Imprisonments

Audio • Season 2 • Episode 4 • Imprisonments

Artwork • The Gasthuiskerk is a Protestant church of the Christian Reformed Churches in Middelburg in the province of Zeeland .

The church was built in 1493 as a chapel dedicated to Saint Barbara . The originally Roman Catholic hospital chapel was used by the residents of the abbey from 1568 to 1571 and was rented to English merchants from 1579 to 1589. The chapel was subsequently assigned to the Reformed Church in 1589 and in 1799 it became a Roman Catholic church again. In 1845 the building was sold to the Christian Separated Churches and in 1936 it was purchased by the Christian Reformed Churches.

Music • My Sweetest Lesbia, composer: Thomas Campion, performed by Andreas Scholl.

The poem, "My Sweetest Lesbia", is sometimes described as a translation. Its inspiration is the Latin poet Catullus's poem, Carmen V.

The theme of the poem is; We must live now, because we don't have forever.

Thomas Campion belongs to that fascinating tradition of medically-trained poets. He was a poet, composer, musical and literary theorist, and physician. Born in London in 1567, left Cambridge without a degree, briefly studied law, but ultimately graduated from the University of Caen with an MD. After practising medicine in London he later returned to the continent as a gentleman-soldier. He is believed to have died of the plague in London in 1620.