plazas and ''jacales'' to eat and drink, play music and dance, watch cockfights or reenactments of battles from the Conquista.
106	* ''Literature/AJournalOfThePlagueYear''
107	* Creator/PoulAnderson's ''Literature/AMidsummerTempest''. An alternate history Cavalier Years, in a world where Creator/{{Shakespeare}} was the Great Historian, and so it coincides with the Industrial Revolution.
108	* ''Literature/MollFlanders''
109	* ''Literature/ThePyrates'' is an AffectionateParody not only of pirate tropes (as the title suggests) but also some of the other staples of the period (i.e. Charles II and Pepys appear briefly as characters).
110	* ''Literature/RobinsonCrusoe''
111	* ''Literature/TheScarletPimpernel'' is set at the tail end of this period and uses many of its tropes.
112	* The ''Literature/SienkiewiczTrilogy'', set in the often-[[MemeticMutation forgotten]] Poland.
113	* ''Literature/{{Simplicissimus}}'' and ''Landstörtzerin Courasche'' by Grimmelshausen
114	* The ''Literature/SolomonKane'' stories are set are the very start of this period. (Properly only the last few stories take place in the 17th century.)
115	* ''Literature/TheThreeMusketeers'' and [[DerivativeWorks/DArtagnanRomances its countless adaptations]].
116	** The sequel ''Twenty Years Later'' has a large part of its plot set during the civil war as they attempt to rescue Charles I (with a major HistoricalHeroismUpgrade); and after that ''The Vicomte de Bragelonne'' has d'Artagnan and Athos semi-unintentionally restore Charles II to the throne.
117	* ''Literature/TreasureIsland''
118	[[/folder]]
119
120	[[folder:{{Live-Action TV}}]]
121	* ''Series/{{Blackadder}}: The Cavalier Years''
122	** ''Series/{{Blackadder}} the Third'' is set during the regency, but manages to work in a Dick Turpin type highwayman.
123	* ''Series/ByTheSwordDivided'': Specifically the UsefulNotes/EnglishCivilWar and the Commonwealth period.
124	* The ''Series/DoctorWho'' episodes “[[Recap/DoctorWhoS19E4TheVisitation The Visitation]]“, “[[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E6TheWomanWhoLived The Woman Who Lived]]” and “[[Recap/DoctorWhoS37E8TheWitchfinders The Witchfinders]]”.
125	* ''Series/GhostsUK'': most of the flashbacks in the episode "Speak as ye Choose", are set in this time period.
126	* ''Series/HelpImATeenageOutlaw'' follows the adventures of three teenage highwaymen in 1643.
127	* ''Series/TheSarahJaneAdventures'': The flashbacks that deal with the disappearance of the Marchwood family, in “The Eternity Trap” are set in 1665.
128	* Creator/TheBBC docu series ''[[Series/BBCHistoricalFarmSeries Tales from the Green Valley]]'', focusing on the life of an average peasant family at a grange in the Welsh-English borderland during the 1620s.
129	* ''Series/{{Versailles}}'': Set during the reign of Louis XIV
130	[[/folder]]
131
132	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
133	* ''TabletopGame/SeventhSea'' takes place in a setting heavily inspired by this era, with dashes of [[AnachronismStew Viking longboats, Celtic druids, Enlightenment philosophers and steampunk gizmos.]]
134	* ''All For One: Regime Diabolique'' is an RPG where you specifically play as a member of France's Musketeers, in a 1636 that is rather more [[MundaneFantastic supernatural]] than usual.
135	* ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}} Swashbucklers,'' written for the third edition of that game, focuses on musketeers, pirates and (to a lesser extent) highwaymen.
136	* The entirety of the Empire in ''TabletopGame/WarhammerFantasy'' was designed around this period.
137	[[/folder]]
138
139	[[folder:Theatre]]
140	* ''Theatre/CyranoDeBergerac''
141	* ''Theatre/MotherCourageAndHerChildren''
142	[[/folder]]
143
144	[[folder:Video Games]]
145	* ''[[VideoGame/AnnoDomini Anno 1602]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/AnnoDomini Anno 1701]]''
146	* ''VideoGame/CossacksEuropeanWars''
147	* The ''VideoGame/EuropaUniversalis'' series
148	* ''VideoGame/MountAndBlade''
149	* ''VideoGame/SidMeiersPirates''
150	[[/folder]]

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