The Libertine Wiki

[Thomasina Norse]

Alibertine is a person questioning and challenging most moral principles, such as responsibility or sexual restraints, and will often declare these traits as unnecessary or undesirable. A libertine is especially someone who ignores or even spurns accepted morals and forms of behaviour observed by the larger society.[1][2] The values and practices of libertines are known collectively as libertinism or libertinage and are described as an extreme form of hedonism.[3] Libertines put value on physical pleasures, meaning those experienced through the senses. As a philosophy, libertinism gained new-found adherents in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, particularly in France and Great Britain. Notable among these were John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester, and the Marquis de Sade.

The word libertine was originally coined by John Calvin to negatively describe opponents of his policies in Geneva, Switzerland.[4] The group, led by Ami Perrin, argued against Calvin's "insistence that church discipline should be enforced uniformly against all members of Genevan society".[5] Perrin and his allies were elected to the town council in 1548, and "broadened their support base in Geneva by stirring up resentment among the older inhabitants against the increasing number of religious refugees who were fleeing France in even greater numbers".[5] By 1555, Calvinists were firmly in place on the Genevan town council, so the Libertines, led by Perrin, responded with an "attempted coup against the government and called for the massacre of the French. This was the last great political challenge Calvin had to face in Geneva".[5] In England, a few Lollards held libertine views such as that adultery and fornication were not sin, or that "whoever died in faith would be saved irrespective of his way of life".[6]

During the 18th and 19th centuries, the term became more associated with debauchery.[7] Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand wrote that Joseph Bonaparte "sought only life's pleasures and easy access to libertinism" while on the throne of Naples.[8]

Les Liaisons dangereuses (Dangerous Liaisons, 1782), an epistolary novel by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, is a trenchant description of sexual libertinism. Wayland Young argues: "... the mere analysis of libertinism ... carried out by a novelist with such a prodigious command of his medium ... was enough to condemn it and play a large part in its destruction."[9]

Agreeable to Calvin's emphasis on the need for uniformity of discipline in Geneva, Samuel Rutherford (Professor of Divinity in the University of St. Andrews, and Christian minister in 17th-century Scotland) offered a rigorous treatment of "Libertinism" in his polemical work "A Free Disputation Against Pretended Liberty of Conscience" (1649).

A Satyr Against Reason and Mankind is a poem by John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester which addresses the question of the proper use of reason, and is generally assumed to be a Hobbesian critique of rationalism.[10] The narrator subordinates reason to sense.[11] It is based to some extent on Boileau's version of Juvenal's eighth or fifteenth satire, and is also indebted to Hobbes, Montaigne, Lucretius, and Epicurus, as well as the general libertine tradition.[12] Confusion has arisen in its interpretation as it is ambiguous as to whether the speaker is Rochester himself, or a satirised persona.[13] It criticises the vanities and corruptions of the statesmen and politicians of the court of Charles II.[12]

The libertine novel was a primarily 18th-century literary genre of which the roots lay in the European but mainly French libertine tradition. The genre effectively ended with the French Revolution. Themes of libertine novels were anti-clericalism, anti-establishment and eroticism.

Robert Darnton is a cultural historian who has covered this genre extensively.[14] A three-part essay in The Book Collector by David Foxen explores libertine literature in England, 1660-1745.[15]

Critics have been divided as to the literary merits of William Hazlitt's Liber Amoris, a deeply personal account of frustrated love that is quite unlike anything else Hazlitt ever wrote. Wardle suggests that it was compelling but marred by sickly sentimentality, and also proposes that Hazlitt might even have been anticipating some of the experiments in chronology made by later novelists.[16]

During the Baroque era in France, there existed a freethinking circle of philosophers and intellectuals who were collectively known as libertinage rudit and which included Gabriel Naud, lie Diodati and Franois de La Mothe Le Vayer.[19][20] The critic Vivian de Sola Pinto linked John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester's libertinism to Hobbesian materialism.[21]

The Libertines are an English rock band, formed in London in 1997 by frontmen Carl Bart (vocals/guitar) and Pete Doherty (vocals/guitar). The band, centred on the songwriting partnership of Bart and Doherty, has also included John Hassall (bass), and Gary Powell (drums) for most of its recording career. The band was part of the garage rock revival and spearheaded the movement in the UK.

The band gained some notoriety in the early 2000s, due to Doherty's use of illegal drugs and conflicts between Bart and Doherty.[1] Although their mainstream success was initially limited, their profile soon grew, culminating in a No. 2 single and No. 1 album on the UK Charts. In December 2004, their self-titled second studio album was voted the second best album of the year by NME magazine. The first two of their studio albums were produced by Mick Jones, co-founder of the punk band the Clash.

In spite of their critical and commercial success,[2] the band's music was often eclipsed by its internal conflicts, stemming from Doherty's addictions to crack cocaine and heroin, which eventually led to the break-up of the band. Doherty has since stated that the break-up of the band was due to relationship difficulties between Bart and himself that were not related to his drug addictions.[3] The members of the Libertines went on to form new bands with varying degrees of success.

In August 2010, the four members of the Libertines reunited to play a series of shows, including slots at the 2010 Reading and Leeds Festivals. The reunion shows received a highly positive response from the press and fans.[4][5] In April 2014, the Libertines announced they would again reform for a show at London's Hyde Park.[6][7] In November 2014 the band signed a recording contract with Virgin EMI Records, and released their third studio album, Anthems for Doomed Youth on 11 September 2015.[8]All Quiet on the Eastern Esplanade is their fourth studio album, released on the 5th of April 2024.

The founding members of the Libertines, Peter Doherty and Carl Bart, met when Bart was studying drama at Brunel University in Uxbridge and sharing a flat in Richmond with Amy-Jo Doherty, Peter's elder sister. This lasted until they realised their collective creative capabilities and forged a bond over their shared passion for songwriting.[9]Bart abandoned his course two years in; Doherty left his English literature course at Queen Mary, University of London, after only a year, and they moved into a flat together on Camden Road in North London, which they named "The Albion rooms."

They formed a band with their neighbour Steve Bedlow, commonly referred to as "Scarborough Steve," and named themselves "the Strand", later discarded for "the Libertines" after the French writer Marquis de Sade's unfinished novel Lusts of the Libertines ("the Albions" was also considered, but rejected; Albion is an archaic name for Britain). They later met John Hassall and Johnny Borrell, who played bass with the Libertines for a short period. Many of their early gigs took place in the flat shared by Doherty and Bart.

They had booked themselves into the Odessa studios and played at Filthy Macnasty's Whiskey Cafe in Islington, where Doherty was working as a barman. Roger Morton thought they had potential and offered, with a friend, to manage the Libertines. Despite a separate offer from an experienced member of the music industry, John Waller, the band accepted Morton's services as manager. However, Morton would eventually give up the job after an unsuccessful six months.

In March 2000 the Libertines met Banny Poostchi, a lawyer for Warner Chappell Music Publishing. Recognizing their potential, she took on an active role in managing them. They recorded "Legs XI", a set of their best 8 tracks at the time (and later a popular bootleg recording among fans). However, by December 2000, they had still not been signed and this caused Dufour, Hassall and Pootschi to part ways with the Libertines.[10][11]

The subsequent success of the Strokes, a band with a similar style, caused Pootschi to reconsider her position. She formed a plan (dubbed "Plan A") to get the Libertines signed to Rough Trade Records within 6 months. In this period, Bart and Doherty wrote many of the songs which ended up on their debut studio album. Gary Powell was recruited to play drums, as Paul Dufour was deemed by Pootschi to be 'too old'. On 1 October 2001, Bart and Doherty played a showcase for James Endeacott from Rough Trade. After Borrell failed to attend this important rehearsal, they telephoned him to discover he was on tour "living the high life." Endeacott's support led to them playing for the heads of Rough Trade, Geoff Travis and Jeanette Lee, on 11 December. They were told they would be signed, and the official deal took place on 21 December.

The Libertines were in need of a bassist, so Hassall rejoined the band at their request, but was informed he would have to stay in the background, as the band would be focused on the partnership of Doherty and Bart. After signing with Rough Trade, Doherty and Bart rented a flat together at 112a Teesdale Street in Bethnal Green which they named "The Albion Rooms", a venue that became a location for many of their Guerrilla gigs.

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